Long Ridge Deer Camp

State of the Long Ridge Deer Camp Address, 2012

2012-01-23T20:19:00.001-05:00

In short, we are in a state of disarray! Like the country! I mean, people, today it was -2 below zero, and after farm chores I walked to camp and it was a walloping 8 degrees in there! Way too chilly to organize or clean anything up. Below is my bunk, not much changed from the last day of deer season. Unwashed carbon clothes hanging around, and that sort of thing. After a range day a week or so ago I forced myself to clean all the fired weapons, but since that time, camp had been abandoned! The propane tanks are full, and have to remain so through next season, as I cannot afford to fill them on a regular basis...kinda like the national situation, ya know?

I am coyote hunting on a regular basis, but generally return so frozen that I simply heave my gear onto the table and head out to get warm..hey, it'll all get organized this spring! Hey, the debt will be paid some century hence, right? I just know our grand children will step up!

Below is my deer hunting gear from the ATV and my packs from deer season...basically thrown here and abandoned until temps reach the thirties...you know, like when the unemployment rate reaches 5 % again...

I am cognizant (and broke) enough to have gone out and pulled my cameras finally. The batteries don't last too long in this weather, and below you'll see the last of the winter pictures.

The two below are me breaching food plot cams while on several coyote hunts I guess...

There was a heavy crust on the snow, so this day I was spinning around on the food plots to break it up for my hungry darlings.

A very large Fisher made this track across the Far Field. He's not unemployed, but he IS hungry!

Ready for next season, the bulletin board becomes clear. The first pictures on it will be either coyotes, or May turkeys that hunters get.

So, that's our status. Maybe five inches of snow on the ground when we should have 30, snowshoes and snowmobiles both in limbo, deer camp wood half done, deer happy and healthy with unusually warm and snowless winter, and more good coyote hunts planned. Things could be worse! Today, for a break, we took a short roadtrip to the marina on the West river for a glass of wine. We boat there from the Connecticut in summer, and as I looked out the window, I don't believe I have ever seen a bleaker, colder looking winter landscape. The colors are absolutely neutral, and the rivers both, are frozen solid in place. It looks and feels like Alaska! I love it so!

So, with glass raised, it is important to remember that already it stays light until 5 PM, that soon the sun will actually show above the Pine tops to our South, and that spring WILL bust out all over. A good sign is that the maple sugar guys are all over our orchards, trying to get ready for tapping. Once that happens, you know spring is right around the corner! So, that is Long Ridge Deer Camp's state of the union. What is yours!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Dead of Winter at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2012-01-15T19:30:00.001-05:00

Today was a bit chilly - minus 10 degrees here at 7:30 this morning. After barn chores I wondered what I would do outside today other than chain sawing up some logs I had dragged out of a new pasture. The wind was a steady 15 mph right out of the north, so I wasn't sure I wanted to hunt...riggggghhht...so, after a camp hunter and a pal came by the house to purchase a gun, I noticed that the temp had jumped up to 8 degrees. T-shirt weather! Down to camp I went, struggled into my snow camo pull-over, heavy wool cap, and HD gloves, strapped on the M-4 Colt, and we were off, this time to the western log landing. Two deer had wandered around the landing (we have about 4 inches of snow, about 24 inches less than usual) and a fox track that was dogged by a large coyote track. The fox was staying on top of the crust, and the coyote breaking through, so my money is on the fox. I followed the deer tracks up the perimeter trail and found this below acorn feeding scrape.

I continued across to the Far Ridge Trail stopping every several hundred yards to wail on my dying rabbit call. Nothing. When got to the Far Ridge Stand the wind was blowing quite hard, and since there were no tracks there I headed to the SE bowl. Just above where I sat on stand in November I looked down about twenty feet and saw what looked like a deer bed.

I slid down to check it out and found it was a coyote bed. Strange, because the snow was melted under it, and I know that gray fox can sleep all day on the snow, and no melting occurs. So I checked the clear tracks coming into it, and it was a coyote for sure. On a whim, because the exiting tracks looked so fresh, I pulled a glove and felt the bed. Sure enough, it was still warm. That means, this guy heard me coming and skedaddled long before I could see him. The hard crust did make for very loud walking.

Below are his fast moving exit tracks...right through thick and effective cover. I was approaching from up above on the ridge.

I stayed there for a half hour and called, but no creatures showed, so I decided to backtrack the coyote out of his bed to see if I could find a kill. I stayed on him for about a half mile, and then we got into such thick evergreens and blow downs that I gave him up, and headed toward our southern perimeter trails. Once there, and at the East Stand I picked up a pair of coyote tracks following my foot prints from the other day toward camp. They stayed on the trail the whole way, and signed heavily at the overlook.

Right here,

and here...they are busy as they enter the breeding season...

I then followed them the last several hundred yards back to camp...about 100 yards before I got there several deer had crossed the trail headed in the general direction of the East Ridge Stand. It looked like the two coyotes hauled off after them, but nearer camp, I picked up another coyote track that had been within 100 feet of the parking lot. So, no luck today, not sure what the coyotes finally got to eat, got half frozen (it had fallen to 6 degrees when I got back to camp, but I had a wonderful time trudging around the forest reading sign. Tonight it is supposed to drop to 30 below zero, so I probably won't be out there tomorrow! Or, maybe I will! What have you been up to these winter months?

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Long Ridge Deer Camp - Early January Activities

2012-01-12T16:03:00.001-05:00

Today I spent three hours coyote hunting and failed to call one in. I suspect that my call was extremely short ranged because there is so much snow on the trees that sound is completely muffled. It was nice to get out there anyway, and I always love a hunt, no matter what transpires. I set up at various places on the lower perimeter trails but crossed nary a deer or coyote track.

How far will sound travel through these woods?

I set up right next to this bear cave, which is empty this winter. The last bears to use it were two cubs and a mom in 2010.

It took me some time to decide what gun to take today. I finally settled on my Colt M-4 because it has a red dot sight (one minute dot). It was snowing so hard when I headed out that I figured my scopes would fog and get snow covered. I have a red dot on one of my 11-87 barrels too, but that shotgun is heavy, and I preferred to carry the light Colt, with the single point sling. I was dressed heavy for this storm, and the single point sling is perfect for that. You can sling it right dead center and walk fine without striking your knees, or sling it to the side. It's also handy while setting up calls. This carbine is extremely accurate. I carried this issued carbine on countless patrols and many SWAT missions, and it is perfectly capable of consistent head shots at 100 yards (yes, coyote heads).

