Saturday, October 25, 2008

2008 rifle deer season opens Monday,Oct.27



The 2008 deer season is fast approaching and Ken, Jamie,Dallas and myself have been scouring the woods in our hunting areas looking for big buck sign.We are seeing lots of sign and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of nice bucks around.These big woods bucks are very sensitive to human activity and Ken and I found this fact out the hard way.After seeing a buck open a scrape in one of the breeding areas,we decided to load up the area with bait,thinking we could eventually entice that buck to come in for a snack.Well,guess what.That buck wouldn't come near that site again after we set it up.But you can tell by the trail cam photos,we had a visitor.An unwelcome visitor at this time of the year.Now this is a nice bear,but that's not what we are looking for right now.Ken and I have never used trail cams before to try and get photos of some big woods bucks,and its proving to be quite a challenge.These bucks typically travel over quite a large area and its much harder to get them pinpointed for a photo.That's why most trail cams are set up on a food source.We now realize we need multiple trail cams in order to even begin covering some of the areas we hunt.Again,these bucks are covering an area of at least four or five square kilometers and you have to cover large areas of forest to figure out where they live and how they travel.We have most of our areas all figured out,but it's called hunting and you have to cover a lot of ground when hunting these brutes of the North Woods.If any readers are familiar with the Benoit's of Maine and their style of hunting,then their style can be seen to be very similar to how we hunt the big woods up here in new Brunswick.Ken and I feel we have a real advantage when hunting these big bucks because we know our areas so well,we can predict with some certainty where these bucks will be travelling.I will try to post on a more regular basis if I can in the coming weeks.I hope to have some nice deer to show in the coming weeks,so stay tuned!

Salmon season is over for 2008.



Just a short post to show the readers of this blog one of the grilse I got during the last ten days of the season.This fish is showing the typical fall colors of a bronze body with red spots.Summer fish typically are a silver color with black spots.Notice the large kype or hook to his bill.This is a sure sign that the spawning ritual is coming very soon. Tight lines to all and you can look forward to a spring salmon season like we haven't seen in years,providing the weather co-operates!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Bucks are on the Move!



Ken and I have been in the bush or on the river nearly every day for the last month or so.And we've been having some great fun,while working away at placing stands and tending baits.We had a very good shoot during our opener for ducks.The boys managed to get a mixed bag of ducks,as well as three geese.We had one new shooter,a young lad from Fredericton,and he said he's hooked.He had a great time watching Jamie's Golden Retriever,Whisky,working the wind while picking up the birds he got.That Whisky dog is really starting to come on strong.He's really got the hunt in him and sometimes that can be hit or miss with Goldens,but Whisky's got it.We haven't bothered much with partridge yet,their numbers are down a bit,but after the leaves drop,they will be easier to see and we'll start seeing a few more when we are out.The photos in this post were taken at one of our sites in the Gaspereau River country.Ken and I were in to take some bait and we were quite surprised to see some scrape activity taking place already.This is rather early for the bucks to be opening scrapes,but Ken said he had seen some rubs on some alders at another site,so I guess they are starting early this year,by about two weeks.We were expecting to see some heavy rutting activity in this area,because last year it was tore all to pieces,but this is definitly early rutting sign,even though it's just been opened up.As soon as Ken spotted that print in the middle of the scrape,he immediately said that this was the"Snow-peaks Buck".I asked him how he knew it was that buck and he proceeded to explain the convoluted network of trails that brought him to this spot,from the place where Ken had seen him last year,about a quarter mile away.Ken could tell by my expression that I wasn't totally convinced of his conclusions,especially since I feel there are at least three good bucks in this area.So Kenny was adament that I set up a scoutguard trail cam to see if we could get a photo to prove or disprove Ken's theory.I really have reservations about mucking around in some spots and this is one of those spots.But I gave in and we mounted it,so we'll see what happens.Some of our sites are set up with salt and bait,while others are not. It just depends on the stand location and usually if its a spot where the deer are passing through a relatively open area and kind of wandering across a wider area,we don't bother with bait,because there is plenty of time to get set up for the shot.In areas that are more closed in,we like the bait because it stops them up and provides a good shot.Ken and I like to have two sites for every hunter.This is almost a must because sometimes things can happen to cause a stand to go dead,so our hunters can just move on to the next one.All of our stands are placed on known crossings that have at least one trophy size buck frequenting the area.We are using a variety of stands,but one thing we try to do is make sure our sports are comfortable and safe.Being comfortable and set up properly is the key to being able to make the shot when it presents itself.Getting back to that "Snow-peaks Buck",Ken says he is quite grey in the face and has at least ten ivory-tipped points on a nice dark chocolate rack.One of our lucky hunters is going to take this deer,but I don't know if it will be at this location,but hopefully the trail cam will get us some more info.on this great trophy,as well as some of the other great bucks we are setting up for,including one that has some real potential on the Boone and Crockett scale.One of the seasoned DNR officers,a guy with twenty-five years experience,says this buck has the biggest rack he has seen in his life!If this early rut activity continues,our group from NY State is in for the hunt of a life time,as their hunt will fall right in the thick of things.So get geared up and ready for the Big Woods and all the trophy animals that our area of New Brunswick has to offer.

MY OUTDOOR LIFE--THE BEGINNING

    Spring has finally arrived here at home on Salmon River after what could be described as "a good winter" for this part of New...