https://steemit.com/hunting/@huntbook/a-ghostly-sight-in-the-night-elk-and-mule-deer-in-the-backyard
A Ghostly Sight in the Night
Tag Archives: Big Game Hunting
Tales Are Numerous When You Are The Hunter of Big Game
Memory’s Gift
“The Whitetail is the American Deer of the past, and the American Deer of the future.” – Ernest Thompson Seton
Few events are more memorable to a hunter than the taking of his or her first buck. My guess is that you would probably agree.
Here is a picture of mine, which I recently found in a box of old Ektachrome slides. It is the only physical record I have left, as the mount was lost in a fire so many years ago.
I took this Maryland buck in 1971 when I was thirteen years old, with a Pumpkin Ball slug fired off the bead of my Remington 1100 shotgun. It could not have been a more beautiful, crisp, November morning in that wonderful land of whitetails. It was a fine shot too, for it is not so easy to make a fifty yard shot with that equipment. I was more than thrilled, and I don’t think anyone could have wiped the smile off of my face for several days.
I can recall almost every detail of that scene to this day, and I don’t mind revisiting it periodically in my mind. Obviously, it is not the biggest whitetail buck ever harvested, but it may as well have been, at least to me. Why it was as big as the world.
I hope that you have a memory like this in your box of experiences, and if not, may you get one soon.
Long live the white-tailed deer!
You Can read the full story HERE
Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty
For Sale:
The Whitetail Deer Guide-A Complete, Practical Guide to Hunting America’s Number One Big Game Animal
by Heuser, Ken
Hard cover. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1972)
Very good in Very Good dust jacket. xii, 208 p. : illus.; 22 cm. Includes Illustrations.
Please email us at huntbook1@gmail.com if interested in details.
We Also Recommend:
Elk Tracks On Concrete
“Some time ago I walked around to the back of a big, empty house and came upon elk tracks on the cement patio and walkways of a hidden courtyard. Tall evergreen trees swayed from the light winter wind and murmured in the hushed overtones of a holy cathedral. It had just snowed, and the tracks stood out like a beacon in the dazzling mid-morning sun.
The sight stopped me quite dead in my stride. It was as if I had walked squarely into the solid concrete walls of some plainly obvious yet unseen building, as a great hand with a large extended finger descended from heaven to point them out in quivering disgust.
Kneeling in the snow by a gleaming steel barbecue, I felt light-headed and unsure as my eyesight blurred and the earth moved beneath me. It was all I could do to control my revulsion and rising anger as the world slowly came back in focus.
Struggling to rise, I could only begin to wonder what had caused such a powerful vision. I may never know why the full force of it all had hit me so hard on that day and at that particular moment. But it was real, and it was painful.
I only know that there is something terribly wrong about the placement of elk tracks on concrete. It is an assault on the sensibilities of common sense and a great festering wound upon all that is spirited and free. It screams of wrongness and wrong-headedness, and of human cleverness driven past it’s acceptable limit. The tracks document a trail of horrible mistakes and destructive paths. It is a mere glimpse of a dark and terrible future reality.
No man should have to witness it, nor bear it. No man should have to try. The snow will melt and the tracks will disappear, leaving behind them only the promise of what might have been. I can read meaning into most kinds of animal tracks, but no matter how hard I may try I can find no sign on the cruel and heartless soul of concrete walks and driveways.
I am, and have always been, a hunter. I must have fresh tracks to follow”.
Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty
Taken From Our Post Sacred Ground. Read More Here.
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I came across this amazing photograph recently quite by accident, and I was immediately transported back in time and place. I thought I would share the moment again, with you.
Concrete Be Damned!
https://steemit.com/hunting/@huntbook/there-is-no-place-in-this-world-for-elk-tracks-on-concrete
The Promise Of Deer
October 15, 2015
“One hot afternoon in August I sat under the elm, idling, when I saw a deer pass across a small opening a quarter-mile east. A deer trail crosses our farm, and at this point any deer traveling is briefly visible from the shack.
I then realized that half an hour before I had moved my chair to the best spot for watching the deer trail; that I had done this habitually for years, without being clearly conscious of it. This led to the thought that by cutting some brush I could widen the zone of visibility. Before night the swath was cleared, and within the month I detected several deer which otherwise could likely have passed unseen.
The new deer swath was pointed out to a series of weekend guests for the purpose of watching their later reactions to it. It was soon clear that most of them forgot it quickly, while others watched it, as I did, whenever chance allowed. The upshot was the realization that there are four categories of outdoorsmen: deer hunters, duck hunters, bird hunters, and non-hunters. These categories have nothing to do with sex or age, or accoutrements; they represent four diverse habits of the human eye. The deer hunter habitually watches the next bend; the duck hunter watches the skyline; the bird hunter watches the dog; the non-hunter does not watch.
When the deer hunter sits down he sits where he can see ahead, and with his back to something. The duck hunter sits where he can see overhead, and behind something. The non-hunter sits where he is comfortable. None of these watches the dog. The bird hunter watches only the dog…”
From the chapter entitled “The Deer Swath” in A Sand County Almanac”, by Aldo Leopold.
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I read this for the first time many years ago, and the basic premise of it has stuck in my mind ever since. It is classic Leopold, whose writings always seems to leave behind more thought-provoking questions than he answers. He was, and still is, one of the preeminent teachers of the natural world.
Looking back, I realize now that I have always sat with shoulders squared up to something at my back, watching.
Perhaps I am just a deer hunter at heart. It is the promise of deer, for which I wait.
Where do you sit?
