I didn’t know we were going to go all “deer darting” on them and all, but that’s exactly what we did.  One of the ranchers had a dart gun which we knocked 2 of the steers down with, but we ran out of drugs before the third steer could be captured.  Entrance cowboy.  Brad showed off his roping skills and before long was dragging the young stubborn steer back across the pasture – rope securing the animal around his stubby horns.  Of course, getting them subdued and into the trailer was an entirely other matter altogether and all I can say is that they are a heck of a lot stronger than a 150 pound deer, but thankfully not nearly as coordinated and fast.

Anyways, on to the turkey hunting.  After we ate lunch at the local cafe, we started burning gasoline searching for birds out in fields.  Well, we weren’t exactly having to search for birds, but gobblers were a bit hard to come by.  Seemed like every field had at least 1 hen pecking around in search of insects, but the gobblers eluded us until we spotted a lone tom courting a hen in the corner of a small 5 acre field.  I was actually on the flip side of the creek from where I killed my first gobbler ever and I had also deer hunted this area quite a bit, so I was very familiar with the set-up.

We crept up on the field, but couldn’t spot the bird. After 30 minutes of calling just trying to elicit enough response to at least give us a bead on his whereabouts, we gave up. After another lap around a bunch of country roads, we made another pass by the 5 acre field. There he was again! Same girlfriend and everything.

This time we took a more indirect approach and tried to get in position in front of the bird and let him towards us on his own. We hopped down in the creek and walked about a half mile west before creeping up to the field edge and setting up an ambush.

Once I was in position, I crept out to the edge and got a glimpse of the bird as they worked down the field edge towards us.

They were working right into a trap they didn’t even know existed and it seemed like the rest of the hunt was just going to be a formality. Wow, is it ever that easy!

They piddled around catching insects and plucking up seed heads, but eventually disappeared into the woods though I thought they were still angled towards us.

Brad had been softly hen calling for the past several minutes, but an hour and a half passed and we hadn’t seen or heard anything from the turkeys. Yea, if you’re counting…that’s strike 2!

After debating for a while on our next move, we decided a wide swing around the hedgerow might produce a sighting of the lovebirds on the other side of the creek. So after a long hike to get in position, we crept the edge of the field keeping a sharp look out for the hen and gobbler we knew were around.

Check out this awesome beehive in an old busted-up hedge tree.

Just as we decided they must have left the property and we straightened out in a faster gait towards the truck, there they were…but too late…Strike 3! The gig was officially up with those birds, but the afternoon sun was just starting to cast shadows. With about 3 hours before dark, we returned to the truck and headed out in search of more willing hunting buddies.

Part 3 is next. We’ve got all sorts of bearded birds coming to the decoy – toms, jakes, and hens.

I made my annual spring pilgrimage to southeast Kansas last Friday.  The awful tornadoes that hit Mississippi and northern Alabama left some terrible damage.

This was off Highway 280 from the remnants of a 170 mph tornado that tore through Dadeville, AL.

Apparently, crews did an unbelievable job clearing roadways and even though I passed through 6 tornado paths, I never really slowed down much.

…until I hit Arkansas.  Funny how the region where you live dictates the news that comes across your news channels.  I really had no idea the degree of flooding that parts of the Midwest were experiencing.  I was cruising towards Jonesboro, Arkansas, when I crested a hill in the highway and was greeted by flashing lights and a barricaded interstate.  Apparently I was getting through that way unless I had a boat.

Long detour…

On the detour, I made the unfortunate, but random mistake, of choosing a highway that led through the community of Lidonia – where the big tornado ripped through about 3 weeks previously that made national headlines.

I sat in traffic for about 45 minutes as they strung up new powerlines to a neighborhood development.

All this added up to a grueling 975 mile trek from Auburn, AL, to St. Paul, KS.  To say the least, I was whooped.

Part 2 tomorrow…Kansas rodeo and a 3 strike count on a big tom turkey!

