Last year they listed .410 as an acceptable shotgun to hunt deer with in Missouri, so my Dad took his side by side. We busted his balls pretty good about taking along his mag light incase he emptied both barrels and pissed the deer off, he would be able to defend himself. He shot a decent 8 pointer with a lung shot, he ran about 30 yards and dropped.

I was reading the game regulations this year, and it says that there is not going to be any in-person checkins this year. All deer are checked in over the phone.

everything around my place is moving funny this year- had 3 bucks real real early cross a draw in the morning & one two weeks ago hop the fence but thats it for daytime bucks.
lots of does eating outta the food plots.

i mowed paths in the woods to clear lanes for the deer.

think this could part of the reason theyre moving funny this year?

Regular bow season ended on Friday. I was shut out. I've got to wait to til winter bow to try to fill the freezer. Saw some big bruins this year while waiting for dear that never showed.

In Oklahoma and Kansas hunters just move up the time on the feeder to get the deer moving sooner.

:)

Interesting day in the field. We get up at 3 AM, I put down about a pot of coffee and we hit the road. After driving across roads that were about like jeep trails we arrive. The guy that owns the land goes my the nickname of "Swede." Swede is a nice enough guy but he is out there in right field a little bit and does have some of the biggest deer in the United States running around on his land. He laid some restrictions on Junior which were, you cant shoot anything other than a 3 or 4 point, (6 or eight point to you eastern boys) and you can't shoot a doe. I was thinking WTF, most guys want you to thump a doe if you will do it. I had no restrictions, just hunt and have fun. His land is river bottom and a lot of it and the land supports A LOT of Whitetail. The problem is, with no snow and what turned out to be limited rain, two people walking across the land sound like a heard of elephants gone wild. They deer could hear us coming a mile away. When we did see something, all it would be was a "white flag" going the wrong direction. I could see we were going to get no place fast by walking so I went to plan B. Sitting in one spot where we could see the river bottom in front and the woods in back. Sure enough around night, things started moving around, but nothing but does. I passed up several NICE 5x5 bucks earlier in the day. At this point, I am going to wait it out for the monster or take a pass. I told Jr that we would go back until he gets some shots, so the hunt continues. :)

Skunked.

Only things worth mentioning are a bobcat sighting on my dad's place, and a squirrel running up my tree and circling between the back of my head and the tree. Damn near jumped out. I hate those tree rats.

Next week will be the rutt, hopefully less wind and more deer.

Skunked.........Nothing worse then wading into 4' tall grass behind your locked up bird dog only to realize he's pointing a skunk when you're about 5' away. You wanna see fat honkie back pedal like Deon Sanders just watch me.

I'm not a big game hunter but I am gettin out in the morning and running Casey my Setter for the bird season opener. He's gotta alot of pen rust and the owner does too. Heading for SD on Friday for a three day hunt. Can't wait!

PhilFree:arrow:

I am going to wait until it snows or rut at this point. Anyone having any luck??

I still got nuttin....7+hrs in a tree yesterday, and saw.....1 deer.

I think brideowanian put Wolf piss in my cover scent.

Guys around here are saying it is really slow. 'Course the other day I had to run my AC - IN NOVEMBER!?!?!?!?!. The heat CAN'T be helping.

I've been too busy building a second smoker to get out so I will probably opt out of archery again this year. However, I did buy a fresh batch of 100 gr rockets to load a fresh batch of 257 ackleys with - deer inside a quarter mile won't be safe come rifle season.:)

The word from Nebraska game and parks is:

THE RUT IS ON!

Now, does that mean they'll be running next week come rifle season? i sure hope so, cuz it has been really freakin' warm. They are calling for temps in the 60's this coming weekend. I'd like it in the low 40's with no wind myself, but hey, whatta ya gonna do?

Last year I shot the biggest buck of my life in similar conditions, so I'm hoping for the best. We'll see.

