Still Celebrating Birthdays

This morning, my brother, Marion "Buster," took my sister, Laura, and I to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. My sister celebrated her birthday on December 8 and mine was on January 27. My brother's birthday was January 14, so I guess you might say we are all celebrating our birthdays together. It's always a treat to get together and visit especially on our birthdays! This is a sweetthing!

Vicksburg On The Hunt

Nine-year-old Kate Shelton, above, killed her first deer while hunting with her father, Tim, at Warren County Hunting and Fishing Club on December 29, 2008. The 115 pound spike was shot with a .43 Winchester rifle from 50 yards. And below....

Kate's brother, Jack, bagged a 150-pound 8-pointer on January 18 with the same gun and at the same camp. Jack and Kate are the children of Tim and Torri Shelton.

Ernie Barlow shot this hugh 8-point buck on December 30 while hunting at the Mill Pond Hunting Club in Claiborne County. The deer weighted 200 pounds, had an 18-1/4 inch wide rack with a 23-inch beam, and scored 150 Boone & Crockett points. Barlow made the 90-yard shot with a 30.06. (My camp borders this camp and my stand is very close to the borderline and some of the hunters have been seeing a monster buck in the vicinity of the top field where my stand is...I wonder if this was the buck they saw!!)

Morgan rest, 11, shot her first deer on January 8 while hunting with her grandfather, Jessie Anderson, at Choctaw Hunting Club. The 7-pointer had a 16-1/2 inch main beam. Morgan made this 155-yard shot with a 7mm-08 rifle.

Eight-year-old Chelsea Myers killed this deer, her first, on January 11. She made the shot with a 7mm-08 while hunting on private land with her grandmother Brenda Shiers.

Ashton Allen, 10, shot this deer while hunting near Redwood with his uncle, Steve Bounds, Jr. Allen is the son of Nichole Allen and Clifton Smith. My congrats to all who hunted in our great wild outdoors!

A Picture of Love

Can birds have "feelings" of love and compassion?

Here his wife is injured and the conditions are very appalling.

Here he brings her food and attends to her with love and compassion.

He brings her food but realize that she has died after he tries to move her.

He cries with adoring love.

He stands beside her and screams, saddened of her death.

Finally he becomes aware that she will not return to him and stands beside her body in deep sorrow.

These photographs, taken in the Ukraine, shows how a bird tries desperately to save his partner. When these pictures were printed in a newspaper, millions were touched. The photographer sold these pictures for a nominal price to a popular newspaper in France and all copies were sold out. Love is not finding someone to live with; it's finding someone you can't live without ~ Rafael Ortiz

New Site - TrickemNstickem

I found a new site today of Adam's over at TrickemNstickem on bow hunting for trophy whitetail deer in our great outdoors. He also tells the story of his first harvest, a 10 pt. buck taken in Illinois recently, his first hunt outside of his home state of Georgia. Go over and give him a big welcome and congratulate him on his fine deer harvest and check out his great tips on bow hunting.

Jasper Bottom Swamp

This is for you Al of My Dismal Swamp! I took this picture years ago in the area where I deer hunted at Jasper Bottom Deer Camp in Claiborne County. I'm also using this picture as my background on my CamoSpace site. There's always something eerie, intriguing and beautiful about a swamp in the great outdoors. Charming, Just Charming!

Happy Birthday!

Happy
Birthday
to
me
today!

A Fused Freak of Nature

Over at Racks and Spurs forum, I came across this picture of a post made by 2poppa. He said -Look what showed up at a local taxidermist in Maryland!

It shares the main-beam and sticker points.

Hunt4ever said - sweet looking rack...I would of definitely shot that one for two reasons - to get it out of the gene pool and it is a fricking awesome looking rack.

Grizz1 said - That is a freak for sure...can you imagine someone trying to score this deer or what the animals forehead would have looked like if he had lived to shed the rack?

Kelly's 2008 Buck

Sue (rancher) and Kelly (artist/illustrator)

