Remembering friends at New Years Day

John McKenzie with a nice steelhead (left) and Herb Boldt with "my buck."

She's tuning up. The distant sounds that anglers and hunters hear are those of a big fat lady preparing her evening song. It's not over, they say, until the fat lady sings. Well, she's getting ready for the last hurrah.

After tomorrow's last day of deer season, we'll all be ready to put the final stamp of approval or disapproval, on the past deer season. The Fat Lady will sing at 30 minutes after sundown tomorrow evening, and another deer season will have faded into oblivion.

The days of parties, getting drunk, waking the next morning with a mouth that tastes like a goat herd walked across my tongue, are things of my distant past. We're usually in bed long before midnight, and will celebrate the New Year over dinner tonight with our gread-grandson.

No parties for me. I’m well past that stage in my life.

Twenty-seven years ago I decided to stop drinking and did. I dedicated my whole being to not inbibing in alcohol. I did the same thing 10 years ago about cigarettes, and haven't smoked one since.

As the year slowly draws to a close I prefer to celebrate by remembering people who played an important role in my life. Some like my father who died more than five years ago at 94. Twin brother George, who passed Sept. 10, 2003, but there have been many others who I miss for a great variety of reasons.

Some key folks from my life have fished around their last bend, and some have hunted for their last time. For each, I cherish those memories that have become far more important than going to some silly party to get hammered on a foggy night like this.

The memory of who have passed on are far more meaningful to me than getting sloshed. As an old drinking friend once noted about New Years Eve: "Getting drunk on New Years Eve is for amateurs. The real drinkers can get drunk anytime, and a holiday isn't needed to do it."

Wow! Now there's a personal philosophy not to live by.

I remember one nice man who gave me a job when they were difficult to find.

There are so many old friends who have turned life's corner, and are but faded photographs and fond memories. I miss the late Bernie McKenzie, who gave me a job in his sporting goods store in 1958 when jobs were tough, and I became the go-to guy for sighting-in deer rifles.

More recently, I mourn the lost of callmaker Dick Kerby. He and I share the same room at Alabama's Southern Sportsman's Lodge about a dozen years ago. He practiced for the turkey calling championships, and I treasure the memory of this man who died in September, 2010.

Then there were Bobbie and Max Donovan. Max was my teen-age mentor, and Bobbie was his younger brother. Those two, and G.V. Langley were always up to running fox with hounds during the winter. Both Bobbie and Max are dead, and who knows about G.V. and Paul Duncan and Jerry Miller, three dog jockies who often ran red foxes with us on the winter snow.

There is Frank McKenzie, who has done a bit of outdoor writing, but he and his brother John are still good friends although I don't see either one nearly as often as I'd like. John worked for me as a steelhead guide 40 years ago, and they are both still going strong.

Another who has moved on to where the steelhead always bite is George Yontz. He was another mentor from my formative years of the 1950s, and I miss him a great deal. His acts of kindness to me when I was a kid have never been forgotten.

Another who has passed, and I mourn his uniqueness, is Robert Traver. This legendary trout angler and Upper Peninsula author wrote under that pseudonym, but his real name was John Voelker. He set a writing standard that others like us can only hope to emulate. He was the Bard of the Upper Peninsula, full of fun, and a fan of the fly rod and tiny flies.

I remember the gracious and gentle kindness of the late Russ Bengel.

I miss the quiet strength and strong sense of purpose that was the late Russ Bengel. He was the last Michigan market hunter to pass on, and he hated shooting ducks and geese for the market at a time when making money was difficult. He regretted his market hunting days, and quietly donated millions of dollars to Ducks Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited of Canada. He donated money to make our habitat a better place for wildlife to live, and he was exceedingly kind to me. He taught me that it was nice to be important but it was more important to be nice. I cherish his memory.

Also gone but not forgotten are guys like Al Lesh who could always help me get a newspaper story on short notice when other options went down the tube. The legendary muskie guide Homer LeBlanc was another person who was a big help, and he had more stories than anyone I know and I honestly believe that all were true.

There's my old friend, Herb Boldt of East Tawas, who is still alive and kicking, and we've fished and hunted together often. We seldom have much chance to get together these days, and it is my loss. He helped hire me at The Detroit News back in 1980, and I've never forgiven him for it. Years ago I was responsible for choosing a deer-hunting spot on the firearm opener, and he shot a big 11-pointer that day.

