2007-2008 News Archives

      The next to the last day of the season was a beautiful one that dawned cool and clear, much unlike what is the likely weather for the end of April in the Deep South. There was simply no explanation for the fact that not a single turkey gobbled on the property. If one did gobble, I never heard it and I covered quite a bit of ground before giving up for the morning.
       I chose that outing as my final one of the season. I've had a great spring in the turkey woods and one more dead turkey could not add much to the great enjoyment that I have experienced this season. I took the silence that the birds gave me the next to last morning to heart and I left them alone for the final opportunity of April.
       My father did venture out on the final day and heard a little gobbling, though it was very inconsistent. He called up a gobbler to that danger zone area of 45 yards and he choose not to take a chance at wounding and losing the bird. He did not shoot.
       David Rainer wrote about our April 23rd turkey hunt in his latest column on the outdooralabama.com website. Click here to read it. Once his next column posts this week, you will need to click on the "previous column" link on that page.
        In the next few days I'll include photos and stories from our reader submissions throughout turkey season. I appreciate all those that have contributed.

It seems like the season just got started but instead the final two days of hunting are upon us. I can remember the many seasons that have ended in hot weather, sometimes with our without any gobbling in my turkey woods. This cool snap, that has the temps in the upper 40s, should help the gobbling activity to remain good until the season closes. I'm headed towards the woods right now. At the end of the week I'll let you know how I finished. I have quite a few reader submissions to post as well so stay tuned.

      I spoke with David Rainer on Monday to thank him for the great article he wrote for us promoting our Crappie Tournament, Derby, and lake in general. David, who spent 14 years as the outdoors editor for the Mobile Press-Register, now writes for the Alabama Department of Conservation, contributing a weekly column that is posted on the www.outdooralabama.com website and distributed to every newspaper in the state. He also writes for the Outdoor Alabama magazine, another fine publication put together quarterly by the Dept. of Conservation.
       He asked me if we had any dumb turkeys left in Wilcox County as he was in great need of one. His season has gone wrong at every turn and with little opportunity to hunt last season, it had been some time since he had killed a turkey. We set up a hunt for Wednesday morning.
        David came into town Tuesday evening and we met an old friend of his and a new friend of mine, Maurice Ryan, at the Southern Inn for supper. Maurice has operated a bait shop on Dauphin Island for many years and is one of the ferry boat captains here for the Gee's Bend Ferry. He and I spent an interesting Monday aboard the Gee's Bend Ferry with John McCain. Here's a picture of Maurice and John McCain in the pilot house. I was taking pictures for the local paper and also representing the local Chamber of Commerce for the event. You can see my reflection in the glass. Maurice and I had a lot to talk about from the events of Monday and David and Maurice had a lot of catching up to do as well. David and I finally got to the cabin about sundown and were soon fast asleep.

       We awoke in time for a quick cup of coffee and we then got in the truck to drive to the west side of the property where I thought was our best chance to kill a turkey. As day was breaking I hooted before we left the vicinity of the cabin. A turkey gobbled about 400 yard southwest of the cabin. I told David that was likely the bird my guest had clean missed a few weeks prior. I thought our best chances lie elsewhere so we drove off in the truck and left that bird.
       After listening a few minutes from the next location, we continued to hear that bird south of the cabin. We heard only one gobble in the area we had gone to and the lure of the other bird, who was now gobbling frequently, lured us back to him. We soon parked at the cabin again and walked south into the pines.
       We got set up where I felt the bird would come. He gobbled once more as we sat down and then he got quiet. We gave a few soft clucks and yelps. Ten minutes passed and then ten more. We heard nothing from the bird. A few more minutes passed and there was no answer from our yelps. David suggested we hit the bird hard with some yelping and see if we could rouse him, otherwise, we might best go looking for another more interested turkey. I agreed. I don't have much patience with a non-gobbling turkey.
       We did just that and we still got no response. We both agreed it might be best to go looking elsewhere as this bird did not seem interested in us. David leaned forward and turned off his Thermacell and just a split second before we were both going to stand up the bird gobbled about 75 yards or less from us. As soon as that gobble registered in my mind I knew this bird was in big trouble.
       In another minute David saw him. The bird walked into a little open spot in the pines and looked hard for the hens he had just heard. He worked his way slowly to our right, hopped up on a fallen tree and looked even harder our way.
       He moved forward a little more, continuing to our right as David slowly moved his gun to keep up with the bird, now at about 50 yards. He got behind a clump of trees and stopped and then started some nervous clucking He might have seen some movement from us. I clucked back at him a few times and he took a few more steps forward and into an opening. David dropped him with a load of 5 shot at 42 steps.
       We ran forward to inspect the bird and rejoice at our success. A lack of patience had nearly cost us the opportunity to kill this turkey. Had the bird not offered us that last gobble, we would have stood up and spooked him. Luck was on our side this time.
        The bird was a very light 14 pound 3-year old with a 10 inch beard.

The bird stopped behind the big tree and vines shown under the arrow. He finally walked forward and the shot was made at the X mark.

The season is winding down quickly. It is hard to believe but this is the last weekend of the season that is on tap. I hope to hunt the birds a few more times before the season is over. It has been a good one for me.

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     Last Tuesday morning, a week ago, my father and I ventured into the Swamp after a few birds that we knew were roosting along a hardwood drain that cuts through a stand of twice thinned pines. We found three gobblers roosted about where we expected and we set up in the hardwoods where they have liked to walk on prior encounters with them this season.
      They gobbled well on the roost but at fly down time they got quiet and vanished into the timber. But not for good, thankfully. A bit later in the morning we heard a gobble in the pines bordering the hardwoods. We repositioned to the edge of the hardwoods and set up in an area of gum and cypress trees that normally holds water but not at this time due to the prior dry summers.
      The trio of gobblers soon got fired up again. Two appeared to be together and the other gobbler was positioned about 50 yards away from them. They responded well to my calls and the duo soon headed our way. My father sat in front of me and to my left. The birds hooked around to the right. I thought they would walk the edge of the dried up swamp where the gum and cypress trees met the pines. Instead they circled to our right and got behind us.
      The huge bases of the gum and cypress trees as well as the many cypress knees protruding from the swamp floor gave me plenty of cover to twist around and follow them as they circled. One bird was closer than the other and finally I was able to get a clear shot between the cypress knees. I dropped him about about 38 steps. He was yet another 3-year old bird.

The big bases of the cypress and gum trees provide great cover when you need to twist and turn on a bird that is approaching from an unexpected direction.

I shot the bird just to the left of the big cypress
in the right center of this picture.

