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.

Returning to my post update

Where do I begin? This could be a very long post which would take you days to read but I think I'll give you the short version of the last three months. To start with I'd like to say it's great to be back posting again as this will relief some of my stress and allow me to talk to my Friends again, so thanks everyone for your comments on my sites. Okay since I left my post in October I've given up my construction business due mainly to the economy and lack of work in my area.I've taken on a factory job again which is against all my wishes (which came with a big cut in my pay scale), so I now make pill bottles for Tri-State Distributors in Sparta, Tn.. A word of good happenings is that my middle daughter,her husband and three grandchildren have moved out once again ( hopefully for good this time). my computer was in the shop and when I got it back most all my files, documents, programs and even my e-mail information was erased and deleted. Now on to the most important aspect which I'm sure by now everyone is wondering about. At last I posted hunting season had just opened and I was having trouble with my dog following me or tracking me into the woods every time I went hunting. Well your advice was taken and my dog was put in the house until I returned which worked really good for me.I managed to hunt the reminder of the season without and problems other then not seeing any bucks at all however we did have a either sex hunt in which I hunted off my parents back balcony deck and was able to call in a young ( fine eating) 60 pound doe at 125 yards. I came close to packing my bags and heading to Deer Camp to hunt "Ol Thunderhoof" for editor but I knew editor wouldn't like it to well if I took his ol friend back to Tn. so I stayed put for at least one more season. Now I can begin looking forward to the 2008 season and finding a new place to hunt which I hope will have a few good bucks on it to hunt. My new job has me working 12 hour shifts now so my writing may suffer some but I'll post as often as possible as I want to get back into the full swing of things again now and visit everyones sites and add as many links on my site as possible. Anyone with new links please let me know and I'll be glad to add them to both my sites. Once again THANKS everyone for the welcomed return.

I'm back

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement not to give up hunting or posting. The words were very heart felt and was what brought me back so be prepared for some new writing and updates while I was gone for the past 3 months. Again THANKS to each and everyone of my readers and look for my writings to begin very soon.

Hunting--- It's finally Over

I got up at 3:00 a.m. this morning to go hunting again as I was off work again this week and just 25 minutes after getting to my stand my dog showed up in the field and laid down right in the middle of the field waiting on me to head home. My dog finally left the field but headed off into the brush right where the deer should have come out.After approximately 2 hours of seeing nothing again this morning I decided to call it a day and head for home. My dog then came out of the brush and followed me home where he stayed the rest of the day. Due to these problems as well as my work stress I've decided that I'm going to pull all my stands out of the woods this coming weekend and give up hunting for good. I'll be selling my stands and all my equipment sometime in the near future. As for all my writings here on both my websites I'll be stopping on this as well since there are very few people reading them and will continue to comment on everyones sites till the end of the deer hunting season at the first of the year. All my articles will be deleted after the end of the season as well. I would like to thank each and everyone of you here at the " Bloggers Summit " and the rest of the folks in our little circle of writers for all the great comments, articles, photos and stories that you have shared with me as it has really done me alot of good and has been so heart felt and warming. It is with sad regret that I feel like giving up hunting but is thought to be the best thing for me to do at this point in my life. Again THANK YOU ALL very much for allowing me into your little circle of writers and I'll stay in touch through your comment boards till the first of the year.

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.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY/ I'M ONLY 27

It's my birthday today and I'm only 27 years old to and not planning on doing anything after work and no writing today either(sorry folks).birthday on October 11.

Hunting-- A Weekend Update

Saturday morning the barametric pressure was changing so I decided to go hunting again and of course my grandchildren wanted to go along only this time there was three of them. Fortunately for me I was hunting in a long saddle area so I spread the young adults out up the draw as I made my way to the top. AS I dropped each one off at a stand I would give explict instructions to stay put till I returned to get them. Just two hours after daylight one of them showed up at the top of the saddle and had gotten with the other two on his way. That not being bad enough ,they stood around talking and laughing just 75 yards from my stand and did all this just about the time for the deer to come in. This is the very reason why I prefer to hunt farmlands without other hunters. Now I have been told that I have the patience of a saint but for some strange reason this incident of hunting with the grandchildren just didn't sit well with me and I came down out of my stand madder then a bull in a china store. I came crashing through the brush straight toward the young adults and as I got to them I ask why they were out of their stands and talking so loud. I could here them over at my stand 75 yards away.Their reply was "well Ihad deer all around me snorting and some hunter came walking through so after he got out of sight I came up here". I ask how many deer he saw and he said none. By now I was out of the mood to hunt any longer so I decided to check the back side of the saddle for deer and tracks but the young adults just couldn't be quick so we headed for home empty handed again.That evening we collected three of my deer stands from across the lakebed and I spent the evening by myself putting them back up for rifle season. Sunday morning I hunted one of the new stands and spooked a deer out of the area as I went in to my stand before daylight. Unfortunately the deer never returned while I was on stand but at least I may have finally gotten away from the dogs and atv's. Only time will tell if my new stand sites are any good or not but at this point it doesn't matter to me anymore.