Herb Boldt with what I’ve always considered “my” buck that he shot (see above).

It was a big heavy-beamed buckI'd hunted for 45 days, and then missed with a bow at 30 yards at sundown, and I always tell him that deer was my buck. It was a 140-class whitetail, and as long as I live, I will be happy that I placed him on stand that year.

There are many older and younger friends, some I have fished or hunted with once and others that we haven't got together for many years. Friends, after all, can be the glue that holds many of us together.

There are people like Gary Baynton,  Lee Blahnik, Les Booth, Mike Borkovich, Bob Brunner, Gordie Charlies, Tom Coles, Boyd Crist, Emil Dean, R.J. Doyle, Doug Esch, George Gardner, Jim Gauthier, Bruce Grant, Fred Houghton, Roger & Paul Kerby, Scott Kincaid, Jerry Lee, Ron Levitan, Stan Lievense, Billy Macoy, Pat Marino, Arnie Minka, Paul Nickola, Phil Petz, Bud Raskey, Lou Razek, Jerry Regan, Jim Riley, Mark Rinckey, Ken Roberts, Mark Romanack, Steve Scott, Dan Small, Steve Southard, John Spencer, Al Stewart, Sam Surre, Walt Tilson, John and Steve VanAssche, and Anna and Nick Willerier. Any whose name I've inadvertently missed, my sincere apologies for an unintentional mental lapse.

Some are household names among sportsmen, and others are not, but know that all have figured significantly in my life for many years, and I cherish their friendship and their loyalty.

And to them, and to you, my wishes for a Happy New Year! Spend the day and evening wisely, remember old and new friends, and be grateful  to those who have gone the extra mile to be a true friend. And don't forget to sing along with the fat lady at the appropriate time.

Peace  be with you, one and all. God Bless.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Changing weather patterns

Will changing weather patterns affect a trophy buck’s patterns?

Anglers and hunters who yearn for spring need only step outside. Our winter weather is so mixed up that no one knows what to expect.

Here it is, the end of December and the snow is melting tonight in 38-degree evening temperatures. The forecast is for possible rain showers tonight and tomorrow.

Possible snow? The chance for snow flurries? Chances are like betting on the roll of a pair of dice. Maybe it will snow a bit later this week, but perhaps it won't. Where is our normal cold weather.

It seems the possibility of a culprit may be at hand. The weather service hints that El Nino is at fault. It seems that several years ago El Nino took the blame for something else. Something must be wrong.

Predicting weather is supposed to be scientific but forecasts often are wrong.

Folks, the changing weather patterns are goofy, and have been for many years. Is it the fault of greenhouse gas? Is carbon monoxide to blame? How about flatulence in cattle? Some years ago they were blaming the gas used in aerosol spray cans caused weather changes.

Our planet is no bigger now than it ever was but there are more people on Earth than ever before. They breathe in oxygen (and smog) and breathe out carbon dioxide. More people, more carbon dioxide, and more diesel and gasoline fumes. More smog in our cities, and more weather problems. And less we forget, remember the cows.

The problem will only get worse. I read where ice is melting at a faster rate in polar regions, and the earth is warming up. So, what does this mean for you and me?

Will New York and Los Angeles soon be under water as ocean levels rise? Will more people be moving inland away from the oceans, buy land on a mountain, and stay high and dry? Who knows? Will an earthquake topple the Pacific Rim into the ocean, resulting in a staggering loss of life and trigger tsunamis?

Every time one of the world's many volcanos blows its top, and spews tons of ash, debris and smoke into the air, the worse things become. Every time an earthquake rattles the ground, and some buildings and bridges topple, things get progressively worse.

Is the weather all wrong? Is it changing or are people just learning how to adapt?

Should we be like Chicken Little and run scared? No, I don't think so yet, but as mankind continues to overpopulate the earth in an ever increasing manner, more people must breathe and travel to work. Hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere vy the gazillion, and as more gasses pollute the upper atmosphere, the warmer it wil get.

There will become a greater need for water, and the arid southwest would like some of our Great Lakes. We have water bottling plants that suck millions of gallons of state water from the earth so people can pay Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle money for their bottled water. As the earth warms, and water becomes more precious, this demand will grow.

Much talk was made of making ethanol from corn some years ago. We have lots of corn, but if the atmosphere changes, and the tendency for warmer temperatures increases, will the rain and snow pattern we've seen the past month continue? Most likely it will dwindle, and it's hard to grow corn in a dust bowl but people back in the 1920s and 1930s faced that problem.

