Frank's outdoors...

I read an interesting article at Petersen's Hunting called the "Science of Sight:  What Whitetails Can Really See" .  Really fascinating to think about how the hunting industry puts products out on the market, that might not be so great afterall.  I look at a lot of the camo products available, and note that their are REALLY expensive brands, like Sitka, that have lots of grey and bluish tones that probably are not so good in the woods.  I have known about using non-UV intensifying detergents and such.  But, I may just buy a green shirt and pants, and call it good! And, just for grins, her's a few pictures of the big buck we are actively hunting this season.

Opening weekend came and went with nothing taken this trip.  However, I did have some pretty good excitement that I have never seen. Opening morning, I saw the biggest deer of my life.  A tall-tined, chocolate antlered 14 pt.  Its the best count I have, need to get him on the ground to get an accurate count, but double crab claws on his upper main beams of an otherwise 10pt, and little kickers here n there. Sunrise was at 7:13am, and about 5 minutes later I see movement about 50-60yds in front of me through the woods.  This deer (coming from the right) goes behind my protein feeder, and around the corn feeder, and passed me to my left.  I was thinking, "why isn't he going to the feeders???"  That became very evident when he took a sharp turn at the treeline to my left, and came in behind me to a scrape that was 7yds from my tree!!!  Of course, no chance at a shot on him through the tree I was in, but I could turn and see the whole thing. ...

Alright, archery season is a few weeks away, and I finally have the perfect spot for my first go at it.  Hopefully, I can catch them going to/from the creek on the right of this photo. Can you find my blind?

Well, if you recall, last year I purchased a bow (see post on my Mission by Mathews ) in anticipation of using it on our lease... well, that was squashed when the lease was sold.  This year, I am back in business and in the past 3 weeks I have actively gotten the bow sighted in and begun to practice. I am the first to admit that I am NOT Robin Hood with this thing.  I will also say though that I have practiced and researched technique, and I am improving.  My main focus is to focus on technique and practice as much as humanly possible before the season.  If you have the time, there is tons of information and opinion on how to improve technique and form.  For simplicity's sake, I have condensed it down to these 3 things: Consistent anchor position.  Each and every time to insure the same sight picture. Do NOT grab the bow with your hand, but let it lightly rest in your holding hand so as not to torque the bow. Relax and have fun.  Again, I am no...

So, a few months ago I started researching on discs/plows to help in improving my food plot creation at the deer lease.  I ended up with the conclusion that the Groundhog Max was the best bet for me in my scenario (cost/availability/portability).  However, in order to use it, you have to have a 2" receiver or else install there bulky and obtrusive hitch kit.  At first I wanted the hitch kit until I saw how it connected to my 4 wheeler and quickly abandoned that hteory.  I did some more research and settled on the Kolpin 2" Receiver kit that virtually "plugs" right into my Polaris.  It bolted right to the frame and into the existing 1.25" factory receiver.  With the Groundhog Max engaged, it was very solid and held up to the task.  I am very pleased.

Sorry I am so late on this post, but nevertheless here it is... My brother and I sat in the stand on Saturday morning for the final weekend of black powder season in our neck of Texas.  As my brother doesn't currently own a black powder rifle, he was borrowing one of my very generous friends Thompson Center Omega with open sights. We had agreed beforehand that we wanted to take a single doe (or my brother would take a legal buck if the opportunity presented itself).  So, the first one to have an opportunity would shoot and we'd be done.  Well, we got to the lease around 5:45am, and it was a brisk 30 degrees, that quickly dropped to 26 degrees at sunrise (according to weather.com).  I didn't see a single thing all morning, but my brother was surrounded by action.  He had 2 small 4 points eating under the feeder for about 45 minutes, including a bit of sparring.  They eventually moved on, and around 7:30am some does came out.  My brother decided to...

I got on my lease real close to the start of last season.  As I sat in my tripod one morning and looked over my barren field, I started making plans for the NEXT season on how I would prepare the field.  The challenge lay before me in acquiring/coordinating getting the work done.  I don't live near my lease, and don't have any equipment.  So basically, borrowing, renting, etc. was going to be the course of action.  As with everything else, life takes over and the season was upon us before I knew it.  I still had been planning but the execution and coordination was becoming the bigger challenge.  Throw in the fact that we hadn't had ANY rain for months and it was looking like it was going to be another barren field... Well, I blogged in the past about how it all came to be... the purchase of the drag harrow, and laying the seed in the first rain in months, etc. etc. etc.  Well, I turned my game camera towards the plot the week leading up to my ta...

Was looking at some pics of this buck from the game camera prior to him breaking off a few of his tines.  Pretty cool to see how it has changed.