Good luck to all and happy hunting!

So has anyone been having any luck? I am heading into elk camp Friday. I'm hooking up with two of my buds that are heading out Wednesday to fill a Bighorn sheep tag.

300 Untramag................check
Atv with chains..............check
Wool pants....................check
Crown for the night fire....check

May there be a big one out there with my crosshairs on him!

So I got a nice buck this year. It's the largest set of antlers I've ever taken, so I've decided to mount them. I'll probably just buy a kit and mount it myself (unless someone has a better opinion). What do I need to do to prepare the rack? After I skin the hide off the remaining skull, what's my next step? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I bought one of those cheap kits from Wally-World to mount mine last year. All I did was cut the horns out, leaving them connected by a chunk of the skull. The kit would have instructions on how to do it with pictures. It is simple. But not easy. Deer have like REALLY thick skulls. I was using a hack saw, and it took quite a while.

Congrats on the big 'un. Though I must say, I laugh every time someone talks about "mounting a rack". heheheh... :drool:

Hmmm, so much for elk camp. My buds headed up last wednesday and I had planed to join them Friday. I got a call Thursday afternoon that they were headed back in. It seems the mother of all snow stroms hit the area and dumped 3 feet on them. Ok, no big deal, "if you have chains." I told them to take them and two high lift jacks but "NO! we don't need no stinken chains!" I guess they got stuck several times and after the 50 MPH wind kicked in, they almost didn't make it out of there at all. I had a set of 4 for my jeep, so I would have found them, but what the hell were they thinking?

I ended up going deer hunting Friday with one of the brain children with our ATV's and I ended up getting a nice 6x6 mule deer. I took little Bwana out Saturday and he got a decent one as well.

This Friday or Saturday, I am going to take Jr out so we can smack two Turkey's. I found a spot where there is a few hundred walking around and the land owner is an old friend of mine. Next up geese!

One more bonus: My cousin also called and said he has been having problems with a black bear raising hell with his cattle, so that will likely be on the short list of hunts.

So how has everyone else been doing?

Hey, can I ask a couple of unrelated topics? I might have a client in this area.

1. What proportion of hunters use binoculars?

2. If I wanted to identify hunters who travel to Colorado to hunt, is there a way to do that easily? Is there a BB where they gather, or is there a magazine that would sell a list of subscribers?

Sorry for the blatantly selfish business intrusion.

I use Binocs for bow hunting as do many others I know. % would be tougher. I would assume a very high percentage of hunters who hunt open range and mountains are using not only binocs, but fairly high quality binocs. The distances they shoot are further than we usually even see our target species in the midwest.

For Sources, I'm not sure, but off the top of my head bowhuntingmag.com might be a resourse, but its more geared for whitetail hunting instead of muledeer and elk in Colorado.

Colorado Fish and Game(whatever name) should be able to give you alot of information, and probably be your best resource on "where" hunters from out of state come from, by tag distribution.
http://wildlife.state.co.us/about/DOWoffices.asp

Cabelas is a huge distributor of Elk hunting gear. You may be able to get something through their website.

I've never been, but I know several guys that go to Co every year to elk camp.

Bow season was unimpressive for me this fall. Multiple factors kept me from spending as much time in the woods this year, and it was too warm during what should have been the rutt. 1 tag filled, but nothing to tell about.

IA shotgun opens next weekend. Fur will fly.

Cool. Thanks.

I'm actually a bit surprised that you would use binoculars in bow hunting. I would've guessed that binoculars were of more value for longer-range weapons.

There is a difference bRainman. I think the types of binocs would be different too. A bow hunter is probably more likely to use a physically smaller set, with a different zoom than a western Elk Hunter who would need to see further distances and would probably want more magnification.

A bow hunter isn't looking at the far distances the Elk hunter is, and is somewhat using them differently. An Elk hunter would use them to "glass" an area for animals to locate them, whereas, as a bow hunter, in the timber is likely to see 'movement' and use them to determine what he's seeing, or determine how big a buck may be.