Then the weather changed around, rain began to fall again, and soon corn grew where years before the ground had been baked solid. Are we in for more troubling weather ahead?

I'm not an alarmist but I think things will continue to change, and some of these changes may be irreversible. Weather has become quite unpredictable. It may become even more so in the years to come.

I’m more curious about future weather patterns than anything else.

Will this affect me? At 71, I doubt seriously it will have a major impact on me except for how the weather will affect my fishing and hunting.

If the weather continues to gradually grow warmer, there will be a greater desire among some fast-buck artists to sell Great Lakes water. If we start selling our water, we will have jumped onto a slippery slope that will dramatically lower water levels. For every change we see, there will probably be a greater impact on our weather patterns.

If South America's rain forests continue to be eliminated at a rapid pace as trees are cut, what will happen then? What will happen if springs start to go dry because water bottlers are taking our water? How long will it take for every human being in this state and this country and this world to be impacted by the consequences of any mistakes made now?

Once the springs that feed our tiny trout streams are sucked dry, where will our trout go? Where will we go?

Man, left to its own greedy devices, will eventually be responsible for despoiling this planet until there is nothing useful left. I won't be around to see it, and perhaps my children will dodge this climatic bullet, but future generations will suffer for the mistakes made by past, present and future generations.

And just think: here we sit griping about the weather. The winds of change are blowing today, and those costly mistakes will one day be the cause of the death of this planet.

It's not a cheery thought but I'll be gone by then, and thankful for what this life has given me. Writing about changes has been a way of life for the past 44 years.

Someone once said: the more things change, the more they remain the same. It's up to people to protect what we have, and move forward in a positive manner, if Planet Earth is to prosper in the future.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Major concerns about ice safety

Walleyes like the one above, and other game fish, are fun to catch on lures.

There is reasonably safe ice on many lakes or ponds north of US-10. It's been fairly cold the past two weeks, but taking a chances on early and thin ice is a risk that no one should take.

Most of the big lakes such as Crystal, Glen, Houghton, Higgins and many others have not 'gone over,' (frozen over) in the past 10 days. However, any ice before Jan. 1 can be a little suspect and due caution is advised.

There isn't a game fish that swims anywhere in North-Country lakes worth risking one's life by venturing out onto one-inch-thick ice. I'm very squeamish about two or three inches of ice, but once a solid mantle of four-inch or thicker ice covers a lake, it's safe for me to walk on.

Ice fishing is great winter fun but requires more than a little common sense.

This is a bad year for many outdoor pastimes, and the fact the ice is has formed early means that many anglers feel a pent-up need to go ice fishing. It is this desire to fish frozen water that can lead to an angler taking an unnecessary chance.

Falling into ice-cold water is a tremendous shock to the human body. The water is so cold it rips air from your lungs. A person with a bad heart or high blood pressure could be in extreme danger of a heart attack or a stroke when they first plunge through. There always is the risk of drowning as well.

In the past I've written about the three times I've gone through, and they need not be repeated now. However, the initial shock of going through and into the cold water, isn't something I need to do again. People who survive one such escapade should consider themselves fortunate. To fall through twice is uncommon, but to go through three times as I have shows either blind stupidity or loads of bad luck.

I'm not dumb, and don't take chances, and in each case it was a freakish accident. I'm far more cautious now than ever before.

Common sense should be the common denominator for ice fishermen. They should seek advice on local lakes from bait dealers or other anglers, and avoid making a mistake because they are so driven to go fishing that they become willing to take a chance with their life.

The ice story I wrote for Outdoor Life magazine was a true tragedy.

Years ago, while working for Outdoor Life magazine, I was a frequent ghost-writer for people who had stories to tell but couldn't write it themselves. One such story interview was conducted the same day I got married, and it involved the only survivor among several people who went through rotten ice on Lake Erie.

This man broke through three times, and was pulled out by the other men, and then they fell through and he had no chance to return the favor. It was, at that time, the first time Outdoor Life had run an ordeal story where someone died.

He described his gut-wrenching fear, told how he watched his friends and two other people go down during a blizzard, and how he was lucky to make it to shore. His clothing was caked with ice, and he was so cold that it was a major challenge to fit the key in the lock to unlock the vehicle door.