Having forgotten to put my camera in my vest, I missed a great photo opportunity back in the that cypress bottom. Nevertheless, here's #3 of the season.

My father got his second gobbler of the season on Saturday hunting by himself. That brought our total of gobblers killed in the Swamp this season to six.
Stay tuned for yet another success story that occurred on April 23rd. That will be posted on Friday.

I've got another successful story to tell, but I've been short on time to do so. I've been wrapped up with the Crappie Tournament and Derby you see advertised above. We had 202 anglers completing in the tournament Saturday morning and in the first two days of the Derby there have been seven fish worth $100 each caught in the Derby. Click the link above for photos and the complete results.
This update will entertain you with a great turkey hunt told by Camden's Dan Burford.

"I heard 7 turkeys gobble across about 500 acres this morning. I set up on a corner of three big fields. I took my dove stool for elevated sight and comfort and Little Freddie and Frieda for companionship. I set them up 25 yards out in the field on the edge of the spring rye grass and a patch of barren ground. I found the perfect little nook in the edge of the woods between two pines and some little gums. I could see the 4 acre pocket to my right and the ridges of a corn field, to the front and left. The turkeys didn't gobble much to begin with, but I had come to enjoy God's early morning glory and as usual, He did not disappoint me.

About 6:30, a struggling sound let me know a jake was close and then a bird lit in a tree just behind me. I purred and called softly and the young jake appeared just before his brother flew down from the tree to join him. Little Freddie was in trouble. Just like the Tar Baby and Brer Rabbit's arch rivals, Brer Fox and Bear, they dropped their wings and headed straight to Lil Freddie. "Good Morning Lil Freddie" one of them said as he backed against the silent and still bird. Finally a couple of wing prods later, Lil Freddie got a lashing from the jealous jake. After Lil Freddie leaned away from the beating, the youngster full of pride after his Macho show, walked away trying to strut like his older cousins had done to him in his "lesson" into manhood.

The older gobblers begin to call out in search of early rising hens and as the sun brought warmth to the cool spring world, the frequency and intensity increased. I called and cackled excitedly and strained my ears to try and detect the increasing volume in hopes of bringing some older longbeards into the field of view. Just as I moved to watch for the closest bird gobbling, two appeared back to my left on another ridge, holding their head high in between their extravagant displays, looking for the hen calling to them. Once again, I gave them a purr and this time they spotted the two adolescent birds that were scrambling for the tall grass to escaped another lesson from their elders. The older boys jogged down the ridge and ran the now cowering and clucking jakes into the bushes. With the young ones out of the way their attention rested upon Lil Freddie and Frieda. Drumming and strutting they approached, always keeping their fans and copper sheen plumage in the sunlight to impress Frieda.

Just about the time they reached the pair of artificial lovebirds, a loud cackle and a double gobble sounded, as 4 new gobblers and 3 hens jumped into the ring. Hens flew, hopped and cackled as gobblers barked out in response. One of the gobblers joined the other two approaching Lil Freddie and the others hurried to the next ridge to begin their courtship ritual. For over three quarters of an hour, I silently watched and admired the beauty that Our Father has given us to enjoy. Three gobblers at 25 yards and four at 80. Finally, after much debate, one of the gobblers was harvested as his confused brothers gobbled and ran around his body, urging him to leave with them. It saddened me and assured me that it all was a great blessing to have been a part of."
--------Dan Burford danburford@mchsi.com

     Sunday morning Barnett decided not to hunt. Barnett hates getting up early about as much as anybody I have met. He had his turkey and he was happy. I stopped by the restaurant to make sure all the guides had shown up and one had not. We could not reach him on his cell phone so I offered to take his hunter with me, Harold Powell from Maine. Like Barnett, Harold has been coming on this hunt for many years.
       I decided we would try the turkey that Barnett and I first heard right after the rain stopped Saturday morning. We went to that area and the turkey gobbled immediately after I hooted. We set up in the pine plantation next to his roost and waited. Soon I heard a few hens deeper into the woods. I decided to do what I don't normally like to do, I clucked and yelped to him while he was in the tree. I really wanted to make sure he headed in our direction when he hit the ground. He answered my calls well.
       Eventually I heard him on the ground and then heard him closer. I could tell he was headed our way and I soon spotted him about 60 yards through the sweetgum filled piney woods. He was coming to our right and thankfully there was enough cover between us that Harold could get twisted around a little and prepare for the shot.
       The bird got to about 20 yards and then walked right to left directly in front of Harold. Harold was sitting about 15 feet in front of me and with the trees a bit thick in those woods, I did not have the same line of sight at the bird as he did. I did not know exactly when to cluck to stop the bird and have him stretch his neck. And unfortunately Harold took a shot as the bird was walking and his head was bobbing.
        The shot was fired and the bird took off running away. I started to get up expecting us to have to chase him down but then I heard the gobbler begin to putt. He then slowed his walk and I began cutting at him. I then gave him a couple of gobbles, awful as they sounded, but what the heck we couldn't scare him much more at this point. I then cut at him again and he gobbled back, now at a distance of about 75 yards. I caught his movement for a few more moments as he walked away. It was a clean miss.
       It was still early and we spent some more time trying to find another gobbler but we were not successful. Overall there were 5 turkeys killed and one missed by the 24 hunters on the benefit hunt.

     Barnett Serio and I got into the woods just as day was breaking Saturday morning. I was guiding Barnett as part of the Wilcox Academy Benefit Turkey Hunt. This was Barnett's 19th consecutive hunt to attend.
       Raindrops began to fall and knowing one of two small, but strong storms were still to the southwest of us, we decided to wait it out at the truck. The rain quit soon after daybreak and we walked out into the pines to wait for a gobble. Then another storm approached, with lightning, that sent us scrambling back to the truck and then to the cabin. This one brought some hard rain.
       I called into the Chattin' Outdoors radio show on 98.5 to talk to Big Daddy Lawler about the big crappie tournament here this coming weekend. I told the show that I felt like as soon as the rain quit the birds would gobble, as long as the wind did not pick up. I talked on the show for about 15 minutes about the tournament and just as the segment was about to end I heard a gobble just to the south of the cabin. The rain had stopped. I ended the segment, hung up the phone and told Barnett that we were going to kill that turkey.
        We set up in the pines and he answered a few times, then shut up. I got one glimpse of him through the woods as he passed one little opening. He never came and we eventually gave up and went looking for another bird.
        A short time later we heard another gobble and began moving in that turkey's direction. As we got closer the bird continued to answer. We sat down in another pine plantation and I gave out a round of yelps that the bird answered with great excitement. I put my calls down and waited. Five minutes passed and he did not gobble.
        There was a reason for that. He was walking fast our way and did not even stop to gobble. Suddenly he was standing right in front of Barnett at 25 yards. He strutted, spun around, and took a few more steps toward us out of strut. Barnett made the shot at 23 steps. The bird was a 3-year old and weighed 19 pounds.

