 |
|
|
|
Best buds get 2 trophies in 2 days.
|
|
Story from here:
> Within a 48-hour window, hunting buds Jeremiah Voithofer and Brian Galica, both from the mountain area [of PA], tagged out with monster bucks harvested on private land…
> The first Monday of rifle season…they checked the cameras to see not 1 but 3 large mature bucks, one of which had a missing half rack.
> Jeremiah: “We wanted to know who’s busting them up.” It wasn’t long until they found the culprit — a massive 8-point who’d become a recent regular on trail cameras. It wasn’t the giant from last year that he’d been intending to hunt, but a trophy deer nonetheless.
> Seeing it in person through his Vortex scope that Monday afternoon, Jeremiah said he found himself mesmerized. He dropped the deer right then and there at 448 yards [!!]. He waited until dark to retrieve the estimated 138″ buck, not wanting to disturb anything else nearby.
448 yards!! Nice shot! Post says these guys are way into custom-built long-rangers. Anyhow, after the recovery, Jeremiah called his buddy Brian and told him they needed to get on their stand PRONTO:
> Brian: “Everything lined up for that scenario. [The big buck] must not have been disturbed by the harvest the day before. We’re up there at 1:30 the next day just laughing and sharing stories. About 15 minutes later, I pull up the binoculars on a deer Jeremiah spotted — and I couldn’t believe it.”
> They duo laid in wait, patient for the opportune moment to pull up and squeeze the trigger. When they anxiously walked up on the estimated 187″ buck, that’s when the celebration really kicked in.
> Jeremiah: “It didn’t matter who the shooter was — it’s a team sport here. I was happy for him. We talk every week about what the deer are doing and where they’re going. This just brings it all full circle. It brings you back to why you love it so much.”
Love the teamwork fellas, congrats!
|
|
|
|
KS legend “Chandelier” finally falls but….
|
|
Let’s say you’ve been hunting a HUGE deer on family property that’s become a legend in the area and has got more nicknames than Deion Sanders. You name him Chandelier — for obvious reasons — and spend just about every dang day of the 2018 bow season hunting him, without success.
That’s 20-yr-old Gareth Pettijohn’s story…then, one day he was in class and got a text from his dad Mark:
> By this time it was rifle season…[Mark] let Gareth know he had shot a large buck. When Gareth asked his father how big it was, he told him it was 20 points. Chandelier had 25 points in the pictures they had on camera, but it appears a piece of the antler had broken off.
> Gareth asked his father where he shot him and Mark told him right behind the house. Gareth then asked Mark to send him pictures…. By that point, Mark realized it might be Chandelier that he shot. “I was afraid,” Mark said.
> …Gareth called. After talking with his dad, one of the friends hunting with Mark got on the phone and Gareth asked if the buck had a specific feature on the right side of his face, which he did. ‘Well, that’s my deer,’ Gareth said.
Lol! Ouch, but:
> The mount in the Pettijohn home shows both names, but Gareth’s name is listed first. “He did all the work,” Mark said. “It’s really his deer.”
> The Winter 2019 publication of B&C showed Chandelier at 211 5/8″ as the official score. The edition lists Chandelier as its 17th-highest-scored nontypical whitetail in the year and the 2nd-highest scored in KS.
|
|
|
|
X-bows do NOT hurt the number of deer hunters.
|
|
You might be thinking “duh!” and you’d be right, but looks like WI answered that question (once and for all?) with a recent study on the use of x-bows and hunter retention. Bowhunting.com broke it down:
> …could have had this subtitle: “There’s No Problem Here.”
> The [WI Natural Resources Board — or one guy on the board who owns an archery shop, says the post] main assumption was that letting x-bows into the 110-day-plus archery season caused gun-hunters to quit deer hunting or forsake their guns for x-bows.
The study found that wasn’t true and:
> …also found x-bow success rates aren’t harming the herd or its buck population.
> Those licensed to gun-hunt [in 2018] registered 112,443 bucks, or 70.25% of the 160,075 bucks killed in all seasons. They had a 19% success rate on bucks.
