By Duane Taylor   Wed, Aug 17, 2011

When hunting, we often spend a great amount of time on preparation. We scout, we plant, we study, we track, we think, we analyze, fantasize, and practice. Many of us not just for the excitement and joy of the hunt, but also the anticipation of bringing home meat for the freezer. But what happens when all the preparation pays off? For most of us, I think it’s safe to say, it’s some of the lesser things we think about when hunting. Not always the more enjoyable aspects of hunting, but without a doubt just as important as the preparation and enjoyment of the hunt is the process of getting the game from the field to the freezer. Here are some things to consider.

After the Shot

One of the first things you should consider after harvesting an animal is that “blood rushes to the wound”. It’s the same principle as when we get a cut or gash and our body naturally sends a heavy flow of blood to the wound for the platelets to create a clot. It’s a natural process in mammals when there is a wound. If you have processed or seen an animal processed you have seen the “blood shot” tissue surrounding the wound. It’s often a gel consistency and can range from a dark red to light pink in color and sometimes almost black with age. That’s the natural process of the body trying to heal itself. Those are the sections of meat we often cut around and throw away because they are quick to spoil. The more blood left in the meat, the more chance there is of spoiling to occur more quickly. This is one reason why we hang the animal while aging it, discussed later, and why it is considered best to hang it from the hind legs. Gravity will pull the blood out of the body through or into to the extremities of the neck where the least amount of meat will be used, saving the better sections of meat in the hind quarters.

Side note: Shot Placement As a side note, “blood rushes to the wound” is something to consider in shot placement. I am not an avid fan of shoulder shots for that reason. I hate to lose the meat. Now there’s no moral push behind it, and I certainly don’t put down those that prefer it. There are some good reasons out there that I have been given for shoulder shots, such as less tracking in densely wooded areas, etc. Better to lose some meat than the animal altogether. But it is just something to consider when making the shot. Neck shots are another option as well. I have taken several deer by neck shots, though I do try to shoot as close to the head as I can to avoid meat loss. The thing to remember is that vitals shots are the only ones that will expel the majority of the blood from the animal. With larger game animals especially, a good heart and lung shot will allow the blood to be pumped from the animal during its run. Those blood trails are not just good for tracking, but good for the resulting curing and consuming of the meat. Something you may not have considered before.

Heat

The second thing to consider after harvesting an animal is heat. Once the blood stops flowing through the animal, the resulting lack of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues allows the decaying process to begin. This is called spoiling as bacteria, enzymes, and microorganisms immediately begin to breakdown tissue. Warmer temperatures encourage this spoiling and also create more ideal conditions for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, which can cause food borne illnesses. For these reasons it is critical to get the core temperature of the animal down as quickly as possible. Cooler temperatures delay or slow the spoiling process and growth of microorganisms, sparing the meat, the taste of your meal, and your health!

The quickest way to begin cooling the animal down once harvested is field dressing. I had considered including field dressing methods, but with as many videos and how-tos there are online that can give you good information on field dressing, or gutting as it is also called; I opted to leave those out. Check your state Environmental Management website as well as they often have how-tos for field dressing various game animals. Look for specific methods of field dressing for the game animal you are hunting, though many are dressed in much the same way. One thing to consider in all cases as a good suggestion is to prop the animal’s chest or body cavity open using a stick, allowing the air to enter and the heat to be released from the body. You want to cool down the harvested animal as quickly as possible.

Aging

Some people call it conditioning, some people call it aging, but in either case it is the same. Aging the meat involves hanging or storing the meat in a cool place for a given length of time. The purpose of aging is to allow the enzymes, found naturally in the meat, to begin to break down the fibers which result in a more tender, and sometimes more flavorful meat. The length of time which the meat is hung or stored depends on a few different factors.

The most important factors to consider are temperature and humidity. If the outside temperature is no more than 45F degrees, then you have ready access to a cool place for aging, but be careful as you don't want the meat to freeze either. Warmer outside temperatures require the use of a walk-in cooler, or even a refrigerator depending on the size of the game. You may also quarter larger game and debone it if necessary to fit it in a refrigerator. The lack of access to a cool storage area may necessitate the immediate processing of the animal. Some people process game immediately because they prefer the taste of the meat less aged. Less or no aging is not harmful, but just remember warm temperatures can be destructive and unhealthy as we discussed earlier, so cool it or process it. Prolonged exposure to moisture, especially at warmer temperatures, will aid the spoiling process. In humid conditions frequently wipe the carcass or meat down with a dry towel. Do not store the meat for long periods in humid conditions if at all possible.

The age of the harvested animal can also be a factor in the length of time needed to age the meat. Younger animals are often naturally more tender than older ones. Their muscles are not as matured and lack the degree of collagen, or connective tissue, that older animals have. The older they are the more the collagen resists breaking down as well, so longer aging times are needed to make the meat more tender.

One final factor I try to consider is the stress of the animal at the time of harvesting. “Stress” can seem very broad, but in general it is the idea of the animal being excited or rushed with adrenaline and/or testosterone at the time of kill. Adrenaline can come from the animal being chased prior to harvesting, or extensive run after a bad shot. As for testosterone, we all know that buck with the swollen neck has plenty of it. When harvesting a buck or other large game animal in rut, it’s often better to let it hang at least 5 to 6 days to allow the enzymes to have time to work against the testosterone flooded tissues as long as you have that cool place to hang it.

Processing

Once the meat has been aged, or if the temperatures don’t allow for it, it’s time for processing. If you have your game processed by a butcher, you may be all done other than throwing it in the freezer. Once again, there are many videos, online resources, and books available to help you with the specific details of how to process, or butcher, your game. So for this article I will stick to the cautions and considerations of safely handling it.

If you do it yourself, or if you have to wrap it yourself, always start with a clean, sanitary surface. All the safe handling in the field and storage can be ruined if the meat picks up bacteria from the surface you process it on. Sanitize the counter top, work bench, or picnic table and consider spreading freezer paper if necessary. Wash your hands good before and after the process as well. If you use freezer paper or zip-style freezer bags, be sure to seal them as well as you can. I personally love vacuum sealing the meat I bring home. It removes a majority of the air from the package and really helps in preventing freezer burn and spoiling, which allows you to store the meat longer in the freezer as well. Proper date labeling, and rotating the contents of the freezer is important also to prevent using the newer additions to your freezer before the older ones. You’d hate to throw out a bunch of meat you got at the beginning of last season because it went bad hiding under all that meat you added during a good end-of-season hunt.

How we handle our harvested game, from the moment of the shot to the time it enters the freezer can directly affect the taste, condition, and health of the meat we put on our table. The work of field to freezer is not always pleasant, but it's vital to a successful hunt.

Some of the information and photos in this article were gathered from foodservice.com, naturalhub.com, and huntersguide.org.

By TalkHunting Magazine   Wed, Sep 01, 2010

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By TalkHunting Magazine   Fri, Jul 30, 2010

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We publish educational and informative articles and blogs to help improve your hunting experiences. Our Pro Staff have a wide range of hunting skills and experiences and will share them with you here at TalkHunting Magazine. We also do product reviews, outdoor show reviews and reviews on anything outdoor related that we think might benefit you.

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By TalkHunting Magazine   Fri, Jul 30, 2010

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By Luanne Bragg   Sun, Nov 20, 2011

You are getting yourself and your equipment ready for the upcoming hunting season. Replacing clothes, buying ammo, making sure your licenses are in order, maybe even working out to get your body ready for long treks in the woods BUT what about your four-legged hunting buddies?

Most hunters in the South have to put their hunting dog(s) “up” for the summer due to the heat. I know that my Beagles do not make it to the woods to “work out” like they want to in the hot summer months here in Virginia. Now is the time to start getting them back on track for the upcoming hunting season as well.

This is what I do to prepare my dogs to go afield with me, and I start this around September 1^st when at all possible.

First, I check over my vaccine records and make sure every dog is current. Then I make sure all the dogs have had a good worming. The rest will be a day by day and week by week preparation for them (and for me). I make sure to check the collars they wear in the field to insure that they are in good shape and have a flat tag riveted onto them with my name and cell phone and home phone number on it.

Your dog needs to work up to running all day just as you need to work up to walking all day. If you have not been doing this all summer and are out of shape, well so are the dogs. Now, mind you, I have a large fenced area that I let the beagles out to play in all year round, but there are no rabbits to run in that area and all it does is help ward off “pen (cabin) fever”. In September I start taking a few of them at a time to the field and let them get back to using their noses to root out Mr. Bunny and maybe have a good short chase or two. I do this the last hour of daylight or very early in the morning a few days a week. After that first few weeks of this I move to keeping them out longer periods of time as the weather cools down.

During this same time I start to slowly increase the amount of fat in their diet by switching over from a maintenance type 21% protein 10% fat based dog food to a 24% protein 20% fat based dog food. Working dogs need a higher intake of fat in their diets and most often do not need to increase protein levels nearly as much as was thought in years past. A healthy adult sporting/hunting dog will keep good muscle tone with 21% to 24% protein. The average hunting dog will burn up 5% to 11% of their body fat when working in the field for 5 hours or more. Replacing the fat in the dog’s diet means it will have it there to use when it is needed. This is also a time you will need to use “common sense” with your hunting partner, if the dog puts on extra weight that is not being used up when the dog is working in the field, then you need to reduce the fat content of its food. At this time I also start adding more of my vitamin supplement to the dog’s food. This supplement is composed primarily of brewer’s yeast, C, B12, B6, and omega 6 salmon oil. There are many of these types of supplements available at pet food stores and farm supply stores, and I have found as long as the supplement contains those major ingredients you will be happy with the results. (Now I give this supplement all year round to my hunting dogs, but I give it in half doses in the warm summer months.)

Now, when you are getting your hunting dog ready for the season be sure that you have trimmed their toe nails and pay close attention to the pads of their feet. They have not been running on those pads all summer and they are tender. There are products you can purchase to toughen up those pads or to treat them if they do become sore – get some, keep it handy because if you do not have any around you will need it, Murphy’s Law here folks. I also have first aide cream or spray around all the time for those briar pricked ears and tail tips.

Remember, prepare your four-legged hunting buddy like you prepare yourself! You will be glad you did!

By Duane Taylor   Sun, Nov 20, 2011

Michael DiPietro is an Environmental Police Officer (EPO) with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). He started out first as a park ranger for 2 summers, then working on through the winter the second year; he spent the 3^rd summer as an auxiliarist, or auxiliary EPO. He had been in college for Psychology, but was soon hooked and switched his major to Wildlife Management. Michael grew up hunting, fishing, and even spent time mushrooming over the years, so environmental management simply seemed a good fit. He had gotten to know several of the EPOs during his time as a park ranger and auxiliarist as well, which helped influence his decision to apply for the position himself. He was hired, went through the academy, and has spent the last 27 years, including those as a ranger and auxiliarist, working for the DEM here in RI. Michael went back to college in the evenings and received his BA in Administration of Justice. For the last 15 years he has been a Range Officer for DEM and currently, as chief range officer, oversees the weapons training for all EPOs who carry. He has volunteered as a Hunter’s Safety Course teacher for 18 years, which was how he and I first met, at my son’s course this summer. Michael graciously agreed to take me on a ride-along this fall so I could get a different perspective on the DEM and what they do.

