The first weekend in November

Mike and I hunted R farm all day. We had no shots. I did not even see a deer until right at dark when one was coming toward Mike’s tree. All I could make out was white antler as he passed a trail. He never got a shot. In the morning I was skunked also. Had two shots at a nice fat fox squirrel but my second arrow hit the tree between his front leg and head. That moved him away in a hurry. Mike ended up having a yearling doe run by him as 18 yards at full bore. He said it had “the look of panic on it’s face”….but no shot and nothing trailering her. Then while he was messing and calling to a group or turkey, a fork came by and nearly gave him a shot. The deer advanced in bow range but decided to stop and turn back giving Mike nothing but frontal shots. I was all set up on the major (middle) trail for the evening when the landowner came by and decided to clear the down trees with a chainsaw and dump a load of brush in the gully. They (husband and wife) came right under me and finally saw me. We had a nice chat and they agreed to “dump this load and leave me in peace.” Well they left about 25 minutes later after touching and throwing every stick out of the trail. Let’s just say I did not have too much confidence in my spot after that. Tree I missed the squirrel on:

My "company" in the evening:

The rut is heating up- mock scrape cam

My backyard mock scrape cam is in major use now. I have had 3 different bucks visit since Wednesday.....and they are getting bigger!

This buck actually pooped in the scrape before freshening it up!

The a small fork came by to sniff the poo:

Then this fellow in daylight checking things out:

I can't wait to hunt Saturday!

103112 - mock scrape turned hot after Sandy

Rut is on! After the storm I cleared my mock scrape… Doe visited first and checked out the branch, then forky thrashed it, then he came back and scraped it….. time to hit the woods!

Hurricane Sandy and a new Big-Five Grip

I managed to hunt all day on Saturday and not see a deer. Lots of field scrapes that were fresh but no luck otherwise. No other hunters spotted either so that was refreshing and it was a pretty day. Then the Hurricane hit. I was sent home from work by 11:30. By 4pm my power went out. It is still out. I lost a red oak, a poplar, and a maple in the front woods at my house, but everything else was OK. Lots of trees down in the rest of the neighborhood though, and several over the power lines. It will be some time before power is restored. I was able to operate pretty much as usual with the help of some head lamps, candles, and an oil lamp. The oil lamp rocked. Real efficient on fuel too. I will pick up a couple more and some reserve fuel for my emergency kit in the future. My Hill Big-Five needed a new grip so I took some of the buckskin I tanned, via the ivory soap method, and cut out the pattern. Since I was using a deer that I had shot, I wanted to be as authentic as possible so I twisted up some deer back sinew into lacing. This was the hardest part of the operation. I misted the skin with water to get it a little moist, and then stretched it over the handle and laced. It came out pretty well I think. I used some poly to waterproof the sinew. This is my go to bow right now so I am hopeful it may bring some mojo.

Squirrel temptations

How many times have you been waiting for the big buck to come by and had squirrels unaware of your presence in easy bow range? How many times have you fumbled for your practice arrow only to have the fuzzy critter bounce away? Well, I will now be tempted to launch one of my good broadheads at the beasties! I thawed this nice sized fox squirrel I shot with the Howard Hill bow a couple weeks back. My parents had brought me a rabbit, so I decided to have a little woodland fricassee.

I quartered both and placed them in a large stock pot with chicken broth, salt, pepper, onion powder, rosemary, and a bay leaf. I boiled them for 30 minutes, removed the parts and drained. I created a mixture of italian breadcrumbs, flour, and italian seasoning. I dusted each part and placed them on a spray oiled cookie sheet. I broiled them in the oven turning once as they browned about 12 minutes per side.

Was it good? well, the pile of bones in this photo should tell you!

I believe next time I will make a little gravy out of the leftover stock. The good thing about the traditional bow is that I can just usually resharpen that broadhead easily after a miss. I usually carry lots of ammo in the large back quiver. You better believe I will be shooting at them again.

opening weekend of muzzle loader

Mike, Brent, and I braved the start of the “silly season” on the first weekend of muzzle loading season. Brent with the hawken, me with the flintlock, and Mike with his MOAB. There were two other trucks in the parking area when we got there in the dark.

We got set up. Mike was in his stand when one guy comes in and he flashes him with the headlamp multiple times to let him know he was there. The guy sets up about 45 yards from him anyway. Later it was light and the guy is sitting facing Mike at 45 yards sitting at the bottom of a tree. Does not see him. A group of deer come by and Mike is worried the guy would shoot toward him! However, he does not. Later his friend, who reminded Mike of a “big orange gumdrop”, stops by and has a chat with the dude and leaves. Finally, the guy stands to pee and then Mike realized he never knew he was there. At noon Mike climbs down and the guy finally sees him. Brent was up his normal tree and had a guy in a big red ATV cruise by his twice through the woods. Not even on a trail! The guy had on no orange and seemed to have on camo clothing. WOW! I was set up in my normal white oak area below Brent. I did not see any action I can only attribute to the orange invasion all over the woods since I had seen the same group of deer at this spot 3 hunts in a row. I did see a fox squirrel that looked like it was piebald. It had a half all white tail. It was light tan in color with a white spot on its head. I nearly cut loose with the 50 cal. on it, but was waiting for a deer. Around time to get Mike back to the house at noon, I had a flock of 11 turkey come in and bed about 50 yards from me. I have never had turkey sit and sleep in front of me. They had a couple alert sentinel birds and the rest where hunkered down in the leaves or perched on a fallen log.

I got Mike back to the house and his car, and headed back to the woods. I had to be back at 5pm so Angela could enjoy October fest at the community center where we had her baby shower. I just brought the gun and sat on the ground at my spot below Brent. At about 330 a guy in orange with a silver ML slung over his shoulder walked past me at about 30 yards from behind, He never saw me. I radioed Brent at 4pm and said I had to leave at 430-445, but if he wanted to he could stay. He started getting down and spooked a big doe toward me. I “baaaad” to stop it in an opening at about 45 yards and it stopped right with a small diameter tree near the vitals. I aimed slightly to the right of it and the hair trigger activated a bit sooner than I was expecting. The deer ran off out of sight. I checked the shot sight and found 2 clumps of hair so I immediately started after it. The woods was pretty open but I searched all the way to the property lines and where the guy that had passed me was set up. I never saw and blood so I left the woods as I was running late. The next day I headed back with the longbow to find out more. I hiked all over the place and really looked hard at the shot sight and direction of travel. No blood, no splatter, nothing but some tufts of white hair. I am pretty sure I just grazed it.

I did see a nice buck running the ridgeline at a distance. The woods was very pretty.

Secrets of hunting - Fred Bear

Good stuff here: