Obligations With A Challenge Issued.

In the past several weeks I've visited several websites posting articles about deleting links that are no longer in operation or not functioning properly. As writers of the world we have an obligation to our readers to properly maintain our websites which includes the links and ads we list on them. A lot of times we add links to our websites because we like the site and find their information valuable both to us and our readers. Sometimes it's just to gain more readers to our websites but for whatever reason we still have obligations. We often get so involved in posting articles and stories that we forget to check all our links periodically. We add links and add links and before you know it we have links on our websites we don't even have time to visit anymore. We end up visiting only a select few out of many that we have listed and the older links fall to the wayside of unused links on our websites. Our websites depict a reflection of who we are and we owe it to our readers to give them our best. I'd like to issue a challenge to all the writers to start by January 1, 2009 and starting with your first link in your list go through each link, leave a brief comment of your visit and if the link doesn't work properly or is pulled remove it from your list. This challenge should be completed by all writers by no later than January 31, 2009. Let's give our readers the respect they deserve and clean up our websites for a more enjoyable viewing and reading.

Could This Be A New Record Buck.

This photo was sent to me by my son-in-law with a caption " Maybe a new world record ". The buck was taken by Rodger Jarvis in Deckard, Tennessee during the last muzzle loader hunt and I just wanted to post it for all to see what a fine buck was taken from Tennessee as we don't have many bucks this size taken here. Congratulations to Rodger Jarvis on such an outstanding buck.

Up Close And Personal ( Concluded ).

The story behind this buck is that he's really not rubbing that tree at all. In all reality that buck is already dead. He was placed by the tree for photos before dressing it out and the photo posted was taken standing over the deer to show the antlers better. This buck was taken by my future son-in-law one morning using 12 gauge slugs and he really didn't even know he had hit the buck until he saw him fall some 60 yards after the shot was made. He didn't know how big the rack really was until retrieving the buck but he knew he was big. Turned out the buck had eleven points total with a eighteen inch spread between the widest point of the main beam. He was hunting a farm he had just acquired for hunting and only knew there was supposed to be some good deer on it. I've been hunting the farm next to it and have yet to see my first deer.

Up Close And Personal?

Have you ever just sit and watched a deer come in to your stand and wonder how close he'll get before scenting you. Now I usually don't use any kind of scent blockers, I smoke while on stand and I move around a bit, all of which I know are bad things to do but check out the buck in the photo above and tell me what is wrong with this picture. I'll give you more information on the picture in my next post just to set the record straight and fill you in on him.

Hunting A New Snowfall.

Monday morning December 1st, a new snow was on the ground. At first daylight I was in my stand trying to bare the elements of the wind and freezing cold. With a temperature of 17 degrees and winds blowing at 5 - 10 mph. it didn't take long for me to decide that I wasn't going to be in the woods long before I was ready to head for the house to warm up. I braved the weather for four hours before giving in to my bodies needs and climbing down from my stand. Slowly I made my way back into the field which was were the truck was parked and then found out that the wind was blowing even worst in the wide open. Luckily my hunting partners were already at the truck waiting on me to come out and came driving to my rescue from the cold.The bad news was the truck didn't have any heat but it did get us out of the cold wind and it wasn't long before we were back home with a hot fire going in the fireplace and trying to warm ourselves back up. Although none of us seen any deer this morning there was another hunter on the farm that took a nice wide six point buck just above my partners stand sites. Above you will find a couple of photos from this hunt.

The Sweet Success Of VICTORY.