On October 1^st, we met at a Park-And-Ride not far from my house. I was pretty impressed right up front. Michael has been issued a new model Chevy Tahoe, very well equipped with laptop, radio, subdued lights, etc. It is obvious our dollars from hunting licenses are being well spent. He had the necessary gear to do his job and do it well. And as we talked I learned more of why EPOs needed to be so well outfitted. Unlike a state or local policeman, or agent with the Marine Fisheries, an EPO not only needs to know the regulations of the environmental agency, but also all of the state and local laws a police officer would need to learn. They are governing authority on state parks and beaches throughout the year, so are often called to deal with accidents, domestic disputes, etc. that take place on those properties, not just the hunting and fishing aspect of enforcement. EPOs also are subcontracted by Marine Fisheries division to check and enforce laws at the docks and local waters. They are there to ensure commercial boats are adhering to regulations and in compliance, as well to enforce any laws and regulations broken by crew members. Those subcontracts are federal, which provide for overtime for the EPOs. They also open additional federal funding opportunities that help to pay for newer vehicles and better equipment for the EPOs such as guns, body armor, etc. It’s a wide range of enforcement for a small force of 24 officers and the equipment needed to do that range of enforcement is vital.

We drove the area and checked/stopped at several of the DEM parking/access areas to state lands. I learned a lot just from our first stop as I watched him check the vehicles parked at the access. He explained to me how just looking into the vehicle can give him a good indication of a person’s purpose on the management property. Simple things, such as a blanket in the back seat or a bowl in the back of a station wagon are good indicators the person is simply there to walk their dog. That is one of the most common uses of state land, as well as hiking. Tracks around the vehicle confirm if the dog is present and how many people may be with the vehicle. Michael looked for signs of muzzle loading equipment as well. RI had an early doe-only season this year that was open at the time. However it was for private land only, so any indication of a muzzle loader having been in the vehicle at state land would have been an indication of violation and cause to pursue into the management area to find the hunter. I was impressed how much can be learned up front by simple, but attentive observation.

We hadn’t been on the road very long it seemed when a call came in. A boat had capsized just outside the breachway, 3 adults and 2 children were in the water, and the Coast Guard had not yet been dispatched. I have to be honest, it was exciting as an observer, but I was praying the people in the water would be OK. Repeated conversation over the radio confirmed the people in the water would need rescue so dispatch sent us to pick up DEM's 14’ Boston Whaler. Sirens and lights going, Michael rushed to the breachway. As we closed in on the access, the call came in that another EPO had arrived on scene. The Coast Guard had arrived and thankfully were able to retrieve the 5 people from the water and had them on their way to medical attention. We followed through to the scene to finish the call. I was amazed at the amount of response; fire rescue vehicles, ambulances, and other DEM and police vehicles were all on site and standing down. People were gathered along the beach to watch the rescue and park personnel were directing traffic in and out of the breachway parking area. The emergency was handled quickly and efficiently with, thankfully, no lives lost.

We returned the boat to its storage point and continued on patrolling the management areas. We stopped to talk to a few different people as the day went on, just to be a presence and to see if there were any issues that warranted further attention. One such conversation lead Michael to discover an improperly issued fishing license. A gentleman with out-of-state plates and an out-of-state driver’s license was in possession of a resident fishing license, an obvious red flag. What I found impressive was that with no reflection of force or disrespect to the person at hand, Michael continued the conversation and was able to discern what happened without jumping to conclusions. As it turned out there was a misunderstanding with the issuing license agent and the gentleman had just moved into the area. Sportsmen often think the environmental officers are out to “get them” or determined to find something wrong. I suppose there are always a few who are out to flex their authority, but at least with the officers I have met, most are just looking to keep things on the up and up for the benefit of everyone who hunts and fishes or uses the natural resources of the state. That was further confirmed for me when Michael simply issued a warning to the gentleman when he could have legally pressed him with a $100 fine. He said he “believes more in education” as a means to administer the regulations and that people respond better to it than simple legalistic enforcement of the laws. People are more apt to adjust what they are doing and adhere to the laws when they are respected. As someone on the receiving end of those laws as a hunter and fisherman I couldn’t have agreed more!

I spent a lot of time asking questions about the various aspects, benefits, and downfalls of being an EPO. One of the things that stuck out to me as something I would find both a fun aspect to the job, but also a tough aspect was what I mentioned above about an EPO having such a wide range of enforcement and jurisdiction. The tough part for me would be the massive amount of law memorization needed to cover all of those aspects. The books of regulations and statutes an EPO needs to know in each of these areas, environmental, law enforcement, and fisheries can be one to several inches thick each. The job has a lot of variations because of those aspects however, and for me the varied work load would be fun. As the season change so do the aspects of your job. During the fall and winter months there is a heavy need for hunting regulations, obviously, but even then moments arise where the focus turns. Like with what happened to us during the ride-along with the capsized boat. As spring and summer rolls in, there is more attention on fishing and enforcement of state park regulations as campers and hikers move into the parks. Campgrounds become mini towns requiring traffic and domestic enforcement. Michael said that their busiest times are actually more in the summer than during hunting season because of all of the beaches, parks, and campgrounds they need to patrol. The population of people is much greater on state lands at those times, which naturally leads to more need of enforcement. Given such a wide range of enforcement, I was curious what the most common infractions an EPO runs across were. For Michael, during hunting season it is trespassing and insufficient or improperly worn orange. Lesser were possession of the wrong type of ammo (such as too large size of shot for season at hand, etc.) and hunters over the bagging limit of small game and birds. During the summer months, as with most vacationers, it is more the domestic violations, parties, etc. You simply never know what you may encounter that day when you sign in and for me that would make the job even more interesting.

There are many other benefits to the position as well. An EPO has state-wide arrest authority, not jurisdictional, so other than state lines there are no physical boundaries in the state to be concerned about crossing in getting their job done. Also, unlike typical law enforcement who have to get a warrant to do a search and seizure, an EPO has up front permission to do so. It’s given through the possession of a hunting/fishing license or use of state lands. When we purchase those licenses or park on state lands it gives the EPO permission to search vehicles, baggage, packs, etc. without having to go and first obtain a warrant. They also have assumed authority to enter private land unless the act is non-essential to enforcement of environmental laws. That provides for the immediate cease & desist acts in wetlands, etc.

A typical work week of 4 on 2 off can be both a benefit and a downfall to the job. It does provide time for the EPOs to be able to get out hunting themselves as any of us would with our weekends, but it also makes it tough socially. You could work 5 to 1 one day, 2 to 10 the next and each week the schedule changes, which can be tough as anyone who works a rotating shift knows. Let’s just say not many, if any, EPOs can be found as members of their local bowling league with a schedule like that. Throw in the occasional missed baseball or football game for your kids and it’s definitely not for everyone.

Other downfalls are more obvious. The job is a dangerous one. An EPO has a higher percent chance of an assault or fatal attack than most law enforcement officers. Though Michael seemed very calm and says he feels very safe in his job, EPOs are required to enter positions on a daily basis during hunting season where they are confronting armed individuals and often in remote areas. There is always the knowledge that they may be confronting someone who Is not afraid to retaliate if they have something they are desperate enough to hide. There are also no detectives in the environmental management division. An EPO does all aspects of the enforcement job. That also means there is no desk job per se’ to retire to as you get older. If you enter the career later in life, to get your time in for retirement you may still be jumping boats and hiking deep into state lands in full gear at 60 years old.

All benefits and downfalls considered, a career in environmental law enforcement can be a very challenging and rewarding career. You can expect to need in most states a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in environmental or wildlife management, marine biology, or other type of wildlife field. Once you apply you’ll be subject to an agility/physical test and background check before being hired. Once hired it’s off to the law enforcement academy for 14 to 16 weeks. Once all of that is done you spend your first year active on probation learning and meeting other requirements of your job before being released from rookie status. Yearly, the EPOs in RI have three range sessions where they continue training and holding proficiency. They have requirements they must meet annually for the Attorney General as any other law enforcement division would with officers who carry weapons. They train in low-light & high stress conditions to stay effective in real-life situations they might find themselves in. They also train in cold weather conditions in full gear in February as part of their proficiency. So the training aspect of the job doesn’t end with the initial academy but is continual through out their career.

Overall I spent about 4 ½ hours “on duty” with Officer DiPietro. The experience was extremely educational for me and an eye opener in several aspects. I was invited back for another ride-along during a heavier part of hunting season. An offer I plan to take him up on! If you ever get the chance, I HIGHLY recommend you go on a ride-along with or just take the time to get to know your local environmental officer. It’s good for us as sportsmen to get to know and support those who work to ensure that we can enjoy these sports and activities safely and for years to come. If you get the chance, take a second to say thanks and shake their hand.

By Duane Taylor   Sun, Nov 20, 2011

Last year I finally pulled a range day together for several of my friends. Many had been asking to go to the club with me and shoot. Some have firearms, some don’t, and some just came for the fellowship, and some to see if they could outshoot the other in a friendly contest. No matter the reason or expectation, it made for a great opportunity for many to shoot weapons they had never shot before. It gave me the opportunity to introduce a few of my friends to the world of muzzleloading. I remember one in particular, when asking me about it, commented on the idea of reloading after each shot, “Why would I want to go through all that trouble?” Well, it wasn’t a question I could answer verbally. I just said he’d have to try it and see. So as I walked him through it, it only took one shot and he was ready to swab, reload, and fire it again… and again… and again…

In this issue is a great article by Brad Gordon, “Considerations for Muzzleloader Buying and Usage”. It has a lot of great info on picking out a muzzleloader with things to think about while making the decision on the one that’s right for you and what to look for. In my article I want to focus a little more detail on what to do once the decision and purchase is made. Now, I want to stress the best thing you can do before anything else is to READ THE MANUAL that comes with your muzzleloader. You may have seen some of the things while researching the gun, but there are several safety things you need to know up front. You need to know what the maximum powder charge your gun can handle is for instance. Read the manual, KNOW THE LIMITS OF YOUR WEAPON.

All that being said, first thing's first… getting the muzzleloader “on the paper”. If you have access to a bore sighter, they are usually the best method with or without a scope. However, many muzzleloaders come factory bore sighted with their open sights, or scope if you purchased a “package” and provide you with the opportunity to head straight to the range. If a bore sighter is not readily available, you can still sight in, but will start at a much closer distance at first.

Where to Start: Your manufacturer most likely suggests a recommended bullet weight and powder charge. You can start there, but I would also purchase, or bum from friends as Brad suggests (which is what I did!), several different projectiles within + or – 50 grains of the suggested and a few different types of powder. Different brands of primers can’t hurt either.

Projectiles: Projectiles can seem overwhelming with so many variations of them out there and each touting to be the best, newest and most accurate. In your selection + and – 50 grains from manufacturer recommendation you’ll find many options as with any rifle bullet. (If there is no suggested “load” from the manufacturer, I recommend the 240 to 340 grain range to begin with.) Both conicals and sabots can shoot well and have their advantage. A straight conical is basically a bullet. They are typically a heavier bullet ranging between 300 and 400 grains. However they do go as low as 240 grain and as high as 425 grain or more depending on the caliber of muzzleloader and the use. Roundballs are still used as well, but mostly in pistols and more traditional muzzleloaders. They have a variety of weights based mainly on caliber, and finally, sabots. Though used as a general term for the projectile, sabots are actually the piece (made mainly of plastic today) that wraps around a bullet. The bullets are a smaller caliber, allowing for a plastic sabot to encase it. This gives the option of producing a more varied style of bullet as the sabot is what is designed to engage the rifling of the barrel and seal the barrel as it is fired to prevent compression loss. With a smaller or larger sabot, manufacturers can adjust the caliber size and weight of the bullet greatly while still being fired from a larger caliber rifle.