It was a bit thick in that pine plantation that we killed the bird. Barnett's first good look at the turkey was at 25 yards.

      I have another story for you about our Sunday morning adventure, but you will have to wait a day or two for me to get that one posted.
      Let me tell you about our Crappie Tournament coming up here on Saturday. If you have a boat and can operate a cane pole you need to get involved in this one. It is going to be a lot of fun and it is a great event for your entire family.
      The tournament is a Big Fish event with 6 hourly weigh-ins at 2 locations along the lake. The largest fish weighed in each hour wins $100, the 2nd largest wins $50, and the 3rd largest wins $25. The largest fish brought to the scales for the entire day wins $1000, followed by $500 for 2nd place and $250 for third place. We'll have over $700 worth of door prizes to give away as well. Entry is $25 per angler and there is no limit to the number of anglers per boat.
       This will kick off a 30-day Crappie Derby. We will have nearly $69,000 worth of tagged crappie in the lake and for 30 days if you catch one of these fish you could win from $100 to up $25,000. Entry fee is $5 for that event. See www.wilcoxareachamber.org for all the information.

     The nights continue to be a bit warm for what I consider great gobbling weather. There are so many thoughts on why turkeys gobble some days and do not on other days. Is it the temperature, the barometric pressure, or just simply the finicky ways of wild turkeys? I do not know. But over the years I have heard a lot more gobbling activity on the cooler, crisper mornings than on the warm, muggy ones.
      I love the day that dawns in the mid 40s. The bugs and the snakes are kept at bay and the birds really seem to like this weather. Recently the nights have not dipped past the 60 degree mark. I went right back this morning to where I heard several birds on Sunday. This time around I heard just one turkey and he only gobbled a few times in the tree.  Forty five minutes later I gave up and went to work.
      Our private school benefit hunt is this weekend.  For the rest of the week I'll wait and watch and listen to the birds and hopefully have one cornered for us on Saturday morning.
       With rain moving through Friday or Friday night, Saturday might be a decent day to hunt. And don't look now, but that mid 40s temperatures I was talking about, well, it is in the forecast again for Sunday morning and next week!

     I've gotten to the woods just a couple of times in the last week but I've gotten no more shots at turkeys. Sunday morning I did hear several birds gobble and I stayed with one and then another for much of the morning. They just would not come to me.
      My father killed a nice turkey last week in the swamp. The bird had nearly an inch and a quarter spurs and big, fat beard.
       The weather is quite unstable at the present time for turkey hunting. Turkeys like a cool, crisp and clear morning. We have had a lot of muggy and cloudy days with some fog mixed in as well. Often times the birds just don't gobble in that weather and are not much fun to hunt. It appears we'll have a lot of that this week as we move toward more rain chances later in the week. Maybe by the weekend the weather will improve.
       Our local school's benefit hunt is this coming weekend. Normally it is held the second weekend of the season but since that was Easter, the hunt was pushed back into April. We'll have about 25 hunters coming in from all over the country. I'll have a full report next week on how the hunt went.

     Saturday morning I hunted with Andre Thionville, from New Orleans, on property leased by a mutual friend, Kirk Talbot, north of Camden. I would be the caller and Andre the shooter. Though Andre is an experienced bowhunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman in general, this would be just his fourth turkey hunt.
       We found a turkey on the roost and set up on him in a beautiful area of hardwood trees. With the woods not quite full of leaves yet, we got as close as we could and set up. I gave a few clucks and tree yelps at the appropriate time and the bird cut me off on several of them. I was quite sure this was going to be easy.
       At fly down time the bird got quiet. We sat and waited patiently. I felt sure he had hit the ground and would walk right out in front of us. Eventually we heard one more gobble from the ground but he appeared to have moved farther away. A light fog rolled in and was more evident in the greenfield next to us than in the woods but I thought that maybe that had clammed up our gobbler. We waited until the fog burned off 45 minutes later and I again offered a round of yelps and clucks. There was no sign of the bird. We eventually gave up and went on a walk through the property in search of another bird.
         A short time later we got a response, while on top of big ridge in this rolling countryside. We wound down a road toward the bird, stopping a couple of times along the way to yelp on my slate. Almost each time the bird answered but it was a somewhat delayed gobble. I pictured this gobbler was with a flock of hens and he was just letting us know we could join them if we wished.
       We got as close as possible and set up where Andre could shoot the road or the adjacent bottom. He would certainly come one way or the other if he came at all.

       I yelped and clucked a few times. A few minutes passed and then I heard the drumming of a gobbler. I had barely whispered this to Andre when the bird came into his view. I cut my eyes over and saw him coming up the bottom towards us.
      He went into a half strut a time or two, then stopped and gobbled at just over 40 yards. He came up a few more steps and stopped. I clucked one time to make him stand still for a moment and stretch his neck as Andre pulled the trigger on the 3½ inch 12 gauge. The load of number five shot stopped the bird in his tracks at 38 yards.
        The gobbler had 1¼ inch spurs and a 10¾ inch beard. He weighed a healthy 19½ pounds. After a round of photos and much congratulatory talk for Andre's first gobbler, we headed back to the Talbot's home to meet up with Kirk and others. Just a short time later we had the bird's breast battered and fried for lunch.

We set up to cover this bottom and the road shown below, not knowing which way the gobbler might approach. He chose the bottom shown above. If you look right hard in the upper center of this picture you will see Andre standing beside the fallen gobbler.

We could also easily cover this road from our set up point. The bottom was to the left of this photo.

We returned Sunday morning but did not do any good. This week the weather has turned unstable and tough for turkey hunting. Birds just don't gobble much in this type of weather. Sunday might be the next best day. Stay tuned....

