Rhino

Rhino - Al 65 Missouri: Sept. 15th to Jan. 15th Mississippi: Oct. 1st to Jan. 31st

Sure...I'm in for it!

Heat index here this weekend is supposed to be between 115 and 120 so I'm catching up on some inside the house chores. It's too hot and humid here for an old fart like me to be working on treestands. I still have a few bow stands here in MS that I need to check before the season opens on 10/1 but I'll wait till its cooler than this. All my new bow stand positions here are already finished so at least the harder ones to prepare are done.

Looking good on the home turf Frank. Got a late start with the cams in MO. Doesn't look like we'll get a chance to run them until mid September. Haven't gotten anything nice in MS yet.

Fly...the bitting midge is the bug that carries the EHD virus. Glad to hear you haven't had issues E of the river. Fingers crossed is not a wide spread problem this year.

Hello everyone...been a while since I checked in. I came home Wednesday from our initial stand prep trip to Missouri along with setting cams out for the 1st time. Late start this year. Before arriving, our neighbor/ranch manager called us to inform us he'd found 2 dead deer. One on us and another on a neighbor east of him. Get's worse! While preparing stands around the whole property (~1,350 ac.) we've now found a total of 10 does and fawns (2 fawns appeared to be coyote kills), a 145 class 8 point, a big 10 point, and a young 8 point. Some were mostly decomposed, some where recent. The day after we found the big 8 we passed by it again and ~25 yards away was a doe that had died in our tracks since the prior day. While going from one stand to the next, anytime we caught the scent of a rotting animal we looked for the source. There were 4 we couldn't find due to shifting winds. It's looking real bad up there. We called the local game warden to report the die offs. He'd already gotten reports of over 80 dead deer in the county. He said they figure about 10% get reported. They are really concerned this year since he confirmed that usually EHD die offs start around mid August. He started getting reports in mid July. As many of you know the midge that transmits the EHD virus is a problem until at least mid September. We'll probably be returning around the 2nd week of September to finish preparing our remaining stands and make our initial run on the cams. We'll see then how many more new ones we find and hope to see some good healthy bucks on cams. To make matters worse, here in Mississippi we've found over 20 dead deer so far this year. Most have been near where the flood waters from the Mississippi river have been falling. The flood waters didn't start falling until mid July here. We only had about 120 acres on us that flooded but neighbors to the north, western, and southwestern sides had close to 20,000 acres under water. Lots of deer migrants were on us since most of our place is high ground. Our summer food plots located closest to the flood water areas have been getting hammered. I can't say if it's EHD here too or excess stress to the deer herd and available food source. Whatever it is I've never seen die offs like this in Mississippi before. I hope y'all aren't seeing the same problem.

Frank...we had the same situation happen on our place in MO once near a line that was not marked until we had it surveyed and marked it ourselves. What we did was...pulled the stand, left a note in a zip-loc bag and gorilla tapped the bag to the tree. The note said their stand was found on our property so we removed it. We left our contact information and if they wanted it back to call us. That was during the end of spring turkey season that year. They finally called before bow season. Gave us a chance to meet a couple of guys that hunted the bordering property. Since then, we've had good relations with them. Now...2 years ago we found a ladder stand that had been set on the edge of one of our crop fields ~150 yards north of the same line. We called the same guys that bordered us to the south back in the timber there. They said it wasn't theirs. Well, since we'd owned the property for over 5 years at that time we pulled the stand and moved it out. We didn't leave a note for that one.

I've watched how crossbows have improved over the years in both accuracy and reduced weight. Have I changed? Nope...no desire to change. Crossbows are heavier and a lot more difficult to deal with than a bow, both in a treestand and walking to and from one. Being age 65 now I suspect there may come a time when I can't use a bow. If that time comes and I'm still physically able to archery hunt, that's when I'll switch to a crossbow.

Went to camp late Friday to turkey hunt Saturday morning. Bagged my 2nd gobbler...post in the turkey forum. With bad storms moving in Saturday afternoon, I came home to catch up on spring cleaning chores until the weather improves to take a swing at getting my last MS gobbler. That's about it for now. Heading to Missouri Friday. Their turkey season opens on 4/15.