The fear hung in his voice like a black curtain being lowered over the faces of the victims. He questioned how and why he survived, and it was a horrific experience. The fact is they were fishing off a warm-water discharge, a blizzard came up without warning, visibility was zero, and they wandered too close to the discharge. The ice was rotted, and could not bear the weight of a single person.

Does a person need to drown for others to grasp the significance of bad ice? Do people have to wrap themselves around telephone poles, trees or vehicles to exercise more caution when snowmobiling?

Play it safe on the ice and live to fish another day.

This winter fishing business is based on making individual choices or decisions. Others can preach about ice safety, but if the choir isn't listening, it is very difficult to keep some people from making serious mistakes and killing themselves.

My buddy -- Dennis Buchner of Grawn -- is the state's largest wholesale live bait dealer. He's been starving, as have bait shop owners across the state, but he advises me that all of the smaller lakes and most, if not all of the bigger lakes, are reasonably safe. That said, it still become a person's individual decision to venture out on the ice. Use your own judgment and go through, it's still your mistake.

Weakened ice can be found on many lakes, and savvy anglers use a spud to test the ice ahead of them. Many carry a length of sturdy rope and some sharp-pointed objects like ice picks or screwdrivers to use to stab into the ice to pull yourself from the water. Wearing a life jacket may make you look like a sissy but I'd rather be alive and be called that than be a dead fisherman.

The ice conditions should be superb if we don't get rain or freezing rain over the next few days. Take advantage of the early-ice opportunity but use all due caution.

Engage brain before venturing out on early-ice. The fishing is usually the best it will be at this time of year, but catching a fish isn't worth risking a cold dunking or losing your life.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Safe tree stand hunting

The CDS system described below works and I feel safe in tree stands.

It’s time to share a bit of my past, present and future. I’m a tree stand hunter, and I’m really not afraid of falling from a tree stand but now I’m ready if it does happen.

Where my one greatest fear exists is falling and really hurting myself. I’ve broken my back twice in falls that were not associated with tree stands, but  what terrifies me is the thought of falling and becoming a paraplegic or a quadriplegic. I’m afraid to see my deer hunting come to an end because of a mistake.

A short history on my four falls from a tree stand.

I’’ve fallen four times from a tree, and all were all at least 10 years ago. While bow hunting in the December cold, i was coming down a ladder and cold hands and feet caused me to lose my balance. The snow was deep, and I jumped, landed, rolled in the snow and was not hurt.

The next time I took another hunter’s word about a tree stand. He said it and the steps nailed to a tree on private property were safe. I passed up a nice buck that evening, and at the end of shooting time, I began climbing down. One step broke beneath my feet, and I plunged through the second step, and pushed away from the tree. I fell 10 feet but wasn’t injured,

The third time I was climbing down from a ladder stand. I don’t know what happened, but I busted down through cedar branches and hit the ground hard, I was badly shaken but again, managed to escape serious injury. The last time was while climbing up into an elevated box blind, and who knows what happened. I don’t know, but me and the ladder came unglued.

Now, at the age of 71, I still love tree stand hunting for whitetails. However, I’ve come full circle when it comes to personal safety this year. The older we get, the more brittle our bones become and I don’t see how I could survive breaking my back again and become paralyzed for life. That thought brought on my fear of falling.

I spent a lot of time last winter studying safety harnesses, and this past winter I contacted the folks from Mountaineer Sports in Keyser, West Virginia.  Go to <www.mountaineer-sports.com>, and inquire about trademarked Rescue One ‘CDS.’ They also can be reached at (304) 298-4343.

The instructions for the safety harness and other gear are lengthy but not terribly complicated, and a CD helps a hunter work through the various steps. This easy-to-use system allows safe, controlled descent to the ground from heights up to 30 feet. The super-strong light-weight harness is easy to put on, to adjust and to install on any tree.

Follow the detailed instructs rather than the abbreviated ones here.

The low-profile, OSHA approved dual lock, netal safety buckles and special shock absorbing system lessens shock if one does fall. In a fall, it keeps a hunter in an upright position, and it comes with an attached Reserve Suspension Relief Strap, lineman’s safety rope and a tree stand anchor strap.

The Rescue One ‘CDS’ (controlled descent system) personnel feel that tree stand accidents occur when climbing up to a stand, getting into or out of the stand, and while climbing down. And, as I can swear to, accidents do can and happen. It’s not so much whether an accident will happen but when, and that means that hunter should be fully protect from the ground to the stand and back down again ... every time.

