Much Needed Deer Season Update 12_1_2011
Sorry not to have updated the blog since the opening week of muzzleloader season. Hopefully most of you know to go to our "Hunting Pictures" media gallery from our homepage (http://spruillspasturehuntingclub.com/photos_hunting.htm) or our FaceBook page(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spruills-Pasture-Outfitters/110466525657105) to see the latest harvested animals pictures for the 2011 season. We have had a fairly successful rifle season thus far considering the unseasonably warm weather. Here are a few pictures for those of you that haven't been to the media gallery on the website. 
Gettysburg Woman Dominates Muzzleloader Season
Spruill's Pasture welcomed the Pyne party out of Gettysburg, PA for the first week of the 2011 muzzleloader season. We were able to get the skunk out of the bag on the first afternoon when Cheryl Pyne took a 9 point buck near the old pasture on Indian Woods Road.
Cheryl Pyne with 9 pointer
Don Pyne harvested a 231 lb. sow wild hog on Tuesday.
Don Pyne with 231 lb. sow
Wed. Don and his grandson Tyler brought back to camp 3 hogs and a doe. 
Greg Kugler also downed a 110 lb. boar hog on Wednesday afternoon.
All in all a great week for the Pyne party. Two shooter bucks were missed by Tyler and Greg, but I hope they enjoyed their overall experience nevertheless. Cheryl returned to Gettysburg with the bragging rights for the week. Congratulations on your nice buck Cheryl!
Slow Start/Good Finish to Final week of Bow Season 2011
Tom Crossgrove and his friend Tammee Jo Seeley as well as Tom's daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Joel Carpenter met up at Spruill's Pasture once again this year from Ithaca, NY and Fayetteville, NC. The week started out slowly due to MORE wet weather and warm days. Although the hunting was slow, everyone enjoyed the vast array flora and fauna that the Roquist Pocosin has to offer. All of the wet weather made for a banner year for the fungus among us and I think Tammy enjoyed taking pictures of mushrooms as much as she did the hunting.
The hunting picked up later in the week as Kim stuck a doe behind the school bus.
Kim and Capt. Ron looking tough after Kim sticks her first deer with a bow
Kim Carpenter butchers her doe
and Joel from the Batts#1 stand.
Joel Carpenter and his kill for the week.
This was a slight improvement from last year as they were able to take some meat home for the grill this time.
Brown/Bevington Crew opens Spruill’s Pasture 2011 season
While I would like to put a positive spin on the hunt my returning crew from western PA/eastern OH had last weekend(September 21st through23rd, 2011) the majority of these bow hunters came up empty handed. One of the young bucks, Doug Brown, stuck 2 does out of the Barb Wire dead end stand on Thursday afternoon and that was it. The corn piles we were putting out at the majority of our stands were being eaten by deer after dark. The deer just would not move during the daylight hours. I don't know if it was the enormous amounts of acorns that fell from the high winds during Hurricane Irene, the moon, the mosquitos, or we just weren't holding our mouths right, but this was a weekend hunt with a low body count.
On the positive side, Spruill's Pasture welcomed Bertie County local Stacey Harrell
Stacey Harrell and Ron White
to the fall lineup as cook,guide,story teller, and experienced outdoorsman. Stacey's grandfather was an original member of Colerain Gun Club(they started hunting the Spruill's Pasture property in the early '50's) and he put on a hell of a show in the kitchen after dark. Last week's menu included Barbeque chicken, Spaghetti,Bone-in Ribeyes/Hot wings. Quote of the weekend came from Sam Bevington after downing the last of his bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey: "At least we killed something this weekend!"
Signed Wild Turkey bottle by Brown/Bevington crew
At least these hunters know the difference between hunting and killing.
- Bevington/Brown crew from western PA and eastern OH
Doug Brown with 2 slickheads
Spruill’s Pasture Clubhouse and Camp Upgrade Photos
Check out the Slideshow of Pictures from the new upgrades to the camp and clubhouse here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102772152832695338044/2011CampUpgradePhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDuu-W-ye_5XQ#slideshow/5653309076753719458
Pictures of remodeled camps and clubhouse coming soon
I had been waiting on doing an updated post when the remodeling of 2 camps and clubhouse were completed. However, as with all construction projects, they are never finished on time. I will take pictures of the remodeled camps and clubhouse as soon as the contractors are finished, I promise. Bow season starts in 3 weeks and I will get the pics posted by then. It looks really nice around the yard now and I can't wait for my hunters that are booked this fall to arrive so I can show it off to them in person. The Cox camp and Charlie Boy's camp have been re-wired, re-plumbed, cleaned and painted. They both have full bath's with hot water, 2 sets of bunk beds and Charlie Boy's has a full kitchen for hunting parties that want to cook for themselves. We have also added a washer,dryer, and ice machine. The bunk beds were moved out of the old clubhouse and the old bunk room has been turned into an entertainment room with a flat screen, theater chairs, and a bar. Again, I will post some pictures here of the improvements around camp in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
2010 Fall Season Summary and Winter Sportshow Information
20 antlered bucks, 7 button bucks , 19 does
Mark Gallacher and guide RC White with split G2 10 pointer 11_3_2010
Show(http://www.sportshows.com/philly/index.html) outside of Philly at the Oaks, PA from February 17th through 20th. Please come by and see us if you get the chance.
