tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6994770829436199762024-03-12T23:00:09.901-05:00Pursuit HuntingPursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-89673526637974378102013-09-05T16:29:00.001-05:002013-09-05T16:30:22.752-05:00Belle's First Hunt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yq0xsENJKRY/Uij0OdkyQSI/AAAAAAAAAwE/AMPAGoQSB5U/s1600/Bells+First+Hunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yq0xsENJKRY/Uij0OdkyQSI/AAAAAAAAAwE/AMPAGoQSB5U/s320/Bells+First+Hunt.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<br />
September 1 was the opening of dove season in Tennessee and my new hunting buddy Belle got to go on her first hunt.<br />
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We have been working hard over the last eight weeks to get her ready and the training really paid off. She made lots of blind and marked retrieves and delivered every bird gently to hand. Not bad for a 15 week old pup!<br />
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Now, if I could only knock 'em down as well as she fetches 'em up... Guess I better get some shooting lessons or she will be wanting to check MY pedigree.<br />
<br />Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-44840857644952764682012-09-24T22:37:00.000-05:002012-09-26T17:05:04.358-05:00Hunter's First Bow Kill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjP3ufHpGRE/UGC_yrLxYFI/AAAAAAAAAsY/JzHoJ9taliQ/s1600/Hunter+Chris+and+Buck+cropped+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjP3ufHpGRE/UGC_yrLxYFI/AAAAAAAAAsY/JzHoJ9taliQ/s400/Hunter+Chris+and+Buck+cropped+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<strong>Saturday, September 22, 2012, 3 p.m., I call my son Hunter on the phone.</strong><br />
<br />
<em>Me: Hey dude.</em><br />
<em>Hunter: Hey.</em><br />
<em>Me: You gonna hunt in the morning?</em><br />
<em>Hunter: I guess (that's teenager-speak for "if nothing better comes up.")</em><br />
<em>Me: I think you ought to.</em><br />
<em>Hunter: Why</em><br />
<em>Me: Lemme put it this way, if you don't come hunt this dominant tree I just found for you, I'm going to hunt it myself and I'm going to kill <u>your</u> deer.</em><br />
<em>Hunter: Looks good hunh?</em><br />
<em>Me: Uhh Yea! You wouldn't believe this spot. The ground is all churned up and the leaves look like powder. </em><br />
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<em>There are white oak acorns and deer droppings everywhere</em><br />
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<em>There are a bunch of scrapes, including one where a buck was sparring with a limb and broke it off.</em><br />
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<em>You'll kill a deer here in the morning!</em><br />
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To say I was excited would be a huge understatement. I had spent the entire prior day and most of that day scouting. I had walked many miles and checked hundreds of trees. This was the first place I had found that looked worth hunting. If it had been a mediocre-looking spot, I would have been excited, but this was the kind of hot spot that keeps me up at night before a hunt.<br />
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Hunter had heard all he needed to hear. He was looking to kill his first deer with a bow, and he was in.<br />
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I marked the dominant tree with a 2 inch section of flagging tape tacked to the trunk with two reflective tacks so I could find it in the dark or in the daylight. I picked out the best climbing tree for the current wind, marked it too, and got out of there.<br />
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<strong>Sunday, 3:25 a.m.</strong><br />
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I wake up five minutes before the alarm goes off. Funny that never happens on a work day.<br />
<br />
We need to get an early start because our spot is only a couple hundred yards from a field where I think the deer would be feeding during the night. I don't want to take a chance on them beating us there.<br />
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<strong>4:45 a.m.</strong><br />
<br />
We arrive at the parking spot. The thermometer on the truck reads 45 degrees. The coldest morning of the year so far. We're pumped up by the cool temps and discuss what to wear for the four wheeler ride, the steep uphill walk with forty pounds of climber and gear, and in the stand.<br />
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We step out of the truck and into the cool night air. Not good! Every coyote in the county is howling, every dog in the county is barking at the coyotes, and all the commotion is coming from the direction we are headed.<br />
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<strong>5:15 a.m.</strong><br />
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We arrive at the dominant tree, sweating profusely after climbing the steep trail up to the top of the ridge. We check the wind to see if we need to climb a different tree than the one I had picked out the day before, but the wind is still blowing straight down the ridge.<br />
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I get my climber on the tree, give Hunter a few last minute safety reminders followed by our customary good-luck handshake, then head up the tree. The Hickory bark is hard so I go slow to make sure that the climber gets a good bite. I have to cut about a half dozen limbs on the way up. Luckily they are pretty small and my folding saw is sharp so it goes quickly. The smell of the freshly cut wood reminds me of cutting firewood in the winter.<br />
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I finally get settled in and discover that the battery in my video camera microphone is dead. Not only had I forgotten to check the mic before I left home, I also forgot to grab some spare batteries out of my main camera bag when I transferred my camera into my camo bag. Crap! Video without sound sucks. What a beginning-of-the-season rookie mistake. I start to beat myself up over it but decide not to let it ruin my day.<br />
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<strong>6:00 a.m.</strong><br />
<br />
Daylight breaks. I listen carefully for the slow crunch, crunch, crunch of deer walking from the nearby field. Nothing. Fifteen minutes go by. Nothing. A half hour. Still nothing. "The deer should be coming," I think. "Did the coyotes run them all out of here?" "Did I pick the wrong spot?" Doubt starts to creep in along with that little gnawing sensation I get when I feel like I've let my son down. I know he has been hunting long enough to realize that you can't expect to kill something every time. I still want him to though. I start to beat myself up again.<br />
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<strong>6:50 a.m.</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
A slight noise on the far side of the ridge catches my attention. I turn my head slowly and catch movement in the trees about 75 yards away. All I can make out is legs, but they definitely belong to a deer. Tap, Tap, Tap! I give Hunter our "I see a deer" signal of three raps on the stand with the knuckles. He looks up and I signal for him to stand up and get ready.<br />
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I fire up the video camera and zoom in on the deer. Holy Crap! He's huge! He feeds around on acorns exactly where I expected him to be. Notice my flagging tape/reflective tack marker on the white oak tree in the foreground of this frame I grabbed from the video.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zHfVHSJ8oro/UGEJoO2dc8I/AAAAAAAAAto/VIUIxtY6jXg/s1600/Deer+and+Dominant+Tree+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zHfVHSJ8oro/UGEJoO2dc8I/AAAAAAAAAto/VIUIxtY6jXg/s400/Deer+and+Dominant+Tree+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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At one point, the deer looks straight at us and I just know we are busted. By that time, I'm twisted around shooting over my left shoulder and my ab muscles are starting to scream while I struggle to hold still. The camera moves up and down with each breath I take and there is nothing I can do about it.<br />
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Meanwhile, Hunter is caught with his bow arm fully extended ready to draw. He has to remain that way the entire time the deer is looking our way.<br />
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Eventually the buck continues moving to our left. I run out of flexibility to keep turning with him and I can't see the viewfinder unless I adjust my position. Rather than take a chance of spooking the deer by moving I decide to just zoom out and hope that the wider view will capture the action.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GHKuf5eOvg0/UGHGUZKbx3I/AAAAAAAAAuw/FPUjrrc3DBw/s1600/Buck+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GHKuf5eOvg0/UGHGUZKbx3I/AAAAAAAAAuw/FPUjrrc3DBw/s400/Buck+6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Just seconds later, the deer steps into an opening 35 yards away and Hunter lets an arrow fly. Here's the video.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yn-z-xsMvWc?rel=0" width="400"></iframe>
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"Oh... My... Gosh," said Hunter after the deer had run off, "that was the coolest thing I've ever done! My kneecaps are shaking so hard I can barely stand up. Now I get what you've been telling me about what an adrenaline rush bowhunting is. That was unbelieveable."<br />
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I just smile and try to pretend I'm less shaken up than him.<br />
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We wait as long as we can stand it before getting down. Our goal is thirty minutes. We might have made it fifteen. We search around for Hunter's arrow, but all we find is the nock lying on the ground. We know the arrow hadn't passed through but we had no way of knowing whether he had hit shoulder bone.<br />
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Fortunately we find good blood and take up the trail. The deer had headed downhill then turned onto a deer trail that ran along the side of the ridge. About a hundred yards down that trail, we find a pool of blood and nothing beyond it. Figuring he had backtracked, we parallel the blood trail we had been following and eventually find where he had peeled off down the hill toward a large creek.<br />
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As Hunter and I are standing on the creek bank trying to figure out whether he has entered the creek, we hear crashing on the other side of the creek and look up to see the buck run up the hill and over the next ridge.<br />
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We look at each other. "What do we do now?" Hunter asks. "I don't know," I say. "I don't know whether to back off or keep pushing him." We talk about it for a couple minutes and decide to keep pushing him.<br />
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As we get over the ridge we had seen him cross and head down the other side into a large creek bottom, the blood trail starts getting more sparse. At one point, the trail heads into some tall weeds and we lose the trail. <br />
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As we stand there searching for the next drop of blood, wondering whether we had made the right decision to keep up the chase, two separate groups of four does trot through the bottoms less that fifteen yards away from us and never know we are there. One doe stops, puts her nose to the ground and sniffs something nervously. We watch silently, enjoying the experience.<br />
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When the does had moved on, I tell Hunter that we will find blood where the doe had stopped and sniffed the ground. Sure enough, we did.<br />
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From there, the blood trail heads toward another creek. As I'm looking down at the ground for blood, Hunter whispers, "there he is, lying in that grass beside the creek." We approach him slowly. Hunter has an arrow nocked and ready to shoot if he gets up again, but there is no need. He is dead.<br />
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After about a dozen high fives, back slaps, and hugs, we get on with texting buddies and taking photos. This photo is taken exactly where we found him.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nN9S3J_aEIM/UGEazUZVn8I/AAAAAAAAAuA/WYpf8ScvVr4/s1600/Hunter+and+Buck+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nN9S3J_aEIM/UGEazUZVn8I/AAAAAAAAAuA/WYpf8ScvVr4/s400/Hunter+and+Buck+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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He green scored 165 5/8 gross and 156 6/8 net. Not a bad first bow kill. I told Hunter that he just saved me a bunch of money in taxidermy bills since we have a rule that in order to mount a buck it has to be larger than the prior best deer. <br />
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Update 9/25/12<br />
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I got the jawbones back from the taxidermist and cleaned them up. I'm hoping to have them aged by someone with more experience than I have. Looks like 4.5 years to me, but I'm likely wrong.<br />
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<br />Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-39803216141658948802012-09-12T14:37:00.000-05:002012-09-12T15:29:19.708-05:00Dominant Tree Hunting for 9 to 5'ers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The following question from a new friend I met at this week's QDMA meeting and my answer were posted on <a href="http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2940829&page=1#Post2940829" target="_blank">this TnDeer thread</a>. I get asked versions of this question often by folks who can't get to their hunting property to scout during the week , so I thought I would post it here for others who don't follow TnDeer.<br />
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<i><b>Originally Posted By: Football Hunter:</b></i><br />
<i></i><br />
<i>
We talked some at the meeting,but really interested in trying to learn how to hunt the dominant tree.</i><br />
<i></i><br />
<i>Ive done my own thing for years,and I see plenty of deer,but its always just a gut reaction,something like "this looks like where a deer will be" kind of thing.</i><br />
<i></i><br />
<i>It has worked ok,but with all those acres of hardwoods behind me on my lease,seems like a perfect oppurtunty to look for dominate trees.
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The main problem I see from listening to you is.........what I discover this saturday,wont really be good for next saturday most likely right?
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My place is about 1.5 hours from my house,which I actually love. Little get away each trip.
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So,my thought is to hunt on Saturday morning in a spot I am confident in,assuming the wind is right,funnel,saddle,leads to oaks and a food plot,kind of the perfect storm type place,and its near some thick stuff.Then when Im done,go check out some ridgetop fingers and look for hot action near some of the white oaks.
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Question,does the time of year dictate anything to you as far as ways to narrow down things,north facing,west facing etc?High,low?There are so many w/os ,just wondering a way to narrow it down some.And yeas,Im partial to white oaks,chinkapins,for whatever reason.
</i><br />
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FH,
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Nice meeting you the other night. Glad you could come.
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You are correct, the dominant tree they are feeding on this week will likely be old news next week. Not necessarily though, it depends on how much food is available there and what has changed since last week. If the tree is still dropping nuts, there is a good chance the deer will still be feeding there.
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Before I got in the land business and was working a corporate job, I didn't have the flexibility to go scout during the week. I would usually just hunt a spot on Saturday morning that was good the week before or someplace else that either had produced before or that I had some reason to think might be good. Basically, hoping to get lucky - which I usually didn't.
