Re: Outdoorsman Thread
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:24 am
Yesterday, February 26, was the last day of deer season in the Florida Panhandle. Thank goodness it finally over 
. Had another interesting season, only killed one this year. Come to think of it, I maybe only killed one last season 
. Must be that I'm gettin' older, we always have had a big chest freezer in the shop full of venison at the end of each season. I've been on the same lease property for over 20 years and only hunted there 2 times this season, the other times it was always here on our farm. Sittin' in a little ladder stand over on the lease the other evening, I began to reminisce about past hunts over the years on that particular piece of property. (You must be gettin' old when you begin to think back over the years.) Sittin' on that little short ladder stand I wondered if this would be my last season to deer hunt? Then I thought about my 1st actual kill 50 years ago. For many years I could look at a rack and tell all about that particular hunt, how I came to kill that particular buck. My dear father-in-law taught me how to cut antlers using the front of the skull as a decorative display. I've only had one shoulder mount done over the years so he saved me a pile of money. Our living room has several racks mounted on some old barn wood that allow me to reminisce sittin' in my recliner. The mud/utility room has antlers around several of the walls and there are antlers tied in bunches, kinda' like grapes, on my shop's porch. I've always salvaged the antlers, no mater what size the buck was. I've given antlers away and I've made "rattling horns" out of them. I'd say Miss Joy and I have eaten our share of venison over the years. There were a few "dry" years when we first moved to the Panhandle. There were deer here but not like where we had moved from in Orange County. Beginning in the early 80's deer were becoming common place and they have not slowed down. As a kid we called ourselves "deer hunting" but we were just ramblin' in the woods not really knowing anything but, "There goes a deer!" We would see a white tail bouncin' away from us.
My 1st kill was probably a fluke as a buddy and I were slowly walking a logging road next to a swamp, when I saw a buck lookin' at me from a palmetto patch. "Boom" went the 12 gauge double barrel, the deer dropped out of sight. Then I saw that he had jumped up and was gettin' away, "Boom" with the other barrel. Wading into the palmettos we found two 8 point bucks, the 1st was dead, the second was down and almost out. I told my buddy to finish him off. Here's a picture of us after we got the deer to his house:
A couple of years later I was able to get in a lease on my wife's uncles ranch in east Orange County. This afforded me a place to actually begin to figure out how deer do what they do. That was 45 years ago and I'm still tryin' to figure 'em out. My 1st tree stand was by todays standards, very crude, certainly not OSHA approved. It consisted of 2 pieces of used 2X4 and a couple of scrap pieces of 3/4" plywood for a deck. All this nailed to two convenient pine trees and accessed by steps made of 8" bridge spikes. The stand was about 10' high, no thought of safety, no place even to hang my rifle. Back then I didn't give binoculars a thought. Here's a picture of the stand and how we stood on it:
The dressing of a deer is pretty basic, I have learned to pull the hide with a vehicle, a lasso and a golf ball. This is one of the 1st deer I killed from a tree stand:
As the years went by, I used all sorts of materials for tree stands, from old extension ladders, several made of EMT to finally building several "condos" up to 16 feet in the air. My favorite stand was constructed on the side of a large pine tree with a wooden ladder. The door is only 4 foot high and it takes a little manipulation to crawl up in it and even more very careful manipulation to back out of it. I haven't been in it in several years because of my knee and hip replacements. I tried to notch the window sill every time I killed a deer from this stand, I think there were close to 40 notches when I last hunted from it in February 2014. It looks like this:
I built a big one here on the farm, it sits on power poles, is 5'X7' 14' to the floor. I think this one has 35 notches on the door jamb. This "condo" has regular door and only requires climbing the ladder, opening the door and then stepping up onto the floor. An improvement for this would be a set of stairs rather than the ladder. This one is about 100 yards from our house:
The story is always the same when you don't kill one, "At least we don't have to clean one tonight!"
We posted a picture of the buck I killed on New Years afternoon when we were trying out the "Rocky" knife that was sent around the country. Pulling the hide with the golf ball and lasso last month:
Lord willing, I'll try again next season, it gets in your blood. It wont be long till time to plant some warm weather food plots trying to keep the deer on the place but out of the garden. I just moved a camera to see if I can find out who made a new scrape just below the grandsons ground level condo.
Thought I would share a few thoughts of 50 years of chasing Bambi.
Treefarmer
. Had another interesting season, only killed one this year. Come to think of it, I maybe only killed one last season . Must be that I'm gettin' older, we always have had a big chest freezer in the shop full of venison at the end of each season. I've been on the same lease property for over 20 years and only hunted there 2 times this season, the other times it was always here on our farm. Sittin' in a little ladder stand over on the lease the other evening, I began to reminisce about past hunts over the years on that particular piece of property. (You must be gettin' old when you begin to think back over the years.) Sittin' on that little short ladder stand I wondered if this would be my last season to deer hunt? Then I thought about my 1st actual kill 50 years ago. For many years I could look at a rack and tell all about that particular hunt, how I came to kill that particular buck. My dear father-in-law taught me how to cut antlers using the front of the skull as a decorative display. I've only had one shoulder mount done over the years so he saved me a pile of money. Our living room has several racks mounted on some old barn wood that allow me to reminisce sittin' in my recliner. The mud/utility room has antlers around several of the walls and there are antlers tied in bunches, kinda' like grapes, on my shop's porch. I've always salvaged the antlers, no mater what size the buck was. I've given antlers away and I've made "rattling horns" out of them. I'd say Miss Joy and I have eaten our share of venison over the years. There were a few "dry" years when we first moved to the Panhandle. There were deer here but not like where we had moved from in Orange County. Beginning in the early 80's deer were becoming common place and they have not slowed down. As a kid we called ourselves "deer hunting" but we were just ramblin' in the woods not really knowing anything but, "There goes a deer!" We would see a white tail bouncin' away from us. My 1st kill was probably a fluke as a buddy and I were slowly walking a logging road next to a swamp, when I saw a buck lookin' at me from a palmetto patch. "Boom" went the 12 gauge double barrel, the deer dropped out of sight. Then I saw that he had jumped up and was gettin' away, "Boom" with the other barrel. Wading into the palmettos we found two 8 point bucks, the 1st was dead, the second was down and almost out. I told my buddy to finish him off. Here's a picture of us after we got the deer to his house:
We posted a picture of the buck I killed on New Years afternoon when we were trying out the "Rocky" knife that was sent around the country. Pulling the hide with the golf ball and lasso last month:
Thought I would share a few thoughts of 50 years of chasing Bambi.
Treefarmer
Made my day bro! I'll bag a slice or two for ya and include an Oak knot slice from here for comparison. That is one tough knot to cut! My band saw bogged cutting into it. Well worth it I'd say. I'll get some slices in the mail this weekend. In the mean time here is pic of the main pieces that I plan on making knife handles out of. Thanks Scott!