Since my last kill post the hunting has been tough. Most of the time when some birds gobbled is was a bit on the roost and quit when they touch down. Had several hunts when just 1 bird gobbled once in the distance and that was it. Last weekend I was playing guide for another rookie. We got on 2 gobbling birds around noon. Got them to ~80 yards...2 gobblers with 5 hens. It was fixing to happen when...2 trespassers come in by boat from the flood waters and pushed them off. Got on those birds again the next morning...both birds hung up with hens in the timber that moved away from us. Called in 2 jakes with a hen trying to coax the gobblers back. Back for round 3 on my own this morning. I set up close to where the birds hung up during the last hunt...prepared for a run and gun style hunt...no decoys. The 1st bird gobbles W of me...the 2nd N of me but I'm out of position for where they're roosted this time. They are roosted on opposite ridges near the edge of the flood waters. I hit an old grown over logging road that has high banks on both sides and hot foot it N to where it dumps into a small field between the 2 ridges. That puts me ~100 yards short of being right between them. Can't risk getting closer. Beyond the small field further to the N is flood waters. I hear several hens in the trees off the W side of the field. I opt to take the risk and made a fly down cut. The N gobbler cuts me off. Hens to the W (still on the roost) get vocal, mainly with light clucks and a few light tree yelps mixed in. I mimic them now. The 1st hen pitches out and lands ~75 yards away N of me. Then a 2nd pitches out headed right at me. She banks to her right and lands 15 yards away. I get a brief look at the W gobbler as he walks across the opposite end of the field close the water toward the N gobbler. Then...3 more hens sail in landing about 50 yards away. They are still vocal but one is so close I can't move or call. Fortunately, I was already aiming in the direction where I expected to see the gobblers approach from...the N. Then...there they are...1 in full strut, the other...never strutted...had a shorter beard too. Closest hen to them is the one ~75 yards from me now on the edge of the field on my side. As they approach her she eases into the timber on my side. They change direction toward the 3 hens. Those hens start moving W at an angle away from me to the timber. Then hen no. 6 pitches in and lands 30 yards right in front of me. The gobblers shift toward her coming right at me, the big one going in and out of strut. She decides to head W toward the other hens. At this point I have a problem. They are inside 40 yards but I can't shoot without killing both gobblers. As they angle toward her walking away, finally the strutter gets out in front of the other gobbler. When he was ~3 yards in front he raised his head a bit and my Nitro load knocked his beak in the dirt. Stepped it off at 48 steps. The other gobbler is so confused. He starts to leave but notices his buddy flopping around so he comes back again. He's watches his big buddy flop around until he quits flopping then eases off. My 2nd MS gobbler for this spring has an 11" beard and sports some nice hooked spurs that measure 1 1/4" and 1 3/16". BTW...sometimes it just happens where you luck up and choose to sit at the right spot on the right day. In a nutshell...that's what happened this morning.

Congratulations! Nice birds! Overall, y'all had a great trip.

Congratulations! Never tried the fan...yet.

I'm not going to second guess Realtree's business practices regarding who they license their camo patterns to, etc. A large part of RT's business is licensing their camo to other companies...be it camo drinking cups or camo shoes. I'm not a fan of Nike either, especially since their Kapernick deal. I'm not going to throw RT under the bus because they entered into what will probably be a very lucrative business decision with Nike. As many of you know, hunter numbers (as a whole) have been falling each year. I know for a fact overall treestand related companies business fell the last 2 years. Millennium is about the only one that's shown growth during that period but it's been from declining sales by other treestand related companies, not from new hunters needing treestands. Some of you know I'm one of the owners of Millennium...that's how I know that. We communicate with competing treestand company managers and obviously retail companies too that sell competing products. Excluding Millennium, other competing treestand companies sales have fallen 20% to 25% in each of the past 2 years. I don't know the status of RT's business but I wouldn't be surprised to hear their total net income fell the last 2 years too. Now...I'm willing to bet there are multiple other companies RT licenses their camo patterns to that hunters wouldn't care to support if they knew the details of the political stance of all those in control of those companies. Like it or not...all companies are in the business of making money. We wouldn't be here talking about this if RT didn't. That's the way it is.

Yep...good numbers and will only be better the next few years. We have a bumper crop of jakes this year. Between me and a buddy from our 7 cameras in different areas we got from a low of 3 jakes in a pic (1 cam) to as many as 10 jakes in a pic. In all, just counting jakes only caught in the same picture from those 7 cams the count is 46 jakes. Since I started using cams, I've never come close to catching that many jakes before. After I pulled the cams I read an article from the Mississippi DWFP regarding last year's hatch and most of the state had a great hatch last year. Counting gobblers the same way (from being in the same picture from a spot) from the same cams was 22 gobblers caught on cams. I've heard birds where I wasn't able to run cams too.

