The Hunting Times

Got up at 7 this morning and showered. Went to the main lodge for breakfast. Ate with The Band Perry. They asked lots of questions but were really dodging our questions. Funny stories there. Loaded up the elk and drove down to Grand Junction. Stopped at D&M Meat processors. They will process for $0.82 / #. It gets frozen and then trucked to our doorstep for another $500. These elk are Expensive! Drove down to the taxidermist to turn in my hide. $380 gets it processed hair off and shipped in about a year from now. Guess my loincloth will have to wait. Hit Safeway for lunch fixings and then drove up Douglas Pass to the high ranch. Along the way, we ran into Jason's (our guide) family - wife, daughter, grandson and granddaughter. They were hauling cows out of Douglas Pass. Stopped at the cabin to kill some time and winterize it. Waited on fog to disperse. It's 25 F and still spitting snow. We saw tracks, but not fresh ones. We drove around the ridges scouting ...

Meat in the freezer! Trent and I both downed cow elk this afternoon... We got up to snow on the Pond House at 6:30. We loaded up and drove down to Grand Junction and bought Subway for lunch, then took Douglas Pass to the back side of the ranch. We arrived at the cabin about 11:30. There was over a foot of snow and it was 26 degrees with LOTS of fog. Thankfully, the oil company had plowed the roads. We didn't even need to put chains on the truck. We saw about 5 elk on the way up. At the cabin, we built a fire and drained all the water pipes. We hung out for about 2 hours and ate our sub sandwiches. We took off South at about 1:30. Our tactic was to wait for an opening in the fog and then creep over the next ridge. About ridge 3, we saw some elk bedded at 400 yds. They spooked and went up over the ridge we just came from. No shots. We continued this pattern until we hit Mud Springs. Our original thought was to walk it, but due to lack of daylight and fog, we drove into i...

Got up to rain this morning - cold hard rain at 34 degrees. Loaded up and hit the road by 7. Drove out and saw some of Trent's aspen research plots and jumped about 15 elk, but no shots due to poor weather and visibility. Thought we had water in the diesel fuel, but it turns out we only knocked a sensor off the undercarriage. Yep, good luck finding elk in this picture. That's snow blowing past the window! Returned to the lodge for an early lunch and then headed for the high ranch. It became fast and furious up there as we spotted over 50 elk. The trick is seeing them before they see us, creep close, and then hopefully get a shot off before they bust outta there. Trent and I both got off two shots but came up empty. Not sure about Trent's excuses, but mine were due to miscalculating the distances. I shot at the first cow elk using my 100 yard pin. She was at 200 yds. The second time I used my 200 yd pin and she was closer than 100. So I missed low and high, respe...

Up at 5, picked up Dad at 5:30 and hit airport at 6:30. Plane ride Indy to Denver was cramped. Some might even say it sucked. I'm one of the latter. Had 40 mins in Denver to switch planes. Turbo prop to Grand Junction. No issues. Denver was almost fogged in, but GJ was breezy and 63 F. We cruised at an altitude of 24,000 ft across the Rockies. Some snow up there on the mtn tops. Originally, I had rented a Ford Escape, but when our gear wouldn't fit, we knew there was no way 4 of us were riding in that. We upgraded to a Ford Excursion - much better. I even social engineered a better rate on the upgrade. Trent and Christina arrived one hour after us. We drove for pizza and ate a late lunch. There was some talk about fruit smoothies with flax oil seed, but the Midwest reply was the Westerners would be having fried opossum. Cooler heads prevailed and the pizza was quite good. We shopped for a few groceries and then hit the ranch. We unpacked and met our guide, Jason. W...

Davey and I hit the golf course early this morning and walked in while it was still dark. Davey returned to Hole 15's green while I hit the creek below Hole #4's tee box.  It's 32 degrees at 7:00 am. I had deer snorting N and S of me.  I saw three to the S, but they were all on Sigler's where we can't hunt. Didn't matter anyway, as they were all too far for a shot. Davey had a couple snorting S of him on top the hill, but no eyes on.  He did, however, see the six turkeys again.  That's cool. We called it quits by 9 and not due to golfers or workers - as there was a nice frost on the ground and the course will not let golfers out until it has cleared - usually around 10 or so.  Nope, we were off to help Geordie recover a deer.  He shot one last night at 7 yards with his primitive Osage bow and napped arrowheads.  He thought his shot was low and back, so he let it sit overnight.  Geordie called as I hit the truck.  Deer recovered, but not...

