With the Maine legislature beginning and as always there will be hunting and fishing issues that come up, I wrote this article for The Liberty Project about a bill in Wisconsin that would prevent anti-hunters from documenting hunters when they are in the woods. The article was originally posted on October 28, 2015 here. Why Wisconsin's right to hunt bill is necessary I can count on one hand the number of photos of my son on social media. You will never read the full name of the friends that I hunt with and I am more likely to take a photo of the trees than photos of an outing with my Dad. I am overly cautious for my safety and theirs. Last year, I volunteered with Maine’s fight against an out-of-state anti-hunting group as we...
Dad, Hubby and I headed into the woods to see where all of our deer are. We found them but we also found some cool tracks in the snow. Can you tell what they are? Look at all of those drag marks! Straight line of tracks Two by two tracks Can you see those nail...
My neighbor feeds the deer in the winter so when I was cleaning out my fridge and found that I had a dozen apples that needed to get tossed, I decided to throw them on the back lawn to see if the deer would find them. Within a few hours, I noticed these two munching happily. The third doe that appeared was not nearly as oblivious to me standing in the kitchen watching them. She stomped her foot a few times and kept watch while they all ate. I watched them and took pictures until they walked into the softwoods and it was too dark to see them. I had turned off the kitchen light and taken off my white sweater so that I could blend in and not look like a white flag in front of the glass doors. Hunter or not, how can you not...
When it is sunny out and there is snow on the ground, it is hard not to want to be outside. Last weekend, we brought in the trail cameras and tried to figure out where we should be hunting for the 2016 season. It is never too early to start prepping for the next season! I pulled up to where we normally park and as we got out of the car, there was nothing but deer tracks all around us. Big, little, going in both directions... all kinds of tracks. Only a couple of feet from the roadway with this bed. I stood in the bed and snapped another photo of the beds around it. I posted that picture on our FB page and asked people how many deer beds they could find. The deer bed closest to the road Four more deer beds ...
There is no snow on the ground and the temperatures have been in the 50s instead of the teens or 20s. As a result, our deer herd is having a great time getting lots of food without the worry of snow, freezing temps or that coyote that is (still) around. Dad still has the trail cameras out and we are getting some encouraging pictures. I didn't bother copying the ones of the coyote, but he is still around and solo. But these are always good to see and it means that we will need to change things up for next season if we are going to outwit this deer. I believe he is about 3.5 or 4.5 years old and knows how to avoid hunters. I can NOT get over the size of his neck! And the next generation of big bucks: From the side, his...
Mentally, I am not ready to hunt with a bow. I am confident in my rifle to know that I can drop a deer dead in its tracks. I have seen the damage that my 150 (or 180) grain bullet can do to the inside of a deer and I am comfortable with that because I know that the deer did not know what hit it when I squeeze the trigger. Maybe that sort of shot is possible with a bow but from what I have seen on tv and with other hunters posting on social media, it is more likely that the deer will run off and die, assuming that it is a good shot. I have also seen far more bow hunters talk and post about how they have lost a deer than my fellow rifle hunters. That is the last thing I want to happen! After this season and talking with...
The last few days of hunting season were eventful in the wrong ways. Just to the right of the stick is a deer track in the leaves. In order for my mom to prepare and cook what she needed to for Thanksgiving dinner, I stayed home to watch O while Dad and Hubby went out for a few hours. In the afternoon, Hubby stayed home while O took a nap and Dad and I went out. The woods were quiet and calm. We didn't even see a squirrel. Thanksgiving night, O got sick; throwing up sick, which for a two year old is a scary thing. We made the decision to not hunt on Friday morning in case he still didnt feel good. I have been criticized in the past by readers who think that in order to be a good, qualified hunter, you...
I am a proud member of the Orange army. I never really thought about it until I became more involved with the online hunting groups. So many of my buddies on social media have posted over the past couple of weeks about trying to get a deer and getting out of the woods before the orange army comes in. There are trail cam pics being posted with spike horns or crotch horns with a note about the likelihood of the deer being shot by the orange army. Allow me to tell you what this proud member does when she puts on her orange. She is looking for food to feed her family. She proudly carries her rifle into the woods and knows that with one well placed shot, she can drop a deer dead in its tracks. She is...
This is how hunting is supposed to be! Cold in the morning with a solid front on the ground. Noisy but not enough to give your cover away. And sun. I love the sun. I sat in the Sky Condo, Hubby was in T3 and Dad decided that since time is ticking, he would walk. The plan was for him to walk the piece by T3 in hopes of jumping something towards Hubby. Then, the guys would head my way and split up. Dad would head east and loop around to my treeseat. Hubby would make a loop west then swing east and come out at my treeseat. When I saw Hubby at the foot plot, I was supposed to head immediately to my treeseat. I was excited about this plan because I had not sat in my treeseat all season and I missed...
