Put in my last 2 hunts before taking a few days to travel to central North Carolina for the last day of archery season/first day of muzzleloader season.

Last night I returned to the “Perfect 30 Yards” only to discover that I should have hunted the “Perfect 30 Yards” when it was the “Perfect 30 Yards.  Wow, a mouthful.  Bottom line is that I had found the first of many trees to start dropping loads of acorns.  Problem is that the other trees have caught up and what had been a 30 yard concentration of deer feeding activity is now spread out over a 5 acre ridge.  I couldn’t do a thing about it though because I hunted the stand the very first time that the wind would let me get away with it.  Sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

I did have a great hunt seeing 3 different bucks before darkness closed in.  A tiny 3 pointer led the way to the white oak buffet.

10 minutes later, a 2 year old 6 pointer came from the opposite direction.  Closest he ever got was 75 yards away, but he looked to be about 13″ wide with 5″ G2s through the binoculars.

Past legal shooting light I could see a spike buck walk about 30 yards away through a couple patches in the woods that were illuminated by the full moonlight.

I left my climber on the tree and went back this morning to see if I could intercept deer leaving the oak ridge (I’m set up on the very edge) and filtering back to the creek bottom where there is thick bedding cover.  Somehow, I got skunked even with all the acorns covering the ridge.

This picture was not manipulated at all.  There is literally 15-20 white oak acorns per square foot over a 300 yard by 150 yard area.  Unbelievable mast quantity!

After last night, I would have bet money to see deer this morning, but I believe the full moon definitely has deer on a little different pattern right now.  No worries, the woods were beautiful this morning and even got to watch my first Alabama groundhog for about 20 minutes.  They love acorns too I guess!

I finally got the wind I needed and the time I needed to be able to hunt the “perfect 30 yards”.  Slipped in about 2.5 hours before dark and got settled in without spooking anything.

The sign had dried up a little bit (still plennttyy of activity) because I think the surrounding mast trees have caught up in their acorn dropping.

Anyways, about 4:30 p.m. I heard deer walking my way.  Before I knew it, I was watching a fawn through the slats of my Summit climber with momma standing just 5 yards behind the base of my tree.

The fawn fed out to the oak tree, but ol’ nanny knew something wasn’t quite right and hung around the periphery while Bambi gobbled up white oak acorns.

10 minutes later my only encounter of the evening was over, but it was sure a beautiful night in the woods.

I’ll be heading back in this afternoon to hunt the same spot.  Still a good wind so I’m going to try and capitalize with some venison tonight if the opportunity presents itself.

We will be well into the 6,000s in terms of page hits for the month.  I believe this is our second best month ever here at The Outdoor Smorgasbord.  Thanks to everyone who keeps up with the website.  It really has become truly enjoyable to share my experiences with the readers.  From hunting to research to product reviews to who knows what else…it’s all interesting to write about and I hope it’s as enjoyable to read on your end.

A little taste of what is coming up:

*AL’s deer season is just now in full swing – 2+ more weeks of archery.  I’ll be trying to take down at least a couple more does with my bow and who knows…maybe Mr. Big!  I’m excited to hunt that “perfect 30 yards” I found the other day.

*Archery/Muzzleloader combination hunt back in North Carolina next weekend.  That’s right, home is calling my name loud and clear.  Dad has tons of nice bucks on camera and we’ll see about closing the deal on one as the rut should be reaching a boiling point in the next 10-14 days.

*Kansas Archery hunt before Thanksgiving…need I say more…

How was it that I am supposed to be getting work done…

From time to time, manufacturer’s send me products to review.  Two years into The Outdoor Smorgasbord, this is the best product that I have been asked to use.

From Energizer, this is a 7 LED Headlight that emits 45 lumens of light.  Equipped with 4 light modes, 2 red LEDs for “night vision”, spotlight, floodlight, and spotlight+floodlight.  My other headlamps are not nearly as bright.  This light is plenty bright enough to blood trail deer.  No MagLite needed which is what I usually fall back on for such tasks.

