Report from Deer Camp III
Angus and I went out to Midway– the new mega-blind for the evening. At last light a buck and a herd of doe came out, but it was too dark and too far away to chance a shot. The rack on this boy was pretty small. I think I saw them all earlier in the day. SuperCore walked in with a zilch. While we were all sitting round the fire out back, we saw a flashlight dancing around one of the pastures. I went to investigate. A nice husband/wife couple had gotten lost on one of the neighboring leases– like … More . . .
Report from Deer Camp: SuperCore’s Double-Header
NOTE: At some point in the distant past, the tale of SuperCore’s first successful hunt disappeared out of the archives of this weblog.  We have the photographs and the log entries. I will attempt to recreate the story with SuperCore’s help. I’ll leave this up as current business and then move it to the 2009 archive where it belongs. Sunday morning of The Opener was cold, clear and calm. Angus had followed me out to Midway again. We had little action. At 0930 the very distinctive report of an M1 Garand rang out from the direction of Faulty Towers, … More . . .
Report from Deer Camp II
Well, that was a ride! I had near constant deer activity from legal hunting +30 minutes to quitting at 1100. It was mostly all doe, with a couple of small bucks scattered here and there. One was a forker, the other an immature 8 pointer. If I had been looking for doe, I’d have filled a tag many times over. One even came and stood broadside to me and ate weeds at 10 yards. Along about 1000, it was getting hot. I undid my bibs and jacket and tried to cool off. Just then a lone buck, out on the … More . . .
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 . . .
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