Deer Hunting
More on Deer Intelligence
I would say that my orginal post was in no way attempting to anthropomorphize whitetail deer, but some folks seem to think so. Quite to the contrary, deer have intelligence and world view befitting a 4-legged herbivore, and that’s about it. You really don’t need that much upstairs to eat grass, pass grass, and make little grass eaters. I could get totally gratuitous and suggest this extends to some vegetarian humans I know, but that would be going to far for just a cheap laugh at my vegan acquaintances. Your average deer is certainly above turkey in intelligence. It is … More . . .
Having an Understanding Wife
DeerMeadowFarm over at HuntingChat.net is in the doghouse, because he missed a wedding chasing a deer on opening day of gun season. He was looking for help. I say don’t sweat it. They get over it. Some things just have to be done. I knew one family down south of Memphis TN, that managed to schedule a wedding just before the opening of Duck Season. The groomsmen, the groom, and the father of the groom all brought their duck boats to the reception and took off for a week after the wedding. My son was born during opening week of … More . . .
Do you gut in the field?
I was a gut-in-place kind of guy. However, I became a drag-it-out convert when we moved into the farm. I can radio back and have a pickup within 5 minutes. I even have one of those hitch platforms that is low-enough to the ground for me to flop ’em on. It saves on leaves and muck in the cavity. If I still got one at the bottom of a ravine, I’d still gut it out to lighten the load. After hefting my big bruiser out last year un-gutted, I read an article about deer hunters having heart attacks, and I … More . . .
A Meat Pole for Deer Camp
Every good deer camp needs a meat pole. We’ve been making do for the past three years, gutting and cleaning deer on the front porch. However, it makes for a messy clean-up, and Girlfriend has decided that there is no way she can stomach another episode, with her holding the light while I get elbow-deep in a deer. I’ve pondered the problem for a while. I figured a kid’s swing set would be an ideal model, but for the height I intended, the base would be dramatically wide. I also didn’t want to use too many long pieces. It finally … More . . .
First Blood with the Muzzleloader
There’s a picture of me with my new muzzleloader. I’m at my 25th birthday party. It was a truly grand affair. I remember it like it was yesterday. I wasn’t even thinking about deer hunting with it. I just saw it at Sports Headquarters up in Sharonville, and determined that I would buy it for myself as a birthday present. It was just a standard Thompson Center Hawken in .54. However, it had a really nice stock. Everyone ooohed and ahhhed at it when I brought it out. For laughs, I loaded it with a blackpowder and a toilet paper … More . . .
What was my very first deer like?
My mind drifts back. What was my first deer like? Let me give you a few highlights: 1) Just before I shot my deer, I had nearly been trampled in a stampede of deer. 2) I shot my first deer at 10 feet with a Texas Heart Shot 3) I shot at a buck, a respectable 4 pointer, but what fell down was a doe. It all started when I was invited to hunt Sue and Hugh’s place outside Warsaw, Kentucky. Sue and Hugh had a trailer on 80 acres. I had been having some nice close-calls with the deer … More . . .
Back from the Hunt– 1 Doe with the Hawken
I’m back in from the hunt. a doe came in at 5 with her girlfriend trailing. She came in on exactly the downwind side and busted me. At 6, she came back on a crosswind trail and I nailed her at 60 yards with the 54 Hawken. This is my first muzzleloader deer in 20 years of trying. The shot rolled her over, and she was dead before she hit the ground. Funny thing: the girfriend stuck around for about 20 minutes trying to figure out why her buddy was taking a dirt nap. Deer are not really deep creatures, … More . . .
My thought on Decoys
Decoys are not one of my favorite gimmicks. On the advice of Peter Fiduccia’s articles and book, I bought a Carry-lite full body decoy. It was a gorgeous piece of work– Italian handpainted. It was incredibly life-like. I have credit to Fiduccia that his writing was so convincing. I put it out in the front yard, and my dog went nuts. I’ve got a wonderful set of photos of the dog running out and trying to get the deer to run. It was a hoot. We took it out to the nearest county park and had great results. We put … More . . .
