Sunday, March 25, 2007

Something Different-- 78 lb Flathead


Well just alittle something different for a change,this time its fishing not hunting as usual. Five years ago my good fishing buddy and I went out setting limb lines and jugs one evening and checking them throughout the night. We caught a few nice catfish but it wasn't until the next morning that we came in with a nice 78 lb flathead catfish which took just about 25 minutes to get into the net.Jugs and limb lines can be fun but the real fun is discovering what is on the other end of the line when you have a fish or turtle on. Turtles are good eating too folks. Don't get me wrong I love fishing with rod and reels but I enjoy jug fishing just as much.Spring is here now and my writing my suffer alittle cause my wife and I love camping on the water almost every weekend from the time it gets warm out at night to the fall. One more thing about fishing or hunting as far as this goes " it's a great way to relief any stress a body may have" and you can meet some really great people while have so much fun and relaxation too.

Hanging Stands---- Grandchildren Onboard

Last year as I prepared to go finalize my scouting and hang my deer stands some of my 13 grandchildren come by to visit. Their parents never had the time to take them hunting nor the interest to go themselves.The grandchildren wanted to go with me so I cleared it with the parents and away we went to the woods. I had the grandchildren with me and as I arrived at the woods and explained alittle bit about scouting and hanging your stands for hunting season.We soon got into the area where I had chosen to hunt and began looking for old rubs and checking the trails for fresh signs of deer movement. It wasn't look before I found a good rub trail through the area and showed it to the grandchildren. I explained why the bucks rub their antlers on the trees and told them to look for the best tree that would offer protection from the deer seeing them in the stand. Upon picking out the best tree, we began hanging the stand around the tree and setting it up for the upcoming season which was only 4 weeks away. Once the stand was hung and prepared we began to head back to the truck and I took this opportunity to give the grandchildren a lesson in findind your way through the woods to your stand in the dark. I explained they needed to figure out the lay of the land, look at the tree tops, remember road beds and to check at night the stars and the sunset and moon ,any lights visible from the tree stand and anything else they thought might help them to find their way through the woods without a flashlight to and from their stand. Flashlights will scare the deer off as you go to your stand in early morning hours. I also trimmed limbs and branches from trees and bushes as I walked back to the truck to make access to my stand quiter going and coming to my stand. As we arrived at the truck we took time then to talk about the entire outting and to find out if they had decided to make hunting a part of their life long journey. Almost all my grandchildren today want to go hunting with me but none of them have the way to go get their hunter education certificate and I work where I can't take them to get it. The outting was a complete success and we all had allot of fun exploring the woods together.The grandchildren got allot of useful experience for future use of hunting and I got my stands put up for the future hunting seasons till I decide to move them again.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

A Farm Worth Hunting in Tennessee

It was gun season in November and the alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. which is when I normally get up to go hunting. As I began to get out of bed I realized it was raining,just as predicted by the weather channel. I thought to myself "do I really feel like going out in the rain, getting soaked to the bone and probably not seeing anything or stay in bed and sleep all morning." so I laid there for another 45 minutes then got up and went hunting in a drizzle rain to a stand I had at the edge of some large oak trees with thick brush behind them. Probably 30 minutes went by when I began to hear something playing on the ground behind me. I thought it was probably squirrels play but then realized there were no squirrels out in this rain this morning. I slowly picked up my 25-0-6 remington bolt action rifle turned ever so slowly on my stand and there just 15 steps from the tree was 9 does and a small 5 point buck feeding on the acorns that were buried under the leaves that had fallen. I decided to go ahead and try to take the buck even though he was small. As luck was with me this day the deer stayed in the area just long enough for the buck to present a nice broadside shot to me. I tagged the buck then went to the landowners house, where my truck was parked, and the landowner came out asking if I had seen anything. I told him of the buck I had shot and he wanted to take his John Deere 4020 tractor to get the buck out of the field and to my truck. I agreed, we got the buck to my truck and I offered him some or all of the buck once it was dressed out and packaged. He said he would love to have some of the deer meat if it was all right with me.I explained that I loved the sport of the hunt and that his farm was always full of deer if he ever wanted to go along and that he was welcome to any of the meat he wanted. He told me he was too busy with his farming and too old to go hunting anymore but appreciated the offer and that I was welcome to hunt his farmland anytime I wanted without an invite. I have since looked after his livestock, repaired fences and gates and shot stray wild dogs on his farm. This landowner will always be remembered by me for as long as I live as a down to earth, hard working, generous dairy farmer with a respect for the people who help him. Thank you Earl McCrary for living an honest respectable live as a farmer and thanks for the many memories of hunting on your farmland.