For the second time in a decade chronic wasting disease has made an appearance in Kansas. For the past few years there have been sporadic reports of it in Northwestern Kansas. It’s been enough to cause some chatter but no full blown panic. This year the KDWP tested a whole pile of deer from the Northwest part of the state and (you’ll never guess…) found several infected deer. Ten to be exact.

Now a clever reader will notice a certain pessimism in my voice. That’s not because I like CWD or because I don’t have concerns about it. It’s because the disease is more of a problem in hunting politics than in actual hunting. What happens is that CWD becomes the rallying cry for any hunting cause someone may have, whether it’s reasonably connected or not. The anti-baiting people blame baiting and suggest that by 2010 90% of the state’s deer will be dead. The anti-food plot people point out that food plots are just bait you plant. The anti-high fence guys (with whom I sympathize) point out that the first positive CWD animal in Kansas was a tame elk. Hell even the crossbow people get in on the act.

Calm down people. CWD has been in the adjoining states of Nebraska and Colorado for quite some time. Amazingly, they still have great hunting. Since the prions that cause CWD are nearly impossible to kill (or denature), it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it’s moving, particularly with today’s record deer herds.

It is a minor pain in the ass to get your animals tested… But it’s not impossible. I’ve tested deer in both Missouri and Kansas and elk in Colorado. At times in each state it’s been a requirement. Just collect a submandibular lymph node or brainstem. If you don’t know what those things are, take the whole head to someone who can help you. It’s no big deal and is usually either free or very cheap.

While CWD has never been proven to transfer to people, the human equivalent (Crutchfeld-Jacob Disease) really sucks, so it’s better safe than sorry.

The KDWP press release is here.

I was picking up the 4-wheeler after work on Friday at a shop in a little town south of here. I stopped at a red light alongside an old beater truck that had a bumper sticker saying, “Hang Up and Drive”. I liked it, and it somehow fit the make of the truck and it’s driver. As we’re waiting for the light the far left lane got a green arrow. They proceeded to turn left which prompted bumper sticker guy to drive straight through the red light we were facing.

Perhaps he should keep the driving tips to himself…

So I’ve been cooped up in court for most of the past several weeks. I did manage to get out and do some work for the upcoming Kansas turkey season on Thursday. I checked for activity, filled feeders and built blinds. I took a few minutes to take pictures of a feeder I put up on a piece of ground I’ll be hunting for the first time this year.

The first trick is to find a place where turkeys will find the feeder. This seems obvious, but it’s the most important thing you can do. Turkeys won’t travel far out of the way to find your feeder, so your best bet is to put it somewhere they already frequent. In the situation at hand I knew that turkeys used this area because we saw them there during that last season and heard them gobbling about a week ago. We also deer hunted this area a great deal this past fall.

Find a tree on the edge of cover that has a reasonably clear area below it. Try to keep from picking a tree that has thick cover around it. If it’s too wooly the turkeys will not be comfortable and it won’t work as well. You’ll see that I cleared the ground around this feeder to give it a more open feel.

For the feeders we use 5 gallon buckets with 4 – 1 inch holes drilled in the base. A lid and a “hat” and you’re good to go. The hats are semi-optional but they keep the rain from collecting on the lid and running down the side into the holes. The hats are just sheet metal riveted.

Generally you want to hang them about knee high or so. If you hang them too low the squirrels and raccoons will figure out how to use them. Here’s a close up:

Next you’ll want to throw a bunch of corn on the ground to help them find the feeder. This is true even with established feeders at the beginning of the season, but it’s especially true if you’re setting up a new feeder.

Finally, I built a blind about 30 yards away.

The toms will almost never use the feeder. That’s not the purpose. The goal is to keep turkeys traveling through a given area. The hens will absolutely use the feeders, but for the most part the toms will just stay back and watch the flock. In all the years I’ve been running feeders the only tom I’ve ever seen eat at a feeder was in Texas. Everything eats at a feeder in Texas.

To build the blind I hauled some locust limbs around a tree. Then I covered those limbs with Red Cedar branches. I like for the cover to be about eye level when you’re sitting down. It’ll cover your movement but won’t block your ability to shoot. I built this one wide enough for two hunters figuring that I’d take The Wife or someone else over there.

I’ll keep you updated on it’s progress.

Hell, I even thought I was dead ’til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska.

- Unforgiven (1992)

This is the second year that Kansas has offered an early archery-only turkey season in the Spring. After listening to The Old Man recount his turkey bowhunting exploits for the umpteenth time, I decided to make dedicate myself to the task. We usually build a bunch of turkey blinds for the shotgun season anyway, so I just built them taller.