Because we have had so little snow so far, I am way ahead with pasture clearing, field edging, and here you see almost half of next fall's camp wood already gathered and stacked. I don't generally get around to this until mid summer! Another several weeks of little snow, and I'll get the rest hauled down this month.

Below are the last camera pictures taken around the first of the month. Plenty of deer and a nice gray fox. I went out and changed camera cards yesterday, but the batteries in both cameras had died, so zip for pictures.

Nothing exciting, but always nice to see the critters! One hunter joining me next week for a coyote hunt, and then some several more coming to camp on the 29th for another. Wish us luck!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Would You Buy These products Ever Again?

2012-01-03T18:35:00.002-05:00

Having hunted many many years, and been a police officer all my life, I have strong opinions about which companies and their products I really like, and those that I will never buy again. Not all of these are hunting products, but most are. I try to be objective about a product that performs poorly. Any reputable company has probably made a lemon. But, if so, how was their service/warranty/return policy? If it is good, I tend to forgive. If they are not helpful, I remember - and NEVER purchase anything by them again. An example is Goodyear tires. The first new truck I ever bought had Goodyears on it. At the first oil change I found that all four tires had massive splits on the inside sidewalls. I took them to a Goodyear store and they wanted all kinds of money to replace them. I think there were three thousand miles on them. I didn't HAVE any money, and drove away knowing I would never buy another tire, no matter how good, from Goodyear. And in 43 years, I haven't! Another standout is Rocky Boots. Save your money. As a patrol sergeant in the eighties I bought a fairly expensive pair of patrol boots from them, ones I could barely afford. The first week I wore them, the heel came unglued. I sent them back and they re-glued them. A week later, same thing happened. I called them, and the service rep told me that there was nothing more they could do, that I would have to purchase a new pair. I did, and you can be sure they were not Rockies, and never will be. Here is how I feel about some other products...below you see a handsome upland vest hanging from the caribou antler.

This vest is an Abercrombie & Fitch, N.Y. vest made when they were a true outfitter. This one was purchased by my father in the early forties, worn hard by him for years, then by me, and it is still completely serviceable. I use it every fall. I wish they were still in the outfitting business, I would buy all my goods there. My parents even had custom model 21 Winchesters fitted to them there. When Abercrombie stopped catering to the outdoors and hunting folks, my parents moved on to another burgeoning outfitter,...

Yup, Eddie Bauer Outfitters, out in Washington or Oregon in those late fifties and 60's. They sold all manner of hunting/fishing goods and supplies, and were a top quality outfitter. To my folks chagrin, they, like Abercrombie found more to be made by selling fashionable women's clothing and polka dotted undies, and franchised all over. No more outfitting, which spawned folks like Cabela's and Red Head. Now, I LIKE Cabela's and buy all manner of stuff from them, but they are no Abercrombie & Fitch. You have to watch what you buy. They have good, to junk. Below are copies of the current Eddie Bauer catalogs. A far cry from years ago.

Below you see a DeSantis double magazine holder, brand new. I purchased this for my 10 mm magazines used in my Dan Wesson PM-7. The very first time I unsnapped the snaps at the bottom, both rivets at the top broke and popped out.

I called DeSantis, explained the problem, and they stated that if I sent the holder back (at my expense), they would replace the rivets. But only if I would give them a credit card number so they could charge me for return postage. I did this because the thing was fairly expensive to begin with and useless to me the way it was.

below, you can see that they charged me $8.49 to send my repaired mag holder back to me. Note the date on the receipt. So, for about 15.00 bucks, I got a brand new mag holder repaired that I had gotten zero use out of. No more DeSantis Gunhide products for me, ever.

Below, a few flagship company names that you hardly ever hear anything bad about. Why? Their first concern is not cost, but quality! Honda, John Deere, Polaris...all solid companies.

This is my third model 70 Winchester. I sure didn't buy it because of problems or lack of accuracy with the other two!

My Summit tree climber. My first Summit, and head and shoulders above the first one (different brand) I had when weight, quality, and innovation are concerned. It is good enough, that I am sure I'll never have to buy another.

Below is a low end Nikon range finder, and a low end pair of compact 10x25 binocs. I am happy with both. Though I buy Leupold scopes and love their clarity and quality, I could not stand the new Leupold rangefinder I bought. It was ridiculously complicated, took minutes to get squared away, and had a mind of it's own. I handed it to a couple of techie hunters in camp and challenged them (with directions) to figure out how to change settings and set up for bow or firearm. They gave it legion effort, and eventually tossed it into a chair stating 'try a Nikon'. I did. I am happy.

The Cuddeback camera below is an old model, my newer ones are still out in the woods. Even so, this camera has given years of flawless pictures, great battery life, and simple to operate. One time I lost the programing on this camera, and a call to Cuddeback had me re-programmed in two minutes. I started out with Stealthcams, and in the end I couldn't give them away. Hardly ever got any pictures with them.

These cheap RAYOVAC batteries claim to last as long as energizers. And you know what? They actually last longer, and are recommended by Cuddeback for camera use...

Before going to the G5 fixed solid 125 grain Montecs, I had used three other brands. I am more than satified with their performance on deer, much more so than the other brands. Now, if they do not start making these 125's in carbon steel, I will change over to the NAP Hellrazor. I want the carbon steel because you can get it so much sharper than stainless...

Easton aluminum arrows. They are strong, they are inexpensive (compared to carbon) and they work. I am not a proponent of blistering speeds, have no need of the terribly expensive carbon arrows out there, and at 60 pounds, these with the Montecs simply bring them down without drama.

GoldDot ammunition from Speer - This box is in .357 Sig. and they have a great field (police) performance

history. I never had to shoot a person since we started carrying them early this century, but they have taken many deer and other creatures cleanly and humanely. They are always with me off duty and carrying under LEOSA.

This is a Hunters Specialties Turkey Hen Squealer call. It came with a disc to demonstrate how to use it. I could call nothing in with it, which may be my fault. But I used it twice, and then it did not work, and would not produce any sound at all. The thing is too cheap to send back, if that is even possible. But I'll buy no more of their calls.

I have used several brands of Scent Killer, and this stuff you see below works. My empirical experience with this stuff has me amazed. I do not hunt deer or bear without it...

This Primos can call is the third I have owned. No more. I try not to judge a call by whether or not animals come to it - it could always be poor technique. But these calls are flip over calls, not much you can do to improve them. I have never had a deer come to the can calls. The worst thing though is that I find they are good for one season and then crap out and don't work. Why should I have to buy a new one every year? I also own an electric Primos deer call. Doesn't seem to call any in, and the doe bleat worked for a hunt or two and then died. All done with Primos.

