August 15, 2010 Squirrel season opens

The good news is this: I have spent two days in the woods moving trail camera's and familiarizing myself with some new territory I plan to hunt, and I didn't get a single mature deer tick or lonestar tick. The bad news is this: I came out covered in turkey ticks.

When I got home I did a little experiment. When I took off my shoes turkey ticks were crawling over my lower legs and ankles. I doused each leg with a beer and I watched as the turkey ticks died away. Who would have thought the solution was so easy.

Though this summer has been hotter than normal we have had a fair amount of rainfall so a lot of the woodland vegetation is still green. In several areas I walked through deer had browsed heavily on stinging nettle and jewelweed. Both of these plants are loaded with vitamins and nutrients and deer seem to enjoy the taste of the plants. If you're crazy enough to walk through a big patch of stinging nettle during the late summer you will stumble upon deer bed after deer bed where all the plants within a bedded deers reach are browsed off -- especially those nettle patches that are miles away from the nearest crop field.

There are quite a few acorns beginning to drop, and some of the oaks are having bumper crops. I noticed some persimmon fruits on the ground too. This is the second year in a row where we have had a good mast and persimmon crop.

News from the Indiana DNR

Roush Lake will become a fish and wildlife area, giving Northeast Indiana deer hunters another 8217 acres of public land.

Wabahiki Fish and Wildlife Area near Terre Haute opened today. This property is part of a state initiative to acquire 43,000 acres of river floodplain that will stretch from Shades State Park to Fairbanks Landing Fish and Wildlife Area. A property map is available at the Indiana DNR website. Call Marty Benson (317) 233-3853 for more information.

Like I said in my very first post -- Indiana is getting serious about wildlife management.

August 01, 2010

The Full Buck Moon is waning, but it is still lighting up the night sky brightly. August is here, and squirrel season is only fifteen days away. Soon trail cameras will not be the only excuse for heading into the woods.

I went to the woods several times last month to place trail camera's. The heat and humidity were both bad, and the chiggers were, too. The good news is the mature ticks are starting to decrease in number, and the turkey ticks haven't come out yet. But, I'm sure they will be out in force for the squirrel season opener. I read an article several years ago from a wildlife biologist declaring these miserable things as immature deer ticks. Some people claim they are their own seperate species, but whatever they are you had better be prepared to deal with them from now until the first frost. I know a lot of hunters who simply refuse to go into the woods anymore until the first frost. In a sense I'm glad I have learned to deal with them, or at least tolerate them, but I know I will be spending plenty of time the next couple of months scratching the skin off my ankles.

My brother has devised his own way of dealing with them. He heads into the woods with his shotgun, wearing nothing more than sandals, and a loose fitting pair of joggers shorts. He throws a cooler bag of cheap beer over his shoulder and heads to the hickory grove. Every half hour or so he doses himself with a beer. He claims the beer causes the turkey ticks to get drunk, and then all he has to do is brush them off. I have to admit he is able to stay in the woods a lot longer than me, and he does a whole lot less scratching, too, though his aim seems to be a little off since he started this turkey tick prevention trick.

Look close at the second picture, there are a couple of nice bucks.

A summary of proposed deer season changes is available. Submit comments here.