Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    
    Man, that note has got me in the autumn mood bigtime.  
    
    Kev --
    

    Guys,
    
    Got up this morning with the temp about 15degrees cooler than
    yesterday.  I had a dream last night about...DEER!  I freakin can't
    wait until OCT 1!  
    
    Got my copy of Bowhunter yesterday and read the entire magazine.  I
    think that is why I was dreaming about deer.
    
    Anybody else chomping at the bit?
    
    
    
    Wess

NOPE...

;^)

    Fra,
    
    You are full of it!  I know for a fact that you are foaming at the
    mouth to be in your tree stand listening for that faint "crunch,
    crunch" of a deer, possibly a nice buck, coming your way.
    
    Come on now, admit it....
    
    
    Squirrel season coming in this weekend, I won't be able to go.
    
    Headed to Ky lake to try for some of those big cats the 23rd for a
    couple of days.  That is where the state record 102lb cat came from.
    
    Dove season coming in Sept 1st, going on the 6th for a Dove
    hunt/bachelor party, the dove shoot first of course.
    
    Setting my tree stands Sept 20th.
    
    Opening of bow season Oct 1. Hopefully taking at least 3 days off to
    hunt the first week.
    
    This year the fall archery only turkey season lasts from Oct 1 - Nov
    30, you never know.
    
    Wess
    

Wess,

I must admit...  i'm definately getting the itch here...  foaming at the mouth?
not yet... give me about 6 weeks for that... ;^)

looks like i'll be heading down to virginia for a little shotgun deer hunting
this fall after VT rifle...  should prove to be extremely interesting.  Looking
forward to it, so much so, that i'm upgrading to a new deer setup just for the
trip.

so much to do and oh so little time...

Fra

    
    It seems with this unusual cool weather this summer here in New England
    fellow hunters are getting the itch early. I myself just received a 9.5"
    Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag for my birthday. I also have a new Muzzleloader
    on order, a Knight Grand American .50 in-line S/S, and I'm also upgrading
    to a new bow, a High Country Carbon Lite Speed @70 lb with 80% letoff.
    Depending when these items come in will dictate if I have enough time to
    feel comfortable with them for use this season.
    
                                                             Guy

    Guy,
    
    A friend of mine has the RedHawk too, what a pistol.  His has the
    lightest trigger that I have ever seen, maybe .5lb pull.  I think a
    good breeze would set it off.
    
    It sounds like you are getting some great stuff.  Good luck with it.
    
    
    Picked up more tree steps today at Wal-Mart, they had the flip up type
    marked down to $1.  
    
    Wess

    
    Wess,
    
          I added a Thompson Center S/S 2.5x Lighted Pistol Scope on top
    of this machine. This is the scope when you turn the dial it's reticle
    turns RED for low light conditions. I can't wait to zero it. It seems
    there are no records on the books for a B&C Whitetail (High or Low Book)
    taken by pistol in New Hampshire. My thoughts are to carry both during
    the season where allowed.
    
                                                            Guy 
                                      

    
    
    
      As of this morning I am now officially in the mood of the hunting
    season.
    
      The scene;
    
        A light fog blankets my back yard, the eastern sky shows tinges of 
    crimson, the nights darkness has surrendered to the first mornings
    light. I look out the living room window towards the back of my
    property in hopes of seeing the problem groundhog on his early morning
    trip to my garden.
    
       suddenly movement on the west side of the back yard catchs my eye, I
    look and there is a fawn just stepping out of the woods, following the
    fawn was a big doe. slowly they walk across the yard constantly aware
    of the presence of cars driving by. As I watch them walk towards the
    salt block I placed out there, the doe stops and looks back so I look
    back to the west and there is another deer just walking out, this deer
    has some really big ears, but as he moves more out into the mowed
    clover patch I can make out a nice basket rack.
    
      the deer all congragate around the salt block, each taking turns
    tasteing the salt, while 1 was licking the salt block 1 would be eating 
    the clover, and 1 was always on the lookout for any danger. Suddenly
    the doe and small buck snap their head up and look back to the west, my
    first thot was here comes someones dog, but nope its another deer, a
    huge deer, a buck, a big buck, he strolls across the yard slowly then 
    turns and walks towards my fence, walks up and stands and stares at my
    delta 3d buck in the yard. after a stare off with the misterious deer
    inside the fence he turned and walked over towards the salt block.
    
       When he walked up to the salt block the other buck and doe moved
    about 10-15 yrds from him, once he got his fill of salt all 4 of them 
    started on the clover, it was something watching these deer right in
    the back yard grazing like horses. they were within 20 yrds of the
    garden but never made any attempt nor showed any interest in the things
    growing in the garden.
    
      I watched them for about 15 minutes then as quietly and stealthfully 
    when they came out, one by one the disappeard back into the woods. now
    if this scenario took place at camp that would be a daily thing, but I
    live in a little village on the shore of lake ontario, there are deer
    around but generally they shy away from the houses. I guess the salt
    block and the planting of clover has helped alleviate some of their
    fears. 
    
     
         between the close encounter this morning and the trip to camp last 
    weekend for hunting license's and to pick up my fox squirrel, I am in
    the mood now. and bow season doesnt start till oct. 5 in Pa. maybe a
    trip to NH will be needed in sept. 
    
     
        Lee
      

It's September now.  Hasn't anyone got any hunting stories to tell?

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to make a pretend squirrel hunt in the
area I plan to deer and elk hunt later this year.  I call it a pretend
hunt because I was carrying a .22 rifle, but had no intention of
shooting a squirrel.  The squirrels in this part of the world are
small grays that feed primarily on pine cones.  This means that they're
small and not particularly tastey.  I was mostly doing some pre-season
scouting and hoping to bump into a forest grouse or two.