We did some turkey hunting on Friday morning and though we heard plenty of birds sounding off, we were only successful at calling up several hens within spitting range.  It seemed the toms were gobbling just a couple times each – long enough to attract a hen and then shut up.

Friday evening, we loaded up a couple rifles and stalked in to some green fields to check for hogs.

Sure enough, the very first field we checked had 2 hogs feeding out in it.  Our plan was to count down 3-2-1-shoot and double.

I was supposed to shoot the “white” one and he was going to shoot for the other one. 

Well, the “white” one was actually this tan one and the real white one only I could see and had to wait for a good shot.  I could have shot the “white” one several times easily as she gave multiple broadside opportunities. 

Well, before the white one got broadside, it lifted its head and my buddy jumped the gun and took the shot on the white one when I was left with a running shot at the “white” one.

Confused yet.

Well, now you get a sense how confused I was trying to interpret the directions I was getting from my buddy.  One of those deals where I was the guest and wanted to make sure he got a shot.  In hindsight, I should have just took the shot on the “white” hog and if we shot the white hog too – great – if not, who cares.

Anyways, we took down that hog and several more over the course of the weekend.  Unfortunately, I uncharacteristically didn’t take any pictures and the rest of the hogs were taken during the nighttime using some pretty technological gadgets that he is permitted with to eradicate the local hogs.

Anyways, headed for a couple old haunts that produced plenty of swine sightings last year, but no dice.  I couldn’t even dig up some fresh hog sign until around lunchtime.

Actually, I take that back.  This stud hog made  a trip across a food plot just hours if not minutes before I slipped through.  That’s an impressive track from a hog that I guarantee goes 200 pounds+.

It was also interesting to see some Alabama white-tailed deer are still feeling their oats and making fresh scrapes.  If I saw one fresh scrape, I saw 20 or 30 over the course of the day.  It had rained the day before, so I guess the survivors of deer season were leaving their calling cards for the ladies.

As I mentioned, I did finally get on some fresh hog sign around lunchtime.  I stayed on it through a couple hundred acres of hardwood bottomlands, but never came across any hogs.  I thought I could smell a “barnyard” a couple of times, but they must have been zigging to my zags.

That trip marks the first time I’ve ever come back skunked from the public land without a quality opportunity to take a pig, but that’s why the call it hunting.  I did manage to stumble onto 2 different flocks of hen turkeys, so I might be paying them a visit in another 10 days or so to check and see if any boys have showed up to strut their stuff.

I’m sure you all have heard the news stories about the crazy nutjob who poisoned the Toomer’s Corner oaks, but I wanted to post a few things here that my own department at Auburn University has been involved with for several years.

SEC football and the rivalries between Auburn and LSU, Auburn and Georgia, Auburn and Alabama are just unreal.  It’s like ACC Tobacco Road on steroids.

But to the point, Auburn University has sold seedlings grown from the acorns of the Toomer’s oaks for several years now and you can still try and acquire some of those this year – though it looks like the orders will be filled based on a lottery draw if your order is selected from the thousands that are placed.

With the Toomer’s trees’ future in doubt, Tiger Rags has designed a shirt that became available today in stores and will be available for online order on Tuesday.  It’s pretty sweet and I may have to purchase one for myself.

I don’t normally make any posts on sports, but I figured this was a stretch to be related to fish and wildlife since proceeds from the t-shirt and oak seedlings go to funding School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences scholarships.

Some nutjob can poison one of  the long standing traditions of Auburn University, but “All We Did Was Win”!

Check out the awesome tunnel video for the AU football team in 2010.  Whoa the goosebumps!

Warmer temperatures had kind of put a cramp in the rut, but on Thursday the 27th colder temperatures blew in and the weather was calling for a hard frost. With the right wind out of the NW, it was time to try the red oak tree again where I put down 2-Prong.