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If I wasn't seeing activity by 8 or 9 at the latest, I would get down and start scouting for Saturday night and Sunday morning, which is when I killed the majority of the deer.
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As far as where to look... That's where you have to rely on your knowledge of the terrain, what trees are dropping nuts, where the deer are at night, where they go during the day, and whatever else dictates their behavior on your land.
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Scouting near fields and thick cover, around saddles, on converging ridges, near funnels are all good starting points. Remember, deer will feed on trees that are near where they want to be any way.
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If they are in fields during the night look for the tracks of where they leave those fields and backtrack from there into the woods. If they are going to an overgrown area to hide during the day, figure out where they are most likely to enter it and work back toward the direction they are likely coming from.
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Like I said the other night, the most important thing is to constantly be asking yourself "why". Why is there a track here, why are those leaves scuffed up, why is there a rub there, why was that deer standing where it was when I jumped it? The answers to all those "why" questions will lead you to recognizing patterns that you can apply toward narrowing down where to scout.
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<br />
That said, the most fundamental advice I could give you is to use your ears. Stop and listen often. When you hear nuts falling, go check under that tree. If you find a lot of sign, figure out how you want to hunt it and do so ASAP. If you see some sign, but not enough to get you excited, look around and see if nearby trees are getting hit harder, or maybe even the other side of the tree you are checking is getting hit. Also notice what characteristics that particular spot has that other places have then check them. If you don't see any sign, don't get discouraged, just keep moving. Eventually, you will find what you are looking for.
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All else being equal, if white oaks or chinkapins are dropping, that is most likely where the deer will be. When they stop dropping, the deer will go to the various species of reds. Learn which one they seem to prefer and look for others.
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It may seem like a lot of work, but trust me, when you get the hang of it, you will probably enjoy the scouting more than the shooting. In my mind, hunting takes place before you climb into your stand. Everything after that is just shooting.
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Good luck. Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-74684675661292672242012-09-10T09:34:00.000-05:002012-09-10T09:50:07.517-05:00Holy Hotspot!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5nHOePCz6nQ/UE3jK4ury9I/AAAAAAAAAqM/kr4q7jPj_OE/s1600/090912%2BRub%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5nHOePCz6nQ/UE3jK4ury9I/AAAAAAAAAqM/kr4q7jPj_OE/s400/090912%2BRub%2B1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
The final two weeks until the opening of deer season just got a whole lot longer.
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<br />
Yesterday, I checked on the <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html" target="_blank">chestnut oaks</a> that I wrote about in <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2012/08/2012-good-mast-year.html" target="_blank">this post</a>. Last time I was there, I had discovered that the trees were loaded with acorns. I was curious about whether they had started dropping yet.<br />
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Oh my gosh! The acorns were dropping and the deer were absolutely hammering them. If the season were open today, I would 100% guarantee a sub-20 yard shot at multiple deer. And the best news is that there is at leat one buck using the area.<br />
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The rub pictured above was very fresh. Notice the shavings on the ground. It was on a tree that was about as big around as my wrist. A rub that size is much larger than what I normally see this time of year.<br />
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<em>Click on any of the photos to see a larger view. Click on the "X" in the upper right corner to return.</em><br />
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There were several other rubs on trees ranging from one to one and a half inches in diameter, which is much more typical for early season feeding rubs.<br />
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My theory on clusters of rubs at this time of year is that they are not made for communication, like like they are later in the year. Of course no one knows what goes through a buck's mind, but I believe, after observing lots of them around <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html" target="_blank">dominant trees</a>, that the smaller rubs they make in feeding areas is just a case of boys being boys. Bucks will casually feed around on acorns and if they get close to a small tree, they will pause to try out the new headgear. It isn't aggressive rubbing. It's almost like they are just bored.</div>
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Normally they don't pick on trees much bigger than thumb-size, so I'm pretty excited to see if larger rubs mean larger deer. It's probably just a six-pointer with an attitude, but I'm going to remain hopeful for another two weeks.</div>
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I also found this small scrape</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVPX0MLPDxM/UE30oFLykFI/AAAAAAAAArg/-qREQrHoU20/s1600/090912+Scrape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVPX0MLPDxM/UE30oFLykFI/AAAAAAAAArg/-qREQrHoU20/s320/090912+Scrape.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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As exciting as it is to see a cluster of rubs, the thing that really got me fired up was the quantity and concentration of feeding sign that I found in the area. There were cracked acorn shells and fresh deer droppings everywhere. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X15CI1kweNI/UE3vYTHTdYI/AAAAAAAAArA/2xEdh9YZ_3c/s1600/090912+Droppings+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X15CI1kweNI/UE3vYTHTdYI/AAAAAAAAArA/2xEdh9YZ_3c/s320/090912+Droppings+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In an area about the size of a half basketball court, there was literally no where you could stand and not see deer droppings. It was unbelievable. </div>
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Here's the problem though. Deer season is still two weeks away, and a lot can change in that time. The acorns can all fall and be consumed. Although with the number of nuts on the ground and still in the trees, that isn't too likely. A greater risk (as far as hunting this particular spot is concerned) is that some <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html" target="_blank">white oaks</a> will start dropping nearby and the deer will change their pattern.</div>
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Even though the deer are hammering the chestnut oaks right now, they are their least preferred acorn. If they have any other option, they will take it.</div>
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I'm really hoping that when I return in a couple weeks to check this spot the day before the season opens that I won't find only dried up sign like this:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I835oWjAXms/UE30A6oV0NI/AAAAAAAAArY/qK7G2nNvmKM/s1600/090912+Droppings+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I835oWjAXms/UE30A6oV0NI/AAAAAAAAArY/qK7G2nNvmKM/s320/090912+Droppings+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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If I do, it will mean that they have moved on and it would be a waste of time to hunt there. Sooner or later, it is going to happen. I just hope that I get a chance to hunt this spot before it does. If not, I will enjoy the challenge of figuring out where they've gone, which for me, is the best part of deer hunting.<br />
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Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-59898317240492179832012-08-13T10:56:00.002-05:002012-08-13T11:04:14.293-05:002012 - A Good Mast Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We finally got a break from the summer heat last weekend. With morning temps in the high 50's and afternoon highs in the low 80's, it was time to hit the woods for the first time in months. After several hours of chainsaw work clearing trails, I got to do a little pre-season scouting.
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At this time of year, my scouting plan is not about trying to figure out where the deer <i>are</i>. I'm focused on trying to narrow down the locations where they <i>will be </i>when bow season opens - about six weeks from now. Basically, I'm taking an inventory of the food sources that will be available starting in late September, identifying the spots that have a high probability of becoming dominant trees, and marking those spots on a topo map so that my scouting time will be more efficient when the season rolls around.<br />
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If you aren't familiar with the concept of dominant trees and how to find them, take a look at <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/welcome-to-pursuit-whitetail-hunting.html" target="_blank">this article</a> and the four followup articles on dominant trees.<br />
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<strong>Chestnut Oaks</strong><br />
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My first stop was at a grove of very large <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html" target="_blank">chestnut oaks</a>. Bumper crop! The acorns pictured at the top of this page were laying on the ground and there were thousands in the trees. There is a very good chance this is where I will be opening day.<br />
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I've heard lots of hunters say that deer won't eat chestnut oak acorns. That is half-true. They won't eat them if there are other species of acorns available, but in middle Tennessee, the chestnut oaks usually start dropping a week or two before the white oaks kick in. During that time, when chestnut oaks are the only game in town, the deer will hammer them. Witness <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2009/09/chestnut-oak-buck.html" target="_blank">this deer</a> i killed on his way to feed on chestnut oaks.<br />
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<strong>White Oaks</strong><br />
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It looks like we will have a good <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html" target="_blank">white oak</a> crop this year. I found that most of the white oaks that regularly produce acorns where I hunt had good quantities of nuts. It seems like the acorns are a little less mature than I would expect for this time of year, so it may be a late drop - another reason why I'm excited to have good chestnut oaks this year.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0I6mKbcZB7E/UCkbSt7kW8I/AAAAAAAAApA/NE-Vdjh50WA/s1600/IImmature+White+Oak+Acorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0I6mKbcZB7E/UCkbSt7kW8I/AAAAAAAAApA/NE-Vdjh50WA/s320/IImmature+White+Oak+Acorn.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<strong>Red Oaks</strong><br />
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In my area, we have several species of trees in the red oak family - <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-northern-red-oak.html" target="_blank">northern red oak</a>, <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-southern-red-oak.html" target="_blank">southern red oak</a>, scarlet oak, and <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2009/09/tree-id-black-oak.html" target="_blank">black oak</a> are the most common. Most of them start dropping after the white oaks have finished. I don't expect as good an acorn crop as we had last year, but there look to be enough trees with nuts to provide fresh acorns well into gun season. This southern red oak had a good crop of immature nuts.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dF6OoorLNwE/UCkfDXvtdiI/AAAAAAAAApU/HzInViUY-Mk/s1600/Southern+Red+Oak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dF6OoorLNwE/UCkfDXvtdiI/AAAAAAAAApU/HzInViUY-Mk/s320/Southern+Red+Oak.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<strong>Persimmons</strong><br />
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This looks to be the best year for <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-persimmon.html" target="_blank">persimmons</a> that we have had in quite some time. Just about every female tree I checked had fruit in good quantities. This green persimmon I found on the ground was obviously not ripe yet, but it was developed to a fully mature size already. If the white oaks are late in dropping this year, persimmons could move to the top of the deer's feeding list if they are on the ground before the white oak acorns.<br />
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<strong>Hickory</strong><br />
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I'm looking forward to hitting the woods for squirrels in a couple weeks and I have a couple spots picked out already. The hickories are loaded and the squirrels are already cutting on 'em.<br />
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I hope this little scouting report is helpful. Leave a comment and let me know what you are seeing.<br />
<br />Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-86848401761292732632012-03-12T22:03:00.000-05:002012-03-12T22:38:40.729-05:00Squirrel Hunting with Original Mountain Curs<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_wPfiK2kvD0?rel=0"></iframe>
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In late February, as Tennessee's squirrel season was drawing to a close, I had the opportunity to go squirrel hunting with my long-time friend, and fellow land broker, Jeff Green, his son Samuel, and Samuel's two dogs Rusty and Pearl.