I did see some deer and elk sign, but no grouse.  And, on my way down
a trail, I did kick up a raghorn bull elk.  At that time, I was tired
and not being especially careful.  As it were, had I been hunting for
elk, I probably still could have got off a good shot.  Oh well.

Jerry

    
    
    
     Jerry,
    
       I did the same thing yesterday morning, altho not looking for elk,
    but i went on a "squirrel hunt" carried the .22 but never even loaded
    it. 
    
        found that the farmer had planted the upper field with corn, and
    man have the deer been into it hard, ussually they just nip off the
    tender part of the ears, but they have a bunch of the corn stalks ate
    right to the roots! 
    
       I will have a stand there before archery season, as this field is
    the same place i took a buck while kneeling in the corn a couple years
    ago.  hopefully they dont cut the corn till late oct.
    
    
    
                                  Lee
    
     

    Also took a brief scouting walk yesterday late afternoon. Put up a
    dozen partridge going into the woods and 6 more on my way out. Caught 1
    flag but too thick to see thru the wippets. Area had been logged 8
    years ago then a windstorm cause a lot of blow downs. It's full of big
    blackberries and tremendous sign where the deer have been eating the
    canes and new maple growth. Saw lots of skat and heard the coyotes all
    weekend. Been warming up that bow, getting ready for the autumn dance!
    Too early for any firearms in MA, although I believe bear season's next 
    week. Still months to go before bow and then shotgun. If I didn't have
    to tend to mowing my fields, I'd be out in NH as they're getting
    underway. Would like to find somewhere to duck hunt and striper fish at
    the same time...use to be possible on the Cape and Vineyard but too
    crowded/ restricted now. What a way to spend the day! Keep your reports
    coming for those of us who can't get "there" yet. Good luck!!
    
    -Blueberry Bob

    I haven't been out hunting yet, but am going full blast on Friday.
    One of my longest outdoor friends is getting married soon and he is
    having his bachelor party on Friday. Since he is of the red-neck
    variety, he is having a dove shoot starting at 2pm. He planted 1/2 acre
    of sunflowers in the spring and said he has quite a few doves coming
    in.  I am planning on driving down at 6am and taking him squirrel
    hunting first.  A day of fun!!!
    
    Have been practicing with the bow, 27 days to go!!!
    
    Wess

re:  27 days to go!!!  Wess


Wess, you've been hanging around with Rich Harris for too long... ;^)

Fra, 31 days to go...

    Fra,
    
    I haven't talked to Bob Harris in quite a while.  I guess the countdown
    does remind us of him doesn't it.
    
    
    Foamin to go roamin
    Wess

    Just got a call last night from the boys in Maine. They're always in
    the Rut ;). According to them, Apples and Acorns are a hangin while
    Beechnuts are the size of baseballs!!!!! Totally opposite of last
    year!!!! 
    
    It also appears that they have received their first influx of Gobblers.
    After figuring out that they weren't the biggest Ravens they'ld ever
    seen they finally determined that Turkeys have finally expanded to 
    the area!!!
    
    Does and Yearlings are a regular occurence so last winter wasn't as bad
    as they thought.
    
    Nov. 4 opening day for Maine Non Residents.....How many days is that?
    
    Good Luck Guys,
    Bob M�

RE: Nov. 4 opening day for Maine Non Residents.....How many days is that?

    Good Luck Guys,
    Bob M�

Ummmm,  that'd be 61 days Bob...  ;^)

seems like forever huh...

Fra

25 days.......til Yoopin time. (Michigan UP)

The population is ok*, not many fawns and
the number of yealings seems low. But the
big deer are in pretty good shape. Wonder
of wonders is that the DNR selected DMU010
for antlerless permits!! This flips the rules

Instead of 1st tag/choice and 2nd tag/buck

its: 1st tag choice and  2nd tag/antlerless.

then you get a third tag in the drawing (if
your lucky.

For a bowhunter who likes venison, this is 
a freezer filling combo.

* by "ok", I mean that its down, but not 
excessively so. Last year the habitat was
hugely overcrowded. Bark was gnawed on trees
this spring, (never saw that before). We lost
probably 25% over the winter (100,000 deer?)
in the central UP. The mast crop is great this
year and the herd could possibly rebound to
95 levels unless we trim it again. The last 
estimate I saw in 95 was 7-800,000 deer in the
UP. Should be more like 500,000 over the long
term. It's probably not a lot more than that
right now.

I saw some elk on the way in to work this morning.  This was while I
was traveling on Colorado state hwy 115 between Penrose and Colorado
Springs.  Unfortunately, I was moving at a pretty good clip at the time
in fairly heavy traffic, and the light was still poor as it was right
at daybreak.  The animals were about 50 yards off of the highway on
Ft. Carson property.

What I could tell was that there were at least 3 or 4 animals, and at
least one was a decent bull.  He held his nose up as elk are prone to
do, so his antlers were positioned right over his back.  I could see
that his antlers extended a little bit past the middle of his back,
so I guess he had a decent enough rack.

Jerry

    Got to get out on Friday for a day of squirrel hunting/scouting.  I
    grabbed my 22mag picked up a buddy and hit the woods at 7:30am.  The
    squirrels were a bit scattered but I did manage to find a few good
    Hickory trees.  I limited out by 9am (6 squirrels) and my buddy limited
    by 10.  Both gray and fox squirrels.  
    
    We saw 4 does and a couple of other flags during the morning, but no
    confirmed bucks.  
    
    We then headed over to the dove hunt that he had planned, but the birds
    were not coming in at all.  We killed a total of maybe 10.  
    
    Hopefully I will be able to get out and scout here in Ohio this week
    and possibly set a stand.
    
    The days keep passing....It is getting closer.....
    
    Wess