A Dixie Lady Deer Hunter

Monday, November 30, 2009

No Luck Deer Hunting

The field in front of me that I walked across to get to my stand.
A new deer stand near the Big Black River (A3)

When I got to the deer camp there were only four hunters and one was getting ready to pull out. No one had harvested a deer that morning. I decided to go to the stand that I was going to put Kathy on Friday and check it out. I liked it and was easy to get into. No deer walked out and it was a 15 minute walk to and from the stand. When I got back to the camp they were loading up the 4-wheelers and the camp president, Allen, said he only saw a deer towards dark and could not make it out. No one else saw anything. It was a very warm day yesterday and the deer were not moving at all. The weather today has fallen into the low 50's and by Thursday and Friday into the upper 20's for the low. Primitive weapons will start December 2-15 and then back to guns. I look forward to getting back into the woods after primitive season is over with. I need to check into getting a .40-70 or a .444 Marlin to hunt with so I will have more time in be in our great wild outdoors.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

GONE HUNTING!


Well, I'm headed back to Jasper Bottom Hunting Club in Claiborne County this afternoon in hopes of harvesting a deer. This will be it until December 17 and 18 when Kathy can hunt with me again and primitive weapon season last day will be December 15. The following week I will be flying to Fredericksburg, VA, for Christmas to spend a holiday week with my youngest daughter, Suzi, and her family. My mentor and deer friend, Rex, over at Deer Camp Blog, will be posting for me while I'm gone. By the time I get back hopefully, we will be going to his famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club in the MS Delta to hunt in the New Year of 2010! See ya later, GONE HUNTING!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Turkeys and Deer

A conduit pipe stand with camo wrapped around it with a double wooden seat and tin roof.

Levee in front of me.

Looking back towards the camp house to my right. Deer came out from the left side from over the levee.


Three turkeys to the left...

Six turkeys came out to the right and headed my way...(picture blurry)


They were moving pretty fast and was afraid to take my camera down off the rail or to adjust the setting...Just kept shooting pictures...these are pretty blurry also...but you get the idea.

When we arrived at the camp there were so many hunters and also two small children. I did not know if we were going to be able to get on the stands that we had in mind. Well, one of the stands was available and I told Kathy to go to that one. I was told that deer have been seen off of the stand on the road and that was available, so I signed up for it and walked in. This is the first time I have ever hunted out of this stand. I had three turkeys to come out on my left side and six more on my right towards the camp. Some of the pictures are a little blurred especially the ones with the turkeys right on top of me. I was afraid to move the camera off of the rail which I had steadied the camera on...and that I would really spooked them...but the lead turkey knew something was not right and turned up towards the levee before she got to me. I saw them walked down the top of the levee and then came back off the levee to the left where the other three were earlier. Then around 5:10, I heard something to my right towards the camp and standing there was a small doe and another doe behind her. Mama doe was getting ready to come out when she got spooked and they all ran off. They were right on top of me...about 20 yards away. Of course, I did not have my gun ready and was trying to grab it and the doe kept looking at me and I'm trying to ease a gun up. I know they could have heard me put Bob's .270 off of safety with two clicks. It was no wind and very still. As for Kathy, she did not see anything off of her stand but another hunter, Jack, watched a doe and yearling for over 30 minutes. Jack and Kathy walked in together because the stands were next to each other on the same road. (The stands we were going to get on) After the hunt we heard that two eight points and a doe had already been harvested. Maybe next time! It was a beautiful day to be in the woods to enjoy nature at its best!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Hunting With Kathy

My husband, Bob's, .270. My daughter is hunting with my .270.

I like this hunting hat with a face blind built right in.

My daughter Kathy with my .270 which will be hers one day to pass down to her son, Carl, who is also a hunter.

Once again it was good to have my daughter Kathy with me to hunt this past Wednesday. Coming in to Jasper Bottom Deer Camp, I had dropped my hunting bag off at my stand and did not get a chance to take a picture of her until we got back to the house. I did not see anything and while she was walking out, a big doe was in front of her feeding on the road directly towards the camp house and a possibility that I was walking out at the same time from the opposite direction and she just let it go. She did say that she saw a couple of turkeys along side the road as she was walking in towards her stand. It is the same stand (F6) that I saw eight turkeys grazing and they took off running after they heard me coming. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon to hunt. Two other hunters, Father and Son, came in after we were on our stands. The other hunters did not see anything. We are planning to go back this afternoon and get another hunt in before she has to go to work later this evening.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Hunting This Afternoon...