     Thursday morning I finally sat down on a gobbling turkey after a long walk to the back of the property where I heard the only bird of the morning, or at least the only bird that wanted to gobble on the roost. I set up and waited until he flew down and then gave him some sweet talking yelps. He liked what I had to say but I also heard some other hens closer to him. He held his ground. I called one of the hens to me but he stayed pretty well anchored to one area and 100 yards from me. At about the time I needed to leave he had quieted down.
       On my walk back to the truck I heard a bird gobble in a little hardwood bottom off to my right. I eased into a stretch of 15 year old planted pines and sat down. I yelped a twice and got a response each time. In just a moment I saw movement through the woods and then I saw the fan of a strutting turkey. Then more movement appeared through the pines and a hen walked up at 20 yards. She got closer, saw me sticking out like a sore thumb with my back to a medium sized pine tree, and she began to cluck warily and then walked to my left. The gobbler seemed to be ready to follow right in behind her until she did those antics. He then turned back the other way, though not very alarmed. A couple of jakes came into view along with another longbeard. The strutting turkey turned and came back toward me.
       In another couple of minutes I had at least two hens, four jakes, and two longbeards in front of me. I was waiting for a shot at the strutter as I guessed he was the more dominant bird. He finally gave me a clear shot, out of strut, at 20 yards and I took it.
       He turned out to be what I believe is a 3-year old bird. His spurs were just beginning to sharpen and I even thought at first he was a 2-year old.
       Nevertheless he was my 2nd bird in 3 days of hunting and I was more than pleased.

     I had been away from the woods for three days and by Tuesday I was ready to chase a turkey. I arrived in the Swamp under clear skies and a light frost. At 29 degrees I would not have to worry about mosquitoes.
      Two distant turkeys gobbled at my first owl hoot and I set off in their direction. I got to the closest one and sat down to wait. Both gobbled well and when the closest bird flew down I offered a few yelps. He answered. The woods had already come alive with yelping, some of which seemed to be a few jakes I had seen in the area recently, but some of it was certainly from the many hens there too.
     The gobbler moved off in the other direction but the more distant gobbler moved my way. I moved twenty yards to a little better location and sat back down. Soon the two gobblers seemed to converge in the pines in front of me but I could see neither. When five hens came toward me from their direction in a fast walk I was certain I was about to pull the trigger on a longbeard. The hens circled around behind me and then went into a small chufa patch. I soon heard a few gobbles from the field and having heard nothing more in front of me, I twisted around and lie prone on the ground facing up a slight hill towards the chufa patch.
       I gave a few yelps and just a few minutes later I saw two turkeys enter the woods from the patch and head my way. I quickly identified them as gobblers and when the first entered a shooting lane about 20 yards away I let him have a load of five shot. He fell as the other bird pitched up into a tree 30 feet over my head. I lie still on the ground and waiting. Hens yelped in the distance and I heard crunching of leaves to my left. I slowly turned my head and there stood a gobbler at 20 yards. He gobbled and the bird in the tree answered, then pitched down nearby and both birds worked their way southward.
      There will still a lot of yelping coming from the chufa patch, presumably the jakes. I waited a while longer and then inched forward, stuffed my gobbler in my jacket, and slipped back to the truck.
      Frosty mornings in the turkey woods can be a whole lot of fun!

So far no good for me and no hunting this morning as another storm system prepares to move through the area. The season is yet young and the best is yet to come. Once the weather settled down a little and the days continue to warm and march toward April, the birds are going to increase their gobbling activity.

      Sunday morning was an absolutely perfect turkey hunting morning. The day dawned a calm, cool and crisp 48 degrees under clear blue skies. That more than made up for the cloudy, windy opening day on Saturday in which we heard no gobbles and saw no turkeys.
      We found a gobbling bird on Sunday morning and just as we were about to sit down to him a coyote ran through the woods and apparently the gobbler saw him too. He never gobbled again. We called up 5 jakes a little later and about mid morning we threw in the towel.
       The season is young and the best is yet to come. Stay tuned.

I just can't stand this early change to Daylight Savings Time. This is the second year it will put a crimp on our weekday turkey hunting adventures. The earlier change to Daylight Savings Time was done by our Congress. They told us that we would save energy by making this switch, 3 weeks earlier than in the past. I couldn't see it and now there's yet another study released that says the country actually uses more energy due to this change. Too bad Congress can't see what some of us ordinary American's have no trouble understanding.
You have seen the link to the crappie tournament and derby I've had posted on this page I am quite sure. This is going to be a great event for our area. Help me spread the word to all your fishing friends. Click over and read about what we have going on.

      Turkey season is almost upon us. I've got some target practice to do before the 15th of the month arrives. I went 2 for 2 last season and am pretty well convinced it was the change over to a new box of shells that caused my problems. The box of shells I bought last season to replace a box that I had hunted with for about 4 years did not throw nearly as good of a pattern as I am accustomed to shooting. I've never had trouble killing turkeys until last season. So before opening day comes around again I plan to test several brands and boxes of ammo in hopes of finding some more potent firepower than I toted last season.
       The special youth hunt is this coming weekend, the weekend before the normal opening day. I think it is great to give the youth a chance at the birds before the rest of the hunters hit the woods. Unfortunately, in most places the birds are not going to be gobbling well yet and I can't see this being a great hunting weekend. There will be turkeys killed but I hope folks will not forget the youth later in the season when the action really picks up.
       My game camera has been overlooking a few scrapes in the hardwoods of the club since the end of deer season. I pulled it out of the woods this weekend. I had lots of pictures of small bucks and this one (see below) decent buck. This one certainly sports a big fat neck. His neck almost does not look real.

The next month is absolutely the best scouting time to prepare for next season. The woods are full of scrapes, scrape and rub lines, and the trails are very visible as the ground surface has gotten very wet. I wish I had more time to get out there and scour every inch of the woods where I hunt. I think I could learn a lot about where to hang my stand next October. I do hope to spend some time in the coming weekends in such endeavors. February is a big month for deer activity in the Alabama deer woods.
Here is another round of photos send in by our readers. I'll have one more round to post in a couple of weeks so keep sending them. After that, it will be time to start talking about the turkeys.

Eight year-old Land Reaves killed his first deer in Dec. 2007 in Wilcox County, 100 yards from where his father, Ed Reaves, killed his first deer 28 years earlier.

Allie and Land Reaves had a good time blowing their father's (Ed Reaves) Primos Bleat Can on a recent hunt in Georgia. To their father's surprise, less than a minute later this big buck walked out into the field and appeared to be looking for the source of the sounds.

Tony Anderson killed this buck on 1/30/08 in Choctaw County.
Photo submitted by Stevie Anderson.

Harvey Crawford of Camden killed this buck
in Wilcox County in late January 2008.

Steve Terry of Camden killed this big buck
in Wilcox County in late January 2008.

