DeerBlaster blasts

Indiana now top dog? 2 NH record deer! Tracking glasses work?

Visit DeerBlaster.com for all past issues!

> While the number of record-book entries in any given year are relatively close between states, says Caudell, such comparisons don’t account for how little land IN has compared to other whitetail states.

> IN is the 38th-largest state in the US by square miles. …it’s smaller than iconic whitetail states like KS (the 13th largest state), IA (23rd), and even OH (35th). That means IN has been enjoying more record-book buck harvests per square mile than other states in recent years….

That’s Daniel Blanchette (right) with his new state record non-typical bow kill that scored 191 3/8 net – and Mark Evans (left) got the new state record typical with a muzzleloader, scored 170 net.

North American Whitetail with another great post, here’s some of the deets of Daniel’s kill:

> 2 different hunters downed 2 different state record deer in the same year by using the same idea – that big bucks live in limited access areas. Their results prove the idea does work. It also proves that states like NH can produce big deer.

> …ME resident Daniel Blanchette…drew one of the limited and highly coveted Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge archery permits. The refuge consists of approximately 1,000 acres of seacoast in Rockingham County. About 600 acres are open to very limited hunting…usually around 25 archery permits awarded each year….

> During their scouting trips, he and his hunting partner, Jerry, found fresh rubs on 8″ beech trees. They found an entire side of freshly stripped velvet that appeared to have peeled off a very large antler. They also found huge beds near the rubs and where they found the velvet.

> …wasn’t in his stand very long before he heard a deer walking through the woods…the deer suddenly stopped walking and seemed to begin aggressively rubbing a tree! But Daniel still couldn’t see a thing….

> Suddenly Daniel saw a huge set of feet and a large body appear out of the forest floor. …Daniel could see antlers. However, he couldn’t tell how big they were because the buck had a 4′ piece of a birch tree branch entangled in its antlers!

> …he found that he was shaking so badly from the excitement that his arrow fell off the rest, pulled from the string and fell to the ground. The arrow landed only a couple of feet from the buck.

> As expected, the buck turned itself inside out once the arrow hit the ground next to it. However, outside of its initial reaction, the buck was soon back to being its usual self. As the buck walked closer to Daniel, the lucky hunter was able to get another arrow knocked and ready. This time when the buck stepped out from behind a tree at just 8 yards, Daniel’s arrow flew true.

Sounds like it, from Bowhunter.com:

> Bloodvision glasses use a patented technology called Optichromatic Filtration to help you see blood by intensifying red colors while filtering and muting all other colors of the spectrum. This makes blood-red pop and jump out against other colors.

> I had an opportunity to test Bloodvision glasses this fall after arrowing a buck here in CO. My fellow color-challenged compadres, Bill and Lane, were also able to test them next to 2 other pairs of color-vision glasses.

> While the competitors’ much higher-priced optics seemed to make all colors appear brighter, they didn’t really help us to see red when it was mixed in with all the other colors along a blood trail, especially in low light.

> The Bloodvision glasses helped all 3 of us color-cursed bowhunters, as well as 2 of our buddies who have normal color vision, to see the blood more vividly. As advertised, other colors were muted, while blood-red stood out.

> …I highly recommend you give these amazing optics a try. Any bowhunter will benefit from the ability to see red more vividly, but for those who suffer from color-deficient vision, these glasses could be a game-changer.

Let us know if you’ve ever used ’em! Here’s the Skopt Optics website.

This stuff isn’t lotsa fun to point out, but if we take our eye off the ball and surrender our discernment, the folks who don’t like hunting and firearms will simply take the ball, lock the gates and demo the field. And this is all very real.

1. “Individuals more likely to come into contact with deer populations, such as hunters and hikers in deer habitats, could be targeted for surveillance to identify any high-risk populations for spillover events.”

That’s a line from a new study on alleged Covid transmission from deer to people – and once again the study conclusions come from computer MODELING. That phrase “could be targeted for surveillance” should scare anyone who believes in freedom. Wow.

Wonder why they’re not focused on pets? Squirrels? Why deer?

2. Headline: Climate, earthworms and deer overpopulation alter northern forests

Deer have to be managed more because – this is a scientist talking:

> If we look at the extreme high warming scenarios, all the forests in the Midwest are going to die.

🙄

3. PA bans hunting turkeys with slug guns, muzzleloaders and pistols.

> “Turkey populations have been declining in most of the state, except for the western and southwestern part of the state.”

> …the state is continuing its efforts to restore populations. In the past, managers have done this by shortening seasons, but last year the commission also eliminated the use of centerfire and rimfire rifles during the fall season. This was mainly due to their effectiveness, as commissioners found that while relatively few hunters use rifles, they accounted for up to 1/3 of the overall turkey harvest in some years.

All that just means less turkey-hunting opportunity for PA hunters. Wonder if that 1/3 really just means 1/3 of turkeys are shot in the fall. Either way, a DNR banning the use of legal, efficient weapons seems strange?

Bless you hunting brother. Please pray for his family. 🙏✝️

2. TX: Hunting season dates are out.

Some new stuff about muleys:

> Extended general mule deer season in 15 southwestern Panhandle counties increases from 9 to 16 days.

> Special mule deer archery season has been added.

> Expanded mule deer antler restrictions were made to an additional 21 counties in Terrell County in the Trans-Pecos and the Panhandle.

