From: 2019 Licenses on Sale FRANKFORT, Ky. (1/12/19) — Licenses and permits to fish, hunt and trap in Kentucky in the coming license year are on sale now. The 2019-2020 license year starts March 1. License and permit fees for Kentucky residents for the 2019-2020 license year are unchanged from … Continue reading →
I put the last of the deer rifles away for the winter yesterday. It’s time to begin playing with my meat until Turkey Season. Angus gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas, a food dehydrator. This is a serious jerky machine. I just finished unloading load #1 from it. It … Continue reading →
Let me be clear: This season sucked. It sucked in so many ways it hurts to think about it. Not everyone in Kentucky feels this way. That’s fine. I can believe our problems were localized, possibly self-inflicted, whatever. It still sucked. I’m looking at the final harvest numbers for November. … Continue reading →
At 0915 Sunday, I was just putting the finishing touches on what I thought was going to be the last post of the season. The fog had started to roll in before 2200 the night before. It had been an iridescent pea soup at 0600. A full moon and fog … Continue reading →
It says over in the right column, “On this day nothing happened, ever.”  That’s not entirely true. I just don’t write about it all that much. The Shamanic Deer Team woke up this morning with just 10 hours left of the season. They’re all out trying one last try. I … Continue reading →
For the first time in a week, the Shamanic Dream Team went afield this morning with reasonably good weather. From Sunday to Friday it was cold (about 15 degrees below normal) and wet. Along the way we have had to face rain, drizzle, graupel, freezing rain, driving rain, snow and … Continue reading →
This was the coldest Rifle Opener we’ve had. Temps dipped down to 24F, and there was a steady cold west wind most of the morning. Shooting was light; there was 1 shot per 3 minutes, but outside of a few blazing minutes here and there, it was dead. The eleventh … Continue reading →
I hope you all had a happy Saint Hubert’s Day. Mooselette did. As you all know, Saturday was Saint Hubert’s Day. I’ve been touting this day for some time as a logical supplant for Christmas. On the Feast of Saint Hubert, the patron saint of hunters, folks should exchange hunting … Continue reading →
I woke up this morning and started to feel the rush. Things were piling up.  I started getting that caged-animal feeling at 0400. I went down to the Reloading Cave and sharpened knives, and cased up some of the deer rifles. The Opener is just a week away. The whole … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
This weekend just past has got to be one of the absolute best off-season times we’ve all had in the past 20 years, despite rain all three days. Moose, Angus and Mooselette came down for Saturday. I got off work early and got camp opened up well ahead of everyone … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
I was questioned recently about what sort of sidearm to take bowhunting to protect against coyotes. The querant had been rattled by coyotes on the way into his stand. In general, I would say don’t waste your time. I got into deer hunting after several years of caving. Caving had … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
This week, 15 years ago, I made my first post on this weblog. To quote the About page: This goes back to 2004. Mom always kept reminding me that I came from a long line of Methodist ministers. I think of myself as a good Methodist boy at heart. However, … Continue reading →
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. … Continue reading →
. . . and not due until mid-September. Views: 13 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! … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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, … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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:Â (Click on the graphs … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
My Hornady LNL AP has now been in service for a year, and I thought I would give you an update. This is a down in the weeds blog entry. If you have no interest in progressive reloaders, I would not mind if you skipped it. However, for those of … Continue reading →
