Let it snow

Brewer wanted to go play with the kids in the neighborhood. We made him wear his winter coat, he tolerated it for a few minutes but it didnt last






Here in Wake Forest the predicted winter storm was all we hoped for.Steffi and I went to the grocery store on Tuesday night and stocked up. I dont usually buy into the whole "stock up or be sorry" theory when it comes to winter weather, but it was fun to play along this time. So we shacked up and havent driven any where yet. I normally love to get out and drive around, but I havent had a need to. Yesterday we walked to Hardees for Breakfast. Steffi and I always laugh over our uncanny ability to miscommunicate. We brought the Brew down to Hardees with us so I went in and she stayed outside with him. I thought she said she wanted a sausage biscuit and coffee, and I thought she also said we should just get the 2 for 2 deal, so I got 2 sausage biscuits, a small coffee and a small drink for me. I wanted more food but I thought I would appease her and only eat 1 biscuit since she is always worried about my diet. Well when we got home she got upset because there were only 2 biscuits instead of 4. She wanted 2 for herself. Whoops, just one small example of our great communication skills.
Brewer acted like a wild indian the whole time he was outside.
Yesterday was the last day of duck hunting season in NC. I wanted to go, but I figured I had been out enough and I wouldnt push my luck. I mentioned in some earlier posts that I was really an amateur waterfowler at best. This is still true, and while I didnt kill any ducks this season, I learned a great deal. Also I didnt even start chasing the ducks until The first or second week of January. I cant wait to get after them a little earlier next fall. There is a small chance for some redemption. Feb 13th , me and Brewer are participating in a FUN TRIAL with the Yadkin Valley Chapter of Quail Unlimited. This will be a great chance for Brewer to get some more experience with birds, hopefully he will hold on point. Its been a while since he was in upland mode, we will see how it goes. I am just really excited at the chance for him to find some birds that I can shoot. Since this is a fun trial, it will be much more informal then a field trial or hunt test, which I dont think he is quite ready for just yet. In the next two weeks I will run Brewer back through some of his basic upland training, as I do this I will give you the run down on what I did and how its going. Once again, I dont want to give the impression that I am some expert at training gun dogs, but I do think I have learned some foundational steps I would like to share. Well time to go play in the snow and find some critter tracks to follow. You should get out in it too.

Are you sure those were ducks?

We got out after some ducks on Saturday morning. Brewer was still his usual wild man self for the most part, little bits of progress are noticeable. My hunting partner shot a duck, looked like a great shot, Brew couldnt wait to get that bird, I sent him out and as he got close the duck revived itself and dove underwater. Befuddled, Brewer looked back at me and swam in a circle, then the duck popped up again some 30 yards away, once again Brewer got close and the duck dove. This played out a few more times until I managed to call him back in, the duck and Brewer were way out in the middle of the water. While we never were able to retrieve the bird, I was really proud of the Brew. He showed great determination and obedience (for an 8 month old) on that chase and it did nothing but boost my confidence in him. Richard Wolters, or some of you lifers of the dog training world might not be as impressed with Brewer, but for me this was huge. We saw lots of ducks on this outing, on two different occasions we saw a group of 2 or 3 teal(could have been small f-22's) fly right over head. The problem with this was if you want to shoot a teal you have to see them coming, those little rascals are so fast. By the time I had my gun up(both times) they were out of range, but it sure got my heart racing. We saw several other ducks, not sure what kind they were except for a pair of mallards we jumped just out of range on the walk out. This was my first duck hunt from this spot, and it is definitely a spot to remember.I plan on going back there a few more times this week as duck season comes to a close.
I am really getting into waterfowling more now that I have begun to put a little time into it with Brewer. I always loved it but I would never substitute it for a day in the deer woods. Next year maybe I will give it a try a little earlier in the season. Hunting is like any other hobby I suppose, the deeper into it you get, the more it costs you. I cannot stop thinking about getting a kayak for duck hunting and fishing. I have wanted one for some time now, but taking note of how many more birds I would have had a shot at if I had been on the water on Saturday, not on the bank, really has my wheels turning. This is all in theory of course, because in my world, probably much like yours, if I had been in a kayak on Saturday, all of the birds probably would have flown over the point were I actually sat, and I would be thinking how I wasted my money. It would still be fun to have though.
This has been a short update sponsored by me, please check back in for more soon. I hope to regain a little consistency with my posting this week and perhaps work up a few posts on something besides my excursions. Thanks for stopping by.