3. LA’s hunting seasons are out.

4. CA DNR wants hunter input on Sacramento Valley Wildlife Areas.

> …for licensed hunters to provide comments and recommendations regarding hunting programs on state wildlife areas and federal wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley. The meeting will include updates on habitat conditions, availability of water for wetlands during the current drought and possible impacts of the lingering global pandemic.

5. IL accepting applications for private-land hunts.

> …they are accepting applications from youth shotgun and youth and adult archery hunters for fall 2022 deer hunting on private land through the IL Recreational Access Program.

6. TX’s drawn hunts program = good experiences for cheap prices?

7. ME’s deer population is about what it was in the ’90s.

> …ME’s deer population probably numbers around 310,000, which is similar to where it was in the 1990s.

8. Jeremy Rosenberg is new Sr VP of sales for Christensen Arms.

Was at Surefire and Springfield Armory.

9. 2A stuff

DC: Firearms Policy Coalition says the Senate failed the American people regarding the new ATF director.

DC: Congress wants to ban 24 million guns.

DC: ATF caught red-handed illegally copying FFL info.

AUS: Rural elderly resident charged for having a pocket knife.

> All across Australia we are seeing significant government overreach, resulting in unexpected and often severe consequences to normally law-abiding decent Aussies.

10. Keep an eye on…

MT: B&C Club opposes the ill-named Return Our Constitutional Rights Act (HR 8167).

As we said previously, it would crush the Pittman-Robertson Act, the most successful and biggest funding source for hunting and DNRs ever. Guess it’s not dead yet….

Headline of the Week

Dog is killed by doe as reports of ‘aggressive deer’ ramp up in OR, officials say

Believe it or not, many suburban/urban folks in the Northeast and Northwest are already afraid of turkeys – so maybe deer and turkeys will take over…like a Planet of the Apes deal?? 😁

Deer Disease News

1. TN: CWD-poz deer confirmed in Dyer County.

> The positive deer was harvested north of Dyersburg last Nov. A taxidermist submitted the sample to TWRA staff recently and the agency just received the results.

> This makes Dyer County positive and due to the proximity within 10 miles, Obion County and Lake County become high-risk counties for CWD.

2. MO thinking about expanding hunting because of CWD.

Proposals include:

> Increasing the maximum number of firearms antlerless deer hunting permits that a hunter could fill from 2 to 4 in select counties.

> Creating a 3-day early antlerless portion of firearms deer season in select counties that would begin on a Friday in early-to-mid Oct.

> Creating a 5-day CWD portion of firearms deer season in select CWD Management Zone counties that would begin the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

3. WI: 300+ farm deer will be killed because of CWD.

Sounds like only a couple deer tested poz but the state is requiring them all to be killed.

Hunt heat refuges in the early season?

That NDA post ^ is giving us some scouting/trailcam ideas:

> The next time you walk the land you hunt in the heat of summer, consider slowing down and spending a few minutes looking for existing thermal refuges. If a spot feels cooler to you, it will feel cooler to a deer as well.

> …it is much easier for a deer to change its behavior – relocating to a cooler location – than it is to pant in response to heat.

> [Researcher] Jacob found that when ambient air temperatures were below 84° F, deer [captive in TX] had no preference for any one gradient of shade. When temperatures rose above that 85° threshold, deer chose 90% shade over all other gradients 70% of the time…. But there’s more to a quality heat refuge than shade.

> …sumac trees around the perimeter of the thicket will fall away from the thicket center, forming a dome-like structure for the thicket as a whole. The narrow trunks and limited bulk of the canopy create a nice shady area, yet the trees themselves are sparse enough to allow for adequate wind to pass through the thicket. Shade with a breeze and a view.

> How you do you create patches of sumac? The most effective management practice would simply be to stop cutting or bush-hogging them!

> When creating summer thermal cover within a woodlot, I treat north-facing hillsides the same way I treat my south-facing hillsides for winter thermal cover: I add structure to the otherwise open understory.

“…plastic-ware is not suitable for cutting and serving a fine steak, service-station cups don’t last long, and Cheetos sure don’t add to your health and vigor.”

– All good except for the Cheetos line lol! Line from an American Hunter post talking about this:

> In similar fashion, cheap barrels don’t generally shoot awesome, cheap actions aren’t as smooth and reliable, and cheap stocks are inconsistent and can fail under adverse conditions. A cheap trigger will drive a saint to strong drink.

> …can you kill big game with an inexpensive, cookie-cutter rifle? You bet you can. If you hunt whitetail deer from box blinds at distances of 200 yards and less, an inexpensive rifle will do everything you’ll ever need.

> Unfortunately, the things that make a rifle inexpensive to produce and affordable to buy are the same things that render it unsuitable for hardcore hunting adventures.

What’s the DB and who does it?

The DeerBlaster is a weekly roundup of the best, funniest, newest and most important stuff about deer hunting – culled from around the interwebz FOR DIEHARD DEER HUNTERS and blasted into your inbox.

The DB is put together by a couple deer nerds 😁 from around the country. We excerpt content (and credit EVERYONE!), comment on content, do some original content…because we can’t get enough deer hunting – bet you’re wired the same!

The DeerBlaster’s a work in progress, just like we are 😂. Any issues, suggestions, whatever, just hit Reply to this email and we’ll get it. Thank you for reading!