My hunting buddy Clint had long since tagged out and I convinced him to climb the tree with me to run the video camera that morning. Good decision!

Just after it was light enough to shoot, we smashed the antlers together and we saw a big 8 point staring at us 75 yards before we even stopped rattling. He had us pegged, but it was the rut and we had a decoy out that might save the day.

Not the case. I never could really tell if he saw the decoy, but our grunts kept him just barely out of range for a couple minutes before he saw a little buck down the hill and there is no competing with the real thing. As he decided to head down over, I decided there was nothing to lose and snort-wheezed in a last ditch effort for him to come in range and check out the decoy. Bad decision!

It was almost an hour later before we saw another deer. It looked to be a buck carrying a wide set of antlers but he was over 200 yards away crossing the field in a direction that would take him straight away from us. I told Clint to hit the antlers real quick, but it was so still out that we decided to try a couple loud, aggressive grunts instead. Great decision!

My view was blocked due to a large pine tree trunk being in direct line with the path that the buck took, but Clint was giving me second-by-second commentary and he was scrambling to get the video camera rolling. By the urgency of his actions and words, I could tell everything was going to come together fast and before I could reach around and grab my bow the buck was closing to within 50 yards.

I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story.

Wow, talk about coming in on a rope!

To fill in a couple of the parts you couldn’t see. When the buck crests the hill, you can see him make eye contact with the decoy and until it was too late, there was no doubt in his mind that the intruder had made those loud grunts.

He comes in downwind and when he hits the decoy’s scent stream I think he picked up our scent but it wasn’t enough to completely spook him. It probably didn’t help either that our “decoy” was actually a shot up 3-D archery target that looked like crap.  But that is the reason he kind of skittered off to the left at the last second before the shot.

I was right to be confident with my shot because it took him straight through both lungs right on the crease and angled just a hair back; however, following the blood trail was nothing what I expected.

First off, the arrow was almost completely bare. Yea it had blood on it, but not soaked like most shots that pass through the chest cavity. Next, the deer made it out of the field when he was standing up on top after the shot 100 yards away. When we walked up on top an hour later, you could literally see the blood trail go the whole way across the 75 yard wide field contrasting with the bright white frost.  It was another “blind man” blood trail.

At that point, I figured he would be just inside the other timber line and I would be able to spot him before even leaving the field. I was dead wrong, but fortunately not too wrong. The deer made it another 100 yards amazingly before coming to rest in the bottom of a creek ditch. With neither lung functioning, the deer had made it a legitimate 200 yards minimum. I can only assume that the extra adrenaline he had pulsing through his veins kept him running the extra 60-90 seconds he needed to travel so far. I counted that just on the video he was in sight for 60 seconds, let alone the time it took him to make the extra 100 yards out of the field.

The last surprise of the day came as I was approaching the deer.  I realized I had shot another midget buck.  He only weighed 138 pounds live weight! That is just bizarre considering some 3.5 year olds on the same property have pushed the scales barely over 200 pounds.

I’ll wrap up the post and the 2010-2011 Alabama deer hunting season with a couple photos we snapped before dragging him up the hill to the truck.

This was my favorite picture.

You can barely see the exit wound in this picture, but you can see it was a bit back of the crease and gives you an idea of the slight quartering angle on the shot.

Lastly, another picture showing off his impressive antler width – by far his most notable feature.  He had a 18 7/8″ inside spread with 20″ main beams, but his lack of tine length didn’t quite allow him to break the 115″ mark.

4 days left in the season there was no way I was passing him up.  Finally got a bow kill on the video camera.  Shared 2 of my buck moments with my dad and my hunting buddy.  What an end to another great Alabama hunting season!

After sitting in the tree for about an hour, I heard deer walking in the creek behind me and saw this yearling buck sneaking along. He was straight downwind of me but for some reason didn’t ever realize that there was danger lurking nearby.

