Deer Hunting
Report from Deer Camp I
The past few years, I’ve been putting out a sort-of diary from turkey camp and deer camp on this forum or that. I figured this would be as good a place as any. I arrived yesterday afternoon and filled the fridge and freezer out in the shed. That’s a donation from Cousin Tim, he was moving back home and didn’t have room for the fridge in the new place. I then took on a bunch of last minute projects like re-mounting the mail box and putting out the jagende gewehrständer Mooseboy made it in shop for my Christmas present a … More . . .
Crossbow Update-
I promised myself that I’d not shoot anything with the crossbow unless it was special. I’ve been watching does and such go buy since early October. Last weekend I nearly pushed the safety off when a nice little 8-pointer came by. I held up . Today was much different. I had serious action from first light on. Deer were moving through while I was still trying to get my gear hoisted up. At 15 minutes before legal hunting I had a buck grunting in the dark. I had deer coming from every possible angle. Still, the safety staid on. Right … More . . .
Maysville Walmart
I just want to put out a big howdy to all you guys that are planning on hitting the Walmart in Maysville Kentucky at 2130 EST this next Friday night. From what I understand from my correspondents, there are a bunch of you that are making this pilgrimage, to the point where there are now some dedicated deer hunting locals that are turning this into a spectator event. The lines for licenses are supposedly long, despite being able to buy them online for years. The various gizmos are flying off the pegs– Cough Silencer and the Butt-Out were big sellers … More . . .
Dang! That was sweet!
It’s kind of goofy and strange that here I go all the way to KY every weekend to hunt, and yet I take a turn out to the local shopping mall to get the best look at a buck in situ all season. Tonight KYHillChick went out looking for a new washing machine– the old one died tonight at the ripe old age of 13 years, 6 months, filling the basement with water as it went. We drove out to Tri-County Mall on the north side of Cincy to go shopping and what should we see but a sweet 10 … More . . .
Progress Report on the Crossbow
I’ve finally done some serious hunting with the crossbow. I had it out a few times over the weekend in between hunting for turkey with Angus. Nothing really went wrong with any of it. It just wasn’t as much fun as my bow and certainly not like a rifle. For the most part a bow is flat. It can have a stabilizer or a cable guard sticking out, but the everything is fairly flat and easy to carry. Rifles are fairly stick-like. There’s not a whole-lot going on there either. Crossbows stick out in all three dimensions in one way … More . . .
Yute Season Eve
I held Angus out of school this morning. He was all worked up over the LCROSS Mission, and frankly so was I. We got up early to watch on the Nasa stream. It turned out to be a major boregasm (sigh!) They don’t make moon shots the way they used to. I’d never thought I hear myself saying I missed Walter Cronkite. Frankly, the guys they had for commentators seemed a little fey. We headed down to camp. I had a couple phone interviews (I’m still out of work), but after that was over, we went scouting a bit. It … More . . .
More On the Crossbow Experiment
(Or is that Moron ?) I got to keep saying to myself “CFAB!” “CFAB!” You’d think, starting way back in July, I’d be all ready for my first season with the crossbow. I am, but just barely. Honestly I missed my target of hunting with it last weekend for the first time, but I got things working Sunday morning, and I’m ready to hunt now. Of course this weekend I’m taking Angus out for Yute Season and then there’s Early Muzzleloader and I probably won’t actually hunt with it until the end of the month. My ultimate goal is to … More . . .
Why I Keep Deer Hunting
I was thinking again yesterday about what keeps me in deer hunting. Part of it is certainly just habit, but then you would have to have a serious habit to go through all the trouble I go through every year. Part of it is now probably that worship us old farts have for ourselves as we were in our youthful prime. However, I don’t think either would get me off the couch. I think I got a peek into what really keeps me going in this thing last weekend. Angus and I were going out to Newstand to place the … More . . .
What is a "Rain Gun?"