> Those licensed to hunt with compounds and traditional bows registered 21,676 bucks, or 13.5% of the buck total. They had a 10.4% success rate on bucks.
> Those licensed to use x-bows registered 25,956 bucks, or 16.2% of the buck total. They had a 15.1% success rate on bucks.
> …During WI’s 2013 archery deer season — the last year x-bows were restricted to handicapped folks or those 65 and older — bowhunting success was 15.6% on bucks.
From the post, sounds like urbanization, CWD, land access, other recreational options, aging baby boomers, and other factors have contributed to the decline of hunting…not x-bows!
|
|
|
|
Deer can see UV-bright clothes.
|
|
A MN hunter did his own study — few excerpts from the MN StarTribune:
> I spotted a lone doe on a deer trail that passed 25 yards from my stand. This was going to work out just right — last day, last light. Or so I thought.
> As the doe stepped from cover, she snapped her head to her left and stared up, directly at me. What? There was no way she had spotted me. I hadn’t moved, plus I was directly in front of a 2-foot-wide bur oak trunk. She hadn’t scented me…a few seconds later she reversed her direction and ran away….
> I had read about how deer can possibly see into the ultraviolet (UV) range, and that some hunting clothing contained UV brighteners that might cause a hunter to glow light-blue to a deer.
> First of all, using a UV light, I found that the camouflage coverall I wore for years when it was cold glowed blue when exposed to UV light.
> I purchased a spray bottle of UV killer and sprayed my entire coverall, using the UV light as I went. I watched as the blue glow disappeared. Since that day I have not been spotted by any deer. Not once.
> I took the UV light to a few sporting goods stores and tested the rows of camouflage hunting clothes for UV brighteners. Roughly 80% of the clothing showed no UV light. But some clothing did to varying degrees.
> If you buy UV-free clothing, take it home and wash it in laundry detergent that contains UV brighteners, then…your UV-free clothing is no longer UV-free. The detergent I had been using to wash all of my laundry did contain UV brighteners, even though it does not acknowledge that on the label.
> For about $50, I bought a UV light, a bottle of UV-killer spray and a bottle of UV-free laundry detergent from a company called Atsko. I followed simple directions and now my hunting clothing is UV-free.
|
|
|
|
Bobcat, cougar or…bigfoot?
|
|
What stashed that ^ deer?
The AL DNR posted a vid of that buck covered in leaves, and asked folks to guess what had concealed the deer. They eventually said it was a bobcat (a bobcat’s gonna take down a full-grown buck??) but after some great comments like:
> Admittedly I’ve done this to deer I’ve killed to hide it from other hunters while I’m still hunting.
> A tiger did that. Seen one last week.
> Wood booger. [Aka Sasquatech.]
> …a lion would have to eat somebody in AL on camera for you guys to ever acknowledge them. I get why you guys won’t as you’ll then have to protect them.
> Bear, mountain lions and panthers have all been spotted in Jackson County on Sand Mountain. Yes I saw a black panther 50 years ago (with witnesses) when my dog jump him up in broad daylight!
> This deer was clearly going to be used by multiple sasquatches as part of a satanic ritual.
After much study, we can only confirm this:
Okay this comment was interesting:
> I wish I’d gotten a picture of it but back in 2009 I shot a spike. He fell dead in the field about an hour later a bobcat came and was trying to drag him off. When I shot the cat he was standing on top of the deer and fell dead across him, looked like you set it up that way.
|
|
News
1. SC: Father and daughter shot in deer drive.
They passed on. Heartbreaking. Please be careful and SURE out there folks.
2. ME: Questioning ethics of hunting “deer yards.”
Places where winter deer are concentrated:
> Recent weather fluctuations have driven deer to their winter haunts during the late muzzleloader season with increasing frequency, resulting in what some consider easy pickings.
3. MD and WV firearms deer harvests down.
> Hunters reported taking 27,088 deer during MD’s most popular hunt, the 2-week firearms season. That’s 14% less than last year’s official count of 31,631.
> WV reported that hunters harvested 36,796 antlered deer during buck firearms season…down 17% from the 2018 figure of 44,599.