Usually, you're not seeing a deer....you're looking for a flicker of a tail through brush, or an anterler moving or a head popping up from eating.

I don't actually use them alot on every hunt, but for a specific purpose when I do.

Its also fun to watch turkeys, squirrels, birds and other animals just doing thier thing when you're bored. Truthfully, I probably use mine more for that stuff than actually watching deer. Its amazing what you can see in the timber over the course of a day. A couple of weeks ago, yunghungwell had 3 bobcats scratching at the base of his tree and 2 bucks fight in view in the same morning.

When deer get close enough to see, I usually put them down and sit pretty darn still.

Rangefinders and spotting scopes might be items important to your same target audience FYI.

Ah. Interesting. So the binoculars are a tool that is useful enough to justify purchasing, but truthfully, it's used just as much for idle entertainment.

I'll let Bwana and the Elk Hunters give thier perspective on that from their view, and I'd imagine and elk or muledeer hunter would use them more to actually look for the herds of animals they seek.

Its this simple for me....if you spend 5-6-8hrs sitting in 1 spot, in a tree basically motionless, you occasionally have to find things to entertain you so you don't get too board or fall asleep and do a head plant from 18' up. Some guys read books, I think about stuff, watch animals are make a mental list of new insults for Cp.

Personally, I use mine enough to justify the purchase looking for deer, but also enjoy just watching other critters to pass time. Sometimes, binocs are the tool that tells you that movement is a turkey, coyote, squirrel or a deer.

The thing is, when the deer or turkeys get very close, you'd better put them away or you're movement, or the lens glare will be seen.

Indeed that is the case. It's a lot easier than using the rifle scope to do the same thing most of the time. When you look across a ravine in thick timber, it really helps to pick up part of an elk or deer. Most of the time 90% of the amimal is covered by some kind of cover, so they really help in picking them up. Also as Iowanian stated, once you do see some, you can scan them to pick out the monster VS the dinker. One other advantage is there are cases where you want to scan your background to make sure you cave a clean shot.

Excellent. Thanks, bwana. Would you say that most hunters carry them, then?

It's hard to say when you lump all types of hunters together. For instance, I imagine the percentage of deer hunters in IA during shotgun that use optics is very low. Meanwhile, in areas where rifles are permitted, the percentage is probably higher, as well as for bow hunters.

On the same token, you can divide different hunter demographics by the amount of money they spend. On a budget, most hunters would probably put optics toward the bottom of their list.

I agree.

Shotgun deer hunters would be a low consumer of Optics, while Rifle hunters would be high. Fur bearer hunters/trappers would be minute...no need for binocs hunting Coons at night, but probably if you're a coyote hunter.

he's right....Economics would have a large impact on equipment...the guy who buys his gear at walmart, might not, and would be lower end, vs the guy who goes to Colorado from North carolina to hunt a private lease ranch, more than likely has high end optics, range finders, expensive camo gear and weapons.

good points jsp.

Does Mr. Blowfish know of your dastardly hobby?

He will not be pleased to hear this...

I know, while I was typing I was giggling. Thanks for the information. Prior to using the kit, do you do anything to the chunk of skull? I had one guy suggest I boil the skull prior to using the kit. Is that necessary?

Thanks to PastorMik I bought a great set of Steiner binocs this year. I had some cheap ones prior and there is a HUGE difference. One note to Pastor, the bino buddy was a little cumbersome for me. It was nice while I was walking to the stand, but once I got on the stand I had to unhook one side. The rubber tubing was a little prohibitive for me.

bogie.
Be meticulous about cleaning the skull and flesh. Don't cut it too close to the top of the skull or it will break. Some people will either put them outside to dry in the sun, or salt them.

Thanks. When I took the deer to the processing plant I had them cut the horns off for me. Thanks for the tip on salting the skull. That's what I'll do.

