Deer Hunting
The Shamanic Guide to Speed Scouting
I can remember this time back in 2001. I had just acquired a 200 acre farm. Season was only a few weeks away. I had seen a few deer and a few turkeys, but I frankly thought the numbers were going to be sparse. I was only able to get out there on weekends, so I spent the weekday nights studying maps and planning strategies. Let me tell you how I went about it and what I did wrong and what I have learned since. First, get yourself a topo map and an aerial photo. Google Earth is pretty darn … More . . .
What was I ever thinking?
Now that I’m well past 30 seasons of deer hunting, I find myself looking back and increasingly thumping myself on the forehead and proclaiming, “What was I ever thinking?” Camouflage clothing: What was I thinking? I do not mean that I was wrong in trying to hide myself a bit better. The problem was that I thought you needed a serious plan with camo. I needed an early-season and late season. I needed camo for the treestand and camo for the blind. I needed camo for every occasion. I had camo cover-ups to camo my camo. The best piece of … More . . .
New 2012-13 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide
KYDFWR has just released the new Hunting and Trapping Guide. 2012-13 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide So far I don’t see any big changes for what I’m doing. This post has already been read 1420 times!Views: 2 Related posts: From the KDFWR: Outstanding outlook for the hunt KY Turkey Poacher Fined $44,000 Indiana DNR Rule Changes KY: Record Harvest for Modern Gun Deer Season Know Thy Game, Know Thyself So you want a new deer rifle for Indiana Shotgun Vs. Rifle Yute Season
More . . .
My GoTo Deer Rifle– a redux
I was digging through the stats the other day, trying to figure out why I’d had the best day ever on this weblog as far as the number of visitors. One of the log entries I’d noticed was a popular post from back in 2004, “What is my goto deer gun?” I had forgotten I had written it, and so I decided it was time to read it. What is my “goto” gun for Deer? To my surprise, it was the wrong gun. Don’t get me wrong. The Remington 1100 is a heck of a deer gun, and I am … More . . .
Stuck in The Burbs
So here it is, the second week in July. I should be down at camp, but it is too darn hot. It is too hot to mow, because it is too hot for the grass to be growing. Walking out the door to go the mailbox has become a planned event. We have a fan running in the center of the house, moving air around to help the air conditioning. It is loud enough to disturb thinking. You have to go to one end of the house to have a conversation. My apologies for not writing. I usually take a … More . . .
A Ninety-Niner Looks Back
I have been back to work now for going on 2 years. I am starting to dig myself out of the hole. The bills are getting paid. I decided to go back and look at an piece I wrote a little more than 2 years ago, about being a Ninety-Niner and what it meant to my deer hunting. At the time I wrote it, August 2010, I had used up my full 99 weeks of unemployment and was coasting with no good hope of a job.  Just before season started, I got a call out of the blue to work … More . . .
The Deer Log is Finished
I finally finished off my deer log. I say that, and I can envision a strange shelf-stable variation of venison meat loaf. No, I mean that I completed a spreadsheet listing all the deer ever taken at our camp, along with accompanying a data. I tried to answer the following questions? What was it? Doe, buck, antler size, live weight, etc. Where and when was it taken? Who took it? With what? What was the weather like? Moon phase? It ended up being quite a list and quite an undertaking. I started doing this about 1992 as I realized I … More . . .
Deer Opener
The Proposed 2012 Seasons are posted on KYDFWR’s website: http://fw.ky.gov/20122013proposedseasons.asp The big dates for me: Squirrel Opener: 8/18 Bow Opener: 9/1 Yute Opener: 10/13 Early Smokepole: 10/20 Rifle Opener Zone 1: 11/10 This post has already been read 933 times!Views: 5 Related posts: Is Bow or Rifle your Favorite? A Decade without Bow Hunting Bowhunting So You’re Looking for a new Yute Rifle, Huh? PCR Comes to Ohio Weather Heebie-Jeebies How Have I Changed over 40 Years More on Indiana Deer Rifle Changes
More . . .
Salt Licks — NOW!