About 45 minutes later, I saw a large set of antlers going up the hillside on the other side of the creek. He was moving at a good clip so I grabbed my grunt call as fast as possible and tried to get his attention. I thought he never heard me, but 10 minutes later he came circling in to my position about 45 yards away.

As hard as I tried, I never could coax him those critical 15 yards closer to my tree. I just didn’t have any cover underneath my tree and there wasn’t any fooling him when he could plainly see there was no buck there to be making the grunts.

He walked off through the food plot and that was basically the end of my evening. I did have another couple deer enter the field, but it was at last light and I couldn’t even tell if they were bucks or does it was so late.

The very next day, I climbed back in the stand where my dad and I had rattled up the big broken off 8 point and “Freak Jr.”  It was another perfect morning for hunting the rut and it didn’t take long for a couple small bucks to move through following a doe fawn.

After the sun came up, we decided to try and make our own luck.  When I looked up and saw this stud of a buck coming, I was trying as hard as I could to try and put just 8 points on him.  I knew who I was looking at though and this buck was a heavy 10 point that has carried a similar rack for 3 years that would probably score within 2-3 inches of itself every year.

After he eased down to the thick stuff, we waited until about 8:15 and banged the antlers together again.  This time 2 bucks responded but one was a yearling buck and the other was a 2 or 3 year old 9 point – not exactly an “over-the-hill” 8 point.

We saw a few other deer in the far distance that morning that were chasing does down in a deep hardwood draw, but nothing else that came close enough to consider a real encounter.

Dad and I spent all night Thursday debating where to go for his last morning sit with me on Friday before he had to travel back to North Carolina.  I finally chose a huge red oak that is perched on top of a dog-legged ridge with a winter wheat field on the high side of the ridge and a long clover bottom along the low side.

The red oak is on the crest of the ridge and once you climb high enough in the tree you are a solid 50 feet above the clover bottom below which makes a shot awfully tricky but enables you to call deer from on top and bottom to within archery range quite easily.

I was really excited to get two climbers up the tree and have dad running the video camera, but that didn’t quite work out.  Halfway through our pre-dawn trek to the designated red oak, the wind was wreaking havoc on dad’s headache and we had to adopt an alternate plan.

I was still going to head for the red oak, but he was going to sit in a covered box stand that was at least semi-protected from the wind.  The cool thing was that he could see me and I could see him although a line of brush running along a creek through the middle of the field prevented him from seeing deer on my side of the branch.

It took me a longer time than usual to get my bow hung and some limbs trimmed and rearranged to make shooting lanes and a little makeshift cover.  By the time I sat down to catch my breath, dad was buzzing my cell phone that he had already seen several bucks crossing the field several hundred yards in the distance.  I called him back and told him I would wait 10 minutes or so before trying to rattle.

It wasn’t 5 minutes later when I saw an old familiar friend “2-Prong” cruising the field edge about 250 yards away from me (against the far woodline in the picture above).  He was headed south and on a mission so I grabbed my antlers as fast as I could and smashed them together for 15 seconds or so.  I hadn’t even gotten turned around from hanging them over a branch and 2-Prong had already changed directions and was staring in my direction.

I grunted as loud as I could a couple times to cover the distance and that was all it took.  Not fast but very deliberately, 2-Prong began plodding towards my position.  The funny thing is he was in direct line with dad’s covered stand to get to where I was calling from.  This next video show you all you need to know.  Keep in mind that dad was zoomed in previously trying to video the deer 10 minutes earlier that were crossing 300-400 yards in the distance.

2-Prong chose a path that carried him within 15 steps of dad’s covered stand and I was totally unaware that the 3 year old 8 point was in 2-Prong’s wake.

As he reached the line of brush when dad swings back to video the 8 point, 2-Prong dropped into the creek and grunted as he popped back up on the other side. I’ll tell you what – when you’ve got them talking back to you, you’ve got them right where you want them.

