Buckstopshere

Right you are, Doc. That was the "old days" in Pa. Now, they have decimated the deer herd down there so badly with their new AR-deer herd reduction plan (they go together,) those same farmers would be wondering what anyone was shooting at!

Last year was a bumper crop year, here in Southern Allegany County, both with red and white oaks. Since they rest about every four or five years, I don't expect to see any, and so far I haven't seen any acorns to speak of...

That article was written by a Humane Society spokesperson...what do you expect from a hog but a grunt?

Sorry about your dog, Joe. I know how tough it is. So hard to say goodbye to the good ones... My dogs are part of the family. I have two English Setters...field trial dogs. The male is Hemlock...he is 12 years old. He used to run like the wind, but his hips are pretty well worn out. He was a pointing fool. The first photo...just his head...he is pointing pigeons up on the roof. The other is when he enjoyed some water during a hot afternoon run. My little orange/white bitch is Lilac. One photo is of her backing (honoring Hemlock's point) and the other is when she was a pup in '06 with my wife.

Here are some...the Springbok, which is like the South African whitetail to them, I had a lucky shot...through the head at 374 yards, using my .06. (using a bipod.) My ph was saying, "shoot, Oak, shoot..." I knew I'd get drift so I aimed about 4-feet off his butt. The wind was blowing about 40 mph off the Kalahari desert. I climbed a tree over a water hole to get my warthog with a bow. Like back here. A whole pack of them came in. The Gemsbok has 40-inch horns. I passed about 12 or os up, including a couple with my bow. I wanted long horns. That's a lot of stalks. The impala was with a bunch of ewes (does.) I used a Rothhaar Snuffer for a head and it dropped him quick as a whitetail. I snuck up on some rhino's, two sleeping and a cow with a calf, got good video.

I was pretty lucky, all my animals scored pretty high, making SCI minimums.

Mistakes? Mistakes?!!!! Should our fish and game laws...hunting and fishing seasons be changed and changed again by local legislators, depending on which way the political winds blow today? Can you imagine the quote" Mistakes" that are going to happen as county legislators, or village and city "officials" start getting on their high horses and begin making laws for their own little backyards...and wait until a town government passes a "No hunting in our town" law! There needs to be legislative barriers put into place so that fish and game laws in New York can't be changed on whims of a vocal minority. If not...get ready for more..."Mistakes."

I went in July to South Africa and hunted plains game bow and rifle (brought eight back.) By going in July, it is their "winter." So the temps never got over 80 degrees. F. during the day and kept most of the creepy-crawly things holded-up. One thing...it was so cool (in the 60's on a couple days) the warthogs were not active and that was one of the critters I was after. Big four-foot lizards would slither off banks into water holes and where water was deep in partially dried up rivers...I don't know if they would bite, but I never gave one the chance to find out. When I stalked my Gemsbok, I crawled for about 200 yards and it took me a long time...that night I was crawling with ticks of all sorts and sizes...makes my skin itch to think about it. I didn't get sick, but I only drank water out of one of those Boy Scout water bottles with a 1 micron filter...and of course beer. Over there, Castle is the most popular brand, but I like Lion beer. It is good. 'Course they had Amstel. But after hunting all day, day after day, a beer tasted good, no matter what brand!

It helps being part monkey...even an old one! But really...look closely. You can see the snow-covered screw in steps I put in...I didn't want to move it.

It is a standard DEC press release, sent to all the papers, outdoor writers, etc. Burmjohn. You ought to contact Lori (see the release) and have her send the releases directly to you. But more than these laws themselves, I think it sets a terrible and dangerous precedent...that a local county legislature, or an assemblyman or woman can change a DEC law to suit themselves for a narrow constituency. I know the AR people are smug about it. So they lean on a legislator to get their way. Been going on since the dawn of this republic... But if a small, local group can ban a crossbow in a county...what is next? What if the nuts got together and tried to ban hunting all together? Local by local district. At least it is something to think about. I hope somebody out there can convince me I am wrong and have nothing to worry about.

