Deer Hunting
The Shaman Nails a Doe
The deer have been rather tentative in their movements the past couple of days, probably due to a great deal of wind. We have been seeing a few, but nothing that would afford us a shot. Yesterday, the wind moderated a bit and I gave Remnar the use of the blind at Midway and I went out to the tower at Hollywood for an afternoon sit. SuperCore, as usual, was at Jagendehutte. We all went out in the 3 O’Clock hour. SuperCore later reported to me that he had a do come streaking out from behind Broken Corners and run … More . . .
The Shaman Gets His Buck
This morning SuperCore went to Jagendehutte, Remnar went to Lazy Boy and I went back out for a sit at Midway. I did not have long to wait. At 0710, 20 minutes into legal hunting, a nice doe came out of Left Leg Creek and wandered out into the pasture about 100 yards from the blind. I watched her cross the field into the treeline at the Campground. Shortly thereafter, a 8-point buck came out to the edge of the Garden of Stone. I grabbed the Mauser from Hell and got a bead on him. He was just stepping out … More . . .
SuperCore Scores on Opener
SuperCore continued his record of Opening Day successes with a fat 8-pointer taken as he came out from behind Broken Corners and heading into Dead Skunk Hollow. SuperCore made a brilliant neck shot and brought the bruiser down about 120 yards from his vantage at Jagendehutte. I was out at Campground and noted his shot as the 14th of the morning, occurring at 0710 ET, about 20 minutes into season. My action was far less substantial but rather humbling. about 0900 I saw one of the local hatracks come through, chasing a doe in earnest. I had heard several from … More . . .
Remnar’s Treestand Erection
As if the previous night and morning weren’t enough, the real business of getting ready for deer season had yet to begun. #3 son, Angus, showed up at lunchtime on Saturday and we went down the do-list in fairly rapid succession. Patch the roof on Jagendehutte Prep a stand site for Remnar Fix some gutter issues on the house Scout out a new stand site on Right Leg Creek Rescue Fort Apache from the weeds Angus got a chance after all that to go squirrel hunting in Hundred Acre Wood and managed to bag a big grey. We watched for … More . . .
You Just Had to Be There
I’m writing this down so that I don’t lose the details. I wish I’d had the camera out this morning, but most of this stuff could have only been caught with a lot of planning and a solid tripod. It’s one of those things that . . .well, you just had to be there. Sadly the rest of deer camp were not in attendance. It all started last night, Friday night. I got down to the farm fairly early and set up shop expecting an uneventful happy hour at the Thoughtful spot. This was not to be. It all started … More . . .
Early Muzzleloader 2020
Early Muzzleloader Season has been a dry run for us– a dress rehearsal for the big show in November. This year was no exception. SuperCore, Angus, Moose, Mooselette and I went out Saturday morning with the express hope of not shooting anything, except perhaps a new camp record. Sunday, we had to keep an eye on the weather. Rain was due in by the late morning. As it was, everyone was out and starting to pack to leave camp when the drizzle started. It would seem hunters in most of the surrounding counties were under the same rules of engagement. … More . . .
Remnar Joins Shamanic Dream Team
Albert Soady: “And Remnar? Well, he turned out pretty much the way you’d expect for somebody goes by the name of Remnar.” Well, the new guy arrived at camp Saturday night, and we all retired to the Thoughtful Spot for a conclave. Amid the gathering gloom, an approaching hurricane remnant, and bottles of Loch Lomand and Suntory, we got down to the Special High-Intensity Training necessary to turn our friend into a full-fledged member of the Shamanic Dream Team. As I suspected, weekends will be somewhat problematic from his end. The first major thing decided was his callsign. I think … More . . .
Of Thutty Thutties and Shower Curtains
So with the deal in the bag with the 7mm-08, I headed down to the farm to get PLAN B going, namely the 30-30’s. I’ve got two. One is the Marlin 336 that I’ve had since 2002. Even though I stopped hunting with it, I’ve kept shooting it and developing loads for it. What can I say? It is still a fun gun. The other is a Savage 340 that I picked up a few years ago with the idea of giving it to the Mooselette when she is old enough to hunt deer. I set off Saturday AM for … More . . .