I was out last weekend pestering the turkeys and I came upon a herd of 5 deer camped out under one of my stands, worrying my salt lick. It reminded me that now– I MEAN NOW!!! — is the time to start making or rejuvenating salt licks. There was enough salt in mine, leftover from last year, to hold their interest. However, you need to have your licks established early. By Summer, they’re not going to be nearly as useful. Contrary to popular belief, new salt licks are well-near useless during hunting season. You cannot just put out salt the … More . . .
The Remington 742 — a look back
There has been a vast number of hits at this weblog regarding the Remington 742, so much so that I feel compelled to write about it. It was 2004 when I put the 742 onto the rack, never to hunt with it again. It had served me well for over 20 seasons. I put it up on the rack on a dark evening towards the end of deer season, and went into the house to crawl out of my hunting clothes. There was a gust of wind and I heard a terrible racket out on the front porch. Somehow the … More . . .
Bowhunting
This is going to be a bit tickilish. I know my bow hunting friends might very well look at this and think I am knocking bow hunting. I am trying my darndest not to do so. However, it has been 5 years since I had to give up my bow, and as I’m putting the rifles away I must say that I have not missed bow hunting as much as I thought I would. What got me out of bow hunting was a mix of things. First, my eyes started to go. I was having trouble focusing on the pins … More . . .
The Clown Suit Revealed
Over the years, I have gone round and round about in my beliefs regarding camo for deer hunting. I started back in the early 80’s just using whatever was at hand, mostly stuff recycled from my paintballing. I was a bowhunter, and I usually wore an old milsurp M-65 field jacket, and the deer did not seem to mind. Well, I say that, but really they were too busy snorting at me for the mothballs I packed my wool pants in to be paying attention to the camo pattern. Over the years, I started thinking that I had to maximize … More . . .
So Now What?
Good question. Season is over for us. I still have a pile of stuff to do before calling it quits. The Guns One thing I learned over this season is that storing rifles in padded cases is bad Ju-Ju. I guess I was lucky all these years. I never had a problem. However, this year was particularly wet– record setting rain. We had water in the basement. The foam in the cases probably soaked up a bunch of humidity. After I found rust on some of my rifles, I made a point of bringing the cases upstairs and letting them … More . . .
The Way it Ends
The drive back Sunday was all too familiar.  Rain, a lot of unused tags, snow in the forecast, and listening to the Bengals lose.   I explained to Angus that was how I spent a good deal of my early years as a deer hunter.  Somehow Phil Samp play-by-play, Horst Muhlman field goals,  deer hunting, tag soup, and rain all fit together in one tight little package.  That was long ago. Things change after thirty years. For one thing, the Bengals went on to pull it out over Cleveland in the second half.  For another, the unfilled tags belonged to everyone … More . . .
Report from Deer Camp, 2011
Y’all were really nice about Dad passing. Thanks again for all the good wishes. Normally I would have been doing more of a day-by-day report up on Deer and Deer Hunting. Now, here it is, Thanksgiving, and I’ve hardly written a thing. Sadly, there has not been much to write. PRELUDE I’ll begin back in July. I was still recovering from pneumonia back during Turkey Season. We had missed quite a few weekends coming out to camp, and I was behind in my chores.  I went out in mid-July to mow around the house. Just at sundown there was a … More . . .
Getting to the Opener
It is always a bit of thrill getting to deer camp the night before The Opener. The preparations have usually been going on since August. The tree stand skirts are hung in September. Sure, we hunted a little in September and October, but mostly that ends up being armed scouting. What we are all really dreaming about is the odd big rack that appears out of the bottoms and comes up on our ridge starting about Halloween. Everyone wants to save their tag for that. Even with Dad passing away this year, the slow relentless march towards the Opener kept on. … More . . .
Weather Heebie-Jeebies
I do this every year. I know it’s neurotic. I can’t help it.  It gets down to Halloween and I start seriously thinking about the Rifle Opener, second weekend in November. Next I begin to wonder about how the weather will be. Usually it’s in the low thirties and partly cloudy. However, I’ve had some odd variants. In 2006 I got to my stand just before the drizzle started. It was 50-something. By 0900 I was taking horizontal rain, and 25 MPH winds and falling temperatures. I was wondering if it could get any worse when I heard thunder. That … More . . .