      I squeezed in one last trip to the big hardwoods where I saw the big bucks late Sunday evening. I left work after lunch, gathered my gear and checked the radar one last time. It appeared I would have a dry hunt and I hoped the approaching system would make the deer get out and feed before its arrival.
       I knew I needed to fire a few arrows after the miss on Sunday, especially considering my lack of practice in the last three weeks or so. I was surprised to find my bow shooting right, 6 inches, at 20 yards. That margin of error would have been greater at the distance I shot at the buck on Sunday and I also felt I pulled the shot and that normally means the arrow went farther to the right. The new information left me with the feeling I must have missed that deer to the right, not high or low. Again, it was my fault for not shooting a few arrows each week. As the string stretches, changes in the point of impact can occur.
       I settled into the stand about 3pm. The southeast wind worked well for the stand location and it was pretty consistent through the afternoon. I hoped the deer would be along shortly to feed on some of the acorns I still saw in the woods on my walk to the stand. I saw one buck, a small one, at a far distance though the timber about 45 minutes before dark. A few minutes later a young bald eagle, without the adult white head, lit in a tree 20 yards from me, scanning the forest floor for prey. He stayed there several minutes before flying off to another area to hunt.
      With 10 minutes of shooting light left and no deer in sight, I saw the first distant flash of light from lightning, indicating the storm was quickly approaching. That also signaled the end of my season, but I was thankful for the opportunity for one more hunt in the closing hours.
       A light rain began to fall as I gathered my gear and walked from the woods. I reached home just as the hard rain began to fall. The two inch rain that fell during the night was the best rain we have had in quite some time.

The last day of the season is upon us along with another weather system. I'm not sure I'll get out there for one final hunt. The weather looks wet and very windy today, not the best conditions for a bowhunter. I would certainly be interested to know how the many hunters did in the woods yesterday, Wednesday. It was a perfect day, or so it appeared from my office desk! In the meantime, here are some kills from around the region.

Six year-old Stuart Thibadeau killed his first buck on Dec. 27th in south Dallas County, AL. His 4-year old brother Ian is also pictured.

John Thibadeau killed this buck on Jan. 24th in the
Portland area of south Dallas County, AL

6 year-old Ed Williams of Selma killed his first buck recently, connecting on a 150 yard shot while hunting with his father, Rick Williams. Ed has been a visitor to this website since since he was just a baby, enjoying the deer and turkey pictures he looked forward to one day hunting himself.
Congrats Ed!

Rhett Hollon and his sister Brooklyn (Prattville, AL) show off the
fine buck he killed in Autauga County. This was Rhett's first buck
killed while hunting by himself in the stand.

NWTF State Chapter President Mike Colquett killed this bruiser buck in northern Monroe County on Jan. 17, 2008.

Robbie Wilson killed this big buck at Malone Creek Hunting Club near Blacksher in southwest Alabama in Jan. 2008.

Conrad Wiley (L), of Dothan, and Jay Beck, of Mobile, show off Conrad's first buck, a 6 point that he dropped at 70 yards with a 7mm-08 while hunting in Wilcox County, AL.

      As the sun set on possibly my last deer hunt of the season Sunday afternoon, I heard a crash behind me and looked out through the hardwood bottom to see a shooter buck standing about 200 yards away. A few minutes later I saw a doe, closer to me, and realized they might be working my way. The doe worked in behind me and began to loop around to my right. The buck came in behind me, working a scrape or two not more than 20 yards away. I sneaked glimpses of him but dared not to move much so that I would not be detected. I was perched 25 feet high in an Ol' Man climber attached to a red oak.
       In that fading light of the day I looked out in front of me and saw another fine shooter buck, this one with glowing white antlers and long tines, about 50 yards away. For a moment it appeared the buck behind me would walk right under me, then he veered to my left and entered a shooting lane---the only shooting lane I would have on him---in a fast walk. I quickly drew and let out a "baaa" to stop him.
       He froze, offering a quartering away shot at about 26 yards. I released the arrow and he bounced about 10 yards, stopped, and turned to look back in my direction. I held a brief hope that he would simply fall over but seconds turned to minutes. It was now much darker and another shot in this darkness at 40 yards was nearly impossible, but I reached for another arrow as he walked off in the other direction. The other shooter buck then passed through a shooting lane in front of me, just inside of 35 yards. All I could see of him was his rack, glowing in the night. No shot was possible.
         I was 99% sure I missed the buck. A quick inspection of my arrow confirmed that. I have replayed the shot at least a thousand times since then and I can only say I must have rushed the shot and failed to follow through. I was worried about simply getting off the shot before he moved again and was gone. Had I taken two or three more seconds of time and made a better shot, I would be showing you a heavy 8-point with great tines and excellent mass, about 18 to 20 inches wide, the best I've ever had a chance to sling an arrow at.
         It was certainly my most exciting hunt of the season and it could be my last, depending upon Thursday's weather. I would like to hunt one more day, or an afternoon at least, but if the rain returns as the forecast calls I'll hang it up for this time.
         What I did see this weekend was woods still full of good acorns. The deer I was hunting were feeding on those acorns and I imagine such kept many deer from the greenfields and the view of many hunters across the area.
         I've got quite a few nice bucks to show you that have been killed in the area and I'll have a big round of pictures posted Thursday morning. Please stop by for another update this week.

I'll remember the next to last weekend of the 07-08 deer season not only for the cold that set in but for the rare snow that fell here in south central Alabama. With Monday off work, I was looking forward to spending three full days in the deer woods where the bucks were on the romp. The rain began sometime between midnight and dawn and at 8am it turned to snow. A lot of snow fell but with the temperatures hovering just over freezing and the ground being very wet, only about an inch to two inches actually stuck around for a while. The snow stopped falling before noon and slowly began to melt away. I headed off to the deer woods at that point.

       Saturday afternoon was pretty cool in the stand. Sunday was downright frigid for a south Alabama guy. The day never got over 32 degrees and the breezy winds made it feel even colder. Monday started below 20 but warmed nicely to the mid 40s. Monday afternoon was very pleasant hunting weather.
        Overall I saw quite a few bucks chasing does and making scrapes. Even with the full moon hovering overhead through the night, the deer moved during the day. I guess they had to----it was cold and they needed to eat. And the bucks needed the does. I had numerous small bucks under my stand and a marginal 7-point that I did not shoot. I saw a few shooters but all were out of range of the bow.
       I've always held to the belief that the deer move better during mid-day while under a full moon all night. But by late morning, after sitting in a climber since dawn, I had to get down and warm up for a while before climbing back up for a long afternoon hunt. So what really moved through at mid-day I can't say.
       I feel good about my chances during this last upcoming weekend of hunting, provided the weather is decent. It appears the weather is going to warm up and there's a chance of rain as well. For those in the woods Thursday and Friday, I think they'll see some great hunting conditions.
        My cousin Josh and his friends Clay and Wes returned to the Swamp for another weekend of hunting and Wes killed a fine buck at the Vaughn Line Greenfield. (pictured below) I've also received emails from quite a few readers in our area that killed nice bucks during the past weekend or two. My cousin Curtis and his group will be hunting the Horn Swamp during this last part of the season so tune in next week as hopefully they will get something to brag about, as well as others throughout the area. The best of the season is here....and then it's gone!