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After deer season closed, I got the itch to get out in the woods again and go squirrel hunting. I had watched hundreds of squirrels during deer season, so I had high expectations. Well, over the course of a couple weeks, I spent many afternoons still hunting with very little success. It seemed the only time I would see any activity at all was during the last 15 minutes of daylight.<br />
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One day I was talking to Jeff on the phone about a land deal and I mentioned proudly that I had killed a squirrel the day before. Yep, <strong><u>A</u></strong> squirrel...<br />
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Jeff graciously congratulated me on my "success" then with a friendly mixture of pity and amusement in his voice, asked if I had ever hunted over squirrel dogs. I hadn't, but jumped at the opportunity when he offered to bring Samuel and his dogs to Nashville.<br />
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Rusty and Pearl are Original Mountain Curs, a uniquely southern breed of dog that have been hunting the Cumberland Plateau and the Appalachain Mountains of East Tennessee since pioneer days. A full history of the breed is available at the Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association (OMCBA) <a href="http://www.omcba.com/">website</a>.<br />
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Rusty is the OMCBA 2010 World Tree Champion and he showed why over the course of our hour and a half-long hunt. During that time, he had squirrels treed almost constantly. Several made it into den trees before we could get to them, but suffice it to say that we killed more squirrels in one afternoon than I had in three weeks. It was a blast and I was hooked!<br />
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And what a great way for fathers and sons to spend quality time together. It was a real treat to watch Samuel work his dogs under the gentle guidance of his dad. Seems that guidance has paid off, because Samuel is one heck of a neat kid.<br />
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He is 14 years old and an 8th grader at Faith Christian Academy in Jamestown, TN. On top of raising dogs, he runs a fireworks stand during the summer, then transitions to selling sweet corn, then potatos until school starts back up in the fall. My 16 year old son Hunter, who isn't easily impressed said, "he's the coolest kid in the world." High praise indeed.<br />
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Rusty is available for stud service and pups are for sale when available. Samuel can be reached at 931-397-4714 if you would like more information.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-3805092096156270092011-09-27T17:57:00.000-05:002011-09-27T17:57:43.821-05:00Ragweed Buck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8czwUbU_8nI/ToIh6yV1izI/AAAAAAAAAmk/2UDJY9bXhPI/s1600/Buck%2Bin%2BSun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8czwUbU_8nI/ToIh6yV1izI/AAAAAAAAAmk/2UDJY9bXhPI/s400/Buck%2Bin%2BSun.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Mornings like today's are few and far between. That's probably a good thing because I don't know if I could stand to be any more obsessed and addicted to deer hunting than I already am. A couple more days like today could really do me in.<br />
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The story behind this deer starts, to a certain degree, with something I learned a couple weeks ago at the <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2011/09/middle-tennessee-qdma-branch-field-day.html">Middle Tennessee QDMA Field Day</a>. During a discussion of the importance of native plants for wildlife, Clint and Chris mentioned that ragweed is both high in protein and a favored food of deer. The significance of that didn't really hit me at the time, but luckily, I remembered it last week while I was scouting for spots to hunt during opening weekend of bow season.<br />
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I was checking an area that has had some good buck activity in the past when I noticed that a small overgrown field was full of ragweed. On the edge of the field, I found a freshly opened scrape about twenty yards away from a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html">white oak </a>that had dropped a few nuts (a rarity this year) and a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-northern-red-oak.html">red oak </a>that had also dropped some of the biggest red oak acorns I've ever seen.<br />
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Neither tree was what I would consider to be a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant tree</a>. The nuts that were on the ground appeared to be due to squirrels, not an active acorn drop. It was clear from the churned up ground that deer were feeding there, but there just wasn't enough food on the ground for the sign to accumulate to the degree that normally gets me really excited.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tYn7n9mwNi0/ToIr0M-hLKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/09XxVc-OlDE/s1600/Feeding%2BArea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tYn7n9mwNi0/ToIr0M-hLKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/09XxVc-OlDE/s400/Feeding%2BArea.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Nevertheless, the combination of acorns, browse, thick cover, a fresh scrape, and lots of walk sign got my attention. It definitely had potential and I decided to hunt it when I had a favorable wind.<br />
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Last night, the weather channel was predicting 46 degrees and a SSW wind for the morning. I checked a topo map and sure enough, the wind was perfect for that spot. I thought about waiting a while to let the acorns start to drop a little heavier but I had a gut feeling and eventually I decided to give it a go. <br />
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I arrived at the spot about fifteen minutes before legal shooting light and picked out a tree to climb by flashlight. Here is the setup.<br />
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I had only been settled in for a couple minutes when I heard a "snap" out in the weed field. Something was definitely headed my way but it was too dark to see into the field. I eased up out of my seat, clipped on my release, and fought back that first shot of adrenaline that can develop into a full-blown case of sewing machine knees if you aren't careful.<br />
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As I scanned the edge of the field, straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of movement, a buck materialized in the scrape and started pawing the ground and chewing on the overhanging dogwood limbs. It was still about twenty minutes before sunrise and the light was just starting to come up. I could tell from the deer's shape that it was a good sized buck, but I couldn't make out any details of its rack. <br />
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Under other circumstances, I might have waited to get a better look before taking the shot, but with archery gear in the woods, you sometimes don't have the luxury of time. I decided to take the shot if I got a chance.<br />
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Luckily, the buck turned to the right and started to "do his business" as my mother used to say. That was the opportunity I needed. I put the twenty yard pin behind his right shoulder and concentrated on getting a smooth release and following through like I've done a thousand times in the back yard. <br />
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Swack! <br />
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The buck vanished back into the thick darkness of the weed field in an instant. I followed the sound of it crashing off and thought I heard it fall. Or had I? Two other deer had exploded out of the thick cover when the buck bolted, so I really couldn't be sure of what I had heard.<br />
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I replayed the scene over and over in my head as confidence and doubt battled it out. "The shot felt good." "The impact sounded good." "Did I shoot the right one of the three?" "I think I heard it fall." "What if I hit that little limb that I can see now?" "Was it as good a deer as I thought?"<br />
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I decided to give it about an hour before I took up the trail. The wait was agonizing so I distracted myself by taking the above photos and texting my son and some buddies.<br />
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Finally, the time came to get down. With a mixture of anticipation and dread, I approached the scrape where the buck had been standing when I shot. "Please let me find a bloody arrow where it ought to be." <br />
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"Yes!" There it was, covered in bright red blood and stuck in the ground about two feet away from the scrape and the buck's last "business." <i>You can click on the picture to enlarge it.</i><br />
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The deer had run back into the thick weeds, so I had to track him carefully. There were very few actual drops of blood on the ground (at least that I could see) but by moving very slowly, I could follow the tiny spatters of blood on the tall blades of grass and weed stems.<br />
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It took me about twenty minutes to cover the fifty-or-so yards to where the deer lay, but I eventually crested a small rise and spotted him down in the thick stuff.<br />
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Wow! What a rollercoaster of emotions in the course of a couple hours. Exilaration, confidence, doubt, hope, dread, joy, awe... <br />
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When I checked the deer's stomach contents, I expected to find lots of acorns. Instead, it contained nothing but ragweed and other browse. "Well I'll be," I thought, "you're never too old to learn something new. I guess those fellas from the NRCS and TWRA know what they're talking about."<br />
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As I drove my four wheeler the two miles or so back to my truck, I purposely took my time so that I could savor the moment. The sun was shining and glistening like diamonds off a clear stream beside the trail. The air was cool and smelled of fall. A plan had come together and a nice deer was riding shotgun behind me. I remember thinking, "Man, if you don't love this, you just don't love life."Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-90002587522021066142011-09-15T11:29:00.001-05:002011-09-15T12:54:54.684-05:00Middle Tennessee QDMA Branch Field Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPMboFvcOT4/TnIIAMIU-tI/AAAAAAAAAmM/OY77qXeE5VI/s1600/Clint%2Bwith%2BSign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPMboFvcOT4/TnIIAMIU-tI/AAAAAAAAAmM/OY77qXeE5VI/s400/Clint%2Bwith%2BSign.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
On September 13, the Middle Tennessee QDMA Branch held its kickoff event with a mini-field day at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort's Outdoor Demonstration Area. Chris Wolkonowski, Area Resource Biologist with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and Clint Borum, Private Lands Biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency were on hand to discuss the planning and initial implementation of a conservation plan they developed for the 100 acre site.<br />
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Chris and Clint discussed how they developed the conservation plan in conjunction with the landowner, taking into consideration the landowner's objective for the property, which was to develop it into a showcase for wildlife habitat management practices. The plan will take three years to implement and involves removal of invasive species, establishment of early successional habitats, field borders, firebreaks, upland wildlife habitats, native warm season grasses,foodplots, and much more.<br />
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Attendees were treated to a wide ranging discussion of the steps that have been taken thus far, including herbicide applications to control invasive species like johnson and bermuda grasses and chinese privet, establishment of cover crops to control erosion and reduce browsing pressure, and the planting of numerous test foodplots in a wide variety of seed mixes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O3_Ve-eprEM/TnIPMc8WPWI/AAAAAAAAAmU/cxXUcoaDv_s/s1600/Chris%2BW%2Bw%2BBush%2BHoneysuckle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O3_Ve-eprEM/TnIPMc8WPWI/AAAAAAAAAmU/cxXUcoaDv_s/s400/Chris%2BW%2Bw%2BBush%2BHoneysuckle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i>NRCS Biologist Chris Wolkonowski points out one of the invasive species, bush honeysuckle, that is being eradicated from the site.</i><br />
<br />
Of particular interest to the QDMA members on hand was a discussion of the key ingredients in a habitat management plan designed to hold and develop quality deer on a particular piece of property. Their number one recommendation... cover is king. Food is generally not a limiting factor in the southeast, but cover is. <br />
<br />
They recommend creating cover by establishing early successional habitats through clearcutting of selected areas of the property. They also recommend taking steps to encourage the growth of native plant species which can be more nutritious and more drought resistant than cultivated species. Finally, after those steps have been taken, then the landowner should think about adding foodplots. <br />
<br />
Their recommendation for foodplots... a mixture of red, white, and crimson clover which will provide three to six years of high quality, low maintenance food at a minimal cost.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UaaGTtvXGmM/TnIVVJDMzUI/AAAAAAAAAmc/KfAn9AmImqw/s1600/at%2Bfoodplots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UaaGTtvXGmM/TnIVVJDMzUI/AAAAAAAAAmc/KfAn9AmImqw/s400/at%2Bfoodplots.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i>TWRA Biologist Clint Borum discusses foodplot strategies in front of the foodplot demonstration area.</i><br />
<br />
RESOURCES<br />
<br />
Clint and Chris recommended several books for those who are interested in learning more about native plants, invasive plants, and foodplots.<br />
<br />
<i><strong>Native Warm Season Grasses</strong></i>, by the UT Agricultural Extension Service. Available in print through your County/Regional UT Extension office which can be located <a href="https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Pages/offices.aspx">here.</a> Or, if you prefer, it can be downloaded free <a href="http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agexfora/12/">here.</a> If you download it, you will need to download each chapter separately.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>A Guide to Successful Wildlife Foodplots</strong></em>, by the UT Agricultural Extension Service. Available in print through your County/Regional UT Extension office which can be located <a href="https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Pages/offices.aspx">here.</a> It can be downloaded for free in its entirety <a href="http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agexfish/6/">here.</a><br />
<br />
<strong><em>A Landowner's Guide to Native Warm-Season Grasses in the Mid-South</em></strong>, by the UT Agricultural Extension Service. Available in print through your County/Regional UT Extension office which can be located <a href="https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Pages/offices.aspx">here.</a> It can be downloaded for free in its entirety <a href="http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agexfora/2/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses</em></strong>, by James H. Miller and Karl V. Miller. Available from Amazon.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=pursuhunti-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0820327484&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
<br />
<strong><em>Weeds of the Southeast</em></strong>, by Charles T. Bryson. Available from Amazon.<br />