You Might Also See The Aldo Leopold Foundation
You Might Also Like Our Post called The Gift
https://steemit.com/nature/@huntbook/it-is-the-promise-of-deer-for-which-i-wait
Ladies Team Elk and the Ultimate Hunt
SOMEWHERE IN THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS
The girls of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority prepare to venture forth on their next elk hunting expedition atop The Ultimate Hunting Rig.
I suspect that many of you young guys would have liked to tag along on this hunt. As my friend was last heard to say, somebody’s got to go…elk hunting that is.
Stay tuned for more hair-raising Team Elk adventures…
ABOUT THIS SUBURBAN
This truck was won in a raffle by the father of a friend’s sorority sister. An elk hunter’s dream windfall to be sure.
* From Ray Long:
“Go check out the Eagle Valley Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Page and there’s an entire album of pictures and stories about it! Basically it was an abandoned vehicle we bought from a towing company and completely rebuilt it from the ground up! New engine and transmission, new gears in the differentials, lockers front and rear, tons of work and parts donated by the sponsors on the back! Integra Auto Plex, 4 wheel parts, signature signs, kings Camo!!! Just to name a few! Then we raffled it off over the year at local RMEF banquets and Country Jam, $20 a ticket 6 for $100 and gave it away a few years ago. A guy in Edwards won it and I used to see it up there occasionally but haven’t in some time and was curious what happened to it!”
Now We Know Where It Went…
Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty
You might also like Buck Fever In the Modern Age
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https://steemit.com/hunting/@huntbook/ladies-team-elk-and-the-ultimate-hunt
Merry Christmas To All – And A Season of Big Bucks!
Greetings From The Colorado Rockies!
All the best for you and yours, and here’s to a funtastic 2019.
May you get to spend a fair amount of it in your favorite hills, haunts, and waters, wherever they may be!
You Might Also Like A Late Night Postcard
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For a Relaxing Winter Read, We Can Recommend:
Silence & Solitude: Yellowstone’s Winter Wilderness
Powerful, brutal, beautiful, and at times, enchanting, winter in Yellowstone National Park is a world unlike any other. It is a season both abstract and profound, where super-heated water erupts into arctic air, where wildlife pushes snow in a constant struggle to survive, and where silence and solitude dominate the park’s deep wilderness. Photographer Tom Murphy has experienced Yellowstone’s winter wilderness as few others have, skiing far into the backcountry with heavy camera gear, an uncanny ability to weather cold and snow, and an artist’s eye for the sublime. His photographs reveal a majestic land where the air is clean and clear and where a wolf’s throaty howl carries for miles on a still day.
“Silence & Solitude: Yellowstone’s Winter Wilderness” shows us the splendor and force of Yellowstone’s long cold. In 130 photos we begin to understand the lives of the wildlife that must endure it; we begin to feel the inspiring power of a landscape still wild and pure; and we see nature’s beauty in things great and small. These photos are accompanied by Murphy’s thoughtful words that take us into the time and place of each image. The captions allow us to smile at a fox’s serious hunt for a mouse, to understand why bison stand stoically in geothermal steam, and to marvel at a sudden shift of subtle light that brings breathtaking grandeur to a nondescript little tree and just as suddenly takes it away.
As popular author Tim Cahill observes in his foreword, “These are photos that mirror a man’s passion, and I know of nothing like them anywhere. Murphy’s photographs are not simply stunning or striking: they are also knowledgeable and even wise.”
A Hope for Next Year
Here’s a buck that I have watched grow up over the last few years. I can only imagine what he may look like next year – should he survive another Colorado winter and a long hunting season. The light may not be very good, but as you can see, he is a good buck by any measure.
Unfortunately, this buck roams from private land to private land and my guess is that he never steps foot in a place where you could hunt him. But then again, perhaps he does.
There is a small piece of almost inaccessible public land that borders his normal range. I think I shall hunt him there, next year. Or should I say, I will try.
A man has to look forward to something, particularly through the long interval between seasons.
But for now, it’s sure nice to see him again…
Blacktails and Bowhunting – The North American Deer Slam Completed
Ray Seelbinder of Western Colorado has recently completed the North American Deer Slam with his latest trophy – A Columbian Black-tailed Deer from Oregon. More impressively, he did it all with traditional archery tackle and a bow that he built himself.
It looks like a good one too.
Congratulations Ray! You are an inspiration to us all.
– Word Just In – It looks like this buck might just make the Pope & Young Record Book by about 1″ (green score). Hopefully, it won’t shrink much during the P&Y required waiting period. I’ll cross my fingers for Ray!
*The North American Deer Slam includes the fair chase harvest of a mule deer, white-tailed deer, coues deer, black-tailed deer, and Sitka Deer.
**”Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest are subspecies of the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies. The Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) is found in western North America, from Northern California into the Pacific Northwest and coastal British Columbia. The Sitka deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) is found coastally in British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska (as far as Kodiak Island).” – Wikipedia
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For an excellent reference on the deer of North America, you might wish to purchase:
Mule and Black-Tailed Deer of North America: A Wildlife Management Institute Book. Edited by Olof C. Wallmo.
We usually have a copy in stock. Please email us at huntbook1@gmail.com for more information.
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You Might Also like to read a little about his latest Coues Deer buck at Coues Head Soup.
Sometimes The Last Day Is The Best Day
Pat Hayes and his last season, last day, 2017 elk.
Congratulations Pat!
Any wall space left in that trophy room?
Waterholes and Pronghorn – A Bowhunter’s Heaven