Powder: You may also want to try different powders. It can be an expensive venture if you don’t have friends with different types readily available. Different powders can shoot better or worse in different rifles. Most black powder and black powder substitutes found on the shelf today ,however, are of an acceptable quality. But as you can afford to, it is always best to try as many as you can to dial in just the right one for your rifle. My personal suggestions are Hodgdon’s Triple Se7en (777) or Blackhorn 209. These are both very good powders with very minimal corrosive components. They clean up very easily and I have seen good performance from both. The 777 also comes in pellet form, which can be a great way to start. “Pellets” are pre-measured amounts of powder packed tightly into a pellet form. With both 50 grain and 30 grain pellet options available you can fine tune your powder charge to some degree, though the powder form allows you a much greater range of adjustment to work up just the right load for your gun. That can always be done down the line though as more time and money are available. A final note on powder is to not be confused by the “F” rating. The “g” stands for Granulation and the “F, FF, FFF, or FFFF” is an indication of the size granule, determined by the size holes in the screen used to sift them at the manufacturer. The single F is the largest granule and FFFF the finest. Basic rule of thumb is that “FFg” is for rifles and “FFFg” is for pistols. This is not a hard rule, and can have exceptions, but you cannot go wrong with FFg in your muzzleloading rifle as a guideline.

Primers: Primers come in #11, Musket Cap, and 209 Shotgun. Most of your modern inlines come set up for 209 primers now. The majority of newer black powder substitutes require the hotter fire to burn the powder properly. You can sometimes however purchase different breach plugs set up for another type of primer. There is little variation within each primer style. Some manufacturers shoot better than others with different powders. Some 209s are a little hotter than others. I find the 209 primers used in reloading shotgun shells, not the ones made specifically for muzzleloader use, work the best in my gun. You may find different.

Ok, now that you have your varying projectiles and different powders all laid out at the range, you’re ready to begin the process of working up your renowned and accuracy feared “perfect load” for your muzzleloader. You can start in the middle of your range of projectiles, start at the lightest and work your way up, or start at the heaviest and work your way down, it’s all up to you. I know, I know, “decisions!” So let me help… start at the lightest. You have to decide which style or manufacturer of bullet to start with if you have multiple ones in that weight to choose from. I can only be expected to make so many decisions in one article after all. For powder, more is not always the best way to go. Some projectiles fly better and more accurately with less powder. Choose one kind of powder and I suggest you start with 80 grains. Again, if your manufacturer suggests a load, start there.

Here’s where bore sighting shines. You’re only concerned with being on the target at this point, not drilling the bullseye. If you didn’t have the boresighter, or the gun did not come bore sighted than you may want to start at 15 to 25 yards to better ensure you hit paper. Using the same bullet and powder charge each time, take three consecutive shots. Swab the barrel in-between each shot. Now you can increase or decrease the amount of powder by 5 to 10 grains and fire 3 more shots. By doing this, you can find the best volume of powder for that particular bullet. Mark each 3 shot group with powder charge used. You can use separate targets or use one for each different bullet you work with, however you choose. Work through each type and weight of bullet using various powder types and charges. As you do you will begin to see what works well and what doesn’t in your muzzleloader until you find just the right one. From there, you can sight in for that bullseye and see how it does at longer ranges. Some that shoot well at closer range may not serve you well at longer distances.

There are things however that you will discover in the field that you can’t find out on the range. For instance, you may find several different loads that shoot well and close performance-wise on the range, but in the field they perform differently. I found one particular load that worked amazing for my gun on the range, but after taking a few deer with it I noticed some failed performance from the projectile in hunting situations. I had to go back and find another projectile that would shoot well and use that one in the field for a while. Eventually I found one that not only shoots great accuracy-wise, but with deadly performance in the field. Of course, now they are being discontinued and I will have to go back and do it again. But hey, more time on the range is never a bad thing right?

It all may seem overwhelming and way too time-consuming to some, but these are methods of dialing in your weapon to just the right point. You can spend as much time and money in the effort as you can afford to do. If you have only three or four different projectiles and one kind of powder, you can work up the best load that those combinations will shoot in your muzzleloader and hit the field. It may not be the best your muzzleloader can do, but it may be the best you can do at the time. That’s OK. Do as much with it as you can when you can, just make sure whatever you end up with is accurate, safe and ethical. You can work on perfection over time.

By Luanne Bragg   Mon, Oct 31, 2011

I am going to try (and I stress Try) to sum up rabbit hunting and what makes it an important thing in my life (but not before God and Family). I hope while reading this you will get an understanding of it, and it will encourage you to do more of it or at least give it a try.

The first part I devote to FRIENDS. I debated on what part of the sport I wanted to talk of first, and the Beagles I love could have easily been number one. There are not any better times with friends (and family) than when we are hunting. The bonds you have with these friends can only strengthen when listening to a pack of beagles racing after a rabbit in the underbrush can be second to none. Not only is there good fellowship with friends afield, but the other(s) will act as witness to the rest of the world to testify that an amazing chase has occurred and the even more spetacular shot DID really happen (and even the more spectacular miss…).

Rabbit hunting has provided me with several good friends that will remain that way always. Veteran rabbit hunters are great people to learn from. They are willing to listen and teach inexperienced youth from their heart and sole. I know this because I was once that youth.

The other reason I have put friends first is because of my Grandfather. He loved to rabbit hunt so much that many times he would take to the field alone with his beagles (as I do now). When I was big enough to go with him afield I went almost every time he went. If his friends were not “happy” about a young girl tagging along they did not stay his rabbit hunting friends for very long. Before I was big enough to spend the day in the briar patch rabbit hunting I was taught about the next important ingredient to rabbit hunting…

…The DOGS I hunt with could very well be placed under friends if you ask me but they deserve their own heading all the same. There are a lot of folks out there that rabbit hunt without dogs, and they just do not know that they could be missing a big part of the fun and enjoyment of the sport.

My beagles add so much more to the hunt from amazement to anger and astonishment to bewilderment. You will never have many dull moments in the fields with a pack of friendly and eager to please beagles. Just hearing the sounds of the pack running a rabbit will hook you on the sport if all else has failed. Hunting with hounds will assure that you will never have two hunts evolve the same.

The dogs will also keep you honest. If you miss a shot on a rabbit they will be close behind that rabbit and they will run that rabbit to the next waiting hunter. The dogs will also become frustrated at you if you don’t shoot or miss the rabbit too many times and they can voice their disdain without ever saying a word. AS AN EXAMPLE: My grandfather and I were hunting the reclaimed strip mine area of Southeastern Ohio in 1969, his two beagles, Susie and Bubbles, were having a great day, and he had two rabbits in his vest for dinner, we only needed one more (I was too young to be allowed to carry a gun at that time and was just an observer). It suddenly started to snow and snow hard (blizzard type conditions). Golf ball size snowflakes were coming down so fast and heavy we could not see more than three feet in front of ourselves. The beagles had a rabbit up and were running it hard. They ran that rabbit in between us once and past us another three times. It was snowing so hard we could not see the rabbit and barely were able to make out the beagles. After the third trip past us the beagles pulled up stopped barking and sat down in front of us looking up as if to say: “Well, if you are not going to shoot it we are sure done running it”. After the dogs sat there for a minute they picked themselves up and walked back to my grandfather’s 1959 Buick and sat at the back door looking over their shoulders as if to say "okay we quit!"

There will be many times when you will unload your dogs at a great sport, have several successful runs and take home a few rabbits for dinner. Two weeks later you can unload your dogs in the same place and have the dogs not jump so much as a grasshopper.

The RABBITS and the chase have to be included here because without rabbits nothing previously mentioned would exist.

I strongly suggest that you know the number of rabbits typically located on your particular hunting grounds and conserve them. Every outing, even when you are carrying a gun and the dogs are running the bunnies hard, does not mean you need to harvest a rabbit. Most rabbit hunters with a pack of beagles are just as happy to hear the dogs jump and circle that rabbit and to test their ability to spot the rabbit sneaking through the brush as they are a game bag full of rabbits.

One of the biggest No No’s in the rabbit hunting world is to shoot a rabbit “on the jump”, this means you do not kill the rabbit when it makes its first mad dash after the dogs push him from his initial hiding place. This is where you let the dogs run the rabbit and get the opportunity to listen to the sweet sound of the pack pushing the rabbit usually first away from you and then turning it and bringing it back your way. On this return trip is when, if you are out to harvest a few rabbits for the cooking pot, to take your best shot.

I have never met a rabbit hunter that does not have a book full of stories about their days in the field or the rabbits that out smarted their dogs and as a general rule rabbit hunters know no strangers. If you have not figured out by now, I do totally enjoy the days I spend in the fields and briar patches hunting for Mr. Bunny. It is also hard to admit I have passed up days in the deer stand to go and put the beagles down and run rabbits.

By Dennis Parker   Sun, Sep 04, 2011

I have been at a lot of Dove Shoots on opening day across the South over the years but none ever like the Traditional “Long Family Farm Dove Shoot” in North Central Alabama which will rival many Thanksgiving Celebrations. The day started as I was giving a tour of some prime hunting land that reminded me of a lot of the land many hunt in Pike County Illinois and after my tour I think we may have a TalkHunting Deer Champion come out of this area due to Corn and Bean fields plus white oak acorn trees lined the draws. After the tour we traveled back to the Dove field lined with hay bales and trees lined and many spots were reserved by family and close friends and I was assigned a great location in front of a gallery of none hunting family members I joked with later that they must have had a few good laughs at my shooting abilities of trying to nail a fast flying zig zagging Dove. We setup the newly purchased MOJO Dove tree near my area and quickly became oblivious it was not designed for the tropical storm Lee winds blowing in from the Gulf. The Tree was top heavy and we had to take out sections of the tree to keep it from blowing over.

The MOJO Dove had to be placed on the ground and not the tree. At 12:00 Noon many hit the field for the start of the Dove shoot while others hit the kitchen where there was food placed in every available spot, never have I seen that much food. The Dove shoot started off slow until the Pigeons started flying in giving many much needed practice. As pigeons are considered a nuance bird and does not count against your Dove bag limit of 15. Later on that afternoon winds died down some and the Doves started coming in and the Dove busting started, you could see folks slipping out of the field back to the kitchen including me, but this is what makes opening day Dove shoot special, you get to socialize, eat, shoot a few birds, eat some more which makes for a great day.

You know as I write this I got to thinking why does Dove season always start at Noon? Doing some research got me digging on the internet. First reason was from the United States Fish and Wildlife service (USFWS) which sets guidelines for migratory bird hunting to control the harvest numbers on opening day. Another reason was that the Governor and other Political groups would host big opening Dove shoots for lobbyist and other important groups where adult beverages where consumed and people were too tired and consumed to listen to the Governor’s speech and wasted all the BBQ prepared.

The best reason was to prevent double bagging of the 15 Dove limit with a hunt in the morning and a hunt in the afternoon where Doves flying in on opening day may be easier to take.

The Opening day by invitation Dove shoot turned into a success and nobody went home hungry and as I was about to leave someone broke out the Cornhole Boards. I said oh Lord I better not play I have a 100 mile drive ahead of me and if I start playing I would be here for hours. Special thanks to TalkHunting members Herdmanager and Zlong19. Thanks for the invite I had an awesome day. I learned the true meaning of family tradition of busting a few Doves and getting together whether you hunt or not.

By Duane Taylor   Tue, Aug 30, 2011

Ahhh... archery season. That sweet smell of nothing and the soft twang of the string rocketing the arrow off and toward the unsuspecting prey. Then comes the resounding "thud" of your arrow making impact (Yes! You CAN actually hear it!). I understand it's not everyone's "thing". But has everyone tried it I ask? It's kind of like when your Mom used to say "How do you know you don't like brussel sprouts?? You haven't even tried them yet!" Only, bow hunting isn't anything like brussel sprouts. And, well, you don't have to taste the bow. Though it's not unheard of for someone to kiss it after dropping a deer with it! But hey, what goes on in the stand stays in the stand. That's between you and your bow. The point is, if you haven't tried bowhunting... what better time to start?