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=pursuhunti-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0820330469&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-85081319917565696582011-09-09T10:23:00.001-05:002011-09-09T10:37:31.754-05:00QDMA Field Day Announcement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLlm_GoC0nc/TmouZdoalDI/AAAAAAAAAmE/oxqcp-oNzwI/s1600/LandWildlifeExpo_FinalPlan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLlm_GoC0nc/TmouZdoalDI/AAAAAAAAAmE/oxqcp-oNzwI/s320/LandWildlifeExpo_FinalPlan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: white;">Anyone interested in improving white-tailed deer habitat is invited to attend the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Course being held by the Middle Tennessee Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, at the Gaylord property on Pennington Bend Rd, across Briley Parkway from the Opryland Hotel. </span></div><span style="color: white;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: white;">Speakers from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will discuss topics of interest to deer hunters, land owners, and land managers including Managing Your Property for Wildlife, Creating Early Successional Habitats, and Food Plots vs. Native Habitats. In addition, the speakers will cover USDA/TWRA Programs for Wildlife, including the creation of free conservation plans and federal assistance programs for wildlife habitat improvement.</span></div><span style="color: white;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: white;">The meeting site will be outdoors and will include hands-on exhibit of a conservation plan being implemented on the property. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Directions are available </span><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211988716328928100662.0004ac4db94887101fc65&msa=0&ll=36.228861,-86.694778&spn=0.00283,0.005751"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a><span style="color: white;"> or on the our facebook page at <u><a href="http://www.facebook.com/midtnqdma">www.facebook.com/midtnqdma</a></u></span><span style="color: black;"> </span> </div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-3080845796347383552011-03-22T20:58:00.006-05:002011-03-22T23:25:36.352-05:00Risky Business<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9aQA6EuQb5g/TYlODPpu48I/AAAAAAAAAmA/GZTvdU8yjGs/s1600/CWD+Doe.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9aQA6EuQb5g/TYlODPpu48I/AAAAAAAAAmA/GZTvdU8yjGs/s400/CWD+Doe.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A doe suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Under existing Tennessee state law, it is illegal to transport live whitetail deer into the state and it is illegal to domesticate any whitetail deer, imported or native. That could all change if House Bill 1112 and its counterpart Senate Bill 1568 are voted into effect by the state legislature. The bill, titled “The Whitetail Deer Breeding and Farming Act” is aimed at legalizing the importation, farming, and commercial shooting of whitetail deer in the state of Tennessee. <br />
<br />
If passed, the bill will require deer farmers to import all farmed deer from out-of-state sources and will allow those same deer to be shot in small enclosures by paying customers. Some use the term “canned hunt” to describe the harvest process, but I will not, because that activity has nothing to do with hunting. I prefer to call those operations canned shooting preserves.<br />
<br />
The bill includes language intended to reduce the potential for introduction of disease, but in so doing, it creates a huge regulatory burden on the TWRA without providing adequate funding. If the bill passes, something will have to give. Either the TWRA will be financially incapable of providing the specified oversight, or it will be forced to divert resources from other activities. <br />
<br />
Keep in mind, we the sportsmen of Tennessee, provided the funding years ago for the re-introduction of our present deer herd and today we fund the operation of the TWRA through our license fees and taxes on hunting and fishing gear. I, for one, don't want my contributions to be diverted away from the good work the agency does and certainly don't want to fund the policing of the activities of a few people who would willingly put our valuable wildlife resources at risk for their own personal gain.<br />
<br />
As a Tennessean and as an avid hunter, my opposition to this legislation is twofold. First, I believe that legalizing the importation of whitetail deer opens the door to CWD, a very serious, very deadly disease that has the potential to wipe out our entire deer herd and our deer hunting heritage. Second, I believe that our hunting heritage is based on ethics and sportsmanship, not raising pen-raised animals to the shot by the highest bidder.<br />
<br />
<strong>How the Bill is Being Presented (with my rebuttal)</strong><br />
<br />
Like many Tennessee hunters, I was unaware of the pending legislation until recently. Then, a couple weeks ago a member of TnDeer posted a link to <a href="http://tnga.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=111&clip_id=3557">this video</a> of a presentation by a Texas deer farmer before the Tennessee House Agriculture Committee. <br />
<br />
As I watched the testimony, my blood pressure began to rise as the presenter weaved numerous half-truths about the risks and benefits of deer farming and artfully dodged potentially contentious questions about canned shoots. But when the bill's sponsor, Rep. Frank Niceley, spoke after the formal presentation I really couldn't believe what I was hearing.<br />
<br />
At 1:09:05 in the video, Rep Niceley addresses the audience and says, “I've been involved in the wild animal hauling business for the last ten or fifteen years and I have hauled deer to game preserves all over this country and you can't realize how much money is in this.” Wow! I guess that's what you call disclosure, but it leaves little doubt about his motive in sponsoring this bill, particularly since one of the stipulations is that any newly established farm has to import their stock from out of state.<br />
<br />
At 1:09:38 Rep. Niceley says, “Tennessee was a pioneer in hunting preserves years ago, most people don't realize that.” Very true. Most people also don't realize that the current explosion of nuisance wild boar in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and on the Cumberland Plateau is a direct result of imported European Wild Boar escaping from those early hunting preserves. <br />
<br />
The marauding pigs have cost us, the property owners and taxpayers of the state countless millions of dollars in property damage and eradication costs and it seems very unlikely that we will be able to control their numbers without significant additional spending. In fact on the Cumberland Plateau, year-round hunting seasons with unlimited daily bag limits have failed to stem the tide. The TWRA has now begun to pay for professionals to help with the eradication efforts.<br />
<br />
Fast forward a week or so to <a href="http://tnga.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=123&clip_id=3756">this videotaped session</a> of the House Conservation and Environment Subcommittee. In his opening remarks, Rep Niceley explains that this bill doesn't create deer farming. He says, “We've farmed deer in Tennessee longer than any living soul can remember. We farm every kind of deer in the world. We farm elk, moose, axis, sitka, fallow, you name it, muntjack, you name it. If it's a deer in the world, we can legally bring it in under strict health guidelines.” He goes on to say, “The only thing this bill does is add one kind of deer to all the other deer in the world that we can farm. It adds whitetail deer.” He then asks his opponents why, if we have been able to farm all those other types of deer, why can't they add just one, the whitetail.<br />
<br />
Well, Rep. Niceley, that's an easy one. Because when deer farming was first allowed in the state, CWD had not been discovered. Furthermore, none of the species you mention have native herds roaming around outside the fences. Why does that make a difference? If a CWD-infected axis deer escapes, it is much less likely to transmit that disease to the native whitetail population than if the escaped deer is another whitetail.<br />
<br />
<strong>Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)</strong><br />
<br />
The transportation and confinement of whitetail deer can potentially lead to the transmission of a variety of nasty diseases into livestock and wildlife populations, but there is one disease that represents a clear and present danger to Tennessee's wild deer herd and to Tennessee's hunting tradition. That disease is called Chronic Wasting Disease or CWD for short.<br />
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Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a transmissible neurological disease of deer and elk that produces small lesions in brains of infected animals. It is characterized by loss of body condition, behavioral abnormalities and it always results in death. CWD is classified as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), and is very similar to mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfelt-Jakob Disease in humans. <br />
<br />
There is no known reliable test for the presence of CWD in live animals. The only accurate tests today require tissue samples from the brain and lymph nodes of suspected animals – which can only be collected from dead animals.<br />
<br />
The two most significant factors affecting the spread of CWD are the transportation of diseased animals and the confinement of those animals in high-density habitats (particularly deer farms).<br />
<br />
Proponents of the current bill would like to downplay the seriousness of the potential threat to our state, claiming that the bill includes safeguards to prevent the spread of disease. Those safeguards are dubious at best since there is no accurate testing for the presence of CWD in live deer and infected deer can live and pass along the disease for years without any visible symptoms. As mentioned above, those safeguards also depend on rigorous enforcement activities which are not adequately funded under the bill. <br />
<br />
<strong>Other Enforcement Issues</strong><br />
<br />
Anyone who has ever kept livestock knows that eventually, just about every fence is going to fail. Whether it is from trees falling on it during windstorms, floodwaters washing it away or eroding the soil out from under it, animals digging under it, unintentional breach by leaving gates open, or vandalism aimed at removing animals from the property, eventually a fence is going to fail. And when it does fail, it isn't going to take a captive herd of whitetails long to escape. According to the <a href="http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/117839383.html">Minneapolis StarTribune</a>, over the past five years, almost 500 captive deer and elk have escaped from Minnesota farms, and 134 were never recaptured or killed.<br />
<br />
All it takes is one CWD-infected deer escaping and mingling with native deer and a catastrophic epidemic can begin. Intentional release of non-trophy captive whitetails (primarily does) has also been documented when the cost of feeding and maintaining captive animals exceeds their value as breeding stock or meat.<br />
<br />
Willful disregard of the safeguards is another issue that well-intentioned, yet weakly-enforced regulations will be powerless to combat. With trophy-class whitetail bucks fetching tens of thousands of dollars, the incentive to skirt the law for a quick dollar will prove irresistible to some. In <a href="http://www.tnwf.org/images/deer/violations/deersmuggling.pdf">this case</a> a Minnesota smuggler reaped $300,000 in sales from a single customer in Texas (which has closed its borders to imported deer in order to reduce the risk of CWD). In another case, the Colorado DNR covertly established a game farm several years ago to investigate rumors of an active black market in cervids and discovered that the practice of smuggling non-certified animals into the state was rampant.<br />
<br />
<strong>Wisconsin's CWD Experience</strong><br />
<br />
Rather than speculating about what <u>could</u> possibly happen if CWD is introduced into our native deer herd, let's look at Wisconsin to see an example of what <u>is</u> happening.<br />
<br />
CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2002. Now, less than a decade later,Wisconsin is at the epicenter of the CWD epidemic in the United States. The difficult situation the state now finds itself in is succinctly summarized in this opening paragraph of the <a href="http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/whealth/issues/cwd/doc/CWD_15plan.pdf">State's fifteen-year plan</a> for combating the spread of the disease.<br />
<br />
<em>After more than eight years of chronic wasting disease (CWD) management in Wisconsin, it is increasingly clear that controlling CWD in Wisconsin’s free-ranging white-tailed deer will be extremely challenging and will require a substantial commitment of human and financial resources over an extended period of time. Disease management in free-ranging wildlife populations generally is difficult, expensive, and controversial, particularly when significant wildlife population reduction is a part of the plan.</em><br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the words “significant wildlife population reduction.” What that means in plain English is that in one CWD-positive area of the state encompassing about 375 square miles (240,000 acres), the DNR has undertaken the task of eradicating every single wild deer. That's right, every single wild deer, over 25,000 of them!<br />
<br />
Those of us who have spent years hunting whitetails know that endeavor is almost certainly going to be a futile effort. Not only that, but it is going to cost the state's taxpayers dearly, both in terms of direct expenses for testing, monitoring, and for paid sharpshooters, but also indirectly in the form of lost revenue on hunting licenses and taxes on hunting-related spending.<br />
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In addition to the deer testing and deer eradication expenses, now State of Wisconsin is <a href="http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/2011/March/03-11-3B5.pdf">appropriating money</a> to pay $465,000 for the purchase and permanent quarantine of 80 acres of CWD-tainted land that was formerly a deer farm. <br />
Estimates of the total direct and indirect economic impact of CWD on the state of Wisconsin vary, but $50 million to $100 million seems to be a very conservative number.<br />
<br />
<strong>Ethical Issues</strong><br />
<br />
Make no mistake about it, the primary purpose of deer farming is to raise large-antlered bucks destined for canned shooting operations. That's where the money is. To produce those large racks, farmers feed their bucks a variety of supplements and inject them with growth hormones to stimulate antler growth.<br />
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Once the bucks grow to a shootable size, they are either sold to canned shooting operations or are turned out into the farmers' own shooting area where they can be harvested by anyone willing to write the appropriate-sized check. Some operators like <a href="http://www.bestdeerhuntohio.com/">World Class Whitetails of Ohio</a> even allow you to go online to pick out “your deer”. When you arrive, it will be there waiting for you in a 200 acre enclosure with minimal cover. <a href="http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/contract-killing/Content?oid=1503307">This article</a> written several years ago describes a typical day there.<br />
<br />
I don't pretend to speak for all Tennessee hunters, but the dozens that I communicate with on a regular basis overwhelmingly oppose such practices on ethical grounds. Whitetail deer are wild animals and should remain wild. We do not support the genetic and chemical manipulation of wildlife and we do not support the unsportsmanlike harvesting of deer in canned-shooting operations.<br />
<br />
We like our heritage of fair-chase hunting and do not wish to see that ethic tarnished for the profit motives of a few. We do not want to be like Texas, where most trophy-class bucks are killed in fenced enclosures while feeding under a corn-feeder. We appreciate the beauty and elusiveness of a wild whitetail. We do not want to see our hunting heritage endangered by the risky importation of potentially diseased deer. <br />
<br />
We do not want to see deer farming in Tennessee.<br />
<br />
<strong>What to Do</strong><br />
<br />
Get involved!<br />
<br />
