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Pilgrim
Picture of 1720Todd
posted
I went out again today to check on the backside of my property. And again I saw some deer, up close. I am an amateur photographer so I usually take a camera everywhere.

This little button buck watched me, browsed, scratched and hung around until I walked back. Never really got more than 20 yards away and didn't run. Just so happens it was in the area where I set up to hunt. Obviously it is way too young, so I would just watch it.

Our antlerless season starts Friday and will be the first time the flintlock goes hunting this year. Hopefully this young buck will not be around, but a larger doe will. And hopefully my trusty firelock will help me fill the pot again.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 1720Todd,

 
Posts: 88 | Location: Delaware | Registered: 07 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Good deal. I was out this morning also I have two does in the area one has a set of twins with her and the other just has a fawn so shooting a doe won't be an option early this year.....Smiler


The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home.
 
Posts: 959 | Location: Alabama | Registered: 09 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I was told the animals will feel your intensity.If your just walking,no threat,but if you start to walk and act like a predator (hunting) the feel it and react.Like your dogs,walk out to visit, one reaction,walk out with your rifle and hunting frock on and they react totally different.
Looking forward to "woods walking" my rifle this year,Coyotes moved in several years ago and the animals have taken a real hit.
 
Posts: 1839 | Registered: 11 February 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
Picture of 1720Todd
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Funny you say that.
I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and carrying my camera. I even made a phone video of him.
I talked to him, asked what he was doing and made a lot of noise. He was leery about me, but never took off until I was walking back. Even then he bounced a couple yards and stopped.

I have started to photograph and film a lot of wildlife. I really enjoy it and, best of all, get to share it with others.

My brother has a coyote problem. They are making a mess of his chickens and ducks. Not to mention the wildlife.
 
Posts: 88 | Location: Delaware | Registered: 07 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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WC know the felling, my one dog barks at me continually if I have my hunting cloths on lol.


The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home.
 
Posts: 959 | Location: Alabama | Registered: 09 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
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Well I went to do some hunting on Friday and Saturday, both morn and night.
Didn't see any deer. The woods were dead quiet except for the squirrels. I probably could have filled my bag, but I was looking for bigger game. The little button buck wasn't even around.

Unfortunately it was 88 degrees both days and made for some uncomfortable sitting. Only thing I came home with was another case of chiggers. I've become accustomed to them though and have a pretty good remedy.

I also noticed that the inchworms have gotten worse. The are everywhere now. More so then the last couple weeks. Probably due to the warm weather. All the holly's are eaten up and their silk is almost impenetrable when you walk through the woods. It makes for some "sittin' up" when leaves are dangling all about the woods, caught in the silk, and any slight breeze draws your attention from their movement.

However, it is what I love. Just sitting in the woods listening to nature play it's tune and watching it's course is what makes me happy.
 
Posts: 88 | Location: Delaware | Registered: 07 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
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This might not seem newsworthy to some but yesterday while drivng home I saw a grouse walking along the roadside. I live in SE Ohio and can't remember the last time I saw a grouse. Now there may be more than I think because I don,t hunt them anymore. But I send a lot of time in the woods deer hunting and just treking and have not jumped one for years. woodcock either. I stopped the car and just sat and watched him.
 
Posts: 127 | Registered: 10 October 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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We are having gorgeous autumn weather here now. The forest is still mostly green, but there is plenty of yellow and some red showing among the leaves. Many leaves are falling already.
The first segment of the Tenasi bear hunting season opened a week ago. I finally got out in the woods last Tuesday. I wasn't serious about bear hunting. Actually, I was intent on cutting a trail through the underbrush to get to my deer blind that is in a gap up on a ridge. Instead of taking a rifle, I strapped my .357 magnum revolver on my hip, shouldered my backpack, and carried my loppers in my hand for snipping brush out of my path.
I crossed the creek on the railroad trestle, walked down the tracks a short way, and then ducked into the woods without leaving any sign of where my trail begins. Once back in the tangled undergrowth I began marking my trail. Around the end of the first ridge, across a ravine, up and over the next ridge, and down into a narrow valley. There is an ancient logging road that follows up the small stream. It is overgrown and as I proceeded I snipped off a branch or small sapling here and there to make my passage easier. Later, during deer season, I plan to follow this trail in the pre-dawn darkness, up to my stand at the gap.
I wasn't hunting, and I wasn't trying to be especially quiet. My loppers snapped and clacked as I cut off bushes and branches. Suddenly, I heard a "whoosh" of something moving rapidly through the undergrowth. Up ahead, about 40 yards, something big and glossy black. Bear!
The bear ran across the ravine in front of me, jumped the tiny creek, and bounded up the steep mountainside. I drew my revolver and ran forward to get a better view. The bear paused for several seconds and stood looking back at me. I used a small tree to steady my hands as I lined the gun sights up on the bruin's shoulder.
At about 60 yards now, if I'd had my rifle I think I could of had bear meat. However, several factors stopped me from pulling the trigger. First, I don't think that a .357 magnum has enough power to be a reliable stopper on an animal as large as that bear. Especially, not at 60 yards. Anyway, that is a long shot for a handgun.
That was a big bear. I would guess it weighed around 350 to 400 pounds. It was certainly larger than the 250 pound bear that I shot in Pennsylvania back in '72. And, that brings up my second concern. Tenasi requires that bears be taken, mostly whole with their reproductive organs intact, in to a check station. How would I, alone, ever get a beast like that out of there in one piece and back to my truck? No way!
So, the bear went over the mountain, and I smiled and chuckled with delight at having been privileged to see it.
I stopped and ate my lunch while enjoying the quiet of the forest. Far off in the distance I heard some hounds baying, probably on the trail of a bear, or a hog.
I finished my trail making up to my blind in the gap. I noted a fresh antler rub on a sapling right in front of my blind. That's good!


Know what you believe in. Fight for your beliefs. Never compromise away your rights.
 
Posts: 1296 | Location: Cherokee Land, Tenasi | Registered: 06 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
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I have seen only a couple bears in my life and it still makes my heart stop thinking about it. Most people probably don't realize how fast they are and how low they can get.
I saw one in western Maryland, a smaller one, but he came out of nowhere. The brush he was in didn't seem tall enough to hide a rabbit, let alone a bear.

As for grouse, we have none, but we did have quail and pheasants. Now they are gone. I remember hunting them as a child with my father, but haven't seen any in a very long time. Not wild born that is.
Maryland still has a bobcat season. It has been closed for the last 30+ years, but it is still in the hunting guide/regulations. Not sure why. My father and grandfather used to see them and occasionally shoot one that was too close to the livestock. I've never seen one around here though.

It's sad that instead of preserving our lands people decide to cut down all the trees, build a neighborhood, and then name the streets after them.
 
Posts: 88 | Location: Delaware | Registered: 07 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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