Our Little QDM Program
My family acquired a 220 acre tract in SW Bracken County in September of 2001. When we showed up, it and the surrounding tracts were wide open to hunting. I’ve since met guys from all over that knew about that land and have hunted it over the years. In 2001, I chained up the gate and posted signs, and went about chasing everyone out. The next year, my neighbors started doing the same. As a result, my deer herd has probably doubled or tripled. We’ve also stopped having shots whizzing over our heads on opening day. We were able to … More . . .
Wet Weather for Smokepole Season
Up around Bracken County, it’s looking like scattered rain on Saturday and then sunny on Sunday. I guess my best shot will be the afternoon of Saturday, but you can bet I’ll be somewhere out there in the morning. One of my biggest disappointments was on the Saturday afternoon of ML in 2002. It was pouring pitchforks and tarbabies, and I was sitting in a barn watching the world get dark. This BIG buck came out and walked right towards me. I had him dead on with a brisket shot at 30 yards. Pop! The humidity had gotten to my … More . . .
Preparing for Muzzleloader Season
I was downstairs this morning at the bench, running one more patch down the Hawken before I pack it for the farm. This weekend is early Muzzleloader, and I finally got a good group out of the new barrel on Sunday. For twenty years, I shot buffalo bullets and round ball out of the factory barrel. Last year I finally broke down and bought one of those Green Mountain IBS barrels with the 1in28″ twist. Last year was a disaster– couldn’t get the new barrel to shoot worth a poop. I don’t know what was wrong. I tried sabots, Buffalo … More . . .
Is the Acorn Crop Failing?
At the farm in SW Bracken County, the whites are producing at a level just under last year’s bumper crop. The reds are taking the year off. Our other place is up in Cincinnati. There are acorns there, but not in any profusion. About every 10 years or so, the mast crop of the oaks fails completely. The result is ruinous to the squirrel population. The next year, they produce a bigger than normal crop of acorns. There’s been some research to suggest the trees have evolved this way as a way of insuring that at least one crop out … More . . .
Youth Hunt SNAFU PT III
——————————————————————————– Well, I wish I had a story for you that began: “There the doe lay, under a bush beside the gully. The 150 grainer had taken its time doing its work, but . . .” or “The coyotes had done their work. All that was left was . . .” or even: “How could we have been so blind as to not see her . . ” Nope. I got on my brush pants and an orange sweatshirt and took off after the sun came up. Barney and I went back to the spot and looked for anything that … More . . .
Youth Hunt SNAFU PT II
We had a hearty second breakfast and then headed out to the stand at Heartbreak Ridge, stayed for a couple of hours, heard nothing, saw nothing. Along about 1 PM we headed in for lunch and a nap. The deer we had seen in the morning had been grazing directly in front of our hunting blind up on Gobbler’s Knob. We arrived there around 3:30 and lazed around until about 5:30. #2 has been doing a lot of napping lately– must be going through a growth spurt. #2 caught the first sign of the deer. Two doe came out by … More . . .
Youth Hunt SNAFU PT I
It’s 0640 on Sunday. Why am I not in the stand? It’s Youth Weekend, why am I not in the stand with my son? Saturday morning started off perfectly. #2 son was all primed to take a deer. First light came and zap! #2 was up to his old habits, dead asleep and snoring. We were back at the barn #2 made famous last year: Late Season Youth Hunt I let him sleep for a while and then got him up as best I could. There was no action, so all he was missing was a beautiful Fall morning– Four … More . . .
Deer Season
It all seems to come on so quickly. There is a first whiff of Fall, the Harvest Moon rises, and then ZAP! I’m in the middle of deer season and my life is filled with last-minute shopping, running loads of hunting clothes through the washer, juggling acts in the dimensions of time, space and the vagaries of stand choice. Before two months are out, it will all be over. The freezers will be filled, the checking account drained. The unmarked van of reality will pull up and dump me off outside a shopping mall, as I suddenly realize I’m behind … More . . .
Youth Hunt Preparations
I’m taking #2 out. He’s psyched. Saturday we went into town to get his youth tag. We spent Sunday afternoon getting his rifle sighted in. It’s funny how a reloader marks the passage of time and the growth of his son. This year we finished shooting up the original batch of reduced 30-30 loads. I noticed he fits the Marlin perfectly. His group is adequate for a supported shot at reasonable range. The new loads are a bit hotter from the ones we had loaded before. He can take a full 30-30 load now. He’s also ready for loading the … More . . .