Ok, "It's September and bow season is only a few days or weeks away." I know. It's not a good excuse though, so don't try that one on me. There is PLENTY of time for you to be ready. Just means you have to spend a little extra time at the range or in the backyard each day. And that's a bad thing how? "Bows are way out of my price range." Alright, I will not argue economics. Especially with the state of things today. That's legitimate, but only to a point. Most pro-shops have multiple used bows that have come in on trade. Like used cars, you can often pick one up for a pretty decent deal. The trick is, you NEED to go to a pro-shop. Especially when buying a used bow. You need to know that bow is set up for your specific draw length and the draw weight that best suits you. If you have never shot a bow before a good pro-shop will often let you try a few different bows as well and help you get sighted in, or close enough for you to be able to finish sighting in within the backyard without putting too many holes in the fence.

"I prefer something modern." Um... ok, buy the newest most expensive bow on the market. It's UNBELIEVABLE how technologically advanced these bows are today. It'll make you drool! It is not the old days of sneaking through the woods in a loincloth hoping you can see something before it sees you. Though that does sound pretty cool. I can't say I would hate to try it, though not so sure about the loincloth idea. That's the beauty of it though. You can be as bare roots or as sophisticated as you want to be. You can go traditional with long bows and recurves, crossbows, compounds with aluminum risers, solo-cams, and now even built from carbon fiber top to bottom. Loincloths not included.

Alright, yes. I have heard the horror stories. The missed shots, the wounded animals, the broadheads found by butchers while processing game. I understand the point of view, I do. I can not say I have never made a bad shot on a deer. It has happened. I alone hold the responsibility of that. I thank God we were able to recover the deer and it did not suffer long. We all know however, if we are honest, that bad shots happen regardless of the weapon used. The question is, were they learned from? If you continually make bad shots, whatever weapon you choose, you need to question wether you should continue to hunt, plain and simple. Ethics demand we put us much effort as we need to into being proficient with our shots. Rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, bow, crossbow, tank, cannon, whatever you take to the woods. If it's a cannon, I hope you get arrested. Just sayin'. BE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO. There are enough anti-hunters out there making noise as it is. We don't need to be giving them ammo.

One of the easiest ways to get started is if you know someone who bow hunts. Talk to them. Ask questions! If they are willing have them come along side you and take you hunting. Even if you have no one to teach you, like the way I started out, you can still make it happen. (If you get the chance, read my blog Tale of the Self-Made Hunter.) Talk to folks at the local hunt and bait shops and pro shops. Read. Go on forums... such as the TalkHunting forum for example. I know for a fact there are many archers on the boards there and all willing to give some good advice. But whatever you do... don't knock it until you've tried it! I was always told once you take your first archery deer you'll be hooked. And it was true! To make things worse, my first archery deer was my first ever deer... I was addicted! There is no cure I'm afraid, but don't mourn for me. I will bear the burden.

Ok, my plea, my push, my encouragement, my cry to the inner-most reaches of your psychy are over. If you haven't tried archery hunting, you need to give it a whirl. I simply ask that you do it right and do it well. If it's not for you... then respect given for at least giving it it's proper chance. If it is... I'll see you early season!

Some photos used from HortonArchery and fotosearch.com.

By Dennis Parker   Sun, Aug 21, 2011

I spent over an hour in Tree Line Tree Stands, LLC’s Booth at the BuckMaster 2011 Expo. The more I talked the more I was impressed and now the items in this article has been added to my Christmas List or pre Christmas List. The first item I am adding is the “The Vine™” Climbing Ladder. Did you ever wish you could climb a vine like Tarzan? Now you can with “The Vine™” Climbing Ladder, which is not like the Straight climbing sticks cause each section pivots independly because you will not find the perfect tree where you want to hunt. “The Vine™” Climbing Ladder Features:

• All steel welded construction with powder coated finish
• No assembly required; Mounts to tree with cam buckle straps
• Round tube design allows each ladder section to pivot independently
• Bend configuration allows a two-post ladder feel with a one-post design
• Inline step design eliminates having right or left steps
• Step design keeps feet from slipping off steps
• Bend configuration mimics tree vines to conceal ladder
• Safe rung design has no sharp protrusions to impale climbers

Specs:

• Height: 17 Feet (Three Sections)
• Weight Capacity: 300 lbs.

Now that you have mounted your “The Vine™” Climbing Ladder time to hang the best looking Lok on Treestand I have seen in a while The TreeHugger™ is a very comfortable and safe stand. Do not have a lot of money to buy extra Lok on Stands? The best feature of the TreeHugger™ is the Hugger-Lok Tree Bracket makes it easy to hang the stand and remove stand then move TreeHugger™ to another tree or take home with you…

TreeHugger™ Stand & Seat

Features:

• Built in foot rest
• Backpack Straps
• 1” Ratchet Strap secures bottom of stand to tree
• Powder coated finish
• Attaches to tree using Hugger-Lok Tree Bracket and 2″ ratchet straps
• Comes standard with flip-up TreeHugger No-Shock seat featuring 1” thick 90 durometer neoprene rubber shock absorbers and Textline fabric seat for noise/shock free seat
• Sure footing with extruded hoof prints and rounds

SPECS:

• Platform Size: 24″W x 30″L
• Seat Height: 21”
• Seat Size: 18″W x 16″L
• Stand Weight: 24 lbs.
• Minimum Tree Size: 8”
• Weight Capacity: 300 lbs.

The best thing about TreeLine Treestand products they are 100% made in the United States. For more information:

TreeLine Treestands, LLC
3510 Central PKWY. S.W.
Decatur, AL 35603
256-616-8756
sales@treelinestands.com

http://www.treelinestands.com

By Dennis Parker   Sat, Aug 20, 2011

The first new product at BuckMaster Expo 2011 in Montgomery Alabama that caught my interest was the “Flex Cam ™”. Ok imagine this, you are sitting in your tree stand and the Buck of your dreams approaches heading your way. You wished a million times that you had one of those high dollar video camera setups to film your hunt but if you are like me living day by day on a average hunter’s salary it is not going to happen. Now if you have one of those new Smart Phone, Cell Phone you can film that Bruiser of a Buck going down, and within seconds you can be bragging to all your Hunting bud’s and to that guy who thinks he is the greatest gift to hunting cause he has thousands invested in equipment and you only have $59.95 invested.. Wow…

The Flex Cam™ made by Smokin’Rack ™ Products has been on the market since February 2011 and is catching on fire. The Flex Cam™ will hold all Cell Phones and most video capable hand held cameras. It will also work with those compact video cameras. The Flex Cam™ will mount to Bows using the pre-existing stabilizer hole and can be used with most Shotguns using the Firearm adapter.The flexable mount weighs a mere 7oz and absorbs recoil so very little camera jump creating a clear video.

By the time this article is published there will also be an additional adapter for purchase that can adapt to Rifle Scopes and ATV handle bars? For more info and to purchase the Flex Cam™

Visit Smokin’Rack ™ Products at www.smokinrackproducts.com

By Brent Sawyer   Fri, Aug 19, 2011

Stringing your decoys with weights can be a hassle or it can be fun. Though one can now purchase pre-riged leaders with weights and swivel clamps, I will show you how to make your own for a quarter of the cost.

By Luanne Bragg   Wed, Aug 31, 2011

So, with Squirrel season approaching in many areas you might be thinking you want a squirrel dog!!! Historically the Fox Terrier has been given the call for the job.

This boisterous little dog’s origins can be traced to Britain as early as the 1570’s where it was developed to follow the fox into its lair and bring it out by whatever means necessary. This makes the Fox Terrier quite suitable for finding and chasing squirrels into the trees and then barking at the base of the tree at the squirrel. Fox Terriers are also used on farms, mostly in Europe now, to ferret out rats in the barnyards.

These are firm-bodied squarely-built dogs. The flat, hard coat of the smooth verity is mainly white with tan black or ginger colored markings. The course, broken double coat of the wire verity comes in the same colors. The wire coat is dense and wirery just as the name suggests. The legs of the breed are straight and firm with smaller feet. The V-shaped ears fold and fall forward about 1/3 of their length but not all Fox Terriers have ears that fold foward and that is only mportant if the dog is to be shown in confirmation breed events. The breeds tails are usually docked to three-quarters the usually length. This breed is usually no taller than 16 inches at the shoulders and tends to weight between 13 to 20 pounds.

The reason the breed makes a good squirrel hunting companion is because it is a keen and alert dog that enjoys independence. They are always “game” and ready for any fun. However, they can be obstinate and strong-willed and need to be firmly and persistently trained from an early age. Fox Terriers enjoy being part of the family and are quite reliable with children, although the wire verity can be a bit snappish at times with less patience. Both verities can also be argumentative with other dogs, even very large ones. They make great watchdogs, although their high-pitched barking can be annoying to some people. This breed may be too much for some older owners.

This breed is known for its athletic ability and can be enthusiastic digger if allowed to become board or wreak other havoc if they do not have outlets for all of their energy.

With time and effort the Fox Terrier can become one of your best friends while hunting for the ever increasing population of the “Fuzzy Tailed Tree Rats” and it can become a welcome part of your family as well.

information complied from UKC, Fox Terrier Breed web site. Photos from same.

By Robert Householder   Tue, Nov 22, 2011

Immediately after returning from a week deer hunting in Kansas at 180 Outdoors, I had little time to reflect on my experience there. Work was backed up from having been gone for a week and daylight to midnight days at the office, catching up, was the aftermath of that. The following Sunday, I finally had time to get in a little treestand enjoyment and that’s where I finally got to settle down and reflect.

This was my first time deer hunting in Kansas and I had high hopes. I had turkey hunted in the spring there at 180 Outdoors and had the best turkey hunting experience of my life. That place was incredible and the service from 180 impeccable.  To say I was expecting the same for my deer hunting trip almost goes without saying.

The trip started as most trips do. Last minute packing, little to no sleep and an excitement level beyond description. Denny “Bugfixer” Chambers was going on a TalkHunting ProStaff hunt there the same week so we rode together. We both spent the Saturday night before, at our hunting camp, super excited and talking well into the night about what we thought might happen. The trip started at 4 AM the following morning with a planned arrival at 180 Outdoors around 6 PM that evening. I did say “Planned arrival” didn’t I? I had been having some tough sinus problems the previous few days and had been loading up heavy on sinus medicine. This is the only thing I could think of that would make me have to stop every hour, almost on the hour, to pee. I felt like a 6 year old girl. Denny did his job of properly making fun of me and calling me girl names to chastise my kidneys and bladder into behaving but that treatment had no effect. We stopped almost every hour of a 13 hour trip for me to take a leak. What a great start.

As we finally rolled into Kansas and got close to 180, we started looking for the nearby Wal-Mart to stop at and load up on supplies for the week. I had programmed the Wal-Mart into my GPS the previous trip last spring so we had no problems finding it. That is until the GPS started taking us down old dirt roads, a few farm roads and once I think we even cut through someone’s yard. When the GPS sounded out “Arriving at destination” with that sexy British accent, we were in the middle of nowhere, on a farm road, in the middle of a field. Stupid GPS. I should have known better than to trust an English lady for directions in Kansas. I placed full blame on the GPS lady and the entire British Empire but Denny didn’t buy it. After a 30 minute delay and some scary banjo music that we kept hearing in the distance, we rolled into Walmart (the same Wal-Mart we were asked not to come back to by the nice management people there but I figured they had forgotten all that after 6 months and yes, that’s another story). A quick pee (again), a GPS reprogram to save THIS Wal-Mart and a hundred bucks of supplies later, we were back on the road. Luckily we knew the way from there and didn’t have to ask that stupid English lady for directions again. I think she did that on purpose just to see how long my kidneys would hold out… it was close.