My daughter, Kathy and I are headed to the woods for an afternoon hunt. She is off today from work at Riverwalk Casino. Hopefully, she will get her a deer! Bob has already left to go hunting with his son at Brown's Point on Kings Point Island. This morning I will be cooking and getting ready to spend Thanksgiving with family tomorrow and I want to take this opportunity to wish all my blogging friends a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

What A Catfish!



Vicksburg resident Eddie Brent caught this 76-pound catfish while fishing in Steele Bayou on October 30. Brent caught it using a rod and reel. The fish measured 4 feet, 7 inches long and its head was 35 inches around. The tail fin was 1-1/4 feet. My congrats to Eddie for hauling in such a prized fish! I wonder what Mel would say about this one over at Idaho Fishing Notebook!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Youngsters On The Hunt

Torey Daniels killed the 8-point buck on November 14 while hunting with her grandfather in Warren County. Daniels used a .44 magnum and made the shot from 100 yards. The deer weighed 185 pounds and the rack measured 16 inches.

Lacey Parker, 7, took this 8-point buck while hunting with her father, Mike, on the opening day of youth weekend. The buck weighed approximately 150 pounds.

Abby Truesdell bagged her first deer while hunting with her grandfather, John Barnes, on Sunday. She shot the 3-point, l28-pound deer with a .243 youth handi rifle from a distance of 70 yards.

Nine-year-old Vicksburg resident Jessie Barrett shot his first buck, an 8-pointer weighing about 230 pounds, while hunting with his step father Mike Garner on November 14. Barrett made the shot with his 30-30 rifle at the Lazy Seven Hunting Club in Warren County. Barrett is the son of Risa and Mike Garner, and Joey Barrett. My congrats to all our young hunters in our great wild outdoors. Charming, Just Charming!

Monday, November 23, 2009

A Miracle Coyote

My friend Steve sent me these incredible pictures today and I want you to meet the wiliest of all coyotes: Hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender, road for 600 miles - and SURVIVED!

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on. They didn't realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run. Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.

The brother and sister were Daniel and Tevyn East driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12.

When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping. 'Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,' Daniel explained. 'We thought the story was over.' After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice. But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained.

At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome.

'Daniel saw fur and the body inside the grill,' Tevyn East said. 'I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn't register it was the whole animal.' Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. 'It flinched,' Tevyn East said. 'It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out.'

'We knew it was bad': Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender.

Fur Pete's sake: What Mr. East spotted as he bent down to inspect the damage to his car - the body of the coyote poking out through the radiator.

Wily coyote: The animal's head can be seen as rescuers took apart the front fender to save it after it was struck by the car at 75mph.

Miracle escape: As the animal struggled, wildlife protection officials put a loop around its neck to prevent it from further injuring itself The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free.

...And voila! Tricky the toughest coyote ever rests in a cage after its ordeal - which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw. That is one lucky coyote!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Hoot Goes There


I went deer hunting this afternoon but did not see a deer...but had an owl fly below my stand and land up on a tree branch beside me and made a noise, turning its head back and fourth...then flew off across the road into the woods. I would have loved to have taken a picture of it. When I walked back to the camp house one of the hunters was coming out and I asked him if he had seen a deer and he said no, but shot a coyote. That was the only shot I heard at our camp around 4:15. Rest of the hunters came out but no one saw anything. I was so glad I went hunting...especially to get a chance to see an owl in the woods.

New Antler Regs

Picture taken by Michael F. Passmore
This article was published on the front page of our paper, The Vicksburg Post, yesterday about new antler regulations that are irking hunters.


As area hunters take to the woods and fields for opening day of the deer rifle season today, they’re going to have to look a little closer at bucks to make sure they can be taken legally. The four-point minimum is gone this year, and in place of it measurements of antler length and spread will determine whether a buck is legal.

The new rules have been a point of contention among some hunters, said Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Deer Program Coordinator Chad Dacus. However, he said an aggressive education campaign by the MDWFP on the new rules has convinced most hunters the new gauge will ultimately strengthen the state’s deer herd.

“The biggest complaint has been that it’s going to be more difficult to determine spread or main beam length than it used to be when all they had to look for was four points,” Dacus said. “Anything new is always a worry to some hunters, and I can understand that completely. But once we explain to them our reasoning behind it, they understand it. They still might not like it, but they understand it.”

The whole point of the new antler regulations is to protect all bucks in Mississippi that are 1 1/2 or younger, said Dacus, and allow them to grow and breed. Before the four-point rule took effect in 1995, hunters were allowed to harvest any buck with antlers. Research at Mississippi State University found 50 percent of the bucks taken prior to the four-point rule were 1 1/2 or younger.