DST — More on this Deer Hunting Bugaboo
As you know, I have been examining the effects of Daylight Savings Time (DST)Â on sport of deer hunting– especially the effects on the deer themselves. This year, I have been conducting expanded experiments at the D&DH Pro-Staffer facility near Browningsville, KY. Three identical plots were created, each filled with a combination of ladino clover and wheat. In Plot #1, the Accelerated Plot, I placed test equipment including a Shamanic Anti-DST device that simulated the time change 2 weeks early. In Plot #2, the Control Plot, I placed test equipment but no Anti-DST device. DST will change back this weekend … More . . .
Back at it — Yeah, we lost Dad
There’s that old bit of glurge about footsteps in the sand. You look back and see only one set of prints although you know someone was there helping you along. I just looked back and there’s nothing in this weblog for October except a piece on buck fever on the Third and a prayer request for my Dad mid-month.  October is normally my busy month for posting. There really is some stuff in this about deer hunting. Just bear with me for a bit. Dad Died Well, let me cut to the chase. Dad died. We buried him last week. … More . . .
Second Guessing
Every year I start jonesing over my successes after the season ends. You can see it if you look back here in this weblog. Deer season ends, and sometime before the first turkey gobbles, I get all wound up over my deer rifles and their loads. Somehow I get to thinking things could have been better, even though the freezer is usually crammed full. Somehow, I feel like I could have done it better. In the wake of all that fussing, I have learned a few universal truths: 1) Any modern legal centerfire rifle cartridge will produce venison. Deer are … More . . .
The Revel
The Revel (Apologies to Bartholomew Dowling) We meet ‘neath the sounding rafter, From the walls the fallen all stare As they shout back our peals of laughter It seems their glass eyes aware. Then stand to your glasses, steady! We drink in our comrades eyes: One cup to the dead already- Hurrah for the next deer  that dies! Not here are the goblets glowing, Not here is the vintage sweet; ‘Tis cold as our hearts are growing, And dark as the doom they meet. But stand to your glasses, steady! And soon shall our pulses rise: A cup to … More . . .
Buck Fever
I have never had chronic buck fever, but I can point to at least a couple of times where I got a dose of it. Maybe this qualifies me to give advice. Maybe it doesn’t. However, I do know what has worked for me. First off, let me be clear. There are a bunch of different forms of buck fever. You got the shakes. You’ve got the freeze-ups, and you got the stupids. Maybe there’s other versions, but those are the ones I’ve seen. The Shakes: A deer comes in and you start shaking so bad you can’t hold the … More . . .
New-Mown Hay
I was down at Deer Camp last weekend. Everything went well. I really have no complaints. The family did not come with me. Angus was competing at his last big bagpipe competition for the season. I could not go, because I had to work on Friday and Monday. It rained– not a lot, but enough to keep me on the front porch being reflective. In earlier years, I might have been out hunting squirrel or deer. I might have been servicing tree stands. I might have been building ground blinds. I might have been doing a whole lot of things. … More . . .
Reality sets in
I’m not sure what I was expecting. This was not a project to make a 30-30 into a 30-06. It wasn’t even going to get the Marlin to perform like a 300 Savage. It was meant to get a 30 WCF to do as well as it could. It did. I guess I should be happy. Saturday was my first chance to get the Marlin 336 out and see how my new Lever Evolution load would work. I meant to do this thing the way they do it in the magazines. I got up at the crack of dawn and … More . . .
As the old dog returneth. . .
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Proverbs 26:11 Yeah, that is me. In fact I put a reference to that in my loading notebook as I was cooking up this load.  While I was there, I did a quick review of my loads over the years with the 30 WCF. There as a flurry of loadings in 2002 as I got my Marlin 336.   Then a long string of experiments as I tried to figure out what was going wrong. You can see where I gave up around 2005, and how … More . . .
This post has already been read 7087 times!
Views: 28