When we arrived at the 180 Outdoors lodge (around 7 PM) Matt, Devan and Chris were all there to meet us. I had met both Matt and Devan the previous spring but their new guide Chris I hadn’t met. Allan (Cowmanhunter), a fellow TalkHunting member was already there and greeted us from his comfortable place on the couch. Handshakes and introductions all around, a great meal of venison on the grill by Chris and we were in the bed by 10 with visions of 200 inch deer dancing in our heads. However, like all hunters, we had been monitoring the weather for weeks and knew that Monday and Tuesday had high possibilities of thunderstorms. We went to bed that night knowing we might not get to hunt.

3:45 Monday Morning

Denny wakes up and insists I get up as well. Denny and I share a room at our hunting camp and he should have known better. The drill at our camp is he gets up 3 or 4 hours before we have to leave, drinks a pot of coffee, reads every post on TalkHunting and then gets me up when we have 15 minutes left to departure time. That’s the drill. Actually I have no idea why he gets up so early and I really don’t want to know what he does but this time he insisted I get up so I did. I was ready to leave in 15 minutes and then stood around for an hour watching him drink coffee in his long underwear before we left. Now I KNOW why I don’t get up as early as he does. Anyway.. we were in Kansas and I was pumped because it hadn’t started storming and we were going out.

Chris took Denny and I out and walked me to my stand. It was a lock on in a thin strip of woods between two big pastures. I only knew this because Chris told me so. It was black as a coal miners face when we went in. The night before, Chris had shown me some footage he had taken from that stand a few weeks previous so I knew a little of what to expect. All he got on film was a big possum but at least I got to see what terrain I would be looking over. With the bow tied to the pull up rope, I proceeded to climb the ladder sticks.

Now, I have come to expect certain things to happen when starting a hunt. I am one of those people that many things have to go wrong before my hunt actually starts. I’ll have forgotten to bring my grunt call, binoculars, facemask, gloves or something else important (I once forgot my bow. I swear that actually happened) or I’ll bang something on the stand and make a loud noise, or I’ll get turned around and not able to find the stand… Something, usually many things, will go wrong. However, I have learned that the more that goes wrong, the better that hunt goes. I don’t know why that is but it usually does. So far, nothing had gone wrong. I had made it to the stand (because Chris walked me right to it), I had my bow, release and arrows, and my backpack and Hunter Safety System vest was on my back. I started getting worried. Nothing had gone wrong yet. I climbed the ladder sticks, got locked onto the tree and sat down. Still no problems. Now I’m getting real worried. I pulled up my bow, nocked an arrow and hung it on the provided hanger. I put on my gloves and facemask and got ready to hunt. Everything had gone perfect. Now I am starting to freak out. All of this good luck had to be building up to something historically horrible. Any minute I expected a plane to crash on me or the stand to collapse.

As I sat here wondering what was going on (still in pitch darkness) I started going over everything I had done in my mind. I had to find a problem and find it quick. Daylight was only 30 minutes away and I was getting desperate. Finally it hit me!! I had forgotten to put out my Tinks bombs and my Mikes Magic! I was thrilled and pissed at the same time! So, I did what every other hunter in my position would do. I grabbed my bottle of Mike’s Magic, opened the convenient little pouring spout and started power squirting and slinging pee as far as I could from my stand. Now that the bad luck had started, I certainly wasn’t going to climb back down the tree and do it properly. That was just too much of a risk and required way to much energy.

With pee properly (or improperly) applied, I settled down to wait on daylight.

5:30 AM Monday

With it still being pitch black, I heard something walking through the leaves towards me. Now, this has always freaked me out a little and if you say it doesn’t bother you, I may pull the “Liar” card out. It walked all around my tree and then as it neared my tree, the sounds stopped. Great. With my luck, it was a leopard, recently escaped from a zoo or something, and I was the next meal. I could still hear it moving around, just a little, as it prepared to leap up the tree and consume my Alabama flesh. As I sat there preparing my hand to leopard paw defense, the rising sun revealed the beast I had been preparing to battle. It was a possum. Probably the same stupid possum I had seen on film the night before. He has no idea how close he came to wearing a G5 Montec broadhead as a broach. But I restrained and sat quietly relieved that the leopard had left and a Kansas possum had taken his place.

5:45 AM Monday

With daylight gaining strength, I heard the possum returning. He had walked away behind me looking for another victim to terrify. I eased my head around to catch his movement but discovered something unusual. The possum and grown tremendously and now sported a big rack of horns on his head. A Buck!! Oh Crap! I wasn’t ready for this! I hunt in Alabama and even though I knew Kansas wasn’t Alabama, I think a small part of my mind had me believing I wouldn’t see anything here either! I’m an Alabama deer hunter. I’m not supposed to actually see big bucks, just dream about them. It was still pretty dark and while I could tell he was a good buck, I did not have enough light to actually age him, score his rack or shoot. So I sat and watched him walk off (25 yards) and get his picture took by one of Matt’s cameras.

Within 20 minutes, I had 4 racked bucks within 20 yards. 2 of them kept coming right to my tree and smelling the Mike’s Magic that I had managed to sling all of ten feet from my tree. They would sniff, curl their lip and look around for the doe. This went on for almost an hour. 3 were 8 points, 1 was a 6 point. Two of the 8 pointers were bigger than anything I had ever killed but only barely. They also were not big enough or old enough to shoot here. 2 ½ year olds. So, I watched them until they chased some does off around 8 AM. Chris pulled us out around 10 as the storm got nearer but I had had an incredible first morning!

11 AM Monday – heavy rain

3:45 AM Tuesday

Denny woke me up to storms and pouring rain. Chris had stayed up most of the night before watching the tornado warnings and had fallen asleep in the recliner. I went back to bed.

We did finally get out Tuesday afternoon but the weather was still hot and not much moved. I saw a few does and some small bucks.

Wednesday

I was sick again with sinus problems Wednesday morning and didn’t get any sleep the night before. I slept in until 6 and then Chris took me out. I sat until dark. The weather was better but still pretty warm. I saw some does but no bucks. I was still pumped. I had been seeing deer everyday and even though nothing was getting into range I wanted to shoot, I was having the time of my life. Here is one big difference I discovered between hunting at home and hunting here. At home, there was absolutely no expectation of a 160 inch deer ever walking out on me. None. At 180 Outdoors, it was a constant thought and kept you keened eyed and awake.

Thursday Morning

As it gets closer and closer to the last day of the hunt, you get more anxious and hopeful. No one wants to eat a tag sandwich. Thursday morning was a bust for me. No deer seen at all. Now, Chris spends all the time we are hunting scouting and glassing their farms, looking for deer for us. He would text us several times a day to let us know deer were on their feet and moving. He was seeing deer and so did the others but nothing for me. I came in for lunch and prepared to go to another spot for the afternoon.

Background Info

• Opening morning, Denny had a great buck come to a decoy. Because of the way the buck came in, Denny wasn’t able to get a good look at the rack and before he could, the deer spooked and ran off. As it was running away, he got a better look at the rack and it was a shooter. He was sick. I will let him tell the complete story if he so desires.
• Tuesday morning, during the rain, we went with Chris and hung a lock on stand about 300 yards down the treeline from where Denny had seen that buck. Denny hunted in it that afternoon and saw some young bucks and some does. Not the big shooter he was looking for.


Thursday Afternoon

Chris took me to go sit in that lock on that we had hung on Tuesday and Denny had sat in. It was in a thin strip of woods that separated two big pastures. The wind was perfect and I got in and settled by 2:00.

2:15 PM

I heard a noise behind me and when I looked back, I saw a doe come into the woods, about 80 yards behind me, from the pasture on my right. I couldn’t see that pasture because it was blocked by the trees. I spun sideways in the seat and watched her.

2:20 PM

A buck joined her. I got my binoculars on him and he was a shooter. I am almost positive this is the same buck Denny passed up the first day. Now the heart starts to beat and the game changes. I got stood up and was facing the tree I was just leaning back on moments before. With bow in hand, I grunted at him one time. He looked up my way, then his head went back down. I grunted again. One quick grunt. He looked up my way, then his head went back down. I grunted again. He looked up and started heading my way. Oh crap! This is really happening! Just like in the hunting shows. I controlled my breathing (that’s for you Trevor. Personal joke) and started getting ready. He needed to come all the way to my direct left before I would have a shot. He walked about 20 yards and stopped.

2:25 PM

He was hooking every bush and limb he could find and really showing off but he wasn’t getting any closer. I managed to ease the grunt call up and give one more quick grunt. He stopped hooking and started coming again. If he continued that course, he would walk right past me on my left and offer a perfect shot. He stopped 30 yards away. CRAP!!!

2:30 PM

By now, I had calmed down some. It’s the first few minutes I see a buck and right after the shot that I get all crazy but I was in the mode now, counting off things in my head that needed to happen and what to do when they did. He was still 30 yards behind the stand and no shot available. He was still hooking and grunting and doing something I had never heard before. Chris called it clicking and that’s just what it sounded like. Just as he seemed to start losing interest, I hear a noise behind me to my left. In the direct path of my buck, about 50 yards away from him, was a 4 point, oblivious to the fact that I had just pissed off a bruiser and he was about the be the victim. This is perfect, I thought and it was. The shooter 8 saw him and started walking towards him. He was grunting and walking all stiff legged, hooking everything as he went. The 4 point just stood there like an idiot but working perfectly into my master plan. I think this is the time when I imagined what he was going to look like on the wall and how good he would taste as I supplied the guys with fresh backstraps that night. I had him photographed, cleaned and mounted and was enjoying the moment.

2:35 PM

He continued to walk towards the 4 point and was going to pass right where I wanted him, 30 yards to my direct left. I was already set and in place for the shot. As he walked past the tree I had already planned out as my draw point, I drew my bow. He stopped. Of course he stopped. Don’t they all? Two more steps, that was all I needed. He took one. I could now see his head, his rack and the front of his shoulder. He took one more step, my pin found the mark and the arrow was on the way. It took him perfectly behind the shoulder and he went down like a rock. In my mind. In my mind, that’s how it happened. What happened in reality was the next step I was needing him to take turned out to be a lunge at the 4 point. He moved so fast and even as I released the arrow (it was too late to stop that) I knew I had messed up. The buck was moving too fast and the arrow sank right into his hind quarter. I almost threw up. He wheeled around with my arrow still sticking out of his hind quarter and was gone back the way he had come. The 4 point was still standing there like an idiot. Only now there were two idiots in attendance. I have ran this whole thing over and over in my mind a thousand times and I just don’t think I could have anticipated that move. Maybe I should have thought about him making that move or at least waited to see what he was going to do but I didn’t. We learn something every day, don’t we?

2:40 PM

It took me a minute to calm down and come down the tree. I didn’t even go to the spot I had shot him. I just walked out and called Chris. Chris picked me up and asked a million questions about the shot. I knew he and I were both hoping for a miracle. I shoot fixed blades and if it got that artery in his hams, he wouldn’t go far. Chris was very understanding and did his best to keep me cheered up. We agreed to leave him for the night and look in the morning. I spent the rest of the afternoon riding with Chris and glassing deer. I saw several that would go 160 or better and had as good of a time as I could under the circumstances. That was one of the longest nights of my life. I knew we had little chance of finding him.

