Gator

I had a half rack four pop out today that I almost popped thinking that he was a she - until "they" turned a bit and I saw the other side. Contrary to many, my deer are still playing hide-and-seek. Very few daytime sightings, little movement. That fat broad has started humming.

I was going to ask to be Tommy's friend (no benefits, sorry), but I got beat to the punch. Krystel and I did dinner yesterday with Paul Willey and his wife Tania; as many know, Paul tracks and his dogs Volt and Iggy do a damn good job of it. Some of the stories he shared regarding the misinformation and blatant insistence from guys who called him that they know right where the deer went, or how to run a track, or even where they hit it (which 50% of the time is just dead wrong) is simply astonishing. The degree to which folks will flat out lie to get a tracker is similarly astonishing. No tracker does it for the money, but some of the interactions he's had with hunters after he's traveled two hours and spent half a day tracking are crazy too. Crazy insulting sometimes. I just don't get it. Arguing with somebody who does this two or even three times a day, trashing their expertise, then calling the next day begging them to come out again cause you couldn't find it grid searching. Hunting during the track. I could go on and on...these aren't all Paul, but he runs with a group of other trackers who share stories. And let me tell you, between you, me and the walls, if you piss one of these guys off, you are not going to find somebody to track for you in the future. So, at the risk of sounding preachy, respect your tracker. Treat them right. Try to learn something. And don't be, "that guy". And if you choose wisely in the stand, you will likely never need their help. But if you do, they'll be there.

I will take this Manny. I can Venmo you and get it literally at any point. I go through one of these per year. I will text you.

Overpriced lol! I always find that when I try to give stuff away on here there's a bunch of suspicion, but if I ask a really great price, guys hop all over it. Jeff just got rid of some POS scope that came with his new 7mm and put a 4-16x 44mm Vortex on it. What a difference. Hopefully somebody puts these two to good use.

I just got one of these last week, and let me tell you, last night I put it to the test on a doe a buddy had shot in a field (easy recovery and great blood trail), and it worked lights-out (pun intended). It's a bit heavy, but given how well it works it will take up residence in my pack. I will mention that there are several illumination options including a very, very bright white light and three strobing red/white combos at different frequencies. I haven't evaluated how long it will last in the field, and that could impact its usefulness since there's a dedicated Li Ion battery involved. The product manual says 2.5-3 hours fully charged, depending on which mode you use. If correct, that would fit all but the longest tracks. It's USB-C rechargable, so you could potentially carry a power source too...

x4! Great story over lunch, plus makes me want to get into the woods.

Great job guys!!! Lots of BBD the last week.

Buddy of mine hunting our property with me last night put an arrow in a nice nine. The coolest part was that we got the entire sequence on video! Anyway, we found blood but sporadic and so backed out when the buck went into the thick stuff. It proved to be a wise decision, as we found the deer dead single lung/liver this morning. In the meantime, another buddy arrowed a ten point not 150 yards from where the buck was lying. It's been a sweaty morning hauling deer around. Here's the video; I'll let others post hero pics if they want, but here's a cell pic of the second buck as well, from about two minutes prior to its being shot. 860516063738037-100-4-11082024170714-W1002860.MP4

They're bumping does hard now. The bucks are ready; the doe aren't. Sounds like my life in college.

Matt, if you see a shooter near my property, you have my cell lol.

As per Rolmops, sh$t gets crazy when you starting throwing in endocrine disruptors. There's simply not enough data to say that they're having an effect in Lady O's salmon but we know that trans-generational effects of environment inputs are routine in nature, even disregarding endocrine disruptors. For example, parental starvation can elicit metabolic changes in progeny for several generations. Similarly, one of our recent Alzheimer's models appears to have a sterility phenotype that depends on how much toxic protein the parents expressed and how old they were when giving birth. We don't study BPA, but the idea is the same. Scary stuff. Anyway, lots of variables at play, of which this may be one. I'm still on board with the fishing this past year though! 30 lb fish seem like too much work for me now lol.

Anybody remember years ago when one of our members got spun by a water spout? It ended up twisting his downrigger cables around each other, but otherwise ended safely.

Much as it pains me to side with folks who are doing things I don't agree with, I suspect that in terms of angler involvement, the Pulaski sh$t show draws as many folks to Lady O as the open water fishery. Management needs to occur both to protect the resource as well as to maximize its use by the public. Tough balancing act, but IMHO you can't argue that the fishery is less than stellar for salmon. Yeah, I'd like to see some 30s in the mix. But not at the expense of alienating an entire sector of the fishing community. I do get why others may feel differently.

Tell us how you really feel, after you have another drink lol

First the squatty potty, now the crap strap. I prefer to launch a soaring falcon straight off the tree stand myself. It makes a heck of a cover scent.

Game of inches, as Tommy always says. Any bowhunter who tells you they've never lost one is either a newbie or lying through their teeth. I'd guess it's actually much more common than most of us would like to admit. I went almost ten years without a loss, then had a couple in a row shooting a new bow (not that I should be blaming the equipment; it's a poor dancer who blames his partner). I do hope they find him, for closure at least.

To co-opt a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - it's been a year, linoleum gets me excited.

So, you're going to shoot him in the first couple days...AGAIN? Was it last year you nailed your buck early? There's nothing beats having a big guy patterned, but I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger in the first couple weeks. Every time I've done that, I've missed the excitement of the rut. And then I have to perch fish with Brian lol. We had a bachelor group of big bucks on camera since mid-August that have dispersed now, so exactly the opposite of what you're seeing. I expect that we will start to see migratory animals soon. Last week they all had velvet hanging, just prior to disappearing.

Note the beautiful absence of pins just above and behind the shoulder? Those are all the deer that died clean and didn't need to be tracked. Aim there lol.

We did half a dozen browns, but nothing for the board. Temp in 30' was 56F down 20 - I suspect she's close to turning over and might flip with this hard South wind today. We didn't go out past 45'. That might be it for us this year. Nothing But Net is clean and ready to be pulled. Squirrel opens tomorrow, and there's lots of other stuff on the docket. He$$ of a year.