The Mulligan Buck - November 28th, 2011

 On my last post I talked about missing a nice buck in a thicket on Thanksgiving Day. Today, 4 days later,  I headed back into that same hollow hoping to get a second chance. Unlike many things in life this time I did get a 2nd chance and I made the most of it. I got on my stand at 7:15. I grunted every 30 minutes. I saw my buck coming in on a string at 8:45. I shot him once behind the shoulder at 45 yards and again at 25 yards, just to be sure this time around. He was a little bigger than what I had thought and was an 8 point instead of a 6 point, but definitely the same buck. He fell only 15 yards from my stand. There was a good bedding area, great buck sign, some active does, and some acorn mass in this area so I had a feeling that this may have been his quiet home area. It's so hard to get in an out of here I don't figure this buck has seen much pressure at least not close to home. All these factors helped me be fortunate enough to exact my revenge on this deer. He  measured 16 inches inside.

Too Much Brush - November 24th, 2011

Dad and I hunted the farm again on this Thanksgiving day. I hunted the Madam's Creek high wall and Dad hunted the hollow below Mock's field. We talked to Jeff at daylight. He said they had killed 3 bucks and had seen several deer earlier on in the week. About 30 minutes after I got set I heard a buck grunt. I grunted back with no affect. I saw a single deer that I couldn't tell what it was through the brush. Then about 9am I saw a buck walking down the ridge across from me. I could tell it was a rack buck but I had a lot of trash between me and him. I looked through the scope, quickly picked a hole, and made the decision that most likely this deer was going on up the other side and this would be my only chance. I squeezed off the shot and then nothing. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't see the deer anymore, had not idea what was happening. I started around the hill so I could see where the deer went. Then I saw a deer running up the hollow. I  threw up  a shot in desperation then it bounced out of  sight. I looked and looked over the next 90 minutes. No blood, no hair, no body, nothing. It was just to thick. After the sun fully came up I looked around again and it was so much thicker than was I had judged it to be in the morning fog. I took the best only shot I had and it wasn't meant to be. Had I only moved on up another the 60 yards above the last thicket I would have had a slam dunk.  I hunted on til 1pm seeing 4 more deer, all does. Dad saw 11 deer all does. On a positive note we saw a lot of deer and deer sign. The place I missed the buck at was eat up with buck sign. Maybe as much sign as any one place I can remember on the farm.

All Does and No Buck - November 23rd, 2011

Dad and I hunted up at the farm from 10:30am till dark. We saw 11 does. We saw does off and on all day long on this changing weather day. I was happy to see some deer activity but on this day bucks were hard to come by. I did hear a few shots even one that was real close by.

Death of the Active Smallie Bite - November 20th, 2011

It sure was fun while it lasted but it appears that the time of big fall smallies chasing lures is coming to a halt. It was still going strong a week ago but  today Rick and I fished for an hour below the dam out of kayaks and managed only one smallie. We saw two other guys fishing from kayaks who did no better. The finesse fishing season for big winter smallies is just around the corner.

Smallies Still Chasing - November 14th, 2011

I fished solo out of the Jackson below the dam for 2 hours today. I took some tubes figuring I would have to slow my presentation way down, but that wasn't the case at all. I had a white gitzit g tail still tied on so I have it a run. I caught 2 bass over 3lbs. and another over 2lbs in my first dozen casts. I worked my way across the baffles to the route 20 side and back. I ended up landing 18 and losing 2 more nice sized fish. I also caught a spotted bass and a small crappie as well. The air temps today were very warm, projected to hit 70 degrees this afternoon. So at least for  now if you can locate them smallies are still active and still chasing.

Catfish Skeleton

Full Circle Trout - November 4th, 2011

It started off in January with trout and with more cold weather inbound it will likely end just as it began, catching trout in the cold clear water. Brad and I fished from 9am till 1:30 landing 119 between the two of us. We had 7 fish over 3 lbs. but nothing that broke the 4lbs. mark. It was a great day. Not as good as last November when three of us landed 265 but then again that's just being plain greedy isn't it. My prettiest fish appears to have been a holdover from last year. He wasn't scared up and roughed up like the rest. He had a big hook jaw and a very dark color.  Brad and I also managed to round up 3 smallies as a bonus.

All Squacks No Turkey - November 1st, 2011

Dad and I went to Little Creek in Greenbrier County to do some turkey/squack hunting. It was a frosty 35 degree morning. When the sun did come up and the frost started to melt off the trees it sounded like it was raining. I took the Savage 33/12 gauge combo gun after taking it to the range last week and figuring out that it shoots 5 shot extremely well and the gun didn't disappoint. It went 10 for 10 on one shot squack kills. I didn't see or hear any turkeys. I did see where turkeys had been scratching recently, but no actual birds.

Cold Front Day 4 - October 30th, 2011

Even though we had snow the night before last I decided to give New river smallies a try. Greg caught the front coming in and absolutely hammered the smallies the previous Friday morning. I fished for 2 hours in front of the dam with my Coosa. I landed 13, 6 of which were over 2lbs. A good day by most any standard but after some the days we have been having it felt pretty lackluster. I didn't catch any that broke the 3 lbs. mark. I did miss several bites as well. I caught most on white g tails in the three big runs below the baffles. It was still very cold, 40's, and the fish were acting for the first time in a long time a little on the sluggish side.



Crayfish Boneyard



 October Fatty