I’ve been talking about a rain gun here. I’ve been getting email from folks wanting to know what I mean, and asking if this gun or that qualifies as a rain gun. Let me explain. For a lot of people, there is no such thing. They take a rifle, take it out in whatever, and when they’re done, they clean it up and take it home. Rain, snow, whatever. My situation is a little different. I have several nice pieces that have wood stocks. If they get out in rain the wood is probably going to warp enough to change … More . . .
A new stand
So yesterday Moose, Angus, and I went squirrel hunting. Moose ran into the bionic squirrel: took 5 rounds of #6– kept getting back up and trying to climb the tree. Angus and I went out onto a finger ridge we seldom travel, and found a good spot for the ladder stand. While we were sizing up the tree, a doe busted us. We took that as an omen, and brought down the stand and transported it over. Later Moose and I came back from lunch to clear a few cedar trees out. One in particular would give us 100 yards … More . . .
Midway Phoenix– A Deer Shack is Born
It all started back in 2008 when I realized there was an ideal spot for a treestand that would cover the length of two food plots I put up a buddy stand; and pulled two deer out of the plots that year. I’d been spoiling for years to put up a serious all-weather shooting house, and my trips out with Angus had convinced me that it would not be long before the two of us would not fit into buddy stand. Over the winter I came up with a design that would comfortably handle two hunters, and take advantage of … More . . .
Resident Doe?
From “Resident Does” on the D&DH Forum DoeEyed Super Member From: Door County, WI. How many does do you think would reside on 57 acres? Our land is a mix of open field, cedar swamp and thick bedding area on the west; open field in the middle behind our house and white pine/white spruce and nine bark plantings on the edge of a swamp on the east. Last year I regularly saw 1 doe with her fawns on the east side of our property. On the west side I would see another doe with fawns come out of the bedding … More . . .
What Constitutes Hunting Before/After Legal Daylight?
This is a condensation of my comments regarding a thread on D&DH regarding the following question: I’m wondering about legal shooting times for bow hunting, specifically last light… If the law reads you have to quit at 5:00 p.m for example, do I have to be out of the woods at that time, or not have an arrow knocked at that time, or the bow in a case at that time……….or what ?? Is there some sort of a grace period to get out of the woods, say half of an hour, just to get back to your vehicle ???? … More . . .
Do bucks taste different than doe?
I certainly can tell the difference between deer — buck vs. doe, young vs. old. In fact, I can tell you that over time you can learn to discern between individual deer. The reason I say this is based on two things that came together in my family. First off, I have been marking all my venison with a code for about 8 seasons. It used to be we took in so little venison that it was easy to keep track of what was what. However, about 8 years ago we started taking more than 1-2 deer a season, and … More . . .
Field Dressing
Once, way way back, I shot a buck and had to drive it back to town before I could gut it. Never again. It was a strange set of circumstances, that kept me from cleaning the deer. The buck had laid out for about an hour before I found him, and then he turned out to be too big to put in the truck. The farmer drove out the back hoe and we rolled it into the bucket and then into the bed of my truck. I had a two-hour ride back to town. By the time I got to … More . . .
2009 Deer Goals
I’m hoping we can piece the remains of the new shooting house back together, and get a couple of new stands set up over the new food plots. Angus is still a yute, I’d like to see him bag something early in Yute Season Moose is probably due for a serious buck. He tagged out last season with a spike. Even he was a tad disappointed. He’ll probably also take a doe during early muzzleloader. I have a guest coming for rifle season. He’s out of work and wants to pad his freezer. He’s going to be of the brown-and-down … More . . .
Mineral Lick Update
Here’s the site I always recommend for this sort of thing: http://fw.ky.gov/mineral.asp I know the guy who wrote a bunch of these pages. I hunt with his Dad. Just to give you an update on my mineral lick progress: My last refresh was before Memorial Day. I had refreshed two existing licks, restarted one old lick and tried one new location on my 200 acres. The experimental lick was a zip. So was the old one that I had abandoned two years ago, but the two well-established licks were and are being hammered. The two major licks I maintain have … More . . .