I figured I could draw, peak over the top, and shoot. I was completely wrong.

Over the course of the season I had 8 different toms inside 20 yards, and I never once got drawn without being seen. I never got a shot. Once I was even completely hidden behind a huge oak tree and got drawn but was spotted as a slowly eased over to shoot. Simply put, it’s just too hard. Part of the issue is being seen, but even more is that with a bow the turkey only needs to get slightly worried and start walking away. With a shotgun that’s still a no-doubt kill, but with a bow I wouldn’t try a moving bird. Eventually I got frustrated with all the birds I was educating and switched back to the shotgun.

So now I’ve got 3 doublebull type blinds to use. They were new to me before this past fall deer season, but I was pleased with the results. I plan on putting two of them out at a couple of the best spots and saving one for a daily deployment.

Frank Martin. Really? What’s the deal? Honestly. So he goes on every single freaking media outlet he could find to discuss the travesty that resulted when his team didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. Why didn’t they make it? Well:
1) They’re terrible
2) They played an extremely soft non-conference schedule
3) They lost several of those soft matchups in the non-conference schedule
4) Their RPI was so bad that I’m surprised they are in a BCS conference
5) They were 10-11 against teams in the top 200
6) Seriously, look at #5 again

But here’s the thing about K-State fans – They love to play the disrespect card. They still talk about how they shoulda made some BCS game but didn’t (and they showed they belonged by losing their non-BCS bowl game). It’s part of their culture to whine. So maybe Frank is just trying to play to the crowd. He can’t really be that stupid can he? Obviously they don’t belong.

Anyway, just to emphasize the fact that they didn’t belong, they came out and nearly blew a home game in their opener of the NIT. It was against some school I didn’t know existed. It wasn’t even televised locally, much less nationally. Only a last second tip-in got them to the second round. That’s where they ran into the basketball powerhouse San Diego State University. I mean SDSU starts 5 All-Americans and has 4 more on the bench right? Actually they finished 4th in the Mountain West. Fairly average in a weak non-BCS conference.

End result?

Can we petition the Big 12 to kick K-State out now? Maybe San Diego State would like to join?

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

Marcel Fournier, 19, shot the deer the evening of Nov. 22 and used lag bolts and epoxy to attach a 10-point rack, officials said. He then checked in the kill as lawful game at Barnie’s Market.

Follow the link for the fantastic, if not surprising results…

Apparently those semi-tame sheep that people love to shoot can hurt you. One head butted an old lady near Abilene a few weeks ago and killed her. Story here. A sad accident that honestly could happen with any kind of livestock that people raise.

But I can just see the eyes of all those overweight, lazy, stupid, exotics “hunters” light up. Now they have an excuse to buy that double barreled .416. After all one of those 100lb. domestic sheep might think you’re about to feed it and come charging in. They’d have no chance without a gun featured on Jurassic Park. Then when they get home they can tell all their buddies about what a hardcore “hunt” they had. It took 90 minutes, cost $550.00 and took place on a spacious “ranch” but I’m sure it was life altering none-the-less:

“Hunter”: Man, I’m tellin’ ya… I seen my whole life flash before my eyes…
Buddy: Whad ya do to piss it off?
“Hunter”: I done got too close to the feed bucket…
Buddy: And he went and charged?
“Hunter”: I had to give ‘im both barrels…
Buddy: It took a quarter pound of lead to stop him?
“Hunter”: I’m tellin’ ya man… hardcore…
Buddy: So then whad ya do?
“Hunter”: We went into the pen and drug him out… Gunna get ‘im mounted…

Rumors are running around the internet about this sheep. Some believe the dead sheep in the lower picture is the same as the live sheep above. Both are rumored to be pictures of the new potential world record that was found in Cadomin Mining area of Alberta. Sound familiar? The current world record is from that area of Alberta.

The new ram was apparently found dead and has been taken by provincial authorities. Legal wrangling will determine the ultimate owner. Check the Boone and Crockett watch list for more details.

I got these pictures by email a couple of days ago:

When I got the email I wondered if this was even a real product. Apparently it is. Now I’m wondering what happens when you’re in one of these things:
a)In the sun (notice that it’s cloudy in the pictures). I wonder if there would be a wicked glare?
b)It rains or even gets humid. Would it fog up like the bathroom window?
c)What if it’s viewed from below eye level. Notice that reflecting from above gives you the cover of the forest floor but what if a turkey is looking up at it?
d)What will happen when animals see themselves?

Anyone have any ideas or experience?