Now, here is an extra video that dad recorded as I was busy trying to get 2-Prong to close within 30 yards for the shot and I had absolutely no clue that these other bucks were in the field let alone the 8 point that was only 30 yards behind 2-Prong. I was so focused that I had tunnel vision and completely missed the fact there were 3 or 4 other bucks checking out the “big fight”.

You can hear my shot and watch the reaction of the monster half rack 8 point at about the 20 second mark of the video. Being perched 50 feet above 2-Prong, I just threw a couple deep grunts behind me up the ridge when he crossed the creek and the old buck bought it hook, line, and sinker. He stepped just inside the hardwoods off the clover bottom and I settled my top pin tight behind his shoulder to release. I had no prior experience shooting at a deer 50 feet below me in elevation, but I could instantly see blood gush from the entrance.

I got full penetration but the arrow stayed in the deer as he crashed through the brushy creek and into the pines across the field (you can see the start of the pines in the far left of the above photograph).  I couldn’t see him fall, but I knew from the reaction of the other deer that I had now become aware of that he hadn’t made it far.

What a rush choosing the absolute perfect set-up to call deer and have an old cull buck like 2-Prong to read the script from beginning to end.  I called dad to share in the excitement and he told me had gotten great video of the deer as they marched past him but had not seen the buck go down.  It was truly an awesome experience to share with him and I was thrilled to have spent the past 4 days chasing whitetails as hard as we possibly could and finally having it come together.

Just to remind all my readers – if you aren’t shooting Slick Tricks, you are missing the boat!  Needless to say, it wasn’t a difficult track job.

I had more encounters with this buck than any other deer this year.  I think I had seen him 4 times previous and had even reached full draw one evening before letting down because I wasn’t completely confident in the shot.

I believe 2-Prong was a 5 year old this year and had shed his left antler off last year with a chunk of skull attached, hence the reason for his crazy double prong points.  I always thought him to have a tank of a body and although he had big proportions, he just wasn’t a big bodied deer in the absolute sense of the words weighing in at 168 live.

Dad thought this would make a good picture so we snapped a few action photos of the cart making the drag easy.  I thought this was a great idea even though I generally hate 4-wheeler/truck bed shots.

I’ll wrap up the post with an autopsy report.  I reinserted the arrow to give you an idea of how steep of an angle I was dealing with.  I hit the deer about midways up on the entrance and exited the center of his brisket before anchoring in the off knee joint.  Not exactly a common shot trajectory.

As you could see from the above picture, the blood trail was unbelievable and that was because I severed the brachial artery as it runs through the deer’s armpit.

I set up near a 30 yard wide thicket of cane on the side of a mature loblolly pine ridge and waited for daylight.

It didn’t take long for the first buck of the morning – this narrow racked 8 point – to come off the food plot on the ridge behind me and filter down past the stand.

I gave him about 20 minutes to clear the area before I tickled the antler together and was surprised when this yearling buck jumped the creek 50 yards in front of me and came in to investigate the little thicket of cane I was above.

The yearling buck wasn’t even through checking out patch of canes when this 2 or 3 year old 6 point came in posturing and acting very aggressive towards the little guy. Have to give the yearling credit though. He stood his ground for a moment before he realized he was badly outmatched. I think this is some great footage.

It was almost 2 hours later when I saw my last deer of the morning. A buck we nicknamed “High Rack” (for obvious reasons) eased through the woods but ended up downwind and left the country before getting within 100 yards.

This buck is incredibly unique and was actually harvested yesterday on the last day of the Alabama deer season by another hunter on the property. He had a definite strain of deer dwarfism though as he weighed only 150 pounds live weight as a 3 maybe 4 year old buck.

10 days left in the season and still hoping for a cull buck or management 8 point to enter the kill zone. Good thing is the deer activity has increased exponentially in the past week and with bucks coming good to the call, a shot opportunity will almost certainly present itself before time runs out.