Hidden in Plain Sight

Trail cameras are a great way to scout. Not only do tell you if anything is moving during the day light hours. They can let you see if any bucks are in the area you plan to hunt. They can also educate you. I got a little education from my trail cam pictures this week. When I checked the pictures there were many of does and a few small bucks that you could clearly see. My ten year old son was helping me view them and noticed a set of antlers up behind the other deer. They were not very open like the other deer in the shots. After zooming in you could see a very large buck hidden in the shadows. He was not hiding behind any big tree, just a bunch of saplings 2 inches or smaller. It was like he was fading into the shadows around him. My Granddad and Dad taught me to look for more than the body of deer. They used to say look for an ear or an antler that may stand out. After seeing that picture this statement took on a new meaning. It was amazing seeing that buck blend into his surroundings just by being hidden in plain sight. It makes me also wonder how many times I overlooked deer doing the same thing. After 24 years hunting these elusive animals I'm still learning. This is why I never get bored with hunting.

Hunting Supplies Are Here

Hunting Supplies Are Here signs are going up every where. It makes me want to be heading off to the woods. Me and some friends went out and sighted in the rifles. Everyone is talking about the deer that have been caught on trail cameras. It is too bad that we here in Alabama still have another month and a half before season starts. This year the eagerness we all have has escalated. All of us are chomping at the bit ready to face off against the elusive whitetail bucks.
As we decide where new stands are to be hung or what we want to plant in the green fields. Or we look back at our memories of hunts gone by(triggered by something you see in the woods) may we all take time to be thankful for a country that allows us the freedom to follow our dreams. And may our freedoms never be infringed on.

Navigation

I recently did a Men's Bible study entitled navigation. I was teaching on finding direction from the Bible, in life, or anything that this would apply to. Hunters in the old magazines always used topographic maps for scouting or planning to hunt new areas. I have used this method when starting out hunting public land or new hunting clubs. Each time I use what I have learned from my experiences and the symbols for topographs. But when I first started I didn't understand how to read these maps so I bought maps of the hunting land I was raised on to study. By doing this I could find mountains, ridges, or other land fixtures. Water was easy it is the same for all maps.
I try to hunt funnels, edges,ridges, and swamps . Using what I 've learned I can spot these on my maps. It has come in handy in my hunts. I learned how to navigate these maps and in doing I also learned how to have better hunts.

Something to look forward to

All hunters take to the woods in hope of fulfilling their dreams. We plan every year by what we have learned in the past. Either by what we see from our trail cameras or the different signs we find. It can be where we found rubs and scrapes, crossings in fields or creeks, or the antlers that have dropped off (sheds). But we all have something to look forward to. It is what brings us back every year.
This past year for me was one where I got to see much of head gear on different bucks. Including a nice 7 pointer with a split brow tine. I had started with the hope of seeing a heavy beamed buck that my father in law had found the shed from the year before. It matched a picture of a different 7 pointer I got on my trail cam. I have yet to see any of my bucks that I caught on camera . Next year I will be entering the woods with the hope of these bucks, plus one from a shed my father in law found just after deer season ended. This one also has a split brow tine, but on the opposite side from the 7 pointer. It has 6 points on just this antler. Maybe it will be just as big on the other side. Even if it don't I will be entering the woods with something to look forward to next season.

Lessons Learned

Well my hunting season has come and gone. I only filled one tag this year. Some people here in Alabama might say I didn't have a good season. But in my thinking I had a great season. I had many blunders and just plain blowing it moments, but I enjoyed my year of hunting. As far as the mishaps they were great lessons learned. I will walk away with a great deal of wisdom for future. I also have many plans in the works to help me not repeat them. Besides as other hunters have used in the past. The bucks I missed will be bigger next season.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God,who gives to all generously and without criticizing,and it will be given to him. James 1:5
My wisdom came without me asking so I can vouch for God giving wisdom generously. You can look at all experiences as a chance to gain wisdom or gripe about your what happens to you. Me, I have done it both ways and for me gaining wisdom is more fun.

Just experiencing nature

January came with the first 2 days of the year finding me heading off to the woods. I get to my spot where I missed the nice 7 point earlier and after getting settled in for a full day, after about an hour I start hearing a horse. This went on for maybe another hour and I get up to run the horse off (which has gotten out of someones pasture). As I try to chase the horse off I step in doe poop. Deer poop is better than horse. I head back to my stand and just as I start to sit down. Have you ever felt like you were being watched? I got that feeling. As I look around my 7 point is standing 30 yards on my back trail, watching me. He WHISTLES and is gone again. That big boy was trailing me where I stepped in the doe poop. I now have a new technique, as I walk through the woods I will step in the deers droppings. Who knows it might work again. The more I see this buck the more I learn about him. His luck or my mistakes can't last for ever. I will get him.
The following day I only see a big doe followed by a spotted fawn. I didn't know they had babies with spots this late.
I use the time I spend in the woods as a quiet time. I read my Bible a just unwind . On the day I saw the doe and fawn, I'm relaxing and reading. I feel something touch my boot, I look and see a bird sitting on my boot. It amazes me what all I get to see and experience when I in the woods.