Late Season Hunt Pays Off for New Hampshire Pair
John Drew and Dan Kirkpatrick drove 12 1/2 hours from New Hampshire to hunt with Spruill's Pasture Outfitters the week of December 6th. As it was already at the freezing point for the season in New England, the two decided to book a deer hunting trip in North Carolina where the climate would be milder. The mornings of their hunts ended up being 26, 23, 18,21, and 21 degrees respectively. Needless to say the more moderate climate thing did not work out for them. On the opening afternoon, John Drew, Jr. got on the board with a 155 lb. sow wild hog.
John Drew_12_6_2010
Dan missed a doe just before dusk at Neff's stand and was still eating on the corn pile when I pulled up to the stand to pick him up. He was sick. John took out a deer on Tuesday for the meat locker. On Wednesday afternoon, Dan missed a "monster buck" in his words at 5 points. He described the rack to have been 2 inches outside of the deer's ears. It was over 400 yards away, but he said he had to throw up a hail mary at that distance by the size of the antlers on the deer. Determined to have another chance at seeing the deer he missed, Dan decided to have Ron drop him off back at the 5 points stand on Thursday morning. At around 7:30, a small 6 and a decent 8 came out less than 200 yards away and Dan was ready this time. He said the 18" wide 8 pointer stood in the road just long enough for him to put the perfect heart shot on him. Dan dropped the nice buck in his tracks and saved Ron and I from having to swim the freezing ditch to retrieve the animal from the cutover.
Dan_Kirkpatrick_12_10_2010
Early December Update
The fall is coming to a frigid close with night time temperatures over the last couple of weeks reaching down into the teens. Deer hunting action has slowed a bit due to the time of year, but those that have taken advantage of our discounted late season hunting opportunities have had a 80% success rate. Both hunters that missed out on a deer harvested nice hogs however. A father/son combo from Berkeley, MA, Mark and Dennis Pritchard hunted with us for 3 days the week of November 22nd and ended up with a boar and a Dennis' first buck:
Dennis Pritchard 11_23_2010
Justin White from Pinehurst and a crew of 5 arrived Thanksgiving day and hunted with us on Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Justin harvested a nice hog:
Justin White 11_27_2010
and his friend's nephew Lane Garner from McColl, SC killed his first buck ever with us:
Lane Fowler 11_26_2010
Mike Dunston of Hope Mills, NC joined us for 2 days on November 29th and 30th and harvested a 243 lb. sow:
Mike Dunston - 11_30_2010
Veneziale Party from Philadelphia hits a home run with rut
On November 10th, 2010, Ron and I welcomed our largest hunting party to date into camp on a 3 day whitetail deer/black bear combination hunt. Although this group of good guys were new to Spruill's Pasture, Freddy Veneziale and crew were familiar with Bertie County and the large deer population we have throughout the county. I met them at my booth at one of the big hunting shows last February and when they saw the Bertie County logo immeadeatly recognized it and said "we have hunted Bertie County NC before!" Freddy and his buddy Rich Simone had been hunting Bertie County for over 15 years. They were some of the original hunters that hunted with "Bucks for Bertie" in the mid 1990s and continued to hunt with other outfitters in the southeastern part of the county until 2008 when their outfitter decided to retire. Ron and I were thrilled to have them in camp. Not only were these guys seasoned hunters, but one of them, Ernie, was a professional cook. The 3 day menu was filled with all kinds of goodies: prosciutto ham with homemade bread, pasta fasul(or as I like to say pasta fangul!), a whole ribeye, veal, sausage and peppers, and a whole list of desserts you can only find in Philly. They also brought their own expresso machine so that every time you got full and felt like you were going to fall asleep, you could get a burst of caffeine and were ready for more. The Veneziale's were at Spruill's Pasture for the hunting, but it was much more than a hunting trip to these guys. It was all about sitting around camp, having a drink, joking each other, telling old stories, and making up new ones. On this particular trip, 7 out of 9 of them had new stories to tell to their friends when they returned home. Out of 9 hunters, 7 of them killed bucks. There was a 5 pointer(4 on one side and a cowhorn on the other), 3 eight pointers, 2 nine pointers, and a trophy 13 pointer that gross scored in the mid 160s (B&C). Mike Henry took his first bear and his biggest buck while hunting with us over 3 days. I can't get all of the pictures up on the blog, but you can visit the media gallery off of my home page :http://spruillspasturehuntingclub.com/photos_hunting.htm to see the highlights.
Ernesto Veneziale and his trophy 13 pointer