-Andrew

Still chasin those ducks... have you seen them ?

When Richard Wolters said that the first few hunts you take a dog on should be about the dog, he was exactly right. However, he failed to mention how frustrating this might make you. Brewer still refuses to sit still for more then 1 minute when I take him duck hunting. This has led me to the practice of jump shooting. While we havent stumbled onto any ducks just yet, we are getting pretty good at the tactic. The main place I go is a piece of game lands surrounded on three sides by water. There are several coves and main lake channels accessible from there. There are 2 fire roads that start at the parking area and dead end into the lake. Along the way there are several coves. Me and the Brew just work in a zig zag pattern off of the fire roads hitting each little cove as we go. It is tons of fun, and good exercise. We have seen a bunch of geese, thousands of sea gulls, and several blue herons. It is just a matter of time(time is not on my side, season ends soon) until we bump into some ducks. I will stop a few times during each hunt and sit down, I make Brewer sit for about as long as he can, and then we resume jump shooting. This may be a bad way to go about this, but my plan is to gradually increase the time we sit, in hopes he gets the idea. When we are sitting and he catches a glimpse of birds in flight, he freezes and points until I distract him. This is encouraging to me. As I said before, if I could just get one duck to fly by within shooting range while he is sitting still and manage to make a good shot, he would understand the game.
Well, I fell asleep last night before I got a chance to finish this, Steffi came home and we ate dinner and watched TV. It is almost 6 am now and I will be late for work if I continue to type, more to come here.

-Andrew

A call to action

Well, I dont think I have ever felt more useless than I felt the other day. The day after the earthquake in Haiti, I found my self really wanting to be there,to be able to help in some tangible way other then money(dont have much of that to give) but I was stuck at my work doing REALLY unimportant things, as is usually the case. This is no ones fault but mine, I am not knocking where I work, rather indicating I have to do more with my life. This has pushed me to make a few decisions I have contemplated for a while. I wont spill the beans now, but things have to change, so I am forcing my own hand. Its not just the recent disaster or some emotional decision making that has led me to this. This has been a long time coming, if you read back a few posts to when I talk about purpose, this ties right in. Too often we get caught up in what we should do with our lives, and we miss what we could be doing right now. Opportunities to be faithful to God are abundant every hour of every day. Raleigh or Africa, who cares. God says, if we are in him, he will bless us whatever we choose to do, where ever we choose to go. Christ is the standard, not anybody else. No one has my relationship with Christ but me, I cannot compare my self to others, but to Christ. To quote the pastor today, "Our relationship with God is meant to be personal, not private." We are called to come together as a community of believers and lift each other up. The message of Salvation and Grace must be delivered at all costs, where and to who doesnt really matter. We spend way too much time worrying about that among other things, and as a result of our failure to jump in, we end up missing out on a lot, doubting our faith and taking an unnecessary road to redemption if we get there. We should trust God from the beginning when he says he knows the number of hairs on our head, and the desires of our heart, because he really does.He put them there. We should seek him first, not last,our faith should be battle tested before the real battle.Trusting God at his word should be a natural response, but we make it a last resort. We should know that he has our best interest at heart, despite what our logic or emotions tell us. Dont get me wrong,I am not angry, just reflecting back on how I could have activated my faith without being in the face of disaster. Thankfully, God's grace is more abundant then all of my failures and my story doesnt end here. I only have some indirect ties to Haiti, but my heart really goes out to the people there. If only through prayer, this is a call to action.People are fighting for their lives as we speak and they have not been found yet.
To the people of Haiti, I cant imagine what you are experiencing, my continued prayer is that you persevere and cling to the one who does not grow weary. May hope sustain you until help finds you.

-Andrew

Finally got after them ducks... sorta

Hunters be on the lookout for this duck... Authorities say he is hooked on quack

I know I know, unoriginal,I couldnt resist.