Time is of the essence. The Conservation and Environment Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives will vote on the deer farming bill on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. If you oppose this risky and offensive legislation, please get in touch with the committee members. The Tennessee Wildlife Federation is taking a leading role in mobilizing concerned sportsmen. <a href="http://capwiz.com/tnwf/callalert/index.tt?alertid=34420501">Their website</a> includes links and easy instructions on reaching committee members. Please take the time to call or write.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-45167609904412085452011-03-14T15:32:00.001-05:002011-03-14T15:33:32.464-05:00Shed Hunting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-XIFLv5sV5hE/TX5Y2KPKYKI/AAAAAAAAAlw/2OZVnVnfZkk/s1600/March+2011Shed+Hunt+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" q6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-XIFLv5sV5hE/TX5Y2KPKYKI/AAAAAAAAAlw/2OZVnVnfZkk/s400/March+2011Shed+Hunt+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>A couple weeks ago, a good friend asked if I would like to participate in his hunting club's annual shed hunt. I jumped at the opportunity to see and walk a one-of-a-kind piece of prime hunting land, lay my hands on a bunch of nice sheds, and make some new friends (the other members, most of whom I didn't know.)<br />
<br />
So, I spent the past weekend walking about 2000 acres of some of the finest deer hunting land I've ever set foot on. The property, located in west Tennessee, contains a perfect blend of lush row crops and foodplots, mature hardwood timber, dense cedar thickets, gnarly kudzu-covered drainages, and a spectacular 8o acre lake. In short, perfect deer habitat that has been managed for big bucks.<br />
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The club members had the shed-hunting process down to a science. Ten of us spread out along a 300 yard line with about 30 yards between us. One person was designated the point person. Sometimes the point was in the middle of the line, at other times he was on the end. It depended on the terrain and the width of the area we needed to cover.<br />
<br />
We all wore an orange cap or vest which allowed us to keep visible contact with each other. We each keyed off the person to either our left or right (toward the point man) in order to keep a straight line as we walked. The two people on the ends and one person in the middle all had two-way radios.<br />
<br />
The point person would follow a terrain feature (usually a creek) and the rest of us would try to maintain our 30 yard spacing, stay abreast of the guy to the left or right, and look for sheds. It took a little while to get in the groove, but pretty soon it get easier.<br />
<br />
When we needed to swing the line to make a bend or if one side got slowed down by difficult terrain (remember those kudzu washes) the wingman would tell the point man by radio to slow down until the line was straight again.<br />
<br />
Collectively, we walked about a hundred and ten miles - double that if you count the ups and downs - and picked up well over a hundred sheds and buck skulls, enough to half-fill the bed of a 3/4 ton pickup. The find of the day was a matched set of thick chocolate-colored 8 point sheds found about 30 yards apart. It's hard to say what they would have scored without knowing the spread, but 150 would be conservative.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TAxMiClnmMU/TX5kTVmMVGI/AAAAAAAAAl0/kc4ZHZzEBz4/s1600/March+2011Shed+Hunt+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TAxMiClnmMU/TX5kTVmMVGI/AAAAAAAAAl0/kc4ZHZzEBz4/s400/March+2011Shed+Hunt+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I had a terrific time and thoroughly enjoyed the cameraderie of a bunch of guys who enjoy having a good time together. The true discovery of the weekend occurred after dinner and about three rounds of margaritas, when one of the guys observed that "tequila makes the ticks fall off." We're thinking that's a pretty good bit of campfire wisdom and a heck of a country song.<br />
<br />
On a bittersweet note, this was likely the last shed hunt for this group. The owner of the club has decided to sell the property. He lives in middle Tennessee and wants to focus on hunting closer to home so that he can spend more weekends with his family during the fall. It is being offered at a very reasonable price of $2750/acre, so it will likely sell quickly. Interested and qualified buyers can contact me at 615-479-8594 or at <a href="mailto:chris@cpanderson.com">chris@cpanderson.com</a> to learn more.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zmVZb3ZRJ8Q/TX54uGJavPI/AAAAAAAAAl8/nOYmC59T6j8/s1600/March+2011Shed+Hunt+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" q6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zmVZb3ZRJ8Q/TX54uGJavPI/AAAAAAAAAl8/nOYmC59T6j8/s400/March+2011Shed+Hunt+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-45145244051683424172011-02-21T14:28:00.001-06:002011-02-22T13:05:25.449-06:00The Bust'em Boys - Reloaded<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XpETwYVj3oo/TWLC7p5ocxI/AAAAAAAAAlE/5i-uYnlazfQ/s1600/Buest%2527em+Boys+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XpETwYVj3oo/TWLC7p5ocxI/AAAAAAAAAlE/5i-uYnlazfQ/s400/Buest%2527em+Boys+2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The 2011 Alabama youth duck hunt witnessed some fine shooting by the Bust'em Boys. The weekend started a little slow with sub-freezing temperatures and calm air conspiring to freeze up the timber hole we had planned to hunt. Last year's <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2010/02/bust-em-boys.html">timber hunt</a> was unfortunately not going to be repeated.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning, the boys hunted a blind on the edge of a flooded cornfield and killed a couple ducks. They returned to the same blind that afternoon but soon relocated to the middle of a partially flooded cornfield where they wallowed around in the mud and had a great hunt.<br />
<br />
Sunday morning they hunted a small pond and had a barn-burner for the first 30 minutes of shooting time. As we stood there waiting for legal shooting time, dozens of ducks circled, most of them eventually landing and safely taking off again. Just as the clock hit 30 minutes before sunrise, a group of about 20 mallards worked in and it was game on...<br />
<br />
Many thanks to Papa Bust'em for hosting another terrific youth hunt.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aBOhAVrbzXE?rel=0&hd=1" title="YouTube video player" width="360"></iframe>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-87141530320099293252011-02-09T08:04:00.002-06:002011-02-09T09:23:01.008-06:00Feelin' Ducky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVGrVDckq5I/AAAAAAAAAk4/rcl9-UbaVEI/s1600/Ann+with+Banded+Hen+8x10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVGrVDckq5I/AAAAAAAAAk4/rcl9-UbaVEI/s400/Ann+with+Banded+Hen+8x10.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><br />
<em>What an incredible day! Four limits of mallards in just over an hour and an amazing 150 yard retrieve on the banded hen pictured above. My recollection of that day two weeks ago...</em><br />
<br />
Warm temps<br />
Blue Sky<br />
Blazing sun<br />
Not the kind of day<br />
That get's you Feelin' Ducky<br />
<br />
But a North wind's building<br />
Tonight a winter storm blows in<br />
Freezing temps mean<br />
Hungry ducks ahead<br />
<br />
First a single<br />
Then a pair<br />
Then a pair of pairs<br />
Screamin' out of the blinding sun<br />
Then plummet to the ground<br />
<br />
Now the gates open<br />
The sky's alive!<br />
Ducks swarm like flies<br />
<br />
Fathers and sons<br />
Man and beast<br />
Work as one<br />
To meet the tide<br />
<br />
Time stands still<br />
In my mind<br />
A blur of frenzied motion<br />
Days like this<br />
Are rare to find<br />
<br />
Man, I'm Feelin' Ducky<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVHPlwSWjDI/AAAAAAAAAk8/wcGnN4_YrXY/s1600/0122_Ducks_0043+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="317" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVHPlwSWjDI/AAAAAAAAAk8/wcGnN4_YrXY/s400/0122_Ducks_0043+cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVHQE-tt9MI/AAAAAAAAAlA/CglnqScgUpE/s1600/0122_Ducks_0050+cropped+5x7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="281" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TVHQE-tt9MI/AAAAAAAAAlA/CglnqScgUpE/s400/0122_Ducks_0050+cropped+5x7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-25767889172807651962011-01-27T16:17:00.001-06:002011-02-04T13:51:31.275-06:00Late-Season Dominant Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TUHpAOA7HBI/AAAAAAAAAko/z4Hkn8dn5bs/s1600/Dominant+Tree+in+Snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" s5="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TUHpAOA7HBI/AAAAAAAAAko/z4Hkn8dn5bs/s400/Dominant+Tree+in+Snow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>If you need proof that <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant trees</a> exist late into the year, take a look at this photo I took on January 13. We had received about 5 inches of snow which completely blanketed the ground except where it had been disturbed by animals.<br />
<br />
The circle of dark exposed leaves in the center of the photo is where numerous deer had pawed back the snow to get to the acorns that had fallen months ago from one specific <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html">white oak tree</a>. As I rode the property, I saw several other similar spots.<br />
<br />
It was interesting that the feeding areas were all located directly underneath the canopy of a specific tree and generally didn't extend beyond that. <br />
<br />
With binoculars, I could scout dozens of acres from one spot. The big brown circles stood out like, well... big brown circles. Unfortunatley our deer season had already closed, or else, it wouldn't have even been fair.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-88931557510891136462011-01-04T11:23:00.005-06:002011-01-06T13:31:09.405-06:00How I Became an AR-15 Convert<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TSNHyLkhyhI/AAAAAAAAAkg/M0nB81ebiu8/s1600/2011Jan02_three+does_0002+8x10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TSNHyLkhyhI/AAAAAAAAAkg/M0nB81ebiu8/s400/2011Jan02_three+does_0002+8x10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Go to any hunting forum and suggest deer hunting with an AR-15 in .223/5.56 dress and you are sure to get howls of protest about how it is underpowered, won't penetrate, isn't a suitable weapon/caliber, blah, blah, blah...<br />
<br />
Baloney!<br />
<br />
With the end of deer season approaching, I've flipped the switch from trophy bucks to meat hunting. I want to make sure that I don't run out of my favorite sausage before next year. As a personal challenge, and to debunk all the crap that has been written about the inadequacy of the AR as a deer rifle, I decided to try to fill my 3 does/day limit from a single group of does using my son's Remington R-15 VTR. Although I've never deer hunted with a .223 before, it just didn't make sense to me that it wouldn't be just as effective as any other modern caliber, given a well-placed shot.<br />
<br />
The R-15 VTR is a sweet shooting sporterized version of the venerable AR-15. It is chambered for the .223 Remington and sports a free-floating varmint/target barrel (see where the VTR designation comes from?) and a decent stock trigger. I've topped it off with a Nikon 3x9 scope. <br />
<br />
So last Sunday morning I set out to fill the freezer, to fulfill a personal goal, and to test out the deer hunting abilities of the AR. At about 7:15, as luck would have it, three does showed up and began feeding on acorns on an adjacent ridge. They were about 110 - 120 yards away and totally unaware of my presence.<br />
<br />
I waited until I had a clear broadside shot through the trees at the largest doe, settled the crosshairs behind her shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Since I didn't have to worry about chambering another round and because the recoil of an AR is practically nil, I was able to maintain my cheek weld and scope picture and quickly swing over to the second doe. At the sound of the first shot, she had picked her head up and gave me a perfect broadside shot - which I quickly took.<br />
<br />
The third doe had decided that things were getting a little dicey and took off. Again, because I didn't have to adjust my hold on the rifle, I was able to quickly swing over and track her as she ran off. When she passed through an opening in the trees, I pulled the trigger for the third time. Altogether, the whole sequence probably took less than ten seconds.<br />
<br />
I was pretty sure that I had made good shots on the first two deer since they were stationary and I had a good rest, but I was afraid that I might not have led the running deer enough. It turned out that I was right. The first doe was shot through both lungs, the second, through the heart. Neither went more than about 30 yards.<br />
<br />
The third deer was hit through the hams, but still only went about 150 yards before piling up in a creek.<br />
<br />
Count me among the converted. I'm not ready to call it quits on my .270, but from now on, I'm pretty likely to reach for the AR when rifle season rolls around - particularly when I'm looking to put meat in the freezer.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-76460455318867778462010-11-21T21:26:00.001-06:002010-11-21T21:46:15.271-06:00Southwind Buck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TOnLgcZnCwI/AAAAAAAAAiU/AYuui6cmJUM/s1600/IMG00023-20101121-0727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TOnLgcZnCwI/AAAAAAAAAiU/AYuui6cmJUM/s320/IMG00023-20101121-0727.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I love it when a plan comes together! This was the view from my treestand at about 7:25 this morning. I didn't have a real camera with me, so I took the photo through my binoculars with my Blackberry. It's kinda hard to make out, but that little patch of white 2/3 of the way up is a deer laying about 40 yards away.<br />
<br />
Meetings and a nasty head cold have kept me out of the woods for a while (including yesterday's opening day of gun season), so for <u>my</u> first day of gun season I had to pick a spot without the benefit of any recent scouting.<br />
<br />
The Weather Channel was predicting a south wind, so I broke out my topo map - and between sneezes - looked for terrain features that would be good candidates for setting up downwind of cruising bucks. One particular saddle that runs directly north-south caught my eye. <br />
<br />
I've noticed a good amount of walk sign there over the past several weeks. I've also seen lots of does in the general area, but nothing in particular had screamed out "hunt here." I figured by setting up on the north end of the saddle I could cover it without stinking up the likely approach routes. In the absence of a better plan, it was worth a shot.<br />
<br />
By flashlight, I picked out a nice straight white oak that seemed to offer a clear view across the saddle and hauled my sneezing, wheezing butt up the tree. At about 7:15 I noticed movement in a patch of thick stuff about 50 yards away. I could make out a decent set of antlers but didn't get much of a look. There was another opening about ten feet in front of the deer, so I settled my scope on it and waited. <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In just a couple seconds, the buck stepped into the small opening and gave me a clear shot. The .270 ballistic tip hit behind the right shoulder and took out both lungs on the way through. The buck managed to go only about 20 yards before piling up right beside a logging road. Tracking and retrieving couldn't have been easier - which was a good thing, because I really wasn't looking forward to dragging him out of a hollow.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TOnZH6zJjZI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ZktQi6OpM9g/s1600/2010Nov21_Nine_point_0118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TOnZH6zJjZI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ZktQi6OpM9g/s320/2010Nov21_Nine_point_0118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As I sat there in my stand trying to line up my phone's camera lens with my binoculars (not an easy task) a little basket-rack 8 point walked right by the downed buck and never even broke stride. Unfortunately, I couldn't get everything lined up in time to capture that.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">What a morning! What a start to Thanksgiving week! Just last week, I promised my neighbor some sausage from my next deer. He'll be thrilled to have it in time for the holiday.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-8696256488636992002010-11-10T21:53:00.003-06:002011-02-09T14:50:35.145-06:00The Badfinger Bucks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNsylRMuoFI/AAAAAAAAAhg/7ziCjqB8pLY/s1600/20101107_Hunters+8+point_0099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" px="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNsylRMuoFI/AAAAAAAAAhg/7ziCjqB8pLY/s320/20101107_Hunters+8+point_0099.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For the first time in as long as I can remember, I missed the actual opening morning of muzzle loader season. My son Hunter (that's him above) had an away football game on Friday night. Neither of us was looking forward to heading out on only a couple hours sleep, so we reluctantly bagged the Saturday morning hunt. <br />
