Shamanic Wind Flags
Some guys use pinwheels. Some people use streamers. I opted for the wind vane concept. The key to a good wind vane-style flag
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KDFWR 20-21 Hunting and Trapping Guide is Out
 The Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife hunting guide is out. It’s funny, I checked about 2 O’Clock yesterday afternoon, and it wasn’t up. A friend told me about it this morning. I’ve given it a cursory review. As far as it concerns me and our camp … Continue reading →
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. … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
A Lot of Firsts for Mooselette
I’ve been off for a week on unpaid furlough, so we had a great opportunity to get caught up on things. The best came last. Mooselette and Daddy Moose came down for a campout. Mooselette got to set up her tent all by herself. While I watched camp, Saturday morning. … Continue reading →
Bobcat at the Lick
For the better part of 20 years, we have been hearing bobcat, hearing about them from neighbors, seen tracks. Finally, one of them walked in front of a camera and got his picture taken. This is at the lick close by the family campground. Views: 4 Related posts: Campground: … Continue reading →
Ruger American Predator Redux
Over the winter, I purchased a Boyd’s AT-One stock to go on my Ruger American Predator in 223 Rem. The whole idea of this was to start a dedicated platform for improving my accuracy. This is the first rifle I’ve actually purpose-built for the job. Normally, I’m a hunter that … Continue reading →
Life Comes at You Fast
It was a good thing I was paying attention yesterday. I was out mowing around the yard at the farm. It’s been almost a month– too wet for most of it. This was job #1. I was out by the mailbox, and nearly missed seeing this little critter. He’d have … Continue reading →
Party in the Woods!
Moose and Angus invited all their friends out for a weekend of camping and shooting. I mostly stayed up at the house watching the weather. We had on-and-off thunderstorms– just enough to make it interesting. Views: 7 Related posts: Mooselette Comes to Camp Sorry I haven’t written. … Continue reading →
Who was Big O?
I recently had a conversation online with one of my neighbors, Mike. Mike and I met years ago at the store in Berlin, but we’d lost each other since. He found this weblog the other day and wanted to say hello. We’re close enough that we could probably shout at … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Mooselette has a new Favorite Spot
I had Mooselette out on Sunday. She took her turkey calls with her, and we went out to the old farmstead. We call it “The Hand,” because on the original aerial photo, it looked like a thumb and five fingers. It’s now a little copse of trees, but at one … Continue reading →
Let me know when you see it
I was eating my lunch and looked out the window. Look at it for a while. Let me know when you see it. PS: Don’t tell KYHillChick or she won’t go in the back yard for a month. What is it? It’s a Black Rat Snake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantherophis_obsoletus That’s … Continue reading →
Curtain Call
The season is over. I never got a chance to go out. The turkeys, however, were not quite done with me yet. Along about 1700, I heard a gobble. I looked out in the field in front of Faulty Towers and saw a gobbler working over some hens. The show … Continue reading →
Turkey 2020 Post Mortem
It’s over. Frankly, I was not paying attention last evening as the sun went down. I was home watching NetFlix. KY’s Spring Gobbler Season ended. For me, it ended before it began. It is the first time since 1986 that I have not hunted. I really wish this COVID-19 thing … Continue reading →
Sneaking Back to the Farm
The Thunderstorms are due back after Noon. I’ll be beating it back to town shortly, having concluded a very productive trip to the farm, and one of the best days I’ve ever had. I’ll give you some highlights. As soon as we heard they were relaxing the quarantine, The Shamanic … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Adventures in Canned Venison
With the Covid-19 plague keeping the Shamanic Dream Team sidelined, I decided to do something to get my mind occupied. There was a back-burner project that seemed appropriate for the situation. One never knows how far things are going to slip before the “S” hits the “F.” From my writing, … Continue reading →
Missing the Opener
As I write this, I can hear Angus in the shower. He was called into work this morning. He would have missed the Opener anyway. Last night was his birthday. He also celebrated 5 years working in a sheet metal shop. I suppose it was good news that he is … Continue reading →
Whew! That was Close
Good Morning, y’all. Ever have one of those nights where you wake up in the morning and check yourself out first thing, making sure you’re in one piece? Last night, after 2200, the cellphone went off with a tornado warning. As soon as that finished, the sirens started up. Shortly … Continue reading →
PODCAST: Yute Hunt 2020
This should have been a triumphant announcement. Mooselette had shot her first gobbler. However, a worldwide pandemic interfered. It was just not to be. Okay, I can live with that. I went out alone this AM with the umbrella mic, ready to record some more stuff– hopefully enough for another … Continue reading →
My Season is Over
I came in this morning from recording material for a podcast, and I had this surprise waiting for me on the KDFWR website​​: Non-Resident Spring Turkey Permit Sales Suspended Effective immediately, standard nonresident spring turkey permits for 2020 will no longer be sold in order to conform to Gov. Andy … Continue reading →
KY Afield Show Q&A on Turkeys
Here’s a link to the 3/28 KY Afield show. It’s a Q&A about the upcoming turkey season. The good news is that nobody is anticipating a closure due to Coronavirus. Views: 2 Related posts: Strong Harvest Expected Know Thy Game, Know Thyself What Happened to the Turkeys? From the KDFWR: … Continue reading →
PODCAST: The Mistaken Gobbler
We had a hard rain and thunder on Friday night. However, it was still in the low Sixties when I got up. I had to wear a short-sleeved shirt out to the Honey Hole and still managed to work up a decent sweat. I rounded the last curve in the … Continue reading →
T-Minus 4 Weeks and Counting
The Shamanic Dream Team converged on Turkey Camp yesterday as the clock ticked towards one month before the opening of KY Spring Gobbler Season. We had a lot of ground to cover. First off, we had to officially inaugurate the Kip LeBlond Memorial Grill. Kip and I were best hunting … Continue reading →