Well a buddy and my self accompanied Brewer out to some game lands this afternoon in hopes of shooting a few ducks. We picked a good spot, most of the lake was frozen over except for where we had planned to hunt. A blue heron came in within shooting distance to land,it saw us and took a hard right turn outta there.That was pretty cool to see, and if it had been a duck, we would have been on him like a rat on a cheetoh(say it like Roy D Mercer). Unfortunately we did not see anything during legal light except for about 1000 sea gulls. After shooting light, a flock of about 30 geese flew right over. Thats how it usually works for me. I was just out there the other day and saw a ducks every where. Oh well, cant wait to get back out there. Maybe I will get to try it in the morning next time. One thing that did not go so well this afternoon was Brewer. It was his first real duck hunt. I knew he would have trouble sitting still, but I thought he might settle after a little while. Let me tell you, he never settled, as time went by, he got more and more anxious. I knew that his first few times duck hunting needed to be more about him then me, but he was driving me crazy. Most of this comes back on me though. I really should have been working him more regularly. For what I have done with him, I cant expect much more at this point. He was restlessly whining and barking, at first I tried to tie him to a small tree right beside of me. This didnt work for two reasons, he couldnt quite be right beside me ( 1 foot away wasnt close enough), and he kept getting wrapped around the tree, he would bark and shake the tree trying to free him self. I finally figured out there was no use in trying to shoot anything. I just held on to him the whole time and let my friend be the gunner. Should I really be surprised we didnt see anything? I did fire one shot at the ice, couldnt resist. I made brewer heel, as I brought up my gun his eyes followed the barrel out onto the ice looking where I was pointing. I made the mistake of not telling him to stay. When I fired, the wad from the shell went flying out onto the ice and he was after it faster then I could react. I called him off of it because the ice wasnt safe, but he would have retrieved it to my hand. I was so proud of him, he understood that when the gun fires there is something to retrieve. You should have seen him look out onto the ice when I pointed my gun, he was in hunt mode then. I know this is very insignificant for anyone who has never trained a gun dog, but I thought it was awesome.
The next several posts will be regarding waterfowl hunting. Since I had such a great response before when I asked for waterfowling tips (0 replies) I thought I would ask again. What tips, tricks, ideas do you have for public land ducks and geese, or just late season birds that have been called to and shot at? What kind of vision do birds have, decoying tactics etc...

Breaking the mold

Well I thought deer season was over the other day, then I told you it wasnt. Turns out it was, my buddy got his dates mixed up and we missed the last day after all. Oh well, its all good. I was looking forward to getting a hunt on video, maybe we can get some turkeys on camera this spring. Sorry for the delay in posting anything new, I have just been busy.I saw a lot of ducks yesterday on game lands, but I wasnt duck hunting, just running the Brew and looking for wabbits, no rabbits, thats what I said , wabbits(anyone seen the new elmer fudd commercial, I love that guy) and squirrels. So any ways, here we go.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I believe that throughout the season, and perhaps from one season to the next, deer learn to pattern hunters. What we wear, what we smell like, different attracting scents we use, and how and when we travel through a tract of land. I was reading a Deer and Deer hunting article the other day that covered some of these things, so I cannot take credit for all of this. I just want to elaborate on their ideas a little.
To start off, we need to determine what type of property you have access to. Does it contain bedding areas, feeding areas, staging areas and travel routes. Or is it one of those or the other? Knowing this will help you to understand why deer move like they do on your property. We also should observe how other hunters move through the property since most of us dont have the luxury of being the only hunter around. Right now is the perfect time to investigate these things if you dont know. Get out and walk all around your property.Sit in the woods an afternoon or two in a different place then you hunt, walk into the area a different way too. Go talk to your neighbors and see if you can walk around their property, offer to return the favor. With a better knowledge of what purpose your property serves in the life of a deer, you can develop better strategies to pursue them. Here is a list of other things to keep in mind to separate yourself from other hunters.

1. Dont always hunt from a tree stand. I hunt from the ground quite often. It gives me two advantages. Since I hunt on public land most of the time, I dont make any noise getting setup in my climber, or getting down.I can sneek right in and be setup immediateley without even a squirrel noticing(haha). And also, I keep my options open by hunting on the ground, not all areas have suitable trees for climbing, the wind might not be right for a certain area, or I might encounter another hunter. I generally use my camo folding stool.It weighs about 3 lbs and has a shoulder strap, it works great. I can make it work on a hill by putting a rock or stick underneath the front legs to level it out no problem. Ground blinds are great too, however I find that generally they need to be in place for a few weeks before you hunt from them. This gives the deer time to become comfortable with them. Deer notice new things like that in their territory just like we notice something new in our yard or house. While there are many advantages to hunting from a tree stand, we do not want to become too predictable, so it is great to get on the ground from time to time. One of my favorite things to hunt from is an old blow down, these work great to conceal movement and break up your outline.