<br />
Mid-day Saturday, I headed out to do some scouting for our day-late opening day. I hadn't been at it for long before I walked up on a pretty nice eight pointer who crossed the logging road about 40 yards in front of me and never even noticed I was there. He had his nose to the ground and was moving along at a determined pace. "That's a good sign," I thought. Only one thing that gets a nice buck like that to let his guard down. The rut!<br />
<br />
I made a mental note of where he had crossed and backed out. It was an area where two secondary ridges meet at a high point on the main ridge. I've noticed a smattering of buck sign there over the past couple weeks, but never could find anything like a dominant tree or a funnel that would give me a high probability shot with a bow. Now that we could reach out a little further with a muzzle loader and with an actual buck sighting, it was looking much better. <br />
<br />
I checked some other spots that have had a good amount of deer sign for a couple weeks, but that I hadn't hunted for the same reason as the place where I had seen the buck earlier. I eventually got to a spot that I've had a gut feeling about for a while now. It was a saddle that I bow hunted early in the season. I had seen several does but no bucks that morning and just never went back. <br />
<br />
As I approached the saddle I stopped and immediately noticed a tremendous amount of walk sign. The newly-fallen leaves were already crunched up and broken. Several trails were bare dirt despite the fresh layer of leaves. It was obvious that lots of deer were in the area.<br />
<br />
As I explored further, I discovered a couple fresh scrapes and rubs. Then I noticed a cluster of <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-northern-red-oak.html">red oaks</a> in the middle of the saddle. I had just walked under them and found fresh droppings when I heard movement down in the nearby hollow. I looked toward the source of the noise and saw a really nice set of antlers sticking up over some thick brush. I threw up my muzzle loader and tried to find a clear shot but couldn't ever see anything that I was comfortable with. Eventually, the buck turned and walked downhill without offering a clear shot.<br />
<br />
To say that I was excited was a huge understatement. A natural funnel with lots of walk sign, fresh buck sign, a cluster of dominant trees, and now a shooter buck sighted just 75 yards away. It just doesn't get better than that!<br />
<br />
Hunter had a commitment that night so I picked out a tree on the downwind side of the saddle and settled in. A couple does and this little nine pointer that I shot with my cell phone came through. On the fourth photo, I accidentally pushed the voice-dialing button on my phone instead of the camera button. "PLEASE SAY THE COMMAND" the female voice demanded. That little buck nearly jumped out of his skin and I just cracked up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtWiy_BxOI/AAAAAAAAAhk/e6r7wwFLfKY/s1600/IMG00004-20101106-1653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtWiy_BxOI/AAAAAAAAAhk/e6r7wwFLfKY/s320/IMG00004-20101106-1653.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
At dark, I climbed down and marked my way out with bright-eyes so that I could find the same tree in the morning. Sunday morning Hunter and I returned to the same tree. He was the designated shooter and I was videographer. Wow! what a morning. It was truly a once in a lifetime hunt. The fact that I got to share it with my son and that I captured it on video made it that much more special.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="270" width="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2trWxiwSrYY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2trWxiwSrYY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="360" height="270"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtmYknrDcI/AAAAAAAAAh4/G2PrlqcYmP8/s1600/IMG00007-20101107-0846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtmYknrDcI/AAAAAAAAAh4/G2PrlqcYmP8/s320/IMG00007-20101107-0846.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The only low point of the day (other than watching a nice ten pointer walk away) came when Hunter accidentally filleted the side of his finger while field dressing his deer. Luckily I had my first aid kit with me and got the bleeding stopped, but it eventually took six stitches to close up. It was a good reminder that sharp knives and adrenaline can be a hazardous combination and that a properly stocked first aid kit is a hunting necessity. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I like to name my hunting spots. Since this one hadn't been named yet, it became Badfinger Saddle. The two bucks became, obviously, the Badfinger Bucks.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtahMehXfI/AAAAAAAAAho/RwXW51XpyKU/s1600/IMG00010-20101107-1441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtahMehXfI/AAAAAAAAAho/RwXW51XpyKU/s320/IMG00010-20101107-1441.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">A long day of meetings on Monday kept me out of the woods, but Tuesday morning I was back in the same tree again. I was determined to get another crack at the ten pointer that had eluded us twice on Sunday. I saw far fewer deer than on Sunday, but a couple eight pointers that were a little smaller than Hunter's deer came through. Eventually the direct sun shining on enough layers of clothing to keep me warm at 32 degrees heated me up to the point that I was driven down the tree to shed some clothes and cool off.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I decided that I was going to have to change tactics to kill that deer so I set off scouting/still hunting. I had been at it for a couple hours when I heard deer running down in a deep hollow off to my left. I hadn't seen any white flags and the wind was blowing from them toward me so I knew they hadn't smelled me. I looked around and noticed that I was in another saddle. "They're going to come right through here," I thought. I quickly picked out a nearby tree and sat down on the ground next to it facing the hollow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In about five minutes, my stomach began to grumble and my mind began to wander toward getting up to go for some lunch. Just then, a doe came barreling up the hill straight at me! When she was about twenty feet away, she finally saw me, slammed on the brakes, and took a hard left. Forty yards behind her was another deer that stopped as soon as she veered off. I threw my muzzle loader up and only had time to make out that it was a mature buck from the shape of its head. In an instant, he began to make that little lean that can only mean he's about to get gone quick. He was facing straight at me so I put the crosshairs on the center of his chest and squeezed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The first good look I got at him was as he ran off. I could tell he had good width and I could tell that he had been hit, but he disappeared back down in the hollow in about two seconds so I was left wondering if he might have been the ten pointer from Sunday and whether the shot I had made would put him down quickly and with a good blood trail. I've shot two other bucks in the throat with a muzzle loader, including <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2008/11/rattle-and-roll-em.html">this one</a> captured on video on opening day two years ago. Both of them dropped like a sack of potatoes, so I was a little worried that this one hadn't.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I decided to give him some time to bleed out if necessary, go get some lunch, and call some friends to help me do the tracking. David Watson was kind enough to drop what he was doing and give me a hand. Turns out I needn't have worried as he only went about 120 yards before piling up against a tree in the bottom of the hollow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">As I approached him I could tell immediately that it was the same ten pointer that Hunter and I had seen. He was a beautiful deer and a worthy opponent. This time, perseverance and a little luck had paid off for me.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtlabMbYuI/AAAAAAAAAhw/RgNIItxzyg4/s1600/2010Nov09_10Point_0101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtlabMbYuI/AAAAAAAAAhw/RgNIItxzyg4/s400/2010Nov09_10Point_0101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtkHAKUDGI/AAAAAAAAAhs/h-UonFkEwC4/s1600/2010Nov09_10Point_0103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" px="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtkHAKUDGI/AAAAAAAAAhs/h-UonFkEwC4/s320/2010Nov09_10Point_0103.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtl2FiumrI/AAAAAAAAAh0/4t4Lh9xdIt0/s1600/2010Nov09_10Point_0109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" px="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TNtl2FiumrI/AAAAAAAAAh0/4t4Lh9xdIt0/s320/2010Nov09_10Point_0109.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-53425128062916997732010-09-30T11:26:00.005-05:002010-11-30T22:16:45.767-06:00The Crown Buck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKToTUojwgI/AAAAAAAAAhc/rOW74tc9NWo/s1600/Crown+Buck+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKToTUojwgI/AAAAAAAAAhc/rOW74tc9NWo/s320/Crown+Buck+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
What do you do when you have three dominant trees to hunt in the same area? You have to pick one, of course. What happens when you pick wrong? Well... you might get some good video footage.<br />
<br />
But I'm getting ahead of myself...<br />
<br />
About a month ago, I spotted a large-bodied buck with an impressive set of headgear leaving a hay field at dawn. It was a foggy morning and I was looking at him through binoculars from about 200 yards away. I couldn't make out the details of his rack, but from the general shape, it looked like he might be a pretty nice non-typical.<br />
<br />
Last Sunday, my buddy Ted and I did some scouting along a ridge in the area of his likely travel route to and from that field. We found three <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant trees</a>, all <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html">white oaks</a>, that were spread out in a straight line 75 yards long and running perpendicular to the length of the ridge. One tree was on top of the ridge, another was about midway down the side, and the third was close to a creek that ran down the hollow next to the ridge. All three trees had good fresh feeding sign and the lowest tree, next to the creek, had a couple feeding rubs nearby.<br />
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To the east of the three trees is another ridge with very thick cover where I guessed deer would be bedded during the day.<br />
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On Monday of this week, I hunted the area and set up between the two lower trees. Soon after I climbed the tree, the wind shifted from the North to the West, which sent my scent right over to the bedding area. Almost on cue, a deer started blowing, and blowing, and blowing some more. It blew at me for twenty minutes straight before finally moving on. <br />
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About 30 minutes later six does came straight upwind toward me blowing occasionally. One of the does walked directly to the tree I was in, stopped about ten yards away, and looked up at me. They obviously knew I was there, but I guess the lure of fresh white oak acorns was more than they could stand.<br />
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So when I returned yesterday with Ted (who was videoing), my plan was to pick out a tree to climb that would provide the best chance of keeping my scent out of the bedding area and the feeding areas. I seriously considered climbing a hickory tree that was about 15 yards downwind of the uppermost dominant tree.<br />
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As we stood there checking the wind direction, it began to swirl so we decided to bag trying to set up for a downwind position and hunt the lower tree with the buck sign. BIG mistake!<br />
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At about 5:30, I noticed movement near the uppermost dominant tree and signaled to Ted that there was a deer up there. Well, to make a long story short, we watched a beautiful buck feed on the upper dominant tree for 25 minutes. He was about 50 yards away, so I wasn't going to risk a shot. Unfortunately, he never came closer, so all we could do was watch as he fed contentedly about 15 yards from the tree I <u>almost</u> climbed.<br />
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He was close enough that I couldn't move to reach for my binoculars so I really didn't know how big he was. Since Ted was watching him through the video camera he got a much better view. When it got dark and we started to climb down, I asked Ted, "am I going to cry when I look at the video?" All he could say was, "yup." Boy did he say a mouthful there!<br />
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The best I can tell, he is a mainframe 10 with two kickers on his left G2 and one kicker on his right G2, giving him 13 scorable points. I named him the Crown Buck because of the way the kickers curve out, which gives his rack the appearance of a crown.<br />
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Needless to say, I was disappointed for second-guessing my gut feeling, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. Oh well, the season is young. Hopefully, I'll get a second chance.<br />
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<object height="270" width="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZvB0mEBCGsY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZvB0mEBCGsY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="360" height="270"></embed></object>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-74388564110388650732010-09-28T21:16:00.002-05:002010-09-28T22:03:47.763-05:00Ryan Winchester, Bowhunter <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKaRm60m9I/AAAAAAAAAhQ/rMfb1EqTcOs/s1600/PICT0278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKaRm60m9I/AAAAAAAAAhQ/rMfb1EqTcOs/s400/PICT0278.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All photos courtesy Scott Winchester</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Ryan Winchester is a stud. <br />
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The 12 year-old seventh grader from Powell, Tennessee has accomplished a feat that few adults can claim. He has now taken a deer with a bow. In fact, the photo above of him and his bow kill was the first one posted on TnDeer.com's popular <a href="http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2085428&page=1&nt=6&fpart=1">kill picture thread</a> for the 2010 season.<br />
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Ryan's path to bowhunting success has been carefully guided by his dad Scott. Scott is an avid deer hunter and diehard proponent of hunting <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant trees</a> (which he calls "killing trees"). Ryan is learning to identify trees and read deer sign, so he and Scott spent lots of time scouting in the pre-season. It's no accident then that he was hunting a hot <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html">chestnut oak</a> on the opening morning of the 2010 archery season.<br />
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It's also no accident that Ryan made a perfect shot when the time came. He worked hard shooting his left-handed bow three times a week in the months leading up to deer season. Due to the difficulty of finding a proper fitting left-handed youth bow, his dad had to modify one that started out with a draw length that was too long and a draw weight that was too heavy. If you look closely at the photo below, you will notice that the limb pockets have been modified to achieve the proper draw length and a 38 pound draw weight. Pretty ingenious!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKbStXvUKI/AAAAAAAAAhU/XC96KK0GMTs/s1600/PICT0282.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKbStXvUKI/AAAAAAAAAhU/XC96KK0GMTs/s400/PICT0282.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The story of Ryan's hunt begins on the Wednesday prior to the opening of Tennessee's archery season when Ryan and Scott discovered a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html">chestnut oak</a> with lots of feeding sign underneath. The tree was on a very small plot of private land that most hunters would overlook, thinking it to be too small to possibly hold deer. Fortunately, they put their trust in the sign that they saw and they hung two lock-on stands on trees that were about twenty yards apart.<br />
