Deer Hunting
What do you prefer: Bow, Muzzleloader, or Rifle
If I had to go based on my preference of season, I would say bow. I love being afield in October and watch the woods getting ready for Winter. If I had to base my response on what weapon feels the best in my hands, it would be my 54 Hawken. I just love that rifle. Eventually, I hope to find a full-stock flinter that gives me that kind of joy. I answered modern gun. My reasons are these:; 1) I finally figured out I could go easy early in the year and finally get around to filling my freezer … More . . .
So You’re Looking for a new Deer Rifle, Huh?
It occurred to me the other day that this might be a good time to start a new conversation about deer rifles. Guys will be thinking about possibly buying a new rifle about now, maybe their first. So it is probably a good thing to throw something up on the wall and get the ball rolling. To be honest, the best time I’ve found to buy a new deer rifle is just after season ends. A lot of guys sell their rifle to pay Christmas and winter heating bills. You get a lot of good deals. However, now is also … More . . .
Developments– Food Plots and Jagende Hutte II
We got to deer camp Friday night and did not even bother to open the doors. Instead, we immediately rolled out into the field to check on the food plots. I’d planted over Memorial Day weekend. In the interim, the farm has been soaked repeatedly. The results were fantastic! In two weeks, both the sunflower/milo/clover field and the wheat/clover field are germinated and growing. The other surprise we had was that as we drove past the one field, a dozen mourning dove flew out. In the other a dozen turkeys, all gobblers, ran off. There were serious deer tracks in … More . . .
We return you now to our regularly scheduled program. . .
If you scroll to the bottom, you’ll get into the serious hunting stuff. It’s not like a crawled in a hole at the end of turkey season. A couple of y’all have e-mailed me wondering where I’ve been. You have to remember that being a father is not all about sitting in a buddy stand or trying to find a good 20 GA turkey load. Sometimes it’s watching your kid and his bagpipe band take home all the marbles at the 2009 Glasgow Highland Games. Angus is only 11, but he managed to walk away with a 1st place in … More . . .
Update from Turkey Camp.
Well, it was a good fresh start. It wasn’t going to last. I bagged that gob on Friday. Friday evening, my wife and sons showed up. We were treated to a bunch of hens and a mature gobbler out in the pasture just before sundown. The didn’t much mind us; their closest approach was 150 yards. The gobbler did not seem to have his heart in it– he strutted once, and then spent the rest of his time feeding. That was sort of how Saturday was. I took Angus back to the same spot as the day before. The same … More . . .
Deer Hunters: Time to Start Thinking Salt
Now, right about turkey season, is a good time to start thinking about putting out your salt if you haven’t started putting one in already. I have action at mine, hitting the leftovers from last year. I don’t use salt blocks. I use bags of rock salt and use one bag per lick. Dig up a 4X6 hole about 12 inches deep. Pour in a little salt, a little dirt, a little salt and fill everything back in. I leave a little rock salt on top just to let the deer know where to look. Maximum hits on the salt … More . . .
I am NOT a Deer Geek
From Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine Forum I was in the process of trying to come up with a few quips that would get y’all laughing, and I finally stopped myself. It just wasn’t going anywhere. It’s not for lack of involvement. It’s not for lack of attachment to this place. It’s not that I’m not wholly immersed. It’s just that something has changed in me, and being a D&DH Geek isn’t quite where I’m at anymore. For one thing, a Geek act was from way back to Elizabethan times. The term “Geek” was used to describe a fellow who … More . . .
In the shamanic Reloading Cave
The shaman was busy at his reloading bench when he heard little Scooter come into his cave. “Mister Shaman?” “In here, Scooter.” said the shaman. “Jeepers, Mister Shaman.” said the boy. “What are you up to?” “I’ve been reading too many deer threads,” said the shaman, and I thought I would come here to chill out and get some reloading done. “It’s all so complicated.” said Scooter. “I wouldn’t know where to start. All these bullets. All this data. It makes my head spin.” “It doesn’t make my head spin.” said the shaman. “It was going to, and then I … More . . .
Why Do They Slit the Thoats of Dead Deer?