Saturday morning, November 29, 2008, I got up this morning thinking of going hunting again so as usual I put on the coffee, checked the weather and my e-mails but then it hit me, I just wasn't feeling like going hunting due to having to work a twelve hour shift this night. Instead I set here at the computer writing on my blog about my Thanksgiving morning hunt. Long about 9:00 a.m. my wife told me we had to go to town to pay bills and pick up some vittles ( groceries to you city folk ). At 9:30 a.m. my dad called me up to tell me there were three deer in the lake bed grazing. Now we had two special antlerless quota hunts ( November 28 - December 2 and December 3 - 7 ) which were in conjunction with the regular buck only time frame. However if you were a landowner you could take a doe during this qouta hunt. Now even though I was about to go to town I quickly seized the oppurtunity to capitalize on this moment. I grabbed my rifle, drove to dads house and parked in front so as not to spook the deer, jumped out and moved into shooting position along side the back corner of the house. I raised the rifle as the deer looked on at me and took aim then squeezed the trigger and the doe staggered then bolted off into the thick cover of the grown up lake bed. Pausing just a moment to talk to my dad about the deer I then walked to the lake bed and began tracking blood. Across the field and into the thick growth and brairs, over and down the stream then further out across the grown up lake bed. When I finally found the doe she was at the far side of the lake bed next to the wood line. I worked my way back thru the brush to dads house, got my truck and drove to the other side of the lake bed, loaded my doe and took her to the checking station, got my permanant tag, placed it on the doe then drove home and hung her up in my back yard. After gutting the doe I left her hanging as the weather was cool enough to prevent spoilage. Tuesday I'll have to dress the doe and package the meat for the freezer as Wednesday I have to return to work. The sweet sucess of VICTORY was mine at last and hopefully I'll be able to take a second doe during the second antlerless hunt. Pictured above is my doe in the field.

My Thanksgiving Morning Hunt.

Thanksgiving morning, 3:30 a.m.,I awoke wide awake and ready to go hunting. The first thing was to start a pot of coffee then check the Internets local weather report. Lets see cloudy, winds from the south southeast, barometric pressure falling at 29.86 and a temperature of 40.2 degrees. A perfect morning forecast to a beautiful day in the woods. 5:00 a.m. I'm dressed and heading out the back door for a half mile walk in the pitch dark woods without a flashlight to a stand site I've not hunted in two years. The walk was at a slow pace due to the crunching of the leaves even though a big part of the walk was on a four wheeler trail and an old logging road bed. I made it to my stand site just before dawn and get settled in for a long relaxing morning in the quite woods. Squirrels begin rustling the leaves and birds singing in the brush looking for their mornings breakfast. The woods lighten up and everything comes to life with the sounds of nature at it's best. I set watching a long hollow with three ridge lines joining at the bases and at 7:15 a.m. I began using my deer call ( Primos can call ). Within fifteen minutes I had three does coming across the ridge in my direction and then suddenly a big doe slipped up behind me and walked passed me heading toward the other three does. This single doe was close enough to me I could actually see the chin hairs as she passed me by. She walked about twenty yards passed me then stopped and looked back at me then quickly looked up the first hollow. I knew something was coming and just then a big bodied buck stepped out into view and was heading straight toward the single doe in front of me. I raised my rifle and waited for a clear shot. Just then the buck stopped in front of a large oak tree presenting a clear shot and the woods was filled with the sound of gun fire. The buck bowed up, jumped and ran up the second hollow out of sight. I continued using my deer call hoping to keep the buck in the area and just then caught a glimpse of something to my left traveling across the hollow. It was a second buck and even bigger then the first. The second buck was at 180 yards and traveling across in front of me and I tried to get a clear shot at it but just wasn't able to before it ran off into the next hollow with the rest of the deer herd. Then the trouble began, the next thing I heard was gunshots from the direction my buck had ran. This was bad, very bad, my buck had crossed over the property lines to the next farm and evidently another hunter was shooting at my buck. I looked for blood where I had shot the buck standing but only found hair on both sides . Hair was all over the side of the tree and my bullet hole was there in the tree in line with the placement of the bucks body but no blood. I looked for a blood trail but nothing was to be found. I searched all three hollows very carefully and still nothing anywhere. My only thought that came to mind was that I had somehow either shot through the buck at a non-vital point or that I had only grazed the bucks skin. In either case the buck was gone and I had nothing but a much needed relaxing morning in the woods. At Thanksgiving Dinner one of the family members told me of a big bodied buck in the back of a truck heading toward the checking station. Could this be my buck???? I'll never really know. I did recheck the rifle after getting home and it was shooting dead on at 150 yards.

World Renowned Hunter Of All Times.