Hunting Again,One More Chance

To start out with I recieved an email last night that was well worth reading and was very informative as well. It was an arcticle sent to me by Kip Adams,QDMA Director of Education and Outreach, Northern Region on the subject of " Hemorrhagic Disease". The article was well written and needs to be read by every hunter reading this post. If you'd like I can send you the article via-email or you can reach Kip Adams at kadams@qdma.com or try www.qdma.com either will reach him and check out the article yourself. Now on to my next subject, I went hunting again this morning and guess what happen folks? Well To begin with I moved locations some 2000 yards away from my stands to a place I'd found some good signs,then got up this morning checked my emails and got ready to go. as I headed out the door the skyline was already begining to brighten so I knew it wouldn't be long before it was light enough to see through the woods.I hurried through the woods to my picked location sat by a tree overlooking several roadbeds. After about 2 1/2 hours of watching tyhe roadbeds a movement caught my eye to the right along the roadbed. I grabbed my bow and moved into shooting position as stealthfully as possible an just then my three wild stray dogs and my own dog stepped into view.Was this ever a disappointment or what? The only thing I did was watch the dogs and hope they would run a deer my way before I had gotten so disgushed that I'd go home empty handed again. Who would have thought that moving that far away from one location you'd still be plagued by stray dogs? I guess it's time for me to go stray dog hunting at least I know I'll have a chance at them and I may even cure my problem so I can see deer then. Anyway my grandchildren are wanting to go hunting with me again in the morning so now I just have to figure out where to go with three young adults along. This will be my next post, an update on their hunting trip with me.

Hunting--- Two Weekends Pasted

Okay everyone an update on my hunting adventures so far. The young adults I took with me had a great time in the woods together and as I figured would happen none of us saw any deer on opening day (Sept. 22 ). I had another buddy come by late Friday evening and was supposed to go along but to date I haven't seen anything of him. I hunted morning and evening on Saturday then went Sunday morning by myself and got lucky enough to catch a glimpse of two deer moving through the brush just above me on the side of the ridge. This weekend I hunted from the ground by a very large oak tree and still saw nothing, however as I was walking out I took a different route following a ATV trail which crossed a creek bottom twice where I found some great tracks crossing the creek bottom. I decided to hunt these crossings Sunday morning (Sept. 30 ) which is where I headed this morning. After setting in the woods for 5 hours I was just about ready to give up for the morning when I heard leaves russeling and figures that the moon was full so it could be the deer were moving in the middle of the day. I grabbed my bow just in time to have three wild dogs walk right upon me to within 5 feet of myself. These dogs and ATVs riding the trails where I'm hunting has been my problem since the season opened. The access road to the property where I hunt has also been blocked off with a cable and lock so nobody can enter the front of the property where another group of hunters are hunting. I left them a note explaining it was an access road to the property and that I was hunting behind them to please remove the cable. With all these problems the passed two weeks I decided to pull my stands and either move locations or give up hunting altogether (more on this decision later). Sorry no photos yet.

Hunting--The Moment of Truth

Hey everybody; it's finally here the one time of year when every hunter is actually looking forward to getting up early( I mean really early) in the morning. This is got to be the best day of the year when all your dreams could actually come true. I'm talking about Mr. Big standing right beneath your stand and your actually in your stand with your bow just itching to release your arrow into a vital area on him. This day is going to be one for the books, one that you'll tell to your friends and family for years to come. Although it's not official yet you just have that feeling deep inside you that this has got to be the day when the great moment of truth finally happens. All this talk about one day that's finally come and I haven't even told you yet what day it is( of coarse I'm sure you've already guessed by now), naturally it's opening day of bow season here in Tennessee and I'm about as ready as I can get. Well maybe I can make just a few more preparations before I go to bed and oh yes I have two companions going along on this adventure. That's right one of my grandchildren Matthew Simmons and his school buddy Charles Parrish are going along so even though it's opening day I don't look to put anything on my tag but it could happen I guess. Clothes laid out,gear all together and ready, truck gassed up, new broad heads on arrows,stabilizer on bow, med. bag equipped and of coarse alarm set and coffee pot set and ready for an early morning. It sounds like I've got everything ready for opening day but I 'm sure there'll be something that I'll forget and before anybody brings it up I don't ever use a flashlight. Flashlights are to easy to spook the deer so I memorize the woods I hunt during my scouting to minimize spooking the deer I'm hunting. Anyway this post was really to tell everyone good luck and stay safe during this years hunting adventures and don't forget we all like to see those great photos even if they're not of your game.