Shamanic Guide — Treestand Safety
When I look back on my early years of deer hunting, it’s a small wonder I survived. Take tree stands for instance. Look at any good book on deer hunting. Go to any Hunter’s Ed class. Here’s what the Treestand Manufacturers Association says you don’t do: • Wear a safety belt around your waist. If you should fall, this will flip you upside down leaving you dangling helplessly; or you could completely slip from the belt and fall. • Hunt from a tree stand while under the influence of drugs, alcohol or if you’re physically impaired. • Use a tree … More . . .
The Cost of a Tag
Over on KentuckyHunting.com’s forums, SCSIMS was commenting on the increases in tag prices. I completely agree. Increasing tag prices: 1) Encourages folks to not buy tags and not report kills. This is the last thing you want. Once that begins snowballing, the herd dwindles back to nothing. 2) Discourages new hunters and old hunters. If hunting will remain the Commonwealth’s main choice in controlling deer herds, that is a problem. 3) Turns deer hunting into an elitist activity. One of the big draws of deer hunting is that you do not need to be a rich guy to do it– … More . . .
To hang or Not to Hang, That is the Question
I’ve never been much of a believer in letting the carcass age. Mine usually go right to the processor and I usually pick up the results a week later. He may let mine hang for a few days, while it waits its turn, but that’s it. I’m on the road to processing my own, now that I have a shed to do it, but it won’t age. I worked in a frozen meat plant for years, and before we ground up the 8-foot diameter pallets of beef, we’d put it in a tempering room. Basically, we were aging the cuts … More . . .
The ritual of Fall has begun.
The bug finally hit last night. All of a sudden, the scene changed. It came with the 10 degree drop in temperature, the accumulating leaves in the yard, the smell of my old leather shooting glove as I brought it out of the case. It was time to bow hunt, and I could no longer wait. I had been practicing for quite a while, but it had not seemed real. It was something too far off in the future to get worked up about. I grabbed some arrows and grandpa’s old watering can and stepped off the twenty yards, set … More . . .
The Optimal Whitetail Load
How do you know if you have an optimized whitetail load? That question is simple to answer: take it out in the woods, point it at deer and touch it off. If, in the next few seconds, you transform a graceful, warm, vital deer into a slowly cooling pile of venison, I think it is safe to conclude that you have an optimal load. Okay, I’m a smart-a$$. There is something I have noticed as I ever so slowly mature as a deer hunter and a reloader. There are an infinite number of mental bunny holes and most of them … More . . .
Blood Trail Philosophy — Push or Wait?
I was reading the November 2004 issue of Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine over lunch. There was a big article on the “5 Critical Mistakes of Blood Trailing.” It all boiled down to this: Let the deer lie down and die. Don’t push. I remember 10 years ago this magazine was saying the exact opposite: trail the deer immediately. Of all the deer I’ve shot and arrowed, I can only think of two that needed any special treatment. In all the other cases, I’ve could have walked to the deer and tag it immediately. However, I followed the old sage … More . . .
Aching with Anticipation
I had one stand that still needed some work this past weekend. It is my current best stand. While I was sprucing it up in early July, I noticed a missing bolt. One thing lead to another, and I haven’t been back out. There is plenty of sign at several of my prime stands, including this one. I just got pre-occupied with family reunions and such this summer and let things slip away. Now, there it was, 3 weeks into KY Bow Season, and it was still not done. I found the bolt, and a camo blind that goes around … More . . .
On Rifle Selection
There was a time in my life when one deer rifle was all it took. Now I have a safe full of them, and I cannot seem to ever be totally satisfied. Do I need another deer rifle? No. Do I want another? Always. What I’ve found that I really enjoy is the adventure of putting a new rifle into action. I like the process of acquiring a long gun, mounting a scope, building a good load and then proving it in the field. That has turned my deer hunting into an expensive hobby, where it should not have been. … More . . .
This post has already been read 7008 times!
Views: 28