November Begins

I am closely paying attention to where the red oaks are, and the amount of acorns individual trees are producing, because the way my season is going I will be climbing a tree during the late bow season trying to fill my buck tag.

Saturday was a good day: I saw five does, and walked up on two otters sleeping in the tall grass along the river bank. I almost stepped on them before they busted out from beneath my feet like a covey of quail -- nearly giving me a heart attack. During the afternoon Kevin and I placed a ladder stand on the hillside where he killed his big buck last year. We used Kevin's deer cart to get the ladder stand in location, and considering the terrain we went through, the whole thing was pretty easy, even nestling the stand into the lower branches of a nice mature cedar tree, where a hunter should be able to blend right in. The stand overlooks the only opening in an overgrown, wooded thicket about twenty acres in size where does like to bed. We're hopping to pull another buck out of there this year.

Today I made my way to Stonehenge, a remote river crossing that is always good to hunt this time of year. I brought in a small six pointer, by aggressively rubbing my rattling antlers against the tree I was in. Later in the morning I called him back in with a hard, loud, series of clashing, grinding antlers, but I am waiting for something a little better.

Year after year, in this spot, bucks open a large scrape under a small dogwood tree. This year is no exception, the scrape is about the size of a pickup truck bed. The main trail it is located on runs for miles and miles down the overgrown, brushy, river corridor. The place is made better by being on a shallow, narrow, water crossing, and by a saddle that drops off a tall wooded ridge where deer travel. I have never killed a deer here, but I have had plenty of close encounters. Two years ago, a true trophy buck began crossing the river straight for me. Unfortunately, I carelessly placed my paddle in a shallow pool of water in the river and the buck walked right to it, sniffed, and slunk back into the thicket he had came out of. Some of the trail camera pictures I get from this area always keep me excited about hunting here, too.

Here's a public land tip: Look over the topographic maps of a large tract of public land and try to locate a spot where multiple terrain features converge and you may find your own, out of the way, hidden little hot spot.

Wildlife at the River Bottom Crossing

Digging for muscles

A bad drought year -- everything needs water

My first bobcat picture

A shooter in my book

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.

May 22, 2010

Of course these pictures are not from Indiana. They are from a Montana Mule Deer Hunt my buddy Travis recently sent to me. I feel privileged to be able to put these pictures on this blog. Travis is as strong as a grizzly bear and as quick and agile as a rattlesnake.  He is also one heck of a shot with a rifle. He was tempted to take this buck at 800 yards, because he knew he was running out of time, but he opted to move in closer and take the shot at 350 yards instead. Before he shot this buck he passed on two bigger deer because he thought they were on private property. It was only after he got back to his maps that he realized the bucks were well onto public land.

Travis has one complaint about us eastern hunters heading west for deer season. We shoot small deer thinking they are actually big deer. He has invited me west to hunt with him. After seeing these pictures I believe I will take him up on the offer.

April 25th, 2010

It is no secret Indiana is considered a sleeper state for deer hunting. Every deer hunting magazine has mentioned Indiana as an overlooked big buck hotspot. The QDMA website says this about Indiana: "I believe Indiana is one of the most overlooked states . . . , the southern half of Indiana is terrific, consistently producing some great bucks." The good news for Indiana hunters is things are only going to get better -- especially for public land hunters.

The Indiana DNR is serious about improving wildlife habitat. For years many of the fields on public property were left idle, and maybe cut once every five years. The state is doing a lot of hard work to improve these lands for the sportsman. Controlled burns, strip mowing, and plantings are taking place on just about every piece of state controlled property that I know of. The DNR is also conducting surveys about hunting seasons and harvest changes as well.

The DNR 2009 Biological Deer Report shows good numbers. In 2001 56% of the bucks killed were 1.5 year old bucks. Over this decade that number has steadily fallen to last years harvest where 36% of the bucks killed were 1.5 years old. In 2001 14% of the bucks killed were 3.5 years old or better. Over this decade that number has steadily risen to last years harvest where 24% of the bucks killed were 3.5 years old or better. Hunters are opting to pass on smaller bucks, and as a result there are more bigger bucks. Last year's harvest had fewer young bucks killed than any year this decade. Hopefully, this means more bigger bucks will be roaming Indiana this year.

The pictures on this post are deer killed on public land. The first four pictures are of a buck I killed several years ago. I have let plenty of bigger deer walk past me, but this buck is one I will remember for a long time. I stalked him for over an hour as I waded through a marsh and killed him at ten yards. The drag involved half a day of field work for me, my brother, and hunting buddies. I could fill up two pages telling you how we got him out of the woods. The other picture is a big buck my buddy Kevin killed several years ago in the Hoosier National Forest. This buck has a story as well. Both bucks will be talked about for many deer seasons to come.

Kevin's Opening Weekend Public Land Buck

Though there are no pictures of canoes, kayaks, or waders in this post they have just about everything there is to do with the hunting that takes place from my little hunting camp every autumn. In fact, I believe there is nothing -- I mean nothing -- worth doing that can't be made better by some contraption that will get you over or through the water, even if you are just messing about, but especially if you are hunting. And, for us, hunting is just messing about and spending good quality time in the field.

Sure, as Kevin and I shoved off in the canoe and slowly bumped along the river we had hopes of big bucks walking past our stands. We knew the area well, had spent some time scouting and knew we would both be hunting good spots. As we floated the river in the misty morning darkness no less than eight beavers slapped their tails along side the canoe and we considered the hunt a success just because of it. So, when no big bucks showed up that morning it was no big deal. We rendezvoused on the river's edge and began just messing about.

The afternoon found us deerless and hungry, sitting on a log in the woods, eating a thick ham sandwich covered in mustard, talking and laughing, and trying to catch a nap during the warm Indian Summer Day. We were a little surprised to look up and see a nice buck in the middle of a heavy thicket dogging after a doe. Kevin was able to get a shot, but by all signs the buck escaped unscathed. With a little speed scouting of the area a plan was made for the following morning's hunt.

The next morning the sun was well above the horizon by the time we were in place, but it didn't matter. Kevin had just got into position when this big buck came crashing right to him. He had just enough time to turn and fire as the buck crawled through an opening in the dense thicket twenty feet from him.

It has become a custom in this camp for a person to try and kill a deer as far off the road as possible in the worst place in the world you would want to drag a deer out of. And this year it was Kevin's turn to accomplish the chore. Kevin and I did most of the grunt work in getting the deer out, but when we got the buck to the difficult stuff I went back to the house and recruited help.

My brother Ronnie and buddy Scott and his nephew Chandler had just finished breakfast when I walked through the door. "A buck is down!" I informed them. "Say no more," Ronnie replied, "I know an adventure awaits."