Now is as good a time to discuss suspension trauma as any. Make no mistake: you can fall from a tree, and if left suspended without adequate means of regaining access to the stand or the ground within a few short minutes, blood will collect in your legs and feet, hampering circulation, and death can occur. Few harnesses manufacturers want to warn hunters of this danger. A rapid decline in blood pressure results, and in as little as five minutes, a person could lost consciousness or die.

This safety harness that I’ve worn all season has a Reserve Suspension Relief Strap  to allow the user to use a foot loop in which to stand to eliminate blood pooling in the legs. This strap is  used to allow the hunter to stand upright during a controlled descent to the ground. The Protector full-body harness system prevents you from hitting the ground during a fall.

The harness may be worn over or under clothing. There are dual lock safety buckles on both leg straps, and across the chest and waist. It includes a Lineman’s Safety Rope with a prussic knot and two carabineers. This rope is placed around the tree, and is attached to a Lineman’s Loop to steady the hunter when climbing up or down the tree or when placing or taking down a stand.

Peace of mind is as simple as using this safety harness while in a tree.

A tree stand anchor strap and carabineer is used to attach the harness tether line loop to the tree. The tree stand ascent and descent safety line with prussic knot provides additional security while climbing into or our of the stand. Thirty feet of soft ½-inch double braided nylon rope has a 5,000-pound breaking strength with a prussic knot made of stiff 8mm prussic cord. Attach the  safety strap to the safety line when climbing up or down. In the event of a fall, the prussic knot grabs the ascent-descent safety line, and the  strap plays out of the harness and insures a safe and slow descent to safety or the ground. Always use a one hand and two feet, or two hands and one foot, means of contact with the tree or stand while climbing.

I used this safety harness and other equipment every time I climbed into any of my tree stands. Going up or coming down was always a concern before, but  it no longer bothers me. I feel safe and secure when I begin climbing up and down, and while sitting in the stand.

There no longer is that gnawing worry about a possible fall. I feel secure, and am secure, and that makes hunting from a tree much easier and safe. It is said that falling from a tree is not a matter of if you fall, but when.

This system keeps you in contact with the tree at all times, and if the manufacturer’s instructions are followed to the letter, you’ll have a safe hunting experience next year.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Keep your pets at home

Ruffed grouse are killed in winter by cats sneaking around houses.

The cat tracks came creeping around my back steps. Mourning doves often roost on my deck at night, and 30 feet away was a pile of bloody feathers in pristine snow where a stray had feline had killed a dove during the night.

Wild running cats and dogs spell trouble for winter wildlife, and the animals do what often comes natural to them. It’s in the nature of cats, and some dogs, to kill anything they can catch. A similar thing happened one day last week.

The day was brilliant with strong sunlight reflecting off the snow, and when I went out for the paper, cottontail rabbit tracks were everywhere in front of and behind the house.

A brief walk turns up a winter casualty.

The rabbits had been active. I donned some boots, and forgot about my shotgun and blaze orange, and just went for a short walk.

It was to see how many bunnies were living near the house and in nearby brush piles. One rabbit can make plenty of tracks at night, and I knew there were at least two bunnies nearby. I've seen them outside after dark as they scamper around looking for food.

It appeared there were four cottontails. Two were the adults I'd seen on many occasions, and the other two made smaller tracks. Perhaps the smaller two were from the most recent litter.

They weaved in and out of nearby brush piles left from the last timber cutting, wandered through downed tree-tops, and there were many tracks where we feed deer. They've nibbled a bit on the old dead clover, and there were two deer tracks as well. One was an adult, most likely an adult doe, and the other was a fawn.

We often see cottontail rabbits where sunflower seeds are knocked from the feeder. The bunnies don't mind sniffing through the seeds for some that are still intact.

My short little walk wasn't much over 150 yards, and in one spot was the unmistakable sign of the death of a young rabbit. The animal had made a serious mistake by moving into the open and away from nearby brush and heavy ground cover, and nature’s story was painted on the white snow.

A few drops of blood on the snow spelled the demise of a cottontail.

An owl had swooped down from the sky during the night, gliding in on hushed wings, and a few spots of blood on the snow showed where the bird had run his talons through the cottontail. There were faint signs of wing-tip  feathers dusting the snow as the bird grabbed the young bunny and flew away with his nightly dinner.