One of the best features of the headlamp is that it operates on 3 AA batteries and not some battery that is shaped like a nickel and can be difficult to find in stores.

But heck, who cares what batteries it has because they last FOREVER!  Seriously, I’ve been using this headlamp since I started darting deer for my radiocollar research and for 2 weeks of archery season now.  I’d estimate that I’ve used it easily 12-15 hours (quite possibly more) and I can’t tell a difference in the light’s brightness yet.  The specifications sheet brags 16-20 hours runtime…that’s no bull.

The hinge that tilts the light to different positions is very crisp, no wobbling back and forth.

The only thing I don’t like about the headlamp is that there are 4 lighting modes and the red light is the first one.  That means that if you going to a treestand in the dark, you have to click through 3 white light modes to turn off the headlamp.  It would make better sense to have the modes reversed, but that is definitely nitpicking.

I’ve used a lot of other headlamps (I won’t mention the names because they are decent products), but they simply don’t compare.

Buy the Energizer 7 LED Headlight and I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.

…has been found.

As bowhunters, we should all be seeking to find the perfect 30 yards in our respective properties as the weeks go by in hunting season.

The problem with finding the perfect 30 yards…

*That’s an awfully small area

*Tough to scout some places midseason because they are to close to bedding areas

*There isn’t always a great place to hang a stand in the “kill” zone

*It is continuously changing as new food sources become available and the rut comes and goes

But, I found it this morning.  A giant white oak surrounded by 4 or 5 of its progeny.

Deer poop, deer poop, acorn, acorn, acorn, poop, acorn, poop, poop, poop, acorn, acorn, acorn, acorn…

Notice I didn’t include leaves…  You nearly can’t see the ground for all the acorn hulls, acorns, and deer droppings.

I’m excited to get back in there when the wind gets right.  Should be a heck of a sit!

By the way, Hunt #6 is in the books.  This morning I sat on a green field for 2 hours, but saw nothing.  Plenty of activity going on inside the plot but most of it is happening at night which was obvious by the abundant tracks between dawn and the heavy rains we had last night around midnight.

Took this picture on the way into work this morning.  In a hayfield between my house and the university, I spotted this coyote perched up on top of a row of haybales.  Would have been an awesome photo opportunity if I had been armed with a long telephoto lens.  As coyotes go, he was awful shaggy looking and if I hadn’t been able to confirm it was a coyote with my binoculars I would have been doubtful that it was a coyote and not just a feral dog of sorts.

Hunted back down at Barbour WMA on Saturday morning.

I had scouted an awesome place to hang a climber for bow season, but was sorely disappointed when I arrived after a 1,000 yard hike that the area had been clearcut within the last month or so. Talk about bummed.

Turns out that I still almost rolled the dice right because on my way out of a fruitless 3 hour sit on stand, 3 or 4 deer had walked a trail just 50-75 yards away over my boot tracks from earlier that morning.  It made me feel a little bit better that I was close to deer and now I know where a really good trail is close to where I set Saturday morning.

Not much to report though.

Off of my second field testing experience of the week, this is my modified opinion of the 2-blade Rage broadhead.

Entrance wound was on the last rib angled forward through the chest cavity.  Note the vertical nature of the wound… I’ll come back to that in a minute.

Not bragging…but a clinic in shot placement.  Exit wound was perfect – again vertical.

Shot distance: 29 yards.

Click below to keep reading, one of the pictures I am including is a little graphic to be included for all my readers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Got done working on a class project on Wednesday afternoon early enough to justify a trip out to nearby Tuskegee National Forest just southwest of Auburn.

I was with my hunting buddy Clint and he knew of a good hardwood creek bottom from experiences a couple years ago.  When we arrived, the white oaks were raining hard mast so I headed south and he headed north from where we parked the truck.

I really thought I had screwed up my hunt when I walked too far and then had to double back towards the truck to find a good spot to hang my stand, but I guess that spot was just too good.

It was sure beautiful.

White oak ridge leading up out of a swamp to a pine cutover on higher ground.  Dogwood midstory.  Open understory because of some recent prescribed burns.  Custom made for deer foraging on acorns.

