2021 Deer Tails

[WHX?? 46,932]

11 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

   A cold front is coming in, may be the deer will start moving these last few days of bow season.

Might be the problem here Ed with such a strange fall with Lilacs blooming and warm this far into Nov. 

 

Forecasting some snow here now but I'll not hold my breath.

The HUGE nine day traditional gun hunt starts next Sat. the 20th  and a little tracking dust as we call it is always welcome.

 

The nine day gun hunt around here focuses more on opening old deer camps ridden with mice, stoking that wood stove, getting together with old friends, reminisce about old days, food, sipping, card playing, turkey, football, and breaking in younguns so some hunting does take place.  Real Americana if you will.

Dates back to before I was born so who am I to argue? Lots of camps still have no power or running water still.  Really  can't put into words what takes place during those nine days but it is such a tradition here that guys have been known to put in for vacation years in advance and/or quit jobs  just to participate.  

 

Kinda looks like a unicorn in that first pic ther Kev??? 

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

I think our COLD front stalled.   63.5F and heavy rain this AM.    Oh well, I have my 4 month check up with my saw bones pill pusher this morning.  No tree sitting till this evening.

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

14 hours ago, WHX?? said:

guys have been known to put in for vacation years in advance and/or quit jobs

Reminds me of the day Mrs.K quit her job to go hunting.

After college,I left the Appalachian Mts. and went East in search of a job.  I took a drafting/hydro technician position with Allis Chalmers for the amazing amount of $2.50/hour.

I met and married Mrs. K who was working as a PN at York Hospital.      I sorely missed the mountains and  hunting grouse, turkey, and deer, but the ringneck pheasant hunting in the area filled my time.  I quickly purchased two  Springer Spanial pups with long field trial pedigrees  and trained them for hunting pheasant.   The female Brandy, was the most intellegent animal I have ever seen.  She learned to obey voice and hand commands perfectly.   The male Barney,  was a great hunter, but he was a bit head strong and did his own thing.  

After about two years of great pheasant hunting, I decided to take the dogs on a grouse hunt and headed West to the South Mts. very near the Big Show Fair Grounds.

This is where I lost Barney and after searching till dark,  I sadly left my coat where I had last seen him and returned home planning to return at daylight  to continue the search the next day.

At this point in time, Brandy and Barney were our only family, and Mrs. K insisted on joining me in the search for Barney.  She was scheduled to work the next day so she called her supervisor and informed her of the reason she would need the day off.   When her boss told her she would be fired if she didn't show up for work, Mrs. K said " you don't have to fire me as I just quit".      So yes Jim, people do quit thier jobs to go hunting.

We did not find Barney till 4 days later when I recieved a call from a farmer that had found him at his barn.

We were planning to start a family, so Mrs K did not look for another job.   Back then, there was no paid family leave, K, or preK, or funded child care.   

We lived on one $2.50/hour income while mothers raised thier own children for 5-6 years.

Oh how times and priorities change.

Nearly 60 years later, we have two Sons, two DILs, four Grandsons, and a couple girl friends that complete our family. 

 May be some Great Grandchildren coming before I take the dirt nap.

 

And that's the rest of the story.    

 

 

Can't have a post without pics.

 

    BARNEY

 

    BRANDY

 

     And a few years later the family is growing.

 

      Mike, Barney, Edog, Brandy, and Mark

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Ed Kennell

[Pullstart 59,858]

November 15.  Michigan’ gun opener.  I got my lucky hat and a handful of 450 Bushmasters to throw down the barrel.  It’s 33 and has been raining or snowing for about 3 days now.  Hoping they get up and run around a bit.  I don’t remember that last time I did an all day hunt.  I’ve an appt. at 2 pm in town for some shoulder PT so I plan to sit all day until then.  Hoping to add some fresh meat to the freezer, and have enough to make some more meat sticks too!

 

 

[Pullstart 59,858]

My uncle couldn’t make it, he needs a heart catheter put in soon and his blood pressure keeps spiking.  It was up to 180 over something last night.    Quiet day, even surrounding.  6:59 was legal shooting time, haven’t heard 10 shots total in 2 hours.

 

 

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

I pulled the trail camera last night.   This buck had been showing up during the night, but never in the day light.     Yesterday was our last day of bow season and I didnt hint the AM as we always eat out with family for Sunday breakfast.

Yep, the buck was under my tree at 6:05AM yesterday while I was not there.      I just shot(unloaded) the crossbow and put the archery gear away.   We now have a two week wait for the two week rifle season  that begins on the Sat. after Thanksgiving.

 

 

  It's pretty dark at 6AM, but I was there in the tree nearly every day for six weeks and there was enough light to make this shot.    That tree back of his head ranges at 18 yards from my tree stand.          Oh well maybe he'll show up in two weeks.

 

 

 

[Tractorhead 8,612]

Did a Deer watching yesterday with my new Thermal Cam.

They be about 200-250m far

 

pretty Cool new Gadget.

 

[WHX?? 46,932]

Good story about Mrs. K Ed! 

Opened up camp this past weekend & sure can't wait to get a way from a phone that rings non stop. We have no cell phone reception at camp. 

Shot the bow to make sure everything was still dialed in and sat for abit. Saw a nice shooter, very elusive eight pointer more interested in a doe than my arrow. 

Had a spike come in later but well after shooting hours. Guy had spikes that were at least 10 inches long! 

