Opening Day , September 27th in Tennessee

Opening day finally made it here and I was up at 3:00 a.m. this morning checking over everything to make sure I had it all together and ready for the hunt. I started the morning off by hunting over a small half acre field ( yard actually ) at my parents place where they have been watching the deer play around their pond. After 4 hours of sitting in the stand and seeing nothing but birds and squirrels I decided to go in and visit with my folks and have a cup of coffee. Evening came around and at 2:00 p.m. I decided to hunt a stand in the woods hoping for better luck. There again birds and squirrels but still no deer. I found out that on Friday afternoon there was a buck and four does playing at the pond at my parents place so I'm hoping for their return Sunday morning as that is where I'll be trying again. The weather today was a little windy and cloudy most the day with a 40% chance of rain but the rain held off and Sunday is just supposed to be cloudy without rain. I really hoping the deer will move better Sunday morning and it's supposed to be a new moon Sunday night. Anyway I'll be hunting as much as possible this year as it could be my last year due to my parents health failing. I'm also going to try hunting feral hogs this year and if anyone knows how to salt cure hams please let me know. A black bear is also on my agenda but will have to wait till next year for that as I'm going to Maine to hunt with my father-in-law. I'll try to keep updates regularly on my hunting progress for everyone.

Deers Not The Only Meat----

Well folks the deer season has come and gone with the moment of anticipation passing like a dove flying across the field. Of coarse as with a raccoon in the corn field there's still many more seasons that are open and some that are open year round( at least in Tennessee). Hog hunting is open year round here and many hunters take advantage of this hunting experience to sharpen their skills for deer season and to put a little extra in their freezers. Though I've never hunted the wild hogs, I have given it some thought and my decide to give it a try one day in the near future. Squirrel season and quail season is still open so time allowed I plan on going before the season is over in February. Season after season deer change and give it two weeks after the close of the season is about right for locating the next years buck of a lifetime. I 'm talking about "Shed Hunting", one of the best ways for locating that big buck without disturbing any ones hunting area while their hunting. Shed hunting can be very rewarding even if your not finding any antlers cause your still getting the enjoyment of the outdoors,nature,and the wildlife of Gods great earth undisturbed. I myself don't get out and hunt the shed antlers but I do enjoy after season scouting for old rubs, scrapes and bedding areas which the deer use from one year to the next. Usually around the last of July the deer begin to change over to their winter feeding grounds where they will stay until about the end of January or the first of February. So if your out finding sheds,rubs and bedding areas two weeks after the season closes your in the deers winter grounds. You may not see any deer but come next season you'll know exactly where to set up your stand with little or no difficulty. Get out in the woods and take advantage of the seasons that are still open in your state and find a new place to hunt your trophy buck while you can. Remember deers not the only meat for your freezer,it's just the other red meat we all love.

Getting Closer

Saturday (October 13 ) I helped my dad remove some brush from his lake bed acreage and he told me he had been seeing deer almost everyday two and three times a day. I found trails from the brush that looked like cow paths so I picked a tree out for a stand site within bow range and cleared it out for a stand ( which I'll have to pull one from the woods to put up now.). Sunday morning I decided to give it a try but knew I had to sit on the ground in the brush (which I had already found a spot for.). I got up Sunday morning and checked the weather-- barometric pressure and wind direction, to figure if the spot I'd picked out would work out and it would. I adorned my camouflage clothing and grabbed my bow then away I went. Now my parents only live 800 yards around the corner from me so I walked down to the field and into the brush,sat down and waited very patiently. my dog showed up from out of the brush then back into the brush three times within a hour of daylight. I thought that was it there's no way deer would be anywhere around me after my dog had searched the brush for whatever.Boy was I ever wrong, a deer came to the edge of the brush and I haven't figured out if the deer winded me or perhaps winded where we had cleaned up the brush from Saturday but it snorted three or four times then stomped it's foot and bound off back into the thick brush. I sat still for another 30 minutes or so waiting to see if possibly it might come back on a different trail but no such luck. It's now Monday morning and I don't have to work today so I figure I'll give it another try especially since the barometric pressure is rising due to a front moving in and the temperature is only 51 degrees. This should have the deer moving pretty good today and with any luck at all I,ll finally get my long awaited shot. I'm in bad need of putting something in the freezer and at this point squirrels are looking pretty good to me since I can't find any deer.