2. Hunting hours 99 percent of hunters do the same thing. Get in the woods before first light and exit the woods by 10:00.Or they get in the woods at 3 and leave at dark. I want to suggest two things that may help us bag more bucks. First off, we should set several days per season apart (preferably during the rut) to only hunt from 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning to 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. If you can stand it, stay in the woods until dark, but you might see some great action in the middle of the day. Secondly, make it a point to NOT walk into the woods on several of your morning hunts until it is light out. Once again I believe deer(especially older wiser deer) get used to hunters entering the woods before dawn and may stay away,or run as we approach. We have all been there. This makes sense to me seing as how the average age of a deer killed by a hunter in NC is 1.5 years.Creep into the woods an hour later a few times in the morning and see what happens. A few old time hunters I know use this tactic and they kill more deer and have more big bucks on their wall then anyone else I know. To go along with this, go out of your way to be careful as you exit the woods. Being careless here can also tip the deer off to your presence. Many hunters make this mistake(including me).

3. Givem what they dont have This third idea applies to those hunters who have the luxury of planting food plots and manageing the land they hunt. To get the most out of your property, know what the properties are like around you. Figure this out legally, we dont need more trespassing hunters. What food sources/habitat is on the neighboring properties. Figure this out and do something different. If there are lots of clover or mixed green plots around, plant something else deer like. There is all kinds of stuff deer eat. If you will have long term access to the property, plant some apple trees, persimmon trees or pear trees.Create some clear cuts, bedding areas, wind rows, fence lines or false edges of fields etc... If you do not have long term access to the land, deer love sweet potatoes, pumpkins, strawberries and watermelons among other things. You dont have to spend a lot of money to do this, just a little maintenance will do the trick. What can you offer the deer that no one else around you can? Figure this out and you will be sure to see more deer and see them more often.

4. Leave the calls alone. I like to watch hunting shows just as much as anybody. One thing we see them doing is rattling and calling with grunt tubes or snort weezes all of the time. I would be very cautious about using any calls or rattling unless I have a visual on the deer I want. Many times hunters over use or misuse those tactics and it ends up hurting more then helping. Sitting and observing is your best bet in my book. A man who taught me a lot about hunting told me his secret to killing big bucks, Stay in the woods he said. That is simple enough.
These are just a few ideas. There are many other things you can do to break the mold and become a more productive hunter. Think outside the box a little, dont be predictable. While I came up with a lot of this, thanks to Deer and Deer Hunting for coming up with most of it. I know I am leaving some stuff out that I meant to put in this post, I will revise it if I remember. Thanks for checking out this blog. Stay tuned, got some good stuff coming soon. I know I am a little off the wall with my flow and sentence structure, all this is no attempt to be professional,its
just me.

-Andrew

Well, deer season isnt over after all ...

It turns out that my friend up in Virginia has an extended muzzle loader season that runs through Saturday. So its up to Va for me, and let me tell you, we always see deer up there, lots of them. I cannot wait, who cares if it is really cold. Lookout deer, its freezer fillin time. I am gonna take the video camera too. Hopefully I will have some good footage to post for yall by Saturday night. The amazing Brewer has performed yet another feat. This afternoon I had him out running through the woods by a big lake.There were geese at the lake, so I sat him and pointed to the geese. When he finally saw them (250 yards across the water), he jumped in and off he went. Generally he is very obedient to my whistle in the water, I guess there were too many geese. He swam clear to the other side of the lake, took a right turn after the geese and went another hundred yards. After several minutes of swimming, he finally listened to me and swam the whole way back. By this time I was undressed and ready to jump in after him, but he never faltered and made it back to shore just fine. I still cannot believe how far he swam, you had to see it to appreciate it. Part of me was really scared and mad because he disobeyed me, but part of me was so proud of how far he swam chasing those birds. I let him know how I felt, he said he was sorry and we went on. This could have been bad, and it would have been all my fault for being slack on his training. He knew better, but it has been a while since we worked on the basics SIT STAY COME in the water( we do it everyday on dry land). It should be the same to him, but the water just throws him off a bit. This is an unacceptable error on my part, and I will fix it ASAP. A bird dog(in retriever mode) must be obedient in any situation the moment you command him. If this is not the case you are asking for trouble as I was today. On the other hand, I will not hesitate to send Brewer on a super long retrieve after seeing what he is capable of. Lets keep in mind he just turned 8 months old, and has never been waterfowl hunting. He doesnt flinch around guns, he loves to retrieve and he loves birds. What I was trying to do today was get him more exposure to ducks and geese. I want him to want the birds, which he does. He just hasnt learned exactly how it all fits together yet, but that is coming soon. He has pointed and retrieved quail to my hand, so he wont have too much trouble. All in all, he is doing great in his training, I just need to devote more time to him. This week is going by slow, partly due to the weather I think, isnt it cold. This makes for long (but manageable) days at work. All we need now is the snow. Will we get it or not? That is all I got for today. Stay tuned, tomorrow or the next day I am going to do a write up on alternative or nontraditional strategies for deer hunting.... Should be good
-Andrew

