Buckstopshere

If it was ever necessary to feed turkeys, a good way is to take one of those big wooden cable spools…and cover it with 1-inch welded wire. Put a pipe through it and elevate it a couple feet off the ground and fill with whole corn (on the cob) so it spins (make a door out of the wire and bend for refills.) That way the turkey can peck at it through the wire and the deer can't get it. When the corn gets eaten on the bottom level, it turns, because it is heavier on the top.

Too rich for my blood. On the one and only hog hunt I went on…still hunting for the beasts with bows up a Tennessee mountain. My buddy dropped his bow, bent his sight. Bad shot on a big black Russian boar. I ran after it…up the hill and shot it with an arrow. It turned, squealing and ran after me. I never ran so fast down hill. I ran past my buddy and said, "Shoot him…he's right behind me." The pig was. But my buddy was laughing so hard…he couldn't shoot…said it was "the funniest thing he ever has seen." I had to laugh…after a bit.

There are fences...and there are fences...I hunted South Africa too. The Concessions have different fencing models...some are high fence...and some are low...hunting a 100,000 acre Concession with a strand of barb wire between it and the next is hardly "high fence." I killed a big (300#) hog with my bamboo long bow on a fenced operation in Tennessee...but I still hunted him. They said I couldn't do it at the lodge. Not bragging...but it was a lot of fun. Certainly Not hunting wild whitetails...but a lot of fun.

"Everybody knows that the autumn landscape in the northwoods is the land, plus a red maple, plus a ruffled grouse. In terms of conventional physics, the grouse represents only a millionth of either the mass or the energy of an acre. Yet, subtract the grouse and the whole thing is dead." That is Aldo Leopold…I like to substitute a white-tailed deer for grouse. It's all about the wild. If it is not wild…I think I would rather play golf.

High Five! Nice buck. Ya gotta love the muzzleloader season…redemption in the form of venison for some of us.

My preference is my Browning A5 in 12 gauge. Switch barrels for slugs…slug barrel with the raised sight for deer, 26-inch short barrel for grouse and doodles and pass shooting ducks, or the 30-inch full choke for gobblers and goose.

Should be the peak of the second rut…or thereabouts any time this weekend should be good. Bucks looking for does, or in lockdown…expecting to fill a tag.

Old expression…"it's hell getting old, but it sure as hell beats the alternative!"

Just my two scents…I always like the top of the gullies. Deer, moving laterally favor the easiest route…not jumping down into the washes. There always is a heavy trail at the top…that's where I would be.

I've heard bucks make that clicking sound. I tried to replicate it with a large comb and slowly plucked the tines with my thumb…another great idea that didn't pan out. But then I never really got into calling deer. Spooked too many. I just grunt at them to stop them for a shot.

Cool to see the way a buck hangs with a doe in lockdown. They are very vulnerable at this time...and move in the middle of the day.

Standard tooth wear studies conclude that deer with the first molar lacking any enamel in the center of the tooth is at least 6.5 years old...like this one in the above photos. Certainly, a long-nosed doe.

The first peak of the rut has just passed with the full moon. My trail cams and the hot scrapes of last week are all but dead now. Just spikes and forks... The whitetail breeding nucleus has formed and you are either in feast or famine now. Happens every year. But take heart...it will ramp up again this weekend. The rut ebbs and flows, spikes and drops off. Hunt later in the morning.

Thanks. Heck, that's modern for me. I remember when Roger Rothhaar developed that style head...Rothhaar Snuffers. Used to talk to him for hours on the phone...back in the 70's. Then Thunderhead came out with a replaceable blade head...same design. I tried it...loved the way they flew and that they were able to be shot right out of the package.

Hunting brings out the best and worst in people. And you sir, are the best example of the former that I have seen in some time.

Closer to Wellsville...but that's all I'm gona say on that. LOL

One more try... My computer is acting crazy...sorry for the double post. My posts appear...and disappear...ghosts...just like these bucks...lol. Arrowed this 8 pointer in 9Y near the Pa. border south of Wellsville on Nov. 4, just before the full moon rose in the east. I had pulled a cam card and noted this guy had been hitting one of zip-tied overhanging branch bouquets hard. But the wind was blowing wrong...from the southeast. So I drove to another property, climbed the hill and pulled a stand and climbing sticks...brought them to the new location, set them up quietly...cursing myself every time a buckle clinked and made a noise. Got set up and saw this guy chase a big doe at 4 pm. About an hour later another doe walked past the stand, relating to the zip-tied setup...and then this guy came out of the thick brush...grunting. She led him past me. Arrowed him at 12 yards. Arrow separated the lungs and heart. Ran 65 yards. Used a Bowtech carbon icon, 60 pounds...left handed, 125 grain thunderhead, and I figure it is a 3.5 year old. Many photos of this buck...not the big one...but couldn't pass him up.

On Saturday, the Full Moon, set up a new stand over one of my zip-tied scrape bouquets. From a morning trail cam he hit it. The wind was blowing wrong (from the southeast) so I pulled a stand in the afternoon off another property and set it up 20 yards downwind. I saw him chase a doe about 4 pm. At 5:30 he grunted down below and followed a doe past my stand. At 12 yards I arrowed him. Ran 65 yards. Here are a few pictures of him. Per Lawdwaz Weight: 165, broadhead was a 125 grain Thunderhead, and I would say 3.5 years. The few around here that make it to 4.5 usually have more junk. He is clean and perfectly balanced.

Getting many more photos of bucks during daylight. Had four under my stand yesterday...in the wind and two this morning. Does were running both days past my stand...young bucks on their trail. Starting to pop. Right on time. Photos of bucks in the daytime at zip-tied scrape setups. Three different hunting areas in southern 9Y.

Yep. With the emphasis on points...these type of bucks are left to rule the roost.

This guy has been around for a number of years...he needs to be taken out...and I will if I have the chance.

But the big boys still nocturnal according to my cams. But soon...they will be on their feet during shooting hours.

As the temperatures drop, things are starting to heat up.

That's why I use all rechargeables...and I rotate them all the time! Constant process with a dozen cameras going on four properties. Yeah, he is one of those "big spikes"...they pop up now and again. I tend to think some of them could actually be 2.5 year olds. I shot one a couple years ago...it was so aggressive it chased the racked bucks away. I called him Napoleon. He met his Waterloo.

There is no house there...just woods and a dirt road about 1/4 mile away. Might be truck headlights on the road or somebody running a spotlight. Just a guess.