Buying a new cleaning rod? The J Dewey on the top froze up and will not rotate with the rifling in the bore. I bought a Tipton carbon rod, and it is perfect. I have cleaned hundreds of guns with it.

What have been your experiences with poor performing products in the field? With great performing products? What are your favorites? Would love to hear!

Have a great 2012!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Long Ridge Post Season Camera Shots and Those Terrible Coyotes

2011-12-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

Just after Christmas, and I have changed cards on the two cameras still out on the Far Ridge, and East Stands. Generally we pull them in right after December 15th because of the zero temperatures and tons of snow, but this winter has hardly started yet, so we'll leave them out as long as we can...Interestingly enough, there are plenty of day time feeders after season's end, but summer and pre-season, all these deer were 100% nocturnal. I have no idea why...nice little buck below...

This young lady has plenty of fat to walk her through the winter!

Our food plots have been savaged by these deer.

The buck below will be a taker in about 2 1/2 years...

Another overweight doe...

This wise old girl doesn't like the camera I suspect.

In past posts you can see how many coyotes we have here, their huge size, and we attribute our small deer herd to their prowess. And if you think coyotes only prey on fawns, you are wrong...one of our hunters sent me six or seven pictures of several coyotes killing a huge mature ten point buck. I just had to research this, and this event happened all in front of a camera, took place over five hours, and the coyotes killed and ate this buck. There are over 200 pictures the camera took before the batteries died, and you have to see it to believe it. It happened in the Oklahoma wilderness. Four coyotes were in on this, and it is unknown why the buck stayed where he was. I surmise that he had been chased to exhaustion because if you look at the early pictures you'll notice his tongue is hanging out. In any case, to see all 200 pictures, go to www.deeranddeerhunting.com/coyote-kill. Buy the latest rag, and you can read the article...NOW you know why we hunt the wolf-dogs!

Nice body on this dude.

Curiosity ruins pictures AND sometimes, cameras!

Next year's eight pointer?

Let me know what you think of that coyote drama after you check it out! Jack

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

2011 Long Ridge Camps Are Over!

2011-12-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

Deer season is over in New Hampshire, and Long Ridge Deer Camp is now silent and cold. The best hunting weather comes just as season ends this year. It was 6 degrees this morning and is 14 degrees as I write this afternoon. Perfect! We had three really cool camp weekends this year, all for firearms. Only five of our group got deer, and I was not one of them! I hunted a total of 38 days, which included bow, black powder, and rifle. I saw plenty of deer, perhaps 30 or so, but early on decided to take only a good buck. Mistake. Confident that should things get a little tight later in the season I could always sling an arrow into an easy doe from the Far Stand, they fooled me completely. By mid-season the deer were pretty well nocturnal. The does we saw late in the season are off limits, so that cut our take also. I did hunt faithfully for two weeks after the last camp, with bow, but none were within decent range of a 60 pound Fred bear...oh well, I still think I enjoyed this season more than any other. Now, what will I do differently next year? First, I'll start hunting in September when bow season opens. This year I started in mid-October because I didn't want to hunt when it was warm. Mistake. Second, I will take a doe with bow first thing, for the freezer. Then I can get fussy, and play in the woods for the next two months. Other than that? No changes. The mast was heavy this year and the deer never hit the fields or plots until late. Next year may be different.

Below hunters are gearing up for a hunt during second camp.

Late evening camp shot...

Evening campfire scene - a skunk talking to a fox...

Venison - what else?

There are dishes to do in every deer camp in the world!

There are as many opinions at this table as there are stars in the universe!

Don't go without your Scent Killer!

December 15th, last day bow hunt...saw nothing, and tossed all my gear from the ATV to be sorted out later. I was beat.

Last page of 2011 hunters log..in upper right hand corner each page maintains the number of deer seen while hunting...31 this year.

Below are some camera pictures from late in the season. Below a takeable buck on the Far Ridge Stand, but in the dark!

Up on the mountain where Fish and Game folks planted these shrubs for the turkey and deer that abound, we found this three foot high hornets nest. These are the big black and white ringed ones that startle us with their aggression if disturbed. Imagine bumping into this thing in hot weather? Yeesh!

The buck below was on the Far Ridge during daylight. I hunted the East plot that day!

Lots of does on the Far Ridge too.

Meanwhile, on the East Stand, we have a buck at 2 PM. I hunted that stand that afternoon but got there at 3 PM. They are smart, we are stupid.

Three hours after I left this stand. This buck would be in my twenty yard pin!

Guess who always shows?

This traditional hunter is unknown to me, and apparently does not know he was on camera! Nice long bow!

More after hours visitors!

I can't tell if this ear belongs to a buck or a doe, but obviously did not miss the camera like the hunter above. I also note that this was a daytime takeable deer.

Here I am coming up from Walkers stand an hour later having seen no deer down there. They are smart, we are stupid! (and I love it!)

More shots of the East Stand...

The picture below is interesting because it is actually three different ones, a gray fox and a doe and whatever in the third. I don't know how this Cuddeback does this but it happens every so often...

The hunter who put in the most hunting hours at camps this year won this Long Ridge T-Shirt. Undoubtedly, he'll wear this next season and get three deer like my Wisconsin huntress friend!

So, fellow hunters, normally I would say see you deer season. But no, see you in January! We have so many coyotes here on camera, and suffered such a fawn loss this year that I am determined to thin them out. We may even do some night hunts! In any case, I give thanks for a wonderful season, and wonderful company which I already miss terribly. Of course, now I have to start gearing up for my next favorite time of the year, which is snowmobiling! I'll keep you posted. Any ideas for a neat T-Shirt contest? Let me know! Have a wonderful Christmas, and a wonderful 2012! Jack

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

How to Start Your Own deercamp.

2011-12-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

I am re-posting this three year old post because I once again fielded a query about how to start a deer camp 'when I'm so broke I can't afford to pay attention" :

Before we talk hunting, let's talk about deer camps...what is the allure, and how do you join or start one?
It is time to address the question from a hunter last fall – “how do you get a deer camp started and what do you need to do it?” Good question, and the answer is totally fluid. You get a deer camp started with friend (s), and you need little to do it. I was a big city kid, and my first ‘deer camp’ was a huge colonial home in Marlow. We were there all summer, but returned to the city in the fall. In those days, deer season began about December 1st, so after Thanksgiving, Dad took us out of school, and up there where we started fires and furnaces, and lugged water, and made the place comfortable. In the evenings we would clean rifles, check gear, and get reviews on how to use a compass, start fires and things of that nature. By opening day, hunter friends of Dad’s would arrive and settle in a back room near an open fire and plan their hunts. We boys would listen, and learn.