I recently met three nice lady hunters who live in British Columbia, Canada, through the HuntersNetworks, a social site for hunters. Kelly and her twin sister, Kim, are 45 and they have a sister by the name of Sue. Sue is a rancher and they all hunt deer, moose, bear or whatever. Below is Kelly's hunting tale of her 2008 harvest with Sue and with her permission, I'm sharing the hunt with you in our great wild outdoors.

~~~~~~~~~

My two sisters, Kimberly and Sue, have always been my hunting buddies. Between us we’ve worked out some lingo that nobody else would probably understand if it’s not explained to them. Roads are named by us according to things that happened, or things we saw there. If you’re not familiar with theses names you would never be able to follow any route we give you. And tree stumps that look like animals have been named too. In our time we’ve seen many a ‘bear stump’, ‘deer stump’, and from time to time also a ‘moose stump’ or two.

It has been two years since I got my last deer. I kept saying to my hunting buddies that I would love to get a four point buck … or better. Well, as they say, perseverance pays off. I was off with my ‘buddy’ Sue to go hunting. Our other ‘buddy’, Kim, had some things to take care of, and could not join us.

We drove down to where we were going to hunt. We went past ‘Tire Road’, took a left down ‘Ribbon Road’, went past ‘Gas Can Road’, took a left, and drove for another 1½km. You think you would have been able to follow this? Not a chance!

We were driving along, keeping our eyes peeled. There were quite a few false alarms. We saw our share of ‘deer stumps’. Then it happened! “Stop! Back up!”, I said to my hunting buddy. She was totally expecting me to say: “Sorry, false alarm. Just a deer stump.” But it wasn’t! About 200 yards away was this very good four point buck! My heart was pumping, and my eyes could not believe that this was my chance.

I slowly got out of the vehicle, moved into position, loaded my rifle, and got him into my sights. It felt like an eternity, and I’m sure Sue was wondering whether I was going to take the shot or not. I squeezed the trigger and the shot went off. The buck went down. I took a couple of minutes to gather myself, and we made our way over to the buck. It was a good, clean shot. I had my four pointer!

He was beautiful, but he was also pretty big. Here we were, two women, about 200 yards away from the vehicle with some pretty rough terrain in between. We had no idea how we were going to manage. But we were high and hopefully had cell range … or maybe not! We tried to phone for help, but realized that our other hunting buddy was the only one who could actually find us. We did not know any of the route markers on these roads, and only knew them by the names we gave them. Only Kim would know where ‘Tire Road’, ‘Ribbon Road’ and ‘Gas Can Road’ were! We had no winch on the vehicle, and no help forthcoming.

Maybe some other hunters will come along and help us. We always seem to run into them. Well, not today. The buck was dressed out, but it was still heavy! We started to drag and pull him to the vehicle. I’m sure the adrenaline helped us getting him there. We were driving a tracker, and this created the next obstacle. We couldn’t lift him that high. Out came the cell phones again, trying to get hold of our other hunting buddy. Still no luck. We dragged the buck onto some boulders to get some height, and Sue backed the tracker up. With one last effort we got him loaded.

Just imagine two women with this heavy buck, exhausted from trying to drag him 200 yards to our vehicle, and then trying to get it loaded. It was hysterical. The next day our bodies were aching all over.

But it was worth every effort! I was extremely pleased with my buck, and could not stop smiling. He dressed out at 160lbs. What a hunt! I’m still smiling, and even though he is probably not the biggest you’ve ever seen, he is big enough for me. I’m going to have a mount done so I can look at him every day. In years to come there might be better ones to follow, but for now I’m pleased as punch! ~Kelly

(Kelly said that in British Columbia they count racks differently and she is not sure why that is. She liked how we counted our racks and that would make her buck an 8 or 10 point ;)

The Miracle

This is from California and I thought you would like to see this sketch by the local “Sacramento Bee” editorial cartoonist"...that was published on January 18, 2009.

(Some offerings, in fact most offerings, by “Political Cartoonists” are sometimes hard to take, regardless of their artistic quality. But, this is truly inspirational, and totally, without equivocation, a TRUE and ACCURATE offering)

Youth On The Hunt

Eight-year-old Jack Dowe III, of Vicksburg, bagged this beautiful 9-point, 221-pound buck on private land in Hinds County the day after Christmas. He made the 135-yard shot with a .243 rifle. He is the son of Jack Dowe Jr. and Karen Dowe.

Brandon Thompson bagged his first deer while hunting with his father, Charles, at the Shiloh Hunting Club near Port Gibson on January 2. He shot it with a 7mm-08 at a distance of 100 yards. Brandon is the son of Charles and Dennis Thompson.

Gage Laird, 10, killed his first buck on November 23 while hunting with his stepfather, Jerry Montgomery, in Issaquena County. The 6-point buck weighed 160 pounds and was shot at 70 yards with a Contender 30-30. The rack was 14 inches wide with 16-inch beams. Gage is the son of Jerry and Speler Montgomery and Chris Laird.

Anna Brasseal, 12, shot this 145-pound, 8-point buck while hunting with her grandfather, Richard Hanks, on December 14 in northern Warren County. Anna made the 100-yard shot with a .243, the same rifle she used to take a 115-pound doe at 160 yards the day before.

Dillon Hearn, 8, shot this 115-pound spike deer while hunting with his father on youth weekend at the W&W Hunting Club in Oak Ridge. Dillon made the 50-yard shot with his .243 rifle. He is the son of Dean and Karen Hearn.