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Although some hunters claim that deer will not eat chestnut oak acorns, Scott knew that in the early weeks of bow season, before other, more desireable species of acorn drop, deer will gobble them up.<br />
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Opening morning found Ryan, Scott, and Scott's dad waiting out the rain that had moved in overnight. Ryan and Scott arrived at their stands right at daylight, just as the rain was easing up. They had only been in the stand for about fifteen minutes when Ryan motioned to his dad that there were two deer approaching.<br />
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Ryan maintained his composure for the ten minutes or so that it took the deer to make their way to the dominant tree they were set up on. Ryan knew that he would have to wait for the deer to get within 25 yards to ensure a clean kill with his light archery tackle. Because he was hunting a dominant tree, he knew exactly where the deer was headed and he knew that he was set up in a location to get that close shot. It was just a matter of time.<br />
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As the deer began to feed Ryan waited patiently to draw his bow when the deer's head passed behind a tree. He made a perfect shot and watched happily, but carefully, as the deer ran off. In a few minutes Ryan and Scott climbed down and Ryan walked directly to the spot he had mentally marked to find his arrow covered in bright red blood.<br />
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Ryan led the tracking job, finding the deer piled up a mere 50 yards away with a perfectly placed hole through both lungs. He then took care of the field dressing and dragging chores on his own.<br />
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Needless to say, grandfather, father, and son were all thrilled to death and very proud of what Ryan had accomplished. Although Ryan has killed larger deer, including this impressive buck taken during the 2007 firearm season, his first bow-killed deer will certainly rank among the most memorable of his life.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKcqIwxA1I/AAAAAAAAAhY/YbYSKtQnRJ4/s1600/Ryan07+046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TKKcqIwxA1I/AAAAAAAAAhY/YbYSKtQnRJ4/s400/Ryan07+046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
In this day of quick fixes and instant gratification, it's truly wonderful to see a young man accept the challenge of learning the skills of a woodsman and practicing his craft so that when the moment of opportunity presents itself he is ready. He can now proudly wear the title of bowhunter.<br />
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Kudos to Scott for passing along the skills and values that will serve Ryan well in the years to come. We should all be so lucky to have a mentor like Ryan does.<br />
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Oh, did I mention that Ryan Winchester is a stud? Way to go dude!Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-25468120916572107912010-09-21T19:52:00.007-05:002010-09-22T07:08:05.771-05:00Tree ID - Saul OakI'm going to go out on a limb on this tree ID article, because I'll admit that I'm not 100% sure I have this tree identified correctly. I first talked about it in <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2010/09/why-ill-never-be-bait-hunter.html">this article</a> about a recent scouting trip. I'm also going to go out on a limb and guess that only other tree nerds like me will give two hoots about any of this.<br />
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First off, I have never seen another tree like this one. I believe it is a <em>Quercus Saulii</em> or Saul Oak which is a hybrid of a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html">Chestnut Oak</a> and a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html">White Oak</a>. The leaves, acorns, and bark are consistent with the descriptions, dimensions, and illustrations given in <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/ledig/psw_1969_ledig001.pdf">this obscure scientific article</a> which is the only information source I've been able to find. I'm posting this in hopes that through the magic of Google, someone with more expertise than I will find this and help me confirm my identification. Please leave a comment below if you have any knowledge that you would be willing to share.<br />
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This particular tree is the only one of it's kind that I could find in the immediate area. It is growing on an upland ridge in a stand of white oaks. There is a stand of chestnut oaks nearby. The tree is about 24 inches in diameter.<br />
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This is the same photo of an acorn and leaf that I posted earlier. The leaf is 10.5 cm long and about 5.5 cm wide at its widest point. The acorn is about 27 mm long and 20 mm in diameter. It may be a coincidence, but both of the acorns I picked up were attached to a second undeveloped acorn (visible just above the cap). They are intermediate in size between a white oak acorn and a chestnut oak acorn.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlIifdMxcI/AAAAAAAAAgc/KLARq6aCI5I/s1600/Hybrid+oak+leaf+and+acorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlIifdMxcI/AAAAAAAAAgc/KLARq6aCI5I/s400/Hybrid+oak+leaf+and+acorn.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Here are what the leaves look like against the sky. When I first saw them through my binoculars, I thought that they looked like either very "shaggy" chestnut oak acorns, or very "regularly shaped" white oak acorns.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlQBNU8VuI/AAAAAAAAAhE/LVLC7_HGv_g/s1600/Leaves+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" qx="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlQBNU8VuI/AAAAAAAAAhE/LVLC7_HGv_g/s400/Leaves+cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Here are a couple photos of the bark which clearly lacks the flaky appearance of a white oak - particularly at the point where the large limbs branch off. It is somewhat furrowed, but not as deeply as a chestnut oak.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlKo-3U41I/AAAAAAAAAgs/ZPKD7YOJ43U/s1600/_DSC5466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlKo-3U41I/AAAAAAAAAgs/ZPKD7YOJ43U/s400/_DSC5466.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlK6qmxdWI/AAAAAAAAAg0/6_N_4Hd0VPk/s1600/_DSC5467.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlK6qmxdWI/AAAAAAAAAg0/6_N_4Hd0VPk/s400/_DSC5467.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlLGZaZI_I/AAAAAAAAAg8/HP_S1kc4AIg/s1600/_DSC5463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJlLGZaZI_I/AAAAAAAAAg8/HP_S1kc4AIg/s400/_DSC5463.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will be checking this tree when it begins to drop acorns to see if it develops into a <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant tree</a> (for any biologists or foresters who might be reading this, I'm not referring to the classic definition of a dominant tree that you would be accustomed to). Assuming that my identification is correct, I think it would be really neat to kill a mature buck under such a unique tree.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-17270970610183304772010-09-20T21:39:00.002-05:002010-09-20T22:03:30.121-05:00Scouting Tip - Think Like a DeerWith whitetail bow season underway in a few states and just around the corner here in Tennessee and other places, lots of deer hunters are hitting the woods to find that perfect hunting spot. I'm really thrilled that more and more of them are getting interested in finding and hunting dominant trees. In the past week I've gotten at least a dozen emails and messages on message boards either asking for help in finding dominant trees or talking about how the hunter had shots at deer every time they hunted a dominant tree. <br />
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One of the things I've heard many times in recent weeks is that there are acorns everywhere and the deer aren't focusing on any particular tree. There is a possibility that is correct, but I'd wager to say that there are dominant trees somewhere, the hunter just hasn't found them yet. Even when there are acorns everywhere, deer remain creatures of habit. As a result, they will follow short-term patterns that will take them through preferred feeding areas and past dominant trees on a regular basis.<br />
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With that in mind, I thought it would be a good time for a few advanced scouting tips. Before I jump into that, if you need to brush up on dominant tree basics, start with <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/welcome-to-pursuit-whitetail-hunting.html">this article</a> for an overview of Pursuit-style hunting, then <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">this one</a> for a definition of dominant trees, <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-2-identification.html">this one</a> for an overview on identifying them, and finally <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/dominant-tree-part-3-size-does-matter.html">this one</a> for some basics on acorns and oak trees.<br />
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So here are a couple tips:<br />
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#1 Scout With a Plan<br />
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Don't just wander aimlessly looking under every tree you come across. Think like a deer. Where would I be at night? Where would I go during the day. How would terrain features, the prevailing wind, and cover (or the lack thereof) influence my travel routes between them. <br />
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Get out a topo map and aerial photo of your hunting area and study them with those questions in mind. Then develop a scouting plan that takes all those variables into account. Mark your best guesses for the deer's preferred travel routes on your topo map, or better yet, use some topo mapping software <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2010/03/garmin-etrex-h-and-topo-mapping.html">like this</a> to create custom maps. I use one symbol to designate spots to be scouted and other symbols to record what I find.<br />
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#2 Look for Visual Clues About Deer Movement<br />
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As you are out working your plan, keep your eyes open for obvious things like slick trails, creek crossings, or places where deer are crossing under fences like this spot I found yesterday.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgT_m9K4eI/AAAAAAAAAf8/QRaoaAQjQEA/s1600/_DSC5452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" qx="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgT_m9K4eI/AAAAAAAAAf8/QRaoaAQjQEA/s400/_DSC5452.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you find fresh walk sign, there is a reason why deer are in the area at that particular time. Ask yourself, "why would a deer be here?" It may or may not be because they are feeding on a nearby dominant tree, but the odds that they are just went up. I found this fresh feeding sign literally twenty feet from the fence crossing.<br />
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Sometimes the walk sign you are looking for will be much more subtle than a slick trail. Unfortunately it's very hard to photograph, but often I've found dominant trees by noticing disturbed and broken leaves where numerous deer have walked through an area and followed the "trail" right to a dominant tree. <br />
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Also, in the early season, look for small rubs like these, which I call feeding rubs. They are often located either directly under or very near a dominant tree. I believe that bucks tend to make them soon after they have shed their velvet. They are not so much about communication like the larger rubs you will see later in the year, but rather, they seem to be more a case of boys being boys and just trying out the new hardware. For whatever reason, they tend to do it near feeding areas. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgXWZ1I_vI/AAAAAAAAAgM/dXuEhwQ6dAI/s1600/_DSC5475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgXWZ1I_vI/AAAAAAAAAgM/dXuEhwQ6dAI/s400/_DSC5475.jpg" width="266" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgXmPDmfFI/AAAAAAAAAgU/D5kxS6KJfUE/s1600/_DSC5471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" qx="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TJgXmPDmfFI/AAAAAAAAAgU/D5kxS6KJfUE/s400/_DSC5471.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
#3 Use Your Ears<br />
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Deer seem to prefer the freshest acorns available. As you are walking through the woods, stop frequently to listen for dropping nuts just like deer do. I've probably found more dominant trees just by following the sound than any other way.<br />
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I hope these little tips help you improve your scouting skills. Please feel free to leave a comment or question below.<br />
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Good luck this season!Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-69080141236864413512010-09-13T15:47:00.005-05:002010-09-22T07:10:17.925-05:00Why I'll Never be a Bait HunterI attended a panel discussion this weekend that featured a couple well known deer biologists from the middle Tennessee area, Bryan Kinkel, a private consultant, and Daryl Ratajczak, the Big Game Program Coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Bryan and Daryl fielded questions on a variety of topics and did a terrific job of addressing several hotly debated topics including bag limits, antler restrictions, and baiting.<br />
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On the subject of "why baiting is illegal in Tennessee," Daryl and Bryan agreed that there are a variety of biological reasons including disease transmission among deer and possible toxicity to wild turkeys. It was a non-biological reason that really resonated with me, however. One of them (I can't remember who) said that baiting lowers the skill level of hunters since they never have to get out and actually learn to scout.<br />
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I agree with that point, but I would also add that by not scouting, you miss out on the best part of hunting which is getting out and learning about the natural world by observing and participating in an activity as old as life itself.<br />
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I love scouting. In fact, I actually enjoy scouting as much as I enjoy sitting in my treestand (what most folks would call hunting). If you'll scroll up to the top of the page, you'll see my mantra that "hunting takes place before you climb into your stand, everything after that is just shooting."<br />
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Seems like every time I hit the woods, I learn something new. This past weekend was no exception.<br />
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In addition to locating several promising-looking spots for the opening of bow season in a couple short weeks, I made three discoveries that may or may not ultimately contribute to my success as a deer hunter but which added to my knowledge of and appreciation for the world that deer live in.<br />
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Discovery #1 - Deer Like to Eat in Bed<br />
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I found this deer bed near the first <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/08/dominant-tree-part-1-definition.html">dominant tree</a> I found this year. The bed was obviously fresh because the leaves were dry while the surrounding area was damp from an overnight shower.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI5yotlCoFI/AAAAAAAAAfU/ssgO-Lgp4yw/s1600/plum+pits+in+deer+bed+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI5yotlCoFI/AAAAAAAAAfU/ssgO-Lgp4yw/s320/plum+pits+in+deer+bed+2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>As I looked more closely, I discovered a pile of wild plum pits that had apparently been separated out of the cud of the bed's recent inhabitant and spit out in a neat little pile. When I picked one up, it was still moist.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI5zqbRa04I/AAAAAAAAAfc/efQLVeg6UKY/s1600/plum+pits+in+deer+bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI5zqbRa04I/AAAAAAAAAfc/efQLVeg6UKY/s320/plum+pits+in+deer+bed.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I never did find the source of those wild plums (which are not very common in my area), but you can bet your last dollar that I will be keeping my eye out for it in the future. I'd be plum crazy not to!<br />