By the time I was in college, the old place in Marlow was sold, and the only ‘deer camp’ I had ever known ended. My next deer camp, years later, was an invitation to hunt in Southern NH, where camp was the lower level of a split-level ranch, where the garage door looked out over a swamp. We all slept in the garage in sleeping bags, got up at 4 AM to grill breakfast, and then piled in trucks to our hunting destination. The night before the hunt was as always..planning, discussions on where and how, friendly arguments about methods, calibers, skills, and recipes. Bragging about families. Deer war stories. The past years’ work, the best truck, beer, rifle, and politics. Wasn’t fancy, wasn’t deeply rural, wasn’t even on land we could hunt – but was full of close friends, on the same quest, and we hunted hard.

Our present deer camp is deep in the Connecticut Valley on our farm. Over a dozen years ago, a hunting pal and I camped in the Eastern half of the old dairy barn, ready to hunt opening day. We had no water, and just a simple Coleman gas cooker to make coffee on. We slept in sleeping bags on the floor and used gas lanterns for light. We scouted the land and placed stands, and over the next several years, other hunters joined us, and the barn gradually transpired into almost luxurious standards. At the beginning the only heat we had was a hundred pound propane tank with a double-faced heater on it. It didn’t matter. We ate out of cans and made a stone fireplace outside. We got deer, some real trophies. Eventually, the place got tightened up, a wall gas heater was donated, and at twenty below outdoors, will bring the camp to a respectable 55 degrees. Another hunter donated a refrigerator. A portable toilet was rented. A real gas stove with an oven appeared one year. Big soft easy chairs were acquired, one by one. A bulletin board, a radio, electric coffee maker. Grill. Trophies from NH, Vermont, Colorado, Quebec, began to cover the walls. Deer hides, and antlers, Elk, Caribou, Coyotes, Fisher, Beaver, Moose, you name it. Bunks for eight, a four by ten foot dining table. Gourmet cooks among us, and wild game suppers have become an every camp expectation. The parking lot had to grow to accommodate up to a dozen big pick-ups and ATV’s. Game pole and hoists, huge woodpiles, and an early fall ‘deer camp letter’ to all hunters pretty much rounds out the scene. We have three long weekend camps during the regular firearms season, about all we can pull off. Some of the hunters hunt out West each fall, and bring elk or mule deer meat to camp. Others are busy hunting in other parts of the state, and have tagged their deer by the time camp is scheduled. They come anyway, and cook, and talk, and share their stories.

And that is my point. To have a deer camp, all you need is a friend who loves to hunt, and a place to share a coffee, a story and a good meal. A tent in a field, a garage floor, a real camp, a barn, a living room floor covered with sleeping bags. A love for the hunt. A place to introduce someone to the thrill of camp, of the hunt. Maybe a fireplace or an outside fire pit. If you start it, and invite a friend, it will grow. It will get better. Maybe you have to drive ten miles from ‘camp’ to hunt. So what? The sheer joy of planning, of strategy, of equipment and of luck is the same. Not all of us can afford a twenty thousand dollar guided grizzly hunt in Alaska. But any New Hampshire (or other) deer hunter can invite a friend, and share an evening fire. Deer camps can bring a wildly diverse group together and forge lifelong treasured friendships. Our regulars are as different as it gets – cops, and accountants, troopers and company owners, corrections and electricians, rich and the broke, old and the young. All with the same deep feeling of excitement each fall season brings, the opportunity to arrive at camp and see who’s there and to link up with friends perhaps not seen for the entire year. To check the logbook to see who is already out in the woods, and where. To find out who has tagged during archery or muzzleloader season. To hear the tales of those freshly back from Western hunts and to check out any new additions to the rifle rack. To enjoy the bustle of vehicles being unloaded and ATVs parked, and the clank of tree climbers on the porch.

To be a hunter, and to never have experienced any of this would be a tragedy. A deer camp is the perfect opportunity to introduce a non-hunter to the quest. There are those that hunt only because of deer camp ambiance. Think about that, and if you don’t already join your pals at a camp, make the big move this firearms season. Get together with a friend, or a dozen, and start your own deer camp. Stick with it a few years, and your camp will develop it’s own personality, it’s own culture. You will never regret it, and your lifelong hunting experience will be much richer in warmth and memories than without it. I guarantee it.

Interim Fall Post at LRDC

2011-12-10T20:40:00.001-05:00

This is an interim post before deer season finally ends...the day I dread more than any other...

All these coyote pictures take place on the lower snowmobile trail right where there is a decent buck scrape...

So few deer visit this scrape but the coyotes are everywhere...

Little miss slanty eyed below...

Here I am, busted, early morn, headed to the SW Bowl...

Not big, but at least a deer this time! No doubt looking for the doe on my last post...

The pictures here represent three different coyotes..two males and a slanty eyed female,.

This below is a picture of Fisher tracks on the East Stand...

Where ARE the big deer?

Jack at jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Mid-Season at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2011-11-27T12:40:00.002-05:00

It has been an interesting season in this part of the state. For beginners, I began to note early in the summer that most does had no babes, and if they did, only singles were seen. I have three cameras out 24/7 and was amazed at the lack of deer numbers compared with other years. In addition I noted not a single picture of a really good buck anywhere near our camp. These cameras were placed over mineral licks, clover fields, under apple trees, on food plots, and on well used deer trails. Maybe one six pointer over the summer, that was it. A five pointer on a regular basis, and on every camera I have up, no matter where it is placed, he manages to find it. So far only four of our hunters have scored, all does with the exception of an arrowed eight pointer. The last several weeks have been bucks only and we have seen none. Twenty eight deer have been seen by hunters from our stands so far, but all were does or undentifiable/no clear shot. This is not to say there are not great bucks out there. Below you see a great NH buck taken just East of here by an employee of one of our hunters. He took this deer by bow in an unscouted, unhunted new area! A great buck by any standards!

The parking lot below is beginning to fill up. It is nearly my favorite part of the hunting season, to be in camp when hunters are arriving and unloading gear, ATVs, and vittles.

First night at camp, settling in after a great meal, drinks, campfire and company.

Below, this hunter is on his way up the mountain to hunt, but not before looking wistfully (hopefully?) at a picture of a 2010 Long Ridge buck we had put on a banner to welcome hunters.

We always enjoy an hour of chat, cheese and drinks while potatoes bake and venison grills...

Catching up on a years news- oh, and don't be fooled by the water!

No pictures to add yet. The fourth hunter to score took a wounded deer, and had to take a head shot so a picture would be out of the question. Head shots no problem for that veteran SWAT team member...