I've been playing guide most of the time, so far this season for rookie turkey hunters. The first 2 days of the season with my 1st rookie hunter was basically a bust. A cold front had come through leaving it windy, overcast, and a lot colder than it had recently been. Well...that added up to not hearing a single bird gobble at all the first 2 days. My rookie hunter (Lee) had to go home so on the 3rd day I would be on my own. We made tentative plans to try again this past Thursday (weather wise the best looking gobbling day). At gobbling time on the 3rd day I was on top of the highest point where I could hear distant gobblers. 2 cranked up on the roost in the distance N and NE of me, one in an area nobody was hunting. I switched areas to pursue the bird to the NE. By the time I got around to listen before closing in it was ~7:30. Waited and heard a bird gobble ahead of me below the ridge I was on. I moved toward him and busted 3 hens out of a tree at 7:35 a.m. not 100 yards from where I was listening. 2 of the 3 hens flew to a tree where I glassed them. Then 2 more birds flew down touching down close to me. One gobbled...terrible sounding gobble too so figured it had to be a young bird. Then the 2 hens I glassed in the tree pitched down away from me into the W bottom where a bird gobbled while they were in the air. He never gobbled again. On to the gobbling birds to the N...they were HOT! Turned out to be 2 together. Got above those birds on top of a high ridge. They were down in a big plot in the area where another hunter was. From my high perch, I could make out bits and pieces of the plot they were moving around in and pin point where they were. They gobbled for an hour or so before a vocal hen moved in to meet them. The last time I got them to gobble they were moving up the ridge on the opposite side of the plot. I took a couple of days off to rest and wait for what looked like great weather this past Wednesday morning. Before dawn Wednesday, I was sitting close to where the gobblers spent most of their time when I last heard them in the plot. It turned out to be colder than forecast at 36 degrees but no wind & clear. Well the birds didn't like the chill early. I finally heard a bird about 8:00 gobble at a live hen yelping behind me. Can't move...they are right behind me and above me. The 1st hen passes by at ~15 yards trotting into the field followed by a 2nd hen. Then the gobbler trots right by me. As I raise I realize I made a rookie mistake. Never turned on my holosight that morning. The gobbler caught my movement and continued into the woods on the other side of the field. He putted once but the hens paid no attention to him. They hadn't busted me so opted to just hang around for a while right in front of me. About 10 minutes later I hear more hens off to my right shoulder behind me. I slowly ease my head around (2 hens still in front) and see a gobbler strutting behind 3 hens ~70 yards away above me. They stayed at the same elevation on the side of that ridge easing to the north with him occasionally gobbling. Now the bird that was with the 2 hens (still feeding around in front of me) gobbles just inside the timber across the field from me. I guess that was their cue to come on. They eased out of the field to him and he never gobbled again. The bird to the N with the hens appears strutting in the field about 1 1/2 hours later some 200 yards N of me. He struts out of the field about 5 minutes later. Maybe 10 minutes passes when a bird gobbles right across the field from me just inside the timber line. He apparently was headed my way when I was fruitlessly calling to the gobbler with the 3 hens. He gobbled back and forth, out of sight and then went silent for maybe 10 minutes. During that time I just clucked and purred. Then...he appears in half strut heading right toward me...then goes into full strut at about the 50 yard line. I dropped the hammer on him at ~30 yards. My 1st bird of the MS spring season has a 10 3/4" beard and both spurs were 1". My rookie hunter (Lee) calls me that afternoon with congrats and ask if he should come hunt with me Thursday or wait till Friday. Thursday's weather forecast was perfect and he sensed the urgency in my voice to get it done NOW! After all...I blew my chance on another bird and didn't spook him bad at all. Then there was the 2nd gobbler too that got close. Thursday morning we are set up together in the same spot where I killed my bird Wednesday. Couldn't have been a more perfect morning. At dawn they crank up on the roost gobbling. In all we heard at least 8 different birds gobbling on the roost. The closest are N and NW of us ~200 to 250 yards away. At flydown time I dish out a cut...then another. The bird to the N answers...the one to the NW goes quiet. 10 minutes later...here comes the NW bird on a string about 50 yards behind a jake. Lee is videoing their approach with his iPhone. I whisper "you better get your gun up...things can go south quick". Lee does...his bird goes into a full strut at ~75 yards and struts his way up to ~35 yards where Lee gives him a dirt nap at 7:10 a.m. Lee's 1st ever gobbler has a 10 1/2" beard with 1 1/8" & 1" spurs. Conditions look pretty good tomorrow and Thursday morning so headed back to camp this afternoon for more fun and games with gobbling turkeys...I hope!

It's going to rain here most of the day tomorrow so it looks like I'll be indoors tomorrow. When the sky clears, I'll go listen for gobbling turkeys. Season opens next Friday.

Welcome back Pinwheel...been a long time since you stopped in here. Congrats on the elk...nice one!

We now have a 4th deer tested positive for CWD here in MS. 2 of the recent ones, including the new one, are just across the line from where the bulk of the TN deer are spotted on the TN CWD containment map William posted. The CWD containment area on the MS side of the line bordering the TN area now covers 6 entire counties plus ~1/2 of 5 more counties. The 2nd CWD containment covers about 5 counties bordering the Mississippi River N and S of Vicksburg.