5.9 Cummins: Fetal backdating is bad science for a number of reasons: One, there is poor correlation between the different studies; 2, none of the studies that I am familiar with (5) use a large enough sample, and some are way to small: 3, there is no correlation between the peak of the rut in one year and the peak of the rut in another, so there is no correlation or sense in averaging them together. Just bad math. And finally, fawns vary in size just like all animals including humans...as fetuses and at birth. According to the Ohio DNR, buck fawns vary from four to 14 pounds at birth and doe fawns vary from 3 to 8 pounds at birth, so how can a fetal crown-to-rump scale have any validity?...and especially looking at the different races of deer around the country. Such bad science. But I understand why the test samples are so small. It takes owning and penning a doe, watching her close to see the exact date when she is bred. Allowing the fetus to grow to a certain date. Kill her. Extract fetus, measure it or them (average cases of twins and triplets.) and then you have a mark on the scale. This has to be repeated over and over to arrive at a good, workable scale. I do not think it has been done yet.

Yeah. I am not big into product endorsement, but it is a Loggy Bayou climber and it took the full weight of that tree and it didn't hurt it a bit.

Here is one of my stands...good thing I wasn't in it when that tree fell!

Nobody around here that I know of has begun to chop or pick their corn yet. That's where I like to get set up. Last year they had already started chopping corn in one field and it was a goose magnet for a short time.

No doubt about it this year, the last week of the Southern Zone season Nov. 11th-18th. But if I was hunting in the Northern Zone, here in New York state, it would be from Oct. 14th to the 21st (the last week there.) I don't ascribe to the seeking-chasing-rutting time-line so often quoted. Too many bucks and does doing different things at the same time to pin it down like that. And there are three major rut peaks each year, (not just one) so that's why I chose those dates.

There are a number of rut prediction models, with Alsheimer's being one of them. And there is quite a bit of variance between the projections. One way to describe the licking branch or "overhanging branch" is that it is the olfactory key to a scrape...much more so than the ground portion of the scrape. There, whitetails exchange biochemical messages. Some believe that there, at the "overhanging branch" whitetails synchronize their hormones as a prelude to the rut. Determining the best weekend to hunt during the bow season is also partially dependent upon your style of hunting. For instance, if you are a breeding sign hunter, a scrape hunter...then it would be best to hunt the weekend before the Full Moon (whitetails quickly abandon scrapes, once they settle in with the does.) But if you are a food plot guy, or a deer hunter who hunts over food sources...then it would be best to hunt the week of the Full Moon because the bucks will be with the does and no matter what, they all have to eat! Personally, I'll be hunting both weekends.

One of my favorite topics...! Here's a prediction: Well, at least the trailer.. http://www.wellsvilledaily.com/outdoors/x832288668/VIDEO-2011-Whitetail-Rut-Prediction I've nailed the peak of the rut for the last 12 years...here is last year's (2010) prediction:

I couldn't agree with you more, Biggamefish! They don't go by our calendars...Now. Ever since we switched from the Lunar calendar...to the Julian calendar 45 AD... to a ...Gregorian calendar back in 1752. Should have stuck with the Lunar calendar...and then the rut and many things in nature would occur at about the same time each year.

You are absolutely right, Doc. But the peak of the rut to me, and I think to most deer hunters is when the bucks are really running, chasing does. This crazy running time only seems to last for a couple days, and then settles down. It's a ball seeing all the action! However, I usually kill my buck just prior to that time, or just after when the bucks lock down with the does.

I arrowed a small buck a couple years ago by using a zip-tied licking branch. Here is a vid I made of it. The music is a bit loud, so use your volume control. He came in sideways, with his ears back, ready to fight. (I had augmented it with a tarsal.) Also, here is a link to an outdoor column....on the Zip-tied licking branch I wrote a couple years ago. I find the real deal much more effective than store bought mock scrapes. http://www.galesburg.com/sports/recreation/x1689190121/Oak-Duke-Seal-the-deal-with-a-zip-tied-overhanging-branch

My track record for predicting the main peak of the rut is 100% for the last 12 years. But knowing the peak of the rut and scoring on a buck does not necessarily correlate. A lot of times, the arrow misses...we hold out for that bigger buck...or work/life gets in the way and we can't be in the woods at that peak time. The main peak is a crazy time in the woods and just being there does not guarantee a kill.

Nope. It is not going to be an early rut this year, it is going to be right on time. ;D

Check with the insurance companies like State Farm. They have that data. But the deer-vehicle collision peaks would vary every year from the end of October through the end of November. Last year, the first week of November had the most.

Thanks for posting that Doc. Just when you think that you have whitetails pinned down to a behavior...they always seem to do something that breaks the mold!

Doc: Interesting. Never seen one this early. The bucks around here have not stopped growing their antlers yet...from the trail cams. Can you take a photo of it and post it here? The earliest I ever saw was Sept. 3rd, and that was many, many moons ago.