A late evening shot of camp.

This tree rub is NOT very impressive being only an inch through. But as I said, no major mature buck signs at all. I would bet this is by my little five pointer. Usually by this time of year we have major rubs on the edge of our old Christmas tree plantation. This year? None..

This is a wonderful place to sit. It looks out over a large bowl full of mature hardwoods. Shooting range close to 170 yards. I saw nothing this day except gray squirrels.

A vinegar venison stew was perfectly delicious, and had a half life of about five minutes...

While we have not been wildly successful yet this season, below you see my friend from Wisconsin, who is enjoying her second deer this year! Remember, she was the winner of last years blog picture contest where she correctly ID'ed a very blurred camera photo from LRDC. She was sent a special T-shirt prize and wore it on both hunts! Incidentally, when she finally found this guy dead, she found her Montec G5 T3 expandable blade still in the deer, and the blades had failed to open. She used the right spider retention clips, and this gal knows how to set them, so it was bad equipment. She was lucky to get this guy, and will be switching back to a fixed broadhead!

Some more wild game that was delicious. One package is Elk sausage, one is bear sausage, and wide flat one is Canada Goose sausage. All three were great, with a tad of mustard on them. I thought the Elk was the best! We also had a perfectly delicious Elk roast.

Our ground is still snow covered but we have lost most of it. The deer are hitting the fields and turnip plots at night time.

Relaxing at camp after supper. gun catalogs are always a hit!

Another crew headed to the top of the mountain!

So, while we haven't taken many deer, we've had an absolute ball, caught up on the past years events, had wonderful meals and companionship, and wonderful hunts! What could be better than that! Still one camp to go, then rifle season is over. After that I'll still have to weeks of archery season for a last ditch cold weather effort! I'll keep you posted!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Long Ridge Muzzle Loader Season Underway

2011-11-01T21:16:00.003-04:00

Things are happening with our hunters! Three have already scored! The 1st hunter to get a deer took it with a bow on Duggers Field which turned out to be a dandy 8 point buck. Shot through the heart, he ran 20 yards. Then, as muzzle season opened, a LRDC hunter headed up Cass Mountain, while I, foolishly, headed for the East stand. Below you see my view early in the afternoon. Just to the upper left of the brush pile you can see a scrape. Next picture is a zoom in of it...

The picture below I took an hour later, when it had really begun to snow. It snowed so hard visibility was about 30 yards on my rangefinder.

While I was on stand and at a height of the storm, our veteran Vermont hunter spotted a deer on the Cass. She was 100 yards out, and suspiciously entering a field, when the round took both lungs. By the time she could be reached (she only ran twenty yards), she was almost completely covered with snow. There she is, below..

Later, when we all met back in camp, I was told that I had been called on radio for assistance in getting her off the mountain with my ATV. Alas, I did not have a radio with me, and a long hard drag was in store for this lucky hunter! You can see this handsome doe, back at camp below.

In all, we got over twenty inches of snow, and the next afternoon I took the Mid Stand, and you can see the fine view I had. I didn't really expect to see anything appear this soon after the storm, and in that light I was not disappointed!

After sitting in the Mid Stand the next day and seeing nothing I decided two days after the storm to go scouting. I found that all the deer were on the east side of the property, down low, and back on food plots and Oak stands in that area. I followed the tracks of a hunter from the day before, who was on the track of a deer. Interestingly enough, after about a quarter of a mile, the deer doubled back on this hunter and followed him for about 300 yards. I got this picture of the deer's track on his boot print! Funny!

During this scouting outing, it got warm, nearly to forty degrees, and I had over dressed. Below I am in my snow camo on my return, quite overheated...

The next hunter to score is a veteran police sniper, who took his doe on a quartering shot, straight through the heart. No pictures yet, but they will be coming...So far here is the board of 2011 lucky hunters in camp...

Let us know how YOU are doing out there, hunters! Jack

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

2011 hunts Have Started at Long Ridge!

2011-10-27T20:56:00.003-04:00

Things are happening here, finally! As I write it is snowing like crazy, and we'll get a few inches. The ground is already white. I don't expect it to stick, but snow always accentuates anticipation of cool fall hunts, cold weather, and all the things that go along with that, including toasty camps, roaring fires, and hunting companionship. Already, one of our camp hunters has taken a nice seven point buck down below deer camp where we have permission to hunt additional property. One shot through the heart, and he ran twenty yards. That always makes it easy.I have been out on five bow hunts and have seen 13 deer which is not a bad start to any season. Last year I had seen a few more at this time, but I had been out several times more. My first hunt took place in the Mid stand, just on the upper edge of the Far field. Just before dark a nice buck literally ran from the woods out onto the field, and shortly thereafter two does followed. Usually it is the other way around. In any case, after several minutes the does got nervous and headed back into the woods. The buck paid them no attention and grazed until it was too dark to see. Just before I decided to climb down and sneak out of there he triggered my camera on the apple tree. There you see him below. He was over 80 yards from me, so no shot possible, but it was nice to see the three deer. While I would take him with a bow, he is off limits during firearms season (QDMA).

This picture of camp was taken an hour ago when it first started to snow. Camp is ready for hunters, all the wood is in, propane tanks topped off, and bunks ready.

Here is the same five pointer seen on my first hunt, and the only consistent buck on camera all summer and fall. He has been seen on all cameras.

On my second hunt, I went to the East stand, which is a double twenty footer up in a pine tree. About 5 PM, I saw deer slowly feeding toward me, and waited for them to reach the opening. Three good does, two with smallish babes heaved into sight. All does were archery takers, but I don't take moms with babes...I know, I KNOW, the babes by this time of year will survive..but I just don't do it. The third doe was a big one, and a taker, but never got closer than 45 yards, a distance I am not entirely comfortable shooting at. I watched the two does and babes right below me for twenty minutes or so before they scented or heard something up on the ridge and skedaddled. For another hour I could hear them around, feeding and such, but no shot presented. But what a cool hunt!

Nasty big coyote - I would wager that he took care of a good share of the fawn crop this spring. If he comes into the sights of any LRDC hunter, he is done!

The third hunt I decided to take a stand on the new East Ridge stand, just a year old. It came in well this year, and while changing camera cards on it three weeks ago, a doe walked right in on me. She bolted when she saw me, but I just sat on my ATV and five minutes later she was back. This time I spooked her clear off the ridge. Without a doubt, bigger than the doe I took last year that dressed out at 141 pounds! A taker. So I was hopeful on this third hunt, but sat for hours, and not a single creature, not even a squirrel came in!

Ever feel like kicking up your heels like this?