9:00 AM Friday

After dropping off the other guys to hunt, Matt and I went to look for my buck. We followed blood for about 200 yards then it quit. Chris joined us and followed it another 50 yards before he lost it as well. We looked until 3:00 that afternoon. Nothing. I was and am still sick over that. I know that’s bowhunting and I know there is a good chance he will heal up and rejoin his place chasing does but that doesn’t make me feel any better. I am a hunter. I celebrate the victories and mourn the defeats. That’s just who I am. Sometimes you are high on the mountain and sometimes you end up in the valley low. Highs and lows. That’s hunting.

The guys at 180 were very understanding. I never heard a single negative thing from any of them but I was the BUTT of many jokes if you get my drift.

Summary

Overall, I was extremely pleased with my trip and everything it entailed. The weather sucked and the rut still hadn’t kicked off good yet but I saw a lot of deer and had the opportunity I was hoping for. The service was great and I plan on making a trip to 180 Outdoors an annual event now. No doubt in my mind.

About 180 Outdoors  www.hunt180.com

These guys are the best!!! Here are some of the things I felt were worth mentioning about them and their outfit.

• Their new guide Chris was the bomb! He treated us like visiting dignitaries even when we told him he didn’t have to. He was up before us making coffee and stayed up later than us cleaning up (or watching out for tornadoes).  He is also a smallmouth fishing guide in Michigan during the summers. Check him out at http://northernadventuresfishing.com/
• The guides spend a lot of time, while their clients are hunting, looking for the next best place to hunt.
• They have a lot of stand choices and you will rarely sit in the same stand twice unless you request to do so.
• All of their stands are setup for particular winds and they only hunt those stands if the wind is right.
• Their deer have very little pressure. They have so much land the stands don’t get overhunted. I had deer under my tree that didn’t even notice when I sneezed. Their deer are definitely not spooky like ours are back home.
• When they say they provide supper, they weren’t kidding. We had 6 of the best meals I have eaten in a while.
• The lodge is clean, comfortable and well equipped. Its nice but not fancy. Feels like home.
•  The main mission for the guys at 180 Outdoors is to first, put you on good deer and second, to make sure you have a great time. They did both.

By Robert Householder   Tue, Sep 06, 2011

DANVILLE, AL (August 28, 2011) – From now until the end of the year, bowhunters across North America can stay safe and save money with the great promotion that Hunter Safety System has put together with Barnett Crossbows. Simply purchase a Hunter Safety System vest or harness and a qualifying Barnett crossbow by the end of the year, and you will be eligible to receive a rebate of either $10 or $20. To qualify for the $20 rebate, you must purchase an HSS vest or harness with a price of $100 or more and a Barnett Crossbow with a price of $299 or more. The $10 rebate is available when you purchase an HSS vest or harness with a price of less than $100 and a Barnett Crossbow with a price of $299 or more.

Qualifying models can be viewed online at http://hssvest.4myrebate.com. Purchases must be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. To request your rebate, simply complete the rebate certificate at http://hssvest.4myrebate.com, and mail it along with an original copy of the sales receipt and the original UPC barcodes from both products. Mail must be postmarked by Jan. 31, 2012 and received by Feb. 15, 2012 to be eligible for the rebate. Checks will be received from HSS within eight to 10 weeks. Limit 1 rebate per household per product. Post office boxes cannot be used.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be safe, shoot straight and get some of your hard earned cash back!

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Danville, Alabama, Hunter Safety System is a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative deer hunting gear and hunting equipment for the serious hunter. For additional information, write to: The Hunter Safety System, 8237 Danville Road, Danville, AL 35619; call toll-free 877-296-3528; or visit www.huntersafetysystem.com.

By Miscellaneous Authors   Tue, Sep 06, 2011

Fox Lake, WI (September 1, 2011) Kolpin Outdoors, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the ATV Accessoriesproduct line from Cycle Country Accessories Corporation, of Spencer, IA, for $9.7 million subject to certain adjustments and contingencies. Kolpin is purchasing only the ATV Accessories product line, and not anyother operating entity of Cycle Country, nor its manufacturing operations, real estate, machinery and equipment, nor its working capital assets.  Cycle Country will continue to manufacturethe ATV Accessories products for Kolpin through the 2011/2012 season under a manufacturing agreement between the parties.  In addition, Kolpin agreed to assume certain liabilities, including liabilities relating to the operation of the Productline after closing and certain warranty obligations of the company. Closing is expected to occur with approximately 30-45 days, subject to the appropriateregulatory review and consents. Additional information will be available in a Form 8-K that Cycle Country Accessories Corp will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 1, 2011.

Kolpin is a dominant player in the ATV accessories industry. This acquisition will give Kolpin a substantial share of the ATV/UTV aftermarket accessories category.  “We are very pleased be able to bring together two of the premium brands in the Powersports space, Kolpin and Cycle Country,” stated Tom Lutes, President and CEO of Kolpin. “Our intentions are to keep the current Cycle Country products and brand exclusive to the Powersports channel, while pursuing new, differentiated product in other channels under the Kolpin brand.” Lutes went on to say "this significant addition to the Kolpin family will insure our leadership position in offering our customers the broadest array of ATV/UTV accessories in the business."

The sale is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, but has been approved by written action of the stockholders of the company holding voting rights to greater than 51% of the outstanding stock in the Company, and is therefore, not subject to additional stockholder action. Closing adjustments, payment of debt and accrued liabilities, and contingent payment conditions will reduce the proceeds received from this transaction.

"After exploring all available alternatives, it was determined that selling the ATV Accessories product line was the best opportunity to maximize the value of the business for our company stockholders, as well as to provide the best opportunity for our customers,employees, and suppliers," company CEO Robert Davis said in a prepared statement.

About Kolpin Outdoors Inc:

Kolpin® Outdoors Inc. is a growth-oriented marketer and manufacturer of innovative ATV accessories and UTV accessories. As The Leader in All-Terrain Innovation, Kolpin sets the standard for quality, innovation and design. Kolpin ATV products and UTV products are designed for recreational ATV and UTV riders,hunters & outdoorsmen, and landowners. Kolpin continues to redefine theindustry with patented innovations such as our world-renowned Kolpin Expansion System (KXP), Gun Boot® cases and brackets, Stealth Exhaust, DirtWorks™ System and a large assortment of ATV and UTV accessories. To learn about the latest products, news and topics follow us on www.kolpin.com

About Cycle Country Accessories Corporation:

Cycle Country is the recognized industry leader in the innovation, design, sales, and manufacturing of custom fitting accessories for utility and all-terrain vehicles (UTVs and ATVs), under the brand name of Cycle Country Accessories. Products include snowplows, mowers, 3-point hitches and implements, storageboxes and baskets, bed lifts, brush guards and more. 

Sarah Hudzinski | Manager - Marketing Services

By Brad Gordon   Mon, Aug 15, 2011

You have been considering starting hunting with a muzzleloader; you have a lot of questions and many of them are still unanswered. Well, read on my friend, and I’ll try an answer some of them and hopefully give you the information to get started in this wonderful shooting sport. Another good source is to visit several muzzle loading manufacturers web sites which often contain valuable information on selecting your gun.

What to buy in caliber and type all need careful planning along with deciding what game animals you are going to hunt plays a large part in your selection. Game regulations in your state or out-of -state hunts should also be in your thought process when making your selection. Generally, the closer the gun is to a traditional type of muzzleloader (flint or percussion/cap) the more options it can be used for in several states; in-line ignitions are not as usable in many western states. Many states even have restrictions on the type of ignition system, the size and type of bullet your gun uses so investigate the regulations with care and due diligence.

Once you know the regulations in your state and other states you plan to hunt in, you can make a better selection of the type of muzzleloader that will shoot the best. For example, round balls lose energy down range quicker than conical or sabots but maybe you only hunt in heavy cover so this doesn’t matter to you. Round balls and sabots can be harder to load than some conical bullets due to barrel fouling from powder and repeat shots. A fast rate of twist is very important; 1:32 (or 1 complete twist of the projectile every 32 inches) which works well for conical and sabot bullets to stabilize them in flight. Whereas, a slow twist of 1:60 in your new gun barrel works best for stabilizing round balls to spin slowly and accomplish accuracy. Many manufacturers compromise by making guns with a 1:48 twist to allow the hunter to shoot all types of projectiles accurately enough once a load is worked up to hunt your desired quarry. All ethical hunters need to spend time on the range experimenting with different projectiles and powder to see what their new gun shoots the best. Keep your targets and mark down the projectile used, powder type and amount, along with type of primer used for in-inline guns or type of cap etc.

Types of finishes on the gun matter as usually a stainless finish handles foul weather better along with powder pitting caused by black powder which attacks barrels and components with more vigor than smokeless powder. Many new powders on the market like Pyrodex or Triple Seven for example limit the above problems caused by traditional black powder. If you hunt in humid, wet, or snowy conditions I would definitely not only heavily consider a stainless barrel but a synthetic type stock to improve and maintain accuracy by preventing warping of the stock.

Iron sights or mounting a scope on your muzzleloader depends again on regulations, the type of hunter you are, the terrain you’ll be hunting in and the game all matter in your choice of sights. As I’ve aged and my eye sight worsened, I’ve gone to a scope on my muzzleloader and seen my accuracy improve.

Sighting in your new gun can be an adventure and it’s great if you organize with some of your friends a shooting day and ask them to lend you a few conical bullets, sabots and shells, and round balls in your caliber choice with different grain weights. Ask them to bring with them a variety of loose black powder, pyrodex powder or pellets, and triple seven powder or pellets to experiment with for the best load accuracy in your gun. You might even bring a few prizes like black powder accessories to reward for the best group shot that day or the closest shot made at a certain distance offhand. Remember to bring cleaning materials with you to clean your gun barrel between shots to achieve the best accurate load. Nothing is better in the outdoors than sharing the day with good friends while getting your new load worked up for your gun.

Remember the sniper’s code, “one shot, one kill” and you have now entered the wonderful world of the muzzleloader’s shooting sport.

By   Mon, Nov 14, 2011

Most if not all TH members spend a good amount of time in the great outdoors. Hunting is actually an excuse or reason used to get out and enjoy Mother Nature’s wonders. While enjoying her serene beauty have you ever just sat and observed the entire space around you? Ever wondered what that noise was, or what bird makes that song or chirp? When you sit on a fallen tree to rest, have you thought about the insects and fungi working to turn that tree into food or a home. Everything in nature has a purpose and a job to do and its survival is dependent upon something else doing theirs. It is a very fine balancing act that has been honed for more years than we have entered this domain. Have you ever tried to really listen to what Mother Nature is trying to tell you? She definitely has her own unique language and communication skills.

Mother Nature has woodland sentry’s that stand guard and announce when invaders are approaching. They are the squirrels that chatter at you as you move through the woods or the blue jays and chickadees that seem to curse your every move. Yet when you get to a spot to sit quietly just to observe, they quiet down and tolerate your presence. If you are bow hunter you may have a chickadee come to perch close to you in your stand. Did you know you can use these sentries to your advantage? After they have adjusted to your presence, if they start up their ruckus again, chances are there is something else invading the area. If you are hunting deer it may be one, or it could be a predator or another hunter, so be alert. Nothing seems to escape the constant monitoring of the woodland sentry’s.