Got a little tracking dust too....  about two inches. Got the 520 blower tractor  out and put the C-125 mower away for the year. 520 started right up C had to use some sniffin salts on.  

Tried to fire up a JD b hind blower up but tecky wouldn't fire. Green & yellow & a techy go figure! 

[WHX?? 46,932]

4 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

I pulled the trail camera last night. 

I did too and threw them all in the dump. I just have no luck with getting a good one and I have tried all brands. They last till they are out of warranty then go kaput. Oddly have the best luck with the cheapys. Told the wife gonna start returning them to store just before going out of warranty for a new one. 

Nothing like seeing good buck signs around your stand and no pics! 

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

43 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

best luck with the cheapys

Same here...I've had best luck with $49 Wildgame cameras.

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

Change of plans.    I just checked and PeeAaa extended the bow season until Nov. 19.       Back to the tree for 4 more days.

[SylvanLakeWH 24,231]

15 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Change of plans.    I just checked and PeeAaa extended the bow season until Nov. 19.       Back to the tree for 4 more days.

Must not have reached their harvest goal… good deal for you!

 

Michigan’s been adding days to various seasons last few years too…

[Mike'sHorseBarn 2,698]

2 hours ago, Tractorhead said:

Did a Deer watching yesterday with my new Thermal Cam.

They be about 200-250m far

 

pretty Cool new Gadget.

 

Pretty cool! What species of deer are you seeing in Germany?

[Tractorhead 8,612]

14 hours ago, Mike'sHorseBarn said:

 

Pretty cool! What species of deer are you seeing in Germany?

 

I‘m not sure, how they be called on your site.

Here they be called Rotwild and Dammwild.

 

[Pullstart 59,858]

1 hour ago, Tractorhead said:

 

I‘m not sure, how they be called on your site.

Here they be called Rotwild and Dammwild.

 

red deer and fallow deer.  We don’t have those here… beautiful creatures!

[Pullstart 59,858]

Beautiful morning, 31 degrees, sunny and calm. I’ve seen 5 deer.  One spike, four does.  He was jonesin’ for one of those ladies and was running full boar at 40 yards but I couldn’t stop him.  Took a shot at 150-200 but clean miss.  He ran around at 200-250 for a bit then wandered off.  
 

to the left of the rock pile, you can see my uncle’s ground blind with his buddy in it.

 

 

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

We have a Red Deer farming operation about 5 miles away.       Venison sells for $12 to $18 / pound.

https://extension.psu.edu/red-deer-production

Edited November 16, 2021 by Ed Kennell

[Pullstart 59,858]

Yesterday was a good day to road trip.  Warm and rainy.  Today in my tree, the wind is on my back.   I don’t think it matters here too much, the deer will stick their nose up the laundry on the line!  

[Pullstart 59,858]

Things to ponder in my tree…

 

how do the neighbor’s ducks know it’s 40 minutes till shooting time no matter how overcast it is?

 

do airplanes have high and low beams?  ( @Andy N. ) 

 

am I in a chestnut tree or hickory tree?  Why do all these nuts keep falling on me for just the first 10 minutes of daybreak?

 

oh yeah… where’s the deers at?

[Andy N. 1,928]

2 hours ago, Pullstart said:

do airplanes have high and low beams?  ( @Andy N. ) 

 

To answer your pondering time in the trees, no for exterior lights. Some interior lights are able to be brightened and dimmed and with LED's, able to change colors.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

 

[SylvanLakeWH 24,231]

2 hours ago, Pullstart said:

am I in a chestnut tree or hickory tree

Uhm… are the nuts “roasting on an open fire”? Is “Jack Frost nipping at your nose”? If not, Hickory…

 

[WHX?? 46,932]

Interesting article Ed.

They haven't caught on to farming them (whitetails) here for food. Just penned trophy hunts for high rollers. The things money can buy eh? 

 

Guy just down the road from our camp a guy has a whole section (640 acres) penned off. 12' high electrified fence. Lots of trophy buck. He owns a trucking co. and has hunts for his valued employees. Dad was a buddy of the guy that manages it and used to help him out running it. The manager used to let us in to help feed & view and look for sheds. 

 

Farming them here has quite a few expensive laws involved due to CWD. 

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

Beautiful day yesterday 60F and no wind.     Not a deer in the AM.    Heading for my stand on the 312H  I saw a decent buck crossing the fenced horse pasture going into the woods I hunt.

I quickly got in the stand with high hopes....nada.

 

Big weather change today, 33F and 15-20 MPH NW winds.     I managed to hang in the tree from 5:30 to 8;30., All I got was cold.

 

I debated going back out in the wind, but I got in the tree at 3PM to finish the last day of the 2021 archery season.

 

I just finished off a mini Baby Ruth and was stuffing the wrapper in my pocket when I saw this guy coming down the trail.

 

Got the bow in position in the shooting lane and let him walk into the scope at 18 yards.

 

One small grunt and he froze for me to touch the trigger.

 

He slowly took four steps and stopped,  looked left, then right and keeled over dead in about 5 seconds.

 

Moral of this DEER TAIL  ....  don't give up boys.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Ed Kennell

[Tractorhead 8,612]

And finally it ends up like this...

 

 

 

Yummy

[Ed Kennell 35,929]

A little work this AM before he goes in the oven.