“Ten years later the graph had turned upside down, and 60 percent of the bucks harvested were 3 years old or older,” Dacus said. “But there were still areas, especially in the Mississippi Delta where the deer grow more quickly, that the four-point rule only protected a small percentage of the one-year buck class.”

At Delta Outfitters on U.S. 61 North, owner Eddie Buckner said only a few of his customers have said they wish the four-point rule was still in effect this year.

“We’ve had some guys who have come in and complain about it, saying, ‘Well, what do I have to do now, take out a tape measure every time I want to shoot at a buck?’” Buckner said. “But for the most part people around here have been using better management practices for years, and most of them are not even aware of the new rules — they’re only looking for trophy bucks.”

Buckner knows his customers well. Of six hunters who came into his store two days before the opener, five of them just gave a puzzled look when they were asked what they thought of the new buck regulations. “What new regulations?” was the common reply. Jamie Triplett, who belongs to a hunting camp north of Vicksburg, said estimating antler length and spread will be tougher than going by the four-point rule. However, he said no one at his camp has really paid it much attention.

“In our camp, no one is looking for a buck that will barely meet the minimum requirements — they’re looking for the one that walks out and makes you go ‘whooooa,’” he said. “I think it’s going to be good for the deer herd in the long run.”

Along with the new buck regulations, the MDWFP has also created a third deer-hunting zone this year to further protect younger bucks in the Delta region. The south dividing line of the new zone is Interstate 20, meaning hunters in Warren County separated by just four lanes of roadway, will have different sets of criteria to meet for taking a buck. In Zone 1, south of the interstate, bucks must have an inside spread of 10 inches or an antler measuring 13 inches.

In the newly created Zone 3, which encompasses the Delta lands north of Interstate 20 and west of Interstate 55, bucks must have slightly larger racks to be legally taken — the spread must either measure 12 inches or the main antler 15 inches. Zone 2 in southeast Mississippi has the same requirements as Zone 1. The restrictions are tighter in the Delta, said Dacus, because the region has more fertile soil, which generally produces larger bucks than the rest of the state. Before 2005, there were no zones and all hunters abided by the same regulations.Another concern expressed by hunters is that the new buck regulations will hinder the overall deer harvest. The annual harvest has been slowly recovering since 2005, said Dacus, when Hurricane Katrina is cited as the main reason why about 10,000 fewer deer than the year previous were harvested. Last year, a total of 280,854 deer was killed, up about 5,000 from the 2007-08 season. The 2005 harvest was about 285,000.

“That’s certainly a possibility,” Dacus said of a lower harvest. “However, we’ve visited with the majority of the private hunting clubs, and most of them — especially those in the Delta — have stricter rules than this already. There’s an area north of Eagle Lake where all the clubs impose their own 20-inch main beam requirement. I would say it’s going to take a minimum of three years’ data to really see what kind of impact we’re making.”

The antler spread and length rules were first imposed on a trial basis five years ago in Mississippi Wildlife Management Areas. Dacus said the first year harvest was lower than the year previous due to “a learning curve for the hunters and a growing curve for the deer.” However, since then, Dacus said the total harvest in management areas has actually risen.

“Three years after the new regulations went into effect they were harvesting more bucks, and all of those deer harvested were of better quality,” he said. “I think the biggest positive impact in the future will be to the small landowners who don’t have enough land to really manage the deer in the area. They’re going to see the biggest benefit because the smaller deer in the area are going to have to be left alone and allowed to grow larger.”

The bag limit on bucks is one per day, three per season. The bag limit on does is one per day, five per season. Those concerned with young hunters having the opportunity to take a buck need not worry, added Dacus. For youths 15 and younger hunting on private or authorized public land, one of the three bucks in the bag limit can be of any antler size.

Dacus and other MDWFP officials have spent the past year giving countless presentations on the new buck regulations to educate hunters on the benefits of protecting developing bucks. They have also been showing hunters how to estimate antler length and spread, which Dacus said is not as difficult as some have supposed. A complete guide to the new regulations, including a video and powerpoint presentation, is available online at www.mdwfp.com/deer.

“A lot of folks initially thought the new restrictions were going to be a lot tighter than they actually are,” he said. “The bottom line is we’re trying to protect deer that most people wouldn’t shoot anyway.” (Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Opening Day at Jasper Bottom

Tyler and his Dad, Richard heading to their stands in the rain for an evening hunt.

Behind F6 stand.

The foliage was so pretty in the woods. You can see the rain droplets on the branches and leaves.

The two does crossed the road from left to right where the road changes colors and went up into the hills to Mill Pond Hunting Club...approximately 150 yard shot. Of course, no buck was behind them...


In this field in front of the stand (F6) was 8 turkeys and when they saw me they took off for the hills!