Clay, Wes, and Josh with a fine 9 point from the Horn Swamp.
Photo by Josh Smith

Wes shows the big 9 point. Notice the kicker point from the
base of his left beam. The rack was 19.5 inches wide.
Photo by Josh Smith

Baker Davis (L) and Drew Watson killed these two bucks
last weekend in Wilcox County.

Preston Simpkins killed this buck on Jan. 20th in the Possum Bend area of Wilcox County. He killed the buck, his first big buck, on the 3rd shot. His friend Scott Cawthon, who submitted this photo to me, says he has been given the name "Missy." Appears to me he's in dire need of a taxidermist!

Tommy Stuart killed this one near Livingston, Alabama. The buck green scores 140 B&C. Photo submitted by Hill Robinson.

The Wilcox Academy Hunt started for my hunters on Thursday afternoon as thunderstorms approached from the west. I would never have hunted myself, with the temperatures in the mid 70s and rain imminent, but the guys had paid to hunt so to the woods we went.
We were fortunate that the rain did not begin until about 5pm and the worst of the weather held off until well after dark, when the thunder and lightning rolled through and an inch and a half of needed rain fell. And just as the rain began to fall Larry Tilley killed a mature 8 point from one of our Red Field stands, the best buck the group would see all weekend. So you never really know.

My hunters killed 5 does and 2 bucks. I was surprised they did not kill a hog, seeing only one group of pigs. The weather turned off nice Friday through Sunday. Overall the hunt was a great success with about 100 deer killed. It was not a good year for quality bucks though as a rare few were brought to the skinning shed.
I had the opportunity to meet one of the Horn Swamp Online's regular readers for many years. Bud Meadows drove down from Michigan and hunted with me part of the time and with another guide for the remainder of the hunt.

I hunted pretty hard on Saturday and saw quite a few little bucks chasing does. Sunday morning not long before I was going to climb down, three does passed right under my stand. I decided a little more jerky would be nice and I took out one of the does with a great shot that centered the heart at just 6 steps from my stand. I spent Sunday afternoon carving and trimming her into a great batch of jerky.

My game camera captured a few photos this week, while positioned on a scrape. There was one decent buck photo in the mix. I have not seen this deer during my hunts in the area. He's lacking a little in the mass category but might get shot if he wanders too close to me!

Josh Smith and Sarah Lord posed with a big boar hog Josh shot in the Horn Swamp during their New Year's hunting trip.

Sarah Lord killed her first in the Swamp, a doe,
during a New Year's hunting trip.

Saturday was my first all day hunting in a month and it did not disappoint. After a cold week and warming trend was underway but the first half of the weekend was good for some action. Saturday morning, with temps just below freezing, I climbed a stand I have set up on a little ridge in a big block of hardwoods. The ridge has lots of youpon trees throughout and the deer feed on these evergreen leaves as well as scrape under their branches. I saw several does but none quite close enough for a shot. One spike passed right under me.
Saturday afternoon I hunted a big stretch of open hardwoods. I set up over several good scrape lines and began seeing deer not long after settling into the tree. I had one small 8 point pass right under me, stopping by several of the scrapes and peeing in at least one. He moved off and got interested in a doe in the area. A bit later another doe came through the woods and was tailed by a pretty nice 8 point that I would guess to score around 120. He worked his way through the big timber, closer and then farther, closer and then farther. Just when I thought he and his doe were gone for good, the doe came running right back at me and he followed. For about 20 seconds I was almost certain I was going to get a good shot at him, but at 40 yards they turned and moved parallel to me and then away again.

        Sunday morning I went back to the big hardwoods and saw some more does and yet another small 8 point tailing a doe. There is not doubt that the rut is kicking in.
        Our area will be hosting the Wilcox Academy Benefit Deer Hunt this weekend. We've got about 100 hunters coming. If the weather does not put too much of a drag on the deer movement, the hunters should have a lot of luck. Right now the forecast looks pretty fair.
         I had intended to put out my game camera the weekend before last but when I saw the frigid temperatures forecast for the past week I waited. The Cuddeback I'm using now is much better housed so maybe it would not be a problem, but my past experience is that the electronics don't do well in the frigid temperatures like the 17 degrees we saw last week. But the camera is out now, on one of the scrape lines I'm hunting, and I'll be interested to see what pictures it has for me next weekend when I return to my stand.

Here's a buck killed just a few miles outside of Camden last week. It is reported to have grossed just over 160.

Happy New Year! And yes, I'm still here, though you have not heard from me in a while. I've gotten in the woods very little through December but that should change in January. The colder weather and the rut are upon us and the time to hunt is here.
On Christmas Eve I took some pictures of an old cypress swamp on the property that is dry, thanks to the past few dry years. I've never seen this pond dry before. Back in the early 1990s we caught a lot of fish here, thanks to it getting stocked by occasional floods of the river. It is an interesting place to visit now. Some pictures are shown below.

Ashley Turner poses by one of the huge cypress knees rising from the
floor of the swamp, some nearly 7 feet tall.

This big gum tree would make a perfect blind if it was located in a better place!

John and Ashley Turner pose with a Horn Swamp hog that John
shot on our Christmas Eve trip to the Swamp.

       At my house on the outskirts of Camden I recorded 31.17 inches of rain in 2007 compared to an average rainfall of between 50 and 55 inches for our area on the "average" year. We had a little more than that in the Swamp, as we got some rains there during the summer that we missed in town.
      I set up a stand the day after Christmas in what I think will be a good area. It is ripe with big scrapes. I'll be setting up my game camera in the area later today and we'll see what is working some of those scrapes as the rut approaches.
       The Horn Swamp is seeing lots of hog sign and hogs too. We've killed several in recent weeks and it appears we'll be killing a lot more in the coming weeks. There suddenly seems to be more hogs in the area right now than at any time in recent years. I'm not sure what lured them in. But they are here and appearing in all areas of the Swamp.
       Stay tuned as we move through January. I'll be hunting every weekend from here on out.

I did not spend any time hunting this past weekend. Warm temperatures and other activities kept me away. I spend part of Sunday afternoon doing some chores in the Swamp and during my few hours there I saw not a single deer. Warm December weather doesn't do much for the deer movement. The coming weekend should be much better as a front moves through later this week. Certainly Sunday and Monday are going to be good hunting days for those that can be in the woods on those days. Cold weather following a warm spell always results in greatly increased deer movement.