Upgraded the iPad to iOS 7. Verifying that it can still post. Packing will commence tomorrow. Plane leaves at 8:17 Monday. We're leaving Mom and Sandy in charge. Dogs are back-up. Just for a week... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Home

Me, Davey and Re-Phil hit it today.  Re-Phil to Garney's and me & Dave to the golf course (adjoining properties).  We met at Dave's for coffee at 7 am.  We hit the woods by 7:30. Dave and I jumped a doe off Hole #1 as we were walking in.  As we split up, with Dave going to #15's green, I walked over the #4 tee box, and the doe we jumped kept step with me.  She followed me East on Sigler's property, snorting all the way.  When I got to where I was going to sit, she came to the property line, 60 yards away, but not on property we could hunt.  Besides, that's too far for archery anyways. Dave saw 6 turkeys walk out from the creek, cross #15's green, and walk up the cart path to the S.  As he was putting them in his binoculars, two doe crept in behind him. They saw his movement and spooked 20 yards to his S.  That's what you get for not paying attention! Davey texted Re-Phil to let him know deer were about.  Unbeknownst to us, Re-P...

So the Black Walnuts have been dropping like manna from Heaven around here.  And for sure, with the quantity that we have in our yard alone, we can feed 20 starving families of squirrels, their cousins, aunts, uncles, and their next door neighbors for the next 4 years.  Seriously, we have a lot of walnuts. No way to mow them, so I thought I would pick them up.  Good plan in the mind, not so good to execute.  I picked up walnuts for about 30 minutes and FILLED SEVEN 5-gallon buckets.  This is from ONE TREE and less than HALF of that one tree!  I counted three buckets as I filled them.  I got 170 in the round buckets and 150 in the square ones.  That's close to 1,100 walnuts in the buckets - and there is At Least that many more to be picked up; maybe even 3X that many... Understand that these walnuts still have their hulls.  Once hulled, you get to the nut, and then these seven buckets become about 2, maybe 3.  Then they have to be dri...

The rain was supposed to start Friday night but it was predicted to end my mid-morning on Saturday.  So this really made our decision to go out late pretty easy.  We decided to try something different - I mean, everything we've tried so far hasn't worked, so let's try something we hadn't. We all slept in until about 9:30.  We ate a lazy breakfast and then I hauled the recyclables.  We bundled up and headed for the woods about 10:45.  And by then, the rain had stopped.  It was fully overcast with 16 mph gusts from the WSW.  The temperature hovered around 40 F. We dropped Nick off at the colonel's tree farm and he hiked W to the creek.  The rest of us drove around to park on Neal and as we passed Marshall's tree farm, we saw a large doe standing within 100 yards of the road.  Kathy suggested I sneak back in there and get her.  In fact, we all hoped to have something down within 30 minutes. Kathy walked N, then E to sit along t...

It rained most of the day, but cleared off in the late afternoon.  I took the opportunity to hit the woods by myself.  Headed out at 4:00 pm and walked directly to the tree farm - no one to chat with made the trip go quickly.  Since the woods was wet, sneaking was easier than having dry conditions. As I walked along the road, I bumped one deer off Bailey's bottom ground, right next to the tree farm.  It was a small doe, I was on the road, and it was property we did not have permission to hunt.  Needless to say, no shots taken. I stalked N of Bailey's house and sat in the woods along the bottom of the bean field.  The squirrels were out and the walnuts were falling. I caught something walking along the top of the ridge line, but since it was behind trees, it was difficult to tell how big it was - maybe a deer, maybe a coyote, maybe a cat.  From the bird alarms, I think it was a cat. This one bird, which I could not locate, would not shut up. ...