Yes, the new stand is red...Allen said that the deer can't see red...and someone gave him the material that was already painted and he just left it as is...blends in with the foliage.

Allen, camp president, goofing off!
Richard and his son, Tyler, getting ready to go out and check on a stand before it rains. Tyler is a Senior at Vicksburg High School and would rather be duck hunting instead of deer hunting, he said.

My Stand.

Limbs and brush I need to cut down so I can get a good shot next time.

Doe came out midway up the road...from left to right and down the hill.

Got up around 3:30 to get ready and headed out about 4:45 to get to the camp in another county. Got on my stand before daybreak...and not long after that I heard some turkeys. Around 7:00 a doe came across the road from the Big Back River, through the woods, across the road and down the hill from my stand. I saw as she walked down the hill that I had a lot of limbs in the way...so I just let her walk. Have not had time to go to the camp and check it out since last year. Will get that taken care of tomorrow afternoon before I get back on my stand. Walked back to the camp house and visited with the hunters, ate lunch and around 1:30 it starting raining. Allen, president of the club, said that I should get on a covered stand that was also within walking distance. I brought my tree umbrella but decided to check out the new stand which was really nice and took some pictures. About 4:35 two does crossed the road about 150 yards in front of me and I let them walk and was waiting for a big buck to step out...but nothing. It was just nice to sit in a deer stand all day and enjoy God's creatures. Above are some photos I took of my day at the deer camp. More hunters showed up for the evening hunt than the morning one. Everyone either saw, does, a spike, yearlings and turkeys. A fun and relaxing day for me.

POSTED

Be back later...

Friday, November 20, 2009

Opening Day Is Tomorrow

I hope to be on my deer stand in the morning...BUT we do have a prediction of 70% rain and the high of 59 degrees. It reminds me of long ago when on opening day after Bob and I got to the camp, it started to storm. All the hunters that came, try to wait it out but after an hour or so, they all left, except Bob and I. Eventually, it stopped long enough for us to get on our ATV and go into the woods. Bob dropped me off and I walked to my stand and he went down below me and had just sat down against a tree near a creek bed, lit up a cigarette, when I shot. The deer never heard me walk in because everything was so wet. By the time I had got to my stand, sat down, put a round in, a 6 point buck was standing there looking at me. I only had a right handed shot, took a deep breath and boom! It happened that quick. Waited awhile and got down to see if I saw any blood and it was all over a limb and some leaves. I noticed how thick it was...a lung shot! Knowing that all the hunters had left, at that moment, I decided to initiate my own self and slapped blood all over my face. When Bob walked up, I told him I could not find my deer and was tracking it. He said it looked like it had shot me!!!...what a great memorable day and a really nice first deer. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be as fortunate. GOODHUNTING!

Swamp Picture in MS Delta


On our way home from the famous Christmas Place Youth Hunt, we stopped and I took a picture of the swamp after we got off the overpass. I don't know what it is about swamps but I really like taking pictures of them. This one is for my good friend, Big Al, of My Dismal Swamp. who lives just across the mighty Mississippi River...somewhere near a swamp in Louisiana.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Christmas Place Lake

A beautiful view of the 40 acre lake at the famous Christmas Place.

My grandson, Ethan, at the landing dock.

Debris piled up from the rains we had in MS this past October.

An anchored "Othmar" floating around near the landing dock.

View of the lake

One last picture of Rex, Camo and I after breaking camp and getting ready to head home from a great Youth Hunt weekend with my grandson at the Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club.

This was my grandson's first trip to the Christmas Place Youth Hunt and while going back and forth to hunt he only caught a glimpse of the lake. Before we left the camp, we got on our 4-wheeler to check out the lake. Above are a few pictures I took of this beautiful lake in our great wild outdoors. Charming, Just Charming!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Hog Hunting & Deer Hunting

I'm so proud of all the young participants this past weekend at the Christmas Place Youth Hunt. They had a wonderful time and made memories that will last them the rest of their lives.

Sunday morning was a great harvest by the young hunters. Congrats to all three who each harvested a doe in our great outdoors in the MS Delta.

Bob, Two Dogs, and I went hog hunting Sunday morning near the Point Stand while Ethan was hunting with Paul. We saw plenty of deer but no hogs. While there I took a picture of Bob waiting for one to come out.
Rex's neighbor, Johnny Granberry dropped by mid-day on Saturday to show off his 11 pt. buck that he harvested with a bow on his property. Congrats Johnny!

Burney is pictured here with a hefty 205 lb. hog that he got with his bow. Recently he shot a hog with a .357 caliber pistol. This is the year for Burney Howell, Rex's cousin, at the famous Christmas Place!
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