Congratulations Frank! Awesome!!! Nice being at the end of a dead end county road too. That should help reduce disturbance to your property...unwanted guest too. Looks like you have multiple options for stands for different winds too. Hope you can annually bag a bigun there!

Not much here to do in all this rain we've had. Doing a crawfish boil tonight. Nothing else planned beyond that.

New one on me too!

There are multiple factors that come into play with deer getting on their feet. With that said...JMHO but from my experience (as a general rule) there's a temperature comfort range for the best deer movement depending on where you're hunting. That temp range varies across the country. Mid-western deer and deer further north have larger bodies and longer hair for colder temps than southern deer. The temp comfort range may be under 10 degrees (F) in Canada while it may be between 25 and 40 here in Mississippi. Other factors like wind speed, rain, etc. all come into play to. With that said, assuming all other factors being favorable, temps in the mid 20's to 30 degrees is, IMO within the comfort range for deer movement for most USA. That may be too warm for Canada and too cold for Florida. Hunters in those parts of the continent will need to chime in for that.

The home hunting turf in Mississippi. It's a hunting club that's all leased land with a camphouse...1,320 acres. We have a real good relationship with the owner. Been hunting it for 5 years now. Topography: It's the most severe terrain I've hunted in this state. The property mainly steep ridges before it drops down into the flood plan for the Mississippi River/Big Black River. About 200 acres of it is bottom land adjacent to the Big Black River. Hunting Pressure...We have 12 members so pressure is average except during holiday periods when it can get a higher. Pressure is high on the property adjacent to us on the N, S, and E sides. To help reduce pressure on us, we have what we call quiet zones on our access roads. Inside the quite zone we walk to stands. Only drive in past them to recover game. Members (or their guest) can hunt each others shoooting houses, ladder stands and hang-on stands. The only private stands are climbers. I don't have a problem with that rule. The Missouri turf. It's all owned property totaling ~1,350 acres. My buddy and I started acquiring land there in 2011. The 1st tract was acquired in October, 2011...the last tract (4th) in December 2012. It's all contiguous property. Since it had been hunted hard in the past (pay hunts) we decided not to hunt it the 1st year. Since then we've been hunting it and managing it for mature, trophy bucks. My buddy bought the 1st tract on his own and built a house (really a lodge) on it. There was a small pond by it. We built a 5 ac. lake that included that old pond by the house. We've done numerous things to improve the habitat for deer hunting...too many to list since the spring of 2012. Topography: It's mainly rolling hills or bottom land (flat compared to the MS club). There's 1 main ridge running through the property that ends before our E line. There are several creeks running through it, one large enough to have a name on all maps. Most of the southern bordered is a river. About 600 acres of tillable land is leased to a farmer. Another 95 acres of a hill land field is in a quail habitat program. Paid better than CRP but requires more annual maintenance. We also took 2 smaller fields that total ~19 ac. that were tillable and we planted them in native grasses for cover. There's maybe another 25 ac. of overgrown field type land scaterred around in several places that we left to grow up in brush for cover too. The rest is timbered. Besides the crop land we have 14 food plots that range from 2 ac. to 1/3 of an ac. in size. Hunting Pressure...is light since we can control it. We've never had more than 5 hunters there at the same time. It's usually less than that. It's also light on the lands adjacent to us. The guy that owns the most property adjacent to us doesn't bowhunt so it's only hunted during the 11 day gun season....then only by him and his oldest son. He has ~600 acres. Another landowner that's adjacent to us on the eastern side doesn't bowhunt either. Heck...in the 6 years I've been bowhunting there, I could count the number of bowhunters I've seen going to/from the adjoining properties on 1 hand.

DITTO!!! That same attitude about your conscience applies to a lot more than just hunting too. I agree with William about his opinion on trail cams. They are mainly best for letting you know what's out there to watch for. Not just shooters but younger bucks we want to pass up until they're mature. Sometimes there's only a matter of a few seconds to make a decision when you're hunting for mature bucks. They can show you a general area that a buck may confine most of his movement to (outside the rut), but I've noticed from running them for a long time now, that area is far bigger than most hunters realize during open hunting seasons. This past season I caught the same buck on 2 cams (about a mile apart) within a 6 hour time frame. As far as daylight pics vs. night...I'd say less than 10% of the mature buck pics occur in daylight in Mississippi and most of that is during the chase phase of the rut. In Missouri daylight pics on average are a lot higher (~25%) probably due to lower hunting pressure in the area over the past 8 years since we've been there.

After the refs blew the call in the Saints/Rams game, I didn't watch most of the Super Bowl. Saw the end...glad the Pats won. Didn't see the halftime show.