September 2025 Year of monster bucks

I wish I was not so dam old but what I see now make me glad I am..Being almost 90 I have seen a few things and know quite a few..I have a nice chunk of land and I enjoy watching all the critters but there are a few I am at war with all the time..Squirrels and raccoons mostly..Many thousands of acres around me have been bulldozed flat for cattle and my place is all forest..Now take a guess where they end up..Not only that but with all that bulldozing its flooding in places it never has..Its like that all over the USA and our leaders do not have the brains to figure it out..There are no shortages but there is sure an oversupply of people looking for a place to hunt. Last year 2024 my little deer herd had 4 fawns 3 were bucks and can not believe in what they look like now.All 3 are perfect 8 points with kickers about 16-18 wide might score 140..I can not remember the last time my fawns only grew a spike so that just blows the old tale of bucks first rack is always a spike..I am looking at them right now as I type all velvet rubbed and allready in winter gray they are georgous..and as always they will disappear chasing the girls and find a new place to live..

Here it is Oct 2024 and I am still here but my old doe splitear is gone just like so many of my friends.She left me last August with 2 of her fawns both bucks and they made it all the way thru until now.One now sports a perfect little 6 point rack and the other about a 12 in tall spikes with a little fork on one.Good looking guys and since the rut is now peaking they are chasing the girls..Couple of days ago a nice 8 point showed them who was boss..Its still to hot for me to go hunting and the leaves might comew off late this year..Right now I am consentrating on catching pack rats and mice that think my boat is a motel..They thinkI I the wiring is spagetti or something...I am glad summer is gone in some ways just because I do not handle the heat like I used to..At least the MDC missed a forecast everyone was dreading.. The forecast of double Cicada hatch---we had nothing Zero and my friends say the same..I have very little respect for the MDC but this time I am glad they were wrong..

OLD SPLIT EAR my 24 year old doe is gone

I have watched that doe for all those years come up to this house for her treat--whole corn and I can not even begin to figure out how many fawns she produced and how many of them produced but it probably is in the hundreds..She came up in early June with twins again but seemed a little off on the way she acted and she got worse all the way into August..Then she started showing up real late compared to normal and her ears were drooping a sure sign something was wrong and I had my suspicions..Then in late August no show for several days and just the fawns showed up looking quite confused..They tried to nurse from one of splitears previous fawns (doe)that stayed with her for the last few years but were run off..They were grazing pretty good but looked smaller than the rest of the fawns..They have made it now to the first of december 2023 and are looking good eating lots of white oak acorns and their moms treat whole corn..I guees I should add that I watched her and videoed for 24 years but I need to say she was alreday a mature doe when we put the new house in and started hanging around so I can not say maybe she was 30 ?????I love to know.. Already missing you old girl

ITS 2023 AND i AM STILL HERE ALONG WITH MY 23 YEAR OLD DOE

I know to most people especially hunters that sounds very old but they do live that long in the wild if things go right..I have been worried the last few years because of bears..When I worked for the game department in Washington state we found out that bears are worse on killing new fawns than coyotes and Cats put together.mainly because of their tremendous sense of smell..If I find they are killing those little guys it will be their downfall..and its something I do not like to do but with the cattleman destroying habitat by the thousands of acres and a do not give a crap game department its up to me and being in my 9th decade all my working parts are wearing out and I can not find any parts on Ebay😝..My place is still pretty much like nature intended and I am worried what will happen when I am gone..It hurts to even write about it.I have outlived all relatives and friends ..Hell of a choice and I would not even dream of giving it to the Nasty MDC.When it comes to common sense they have zero...If people like me ever listened to those morons there would be no game left.They do not and will not listen to the people..They will let the people in the big cities who do not own a square foot vote in laws that effect ME and my way of life...I have plenty of critters but not because of MDC laws because of mine...

My 22 year old doe made it another year

Thats a fact and I have her on tape all these years..She has a name Split Ear.Now guess why I call her that..She also has a great big buck fawn and that old girl is the Boss of the place..I do not care if a 10 point buck comes to eat when she shows up and lays her ears back they all run and give her what she wants..All my does had buck fawns this year but some did not make it the first month and I believe I have the culprits on camera..BEARS---Both appear to be males and one looks about 450 lbs..Bears are worse on fawn depredation than coyotes and the bears are showing up on camera more than the coyotes.I like my deer so the bears have to go one way or another.There is really nothing on my place any different than the last 25 years I have been here but I believe because I have one of the last places with a large tract of old growth trees may be it.Many thousands of acres around me have been wiped clean by bulldozers for a non native animal.. Cattle-and MDC complains about pigs.They are nothing compared to cattle-they eat and destroy everything...

Year of the Covid 19

To say this was one different year is a real understatement..Had to tip toe around no matter where you went.Trying to buy even the most basic things like toilet paper became ridiculous mainly once again because of the so called news media.Could not even get seeds for our garden or the food plots for the critters..Then everybody raised their prices for non dam reason except greed..That has always bothered me that when there is a claimed shortage you should not be able to get an item but if you pay an exorbinate price stuff magically appear..Then how about the goverment giving away all the monopoly money and people did not want to work unless you paid some ridiculous amount..Well enough of this I could go on and on... Well spring came and I knew my does had their fawns and I was hoping it was not like last year when they had them but NONE showed up,but what did show up to my suprise BEARS and they are bad news for fawns.I had my suspicions but no proof on my cameras..So this year again they had their fawns and normally when the fawns are a week or 2 old they run with MAMA..So May goes by nothing-same for June-same for July-now I am worried and mad because the bears are still around..Then the first week of August my wifes yells come quick and I look out the window and the whole herd of does each has a big fawn with them and the fawns are going nuts running crazy playing with each other-what a great sight..and split ear my 22 year old doe once again had a great looking buck fawn with her.I just wonder why they all waited so long to bring their fawns up. All the fawns look like bucks so heres hoping the deer I never see had some doe fawns

Worst hunting season for me ever

This is the first time in 50 years I could not go hunting and it just hurts for me to even acknowledge it...The fact is old age finally caught up with me and I just had to use my head and get out of the woods.. I could shoot one out the window anytime I feel like it but that is not me..The one doe my wife feeds just had her at least 20th birthday and she was mature when the wife started feeding her..Friends will always look at her and say how do you know its the same one and I reply simple--look at her right ear its split right down the middle and guess what we call her---YUP "Splitear" and show them pictures from years ago.. I have always taken pride in the fact I hunted and found the game by myself and I did not kill more than I can use..I hunted 7 different states on public land and went 50 years getting my animal-even put a few in t he record books...Unlike some of these guys I read about in hunting magazines who go out with 5 guys following them and being shown what to shoot.I maintain if I turned one of these guys loose on my place he would mostly get lost and starve to death..They are not hunters just shooters.Craig Boddington -Buck Mcneely and Zumbo come to mind.They make a bad name for the once a year hunters...