The Hunting Times

Well, it is muzzleloader season in Indiana.  And after a brief 9 days in Cancun, I am back out in the woods.  We don't need any more deer for us.  I am hunting a nice doe to turn into salami for gifts.  As Indiana rules go, you are allowed ONE buck for the entire year.  It can come by any legal method, but you only get one.  Me?  I already shot a buck so no more for me. So out I go on a 30F (-1C) evening with plenty of wind.  I stay on the top at Marshall's and walk along the Bailey property line.  I jump a small 6-pt buck on Bailey's N end and he runs N into the Killing Finger.  Hopefully he hasn't pushed any does out! I get to the finger N of Bailey but S of the Killing Finger and post up overlooking a ravine, the bottoms, and the Killing Finger.  And I wait.  For the first 90 minutes I see nothing but squirrels and a single rabbit.  Then, four bucks walk out and feed S of the Killing Finger (in the cornfield across the ...

Four of us went out this morning - two to Marshall and two to Neal.  We started in the barn at 6:45 am.  Legal hunting light was 7:20 and we only had a 5 minute drive anyway.  We had a toast - see previous post - and then headed out. I walked to the bridge and cut in along the creek.  I wasn't 15 yards into the grass when a small buck came walking directly at me.  I dropped to a knee and waited for a good shot.  He kept coming until a car passed along the road - then he grew suspicious of me, exposed in the grass.  When he turned quartering to, I put a 300 BO through his left front shoulder.  He ran maybe 50 yards and dropped. At about 9:30, Nick started walking S to help me drag the buck while Alex and Harrison walked off Neal back to the truck.  Nick jumped ten deer and they scattered at his attempted shot.  No more deer.  Nick made it down to the bottoms and pushed three doe to me.  When one turned broadside at 20 yards, I p...

Since I was 12, maybe 13, I have spent Thanksgiving with my Dad, my cousin, and my Uncle out in the deer woods.  Our Thanksgiving meal?  Cold ham sandwiches.  This was 38 years ago... As time went on, things changed a bit - like you could shoot a doe versus buck only; we would come in for lunch at my Uncle's place, take naps and then head back out that evening.  What didn't change was that we were always hunting deer on Thanksgiving.  Old Man Time marches on.  Marriages, kids, loss of hunting properties and finding new ones, and eventually old age itself made it all but impossible for our fathers to join us in the woods.  We would still get together, tell hunting stories (aka lies from faded memories), and have a toast of Schnapps, bourbon, Scotch, and / or beer.  Sometimes we would break out deer salami and even sometimes we never made it to the woods before it was time for lunch.  Zero regrets.  All happy memories. What I don't remembe...

 All three of us went out this morning.  We rolled at the same time (6:45) but legal shooting light has changed to 7:13 am.  So we had plenty of time.  I told the boys we had not been successful due to our light drinking load.  To compensate I took a cooler of beer with us today. Alex walked to the stand on Neal, Nick hit the N fence row on Marshall, and I again went to the bottom. Alex saw 8 deer to the property N - where we do not have permission to hunt.  And thus he did the right thing and did not shoot.  Ethical. I had a large doe walk into me from the N.  She was in bow range at 30 yards.  But as she was facing me, it was a poor shot.  She winded me and turned broadside for about 0.25 seconds.  As I pulled my gun up she bolted. Nick, on the other hand, had a buck walk out into the cornfield at 8:55.  His shot cut the buck's heart in half at about 100 yards.  The deer didn't go 30 yards. Finally we have meat in the fr...

 Alex was out of town so Nick and I went out for a hunt this morning.  Nick walked to the killing finger, S of the fence row.  I walked to the bottoms.  Even before I left the road, three doe spooked and ran N.  We sat for the next three hours and didn't see another deer. It was a sad walk out for Nick and I got another ride from the bridge back to the truck today.  Thanks Ben!

 Alex and I were back out again this morning.  Same routine except today I did not walk to the bottoms, but stood up on top overlooking the bottom ground.  Alex was back in the same spot. We sat for two hours and then I started walking as we had to be back in time for church.  I walked N and then headed W along the fence to Alex.  Along the way I jumped six turkeys.  I quickly checked to see if they were in season, but sadly they are not yet. As I approached the cut cornfield, I jumped a buck that ran toward Alex.  I called him to ask if he could hear it snorting.  He could not.  Later it ran N of him on Neal.  Alex shot, but missed.  We walked back to the truck to go shower and get to church. Good morning, just not lucky yet. Sun coming up as I am walking in toward my hunting spot Made it to my hunting spot as the sun is making a beautiful sky Some of the turkeys I jumped as I walked W