I use MuleTeam Borax instead of salt. I took a taxadermy class in HS, and the teacher said that salt could damage the hide, and the fur on the skull might fall off.

Just don't put a cooler full of venison and icewater in the back of your wifes Explorer without tieing it down! I took an exit too fast, spilled a couple gallons of the bloddy water in the back of her Explorer, and even after ripping out all of the carpet it still smells like dead flesh.

If that happened in my wifes car we'd be selling the car. She's not too hip on the whole hunting thing in the first place. She tolerates it and understands my passion for it, but that's about as far as it goes. Thanks for the borax tip, I'll probably skin the hide off the skull anyway, so salt may be the way to go.

Honestly, all I did was use an exacto knife and just trimmed away all the skin I could find. There's not any meat up there anyway, so I just trimmed away all that I could see. Had it up there for over a year now, no problems...

Oh, MAN! That sucks. That sucks HARD. :deevee:

cool! Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate it.

A week and a half later, and the car still smells bad. I have ripped out all of the carpet in the back and under the back seats, but it isn't smooth metal underneath. The "deer juice" got in all of the crevasses, so I poured a 5 gallon bucket of bleach water in the back of the truck, hoping to wash all of the deer juice out. That didn't work either, so I am going to try some ammonia water tonight. Two bottles of febreeze, 5 gallons of bleach water, some evergreen scent cover, and a bag of potporri pinecones can not touch the stench, and we are the only vehical driving down the road in November with the windows down.

I figure that even dead animals quit stinking after a while, so we should only have 1-2 more weeks to deal with it. My wife is from VA Beach, nobody in her family hunts or even owns a gun, and she will not even try to taste venison. She is anti-hunting, anti-anything outdoors that includes being cold or sweating, and is obviosuly anti-deer juice in the apolstry. I drive an Escort, and was able to haul deer to the checkin station in the trunk the last two years with no mess, and was able to transport two coolers off floating deer parts in the trunk and one in the back seat with no mishaps. It sucks that after everything is over the darn cooler tips over in her explorer. :cuss:

I feel your pain brother. I grew up in Missouri and have hunted on my fathers land for 33 years. I moved to L.A. 15 years ago and married a city girl. We have a 7 year old daughter that I'm trying to instill positive feelings about hunting. I must say my wife is doing her best to not negatively influence my childs feelings. On a positive note, this year my nephew killed a couple of squirrels, he brought them to the house to clean them and my little girl and her two cousins watched the entire cleaning process. One of her cousins kept saying ewww but my kid just said "what's wrong, we have guts inside of us too". She was also facinated by my gutted deer hanging in the tree. I have a sister and neice that hunt which I hope will influence her a well. I'm not gonna push her, just encourage her, but nothing would thrill me more than taking her out hunting with me.

That should be entertaining if you get pulled over by the police.

Would it be terribly rude to indicate that the deerjuice might not be the source of the stench?

Give her Seat a good sniff.





I keeeed, I keeeeeeed.

Nothing like a good excuse to sniff your wife's seat.

Just got back from Dodge City hunting the Roosters and hunted South Dakota a couple weeks back. Birds were abundant the dog work spotty but Casey delighted me with a "triple crown"(point, find the kill and retrieve it to PhilFree) or three. :clap: Good dog, good dog :clap:


PhilFree:arrow:

good dog

If you're not in a hurry and know someone with several acres, just hang it in a tree and let the flies/maggots do the work.
If you're in a hurry, you can try the suggestions mentioned earlier or a friend of mine used a pressure washer. He said it took a while, but did the job.

Thanks Rukdafaidas, I'm now back in L.A. I packed my horns in my suit case and flew them back with me. I plan on prepping the skull this week-end for mounting.