      I had a good weekend of hunting outside of Ozark, Alabama with my friend Bryan Deloney. Bryan had seen a good number of deer the past few weekends coursing through a big stand of pines. Unfortunately, the numbers did not show up for us this past weekend.
      We set up Saturday morning about 80 yards apart well before day and sat until about 10:30. I had three young bucks under my stand at one point and a few does passed through behind me, well out of range. Bryan saw the three bucks under me and another group of 4 bucks as well that included one pretty good one. None of those came within his range.
       The woods we hunted (pictured below) were certainly a beautiful stand of pines. They have been thinned several times and are slated to be clearcut in the summer of '08. They are interspersed with a good bit of briars, cedar trees, magnolia trees, and palmettos. Visibility was good but we had to climb high as there was little cover to hide.
       Saturday afternoon I went to a small greenfield that is set up well for bowhunting. I saw one yearling. Bryan sat in a nearby green patch in a permanent stand that is designed for bowhunting. He killed a doe, his 2nd of his short bowhunting career. He made a perfect shot at about 20 yards and the deer ran about 75 yards into the woods before it crashed.
       Sunday morning we went back to the area we hunted on Saturday morning and saw a few deer but did not get off any shots. About 9:30 we called it quits and each headed for home.

This coming weekend looks to be a beautiful one but a little warm for deer hunting. December is here and the deer are going to be a lot more wary at this point and movement is likely to be a little slower until we get to the rut. Cold weather is key to getting them moving at this point.

      Thanksgiving weekend was busy for me and allowed but one chance to get in the woods. I sat for a few hours on a windy Thanksgiving afternoon. I did good to see a few does just before dark but they were just out of range. Family time and football game travels did not allow for any more hunting.
       I have a fun hunt planned near Ozark this weekend with a friend who has been seeing a lot of deer on the property he hunts including some top quality bucks. I'm looking forward to being covered up with deer throughout a hunt. I'll have a full report next week.
        Here's some of the pictures and stories that readers have shared so far this season. There are more to come in the coming weeks.

Dent Stallworth killed this fine 8-point in Monroe County.
Photo submitted by Jess Martin.

Billy Lindsey sent this photo of a buck captured on a
game camera south of Vicksburg, MS.

Frank Dagostin killed this 10 point, his best ever with a bow, on Nov. 16th in St. Clair County. Frank has been bowhunting for 40 years.
Photo submitted by Brad Dagostin.

      I do not get many "full" weekends at our little cabin in the woods but last weekend was one of those and it was thoroughly enjoyed. Friends Will, John Barrett, Bubba, and Matt joined me at various points through the weekend and we spent some quality time around the campfire, grill, and in treestands. We did not see many deer which was a little disappointing and nothing was brought to the skinning rack.
      Saturday morning dawned cool and nice. The day warmed up and did not cool off in the late afternoon. By Sunday morning a light drizzle had arrived. We broke camp about mid-morning and headed back to town.
      The hardwoods of the property are raining acorns. They are thick on the ground in many places.  With so many acorns the deer are spread pretty thin. We're seeing a little activity in the greenfields. I like to see the abundance of acorns though as that gives all the animals in the woods extra food for the winter. Though spread thin, at least there is incentive spread through the hardwoods to lure in the deer and get them out of the thicker areas where they are harder to bowhunt. If the dry conditions persist the acorns should last for quite a while before they rot.
       The fall colors have been in full force in our area over the past two weeks. The countryside is lit up with vibrant colors of yellow and orange. Those leaves are now rapidly falling to the ground.
      For those of you hunting in the Wilcox County area, let me mention that Hunter Appreciation Day is taking place in Pine Apple on Saturday, Nov. 24th. There's a one-day big buck contest taking place along with a lot of other activities. The event has drawn big crowds through the years and I'm sure this will be another good one. With the Iron Bowl taking place well after dark Saturday there will be time for both hunting and football. Check out their site at www.pineapplealabama.com for more information.
       Have you heard the Chattin' Outdoors Radio Show yet?  Tune your dial to 98.5 from 7 to 8am Saturday mornings as "Big Daddy" Lawler, Willis McGee, and Wes Garner talk up the outdoor scene in south Alabama. They are wanting to get a live kill phoned in and they need your help. They want someone to call before the shot takes place, put the phone down, shoot the deer, and pick it back up and bring the listeners up to date on the successful (hopefully) kill. They would like to do that on a turkey this spring as well.  You can be the first to complete the task. The number to call is 800-477-9850. See their website at www.chattinoutdoors.com .
       Thanksgiving weekend is here and I hope the opportunity arises for you to get in the woods. The hunting of wild game was a key element in the first Thanksgiving. A small percentage of us Americans still partake in hunting for recreation and food. I expect to make a few hunts myself over the next few days.
        Turkey hunters: The NWTF has an online survey that you are invited to participate in regarding your use of turkey decoys. Click here to participate.
         Special thanks to all who have sent me photos in recent weeks from their neck of the woods. I have a special update coming to share all of those. Stay tuned.
         Here are a few photos from our stay at the cabin last weekend.

.........................................................................................

This weekend a few friends and I will be spending some time at the cabin and in the Horn Swamp. It is the opening weekend of gun season, but we'll continue to chase them with bow and arrow. It should be a good weekend of hunting. We've got some trees that are dropping lots of acorns and there is a lot of sign in the food plots.
It is still awfully dry. I wonder where the animals are finding water in many areas of the state. Though not a drop of water was standing on our property last weekend, our deer have the luxury of the river in which to drink. I've never seen the property completely dry as it is now. Every shallow pond dried up some time ago. We did get a half inch of rain last night and that will certainly help everyone's food plots, though it will take a real weather change to raise the water table.

        Saturday morning, an absolutely beautiful day in the Deep South, my trusty assistant and I performed chores around the cabin such as cutting grass, sweeping out the cabin, and tallying the inventory on hand for cookouts and such in the coming months.   My assistant, who happens to be my 2½ year-old son, was more impressed with the shooting houses that we surveyed next. I told him we had to be careful of the bees (wasps and yellowjackets) that likely still inhabited the enclosures. Once I killed the bees in each stand, he enjoyed coming up for a good look. We had a few lessons on the nests of wasps and dirt dobbers.
        Alexander loves to talk about coyotes and as fate would have it a coyote ran right out in the road in front of us, stopped for a few seconds and looked at us, then ran down the road away from us and stopped again and looked back. Alexander hung his head out of the truck window and howled at the coyote. That pretty much ended the nature viewing, but Alexander has been talking about it ever since including the deer, turkeys, and owl we saw during the morning as well.
        Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon I returned to the woods to hunt. I hunted both times from the same stand overlooking a big stretch of hardwoods. The area is covered in sign and there are many acorns falling. I saw a few deer each hunt but none remotely close enough for a shot. I was surprised I did not see more deer considering the amount of sign in the woods. But there are so many acorns in the area that the deer are mostly just wandering and feeding with no particular area of primary interest.