Good News, Bad News
The Bad News 2 weeks ago I took the Ruger Model 44 out to do a final sight-in with the ammo I was going use for hunting. The first round went off and was perfectly placed on the target, but I just could not find the brass. I finally checked the rifle itself– the bolt was locked up tight. Ooops. Time for a trip to the gunsmith. I got the bad news a few nights ago. Mister Fleming at Heritage called me to tell me that the prognosis was not good. That’s just pot metal, and it shattered. Bill Ruger … More . . .
If I was the NewGuy at Camp
If I were the NewGuy at Camp, what would I want? That’s an interesting question. None of what I’m going say here is an outright endorsement/best of class recommendation of anything in particular. What I’m giving is based on a scenario of my nearly 2-decade experience at our camp and what I’d want to bring if I were starting over. Clothing Opening Week at Camp starts the second Saturday of November. Here in the Trans-Bluegrass normal temperatures are a low in the mid-30’s and a daytime high of the mid-50’s. By the end of the month both ends have dropped … More . . .
Eye Candy, 2020
I pulled the memory stick from the camera next to the stand at Campground this past weekend and found the most buck appearances I’ve ever seen at that site. I edited it all down into a highlights real. Enjoy. Of particular interest is this single frame. It holds signifigance that will be discussed later. This post has already been read 2084 times!Views: 1 Related posts: Eye Candy Eye Candy 2017 Eye Candy, 2021 Eye Candy with New Trail Camera Return to Camp, 2020 It’s Out! KDFWR Releases Spring 2020 Rules Turkey 2020 Post Mortem Early Muzzleloader 2020
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The Garden of Stone
I was trying to explain The Garden of Stone the other day. After I got done, I realized that I have never written down the whole story. I should. It has accounted for dozens of deer over less than 2 decade’s worth of hunting. Its story goes all the way back to the founding of our deer camp. It took most of a decade to fully develop it. Y’all probably deserve a complete description and history. What is the Garden of Stone? The Garden of Stone (GOS) is a patch of pasture no bigger than a tennis court. I discovered … More . . .
12 Weeks and Counting
Yesterday marked the 12-week mark in the countdown to the Rifle Opener in November. It found me staying home from camp to escape the all-day rains that never quite materialized. So what needs to be done? Odds and Ends By this time of the year, I have all my clothes washed and put away. I ran a couple of loads of leftover clothes from turkey season and got them stashed in sodium bicarb. See Baking Soda– the Shamanic Method KYHillChick did some mending on the orange clownsuit. I put a tear in the bibs crossing a barbed-wire fence last fall. … More . . .
Camoflauge
Last night #3 son, Angus, was asking me about camo. He’d seen some Youtubes with this guy touting the ultimate new super-duper stuff. He wanted to buy a set. I explained to him that I’d been where he is starting off about 30 years ago. I had not only 1st gen TreBark and MossyOak, but every camo you could imagine and I was like that for years. I used to even hang my camo out on the back fence and video them against the woods to see which showed up. The winners? For my eye, for the woods where I … More . . .
Scent Reduction Rant
The last bit of rain hit about 0300. By 0700, I was loading up the washing machine with hunting clothes. By evening, they’ll be dry and packed in sodium bicarb, waiting for the November Opener I’m following the same Baking Soda regimen that I’ve been doing for years: See: Shamanic Baking Soda Method BTW: Word must be getting out. It’s the hottest post on this weblog right now. I’m of an age that I can remember the world prior to all this scent reduction hoopla. I spent the first 5 or so years doing it old school with wool clothes … More . . .
What Makes the Perfect Deer Rifle — PT 3 The Ammunition
The last piece of the Perfect Deer Rifle Puzzle is Ammunition. There are guys out there that will tell you Barnes TSX is all you need to know. I have a friend that hunts with it exclusively. Let me just say up front, if you’re hooked on premium ammo, there is no reason to change on my account. The reason I am writing this is for those of you who may be forming your ideas on deer hunting, or second-guessing your ammunition choices. I am here to give you a middle way. Let me give you some basic truths about … More . . .
