Making your own Ghilie suit

One good thing about the slack time between hunting and fishing is that it allows you to get ready for Turkey season in the spring. Now one thing about a turkey is that they have extremely good eyesight, in fact if he could smell like he can see you would never shoot em! Now they can also hear so by putting these two things in your favor you increase your chances for harvesting a turkey. So to help me be successful I decided to get myself a ghilie suit, but the cost of such an item made it way out of my reach. So I decided to make my own and save my self some money while making a great looking suit. I started with a old set of camo pants and some decorative netting from a gift shop over at the beach. I stitched the netting to the pants securely with dental floss and trimmed it to about mid shin. I then took burlap that I had laying around that held some peanuts and then camo burlap from a blind I had bult, and some Jute string in green and brown. I tied all these things to the netting starting from the bottom and working my way up to the waist. I made a top in a similar fashion and when I  am in full suit you cannot find me on a wood edge, a ditch bank, or the middle of the field. So when turkey hunting I like to sit about 5 yds in the edge of the woods, with my partner off to one side about 20 yds away calling with the decoy. As the Tom is focused on the hen decoy and not on me as I am not calling, I can give him a jelly head, resulting in a nice bird for the table. I have worn my suit during rifle season, and had deer within 10 yds of me, and during bow season when they are not so skittish, almost in my lap! Make your own gear, have more fun and take personal satisfaction   in your work when you are successful.

late Maryland rifle season

This evening will wrap up the Maryland rifle season and the last chance for you to take that trophy with your rifle. I like to shoot a 8M Mauser that my dad brought home from Germany at the end of the second world war. It is a hard hitting weapon that does not wound if you hit the vitals.  At this point dragging them out of the woods is becoming a chore for me so I like to shoot them on the lane cutting through the field, that way I just back the Explorer up to them and load em up.  Now this gun will also destroy much meat if you just shoot the center of the body mass so to speak. Opening the stomach, destroying the shoulders and tainting the meat so it is unfit to eat is the reward for such a shot. I like to shot them where the back joins the neck, 3 inches down, spine shooting and killing quickly. Out to 80 yds this is very  easy shot, and extremely effective, resulting in little to no meat loss. A neck shot at the base of the head where it joins the neck is also  very effective, and destroys little neck meat which is great in the crock pot with a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Served on a bun with a little cole slaw, okay okay.
This morning I went early. it was damn cold but my wife has gotten me wool shirts and pants over the years and I got to admit I love em, so I was nice and warm. I set up in the root ball of a huge oak tree that has fallen on the corner of my property, a nice hide on the ground with the wind in my favor. I was there well before light having hiked in from the cabin half a mile away,  Also it was 50 yds off the road and the deer trail passed quartering away, allowing me a nice shot. Now my gun has peep sights and are spot on but it does take some light for me to use them effectively, so I waited patiently for the sky to turn pink as the forest came alive. I could see a field off to my right bright with the latest snowfall, not shootable but visible to me through  my binoculars, and the fox crossing it  was profiled clearly against the snow. Glassing through the lower forest, the sun lite the woods up and my sights were clearly visible on the Mauser. Then without warning I hear the sound of a truck coming down the lane crushing the ice and snow like a T Rex on a feeding frenzy. These two guys arrive and have no ideal I am  in the hollow of the old oak that has fallen They proceed to get out and dress for their stay in a huge box stand out in the middle of the field. It is well past daylight by a good hour and they are smoking (something) and talking like they were at a party, loading guns and relieving their bladder in the woods. I let them get past then I got up and relocated deeper into my property setting up under a low hanging holly tree. I stayed there for a bit but the ground was wet/cold and my buttocks were chilly, plus after the boys arrived it kind ruined the hunt for me some. So I stalked my way back to the cabin, and arrived around 9 am. I let out the retriever and debated if it  was worth setting out a jerk string for some black ducks, but the marsh was frozen and a man should not go out in boats alone in this kind of weather, so my better judgment won out. Some might say that it was not worth the effort today, but they did not get to see the sun come up, or the fox cross the field. They did not feel the cold on their nose and the warmth of the jacket as they snuggled down deeper in it's folds. I walked a good half mile before the sun came up, and was treated to the greatest show on earth, for me it was worth it.

Big Bucks still roaming around

This morning around 5 am I was pulling into the woods at my hunting property and stopped to unlock the gate going to the house. From there it is a good 1/4 mile to the cabin, and the lane kind of snakes around through the woods. When I came around the corner standing there was possibly the biggest buck I have ever seen. I have one 23 3/4 inside and I suspect that this was much larger than that by a couple of inches, real wide and tall real magazine quality deer. I have seen this particular deer twice once from a duck blind, and then again today. I have a picture of a rub he was doing last year you will not believe. Maybe I will get lucky and have an opportunity to throw an arrow at him this year.

Bad weather, good ducking?

I spend some time in duck blinds and I can tell you that when it comes to bad weather ducks and geese just do not fly like one would think. Now a day with a falling barometer spitting a little snow or rain, can be a good morning but a full blown front with high winds and periods of steady rain ducks just sit tight on back holes, at least the blacks and Mallards are fond of that area. But now take a blue bill, a buffle head or a nasty sea duck they like to fly short hops around an area. However the weather is usually so bad a layout boat can get a little hairy, and if it is snowing damn cold!

Delaware opening day of shotgun season

The rut is in full swing, the weather is bad as it gets and today was opening day for shotgunners in Delaware. It may have been bad but there were at least 20 trucks parked along burnt swamp road this morning. Good luck guys, let us know how you did.