Mother Nature can also predict the weather. She is much better at it than the TV weather people, I guess it's because she has been doing it so long. If you know how to read her signals, you can be better prepared. If the robins show up early in the spring the chances of an early spring are promising. Just remember the old saying “spring won’t break until the robin has had snow on its tail three times”, and this holds pretty true. Migratory birds are another very good indicator and if you take time to record their movements from year to year, you can see a definite pattern and establish a base line. This year the Canadian geese started heading South on September 9, from my chronicled observations (not scientific just the 40 years of writing down observations) this is about two weeks ahead of the norm. Typically, we have a frost and usually within the next seven days. A frost warning has been issued for September 15th. The Lapland Longspur is an arctic songbird, when they show up in the middle of November the upcoming winter is going to have above average snowfall and last well into March or April. Another winter indicator is the average deer coloration if it darker than normal it is also an indicator of a colder than normal winter.

Mother Nature has even built language arts into the plants. When tracking or some call it scouting, take the time to figure out how quickly a grass starts to stand back up after being stepped on. This will allow you to determine how long ago the track was made. Then pay close attention to the “hair grabbers”, every region has their own species of these thorny nasty little devils, in my neighborhood it's prickly ash and raspberries. When you learn to use them they can tell you what has passed by and in what direction. While tracking use all the tools available. Don’t just observe the deer droppings, analyze them. If they contain plum seeds then find where the wild plum trees are and this will give you an advantage in charting movement, same for cherry seeds and apple seeds. If they have corn hulls in them determine the best or most travelled route to the source.

These are some of the lessons Mother Nature has taught me. Some lessons may only be relevant to my particular region. The region where you are has its own special language from Mother Nature. Try to understand what she is trying to tell you. This knowledge will make your outdoor experience more rewarding. When I go to another region I study the flora in advance. This gives me an understanding what the language dialect is for that specific area.

By Paul Holland, Dutch-Hunter

By   Thu, Nov 10, 2011

As the sun started to show itself ever so slightly on the horizon, I turned back around in my ground blind to the sound of honking geese. That sound of anticipation never gets old and in Manitoba, it signals the beginning of the hunt. I have written about Manitoba for years and as an American hunter and fisherman, the stories have been as varied as the destinations and encounters I have experienced. A consistent thread runs through the tapestry of those experiences and that thread is adventure. Manitoba’s hunting and fishing has burned amazing memories and put a fire for her, in my soul. Nothing quite gets my adrenalin pumping like waterfowl hunting and when I’m in Manitoba, I am on adrenalin overload!

Home base for this adventure is Agassiz Waterhen River Lodge and Outfitters located in Waterhen, Manitoba, in the heart of the Central Flyway. I have no regret saying, this without question is the best destination for waterfowl I have ever visited. I have hunted here before and have had dreams about coming back. As a duck and goose hunter, Agassiz Outfitters is a mecca for waterfowl. Owners, Rick and Colleen Liske, run the most organized waterfowl operation I have ever encountered. Rick Liske has made a point of working hard to establish excellent relationships with farmers for miles around so his guest have unlimited potential and possibilities. Realize that when you are here, there are two things you will always do: Hunt a lot and eat very well. Agassiz Outfitters is not the place to start your diet! Colleen is an excellent cook who seems to never sleep. The glue that holds the boards together, she makes sure you are well fed with excellent, well prepared dishes. Some of her receipts can be found on their website; More on that later.

THE HONKING GEESE REVISITED

We were set up perfectly. The farmer had left plenty of cover in the field, the sun and the breeze were to our backs and the sounds of the geese grew louder as we saw the first group when they appeared on the horizon over the tree tops. It was a long line of birds and by their sounds it appeared they were “cacklers” AKA the lesser Canada goose. A tasty yet sometimes picky and crafty bird, they, at times can be hard to decoy. However, today was not that day. I held double duty on this morning as within our group of six I was one of the callers as well as cameraman for my web show www.hookandhunttv.com So what I really needed was another arm for my gun! The geese locked in on our decoys and we could easily see them cup their wings and start to descend toward us. We knew we were covered up well and our decoy spread was set to match what Rick had seen in this field the morning before. A mixture of lesser, greater, blues and snow geese were using this field and so our decoy setup matched accordingly. As they got closer we could see the large group of lessers checking out our spread. They dropped air from their wings and descended quickly because they liked what they heard and saw. Eight of the geese broke from the flock and circled just out in front to ride the wind current and passed right in front of us at about 25 yards. Take ’em was called by Jerry our guide and the whip cracking sound of shotguns echoed as 7 of those geese dropped from the air. The lone goose circled around as I called to him with a “moan’. He took the same route as the rest of the flock and met a similar fate. First round of the morning and we were off to an excellent start. Our group of hunters contained 6 very good shooters including Jerry Liske, who is Rick’s’ father and Jordan Liske, Rick’s son who was on his first guiding experience. Jordan was in a blind next to me and we “high fived” as the first group of geese hit the ground. A well scouted field with excellent team work by the hunters to set up and cover up, our success was heard by the hollers’ from the group. A great way to start!

We did not have much time to celebrate as more geese were getting off Dauphin lake. The sun climbed a little higher in the sky behind us, the geese were silhouetted black and easily identifiable in the morning sky. I was watching a group coming in from the right side and calling to them. A voice from my left yelled here they come. I quickly turned to see even a bigger group coming from a different direction. They were on us like mosquitoes! Some geese came in so fast they were on the ground before we knew it, the perfect decoys! Another group was coming from the front as the original group I saw from my right passed 15 yards above me, but not a perfect shot for the group so we let them pass. Here came the big bunch of snows and blue geese coming right in. They cupped their wings, and the screeching sound they make was almost deafening as Jerry again called Take ‘em! The shotguns barked in unison as another bunch of geese hit the ground. No time to collect them, here came another big flock dropping quicker and faster than the last group. If there is goose hunting in heaven, Lord it must be like this. For an hour and 45 minutes, the geese came in wave after wave. When we all reached our limits, we unloaded our guns, and called to the geese as I filmed them coming in and walking around in our decoys. The best goose hunt of my life.

MEMORIES

On my previous trip to Agassiz outfitters, a 3 day hunt provided the two best duck hunts of my life. Now they have added a goose hunt as well. So my top 3 waterfowl hunts ever, have all occurred in Manitoba at Agassiz Outfitters. The next two days were memorable as well. We had incredible blue wing teal hunts each night. Blue and green wing teal are incredibly fast fliers and the aerial display they put on will challenge any shooter. To see those small ducks come in so fast and in so vast numbers was breath taking.

Agassiz Lodge and Outfitters is an incredible place for any hunter and especially if you’re a waterfowler. Well run and comfortable this is a destination you must put on your bucket list. A family run operation with honesty and integrity they will deliver what they promise and work hard to ensure it. Please check them out at www.agassizoutfitters.com or give Colleen a call at 1-204-628-3491. I must also thank Travel Manitoba www.travelmanitoba.com for again allowing me to visit and experience the adventure and memories that can only be Manitoba. I am always excited about my next adventure to my favorite province. I am already packed, ready to go and will again be there in an instance an on a wing and a prayer.

By: JIM “Jimmygoose” CROWLEY

By   Wed, Oct 26, 2011

I recently purchased the LiD-CAM by Rhino Outdoors at the BuckMasters Expo this year in Montgomery, AL. The camera is an all new product for 2011 and is very versatile and groundbreaking in the self filming area of the hunting world. The camera does as the name implies and mounts under the bill of your cap, hat or visor, that way whatever you are looking at is what you record. The camera weighs less than 4 oz., and feels light enough that you hardly even notice it is there. The camera comes equipped with dual LED lights so that you can have a light as you walk to and from your stand. The innovated part of the camera is that it has a fully rotating lens that will rotate 60 degrees so with it turned from the center shot, no matter if you right or left handed, you can get that great impact shot that you are not going to get with the fixed lens cameras that are the market today. It comes equipped with a three position pre-set zoom built in, you just set it to the desired level of zoom that you want or need. The camera is a 720p video with the date and time stamped into the video when you set it up. It also records very high quality sound with a built in microphone that reduces most of the wind noise. The three function switch allows you to go from off to on and standby to record with ease. It comes with a built in lithium battery that has a three hour record time and up to nine hours on standby, so that when you get in the stand you can pretty much turn it on and be set for the days hunt. It comes with a 2GB micro SD card to capture your hunt and store for future viewing. The built in USB port allows you to download the video onto your computer and also can be connected to your television and show the last hunt that was filmed on it. The port can also be used for new upgrades as they become available. The company is located in Boiling Springs, SC and can be reached via the website @ www.rhinOutdoors.com or by phone at 1-888-689-6099. I contacted them to warranty my camera as they come with a one year limited warranty. Remember this camera is not waterproof, so be careful on those rainy day hunts. The camera comes with the SD card, one USB cable, one AV cable and one each AC and 12 volt adapter for on the go charging. The camera retails for around $ 150.00 and makes filming your hunt a one man operation. I filmed about 15 minutes of video while in the stand from my recent hunt in South Carolina (sorry no deer around) just to check out the quality of the video and I was well pleased. I would recommend this camera to you hunters that want to film some of your hunts, but don’t want to spend a lot of money and don’t have that partner to go with you. Check this product out when you have time.

Randy "Hunly" Haehnlein

By   Wed, Oct 26, 2011

Making Outdoor Memories with Kids This is a story of my first experience taking both of my boys to the woods; just the three of us. I wrote this two years ago just after this took place. I happened to find it and thought it may be a fun read for bringing in the 2011-12 season.

At the time, I was very anxious to fulfill the dream of sharing my love of hunting with them. Hunting season had arrived and even though I knew in my heart it was still a little early to get them out, I gave it a go anyway. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything, but would probably have done things a little different. This is for all the parents out there with up and coming hunters. October 19, 2009 My wife is a nurse and works a lot of weekends. This weekend was one of them. I was graced to have my boys Logan (age 5) and Cole (age 2) all to myself for most of the weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend so we spent most of our time outside. Saturday we played and worked outside and ended the day burning a big brush pile and having a weenie roast.

Over the fire I mentioned going to the deer lease on Sunday and of course they were all in. The owner of our lease cleared several areas this year and we have turned a couple of clearings into food plots. There is one that is getting just hammered by deer. I'm thinking I could manage the two boys on the ground easily in a ground blind so we're off to hunt the new food plot. Cole still needs a nap everyday so I timed the trip to the lease to his normal nap time. Of course he was all excited and fought off the nap......until we pulled in the gate. When I got out to open the gate and looked back he was crashed. Okay, no problem. We drove the truck up to within about 50 yards to where I wanted to hunt. Logan and I got all the gear and left Cole in the truck with the windows down so I could hear him when he woke up. Off we went.

When Logan saw all the deer tracks he was ready to get in that blind. So he helped me set it up, spray it down with scent spray, and.....brush it in. He saw me sawing limbs and saplings with my hand saw and insisted I let him give it a go. I showed him how sharp the saw was, gave him a short safety lesson, and when he took it out of my hand his excitement got the best of him. He snatched it out of my hand catching the first knuckle on my right hand. Yep cut it real good. It didn't need stitches or anything but I had to wrap it up to control the bleeding. No big deal, he felt bad and I didn't get on to him, just told him how to take a knife or saw out of someone’s hand and blew it off so he didn't freak out from all the blood. I let him cut one branch and quickly got the saw out of his hand before it was an arm or and entire hand coming off.

With Logan's “great help”, we quickly had our blind set up and it was ready to hunt. About that time I heard Cole sounding off in the truck so I ran back to the truck so he didn't freak out from waking up alone staring at unfamiliar woods. I left Logan in the blind by himself and told him just to sit still and quiet and I'd be right back. He had a big question mark over his head when he realized he would be by himself in the blind for a couple minutes....but he agreed and stayed put. He felt better after I zipped the door shut and told him nothing could get him. In my haste to quickly get to a very upset Cole I had to scale a barbed wire fence and caught my left hamstring on a very sharp barb. In my younger years I could negotiate a barbed wire fence without hardly slowing down, but for some reason they have seemed to get higher over the years. I didn't have time to see how bad it was but I can assure you it hurt more than a Gerber handsaw taking off a knuckle.

