Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all, and here's hoping 2008 is a great year for you.

I haven't been out hunting much in the last few weeks. I made several trips to Ohio this year and hunted in New Jersey plenty as well, so now I'm turning my attention back to family time. I still would like to shoot another deer or two for the freezer, and some speciality cuts. I like to get a shoulder smoked each year that we later cut into bite-sized chunks and then use what's left on the bones for a nice steaming pot of split pea or Navy bean soup. I also have a good friend who makes some speciality items that I get a few bags of each year. I like to cook too so as deer season winds down, I will be puting the fruits of my labor (yeah, like i can really call hunting labor :~) ) to use on the dinner table.

I have plans to try and videotape a few deer hunts before the season is over too, and my niece is still trying to get her first deer, so I'm not done venturing outdoors quite yet.

Christmas Day was a busy one as usual. We started off early with the kids opening their gifts, and then by 11:45am we were at my father-in-laws house for Christmas dinner with my wifes family...and more gifts. I grew up eating a big turkery dinner with all the trimings for Christmas, but my wife comes from a traditional Italian family and Christmas dinner is an Italian dinner. We started with appetizers of marinated olives stuffed with provolone cheese, garlic olives, shrimp cocktail, hot pepper shooters, more olives, pickles, dips and chips and other addicting snack foods. Part way through the appetizers, I saw the bathroom scale sitting on the floor in the kitchen. Now, I don't know why the scale is in the kitchen instead of the bathroom but I couldn't resist the temptation of a little experiment. I jumped on the scale and checked my weight before eating another ounce. Once we were done feasting on a dinner of sausage, meatballs, lasagna and salad, I hit the scale again...exactly 4 pounds heavier. I ATE FOUR POUNDS OF FOOD AT DINNER!! We were having desert at my mothers house, and opening more gifts, so I wasn't done yet.

As we pulled into my mothers driveway I noticed the conspicuous absence of my brother's family vehicle. As we walked in the door, the rest of the family was just finishing up dinner, much later than we expected. It was then explained that a bit of a crisis had kept my brother, and his wife from dinner, and delayed it for everyone else. Seems that someone else in a hurry to get to their own Christmas dinner ran a stop sign and broadsided the minivan, sending my brother to the hospital, luckily only for pre-cautionary measures. His wife and kids were fine, and the kids were actually at my mothers with a somewhat battered Chrsitmas Turkey that they were bringing over for dinner. Fortunately, my Mom was cooking TWO turkeys, and there was enough for dinner, but leftovers were scarce. By 7:00pm, Jeff walked through the door with a neck collar on but none the worse for wear. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, a large assortment of Christmas cookies, and hot black coffee...but no more scale, I really didn't want to know.

I hope you have a safe and happy New Years, and like always,
Good Hunting-DV

Firearms Season.

Well, our firearms season started off with a bang, or a blast, or, I guess, more like a gust. It was windy, very windy. The first day dawned cool and clearing, after a rain storm passed through. The weather stations posted a wind advisory beginning at 7:00am, sustained winds from 25 to 30 mph, gusts up to 50 mph. I didn’t hunt the first morning, but did go out in the afternoon with the video camera and sat with my brother and niece. I got out late, but it didn’t matter. With the tremendous wind gusts, not much was moving and there was no way a deer could hear me move into the stand late in the day. Once settled in the tree, I didn’t think I was going to stay there long. It was so windy I was sure the tree was going to blow over, and in fact a big dead oak did come crashing to the ground just 15 yards from where we sat huddled against a lone white oak tree. There was very little shooting, except for my brother, who was hunting a little ways from us and managed to miss a buck at 25 yards with his slug gun. I guess I can understand that seeing how hard it would be to steady the crosshairs on a deer with the tree tops blowing around like a 5 ticket amusement park ride…it was crazy out there.

