First off, I appreciate everyone who took the time last week to send in reports of the rut activity (or lack thereof) in your area. It is always fascinating to me to see how sometimes-small regional variations can make a huge difference in the level of rutting behavior that hunters witness.

Here in the upper Midwest, we are brink of an explosion. For the most part, the full-bore chase phase has not begun. But the bucks—including some of the mature deer—are getting very active. They are on their feet, roaming their core areas, hitting rubs and scrapes and looking for that first estrous doe. My good friend Mitch Hagen was hunting in southern Iowa over the weekend and reported several large bucks “shadowing” does. This is a fascinating behavior to me; the doe is clearly not “in” yet, but the buck senses she is getting close. The buck does not dog her or chase her, but simply follows and keeps track of her movements.

Mature bucks are highly adept at noting the signs of a soon-to-be estrous doe. He’s been down the breeding path before and can recognize whatever signals she’s sending... [ Read Full Post ]

Many years ago, when Shari and I were first dating, my wife-to-be was under the mistaken notion that I drank a 20-ounce bottle of pop every time I went hunting. Finally, I had to confess that I was not hooked on soda. The bottle was empty when I stuffed it in my backpack and, um, filled if my bladder convinced my brain we’d been in the treestand too long.

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We all know there isn’t much love lost between hunters and anti-hunters, but nobody wishes anybody any real harm—except when some crazy anti-hunter does wish us real harm and a newspaper has the poor taste to print his wish. Then it’s the hunters, in this case the National Shooting Sports Foundation, who take the high ground.

From the NSSF website:
Shameful is the word that comes to mind for the Burlington Free Press and its decision to print a reader's anti-hunting letter. . . . that was written in response to the Vermont paper's story about the opening of moose hunting season. . . .

Here's the letter:
Take a Few Hunters Along with the Moose
On this beautiful day we learn that about 1,251 hunters are taking to the woods with legal permits to "pursue prized quarry." Certainly the members of various humane organizations do not approve. I suggest that before the next annual killing season, other residents be awarded legal permits to kill hunters who will be out to kill these beautiful, non-destructive animals. Or the government could just rule out all this primitive killing.

The NSSF asked for an apology and got one, as well an... [ Read Full Post ]

Sometimes you read something that - to be perfectly honest - leaves you feeling hopeless and doomed. Something so depressing it makes you want to throw up your hands, shout "to hell with it all!" and head straight to the nearest bar. Something like this, from the LA Times.
 
The latest figures from Nielsen have children's TV usage at an eight-year high. Children's health advocates warn of adverse effects.
 
More than an entire day -- that's how long children sit in front of the television in an average week, according to new findings released Monday by Nielsen.

The amount of television usage by children reached an eight-year high, with kids ages 2 to 5 watching the screen for more than 32 hours a week on average and those ages 6 to 11 watching more than 28 hours. The analysis, based on the fourth quarter of 2008, measured children's consumption of live and recorded TV, as well as VCR and game console usage.

"They're using all the technology available in their households," said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen's senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. "They're using the DVD, they're on the Internet. They're not giving up any media --... [ Read Full Post ]

The January issue of Outdoors Magazine—a periodical covering hunting and fishing in the Northeast—asks the question “Can the beautiful women we see on television really hunt, or are they just selling sex appeal?” The magazine also promises to “shine a spotlight on the steamy world of women and whitetails.”

I’m a little confused about this question. “Can these women hunt?” Of course they can hunt! They are on camera, in the field, pursuing and killing deer.

The implied question is a little more troublesome. “Do these women actually have hunting skills, or is the camera just on them because the producers know pretty women will attract male viewers?” I happen to know a couple of the attractive women featured on outdoor TV and they are both serious and highly successful. They may have been introduced to hunting by their husbands relatively recently, but what does that matter? Do we require the men we see on these shows to submit a 30-year resume of hunting accomplishments before we’ll watch them?

No we do not. We watch them if they are engaging personalities who portray hunting in what (to us) is a positive light... [ Read Full Post ]

I’ll start with a confession; I have watched very little outdoor television. That’s partly design, but mostly accident. When we moved into our current home our twins were just babies; when Shari and I weren’t too darn busy tending kids, we were just too tired to tune in. So we put off ordering cable or satellite, and our rabbit ears pick up nothing but local stations, and poorly (we live in the country). By the time we had baby-raising under control (assuming that’s possible) we realized we didn’t miss television much and just never got back to it. We’ve got a tv, but it’s little more than a movie-watching tool

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Last year, we ran a photo essay in this space provided by a South Dakota couple who separated two locked-up whitetails with a saw. This turned out to be a neat-and-tidy way of getting the job done that resulted in freed-up deer. But it was not, as many of you noted, a method that was without danger.

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From Fox 11 News:

The 9-point buck would have made a fine buck tale on its own. But this story is made by the woman who bagged him, 90-year-old Delores Wilhelms of the town of Forest. . . .

"I've never seen one so big so close," she said. "I said oh my god, and you know you're supposed to be quiet...so I picked up my bow, aimed it, and bingo. . . .

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From the Dawson News & Advertiser:

An 11-year-old Dawsonville boy who was shot in the head when his gun accidentally discharged in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area on Friday has died.



John Wayne Corcoran was transported by air to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite following the incident, which occurred just before 6 p.m. He died at the hospital later that night.



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Chris Lawrence of the West Virginia Metro News isn’t sold on early-season deer hunting. Here’s why:

A couple of hunters who participated in the early season tell me by the time they managed to get to their deer during the season the meat was already starting to turn [because it was so hot outside]. . . .

Furthering the problems with an early season, most of the meat processors who generally handle butchering duties for a fee for hunters were not up and running for the early season. . . .

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One question that frequently gets pitched at me goes something like this: “I know all about the big-time trophy-producing whitetail states. What are some places that fly under the radar of most whitetail nuts?”

And my answer is, “I know ‘em, but I’m not tellin’ you!”

Seriously, this is a great question, as accessing ground in places like Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and certain areas of Ohio and Kentucky is difficult indeed...unless you’ve got money to spend or want to hunt with an outfitter. The good news is, big whitetails are no longer limited to a handful of areas with the right genetics and management. They’re popping up all over, and the photo above—of a whopper taken recently in North Dakota—is proof.

North Dakota isn’t a big player in the record books, and is rarely a hotspot visited by TV crews or outdoor writers. But it’s a big state with a lot of agriculture and plenty of habitat, and in areas where bucks get a chance to live awhile, the trophy potential is awesome.

I’ve got a few nominees for other sleeper trophy states, but I’ll keep mum for now and let you toss out some candidates. Where should a whitetail... [ Read Full Post ]

Editor's Note: Check out the full story of this huge buck in our photo gallery.

It’s impossible to ignore the whitetail rut, but here is yet another reason to focus on early season when you know there’s a monster buck in the area. I don’t know much detail about this buck, other than it was shot in southeastern Kansas by a young man named Parker Madl and the green non-typical score is rumored to be in the 230” neighborhood. That’s a very good neighborhood indeed!

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