Met up with Kfir at 4:00 pm.  We changed clothes and hit the woods by 4:30.  Kfir walked N to the stands on Neal, stalking with his horse bow and primitive arrows.  I took the crossbow and walked the road to the bottoms...which I made 2 hours later... Harold was working on the head of his combine.  The head leveling bar had fatigued enough that it broke, not allowing the grain head to level itself and constantly slipping a belt.  He had to order a new part.  So while it was in pieces, I took the opportunity to learn about grain heads.  Holy cow, there are a lot of parts and pieces that go into that thing.  No wonder new ones cost about $10k. Harold and I chatted like old maids in the hair salon, covering topics from Obamacare to gossip of the town. I hiked on, but stopped to chat to the owner of the house right next to Dan.  Hadn't met him before.  Forget his name, but Gary Lahrman's wife's brother and this guy hunt Lahrman's prop...

So while we're up at Simpson's, two other deer were checked in - an 8-pt buck and a doe about the buck's size.  Now it's about Noon.  So we get to chatting the other hunters up and ask about the time the deer were killed:  10:40 and 11:00 this morning.  What??? We're leaving the woods by about 9:30 and these deer are moving during the late morning?  What's going on here?  Conventional wisdom suggests that the deer should be bedded down, chewing their cud and resting from all their night time feeding activities. Frank backs this story up by saying that the deer he's checking in (Frank's business is an Indiana State Deer Checking Station) are being killed between 11 - 3.  And, he sees this same phenomenon during gun season. Get this, Frank checks in hundreds of deer each year.  He has DATA that we could use to become better hunters.  You're darn right I'm going to listen to what he has to say. Frank's betting that the deer have figured ...

Got a call to come to a deer stuck in a fence about 9 o'clock this morning.  I arrived just about one mile N of the house to a State Trooper, a County Deputy, and the Mulberry Town Marshall all staring at a young doe with her back right leg caught in a fence.  Not just any fence, mind you.  This was a steel rod cattle gate fence.  As the doe tried to jump the 5' mark, her back leg came down into the top row and twisted, catching her back joint in the next square over.  With her weight on the ground, she was solidly trapped. I asked if the police wanted me to shoot her right there - I mean really, it wasn't 3 feet from the road, on our side of the fence - all I would have to do is pick her up and put her in the truck.  Well, this perfect plan was not to be.  "No," they said, "we're going to set her free."  What?  I drove over here so you could have me set her free? Turns out that the Marshall had already tried to free her by banging on the...

Nick, Alex and I take off at 7 am for the woods.  It's 55 degrees and it's misting, overcast & foggy. As we drive E out of Mulberry, we see a deer in the beans.  We drop Nick off at Vice's and head around to park on Neal.  We see another deer in the beans.  Hey, at least they are moving. Alex walks N to his stand and I walk E down the road.  As I approach the bottoms, I see mama doe and two babies feeding directly toward me at 50 yards.  I nock a bolt on the crossbow and think I'm about to get a shot from the road!  It was not to be.  A truck came by and spooked them W. Since it was so wet, it was easy to walk quietly.  I made it to where the deer were standing before the truck came, and they wind me.  The tromp off to the N.  I continue N as well. I am not yet to Bailey's house, maybe 100 yards into the tree farm and I stop to tie my shoe.  As I slowly raise back up, I catch the white glint of antlers coming...

It's warmer again today.  Kathy, Alex and I headed out about 4:15 pm, it was 74 F. As I dropped them off at the usual parking spot on Neal, Marshall was there firing up the combine to pick his beans. The kids walked N to sit in the stands and I walked E to go sit the bottoms along the creek. Since it's so warm, the deer decided to stay in their beds.  Why?  Because they can.  There's no need to come out before it cools off to eat - stay inactive during the heat and move at night.  At least that's what they did for us. As I sat along the creek, I got to hear some belted kingfishers chattering and catching their evening meal.  Do you all know what a kingfisher sounds like as he catches minnows?  Well, I'll tell ya.  It sounds just like a deer jumping through the creek.  Add to that the squirrels running around and I thought I was being attacked by a herd of elephants.  Got the adrenaline flowing, but no deer. The belted kingfi...