I hadn’t settled in longer than 30 minutes when I looked behind me back towards the swamp and saw a deer step into an opening.  There were a few water oaks in the standing water and it was picking around for some acorns.  I brought my binoculars up and saw that he was just a little yearling buck – maybe 5″ spikes on both sides.  Definitely a free pass.

He fed to within 30 yards, but even if he had been a 10 pointer I could not have shot him because he always stayed right behind some leaf cover or behind a tree trunk when he was broadside in a shootable position.  No worries…he wasn’t a 10 pointer.

He fed off and within 10 minutes my cell phone was buzzing.  I was hoping it was Clint calling to say he had shot a deer, but it was my wife making her customary call after she gets off work.  I whispered a couple minutes with her, but looked up to see a deer coming from the same direction the spike had just left.  Surely it was him coming back to the white oak feast on the forest floor below me.

Just to be safe, I quickly exited the conversation and pulled my binoculars up.  Slickhead.  Granted she wasn’t an ounce bigger than the spike that I had just seen, but no antlers meant she was a freezer candidate.

Unbelievably she walked right along the edge of the swamp past me at 45 yards before angling up the hill to eat acorns directly on the other side of the tree trunk that my climbing stand was attached to.  She wandered back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, until finally I thought she was going to clear the vegetation and the tree trunk and give me a shot.  Then she turned back and forth and back and forth.

8 minutes later, I was still looking for my first shot opportunity.  By this time I pretty much knew every yardage in her direction and when she entered the opening to the right of the old rotten log on the ground.  (see picture below).

29 yards quartering away, ranged and re-ranged.  I focused on her through the peep, came back off my sight to double check my form, settled back in and squeezed the trigger.

I didn’t see the arrow in flight, but it felt like a good shot.  She bolted back into the swamp and I could hear her splashing water as she ran.  After 3 or 4 seconds, I heard her stop and then the sound all bowhunters love – CRASH!

Long story short, I met Clint back at the truck, grabbed a drag rope and knife, and got back on the blood trail just as night was falling.  70 yards later, we made the recovery.

She was a yearling doe weighing about 75-80 pounds and my second public land deer of the week.  It was a perfect sh0t as the arrow entered on the last rib and transected her vitals before exiting the opposite shoulder.

I’ll save the rest of the broadhead damage, penetration, blood trail information for the second part of the Rage Broadhead review that will be coming to you tomorrow.

Oh yea, I can’t forget yesterday’s lunch after I skinned out both my deer.

Does it get any better?

As promised, here is a review of my first experience with the Rage 2 blade broadhead (not the KE version).  I will present facts, not flimsy “campfire” theory.

From last Friday night:

17 yard shot broadside.

~75 yard bloodtrail with “Stevie Wonder” sign.

As advertised – a gaping entrance wound.

Vitals: double lung

However, both blades were gone from the recovered broadhead.  The buck carried the arrow for around 30 yards before the arrow backed out the entry side of the deer and fell out.

I wish I could tell you that the broadhead had penetrated through scapula and that’s why the blades were broken out, but that is not the case.  I inserted a dowel through the entrance and exit holes and you can obviously see it was well back from the danger area of the shoulder bone structure.

The broadhead entered the deer in a horizontal position and broke 2 ribs on the nearside.  Careful inspection of the exit hole in the deer revealed that another rib was broken, but that one of the blades was not present when the exit hole was made.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find either blade while skinning the deer this morning leading me to believe that both blades ended up in the viscera which was left in the woods at the field dressing site.

Opinion:  Glad I didn’t hit shoulder blade.  Even with good penetration, that doesn’t do me any good if the broadhead isn’t cutting anymore.  You don’t have to worry if fixed blades are going to be still attached after penetration of a ribcage.  On the plus side, arrow flew true, great entrance and exit wound even without a blade on the exit side, great blood trail (one of the best I’ve followed).

But the jury is still out because I already have a second opinion.  That’s right – my arrow flew true again last night (Wednesday).  Another public land deer!  I’ll bring the hunt story and second part of the Rage broadhead review to you tomorrow.