4. NY management season still open.
> Registered hunters may take up to 2 antlerless deer per day using any hunting implement that is legal during any other deer season at the site where they are hunting.
“Hunting implement”??
5. DE has a late whitetail season.
Dates and weapons at the link ^.
6. VT: Deer hunters down in every county.
> Hunting license sales between 2016 and 2018 were down in every county…. Demographic shifts — like increased urbanization, changing attitudes on killing animals and migration away from rural areas — are behind much of the decline….
> “It’s a financial burden on the department, it’s a threat to conservation in the state and it’s also a threat to management in the state.”
7. MA: No acorns hurting Martha’s Vineyard deer?
At vineyardgazette.com — we can’t link it:
> Without acorns, the deer are forced to search for other food, such as leaves and grass.
8. Savage sent a Model 110 on a season of hunts.
Pretty genius marketing deal: Savage sent a single Model 110 with its Accufit stock around the country for hunts in 6 states — 7 species and 8 hunters. Did it to show how the stock can be used for hunters of different sizes, ages, and experience levels.
If you check out the hunts, you’ll see that Savage chose everyday hunters to profile, not pro-staff celebrity hunters. Good!
9. WI hunter charged with shooting elk…
…mistaken for whitetail. Post says she self-reported and was fined.
10. MS hunter gets stuck with rattlesnake in blind.
> Ginn was in a predicament. He was standing in a chair in a small blind with a large timber rattlesnake that didn’t appreciate his company. Ginn decided his only option was to shoot the snake with his rifle that was chambered in .270 Win….
The snake lost:
|
Deer Disease News
> The AGFC is trying to manage a disease. All of the traditional elements of deer management are subordinate.
> To mitigate potential for spreading disease, the AGFC’s deer managers prefer a young buck population. The deer biologists said if hunters don’t kill off mature bucks, chronic wasting disease will do it instead.
AR hunters are like:
> “I don’t think a lot of people were surprised, I think they’ve expected someday we’d see this and just didn’t know it was going to be today.”
Most are in already-infected areas, but a new case was found in a southeast district:
> This year, more than 7,000 animals have been sampled statewide, and 131 have tested positive for CWD.
> “This legislation would’ve increased the chance of spreading wildlife disease within wildlife populations and the beef and dairy industries, which are vital to MI’s economy,”
> “We’re never going to get rid of the ticks by managing deer. We’re not specifically doing deer management to address the tick.”
Pretty sure mice spread way more lyme disease ticks than deer do….
|
New Stuff
1. New AimPoint Micro S-1 red dot.
For all you slug-gun guys:
> The Aimpoint Micro S-1’s miniaturized dimensions and light weight make it an ideal optic for use on a shotgun. With a length of 2.5″, a height of 1.6″ and a weight (with battery) of just 3.5 oz, the Micro S-1 doesn’t take up a great deal of space on the rib of a shotgun.
2. Lincoln Outfitters 3-man pop-up blind…for $72??
> This model boasts a 5-hub design, brush loops for adding natural cover, and shoot-through mesh windows. It incorporates zipper-less entry for a quiet arrival and departure.
3. Coupla stink-killing bags.
> The Scent Slammer Ozone Duffel (MSRP $169.99) from HME (Hunting Made Easy) eliminates odors on clothing and gear by killing bacteria using ozone, a process that’s chemical-free and leaves no scent or residue.
> The Scent Crusher Ozone Gear Bag (MSRP $199.99) utilizes the power of ozone to eliminate odor-causing bacteria before and after the hunt.
|
Gear of the Week
Sitka Fanatic camo gets a redesign.
Some call it “glam cam,” others make fun of its high price tag — but for a lot of hardcore hunters (especially bowhunters), the Fanatic system is the top of the line. And if you wanna go silent, Sitka’s the deal. Bowsite has a rundown of the new Fanatic stuff:
> Sitka…took an already quiet design and set out to make it even quieter.
> I decided to put this claim to the test. While hunting in IA this past season I had a buck feeding under my stand. I deliberately brushed my Sitka Fanatic jacket. I wanted to know the buck could hear it? He never did.