Brewer at 10 weeks

Speak your mind

Is there a more beautiful bird then the Aix Sponsa (Wood duck)

The annual NCWRC hearings have begun. Today was the first meeting, hunters and fishermen get to voice their opinion to the NCWRC in hopes of changing the rules. Go to the NCWRC website under my links to find a list of hearings scheduled for your area. This is a great opportunity, dont miss out and then complain when you dont like the rules next year. On another note, Brewer locked me out of my house today. I was experimenting with homemade duck decoys on the back porch and his paw pushed the latch down on the door. I had just come home and locked the front door behind me. Steffi was still 2 hours from being home so I had to hang out at the neighbors until she got home. The worst part of this was that while I was outside, Brewer was inside. Luckily there werent too many casualties, a Christmas tree ornament and a plastic bag.

Out in the cold

Be careful going after those squirrels this winter

Today my wife, my self and brother in law visited South Bridge Fellowship which is a church in between Raleigh and Durham in Brier Creek Shopping Center. We went there on an invitation of a friend of mine. I am looking forward to going back. There were lots of people, old and young, black and white. The message was solid and it seemed like a great church. We really want to find a church home soon so we can get plugged in and more active in the community. This could be the place.
This afternoon I went out to the game lands with Brewer and my friend with his dog. We just wanted to run the dogs and get into the woods and explore some new areas.It was COLD so we covered a lot of ground. Brewer is out cold on the couch right now. We found some great spots we hadnt seen before. This included some potentially great duck hunting spots, we will see. Scouting around like that is almost as much fun as hunting. I have got to start bringing my camera though, I always forget. Well, there is some good football on right now and I gotta get dinner started. Grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup, mmm mmm good. Until next time, get out and scout around, you will be a better hunter for it. It is small game season right now, have some fun and get more familiar with the land you hunt. You will be surprised what you learn.

-Andrew

Another season comes to an end

These are pictures of a Wayne County , NC buck believed to be taken illegally. The buck has been taken from the men who killed it along with a spotlight and gun. What a buck, what a shame. Pictures and story found on moose droppings. Check my links to find it


Well, deer season is finally over for me. My freezer is empty, but not for lack of effort or opportunity.Looking back now I should have taken a doe or two when I had the chance. Hind sight is 20-20 right. Overall, this was probably the most exciting season I have experienced yet. I didnt get to go hunting until the 3rd week of October because we moved into our house in September. I had three encounters with good bucks.Two of those encounters really stand out to me. The first was a violent fight between a good six pointer and what I think was a really good 8 pointer. I could have shot the 6, but he lost the fight to a bigger deer that didnt present a shot. The second encounter was another nice 8 pointer that walked to within 7 yards of me. I was hunting on the ground with my bow and he came to me on a string at last light, I lost my cool and tried to draw, he picked me off and the game was over. Only three times out of maybe 15 did I not see any deer. I almost exclusively hunted on game lands and I think that made me a better hunter. I really didnt have to get away from other hunters though. Only 2 times did I run into other people. One of those times a group of people were just fishing from the bank. Two of the times I didnt see any deer were my last hunts, This past Thursday afternoon and Friday Morning. Friday morning a deer snuck by me before shooting light and that was it. While I would love to have some venison in the freezer, this season was a success in my book. I know I have increased my chances of bagging a big buck next year. Next September cannot get here soon enough, but in the mean time I will do some scouting and shed hunting to keep stay sharp. One thing I learned this season is the importance of staying focused while in the woods. Had I been focused when that great 8 came in I probably would have sealed the deal, but he caught me off guard. I am beginning to believe that my perspective in the woods can dictate the success of the hunt. When I am focused on the hunt, I dont make mistakes, when I drift off to lala land I get sloppy. That sounds simple, but all you hunters know its not. When you have been sitting a while without any action, or the conditions arent ideal, it is easy to get distracted. Keep your head in the game and it will pay off. More to come in a few days, until then, leave a comment or email me with some of your hunting stories/lessons learned from this season. Stay tuned, all kinds of good stuff still to come.