Ol Casey is gonna have his 10th birthday in January so I gotta start going easy on him. I need a new pup. Anybody know where I can get an
English Setter pup? I'll want one just weened so he grows up viewing me as his only master, the bringer of the food, the one who loves him. His god! I'll happy time with him and teach him a few things and then at about 3-4 months old I'll deliver him to the trainer for a few months. I'll hunt him next year and then back to the trainer in the Spring. If my luck holds I'll end up with another good dog. I paid $150.00 for Casey and but after some time and money investment I coulda sold him for $1,500.00 or so. I'd like to spend about the same on my next pup.


PhilFree:arrow:

Get your deer yet Iowa?

I'm going to post some hunting pics up in the picture forum thingy.

Bwana One, Tommy Turkey Zero.............game over.

We had shotgun season a couple of weekends ago.

I did alot more walking than shooting, but I think our group of less than 10 got around 14 deer.

A friend of mine killed the buck I've been after for the 3rd year....it stood up 100 yards from my treestand and he plinked it. Yunghungwell also put a kill shot on it, but it was going down.

12 point, 22+" spread, couldn't get my hand around the base....probably score close to 190. Its a hell of a buck.

3 more, about that big were said to have come out of the same patch....1 bigger.

Wait....check that.

There aren't any deer left in Iowa...they all died of Blue tongue and I think we'll hunt in Idaho next year....because there are no deer left in Iowa.

Nice! It sounds like that one was a HAWG. I nailed a 6x6 which had a huge body, but the rack was a little weak by my standards. I also got my son out and he was able to get his first deer. I was going to take him turkey hunting with me, but I have been waiting it out and with all his sports, it wasn't going to happen this fall hunt. The season ends the 15th so it was do or die. The one I drilled today was a 29 pounder though, one monster bird. :)

wow, that took longer then I thought.....:D

How old is your son?

12

Today was the first time I went after birdzilla this year c4m. :hmmm:

This Bwana is one of the things that life is all about. I'm happy for you.

Yeah, I agree bogie. I remember it like yesterday when I was 12 and went out hunting with my dad, always a good time. :thumb: I'm going to give him until he is at least 14 until I take him out elk hunting. Where I go, you have to be in darn good shape and be able to walk all day with a gun. I don't think he is ready for that at this point. I also want to teach him a few more things in the event he ever gets lost before we hit an area that hardcore.

I wish I was your son and you could take me on my first elk hunt. :) I was 14 when my Dad took me on my first hunt. He built a double decker stand for us. This was many, many years ago. He found a tree that had limbs designed for kind of bunk bed stands. He put me up high and he sat below me. The stand consisted of split rails (that he split) layed across limbs sticking out from the tree trunk. I chewed my first tobacco on the hunt and kept spitting to the ground. My Dad finally grabbed my ankle (which was hanging about eye level to him) and informed me of a deers capabilities of smell. He also informed me that everytime I spit, I was splashing him. I killed a doe that year.

ROFL Good stuff.

hmmm, impressive

get out threadwrecker. Your stench is going to scare off the beasts.

such hatered...from such a little person.....:shake: ROFL

You've got Nothing to offer this thread but to be an argumentative Rutt, you lop eared sow. Go stuff a Yugo in your hatchet wound.

wow, just wow. not sure this one is warrented, but then, I don't know the entire history.

happy birthday Bwana- May your next kill put you in the recordbook.

:clap: Agree totally. C4M is the cumb dunt who stuck her nose into the middle of a thread and accused me of disparaging a certain Planet member's mother who had recently passed.

When I denied it and challenged the skank to show me where I had made such a statement it's reply was: " Oh I might have made a mistake, I don't care to go back and look".

May your feminine itch powder turn to paste from the fumes exuding from that unwashed and unwanted slophole gaping from under your couch-ridden girth.

LOL, thanks Mo. Another year older and I hope you're right on the second half.

it's bwana's birthday?

hey, happy birthday to the nicest big game hunter i know... :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

Happy Birthday, Mr. Marlboro man.