The thoat slitting thing is a fascinating topic to me. I never did it, but I sure heard about it. Throat slitting only works to bleed an animal if the animal is still alive and its heart is pumping. Everyone not closely connected with deer hunting wants to know “Did you slit their thoats?” I even had one lady standing by my freezer waiting to get a gift of venison ask me this and then turn around and leave when I said I did not. I’m not Meshack Browing; the last thing you’ll catch me at is jumping on the … More . . .
Taking the Venison for a Walk in the Snow
Every year about this time I wait for the temperatures to dip below zero. You have to plan ahead around here. We’re far enough South that it does not happen every year, and it has to be on a day I’m going to be off work. When it happens, I let all the venison out of the freezer and let them go and play on the back deck. Last year it did not happen at all. The frost was getting pretty thick. This morning, however, the temperature dipped down to minus 5F, which is colder than the inside of the … More . . .
The Check Stations are gone, but. . .
With the Telecheck system in place, the deer processor has replaced the check station for the place to hang out and watch deer come in. The spectacle at Meyer’s in Lennoxburg is every bit the way it used to be– crowds of people, lot’s of deer. Ditto for the Farm Store in Willow. If’n y’all are missing the check station, you ought to figure out some sort of event. Have a big buck contest at the old check station. Have the church bake sale, or the fireman’s chili cookoff or something. Y’all have car shows in the summer, right? How … More . . .
Is That All There is to Season?
Now, here’s question : if you’re down to a doe tag, and you know you’re probably going to see a shootable doe, then what? What happens when there’s no more “WOW” left in the season? Here are the options I’ve tried: 1) Stay home. Bummer. Season ends to soon. 2) Go out, but don’t carry a weapon. There’s another name for it: hiking. Again, bummer. I could join the Sierra Club and eat granola too. 3) Go out, carry a weapon, but don’t shoot anything until the last possible moment, or not at all. It’s a little hard to get … More . . .
It must be some sort of syndrome
Look at this. I found it over on KYHunting.Net This closely matches the 8-pointer I took this year: See: Shot for Just Bein’ Ugly What’s up with this? This post has already been read 2784 times!Views: 7 Related posts: A Snake Story — Sort of Kentucky’s the Place — Sort of
More . . .Getting Down From Your Stand
From Nubs on Deer and Deer Hunting Here is my question: The day has come to a close and it is time to get down from your stand but wait, there is just one problem. There are a few deer feeding out in the field that you have been watching all night. You know that if get down you might get busted, tipping off the deer to your presence and blowing your stand location. What do you do in this situation? I have tried using my easy weeze to sound like an alarmed deer to clear the field before I … More . . .
The last bunch of UV-Killer Tests
UPDATED TESTS The purpose of this report is to document additional tests I made on the UV-Killer product samples sent to me y Dan Gutting of Atsko, Inc. Let me repeat at the outset that I was on the record as highly skeptical of not only the claims of Atsko regarding this product. In fact the reason for this test grew out of a weblog entry I made on 9/22/2008 on Genesis 9:2-4 Ministries. Dan took umbrage with my assertions, and a conversation ensued. If you follow the link, and click on the comments, you can see what has transpired. … More . . .
Advice to College Student
From D&DH Forum: Advice to College Student My advice is on finding the time to hunt. Make the time. Hunters don’t usually talk about this subject. However, I took up hunting 20-some years ago, because I needed to retire from caving. Cavers always talked about whimping out. I guess you really had to screw yourself up hard to get down the hole. I never had a problem, but I know other folks did. There was a whole lot of attrition among cavers. I stayed in it for 5 years– not the shortest stint, but not the longest. There are going … More . . .
How to not get frustrated
From Deer & Deer Hunting Forum auman New Member Posts: 6 Joined: 9/28/2008 It seems the more I hunt, the less I see. Being in ‘bama the rut is still a couple of weeks away. It should be heating up shortly. I just have it in the back of my mind: ” Here we go, another wasted season.” Don’t give me all that got to be positive crap. I’ve tried it before and it doesn’t work. Gonna have to try some off the wall tactics I guess. What have you done when all else seems to have failed? Don’t worry … More . . .