Cole was all swelled up and didn't like his situation when I arrived. He was pretty upset but got over it fairly quickly. I drove the truck about 100 yards further away and parked it where it was hidden in the trees. Did I mention I left my single shot .22 with Logan in the blind? NO it wasn't loaded; I had the bullets in my pocket. Anyway, Cole and I walked back and met Logan at the blind where we would spend some quality time all together in the stand, safely on the ground. By now the wound on my leg had quit bleeding somewhat so all the bleeding was under control. Cole and I get in the blind with Logan and immediately they are thirsty. Ol Dad thought ahead and had some drinks and snacks in the cooler. I got them both out a Capri Sun then they attacked the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. After several arguments on who sits where, whose chair is whose, etc we kind of got settled in.

I have an old Ithaca lever action single shot .22 that Logan has been trained to shoot. We brought it with us because Logan wanted a real gun to "shoot a hog in the brain" with. So why not, there's a chance some hogs would come through and if they did I'd be all about him getting to shoot something. I noticed the .22 had some mud on the end of the barrel so I picked it up to check it out. Yep, when I was tending to Cole in the truck Logan decided the barrel of the gun worked great for digging holes in the sand. It was packed. I had already told myself not to take this trip too serious and to make sure I made it fun for the boys, but this was a time for a lesson with handling guns. So I got on him pretty hard about that and put the gun up. He got upset, then Cole got upset, and Dad was upset. Okay dad, get control of the situation here. So I said we didn't need the gun anyway, I had my bow.

So I got my bow out of the case and hung it to my left. They thought that was too cool. Logan didn't understand how I could shoot through the mesh windows so I got out an arrow sporting a G5 Striker and showed him how the arrow turns like a drill and would have no problem slicing through the mesh. He insisted on handling the arrow with this extremely sharp broad head. Against my better judgment I let him hold it very briefly. Cole had already lost interest in the arrow but the bow hanging up to my left was just the grandest thing he ever saw. I was so focused on Logan with that arrow in his hand I didn't pay much attention to Cole.....then I heard.......”Daddy what's this?” I grabbed the arrow from Logan and turned to look what Cole was asking about. He had pulled the fiber optic string out of my 20 yard pin. I couldn't have done that with a pair of needle nose pliers but somehow my 2 year old figured out how to disable a very expensive fiber optic sight. I still can't figure out how he did it. Oh well, a $140 yard sight on my Mathews is now in need of an overhaul.....make it fun dad....you can do it. After at least 50 times telling them to use their whisper voices, and separating them from at least 5 pushing matches that turned to scuffles, I decided the ground blind hunt was probably a bad idea. I was just hoping to see some deer more than anything but with the ground blind shaking from movement and the steady flow of "Stop it Bubba" and "Daddy, Cole hit me" there was just no way anything resembling a wild animal would show.

Somehow, someway, I looked up and there was a turkey walking 10 yards right in front of us. That got their attention for.....a few seconds and then the games were on again. I thought the turkey sighting was a miracle and was really cool, but they brushed it off like seeing a caged animal in the Fort Worth Zoo. No big deal. I then realized this meant much more to me than them. So I decided to pack it in. I let them play around the pond for a while then we made our way back to the truck. When we got back to the truck I had a surprise. A certain odor was coming from the back seat. Cole is not yet potty trained. He's resisting it with the determination of a beagle after a hare. So I took care of that and managed it pretty well. Dad was thinking ahead in that department too. Even had the little plastic bags to put it in so we wouldn't have to drive home with the windows down.

Okay, they're back in their seats strapped in. I had this feeling of relief come across me. It was low 60's with a very nice north breeze blowing but I had a really good sweat worked up from dealing with these little terds. I was down to single layers and was still lathered up. We had about 1 hour before dark so I decided since I had the animals caged, and the weather was so perfect, I would just drive around the lease a little and hopefully see some deer around the edges. We're in my wife's Nissan Armada.......2WD. For those of you who have never been off-road in a.....2WD Nissan Armada let me just say this; DON'T DO IT. I thought we would be fine since it hasn't rained in 3 days or so. We're heading up this slightly worn pasture road, everything is cool, and here comes a small low spot in the trail where the soil

was slightly darker than the rest of the very dry and nicely packed sandy loam soil I had already been on. We hit the moist area and stopped in our tracks. I tried forward, backward, and we were stuck. It's almost dark, I have no cell signal, and I'm stuck in far north Fannin County with a hungry 2 year old and a 5 year old laughing cause he thought we got to spend the night at the deer lease because we were stuck. I had to make a decision quick. So I got them back out, and we walked searching for a signal. The mosquitoes in Fannin County at dusk resemble hornets. It was terrible. Zing, zap, buzz buzz, they were all over us. Finally I found 1 bar and was able to call the landowner. Of course he was tied up and couldn't be there for an hour or so. So I called dad...no answer......then a couple of buddies with no luck. Out of the blue my wife called me and she had got off early and was trying to find us. I told her to bring the 4WD Tahoe immediately to pull us out. So she departs for the deer lease from home about 40 miles away. About 10 minutes later the landowner calls me back and says he's on his way...only 5 minutes out. So I tried to call my wife back to call her off and she didn't answer. I called and called but she never answered. She had her phone on vibrate and never realized I was trying to call her off.

So finally Ronnie shows up, gives me the slightest little tug to free us from the damp hole we were in and we're off. I met my wife on the hwy on the way home and had to turn around to run her down. Of course it was dark and she didn't recognize our vehicle so she didn't want to stop. She has heard all the stories about all the rough neck hillbilly's in that area and she did not want to stop. Finally when she pulled into the road to our lease she moved over to the side and allowed me to pull up next to her. That was an extra 10 miles I didn't care to drive but I had to or she would have been searching all over the deer lease in the dark looking for her boys. Finally, the entire family is on our way home and soon to be safe in the confines of our home. I couldn't ignore the throbbing of my hamstring and knuckle but wasn't too concerned about it. I didn't realize how much my leg had bled.....I didn't really have time to think about it.

When we got home we all went to the laundry room to take off our camo clothes for the wash. One rule around our house is takem off at the door when you come home from the lease. Ticks are terrible. So me and the wife are tending to the kids and managed to keep them separated long enough to get their clothes off. My wife happened to notice the back of my left pants leg was a much darker color than the rest of my clothes and noticed a big tear in my pants. The knuckle didn't need stitches but the leg probably did. It was worse than I thought. It's a nice benefit having an ER nurse around the house. She managed to clean it up and glue it shut somehow and fix the knuckle with a nice dressing. She wasn't happy about the blood stain on her leather seat in the truck but we managed to get it cleaned up.

Today was a victory. Anytime me and these two high strung boys go out for an adventure it's usually one of them that needs to be bandaged up on our return. I managed to bring them home safely without any new scars. For Dad, nothing a new bow site, a gun cleaning, a little medicine for the skeeter bites, and minor surgery on my leg and knuckle won't cure. Today is a day I'll never forget but the boys probably won't think twice about it. This won't be attempted again until their a little older. I think I'll try Logan just me and him next time. For Cole, he'll have to shed them diapers before he earns his next trip to the deer blind. I love them more than anything in this world but they're just not ready yet, and neither is Dad.

Russell (russcat) Latimer

By   Thu, Sep 01, 2011

Our military men and women, true American Heroes, put it all on the line everyday fighting for every ounce of freedom that we have. They all give 100% of themselves in their training and deployments; sacrificing time with family and loved ones; as well as through much blood, sweat, and tears. Some unfortunately pay the ultimate price giving their lives for the fight. Then, some suffer life altering injuries that require years of rehabilitation, painful surgeries, and counseling; basically learning a new way of living - or even surviving! This is where the Wounded Warrior Project steps in raising funds to assist with these life altering changes! The work that the Wounded Warrior Project does to help these heroes is amazing but funds have to come from somewhere. Although the Wounded Warrior Project hosts a number of functions to raise some of these donations, one of the advocates for the Wounded Warrior Project is ToughMudder whom raises funds for this worthy cause. At the time of this writing Tough Mudder has proudly raised over $1,865,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project! You can check out both The Wounded Warrior Project and Tough Mudder on the internet at Woundedwarriorproject.org and Toughmudder.com.

I have have been a member of TalkHunting since April 20, 2010 and in Law Enforcement for over 18 years now currently assigned as a Sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Division. I have never been in the military but have many friends and family members that serve in different branches of the military. That said, I have the deepest respect for all military members and the sacrifices that they make daily fighting for my freedom and rights as well as yours. I also feel compelled to do something to pay it back so to speak! As such, I have registered to participate in the ToughMudder Race being held in Virginia on October 22, 2011. By doing so, my registration fee and raised donations sponsoring me in the ToughMudder Race are applied to the Wounded Warrior Project's cause through ToughMudder! So, what is a ToughMudder Race? The ToughMudder Race is basically a 9 to 11 mile obstacle course with 18 to 25 hardcore obstacles scattered throughout the course. The course in Virginia is slated as a 9 mile course with 25 obstacles - Thankfully, closer to 9 miles instead of 11 miles, since prior to training for this race, I have never run farther than 5 miles at a time and that was way back in the police academy over 18 years ago. The obstacles on the course range from swimming in frigid water, climbing over 12 foot walls, running under and over downed trees, climbing over and under cargo nets, crawling under wire, carrying logs up the mountain side, running through fields of dangling wires (some live at 10000 volts), and running through fields of fire to name a few. On ToughMudder.com there are some pretty impressive pictures from these obstacles.

I have been training hard for the race and am actually looking forward to it. I have posted about this on the TalkHunting Forums in the Campfire Section and I will update the post thread with some training updates as well. First off, I want to apologize as I don't want to offend anybody, as I know this is first and foremost a fantastic hunting website and I know this topic has nothing to do with hunting. However, since I've been a member of TalkHunting the overwhelming feeling that I get from its members is that; like myself, most, if not all of you, have a great respect and appreciation for our American military members too. Secondly, I don't get anything for supporting this cause but the satisfaction of somehow helping a hero who put it on the line fighting to help me, my family, friends, and other Americans! In my time associated with TalkHunting I know there are a lot of members in my Talk Hunting family that feel the overwhelming pride and support for our great American Military men and women like I do. With this in mind, I have been working with Hunt Master receiving authorization to give members of the Talk Hunting Family a way to help out and show their support with a donation to this cause, if felt obliged too. The donations would be made on-line and are placed directly through ToughMudder towards the Wounded Warrior Project with a link I'll provide at the end of this article, this way there are no thoughts of skepticism or concerns of any scam or of me keeping any of the donated funds. The link for any donation is as follows and will be active up until the day of my race 10/22/11:

http://www.raceit.com/fundraising/fundraise.aspx?event=2837&fundraiser=2683

The link will show donations made in your name supporting me and my ToughMudder team (Crazy Crows) with all donations going to the Wounded Warrior Project. I have also been designing a shirt to wear for the race proudly showing TalkHunting.com supporting this cause. A tentative design for the shirt is also pictured in the post thread on TalkHunting! Let me know what you think of the shirt and any suggestions are welcome as it is still in the design phase.

I would also like to take a moment to thank TalkHunting.com, HuntMaster, Moderators and Staff for recognizing this great cause and allowing me to post on TalkHunting.com and in the TalkHunting Magazine for such a worthy cause. Also, thank you to any members or TH Sponsors for any support be it monetary or simply words of encouragement to this well worth cause. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

JALA RUT

Joe Antinora