What Makes the Perfect Deer Rifle — PT 2 The Rifle Itself
In the previous missive, I examined what makes an ideal deer rifle from the perspective of chambering. The answer was “Yes, one of those will do nicely.” Now, I’m going to start getting into the real meat of it. What action? What length? The answer is still the same: “Whatever works.” Look, I’ve built my preferences over 40 years. If you start now, in 40 years, you will probably come up with some radically different answers. One guy is going to be a lever nut. The next guy will have a nice AR-type MSR. Someone else may be carrying a … More . . .
What Makes the Perfect Deer Rifle? PT1 The Chambering
What DOES make the perfect deer rifle? I’ve tried to answer this several times over the past couple of decades. Most of those thoughts ended up on this weblog. The question continues to haunt me. Part of that is that I spent so many years trying to come up with an answer. Part of it is that, as a writer, people kept wanting to know an answer from me. A big part of it is that despite decades of searching and a room full of deer rifles, my answer is still full of qualifications and provisos. Why is that? … More . . .
Deer Hunting in a Nutshell
Folks seem to think there is a lot more to deer hunting than there really is. General Mattis: ‘The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.’ This is your most important tool. The rest is gravy. Whitetails are not hard to kill. Equipment is largely unimportant. It is all skill and experience. 1) Know where to find deer. Don’t hunt them where they ain’t. 2) Learn how to regulate your body temperature. Know how to stay warm under your hunting conditions, and especially know how to keep from sweating. This is the single biggest reason for … More . . .
How to Construct a Deer Battery
So Shaman, exactly how many deer rifles do you need? If I said just one, this would be a really short post. In a way you do only need one. As I’ve written many times before, just about anything can kill a whitetail– certainly any modern centerfire rifle. Okay, maybe a 22 Hornet is a bit of a stunt, but nowadays nobody is pooh-poohing a 223 REM. On the top end, I know that 45-70 is very popular in states like Ohio. Between them is a pretty wide range. So why do you have so many deer rifles? This is … More . . .
Deer Eyesight — a shamanic view of things
Originally Posted by StrayDog Shaman, I enjoyed reading about your trip and especially the informative regarding photos of different types of colorblindness, Especially the example of what deer would see. Thanks. You know, of all the things I’ve written over the years, I think the thing on what deer really see was the most flat-out informative piece I’ve done. If you go back and look at the canon of stuff written about deer and their eyesight, you see mostly flat-out manure. I’m talking about whole chapters of books that are completely wrong. I was decades into deer hunting and even … More . . .
New Load for the Whelenizer
 Being trapped at home in Covid-19 purgatory gets a mind to thinking. I’ve had a real dearth of reloading projects. I have two major windows for reloading each year; they are between my two main hunting seasons. By 1 March, I have a backlog of projects that are done and need shooting. I have not been to the farm in nearly a month.  I have a window of a couple of months after Turkey Season ends and then I’m back home for a month or so in mid-summer. The larder is still full from winter, so coming up with … More . . .
Whitetail Feeding Frenzy
I’ve published video off the security camera before. This one come from 2/10 just at sundown. It had been one of those miserable February days. A mix of rain and snow was in the air. All of a sudden every doe group in the neighborhood suddenly decided to come out for a quick feed before dark. This is not uncommon for this time of year. However, I don’t usually have that many at once in this pasture. My guess is that the browse in the woods has started to peter out and the deer are starting to get pressed for … More . . .
Which is harder: Deer or Turkey?
Which is harder: hunting deer or hunting turkey? This is just one man’s perspective. I know this is going to have a lot of different opinions. However, I’ve been at both for nearly 40 years, so maybe I can at least lend a valid opinion. Twenty years ago, I would have said they were both hard to do. Why they were hard had nothing to do with the animals themselves. It all had to do with my lifestyle and my hunting opportunities. No animals to hunt This is first and foremost. It sounds silly, but make sure there is enough … More . . .
Bob’s Model 44 — Some Final Thoughts
 I cannot help but mention Big Bob’s passing one more time as well as talk about his Ruger Model 44 and the 44 Mag as a deer round. Big Bob only made it to our camp a few times. I rode him around in the truck. His legs had given out even before we got the place back in 2001. However, I always called Bob first whenever I got a deer or a turkey. He had been the major reason for my interest in hunting and shooting back in the early ’80s. Back then, I was a kid fresh … More . . .
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