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…
The end is in sight. We had a great night of darting Tuesday and now I only have one radiocollar left to deploy. We’ll be in the woods tonight trying to accomplish that – because of sample size distribution, yearling bucks have a big bullseye on them now.
A new fella came and helped out and he got the job done. I must say that rarely does a person succeed on their first darting attempt just because there are so many variables to think about it. It’s just a different experience.
That being said, no rookie mistakes here.
#59 – a previously marked buck from years ago. This 7 year old doesn’t have much of a rack but he was hog-bodied for sure.
We had just finished processing #59, when my other help called on the radio saying he had shot one.
150 yards later, there was buck #13 sleeping.
4 year old 8 pointer. Scored 126 and change.
By this time, my helpers had to get some sleep because they were working first thing in the morning. But all I could see was the finish line. 2 more collars.
I climbed back in a stand at 11:30 p.m. and at 2:00 a.m. I was waving the telemetry antenna in the air trying to locate Buck #14. Mission accomplished.
Really nice 2.5 year old 8 pointer. He’s got the potential to be something special in another 2 or 3 years.
Just went to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission website and checked the draw results for this year’s tundra swan permit hunt. I was happy to see my name on the list chosen.
Don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to the coast this winter to chase those B-52s, but it’s one of those things I’d love to do once.
Anyways, the option is open now with a permit in hand.
I guess it wouldn’t be fair to postpone these posts anymore. Really, I’ve just been busy as all get out trying to put out the rest of my GPS collars. We had a good run over the course of Wednesday evening to Friday morning though. We put out 5 collars.
Here’s the first on Wednesday morning. I sat from 1:30 a.m. until 4:30 a.m. until the first racked buck came in to my set-up. When I clicked on my night vision it was a half rack busted up buck that I quickly drew a bead on. Unfortunately, he spooked a ran off 10 or 15 yards.
I thought he must have seen me, but when I swung my gun back to where he had been standing, there was a bigger buck in a dominance posture. Mistake.
175 yards later, there he lay. “High Rack” with only a 12 1/2″ inside spread. Gross score of 118 and change. 3 year old with lots of potential.
I took the boat out for an hour yesterday on the lake after I spent all night darting deer. I was just slow cranking a deep diver across the main lake point and this guy swallowed it. A big bait too…gone! Just the bill peeking out.
Err… darting gear I should say. These new products are designed for the hunter (or researcher in my case) that just won’t quit despite what the environment throws his way.
It sure does seem like these would have come in handy the last 10 days or so. At least the rain is over…oh wait, no that’s wrong.
Forecast for Monday evening: in light of the fact that the east-central Alabama region has received 6-10 inches of rain (higher in certain localities – like at my study site) in the past few days, the weather service is issuing a special message alerting would be deer darters that there will be life threatening flash floods tonight when the deer would normally be within range of a dart gun. 2-4 inches of rain is possible and any hope of getting your GPS collars out soon has been squashed.
I’m trying to be good hearted about the weather…nothing I can do about it. But, 9 days straight now of heavy rain.
Did get a dry window Sunday afternoon to get some work done on a hunting lease in Chambers County. Got some shooting lanes trimmed, stands hung, lime and fertilizer spread on some food plots, etc.
Right now, I’m just praying the rain will go away and I can get my last 11 GPS collars out in the next 3 weeks or so. Speaking of only having 11 collars left, that leaves 2 more deer that are darted but haven’t yet made a cameo appearance on the blog. Next post!
Buddy took me to a local lake yesterday morning to chase stripers around in the rain. Overcast with periodic rain showers had the fish stirred up and once they came to the top we chased them around for over 2 hours.
We caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 stripers and hybrid bass. The biggest hybrid and striper both weighed in at 6 pounds.
My first hybrid bass ever!
Funnest thing about the trip was that the fish were annihilating topwater baits and swim baits worked just under the surface. You talk about heart attack city. My favorite bite of the morning was a striper that swiped at a Zara Spook 4 times before getting a hold of one of the treble hooks. All you can stand not to pull the bait away from them.
A great fishing trip and I was remembering that it had been 7 years since I’ve caught freshwater striped bass.
I wish everyone a great Labor Day weekend. We’ll be visiting with family in North Carolina.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but I’ve been starting up my biggest field season of the year – putting out radiocollars. I’ve been fighting rain all week and putting in long hours when it’s been dry. Mix all that in with 3 classes (2x week) and a test this week. The pig hunt at the beginning of the week put my sleep schedule off badly too. A very tiring week altogether, but we’ll get on track soon.
In North Carolina, I will be toting the shotgun home this weekend in hopes of picking up a few doves. Also, I probably won’t be able to resist the urge to stroll into the deer woods for a quick look or two.
Stay safe everyone and catch you all on the flip side.
