Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bigfoot Panic!





I see it all the time.

Moved a cam over to a new scrape. Still got a Moultrie that has quit flashing, just gives me a black file. Not good, because lots of things happen at night, especially movement by big bucks. I guess its a clunker, though it was the newest cam.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Cam run.


Cam gone bad. Gotten glitchy since it was submerged when the lake dam broke. Need a new one.


I'm convinced Lucie can hear deer moving around us in the brush. She's always alerting on things that I can't hear.


Lucie waiting in the truck. Like a teenager she is always ready to go to the next thing.


Doesn't look like much but it's great deer habitat. Creeks and brush. Just very tough to hunt.


Walk-around rifle.


Last years dogs. Always a pack of dogs dumped in the country out here. Bad luck to bump into me last year when I was toting a suppressed 10/22.


Walmart chair tree seat. Screw in steps and a little adapted technology.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Bighorn Sheep being moved around in West Texas

Moving Bighorn Sheep from the Alpine area to the Big Bend.

Bobcat pausing.







He's facing into the creek bottom. Just sitting and watching.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Relative of this years Buck.


WAY inside the ears. Not legal.


From the side he looks much bigger. Next year he will be massive but still not legal. No way he's going to pick up six more inches of width.

Another narrow-horned buck on the same hillside. A year younger than the one I shot this year. Narrow from the front, looks big from the side.

I'm putting a seat in a tree overlooking this scrape. It's right on a little knoll in the brush over the creekbottom. Got the climbing screws in already.

Snow in Tyler.



Our fair city, which is positively agog with taxpayer money, is able to put on a snow day at the park just before Christmas. You guys up North suffering through the blizzard...I'm thinking of you!

They actually bring in machines to make enough fake snow to build a little snow mountain. Very cute.

They help pay for it with an appraisal district that has the morals of Blackbeard and a police dept that writes twice as many tickets to us citizens as any other city our size in Texas.

Enjoy the snow!

New Buck.


Looks like a 3 1/2 year old to me. Might be 4 1/2 but the body looks like a 3 1/2.



I think I'm seeing both brow tines, so it's not the buck with the missing tine doing ballet down below.



Not many points but massive antlers.


Wandering around in the middle of the day like a tourist. I don't think I have seen this big eight-point before but he knows the territory.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Doetags in Clarksville.







Dr. Sneed did all the triggerwork and I just sat and spotted. Did get to skin a deer with my beat-up WW2 Ebay Queen City and also an Atlanta Cutlery Nepalese Armory Patch knife. Still don't have a scrap of deer meat from this year. Given it all away so far.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Buck Ballet


Notice the scrape isn't dug out.


Now it is. Just takes them a few seconds. 10 seconds between frames.



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Two does back with their fawns.



Fawn in the rear still has a row of spots down it's back.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Wandering bucks


Broken brow tine from fighting.


Nice sized- about 15 inches inside. Probably a 3 1/2 year deer.


Only seven points. Not very good genetics. Ought to be a much bigger deer all around next year. Should be shot on sight because of the genes, this year if I got a chance.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Little 2 1/2 year old 12 point.


Just a youngster. Barely wider than his ears. Next year he'll be 15 inches.





Great genetics. 12 points is kind of rare. Beautiful even rack. Next year, if he lives, (which he ought to if he made it through the first of the season), he will be very impressive. TWO years from now he will be a 140 class buck. Despite that, he SHOULD NOT be shot. Great genetics like this ought to be left to breed every doe in the bottom.

Rugged Manly Men.


Utley and Crawford with the Crawford Service Rifle Trophy. Utley has won it three times at least. At Panola yesterday he shot a new match rifle upper and shot 100X2 offhand, finishing with a 491.

Rut still flashing along.


Obligatory Doe Butt photo.


Doe at the scrape licking her nose. Alone. She's in heat.


Nice buck floating by. I compared this frame to one after it to see what was twigs and what was antler. He was a big guy. I don't think they ever come out of cover this time of the year. Look at the time stamp. Middle of the day.

Rut still flashing along though this ought to be about the end of it. Big Bucks and does floating around in the cover. Just have to be in exactly the right place.

Weaponized 2nd Grader.


Kid with his personal 6.5 Grendel. Couple of deer on the ground this season.

It's not a free country anymore but we have fun where we can.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Dogging


Katie holding the pup under the neighborhood Ginko tree.


The pup riding around.


Here's a neighborhood dog who doesn't fare so well. Locked in the house all day.

Friday, November 26, 2010

If you SHOT someone by mistake at a rifle range....

........It would be a crime and you would be prosecuted. Golfer kills a man and it's just an accident.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Daily Deercam.


Wonky-horned buck that I had seen on cam several times. Better next year.


12 point I have never seen. He's going to be a trophy next year, but should NEVER be shot. Genetics too good. He ought to rule the bottom for the next four or five years and sire all the fawns.


Same deer on a different cam. Must have been making a sweep. He's just a big 2 1/2 or a 3 1/2 year old. Going to be a monster next year.


From his body development I think he is just a 2 1/2.


Big eight point I think I have seen before. Nice buck. Like most, better next year.

Secondary rut going on now, the few does that weren't bred the first time are getting attention. Found a perfect tree for a stand.

Friday, November 19, 2010

National Ammo Day.

National Ammo Day today! Buy 100 rounds of your favorite ammo!

I just walked home with a cut-off milk jug of freshly tumbled Winchester and LC .223 brass from my studio but I think I will hit Academy and buy a few hundred rounds of something I need.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Final Skull



Boiled out, jaw glued together and tied on, wire out the back.

Cam move.


Decoy standing in the old logging road. Everything that has seen it has reacted.


Daytime view with a nice deer butt.


Night with a little buck.


One of the young boys wandering around.


Rabbit on the scrape. Common.


Moved a cam a few days ago to what seemed like a very active scrape area on the tip of a ridge coming into the creekbottom. It's got traffic but no monster resident buck yet.