Yes, the weather did change.  It was misting really well this morning, but RAIN is predicted until afternoon. Nick and Alex went out in that crap but Kathy and I stayed home on the couch.  Me because I was not feeling well, and Kathy because she's smarter than the rest of us. The boys saw ONE deer on the way to the stands and pushed her north.  They came home by 9:30 and had to put their clothes in the drier. Screen shot of RAIN they hunted in. We watched football most of the afternoon.  The Colts beat Seattle! Yea!  And then the skies cleared and the sun came out.  And it's about 55 degrees.  Yea again.  We loaded up and hit the woods at 4:30 - all four of us.  Nick sat on Vice; Kathy & Alex took the stands on Neal; and I walked N on Marshall.  Davey and Krueger were hunting on Marshall's W woods.  Krueger ended up sticking a button buck that they processed.  Glad I forgot my phone or they might have called for...

Nick had a football game, so Kathy, Alex and I went out this morning.  It was HOT.  Like 74 degrees hot. Needless to say, the deer are moving at night and we saw NOTHING.  But, we had a better shot at seeing something from the tree stands than on the couch. I got up at 6:30 and cooked breakfast - we had scrambled eggs covered in cheese, ham, and white toast with apple butter.  We hit the field by 7:30.  We were out by 9:30. Kathy & Alex early Sat. morning I had left my bow and arrows in the back of the truck along with the cooler.  Well, the cooler likes to move around - something about Newton and momentum.  Seems like it slid around and broke one of my arrows.  This is (a) not what it's supposed to look like, and (b) not what you want to use on a deer. Broken by cooler, not by deer. The weather is supposed to change drastically today.  So we laid around the house and played some video games.  About 4:15 pm Nic...

Was heading out to mow last night about 5 pm and saw this little guy climbing up my truck. My flash was in the ON position when I took this photo with my phone camera.  It kinda washed him out a bit.  This one was more brown than the usual green ones I find around the farm.  Not sure if that is due to a different class of mantis or due to age. Best guess is "young adult."  He's about half the size of a full-grown adult mantis.  To be fair, I am using the male gender here for brevity, but really, I have no clue if this mantis is male or female. The name Praying Mantis comes from the way in which these insects hold their front folded limbs in a prayer-like configuration.  Of course, they sometimes are called preying mantis due to their predatory nature. I do recall reading a book in which a human was facing a GIANT praying mantis (best guess is one of Piers Anthony's books).  If the hero of the story walked AWAY from the mantis, he was...

So while the rest of us (who aren't retired) had to work on Wednesday, Nick took the whole day off and went hunting.  He stopped by the house to pick up his gear and hit the field about 7:20 am.  He jumped one walking in to his stand. He was at the corner on N at the W stand and there was a doe feeding in the corn.  He had the patience to nock an arrow, draw and shoot without spooking her.  10 yards broadside.  As she ran off, Nick could see the arrow sticking out of both sides of her body.  He texted me. I did not take the time to reply, but instead just called him.  I told him to stop, sit, and listen.  He claimed that was tough because the squirrels were working the walnuts something fierce.  After 30 minutes of waiting, I told him to start tracking. He could print track her through the cornfield for about 40 yards where she turned and went into the woods. There, he found blood - always a good sign.  My phone went off about 8:40...

October 1st each year is pretty much a state holiday in Indiana - or at least it should be - as it is the opening day for deer season (archery). That being said, most of us had to work because it fell on a Tuesday for 2013.  We ended up hitting the woods by 4:30 pm, giving us 3.5 hours until 30 minutes past sunset (last legal light). Kathy and Alex met me at the house.  We loaded up and hit the woods.  Those two walked N to sit in the stands on Neal.  I hoofed it down the road to the bridge on Marshall - and never got to hunt... First of all, the road was really busy.  As I walked past Dan's barn, he came out and we spent probably 15 minutes catching up.  Before I could make the bridge, the neighbor to the E (Andrew) stopped me to chat.  Another 15 minutes gone.  I got into my spot toward the S of the property, which was probably too close to the road, but my intent was to observe - and Mr. Andrew came back to chat.  However, this ...