Tuesday brought more of the same, but with frigid temperatures. The mercury dipped into the 20’s, with a high of only 38, and 25 to 30 mph winds again. The wind did lay down a little at 4:00pm, but slowed only to 15 to 20. However, it was enough for my brother Jeff to kill a nice 4-pointer

Wednesday morning dawned calm, but a cold 19 degrees, and the high was not supposed to go over 35 all day. The winds had subsided and an ominous red sky foretold what was to come…red sky in morning, sailors take warning. I remember that old saying used by seagoers to predict fair or foul seas, and this day the red sky in the morning was indicative of an Alberta Clipper headed our way. The red faded quickly and by 8:00am, dim gray clouds covered the Delaware Valley. The snow flakes started to gently trickle to the ground every so often at 11:00am. By 12:30, there was a heavy snow shower, which slowed at about 1:30pm. At approximately 3:00pm, the snow started to come again and never let up. I took up the vigil after work in a ladder stand, about 75 yards from a cut bean field. It would be the first chance I had to actually hunt our 6-day firearm season.

I have a Biologic Maximum food plot planted on the edge of the field and the deer have started to hit it. I figured with these cold temps and snow, deer would be on a food source and this was as good a spot as any. While walking in I saw a Redtail hawk hovering and hunting for a last minute meal before taking refuge from the storm.



I also noticed that a cedar tree up near the field, maybe 40 yards from my stand, had been freshly rubbed. I was in here on Saturday and noticed what amounted to a scratch on that tree, which was now rubbed bare. This gave me hope for the remainder of the day and I sat with great anticipation, despite the snow and ice building on me and all my gear. It wasn’t completely uneventful, I did see a small four-pointer and as darkness crept into the cedars, two does and two fawns came under the tree as they made their way to the food plot. They stopped 15 yards away and sized up the open field for danger before venturing from the cover. I don’t know how they didn’t hear me as it seemed with every breath, ice crackled and snow fell from my clothes. After 15 minutes they seemed convinced the coast was clear and hustled out into the blowing snow to munch on the brassica plot. This was the view from my stand.

The snow continued to fall and by morning, we had almost 4 inches. It was a beautiful day on Thursday, with sunny blue skies and a fresh blanket of snow coating the ground and sagging tree branches all across Salem County. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out.

My next chance to hunt came late Friday afternoon. At about 4:00pm, I parked my truck at the gate and hustled a short distance in to a tree where I could watch an open piece of woods between a bedding thicket and field. Before I was even settled in my climber, I noticed deer moving towards the field about 75 yards away. A doe and two fawns slowly made their way from cover into a secluded corner of the field to feed. I watched them until dark, but they were never joined by a buck. Saturday morning I visited a friend who killed a very big 10 pointer the day before. I took some nice photos and measured the deer for him. It taped out right at 130 inches, and had a great spread of 19 & ¾ inches. It was a beautiful deer, but in the process of taking pictures, helping him get the deer to the butcher and measured, my camera was damaged and none of the pictures of the deer, or the snow from Thursday, could be retrieved.

Saturday afternoon, I had some chores to do around the house but once finished, I went to a ladder stand just off the edge of the brassica plot for the last hour of the day. As I walked in at 3:45pm, I spooked 3 deer already feeding on the plot. I quickly got settled in and waited until shooting light faded from the cedars without seeing a deer. As I walked out, I saw 4 deer feeding on the plot again. I checked them with my binoculars but none had antlers. It was barely light enough to see their outlines in the field as I walked out, yet there was ALOT of shooting happening on the surrounding properties. Makes me wonder if those guys could actually see what they were shooting at or just launching last minute shots at the closing bell. Hope some of you guys did better than we did.

Good hunting-DV

Getting ready for gun season.

Tomorrow, December 3rd, begins New Jersey 6-day firearm season. It's a day I look to with mixed feelings every year. On one hand, it brings great anticipation of whats to come. Even though me and my brothers never do that well during the gun season, it's always a fun week to be out in the woods...or at least it used to be. What it has become in the last several years is why I now have mixed emotions about it. My farm in Alloway Township is the constant target of poaching outlaws who and drive the land. I spend much of my time patrolling it or getting down to pursue trespasser when I hear a shot from our property. I will be out there much of the opening day, but in the afternoon, I will be going to sit with my brother and his daughter to video tape their first hunt. Patrolling the farm that afternoon will have to be left to the other guys who hunt it.

I usually do alot of video taping each season, but this year, camera problems and the fact I could never hook up with my brothers to either tape them or have them run the camera for me prevented me from getting much footage. We usually put together some good hunts on video, and I like to do a short clip summary of the season. Here is one from last year.


I don't have too much material to do one this year, but maybe I'll get some good footage Monday afternoon.

Good hunting-DV