A MESSAGE FROM THE RURAL MIDWEST

Because of misunderstandings that frequently develop when Easterners and
Californians cross states such as Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, (Careful, it might be a Blue State) Missouri, Illinois,
Indiana, North Dakota, and South Dakota; those states' Tourism Councils
have adopted a set of information guidelines. In an effort to help
outsiders understand the Midwest, the following list will be handed to
each driver entering the state:


1. That farm boy standing next to the feed bin did more work before
breakfast than you do all week at the gym.

2. It's called a 'gravel road'. No matter how slow you drive, you're
going to get dust on your Navigator. I have a four-wheel drive because
I need it. Drive it or get it out of the way.

3. We all started hunting and fishing when we were seven years old. Yeah,
we saw Bambi. We got over it.

4. Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get you
whipped... by our women.

5. Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis Fly Rod. Don't cry to us if a
flathead catfish breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those
little trout
you fish for...bait.

6. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their
final approach, we will shoot it. You might hope you don't have it up
to your ear at the time.

8. That's right. Whiskey is only two bucks. We can buy a fifth for what
you paid in the airport for one drink.

9. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order it
rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two pounds of
ham and turkey.

10. If you bring Coke into my house but it better be brown, wet, and
served over ice.

11. So you have a sixty thousand dollar car you drive on weekends. We're
real impressed. We have quarter of a million dollar combines that we
use two weeks a year.

12. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop
when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow.

13. Our women hunt, fish, and drive trucks--because they want to. So,
you're a feminist. Isn't that cute.

14. Yeah, we eat catfish. Carp, too--and turtle. You really want sushi
and caviar? It's available at the bait shop.

15. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't like
it? Interstates 80 & 90 go two ways--Interstates 29 & 35 go the other
two. Pick one and use it accordingly.

16. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a
religious holiday. You can get breakfast at the church.

17. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly.
Understand the concept?

18. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit the ball into the water
hazard. It spooks the fish.

19. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving
like an idiot...his name is "Sir"...no matter how old he is.

Now, enjoy your visit and go home.

ptlyon- I love that. Except the first one. Unless that farm boy raises pigs, he only works a few months a year and then gets a healthy welfare check (or at least his daddy does...and in a lot of cases the farmer splits his land up between his wife and kids so they can get welfare checks).

Sorry for the tanget. here's a nice killin pic to help get this back on topic.

Cajun (the real duck dog) bringing back a nice bloddy gander. Check out the blood trail in the water. He also loves the ass end of those birds.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...g/b525f185.jpg

And here's a pic of the bleeder.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...g/d3d0e9c5.jpg

here's a pic of Cajun 'posing'. Actually I caught him trying to eat one of the geese, so he's got his, 'Ijust fugged the cat' look going on.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...g/44403efd.jpg

The Box Call lied...a Turkey died.
1 1/4 spurs 10" broken beard.

Nice clip, now it's time for the bass to pay the price. :thumb:

Nice true eastern turkey, how much did it weigh? Where I hunt in Kansas we usually kill hybrids like this one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/duckdog/ks4.jpg

I only get to kill real easterns when I hunt in in eastern MN or Missouri.

Here's some spring snow goose hunting from SoDak.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ySnowsedit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...Snows2edit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...Snows4edit.jpg

I blew my chance at a very nice turkey this morning. I did a better job as a guide for my 11 year old during the MO youth season.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2/P1010986.jpg

Looks like a nice bird.

You should start keeping those pics and start a man-book of his prizes and trips. He'll enjoy that alot when he's older.

This is the 2nd bass since the 3rd of July I could easily get my fist in its mouth.

This is the largest bass by far I've seen where I live now. Got it last night on my tried and true, 7" salt impregnated Electric Blue, Gene Larew with an opal white tail.

Just guessing, 4lbs+?

Fishin trip on Lake Michigan...