This owl flew up beside the road and gave Alexander a good look and gave me time to take a few pictures of him

        Out of town this past weekend, I did not see any time in the deer woods. I'm looking forward to the coming weekend and getting back in a tree. In fact, I'm looking forward to November in general, my favorite time of the season to hunt.
        November sees cooler temperatures and a more rapid pace of acorns hitting the ground. There's still good leaf cover on the trees to blend in with and the deer aren't totally spooked just yet, not like they will be when December rolls around.
        This coming weekend should be nice!

        The second weekend of the season brought a return to chores for me. My father and I planted the other half of our food plots and I did some other road maintenance work in the Swamp as well. The warm afternoon temperatures gave little incentive to hunt and the mornings were pretty well filled with other activities.
         The plots we have already planted look real good. Last week's rain, about an inch and a half, did them a lot of good. The latest planting should be up and growing very soon as we got another good rain last night.
         I have another weekend on tap that will keep me away from the woods, however, November---my favorite month to hunt---is right around the corner. As I have always stated, I would rather hunt the month of November than any month of the season. Though late January is better for mature bucks, November is a great time for seeing deer in general. The acorns are really on the ground by that time and the cooler temperatures have the deer on the move. However, it is still early enough in the season where the hunting pressure hasn't stifled deer activity as it will come December.

        The weather for the opening weekend of bowseason each year tends to be one more remembered that any of those that come afterward for me. More often than not we seem to get a cool front for this weekend each year. I would give a very unscientific chance of better than fifty-fifty that a cool front would coincide with the opener each year. Again this year it happened, for the third year in a row.
         There have been some years when I was late in getting my chores done such as food plot planting and I would would finish these chores in the cool weather of opening weekend and then hit the woods to hunt the second weekend in much warmer and less desirable temperatures. I have learned that it is best to go ahead and hunt the opening weekend and then finish up those chores on a sure to be warmer weekend in the near future. The days did warm up quite a bit, to the low 80s, but the 48 degree start to both Saturday and Sunday was great.
       I climbed a big sweetgum tree overlooking a hardwood bottom early Saturday morning. I saw only 3 deer, all does, but one of those came right by me and I made a lethal shot at 8 yards.
        My other outing for the weekend came on Sunday morning. I searched our overcup bottoms for the big acorns and the hogs that would surely be there. But to my surprise I found no overcups and no consequently no hogs. I did find one small group of hogs in another area and just as they began to work their way in my range I got winded and they scattered.
         Our food plots are up and looking pretty good, but rain is badly needed. I'm planning to plant the remainder of the plots this coming weekend, provided we get a little rain later this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
          Our extreme drought conditions continue. I would think in many areas that hunting over a watering hole, where available, would be productive. Our deer have the luxury of watering at the river's edge. I'm not sure what some are doing in other places. Every one of our shallow ponds are dry.

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        Bowseason opens this weekend and I look forward to being in the woods early Saturday morning. I have a spot picked out, in a big hardwood bottom filled with acorns. Even with the severe drought throughout the summer the acorn crop looks to be a big one with many of the acorns already hitting the ground.
      The summer just seems to get longer and longer but hopefully in a few days we'll feel another hint of fall in the air. The nights should again be pleasant but the days will remain in the 80s which is a big warm for deer hunting.
        After shooting a Browning Illusion for the past 2 years (which I liked very much) I will be changing to the new PSE X-Force this season. The X-Force has gotten rave reviews in many magazines throughout the summer. I do believe I am correct in saying it is the fastest hunting bow to ever hit the market. It has an IBO speed of 342 feet per second. Of course, in a hunting set up it will not shoot that fast, but this bow shooting arrows that fly 30 feet per second faster than the Browning which is a big jump. I also moved up to a 70 pound bow from a 60 pound. And after a couple of months of practice, I'm now ready to see what it will do.
      With any luck I'll find out Saturday morning. Stay tuned....

        We have now turned the corner on another long, hot, and dry summer here in Wilcox County, Alabama. It seems the weather just gets hotter and drier every summer. This summer we saw seasonable summer temperatures until August arrived. At that point the mercury went over 100 degrees for nearly two solid weeks with most days topping 104 to 105 degrees.
        Overall it has been a dry summer and a dry year so far. The entire region has been in a 100-year drought. Some areas of the county have actually had some decent rains through the summer. Most areas have not. And nearly everyone has gone through some dry months along the way. At my house in Camden we have received just half of our average rainfall up to this point.   The Swamp property, about 7 miles away, has received slightly more rain than here in town.
      It was so dry here in August that the huge red oaks lining my yard turned loose of their leaves and dumped them during the span of about a week. It is a survival mode that these trees go into. But all around we've seen younger oaks, 20 to 30 feet tall, that have died. Their leaves have browned and held onto the limbs as the trees have simply died. Even along the banks of the river (which is quite a few feet low itself) we've seen lots of dead trees. It is amazing that the trees are so close to the water but the roots simply do not get close enough to soak in the river's water and can't grow closer to reach the vital water supply.
       We planted chufas in early August, the last possible opportunity to plant for the summer. Chufas need 90 days to mature before the first frost. We had good moisture in the ground at the time of planting, but August saw no more rain and we got a very poor stand.
       Dove season opens here today. I'll be helping our NWTF Chapter cook lunch for the Youth Dove Hunt sponsored by the Department of Conservation. My dove hunting opportunities are few and far between these days but I do have an invite for the afternoon. I'm really looking forward to the opening of bow season on Oct. 13th.
       I think we are going to have a pretty good acorn crop in most areas. Though the drought has an effect, the late spring frosts do as well in killing the buds on the trees. We had a late frost and a drought but I'm seeing quite a few acorns on the trees. We will soon see just how good those acorns are.
       Have you priced your seed and fertilizer for plots this fall? Those items, along with everything else these days, have gone higher in price. It seems seed prices of wheat and oats are double what they were a few years ago and fertilizer is up sharply as well.
       For the past 8 years I've updated this site nearly every Tuesday throughout hunting season. Beginning this year I am going to begin taking a little more deviation from the every Tuesday update. I'm going to update this page nearly every week as there is news and commentary to bring you. Life keep getting busier and my time in the woods and in front of this computer gets smaller and smaller.
       Next week I'll tell you about the new bow I'm shooting this fall. Stay tuned....