After sitting in the stand and hunting hard since the season opened, I finally got a nice deer on the ground. He made me earn it for sure! The Details: I was in the stand by 5:45am, with sunrise at 7:15am.  It was a half moon, but overcast with slight fog so I had moderate visibility.  It was still dark around 6:40am.  As usual, my eyes are playing tricks on me with the fog and waiting for the sunrise, and I see something flicker behind the feeder (about 100yds away).  I grabbed my binoculars and there he was rubbing his antlers in the brush back behind the feeder.  I watched him for a minute or so, then grabbed my rifle when he started to walk towards me to the food plot.  He was starting to head to the left (where there is a game trail that heads back into the woods).  I put the cross hairs on him and landed a perfect hit behind the shoulder with him right at the edge of the food plot.  I was shocked and thrilled!  6:45am, 30 min to ...

My buddy Mark sat in the stand this morning at our lease.  He has a blind that is less than half mile from my back loop blind.  Around 8:10am a doe walked out and started acting skittish.  A few seconds later this bruiser walks out and gave Mark about 5 seconds to pull the trigger.  He pulled wasn't sure if he hit the deer at all.  He waited a few minutes to begin looking for blood and tracking.  No blood.  There is a trail that leads away from the feeder toward a creek bottom, so he thought that potentially the deer may have headed there for cover.  Sure enough, he was piled up 30-40 yds down that trail! Nice shot, Mark!  I am jealous that you now have meat in your freezer!  UPDATE:  I think I got a picture of this boy a few days before Mark took him.  Take a look:

So I went out the day after Thanksgiving, and took my daughter on her first hunt.  We were really just there to sit and watch deer, we didn't even take a rifle.  I wanted her to experience sitting in the blind, see what comes out, enjoy the serenity of being quiet in the woods, and enjoying my time her!  For a 6 yr old, she did very well.  We were only going to sit for about an hour and a half, and that was just the right amount of time.  She started to get a little bored, so I let her play a game on my phone.  As it turns out, we didn't have anything come visit the field that evening other than an owl and quite a few doves.  Either way, she asked a lot of good questions, and was actively looking for action.  Although, as with any youngster, the question "So, when are the deer going to come?" made me laugh... as I ask myself that a lot!  :) Also while there, I noticed how well the food plot is coming in!  Lots of greenery, and than...

Opening weekend for rifles in Texas was a great weekend filled with lots of activity.  We saw a lot of deer.  The biggest issue we experienced was that the deer were constantly moving and appeared to be in the early stages of rut.  With the exception of the spikes and small bucks, the bigger bucks were actively moving and not stopping to feed.  Opening morning was cold, around 35 degrees.  I was sitting in my culdesac blind and had a nice 6 point buck come out and walk 5 yards out of the woods, turn around, and head back into the woods.  About 10 minutes later, I could see him coming through the woods again, and he walked right on out and turned and went to the side and into the woods via another trail.  I could see another buck behind him about 10 yds.  I grabbed my rifle, pulled it up, and by the time I saw the buck in the scope, I only had a side view, and couldn't tell if it was a legal buck.  I had about 2 seconds to shoot, and I couldn'...

So, what rituals and things do you do to prepare?  Here is my breakdown of things I have been doing this month to get ready for the season (in no particular order). I have been going out every week or so to pull SD cards from my cameras in anticipation!  Trying to figure out when the deer are coming/going as well as WHAT deer are coming/going.  It certainly hasn't helped my buck fever. Sighted in the guns.  My brother and I went to the range and made sure all the guns were still on target.  We each shot the 3 rifles we'll use this season to ensure we are both seeing the same results.  We are using: Marlin .30-30 with a Leupold VX2 4-12x40 scope.  Real nice brush gun, but I want to put a 3-9x50 scope on it.  I have shot maybe 2 deer with this gun. Remington 700 ADL .270 with a Leupold VX2 3-9x50 scope.  My first gun, and it has been a solid rifle for years.  I have taken MANY deer with this gun. Remington 700 SPS .308 Left handed ...

Got some interesting pics of a nice buck running some does...

Alright, we are 4 weeks from opening day of rifle season here in Texas, and I have everything ready.  I went out to the lease on Sunday afternoon during the first major rain in over 6 months!  Finally got my Polaris "muddy". On Friday, my buddy Mark and his friend Gary took a tractor and brush hog and cut down my field at a finishing cut length, which looked fantastic.  On Sunday, when I got there I took my new harrow, dragged it over the field with the needles down to really scratch the wet, muddy dirt/sand mixture.  It was a lot muddier than I thought.  I believed it was primarily sand, but the amount of soil is quite surprising and a pleasant one at that.  After that it was seeding time.  I used the Whitetail Institute - Imperial Whitetail Extreme seed and that covered half of my field.  The other half I covered with Evolved Harvest Throw & Grow .  Both of these I picked up at Gander Mountain.  Now it was time to fertilize....