Deer Hunting
A Mooselette Comes to Deer Camp
Deer Camp opened this year with a new addition. Mooselette turned 6 this year. She has been out with Daddy Moose and myself to hike and hunt squirrel. However, yesterday afternoon marked the first time our youngest camper has officially donned the Orange and gone afield. This day has been 7 years in the making, as you may recall: I’ve Been Busy . . . You can see this project was anticipated all the way back to near the beginning. Mooselette had a good time out at Hollywood. It was cut short by a severe wind event that drove us … More . . .
Testimonial: Dyna-Tek Bore Coat is Amazing
I just wanted to give you a quick story about my Savage 99 at the range today. First off, though, I need to give you a bit of history. KYHillChick bought me this Savage 99 in 308 WIN in 2003 for my birthday. I’ve used it every year as my Opening Day goto rifle since. I encountered a bunch of problems getting it ready for its first season. Most of them were easily worked out. The one lingering problem was that it required at least 5 fouling shots every year before it would begin to shoot accurately. From there on, … More . . .
Range Day
Angus and Moose brought some from friends out from town, Keith and George, the new guy. Everyone had a good time, but you wouldn’t know it from the expressions. It was a hot one for September. Temps were in the high 80’s. Update on The Mauser From Hell Before they arrived, I was working on a couple of my projects. You may all remember The Mauser from Hell, a sporterized K98 that has previously given me fits. Over the winter, I opened up the barrel channel and removed enough of the old bedding to fit a dollar bill down the … More . . .
Watch out for Turkey Mites
Last year about this time, I was watching a bumper crop of deer out at the farm. The neighbor to my north had sold out and he was no longer dumping $700 worth of corn into his feeder every year. The deer all came over to my place. They’re not nearly as prevalent this year, but it made for a grand show while it lasted. One thing I noticed was most of the deer were showing signs of something really bugging the snot out of them. They seemed pre-occupied with something that was making them twitch and shake. I chalked … More . . .
Updated KY Deer Regs are Posted
After a looooong delay, KYDFWR has finally got the updated 2018-2019 deer regs published. What’s in: You can now bag up to 4 deer on your KY deer tag– no more than one antlered animal. There are a bunch of zone changes– a lot of counties went up a zone. What’s out: The proposed expanded crossbow season was cut. The extra antlerless rifle season in late September got the ax Here are the amended rules. http://genesis9.angzva.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/fallhuntingguide2018-192ndrun.pdf Here’s video discussing all the changes: This post has already been read 864 times!Views: 3 Related posts: KY: Record Harvest for … More . . .
KY Deer Regs are still delayed
. . . and not due until mid-September. This post has already been read 807 times!Views: 0 Related posts: I Take Back What I Said About Food Plots 2009 Deer Goals More thoughts on the Opener How Have I Changed over 40 Years Is Bow or Rifle your Favorite? A Decade without Bow Hunting I’m Done! Deer Season Post-Mortem, 2020
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The Shamanic Frog Rifle
I turned 60 last week. Things have been fairly quiet down at the farm. I went down and mowed last weekend. I’d like to write something dramatic about it all. However, this has been a rather boring summer. Edit: I deleted a list of the highlights of my summer, because it was just too boring. That’s how boring it’s been. I figure that if y’all wanted to read that kind of muck you’d be on Facebook instead of here. The reason it’s been so boring goes back to my first sentence. A lot of what has been happening has been … More . . .
Michigan Bans Baiting!
From FoxNews.COM Michigan sets new deer-hunting rules to keep chronic wasting disease from spreading Michigan Natural Resources Commission has approved new deer-hunting regulations to help curb chronic wasting disease from spreading, Michigan Department of Natural Resources said. The rules, which go into effect for this year’s deer-hunting season, will pose new restrictions on baiting and feeding. Among the regulations will be a statewide ban on the use of all natural cervid urine-based lures, and an immediate ban on baiting and feeding in the 16 counties that make up the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone, according to the state’s … More . . .
KY 2018 Rules Delay
Wondering why the 2018-2019 KY Fall Hunting Guides aren’t out yet? From Facebook: This post has already been read 1940 times!Views: 4 Related posts: Mining the Deer Log KY Non-Resident Fees Hiked My 2019 Deer Hunting Goals Happy New Year Deer Season Post-Mortem, 2018 What’s Wrong With Me? Kentucky Crossbow Changes Election Results
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Momma, I want to Swing!