Fourth time out I took the Far Ridge stand, by far, my favorite. Not nearly as productive as the Far stand, but always unpredictable, and far out there. Sat for some hours before I heard what I thought was a deer moving through the brush toward me. I was fairly certain, but several minutes later a red squirrel came bouncing along under me and I guessed it was making the noises I had heard. Wrong! A minute later I carelessly started shooting ranges and moving with my rangefinder when I heard a snort, and then a blow. To my right I saw a deer moving away, seeing just the legs. It never stopped, and left the area. No idea how big, or what sex. The last hour of light was quiet.

Check the five pointer in the picture below, from the right side. If you blow this up, you'll see an anomaly in his right antler which explains why he is not a six pointer. Wonder what caused that!

My latest, and fifth hunt, I again took the Mid stand where I had seen the two does and the five pointer. Nothing. Four hours of chirps and squirrels and that was it. And you know what? With the Canadas passing overhead Southbound, and the falling leaves all around me, who needed deer to see beauty?

My five pointer, on alert!

And off with him!

I name this deer 'Curious'...

Is he telling us something?

This doe has an interesting pattern on her neck, and has allowed us to ID her in multiple locations.

Hoping she doesn't choke on that apple!

East Ridge stand and the turkeys feeding in peace without that pesky buck chasing them off.

Happy hunting folks, and good luck!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Killing Time At Long Ridge

2011-09-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

Soon after my last post I decided to put off hunting for a week or two past the opening day of the 15th. The first two weeks of archery in this unit are bucks only. Since I have not one picture of a mature buck on my three cameras yet, I decided to hold off for cooler weather. No point in heating up those stands early in the season when nothing is moving. In addition it was quite warm for a bit and I do not care much for hunting whitetails in 70 degree heat. It is now much cooler, 40's at night and 60's during the day. Getting nice, but then this week it has rained on and off all week. Anytime during the next week during good weather I'll head out to to take a stand. In the meantime...to kill time, I headed over to Epsom NH to take in the first annual banquet put on by the NH Chapter of Quality Deer Management Association. I was not even aware we had a state affiliated chapter until I cruised our woodlands with a UNH wildlife biologist who turned out to be an avid deer hunter. He told me about it, I joined and voila! For a fledgling chapter, I thought 150 people made for a very good banquet. The food was delicious, there was a wonderful silent auction and tons of great guns and hunting equipment raffled off. As usual I bought fifty raffle tickets, and won not a thing. I did not realize it, but if I had brought a deer head with me, I'd have been given a free years membership! Below are some pictures from the event

These are some of the finer specimens..Most of the deer were New Hampshire deer, but I did see a few from Ohio and the upper end places.

Meanwhile, back at Long Ridge, I have been gathering up pictures from the cameras. This is a nice bearded turkey on the Far Field clover. Couldn't find him this spring, but I have a fall turkey tag which is valid October 10-14.

If you enlarge this picture you can really see how fat and well conditioned this mom and her babe really are. It looks like a bumper acorn and apple crop too, so winter conditioning should be excellent.

See what I mean? This camera is actually on an apple tree!

This guy was born this spring, and he has knobs 4-5 months later. Lots of high quality forage does this.

Just one more alert doe.

A fisher at a mineral lick...

This guy needs two years to be a real taker...

Better way up here on the Far Ridge, than back at the farm chicken coop!

This little buck below is on the East Ridge plot. For some reason, not many hunters care to hunt up there, but I think it's a great place to take a stand especially if you want to take a doe for the pot.

Same place, but this time a doe!

Below looks like the same buck as the one shown on the mineral lick above. Still in velvet as of the 20th...

And to round out the wildlife species near the mineral lick, here is a nice looking hen.

This doe, if taken, will field dress well above 130!

Below you see mom and babe stuffing on apples. My last post she was fully spotted. Now the spots are clearly going fast. A very robust fawn this one is...

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Bear Season Open, Archery Closing in Fast

2011-09-06T21:23:00.002-04:00

Here it is, September, and things have quieted down here at LRDC. The birds are quiet, no geese coming through yet, and the little guys in the woods just beginning to start the frantic fat-on frenzy for winter survival. Check out this honey of a fawn below. I was on my ATV headed up to the Far Ridge, when thought I saw a deer's ears and head about 25 yards to my right. As I kept going, this little guy popped into sight. This fawn was about 50 feet from the trail, and I stopped to take a picture, which is a bit fuzzy, because I left the motor running - shut it off, and they are GONE! The other must have been it's Mom..when I came back down about 30 minutes later, they were gone.

This guy below gets a reprieve until he is at least eight points.

We have a wonderful apple and acorn crop this year, This apple tree is in the Far Field, and many fall pictures will be taken at this spot.

Not sure if this is the same doe or not, but plenty healthy looking.

Mom and babe below. I love these...

As usual, the youngsters have the greater curiosity...

And a fat healthy little thing she is. In about two more weeks the spots will begin to fade away.

Yesterday I spent the day in the Far Field working in the rain. I put up a twenty foot ladder, and hanger stand. Since I do most of these projects myself, I use a pulley system like the one below. I (finally) get the ladder up and secured, and then go up above it and hang this pulley. Run a rope through it, shinny back down, tie on the hanger stand, hoist it up and tie the rope to the bottom of the ladder. Then, up the ladder, strap the hanger to the tree, and voila! Sounds easy, but when I do this alone, it can take hours...trimming branches, making endless runs back to deer camp for things I forget, assembling the ladders, etc.

The turnip plot you see below is one I just planted on August 16th, and it is growing gangbusters. About twenty yards into the woods to the left is where I put the new hanger stand. This will be a late season, as in mid November, bow stand.

And last, below is the East plot where I have clear-cut fifteen yards of open on the South side. It is fairly barren right now, but at this time next year will be green. I did this to afford archers a better chance to assess the deer that wander in here. Remember, we are involved in QDMA!

OK, so if that is not enough, I took the kitchen sharpener to deer camp this afternoon, and ground and sharpened my field dressing knives. They always need it because I believe in carbon steel rather than stainless for knives. They rust, and get rough compared to stainless, but you can sharpen them a hundred times sharper, and a hundred times easier than you can stainless. These are Swedish Mora knives, and are the sweetest deer skinning knives out there. The first one I ever bought I got mail order for a single dollar from a classified ad in Esquire magazine on my father's coffee table. That would have been in the late fifties. The knives haven't changed and today they are about ten bucks each. If you don't lose them, they are good forever...