 Nick had to film a college football game so he could not attend, but that did not stop me and Alex from going out on opening day in Indiana. I picked up Alex at 6:45 and we hit the field at 0700.  The fellas hunting to our N were already there.  Alex started walking N before going E down the fence line on Neal.  I headed to the bottoms along the road.  I had not gone 50 yards when a truck pulled up so I stepped off the road.  It was the DNR - our local officer and a rookie he was training.  We caught up for a bit and then they offered me a ride down to the bridge, which I accepted. There was a buck and a doe to my S across the property line.  I walked N.  I saw 9 deer and Alex missed two shots at a couple of the 11 deer he saw.  Coming home empty but we had a great time. Sunrise from where Alex is sitting in the fence row A look back to the NW where Alex missed two deer. To be fair, the deer were not standing still. This is the bottom g...

 This project started in June.  Worked on it when the weather was not too hot or when I was not helping a buddy build a giant treehouse for his boys (this took 2 weeks).  Finally got it done by mid-October.  We did have to wait for some materials, but we certainly didn't overwork ourselves while doing it.  End product turned out awesome.  Putting in smaller pictures since there are so many.  Enjoy... The old deck and railing with Grandson ready to assist. Tearing the old decking off for reuse.  And yes, I made Mama help me! Filling in the hole left by the removal of the hot-tub Added a 45 degree angle on corner and putting in railing for steps New decking installed and started on steps Steps complete time to start on the new walkway Moving dirt for new walkway Support going in for new walkway New walkway down, time for new approach blocks New bricks and paver stones New epoxy covering on stoop and garage apron What about siding, you ask?  Yep...

Sandy and I have gone out the past three nights trying to find the comet.  Day one, naked-eye and binoculars.  No dice.  Day two - too late as it was over the horizon.  Day 3, still could not see by our eyeballs, but our phones did a nice job of getting some good shots. All photos taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.  No adjustments made.  Standard settings.  Venus was visible to the SW, very low on the horizon.  Comet favoring W-SW, not due W.  The yellow colors at the bottom of the photos are light pollution from Lafayette, not the sunset.  Time of the photo is 7:59 pm EST.  Location, just W of Mulberry, Indiana.  Latitude 40.344688, Longitude -86.665123. This bad boy is currently (just) 57 million miles away from Earth and moving away fast...

 Squirrel season opened up on August 15 here in Indiana.  We didn't go out until later, but Will got to go with Daddy and friend Harrison.  They bagged one! Will posing with a big red fox squirrel The dove opener here was on Sunday, SEP 1st.  We had a lighter-than-normal crowd but also fewer doves than normal.  We ended up with 13 doves and Krueger made jalapeno poppers - so lunch was awesome. The girls on their opening dove hunt Then on Tuesday of opening week, Michael, RePhil and I drove down to meet Davey at the private camp lot and hunted once more.  I think we bagged maybe 15 that morning.  It was fun to get away and spend some time together as hunting buddies. Sun coming up over lake and we are just getting our decoys out We used the camper to block our silhouettes. Game on!

 Once again, I MAY have planted too much sweet corn.  Oh well, we got the room and there ain't no reason for the seeds to go to waste.  I planted one pound of seed, which gave us 12 rows of corn 100 yards (91.4m) long and an additional 6 rows 50 yds (45.7m) long.  And yes, I planted those two sections one month apart to stagger when they'd be ready to eat. We stopped counting at 400 dozen ears of corn picked.  And that does not include any lost to deer and raccoons.  And we gave all of that away to anyone and everyone who wanted any.  And it was tasty. Well, obviously the kids heard us talking about the abundance that God & Mother Nature provided us - so they decided to set up their own stand within their playhouse.  It turned out pretty awesome!  Decide for yourself... Chalk drawing of their sweet corn stand on their playhouse They even posted a menu of how you could get your sweet corn

 Had a buddy who wanted to build a tree house for his kids.  Only he didn't have the knowledge nor the tools to make it happen.  Asked for 2 years if I would help.  And now that I am retired, I could help him, so I did.  We spent about 60 hours building this thing.  The main house is 8' x 8' (2.4 meters squared) by 13' (3.97m) high and the landing is 4' square (1.2m square) and 5' (1.5m) tall.   This is the sketch he had the kids draw. That's a cargo net that joins the two platforms. Here's the final product.  Pretty close. We did wrap the "house" in window screen to form a net to keep the bugs out. That right there is some good thinking! We got rid of our hot tub and that left a huge hole in our old deck.  So we ripped it up, put in new joists, and laid down new deck boards.  We also put in a side deck, new walkway, and then planted grass before applying epoxy to the stoop and garage.  It's been an ALL SUMMER job.  Last b...