Years ago in a small town village, there were a group of hunters preparing for the first mornings hunt for deer. Now in this group of hunters were five men and two women, all of which were known well for their hunting abilities. These seven hunters were to meet the following morning at the edge of the north woods to decide where each would be positioned throughout the woods for safety precautions. Upon meeting and deciding locations the seven hunters each set off on their own separate ways to try to bring back to the village the best and largest amount of deer meat for the towns people they could. The first hunter to bring down his deer was the great hunter of the north, OTHMAR. OTHMAR brought down a nice 12 point buck with a weight of 242 lbs. using his 270 caliber rifle at a distance of 347 yards. Next came a report that REX had taken a 10 point buck weighting 185 lbs. with his bow at 52 yards and MARIAN came in with her buck,an amazing 14 pointer with a weight of 297 lbs. that she took with her crossbow at and astounding 91 yards. KRISTINE had taken herself a nice fat buck with her 243 caliber rifle also which was a 9 pointer weighting in at 215 lbs. taken at 247 yards. At 10:30 more reports came in that two more hunters had taken deer for the village and as the hunters came into the village their deer were weighted in and stories told as follows: MIKE took a nice 8 point double drop tine buck weighting in at 215 lbs which he took at 75 yards with his 260 caliber rifle and a young gun hunter known only as the NY HUNTER took a fine 11 pointer weighting 238 lbs. at 37 yards with his bow, As darkness began to fall upon the village the hunters began to worry about their hunting partner still out and so they started toward where the hunter was to be hunting and upon reaching said point found only a large pile of blood and nothing else. The said hunter had shoot his deer and was tracking it through the woods and was trying to bring it back when he realized it was to large and he would need help getting it back. the said hunter was the world renowned Christmas Place hunter, OLD SCRATCH. OLD SCRATCH, though was old was also very well experienced and knew the best location for the biggest and best bucks. OLD SCRATCH finally got his deer back to the village and weighted in as follows. OLD SCRATCH TOOK A 22 POINTER WEIGHTING 328 LBS WITH ONLY A KNIFE AND A STICK AT 2 YARDS. Though OLD SCRATCH had taken the biggest and best that year no other hunter has ever to this date taken anything better with so little which is why OLD SCRATCH IS THE WORLD RENOWNED HUNTER OF ALL TIMES.

Missed Long Shot.

Thursday October 30,2008, I had not gone hunting this particular morning but opted to instead stay at home with my wife and enjoy the morning with her. It was around 9:30 a.m. and we were getting ready to go into town to do some banking and pay bills when just as we where going out the door the phone rang. My dad called to tell me of three deer in the lake bed. I grabbed my bow as we went out the door and drove down to my parents house, as we passed by I could see the deer feeding along the left side of the field heading up toward the house. I turned the truck around and parked in front of the house so the deer couldn't see me and told my wife to go watch out the breakfast nook window. I got my bow and gear and went to the right side of the house and upon reaching the back corner then realized there was no more cover for me to get and closer. Checking the location of the deer, one was going back into the brush and the other two were still feeding toward the slope of the back yard. I knocked an arrow, drew back and realized the deer were about 80 yards from me and that I only had my bow sighted up to thirty yards. What I did next was a little outlandish but sometimes effective. I then began visualizing the sight pins that should have been set at forty-fifty-sixty-seventy and eighty yards then released the arrow. Though it was all just guess work the arrow flew just inches over the deers back and they ran off into the safety of the brush. I went to retrieve my arrow and the deer were standing in the brush, which as I approached my arrow spooked the deer running them further into the thick brush of cover. Lesson learned here was to next year set and practice with more yardage pins for those long shots.

2nd Day of Young Sportsman Hunt.

October 27, 2008, O'Ryan was joined by Kaleb and was taken out hunting by my soon to be son-in-law (Daniel) and a friend (Danny). They went to a farm Daniel was hunting and split up to different stand sites. As the sun rose the Young sportsman were still eager to shoot their first deer. Daylight fell across the open fields and the deer began moving around browsing on the grasses and berries around the edges of the tree lines. The young sportsman and the companions sat watching and waiting but with little results. O'Ryan had a buck come thru by his chosen stand but never presented a shot before disappearing back into the woods while Kaleb had a doe show up on a far off ridge line heading away from him and never giving an option of a shot before she disappeared back into the woods. Though both the young sportsman were disappointed they still enjoyed the weekend hunting trips and our great outdoors. There is another young sportsman hunt at the end of deer season in January which both young adults will be participating in I'm sure.