wooly

That buck is top notch, world class! Gonna shatter a lot of dreams the day he gets popped!

I screw up a lot, but since I'm not much of a perfectionist, and don't do this for a living, I just try to correct them as best I can and make some adjustments on my next piece. For me all this stuff just occupies my mind and I get more satisfaction out of the patience training than anything else. That's been the most valuable benefit for me lately. If I only showed off perfection, I would never have anything to share.

The shading is easy to figure out on glass when the picture is taped to the other side and you're tracing it. It's all about having the right bits, brains, and technique to accomplish it now..... all 3 of which I'm still lacking ,lol

The shading of the diamond burr lines is one of the things I can't seem to figure out yet. I guess there's some other blending tips I need to get before I can pull that off the way I want to. Other than a few obvious goofs this time, I'll eventually get the hang of it by asking lots of smarter people any stupid questions I have,lol

I like that idea! I may try that once I figure a few things out.

First time for me trying to engrave glass with my Dremel. I have NO clue what I'm doing, but I think it turned out alright for making it up as I go. It looks better the further away you stand from it,lol Anyone else here ever try this before?

Happy B-day Larry! Have a good one!

I think it was 3 years ago I kept seeing a buck with spots down his spine all through October. I finally killed him on opening day of regular season but his spots were gone... or maybe I just forgot to look for them. I never made the connection that it was the same deer until later in the season looking back on my pictures. My guess was he was 2.5 yo. You can see the spots down his spine in the live photos

I may eventually run out of skulls and antlers to carve, but I always know where I can find some rocks,lol I found this one in the crick today and the first thing I thought of was a big azz bear track so I threw it in my pack. I think it's a piece of sandstone, but I'm not really sure on my rock species. This thing is super simple to carve into and now the possibilities are only limited to my abilities. I'll clean up the edges on this one tomorrow and maybe even cut the design straight through. I may have an hour tops into this thing so far.

I cut up a small doe in the field last season, but I have to admit, I wasn't really aware of the propper procedure I needed to follow before-hand aside from filling out the carcass tag. I had reduced the meat to 1 inch stew meat cubes anticipating it would all be turned into ground or used as is. The remainder of the carcass I left behind in one pile and I put a trail cam over it. I suppose if there were any legal questions that needed to be answered, I could just return to that spot with whoever was asking and there would be enough evidence there to confirm a legal harvest. The meat was transported out bagged up in my backpack with the tag and packaged and labeled at home a short hike later. The thought of saving a "pocket puzzy" as gender identifier never occurred to me. IMO, anyone caught leaving the field with something like THAT should be found guilty of "illegal tagging",lol

I've heard some VERY accomplished shed hunters who pay attention to all those details say "the wetter the better" as far as antler development goes, so I believe there is probably a connection. I've personally never really documented any comparisons of my own, so I haven't been able to say how it affects my local bucks from one extreme to the other. It's hard to imagine a wet spring and summer wouldn't be beneficial to antler growth over a season of hot, dry, drought conditions.

Go back and grab their skulls for me,lol

Hey wolc, did you ever see the movie "The Shack". If not, you should check it out. That's another pretty good flick starring Jesus that may be right up your alley. I thought it was pretty good.

He's gotta be one of the dozens of spikers I passed up last fall,lol No other explanation for where all these nice bucks are coming from this year.

I haven't got horn porn like this in a long time! Looks like he already busting up the new headger.

I saw just the opposite of that sex ratio mortality rate. That year I found 60+ dead doe and fawns, but I only found 3 or 5 dead bucks.

Just a personal belief here, but I think the coyote may be one of the few critters that actually comes out of a severe winter stronger, and in better condition than they would a mild one. Thinking back a few years ago when we got blasted by that polar vortex that wouldn't let go, there were critter carcasses laying everywhere that year. Severe winterkill of other species made it easy for the coyotes to find a free meal without expending any more energy than they had to by hunting/chasing down live prey. I'm not sure there's any truth to my theory, but I do recall a woods that was void of any other signs of life, was then covered with an overwhelming amount of coyote tracks and other sign connecting the dots from carcass to carcass.

Oh absolutely! I can usually control them enough to pick them up underneath in one hand and snap a pic with the other. This one was a two hander so no pics of the scoop up!

Not really sure on a weight or shell measurements, but he was definitely one size larger than the average snapper I come across around here. Somewhere between medium and large for a snapper I guess, but closer to a large,lol

The past two weeks the coyotes here have become extremely vocal. Every night this week they have been singing up a storm as I lay in bed in the wee hours of the morning. The other day while checking cams I heard one trying to kick off the chorus about 50yds away tops in some thick stuff. On my way out the pack must have assembled and started an amazing group performance one ridge over from me. That all took place around 5 in the evening. I tried barking at them to call them over for some pics but I must not have sounded convincing enough. Also got some video of a yote the other day carrying a chicken or turkey in the same area.... I couldn't tell which it was, followed by a few more yotes on the same trail in the following days. I'll have to start carrying some calls when I'm out with the camera.

Thanks all! I thought about keeping him to cook up, but that entire turtle soup process looks like one that is better learned from someone with proven experience, and not just from watching you tube vids on it. One screw up, or if I simply don't like it... and I'm back to square one having wasted a turtle for the trophy parts I desire. I guess it's a just personal feeling I have sometimes that spares a lot of critters I come across.

Cool save! Hopefully he pulls through and has learned his lesson. Did they tell you what rehab facility they were taking him to?

Found a nice fat snapper in the creek today. I haven't been out with the camera much at all this year so this was a nice find today. As much as I'm dying to get my hands on a snapper skull and shell to carve, I just can't bring myself to kill one for my own selfish reasons. I settled for some shore pics before I watched him disappear into the depths downstream. These things are so damn cool to me!

Man, those chickens will be laying golden eggs as a show of appreciation!