I had a doe bring her fawn up into the yard at camp yesterday, and it got caught on the security cameras. It looked like the fawn was running for the meatpole. Little bugger! He’ll be swinging from there soon enough. He doesn’t need to be there yet. This post has already been read 722 times!Views: 0 Related posts: Mr Whelen Tags a Doe The Shaman Bags an 8-Pointer in KY Rifle Mining the Deer Log Deer Season Post-Mortem, 2018 Another Trip to Turkey Camp Report from Deer Camp 2014 Deer Season Post-Mortem, 2017 The Savage Speaks Again
More . . .Kentucky Crossbow Changes
Starting in 2019, Kentucky will be liberalizing its Crossbow Season for deer. The changes were adopted last week: Major Changes to Kentucky Crossbow Season for 2019-2020 Here are the details: MAJOR CHANGES TO KENTUCKY CROSSBOW SEASON FOR 2019-2020 The KDFWR Commission met on Friday, June 15, 2019. Kentucky Crossbow Federation president Perry McClure was present, along with other KCF members. At that meeting, they approved the following for the 2019-2020 hunting season. The crossbow season will begin on the 3^rd Saturday of September and run continuously until the third Monday in January. Youth under the age of 16 may hunt … More . . .
Mining the Deer Log
I was playing around with the camp’s deer log, and I cooked up some charts to display some of the data. Most of the concepts are not new to you. First off, let’s look at the barometer and see how it has influenced our deer harvest: (Click on the graphs to get a full-sized image) Generally speaking, 29.80″ – 30.60″ is considered a good range for taking deer.  30.01″ – 30.40″ is considered Optimal. Sure enough, at our place over 18 seasons we’ve seen exactly that. Of course, below 29.8, it’s usually pouring rain, and above 30.6 it’s windy and … More . . .
Thoughts on Feeding Deer
A lot of folks here in the Trans-Bluegrass think it is a good idea to set out corn for the deer. I have been saying for years that I did not think it was a good idea. In the past, my reasoning was that I had tried it early on here at the farm and found it was not attracting deer nearly as much as I had thought. What seemed to occupy their attentions most on my ridges were acorns. No amount of corn was going to keep them away from acorns in the fall. I have a recent data … More . . .
In Praise of Ed’s Red
I looked back and found my first mention of Ed’s Red clear back in the first month of this weblog. Rude, Rusty Surprises in your Smokepole. Since then, I’ve gone through many pints of the stuff. I whipped up a batch a couple weeks ago. Much like I was doing in 2004, this was to use in a muzzleloader. Now I do not shoot black powder in my hunting muzzleloaders. When I do, I use hot water and the following recipe: 1 part Simple Green 1 part Murphy’s Oil soap 1 part Hydrogen Pyroxide In modern muzzleloaders, we’re dealing with … More . . .
Salting the Deer
With all the hoo-haw over KYHillChick, a lot of chores have needed to be spooled off.   She’s fine, by the way. Thanks for asking. I tried a few weeks ago to start mowing around camp. After less than 10 minutes, the belt on the Cub Cadet went smoking into oblivion. I couldn’t do anything at the time, but fuss and fume. I had to get back to town. Last weekend was the first time I’d been able to get back down and cart the mower over to Chatham for repair. Mister Poe is all backed up at the moment. It’ll … More . . .
Return of the Whitetail in Kentucky
NOTE: 10/3/2021 Well, Hoop-de-Do! I found them.   I was beginning to despair. I discovered that these Art Landers columns had disappeared when KYForward.com folded tent a while back. However, I discovered copies of them on the Wayback Machine. I snagged copies in PDF. Enjoy! Here is a great 2-part article by Art Landers on the history of whitetail deer hunting in the state of Kentucky. Part I Art Lander’s Outdoors The white-tailed deer in Kentucky and the return of a native species | KyForward.com Part II Art Lander’s Outdoors White-tailed deer population flourishes today as a relic of Kentucky’s … More . . .