Avian predators are a major concern for wildlife. We often see hawks  take songbirds and ruffed grouse during the day, and if they hit a grouse, nothing is left behind but a pile of russet feathers drifting on the breeze.

We've had cottontails around as long as we've lived here. They stay in the shrubs, venture out after dark to feed, and we see signs of their presence as they chew on ornamental bushes and shrubs.

Cats are silent predators, and they prey heavily on songbirds and grouse when the snow is deep. There's no telling where these cats come from, but if we see a strange car or truck, we will probably find cat tracks later.

People who no longer want these critters turn them loose in someone else's neighborhood, and then we must deal with the problem. Today, there was one lone dog track behind my house, and one pooch often meets a sad fate when it encounters one or two hungry coyotes.

These large predators will kill every dog or cat they catch. Cats occasionally escape by climbing a tree, but coyotes are brazen animals. They've been known to pluck a small cat or dog off the back porch.

Rather than take unwanted cats to the Humane Society and let them deal with the problem, people dump them. They feel sorry for the cat, and often these animals slowly die of starvation or provide a nourishing snack for a drifting coyote.

Cats are born killers, and I don’t want or need discarded felines.

A cat is a killing machine, and often kill for the sake of killing. People should keep pet cats and dogs inside at night where they belong or in a kennel. Too often they lack the guts to accept this responsibility, or are unwilling to take them to the pound. Those of us who live beyond city lights do not deserve these canine or feline discards on our property.

Unwanted cats are destructive during winter months. I frighten them away, but many people either set live traps or kill the cats on sight. Cats may be pets, but they belong indoors or under human control at all times.

Those left to roam at night often disappear. Although I don't agree with the Three S's doctrine (shoot, shovel and shut up), I can easily understand why some landowners treat every free-roaming cat with suspicion and a quick death.

Those that appear to be hunting game or song birds are summarily dispatched. This can be cause for a citation, a fine and perhaps a jail sentence, but no one I know wants free-roaming cats in their neighborhood.

Free-roaming dogs often attack deer in deep snow, and many think that turning Fido out for the night is the right thing to do. Two, three or four dogs, turned out by their masters at night, form a pack, and will chase and kill deer.

The place for pet cats and dogs is inside the house or locked in a kennel where they belong at all times unless they are hunting dogs. They need to be under human control even when outside. Free-roaming animals are pests, and it's up to pet owners to control their animals at all times or others may do the job for them.

Sad words but many people don’t pay attention to their critters. All too often someone else chooses to solve the problem for them. It may not be right or legal, but there it is.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Late-season deer hunting

Cold weather will make bucks move. Be alert to it.

K, Christmas is over and out of the way, and I managed to continue my longtime shopping record. Chalk up another year that I failed to make it into the first store to buy gifts.

Many may consider me Scrooge or a dummy, but I dislike shopping with a passion and my wife dislikes it as well but she does enjoy buying for the little grandkids and our great-grandsons.

Now me, I'm content to watch her trudge out the door. I can tell, because I'm a trained observer, that Kay doesn't care one bit about joining the Christmas shopping throng at the local stores. I wish her good luck before Christmas when she went shopping, and I'd often have her drop me off at a friend's house and I'd climb into a tree stand for a few hours.

It seemed the perfect situation: her shopping and me hunting.

There I was, out in the weather with muzzleloader or bow in hand, depending on the season, and she would stop and pick me up three or four hours later. It seemed to make perfect sense to me. She dislikes hunting in cold weather, and I can't say it's my favorite thing to do but there was little cold temps to worry about.

Each day I'd watch for deer. Some days a few would pop out, and I'd make the decision to shoot or don't shoot. The hunt wasn't about killing a deer so much as it was about hunting for deer.

As my butt snuggled deeper into the foam rump pad, I'd think warm thoughts while the end of my bow was tucked into the top of my left rubber boot. My release was on the string, and seeing and hoping to shoot a deer meant waiting for the proper time to draw and shoot.

Numerous button-bucks and doe fawns were seen, and several mature does, but bucks with significant bone between their ears were conspicuous by their absence. As a matter of fact, not one well-antlered buck dared show his rack at any of my hunting spots.

Two or three small bucks were seen during December in another hunting location but they were always too away from my preferred bow range of 15 yards. A buck at 25 yards if outside my vision, and therefore outside of my shooting range with a bow. And, I don’t shoot small bucks,

No big bucks were seen this fall, and I’ve shot enough small bucks.