Lauren Whitaker, 9, killed this 125-pound doe while hunting with her father, Wesley, and her brother, Bryson, on family land in Redwood during youth weekend. The deer was shot with a .222 Remington at a range of 125 years. Lauren is the daughter of Wesley and Sherry Whitaker. My congrats to all our young hunters in our great outdoors!

To Brighten Your Day!

Thought I would put some cute pictures up today to brighten your day! Have a great weekend everyone! Charming, Just Charming!

A Hog Wild Weekend!

Mark's 200 pound wild boar.

A picture of Rex and I at the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club with one of three boars that was harvested last Saturday. This particular one weighed 200 lbs., and was shot by Mark Stewart, the mailrider. He also harvested another hog and a doe. It was absolutely a hog wild weekend! I told Rex that I was interested in trying to harvest a hog myself. We have made plans for me to come back in the spring and get on the Privy Stand, since they have been tearing up the ground over in that area. Jeff over at LowCountry Hunting and The Hog Blog are two sites that I will be checking out to learn more about wild hog hunting in our great outdoors. Charming, Just Charming!

Dear Daughter

Here are my Birthday wishes for a very dear daughter, Kathleen Love "Kathy" Day, who turns 43 today.

You are a sweet and lovely daughter and my wish for you is to have a very happy day and year!

With all my love, Mom

(Kathy is the only one of my four daughters that loves to deer hunt and we have enjoyed hunting together many times in our great wild outdoors)

One Last Hunt

A view from my deer stand yesterday.

Bob and I went to our hunting camp, Hwy 61N Hunting Club, to hunt yesterday afternoon. It was really cold and windy. Their were three other hunters in the woods beside ourselves. No one harvested a deer. The rifle season will end tomorrow and primitive weapons will pick up until the end of this month. Most likely we will not muzzle load this season. This is the first time that either one of us had not harvested a deer in the years we have been hunting. Sunday afternoon we received a call from, Greg (my step-son), that he had harvested two deer over the weekend and wanted to give us one. Before we left the Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club, Rex gave us some deer meat as well as Mark Stewart (mailrider) some hog meat. My daughter, Kathy, was given a deer and she offered to share half of it with us. We are so very fortunate, blessed and thankful for the kindness of our family and dear friends.

A Bobcat and a Spike!

Right view from The Privy Stand.

Front view of The Privy Stand where the spike walked out at the far edge of the green field. He came out from the right side and walked towards the wooded area to the left.

I took this picture after I got out of the stand to walk back to the camp.

Rex put me on a stand called, The Privy Stand, early yesterday morning and saw on spike walk out at 6:55 a.m. in the far front end off the green. It was just a beautiful cold morning to see the woods come alive and the fog to lift. The shadow of this stand was taken around 8:30. I hunted until 9:15 and walked back to the camp which was not far away. I was hoping to also see a wild boar and try to harvest one since they have been seen routing around in this area. I would like to get on this stand one day and go wild boar hog hunting. We had a great weekend where one hunter bagged two boars and another hunter bagged one. Check out Rex at Deer Camp Blog for more great stories of a wild weekend hunt.

As always, Bob and I had a wonderful time at the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club this past weekend. I was able to get back on the Arrowhead (tripod) Stand, the same stand that I took a picture of a yearling suckling during a Youth Weekend Hunt. I have never seen a Bobcat in the woods and was surprised to see one walk out. At first, I thought it may be a yearling, but as it walked towards me I saw that it was a cat! I reached for my camera out of my hunting pack and was fortunate to take this one picture. He just stopped and looked at me. My camera did not flash, but as soon as I took it, he turned around and ran back in the same direction he came from. Unfortunately, I did not see a deer but was so excited about getting a picture of one of God's creatures in our great wild outdoors!

Swamp in Delta

I took this picture today coming back from the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club in the MS Delta. This picture is for you Big Al of Dismal Swamp! You have to stay tuned tomorrow to see what happened while hunting in the great outdoors! Charming, Just Charming!

One Last Chance

Bob and I are headed up to the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club in the Mississippi Delta this morning. Rex invited us up to have "one last chance" to deer hunt since this weekend is the end of the rifle season. Muzzleload will pick up until the end of the month. We are looking forward to visiting with our friends and hunting in our great wild outdoors!

Youth On The Hunt

Collin Magoun, 9, killed this 7-pointer while hunting with his father, Bo Magoun, at their camp in Utica. Collin killed the deer on Christmas afternoon with a .243 rifle.

Connor Smith, 12, killed this 8-point buck on December 17 - his second deer of the your season - while hunting in northern Warren County. Connor is the son of Carl and Stacey Smith of Vicksburg.

Joshua Sullivan, 9, shot this 8-point buck, his first, on November 15 while Hunting a the Jasper Bottom Hunting Club in Claiborne County. Joshua's parents are Robert and Rachel Sullivan of Vicksburg. (Jasper Bottom Hunting Club is my old stomping grounds where I shot my first deer, a 6 pt. buck, back in the 80's). My congrats to all hunters in our great outdoors!

Bear Feeder???

Ever had problems with squirrels getting into your bird feeder? Well, look at this…

What the heck is that line made of?