Cheap Deer Rifles Redux
It was about ten years ago I wrote a series of articles on buying deer rifle for Deer & Deer Hunting. Of them, the one on cheap deer rifles has stayed one of my most popular. It dawned on me the other day that the topic needed to be revisited. For the original, see: Picking a Deer Rifle On the Cheap What got me thinking about it was that I spied a $400 Mauser 96 at Hibberds. The 96 Swede is an awesome rifle. The 6.5X55 cartridge is an excellent whitetail deer cartridge. The difference a decade has brought is … More . . .
O.D’s 2 of 7 Rule May be Real!
The more I look at it, O.D.’s 2 of 7 rule may be true. At least, that’s what the cameras are telling me. As you may remember, I’ve been writing about my neighbor O.D. and his crazy theories about deer hunting. One of his most notorious is the “2 of 7 Rule.” Basically put, deer will show up at your blind an average of 2 out every 7 days. It’s a bit bigger than that, but that is the nut of the whole thing. If you think about it, there’s a lot more going on there. Assume 2 of 7 … More . . .
The Big Book of Gun Gack
I spent Saturday reading in John Barsness’s book, The Big Book of Gun Gack. You have probably read the author, he’s published in a heck of a lot of magazines, and he’s got a slew of good books on Amazon.com. This one is a collection of articles about a select bunch of rifle cartridges for the hunter and John’s take on reloading for them. It is a book for the hunter that reloads. . Table Of Contents Working Up a Load in the 21st Century Modern Rifle Powders Rifle Primers Rifling Twist Pre-Testing Big Game Bullets Sizing Cases … More . . .
Deer Season Post-Mortem, 2017
Now that everyone is home safe a-bed, I thought I would go through the season and give you all my impressions of why it went so well, and what worked and what did not. Overall, this was the most spectacular deer camp we’ve had. Everyone got their buck. Everyone got a doe. We saw a lot more bucks than usual. There was a lot more rutting activity than we expected. . . . except for the space at the ladder, which was wide open. Yes, I did get busted twice in one day. Once by a doe at under 50 … More . . .
Tagged Out in 2017
With 6 days left of season, SuperCore ended the 2017 with a shot on a doe in The Garden of Stone. I had slept in and was just drinking my coffee as I heard the shot back at camp, and started getting dressed for the trip out when the walkie-talkie crackled and I heard, “SuperCore to Earth. Bring the truck.” For the number of days we’ve hunted, it has not been all that grueling a camp. Most days, somebody has tagged something. Last Tuesday morning nobody had a chance. It started out well. Tuesday 11/14 Now that the leaves are … More . . .
Deer Opener 2017
It was the coldest Opening Weekend ever for the Shamanic Dream Team. The temperature was hanging around 24F when the light came up, but there had been a good deal of action at my stand at Campground before that. I had heard a group of doe, probably being chased by a young buck come down through Soggy Bottom, just below my stand, but it was too dark to see. Over at the Blackberry Patch, Angus had been watching a young doe feeding just beneath his stand, and been contemplating a shot on her when a big 8-pointer came crashing out … More . . .
Fort Apache Gets a Roof
Our new blind out back of the house needed a roof. I used a 10X12 tarp and some clothesline to put up a quick and dirty roof. This post has already been read 1534 times!Views: 10 Related posts: Food Plots 2025 Campground: A Treestand Profile The Shaman Bags an 8-Pointer in KY Rifle Remembering the Monarch Mining the Deer Log ATV Ready for Food Plots Trip to the farm Return to Turkey Camp
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Fort Apache
Angus came down after a torrential overnight rain to finish off what needed finishing off.  I want to start off by acknowleding his hard work and sacrifice this summer and fall. We’ve nearly gotten the pre-season do-list done.  Moose, SuperCore and Moose’s friends have all helped out as they could. However, Angus has gone the extra distance in this. We put roll mineral roof on the Lazy Boy blind. It’s now ready for winter. There were two section of the neighbor’s spite fence left over when all other projects were done. I made a shooting port in each, and screwed … More . . .
Muzzleloader 2017 After Action Report
The Kentucky Early Primitive Weapons Season 2017 is in the can. No deer were harmed in the making of this weekend.However, we all seemed to have a good time. I left straight from work and missed the traffic. Both Angus and SuperCore left a bit later on Friday night and got caught up on a major snarl. Angus swung out way west and came in by Falmouth. SuperCore plowed through. They both made it late. I had spent a pleasant evening alone, watching the deer. For us, Muzzleloader Weekend is always a shakedown for the real thing. Unless a real … More . . .
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