Shooting a muzzleloader is a bit different. I have a good scope on my black powder rifle, and can easily shoot bucks at 150-175 yards. I love my center-fire rifles, but thoroughly enjoy shooting bucks (and does when I have the proper permits) with a front-end loader.

The slightly colder weather is a turn-on for me because I know whitetails must move in colder weather. I'm still hoping for two or three days of 10-degree weather. When it gets that cold, I know the whitetail bucks and does will be up and moving.

The burning question right now is will we see weather that cold before the season shuts down on the evening of New Years Day. It looks very doubtful that we will have such weather until well into January when the season has shut down.

I don’t think we’ll have any bone-chilling cold between now and New Years Day.

Who knows? If all the talk about global warming is true, than what we are not seeing is what we'll probably be getting in the years to come. With the warmer weather will be more east winds, more swirling winds, less cold temperatures, possibly less snow, and a quicker spring break-up. It doesn't sound like my kind of winter deer-hunting weather.

So, between now and then, there is no shopping left to do. What excuse can I use to have Kay drop me off at one of my favorite spots, and pick me up on the way home?

I'll need to come up with something to get me through these last few days.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

A lazy Christmas for me

Some very nice bucks like this one are taken in late December.

There were thoughts of bow hunting this evening. They were very brief thoughts, and then the notion quickly passed.

I have hunted a good many Christmas days over the years, and there have been a few bucks taken. Not many though, and frankly, it's become more difficult of late to muster up much energy after chowing down on a big dinner.

Too much food makes me act a bit like an old bird dog curling up before the fire. I turn around in a circle two or three times, slump into an easy chair, and if the chatter isn't too loud and the mood suits me, I might study the insides of my eyelids for an hour or two.

Life is good when such luxuries exist in the afternoon.

Old dogs, especially those lean and long-legged pointers, hit the floor like a sack of old bones, and are about as noisy on a hardwood floor as anything could be. The dogs curl up, make little puppy-like sounds as they follow the heady scent of a grouse, pheasant or woodcock through their dreamy coverts.

The older I get, the more sense it makes to sleep off at least an hour after a big meal. It allows the grub to settle into all the nooks and crannies of my digestive system, but sadly, I didn't get a chance to doze today. Good chats about deer hunting got in the way.

Some basketball game was on, and two or three of the players acted as if they had eaten far too much before the game, but perhaps that was just my lazy attitude this afternoon. It would have been a decent bow-hunting day.

There was just enough people around to keep me indoors. A soft breeze may be fun to listen to but the deer do not move well in deep snow, and in my area, many deer have found the yarding areas already. Hunting such areas is not a wise decision this late in the season.

There is a lot of snow still on the ground, and somehow, heading out for an afternoon of bow hunting in too much deep  snow seemed pointless. It's not that I might not have seen a deer or two, perhaps even taken a shot, but it seemed a far wiser decision to spend time with my family.

Hunting in or near deer yarding areas puts too much pressure and stress on them.

I did kick back, put my feet up on a foot stool in the late afternoon, and remembered two or three past Christmases when I hunted. As I recall, all had snow on the ground and much colder temperatures. Our snow this year is deep, and where I live about 60 inches have fallen since it first arrived six weeks ago.

Years ago, the cold and snow made the deer move, and on one such day, a nice 8-point came walking by and offered an easy shot at 12 yards. The buck ran 45 yards, and fell with a two-bladed hole through his heart. It was an easy shot, and a wonderful Christmas gift.

Now, as a rule, hunting on holidays (especially Christmas) is something I seldom do. It doesn't bother me to hunt Thanksgiving Day or New Years Day, but I usually stay inside on Christmas.

My son-in-law was up early this morning, and as the sky began to lighten in the east, he spotted a 140-class buck bed down with a doe in an open field about 75 yards behind the house. He watched the buck for a half-hour, and as the light grew stronger, both deer got up and moved off into the pines. He felt that was his Christmas present from the deer in his hunting area

And, guess what for me? Missing out on hunting today didn't bother me one bit. I can still hunt through Jan. 1, and expect to do so. Some cold weather would certainly help, and then I'll hang up the bow for a month before starting to practice for next year's bow season and start dreaming about next year's spring turkey hunt.

Merry Christmas from my house and family to yours. May the best of the Christmas season bless and keep you, and while you're at it, say a prayer for the men and women in our Armed Forces, who make such Christmas events possible for us. God bless one and all.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors