"Wall Hanger"

I've always had the mindset that the glass is half full. With that thought, I've never judged the success of a hunt on whether I killed a "Mature" animal. A "Trophy". A "Wall Hanger".

Now for the whole truth. Over the past few years, I've started to wonder if taking a "Wall Hanger" would ever happen. Let me remind you that a trophy is in the eye of the beholder. To me a trophy is a mature animal. Period. I'm not worried about Boone and Crockett status. To me a "Trophy" whitetail is defined by more than just how many inches of antler are on its head. Anyways. My chances to harvest a trophy animal have mounted over the past several years. The most recent "chance" happened during the opening day of the 2009 season. A perfect quartering shot put the deer down, only to have him disappear without a trace. That haunted me for an entire year.

Fast forward to October 16, 2010. The morning was cool and crisp and the air was still. I started to my stand about an hour and a half before first light. I wanted to get in early because I had to cross a soybean field which usually held deer during the night. By going in early, I thought if I were to spook deer going into my stand the woods would have time to quiet down before light. Well, on the way in to my stand it was quiet. No spooked deer was a good start. As I got settled into the stand, I put on my face mask and gloves and prepared for an hour of sitting in the dark. You would think that this would be a boring hour, but it was actually quite exciting. A pack of coyotes made themselves known with a sequence of howls that sent chills up my spine. Then a few hoots from several owls made me feel like I was not the wisest one in the woods that morning. After all that fuss, the crunch of the leaves signaled that a deer was approaching. The deer cruised through without pause and the crunch of leaves faded into the dark. It was too dark to see but my suspicions led me to believe that this was a buck heading to the soybean field to check his scrapes.

As the horizon started to brighten, the silhouette of several deer moved through the soybean field. Now I'm on full alert. Several deer moved through the hardwoods to my left and eased into a cut over that I was facing. It seemed that the deer were all around. The next deer I see was a doe on the far edge of the soybean field. She was by herself which to me signaled that a buck could be following . She stopped for a split second and then moved on. Then I see him. WOW! I immediately get in position because I know that my window of opportunity is small. He stoped and worked a scrap for a second. It was as if time stood still. Here was my "chance" to redeem myself and silence those haunting memories. He then turned and started to walk off. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeezed. BOOM! The buck jolted and ran out of sight. My heart and mind were racing at this point. Do I get down or do I wait. That wasn't a hard decision. I jumped down, literally. I made a quick pace to the edge of the field and there he was. I put a quick stalk on him to make sure he was down and then I woke up the woods. BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAWWWWW!

My glass was now full! That mindset that the glass was always half full started to be an excuse. Of course I love to be in the woods and yes it's not all about the kill, but every hunter dreams of harvesting a "Mature" animal. A "Trophy". A "Wall Hanger". Well, now I have mine!

Birthday Present!

What a Birthday! Story to come. 212lb. 8pt. 19in. inside spread. Shot at 165 yards.

Curiosity Almost Killed the Dogs!

Just the other day, I had one of those moments when I wish I had a video camera handy. Something that I've never seen before happened that in a way goes along with some of my prior posts regarding coyote control. If you've read Coyote Control you've gotten the point that deer fawns have a tough go at it about this time of year. Well, lets just say that I think the deer are taking things into their own hoofs.

My sister has two dogs, Tipper and Jake, who are a sister/brother combo and their curiosity almost got them in trouble. These two are total opposites and hilarious to watch. Tipper is the mischievous one. Jake is laid back one. Both like belly rubs, but only if you can manage to give them at the same time. Can we say jealous? An interesting note for this story is that both are approximately equal in size to your typical coyote. Well anyways, to the story...

As I stand on my back porch, I hear an awful scream come from the treeline about 300 yards away. As I look across the field, saying out loud "What the heck was that?" I see Tipper and Jake storm out of the woods like they had seen a ghost. To my amazement, right on their paws was an angry doe. Jake and Tipper were on a dead sprint back towards my house and so was the doe. For about 100 yards, she chased them. I was in shock. Apparently, the two dogs stumbled upon her fawn in the woods. I had always seen and heard of dogs chasing deer, but not vice versa. WOW! I wonder how often this happens to predators. It at least left the impression that they are ready for a fight.

Coyote Control (Part III)

If you read my article Coyote Control you might be interested in the video link that I found on You Tube. It describes the beginning stages of the research project that I wrote about at the Savannah River Site. It shows how the scientist tagged the fawns for the study. You can read the results of the study in my Coyote Control post.