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Discovery #2 - That's My Kind of Hybrid, Jack<br />
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After checking literally hundreds of white oaks with binoculars, looking for acorns, I looked up in what I originally thought was a white oak but saw leaves that look nothing like anything I've seen before and acorns that were absolutely huge. I searched around under the tree and found a couple of acorns that look like white oak acorns on steroids - luckily, one of them had a couple leaves attached.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI54hJWYbBI/AAAAAAAAAfk/OLhSwSBF2cg/s1600/Hybrid+oak+leaf+and+acorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI54hJWYbBI/AAAAAAAAAfk/OLhSwSBF2cg/s320/Hybrid+oak+leaf+and+acorn.jpg" /></a></div><br />
On closer examination, I noticed that the bark lacked the characteristic flaky appearance of a white oak.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI6KWX06NfI/AAAAAAAAAf0/weZOBO_WYZc/s1600/hybrid+oak+bark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI6KWX06NfI/AAAAAAAAAf0/weZOBO_WYZc/s320/hybrid+oak+bark.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I've checked every tree reference I know of and can't find any species that matches the physical characteristics and the location of the tree (on a south-facing upland ridge). I did find several references on the web to hybrids of <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-eastern-white-oak.html">white oaks</a> and <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/tree-id-chestnut-oak.html">chestnut oaks</a> which I believe this to be. That hybrid is actually common enough to have a name, the Jack Oak or Saul Oak.<br />
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Based on the size of the acorns, their white oak lineage, and numerous old feeding rubs in the area, I have high hopes that this tree will be a hot spot when it starts dropping nuts in a couple weeks. How cool would it be to kill a nice buck under this unique tree? I will definitely be keeping an eye on it.<br />
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Update: I found <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/ledig/psw_1969_ledig001.pdf">this article</a> from a scientific journal that describes and illustrates the characteristics of a chestnut oak/white oak hybrid, scientific name <em>Quercus Saulii</em>. The tree I found matches every leaf, acorn, and bark characteristic described in the article.<br />
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Which brings me to the weirdest discovery of the weekend...<br />
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Discovery #3 - The Stinking Phallus<br />
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So I'm riding along a logging road on my four wheeler, minding my own business, when I catch a whiff of something dead. A couple guys on TnDeer.com had been talking recently about finding isolated pockets of deer that had apparently died of <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2007/09/on-hunt-ehd-hits-middle-tennessee-hard.html">EHD</a>. With that in mind, I grabbed the brakes and came to a quick stop to check it out. The wind was swirling around so the odor came and went a couple times. <br />
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I dug out my handy bottle of <a href="http://www.pursuithunting.com/2009/11/watching-wind.html">milkweed floaters</a> and launched one the next time I got a whiff of death. Getting a fix on the wind direction, I began backtracking upwind expecting at any minute to see a decomposing deer. Instead, I found this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI582IZ3umI/AAAAAAAAAfs/Dw7HN_fUQa8/s1600/death+shroom+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TI582IZ3umI/AAAAAAAAAfs/Dw7HN_fUQa8/s320/death+shroom+1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I swear I'm not making this up. This thing looked like, well I don't need to tell you what it looked like, but the end of it was covered with a vile greenish-brown goo that looked like poo and stunk to high heaven. The flies were climbing all over each other to get to the poo-goo. You can click on the photo to get a better look.<br />
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Turns out it is a type of fungus called (appropriately) <em>phallus impudicus,</em> commonly known as a stinkhorn and that foul-smelling goo is full of spores that are spread by the flies that land in it. <br />
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It never ceases to amaze me how nature adapts to ensure the survival of even the most vile-smelling fungus. I'm also baffled that anyone who calls himself or herself a hunter would miss out on the education that you can get by simply walking around in the deers' world and observing. The satistfaction that I would get from killing a deer over a pile of corn wouldn't hold a candle to the pleasure I get from all the little stuff I learn when I take to the woods.<br />
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Thanks Bryan and Daryl for making me think about that.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-31324341260621530172010-08-10T19:40:00.008-05:002010-08-11T15:00:14.365-05:00Hitting the Crackberry in the Great Outdoors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TGHsgkSkEoI/AAAAAAAAAe8/zx5Z8cHsPWo/s1600/Topo+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mx="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TGHsgkSkEoI/AAAAAAAAAe8/zx5Z8cHsPWo/s320/Topo+map.jpg" /></a></div>Two things happened recently that came together in a very interesting way. First, I got access to several hundred acres of new hunting property that I'm not very familiar with. Second, I finally gave up the old flip phone and got myself a crackberry, er, Blackberry.<br />
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I was pretty sceptical about whether I would like the Blackberry at first. My standard speech to my kids has always been, "Harumph! Why would I want one of those fancy phones? All I want is something that rings when someone wants to talk to me and that makes your phone ring when I want to talk to you."<br />
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Well, once again, my old crumudgeonly ways have been proven outdated. As a matter of fact, I now consider the Blackberry to be one of the neatest pieces of hunting gear to come down the pike in a long time, thanks to the free Google Maps application that can be downloaded onto the phone.<br />
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With Google maps running on my Blackberry, I can access topo maps like the one above and aerial photos like the one below. The built-in GPS in the phone shows me exactly where I am on the map or photo. I can mark locations while I'm in the field with a star and when I get home, I can change the star to the push-pin type marker, add detailed notes, photos, even video to the location notes. I can access all of that information from my Blackberry at a later time if I need to refresh my memory about a particular spot.<br />
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On my home computer, I can also draw in property lines (blue) and trails (red and green)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TGHsbTQS15I/AAAAAAAAAe0/V2R6vx3SDmA/s1600/Aerial+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mx="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/TGHsbTQS15I/AAAAAAAAAe0/V2R6vx3SDmA/s320/Aerial+Photo.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I have spent two mornings on the new property learning my way around and clearing trails. I had a paper topo map, a compass, and my Garmin eTrex GPS with me, but never pulled them out. I was able to navigate quickly, easily, and accurately with nothing but my Blackberry.<br />
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In future articles, I'll go into more depth on how I use the Blackberry and Google maps. My prediction is that smartphones will make conventional GPS units obsolete in the near future, at least for users in areas with good cell coverage. For the time being, I'll still carry a GPS and a phone, but as my confidence grows I may just decide to leave the GPS in the truck.<br />
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Never thought I'd say it, but I'm now a Crackberry addict.Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-61623914457644702252010-04-19T14:04:00.006-05:002010-04-19T14:42:18.731-05:00Broken Records<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/S8ynFiYCrDI/AAAAAAAAAek/aLhniASDUdE/s1600/Poachers+Lineup+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qCMxcxsdcXY/S8ynFiYCrDI/AAAAAAAAAek/aLhniASDUdE/s320/Poachers+Lineup+copy.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
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Records are made to be broken. So says conventional wisdom, but in this day of rampant cheating, maybe its our record-keeping system that's broken. I say it's time to rethink how we keep score. <br />
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Home runs, 100-meter sprints, Boone and Crockett scores. Way back in the naive innocent days of my youth (when I was about forty) those hallowed records represented the pinnacles of human achievement. Their holders were rightfully accorded the admiration and respect due someone who had perservered through formidable odds and achieved a level of success that we mere-mortals can only dream about. Ahh, those were the days...<br />
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Today we're bombarded with news about cheaters in all walks of sport - and life in general. Our obsession with records has created a win-at-all-cost mentality that pervades any activity worthy of keeping score. It is sad to me that my children's first reaction to a new world record will always be suspicion rather than awe.<br />
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This past deer season, two truly awesome deer were killed. The deer picured above on the left was killed by Troy Reinke of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Its gross green score was 190 5/8. Net was 185 even. According to the Boone and Crocket club, this is the largest eight pointer ever killed. The deer on the right was killed by Johnny Clay of Adams County, Ohio. It measures 214 gross and nets 197 2/8. It may be the largest typical buck killed during the 2009-2010 season.<br />
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Unfortunately, these two bucks have something in common besides awesome, world-class racks. They were both killed by poachers.<br />
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It seems that Troy (who is not pictured above - that's apparently a taxidermist) neglected to check in a couple deer that he killed prior to killing the whopper that locals had named Fred. Then there's the little matter of what he killed it with. He originally claimed that he killed it with a bow during archery season, but when forensic results showed that the deer had been killed with a firearm, he tried to claim that he didn't shoot it, but just found it dead. Yeah right! Well the judge didn't believe him either and sentenced him to 245 days in jail, ordered him to pay $1,500 in restitution, and revoked his hunting privledges for five years. You can read more about it <a href="http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2009/11/world-record%E2%80%94poached">here</a>.<br />
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Johnny "Bigger is Always Better" Clay, who is pictured on the right above, is a true piece of work. He went to the trouble of making up an elaborate story about how he gut shot "his" deer with a bow on public land in Kentucky and looked for it for a week and a half before finding a completely bare skull and no other evidence, err... remains. You can see and hear him spin his tall tale <a href="http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1298319511776">here</a>.<br />
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Unfortunately for Johnny, some guys in the neighboring state of Ohio had trailcam photos of "his" deer (watch the video to see why I use the quotes) over a hundred miles away from where the deer was supposedly killed. The case has not gone to court as of this writing, but reports are that Johnny has confessed to shooting the deer with a firearm in Ohio and transporting the head to Kentucky. Why go to all that trouble? Because his Ohio license had been revoked for a prior poaching conviction. You can read more about the story on <a href="http://www.kentuckyhunting.net/forums/showthread.php?92972-Huge-quot-Kentucky-quot-buck-actually-poached-in-Ohio">this thread</a> from the Kentucky Deer Hunting Forum.<br />
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Unfortunately these two guys are just the tip of a big, smelly, rotten dung-heap of cheaters who will stop at nothing to claim their spot in the record books. I'm thinking that maybe the real sport these days is not in killing a big deer, but in catching the guys who are doing it illegally. <br />
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In keeping with the tradition of naming hunting scoring systems after the pioneers of the sport, i.e., Boone and Crocket and Pope and Young, I propose a new scoring system for the guys in green who track down and convict scumbags like Troy and Johnny. I am hereby proposing the creation of a Leopold and Stoddard (L&S) scoring system, named in honor of two of the fathers of modern wildlife management. <br />
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Poachers would be scored and points awarded to arresting wildlife officers on the following basis:<br />
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Net B&C score of the poached animal(s) (rounded to the nearest inch, minimum score 100 per deer), plus<br />
Number of days of jail time, plus<br />
Monetary fine/10<br />
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Using that scoring system, Mr. Reinke would score<br />
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185<br />
+ 245<br />
+ 150<br />
--------<br />
580<br />
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Making him my current world record holder.<br />
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Mr. Clay can't be officially scored yet since his mandatory pre-trial drying-out period hasn't expired yet, but estimates coming out of Ohio place his potential fine in the magnitude of tens of thousands of dollars, so he could easily eclipse Mr. Reinke to become the new L&S World Record.<br />
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Congratulations to Mr. Clay and Mr. Reinke for making it into the record books. May you get all the noteriety you deserve.<br />
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<em>Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching - even when the wrong thing is legal.</em> - Aldo LeopoldPursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699477082943619976.post-91538283252968394742010-04-13T20:56:00.004-05:002010-04-13T23:17:17.624-05:00Summit Viper ReviewIf there is one piece of hunting gear that I just couldn't be without, it would have to be my Summit Viper climbing stand. Like a faithful friend, it goes everywhere I go during hunting season. Sure, there are times during gun season that I'll set off on foot for some still hunting, but the core of my strategy revolves around figuring out where the deer are feeding and then getting close enough to make a clean bow kill.<br />
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Stealth, mobility, and security are all vitally important characteristics of a stand that is going to go with me to the farthest corners of my hunting territory to get me up close and personal to my quarry. In the following video clips, I'll review the (mostly) high points of the Viper and pass along some helpful hints that I've figured out over the six or seven years that I've been using this great treestand.<br />
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If you are ready to start enjoying the Cadillac of climbers, you can pick one up at <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000030906792">Cabelas</a> or at <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000030906796">Gander Mountain</a> or for the best price try Amazon.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=pursuhunti-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000IHF92O&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> <br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Fe0NPwUyRI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Fe0NPwUyRI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Pursuit Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02420951566280324474noreply@blogger.com10