The Hunting Times

I returned to get Dave at 3:45.  It's up to 37 F with more wind, but still from the SE.  Please note that at 37 degrees, the top inch of soil will thaw and stick to anything that touches it. We drove out to Marshall's N farm and switched positions.  This time I sat in the finger and Dave walked the bottoms. Dave saw 3 doe sneaking through the bottoms at about 5 pm and got up to chase them to me.  The three turned into 5 and the 5 to 7.  Dave came up the top and attempted to get the deer to run out the finger - where I would have a shot. No such luck.  They turned and ran SW, right past where we parked the truck - all seven of them. No shots were fired.  And so the season ends... Sun set on the last day of muzzle loading season, Sunday, 21 DEC 2014. Taken from the killing finger on Marshall's N farm. We still have until the first Sunday in January for those who wish to hunt with a bow and arrow.  I suspect that I will just leave it as zero deer for me this y

I picked up Dave at 6:45 again this morning and we headed for Marshall's S farm.  It was 25 F with a slight 5 mph wind from the SE.  We saw three doe driving out. Dave sat in the W finger and I parked and walked SE to the swamp.  About half way to the E property line, a six point buck came out of the woods behind me.  He wanted to go E, but I was blocking his path.  He was about 50 yards away.  Only problem was that it was still too early to shoot - only by a minute, but still too early.  What's the harm?  Well as calm as it was, sound carries forever, in fact, we could hear the church bells in Mulberry.  A muzzle loader blast before legal light would have drawn unwanted attention.  Besides, that's the law.  Thus, I did not fire.  He took off to the SE, snorting and wheezing. Sunrise on the last morning of muzzle loading season. It's 7:35 am and there is a buck running on my right as I took this picture. About the time I was nearly in the swamp, Dave texted m

Alex and I picked up Dave at 6:45 am.  It was 25 F with very little wind.  We dropped Alex off at Vice's, but it still being dark, we sat in the truck for 30 minutes and shot the bull. Alex walked in on Vice to the creek.  Davey walked N to the killing finger and I went in the bottoms on Marshall. At about 8:30, Davey had one large doe come out from the E and walked into the bean field.  She'll eat beans no more because we're going to be eating her.  He dropped her at about 70 yards.  I would have sworn the shot came from the N and E of me, but that was due to the echos. Alex saw one doe heading S, but she never made it to me.  The only thing I saw was Dave's dead doe. As I walked N out of the bottoms, our neighbor to the W, let's just say his initials are JB (which may or may not be his real initials) came out and shot a pistol 10 times.  He was doing this to just be a ginormous AH.  We've had a couple of run-ins before and there is no love lost.  Oh we

RePhil and I met at the golf course at 7:00 am.  Legal light is not until 7:30, so we sat in the truck and BS'ed until light enough to see.  It's 24 F with very little wind. We walked in on top of Hole #9 and I sat over-watching #5.  RePhil walked on E to Jenkins' property.  Along the way, he saw a nice, fluffy coyote walking N to S.  He stopped and whistled, but the 'yote was too far away for a shot. RePhil sat on the NE corner of Jenkins and had a +150 class 8-pointer walk in from the W.  Two problems: (A) it was on the wrong property to shoot, and (B) RePhil has already filled his buck tag.  Thus, at 40 yards, all RePhil could do was watch this regal buck strut his stuff and disappear into the pine trees. Me?  I didn't see squat!  Not a squirrel, bird, chipmunk, NOTHING.  It's like we are on a nuclear waste dump or something.  Maybe the word is out - don't go on the golf course or you'll get killed. Our original plan was for RePhil to walk out

Hey, welcome back y'all....just returned from Cancun and hit the woods.... I picked up Davey at 6:45 am and we headed to Marshall's.  We saw 2 doe trying to cross the road in front of us as we traveled.  Our hope was that this would NOT be the only deer we saw today. It was kind of foggy / misty with a slight wind from the SW and 45 F.  We walked into the woods by 7 and it was still dark.  Legal shooting light today was 7:30 am. I heard some noises in the woods that could have been deer; or it could have been a giraffe; or it might have even been a chupacabra.  What?  Don't know about the chupacabra?  See here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra The mystical and somewhat mythical chupacabra Behold!  Two opossums came by - close enough that I could have tapped them on the head with my muzzle loader barrel.  The first one saw my hand move and hissed.  The second one had no clue I was there.  Thank goodness it wasn't a chupacabra 'cause I only had