View from a deer stand

There is nothing like slipping into a deer stand in the stillness before daylight.  The woods are still asleep and there is hardly any movement.   I spent the good part of a week hunting the woods of Western Kentucky.  My stand was located on a ridge surrounded by a horseshoe bottom.

 The hardwoods had dropped most of their leaves and any movement was amplified by the crunch of footprints on the forest floor. One morning just before daylight I could hear movement in the right bottom and was unsure what was out there. A few moments later I heard the squeals of a rabbit that had been caught.  As daylight moved upon my ridge I saw the predator, a coyote had found his prey and was slipping back to his cover.  Shortly after seeing the coyote the woods began to come alive, the reason was the sun was rising above the ridge behind me.  Its funny how when the sun comes up it wakes up everything, even the wind starts to blow.  I could hear roosters crowing, dogs barking and the squirrels began hitting the ground all around me.

 

From my stand I can see a rodeo bull farm about 100 yards in front at the bottom of the ridge.  It's made up of large grazing fields filled with wooded bottoms.  Many times during the week I would see bucks chasing does across the huge field.  I had a chance to see a pretty good bull fight, and these are some huge bulls, it was quality entertainment.

 

We had 6 hunters on the property and saw many good bucks during the week.  In the end we were unable to close the deal and take the kind of mature buck we were looking for.  The group had out 4 game cameras for over a month and had several deer that made the hit list.  Hopefully some of these bucks will make it through the year and be that much bigger next season.

Picture of a good 10 Pt. at Joe's stand.

Picture of a big body 8 Pt. from George's (Dad's) camera.

Questions or Comments

alakingfish@gmail.com

Shelby Byrd 

LIMB SHAVER, Walnut Grove Hunting Products

Walnut Grove Hunting Products

I had a great chance to try out another quality product from http://www.walnutgrovehunting.com/

Our hunting group used the Limb Shaver with Saw attachment for clearing shooting lanes.  This is a fully customizable saw and works very well in many different applications.  What I really like most about the Limb Shaver is the easy way in which it can be packed in a packet or hunting pack.  I cut a small tree down to about 7 ft in length and used it as a saw handle.  This gave me the ability to reach limbs up to around 15 ft high which worked out great.  I would recommend the Limb Shaver with the offered Saw attachment Walnut Grove also offers just the attachment unit to use with your existing saw. 

Limb Shaver with Saw mounted on a 7 ft limb.

Kaitlyn using the Limb Shaver to clear shooting lanes.

Joe and Jeff using the Limb Shaver.

Limb Shaver without saw blade. Photo from Walnut Grove Hunting Products.

Limb Shaver with customer supplied saw. Photo from Walnut Grove Hunting Products

http://www.walnutgrovehunting.com/products.html

Click on this link to view the Walnut Grove Hunting Products Web Page.

For question or comments and if you have products you would like to share with our viewers:

Shelby Byrd

alakingfish@gmail.com

Alabama Game Check Now Voluntary



After careful consideration, Conservation Commissioner N Gunter Guy, Jr., with the full support of the Conservation Advisory Board (CAB), has decided to withdraw the mandatory Game Check regulation and implement voluntary compliance. The Game Check system will still be effective Oct. 15, 2013, for the first day of archery season. CAB Chairman Dan Moultrie said, “We are confident that the hunters in Alabama will comply with the Game Check reporting system on a voluntary basis this first year because they know the importance of the information gained through this process.”

For more information go to:

http://www.outdooralabama.com/

For the full version of this article click here:

http://www.outdooralabama.com/news/release.cfm?ID=1180



Take a youngster hunting

If you ever need to feel a breath of fresh air just find a small son or daughter to take hunting.  It will be a trip that you will not soon forget.  I enjoy seeing the woods through the eyes of my 7 year old girl Emily.  She has question about little things that I've not really considered since childhood.  We usually spend about as much time getting ready to hunt as we spend in the woods.  It starts with packing enough snack to supply a small army.

  Then we have to take all the accessories along, deer calls, cover scent, binoculars, face paint, extra flash lights.  You name it and we pack it to the stand.

 

After we get the truck parked and get unpacked we usually have to spray each other with enough cover scent to last the rest of the hunting season and well on into turkey season.  Then we start the march to the stand.  I'm sure we sound like a army marching in procession as we pass by.  We often stop and talk for several minutes about different type of tracks that we encounter on the road or path.  Emily always finds the neatest flowers growing wild along the trail.

 

We sometimes spot endangered bugs and crazy looking worms.  We once found the biggest anthill in South Alabama, you ask how I know because Emily told me so.  At some point during the trip I realize that I don't know half as much about the outdoors as I think I do.  She will ask me,  Daddy what kind of bird makes that noise?  Dadddy what type of bee is that?  Dadddy why can I not shoot that doe?  All great questions and I hope to have the answer someday.  But until then I'll just enjoy making up whatever answer comes to mind.   

  

We like to do some fishing too.

That's me on the Left and Dad in the middle. 

 He spent alot of time taking me and my brother hunting when we were small and now it's something we enjoy doing with our famlies.

question or comments:

alakingfish@gmail.com

Shelby Byrd