> So how did Sitka make it quieter? According to Sitka, they did this by enhancing the Berber fleece, both in the fleece itself and the distribution of the fleece. They measured the quietness and claim to have cut the “audible engagement distance” in half.
> Sitka took a fresh look at insulation. They realized there are areas of your body that rarely get cold, and there are areas that need to be kept warm. Unlike most cold weather coats and bibs, Sitka ‘mapped’ their Primaloft insulation to the body. That means there’s more where you need it, and less where you don’t. This nets out to a quiet system that is 20% warmer than before.
> Another new feature is that the textile and fleece are now mapped. For example, the textile fabric is mapped down the left arm to reduce contact with the bow string. I should add that the Fanatic jacket can now be ordered in right hand or left hand.
> The biggest complaint to the previous version was the fleece would pick up every burr and sticker in your path. Sitka carefully listened to this feedback and incorporated a burr-resistant textile by mapping it to the hem and seat of the jacket.
> One final point; ultra-quality hunting clothing like Sitka’s Fanatic series is not cheap. You are not going to buy this system for $300. This is high-performance, cutting-edge gear with impeccable quality and should last you dozens of seasons.
> My favorite change is the safety harness port. The port was introduced in the previous design, but it had one small problem; you had to disconnect to put the jacket on or off. Sitka updated the design and now you can take your jacket on or off without a disconnect.
His recommended system runs more than $1,400. Pretty sure most spouses would tan our hides if we spent that, but we’re sure it IS the deal….
|
Tip of the Week
Rest in peace: How to use shooting sticks.
Gotta admit, shooting sticks might be one of the most overlooked pieces of our gear. Whether spotting and stalking or ground-hunting from a blind, a steady bipod or tripod can be the difference between filling your freezer and going home with zip. Here’s how to keep yours steady:
> Shooting positions closest to Mother Earth are the most stable. Shooting sticks can make a seated shot almost as solid as a bench rest. Of course, in many hunting situations, shooting while seated is not a viable option due to challenges from topography and vegetation. But shooting while standing, from sticks, is significantly steadier than shooting offhand.
> If hunting from a blind, get in that same chair on the range and practice shooting with the pod positioned at the optimum height for windows or shooting lanes.
> For mobile hunting, the sticks will either be hand-carried or stowed in a pack for rapid deployment. Train on the range the way you intend to hunt.
> Learn to rapidly deploy your shooting sticks, especially in uneven terrain. While the majority of shooting-stick shots will be standing, some hunts will allow for seated positioning.
> Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, similar to shooting offhand, and the rifle’s forend — never the barrel — firmly resting in the v-yoke of the pod.
> As an added benefit, shooting sticks help reduce felt recoil in larger calibers because the body moves more naturally than from a bench, and it rolls from the impact. Proper mechanics will lead to more accurate shot placement and increased confidence.
|
|
|
Shot of the Week
Not a “bowl game” but “big game” for Huskers coach Scott Frost:
Pretty sure NE Huskers coach Scott Frost would trade pretty much ANY deer for a bowl game, but it wasn’t meant to be this year. So what does he do between landing recruits in the offseason? Head to western NE and tag one with a muzzleloader! Great to see coach!
|
|
What’s the DB and who does it??
The DeerBlaster is a weekly roundup of the best, worst and funniest stuff about whitetail deer hunting culled from around the interwebz. We were kinda doing it already, just not the blastin’ it into your inbox part….
It’s put together by some deer nerds — Ted, Jay, Wade, couple more — from around the country. We excerpt content (and credit EVERYONE!), comment on content, do some original content — it’s an internet thing…. We do it because we can’t get enough deer hunting, hopefully you’re wired the same.
The DeerBlaster’s a work in progress, just like we are. Let us know what we can do better and thanks for readin’! Any issues, suggestions, whatever, just hit Reply to this email and we’ll get it. Thank you!
|
Sign up another deer nut!
If you’re forwarding the DeerBlaster to other deer crackheads, tx much! Or you can email us the addys and we’ll take care of it! We’ll never send spam, sell the list or anything else crazy…. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @deerblaster.official
|
Advertising info
If you’re interested in learning more about the DeerBlaster and how we do things, just respond to this email and we’ll get in touch — thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