Last, just before archery opens in nine days, I got out the fanny pack essentials that I carry with me on morning or afternoon early season hunts. A couple of head lamps for dim light field dressing, field dressing gloves (that come up to the shoulder) range finder, deer drag, GPS, utility tool, compass (that's right, GPS notwithstanding, ALWAYS carry an independent compass and know how to use it. It works when nothing else will). Also, centered above are waterproof matches and firestarter. I don't go anywhere without these few essentials. There is not cell service in parts of my hunting country, and a few survival tools are good to have. I also carry a Thermocell mosquito repeller. While not a survival tool, it is the only bug repellant I have ever found that actually works. Turn it on, and in five minutes you have a mosquito free area around you!

While all time passes at the speed of light, the next several weeks will drag. I can hardly wait. What are your plans? Jack

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Almost Fall and Long Ridge Can't Wait!

2011-08-19T13:51:00.001-04:00

These two shots demonstrate what I have been doing the past few weeks besides archery practice. I fertilize and lime the plots just before August. On the annual plots I then rototill them to mix the lime and fertilizer (or harrow) then roll them, seed them, and roll again. Voila! I plant several types of annuals, Secret Spot, NoPlow, brassicas, and mix it in with an excellent clover. What that gives us is a great fall forage, and in the spring the clover comes up to feed the deer through next summer, when I start all over again. This month I also planted a quarter acre of Tall Tine Tubers (turnip) and of course my two acres of perennial clover. All the plantings emerged within three days and are doing well. By mid September, the deer will be back on them!

The two shots below are hilarious. This little guy just can't stand the turkeys eating in his special place. I have a dozen shots of him chasing them off. Apparently this does not discourage them much because they just come back for more. This is up on the Far Ridge.

Since it is well into August, I have been working hard to hone my archery skills once again. This three shot group above was shot from thirty yards, and just meets my standards. Those being, a one inch group at ten yards, two inch at twenty, three inch at thirty and four inches at forty. The forty yard standard is of course the toughest, but I am almost there. Many say that one should allow for a bigger group at forty yards, but I disagree. Just a small movement or step by a deer at forty yards makes a huge difference. I have always been able to make this standard, but when the day comes that I cannot do it consistently, then I'll limit my shots to thirty yards.

A nice shot of a doe and fawn....

Somehow this little guy is still around! I don't know how he does it, since we have so many foxes, coyotes and bobcats in the vicinity...

No idea what kind of mushroom this is, but I thought it was kind of neat. It was six inches across the top, and I was sure there would be a toad under it! Also, I could never seem to learn which ones are edible, so I just leave them alone...

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Here is a night time doe in our clover field. The camera is on a lone apple tree in that field, and in a few weeks I'll have pictures of the deer feeding on the apples at this site.

We will pass on this buck in the east plot. Doesn't look to me like he'll make the required eight points. next year maybe...

When I was plowing up the West plot, I looked up to see I had left a hanger in there last December. I climbed up and found the foam in the cushion completely gone, to line a squirrel's nest somewhere, and the cover chewed to pieces. Each year we learn this lesson all over again - which is to say, we never learn! Bring in your hangers and suspended seats from your permanent stands - otherwise it will cost you money!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

And Still More Summer at LRDC!

2011-07-13T21:09:00.012-04:00

Mid summer now and things are hot here, as in the rest of the country. Our Bluebirds are fledging their second sets, the Robins are on their third, and we even have a Robin that appears to be attempting to hatch eggs in two separate nests in our winter barn. We cannot be sure yet, but I'll keep you posted on that one! Below was a day on the Connecticut River, a perfect summer day. We cruised for miles, seeing hawks, Bald Eagles, Blue herons, and a host of other fish and game. We pulled our twin Yamahas up on this secluded beach for a cocktail, and watched some several Dragonflies (or darning needles as we called them as children) hatch out. They of course develop and feed in the water, and crawl out when the time and temp is right to metamorphose into the real thing. There were thousands of them...

Below is one arching out of the whole in the back of it's skeleton, kind of a poor picture though...

Here it is, finally free of the old bones. They are almost transparent when they first break out, and wet. They dry in the sun for about 5-10 minutes, and darken. Then they are off and gobbling up bugs!

This is the old shell they are in when they crawl out of the water and onto dry land for the finale..

Below is one resting and drying just a minute or so before she flew off to hover...

And here is one just taking off!

And then, back to the game cameras! This is one long legged brutish looking coyote! I can never tell if he is eating minerals, or just sniffing the scent of all the others that do...

A happy confident young fellow on the far Ridge.

Check out the turkeys in the upper right hand corner of this pic..

Another picture of Mr. Nasty.

I feel fortunate to have spotted this nest. It is the nest and eggs of a Wood Thrush, to me, one of the most musical and lovely birds there is...the bird books almost uniformly state that the Wood Thrushes build their nest in trees, like Robins. I find that is not true. Every Wood Thrush nest I have ever seen around these parts was built on the ground, but looks like a Robin's nest. Can you find the three eggs?

I returned a few days later and took this quiet picture from twelve feet at 10X. I will not intrude on this area again, because unlike Robin's, Wood Thrushes will abandon their nests at the slightest provocation...see her large eyes? That is why they prefer dense vegetation.

Still growing...

Deer in the headlights?

That Coyote must be coming back...

Chow time...

This is called "having your skirt blown up"

And so it goes...This week I will start cleaning up camp as I will host a LRDC hunter's cocktail hour there this week, set up my bow target, and in general just start leaning slightly more toward hunting season than farming...of course second cutting is coming in, so there is more hay to heave, and more river to run with the boats yet, but I can feel the excitement just beginning...

Also we have a winner on the 'guess the bird' contest from the last post! It was in fact a chick-a-dee! Tell me where to send the T-shirt kmurray!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Summer is Here at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2011-06-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

I love summer at Long Ridge deer Camp! Babes have been born, the birds are crazy, fawns in our pastures, and nature moving, moving, along...this is the first year I have seen so many creatures on our mineral spots...not sure if they all want the minerals, but it sure is a social spot..below is a rabbit that appears to be pretty alert ( I guess unalertness gives you a half life of about 30 seconds in these new England woods...)

This raccoon seems to be partaking of the minerals...

The coyote here looks like he wants the supplement, but probably is just smelling the rabbit/skunk/raccoon/deer/ bobcat/bear scent...

Yikes, time to get outta here!!!