Which table predicts deer movement the best?
I thought about this long and hard for years. The Magic Watch There are two conclusions in that piece: 1) I see more deer when I’m outside than when I’m inside. 2) I see more deer when I’m not looking at the watch. Since that piece, I’ve done some additional research on the subject. I tried the magic watch and several other sets of tables. For these experiments, I used my “sanity run,” It was a 5-mile circuit of back roads that I used to drive when I worked up near Mason, Ohio. The nearby woods and fields are filled … More . . .
What is the best slug load?
It is hard to pronounce any slug round as THE round for a slug gun until it has been tried. There are two things working against the average slug shotgun. First, the barrel is usually not permanently affixed to the receiver. You can improve accuracy on a dedicated slug gun by getting that joint welded, but I do not think it is worth it. If I was going for that kind of accuracy, I would be starting with a bolt-action slug gun. The other problem is the variability from one shotgun to the next and one round to the next. … More . . .
So You’re Looking for a new Yute Rifle, Huh?
I’m going to throw out some ideas on youth rifles for deer hunting. Maybe we’ll get a conversation going. Maybe not. This is just like the previous thread about deer rifles. It is about time to be thinking of what Junior’s going to be shooting this year for yute season. You know: yutes. The yutes go out with their little yute rifles and shoot da deer wit dem. Anyone who wants to go out and get a new store-bought youth deer rifle for their kid is welcome to. There are a lot of them out there– short stocked, short barreled … More . . .
On the .243 WIN for Deer
It always makes me cringe a little when folks start talking about .243 WIN. Mind you, there is nothing wrong about .243 WIN. It’s one of the cartridges that’s on my short list. It’s just that. . . well, see if you can follow this. I’ve been on hunting forums for about ten years now. There always some guy who is: 1) Passionately in love with the .243 WIN 2) Loves to take shoulder shots 3) Passionately against a whole slew of bullets. One bullet blew up on him. Another pencilled through. This one works. This one doesn’t– vast experience … More . . .
On Crossbows I
Lately I have been thinking about trying a crossbow. In Kentucky they’re restricted to only part of the archery season, but allowed in all of it if you can get a medical waiver signed by a doctor. I’m probably eligible. As I am getting into this, I find that there is tremendous opposition to crossbows. Some folks think of them as firearms. Here’s what I don’t understand: Management: 1) Archery in and of itself is a lousy tool for deer management. The states cannot depend on it. In Ohio, even with crossbows given equal access, the harvest in the 5 … More . . .
Food Plot 2009
Back in the Summer of 2009, I went wild on food plots. The hay dude roto-tilled 3 plots. I put this post up in 2018, because somehow I’d lost the link to the original photos. This post has already been read 6506 times!Views: 6 Related posts: Food Plot PIX 2009 Deer Goals I Take Back What I Said About Food Plots Developments– Food Plots and Jagende Hutte II Catching up on Food Plots Food Plots 2025 Early Start on Food Plots Food Plots 2026
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Latest on Jagende Hutte II
We went back to work on the Jagende Hutte II this past weekend. I got the porch put on, the sheathing primed and the end walls framed. We’d have gotten more done, but the storms hit around 2 PM, and so we packed up early and left. There’s also some pics of Moose hitting a milk jug with a round of 30-06. Yowsa! Bev and Jeff, drummers from the Caledonians were out this Saturday, learning how to shoot a shotgun. I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of them, but I really fagged out and had to go in and … More . . .
The Shamanic Deer Battery
I brought the Shamanic Deer Battery back from its secret offsite underground storage facility the other day, and it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to take pictures to share with y’all. I’m always talking about this deer rifle or that one. You can tell that I’m rather attached to them. I have to warn you. This is not my end-all list of must-have rifles. It is just the ones that I own, and ones that have a lot of history for me. I’ll try and post stories about each one as I go on the … More . . .
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