Bienvenu Y’all!
I was digging through my site statistics this morning, and I found an interesting URL. Somebody at D-Day-Overlord.com had referenced a pic of the Mooseboy, his Garand and a doe: I got on the site: DDay-Overlord.com. . . and read what they all were saying about us. Some folks had a real problem with the idea of hunting deer with a Garand. However, I decided to sign on to the forum and post a response. I think the story of the Garand and Mooseboy’s namesake makes the endeavor worthwhile. Greetings from Cincinnati, Ohio.My name is William Allendorf, my son is … More . . .
The shaman in Print — D&DH
Somebody at the D&DH Forum was carping at me today about a long winded answer to a fairly simple question– the one in the previous blog entry this morning. Somebody else replied: 69Viking Super Member Posts: 134 Joined: 10/1/2008 From: Fort Walton Beach, FL I agree with Dmcianfa, I stopped reading Shaman’s book about halfway through. He does get some of his posts in the DDH Magazine so maybe that’s what he’s shooting for with the long posts. Now Dmcianfa, did you have to quote it so it shows up again!?!? What? I’m in the magazine? I went and grabbed … More . . .
Saturday Openers
I’m very much in favor of the Saturday Openers. It makes sense after a state begins to allow Sunday hunting. I saw a similar argument over the KY Turkey Seasons going on over at another forum– KY used to start just any-old-day of the week, and it’s now been moved to a Saturday. A Saturday Opener affords a suburbanite like me an extra couple days of hunting. I can see in the past, with herds and flocks the way they were 20 years ago, you might want to give the locals a chance. However, most states in my region are … More . . .
Is Bow or Rifle your Favorite?
Over at Deer and Deer Hunting they were looking for a quick show of hands over which folks enjoyed Bow or Rifle the most. Overwhelmingly, folks picked bow for a variety of reasons.Here’s my answer: Okay, I’ll go against the flow here and say modern centerfire rifle season. Mind you, up until 2007, I was a dedicated bowhunter for all of 24 seasons. I have crawled on my knees to get out to my stand after surgery. I have gone bow hunting during snow emergencies. Also, I am not trying to disparage bow or any other hunting pursuit. If my … More . . .
Harvesting Standards
From: Grizzly Gary’s Forum hunterdeneugene Charter Captain Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 2525 Location: some field, woods or Great Lakes trib somewher I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here…..I’m not going to put this in other threads. I hunt alot and have a desire to fill my freezer with meat as most people do, but I set myself to certain standards. I hate going to the processor and seeing those little deer laying there, and seeing a button buck really bugs me. I have taught my son how to judge a yearling deer and he has never killed one … More . . .
Season is Over
It’s over. At least for me. I’m not elated. I’m not sad. I hunted a lot more days this year, and a lot more deer in my scope. I got out late yesterday afternoon. Things just did not go smoothly. I left the house late, I got to camp late. I had trouble finding my gear. I had brought down a couple of extra deer guns, and I was having trouble choosing. I finally grabbed the Whelenizer, figuring there was no reason not to. It was colder than usual. It was windier than usual. I thought about just staying by … More . . .
Briar Engineering and the Win 670
One story that got lost in the rush of deer season is the tale of how I turned my buddy, O.T., into a gunsmith. Now that things are starting to wind down for me, I thought I would let you all hear it. One morning, I was out with my Winchester Model 670. Everyone remembers the Model 70, but the 670 is a very popular variant that was sold in places like K-Mart. Mine probably came from the early 70’s. It was their value-priced model: matte finish, hardwood stock, plain bolt. However, it was a fairly handsome rifle from afar. … More . . .
The Season So Far
I have had a moderate season. For everything that has gone right, there has been something else impinging on it. As things go, last year was the best year for us ever– just about anything would have been a let down. For starters, the big influences on our hunting this year were: 1) Hurricane Ike 2) The Drought I’m not going to say it was going to be a banner year for acorns without Ike. This was our second year of drought. However, we have had extraordinarily good luck with acorns in 2006 and 2007, and this year was flat. … More . . .
This post has already been read 20142 times!
Views: 33