If you are wondering what we do here between deer seasons, check this out below. I was trying to clear the last quarter mile trail of ice storm blow down this week, and gave up. I decided to simply cut another trail and bypass the old. It saved much time but in my work I discovered this centuries old White Oak, deep in our woods. It is huge, for this far north, I would guess 45/50 inches through at DBH. It was so tightly packed with red oaks and hemlocks that I could not even see leaves on it 100 feet above. So, of course an hours worth of chainsaw work later I could finally see leaves of a vibrant oak far above. I will finish clearing a twenty five foot circle around it, fertilize it with 15-15-15, and watch the acorns pour to the ground! These white acorns are preferred above the red oak acorns by all mast eating animals.. They are sweeter, though have a bit less protein.

A few trees cleared away...

And now I can see the healthy White Oak leaves far above. It is alive!

Next down is a little buck on the far Ridge..

Another sleek healthy deer...

A bobcat checking out the mineral lick...

Imagine that this doe would have so little respect for hunters that she would pee on a mineral lick!

Imagine that this young buck would be at all interested!

This fellow below looks promising, and he'll be handsome by fall.

Tell me what you think this bird is, flying so close to the camera. If I like your answer the best, I might send you a T-Shirt! (-:

These two pictures below are of the same babe. Her mom is the doe that pounded our Sheltie deep into swamp mud several weeks ago when the dogs came upon her fawm. Our sheltie 'Luna' is mostly mended now, even her cracked ribs are better. But her left eye is still messed up. We'll see.

So! Next project is to start bow practice..I have numbered my hunting arrows, ordered a new broadhead target, and plan to start as soon as it arrives! Bow season starts in just over two months!

Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Surging Toward Summer At Long Ridge

2011-06-11T16:10:00.001-04:00

Two weeks to go and it will be officially summer here at LRDC. Unofficially I always consider June 1st the beginning of summer. Birds are jumping their nests and flying, hummingbirds everywhere, and warm. Whatever, it is really late in the season to still have trails shut down due to wind and ice damage, but I still have one quarter mile stretch to clear large trees from. In fact, it is so clogged that I am going to bypass it, and cut an entirely new trail to save time. While scouting that out the other day I came across this porky quill pile. I scratched through it and found nary a bone, so I surmise a Fisher killed and ate it. But then 100 feet farther in I found this ice crashed hemlock with the top branches eaten clear of bark, which is what the porcupines do. Perhaps this one was in the top of this hemlock when it came crashing down 70 feet. Maybe he was wounded and couldn't get far, and a Fisher came along. We'll never know, but it seems likely.

The bear is walking past a mineral lick, where the following deer pictures were taken by a Cuddeback. Decent size, and if it is a sow, she would have her cubs with her. I expect it is a boar, as it's the first picture of a bear this spring at Long Ridge. Appears very healthy.

Same mineral lick showing a budding two pointer that will likely bloom to a four or six within the weeks.

And below a budding four that may sprout with time. We are about three weeks behind antler development here compared to the Virginias for instance...

And below a couple of buddies - until October!

Zoom in on this doe and you will see that she is nursing...

No need to zoom in on this beauty to see that she hasn't given birth yet...soon, to be sure!

My last post showed the four robin's eggs in the nest, and then three hatched...well, here they are all four and did fine. We checked them daily.

Then three flew out and the fourth hung in there for about an hour before it too flew down into the field. We watched them all being fed through our binocs.

A lonely strong nest is all that sits there today...

First cutting is up the elevator and in. Barns retouched where necessary, fields mowed, and the spring rush of our small farm is receding. I just want to escape to my camp and the woods! Bow practice is calling..Jack

Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Spring Things at LRDC

2011-05-26T11:48:00.000-04:00

Nearly seven weeks since I have posted - First reason was a switch in computers, and the second, and biggest, was a switch to Windows 7 from XP! Why do they do this to us??? In any case here we are, deep into spring. Below is a picture of snow at camp I took 6 weeks ago, surer at that time that all the snow would be gone by May 1. I was wrong...when the ground was clear of snow I began to clear the ice damage from trails, and on may 6th, found two feet of snow on the ground under some huge collaped hemlock trees. Pretty good insulation I guess.

What follows are short spring adventures here in New Hampshire - it's been very active on the farm here. And no, I still have not taken that big Tom! Still a week to go though! Here you see the Blue birds making a home in our backyard. This week I was in the back yard when I heard the plaintive cries from a blue bird and looked up to see a smallish hawk flying by with the male in his claws. I yelled and waved my arms just as a robin went after him, and the blue bird dropped free. I lost sight of the blue bird, thought he dropped to the ground, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Miraculously, the next morning he was back on his house!

An early spring fox up in the back pasture...

The flag is always on the back of LRDC, but after our successful sally into Pakistan I just had to post this banner below it, for a week or two!

I have set up my decoys and a camera up on the Far Ridge, and lo, instead of a big Tom, who comes by but a bemused doe, wondering who would think they could fool anyone with silly looking turkeys like these.

A very pregant doe, perhaps the very one that nearly killed one of our Sheltie - (see below)

First Long Ridge hunter to post a big tom this month. 22 pounds, 9 inch, with one inch spurs. Respectable!

Below you see some severe bruises on one of our two Shelties. Several days ago I was on a tractor driving across to the Far Field with a bucket of brush. Both Shelties love to follow and bark as we go. As I entered the Far Field, I saw them both dart into a pine stand, and head down into a swampy glen, thinking they we after their favorite game, chipmunks. Not to be...a minute or so later I heard screaming, and looked down to see Nancy running in the glen (it is just below her studio) and quickly shut off the diesel and pulled my earplugs as a big doe came leaping up out of the glen and across the field. I ran down to find that Luna and Kalie had found a newborn fawn, and the doe attacked them. Kalie is extremely fast, agile, and smart - she headed for home and got away. Poor hapless Luna got pounded literally down into the swamp mud, and if Nancy had not run down there to scare off the doe, I have no doubt she would have been killed. Later Nancy told me that she was on her deck when she heard Luna literally scream, and ran down there thinking I had run over her with the tractor. In any case, we hauled little Luna up to the garage and hosed her all off. She was limping badly, and one eye was closed. I thought she would be fine but within a half hour it was clear she was in bad shape, so an afternoon at the vet's, and tons of medicine and antibiotics later, she will make it. Cracked ribs, terrible black and blue bruises all over her body. To avoid additional pain, the vet decided not to shave her whole body. Her eye is now (three days later) looking a bit better, but lazy. The ribs will heal on their own. Amazing what those front hooves can do!

Below is a Robins nest built right on top of a fence post outside our sheep barn. What follows are a sequence of puictures I have taken since she built it.

This is one large bobcat! He too is not fooled by the decoys I lazily left out there.

So that's it for wildlife adventures in May! jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Last March Coyote Hunt and April is Here at Long Ridge!

2011-04-03T15:23:00.001-04:00

The end of this New Hampshire March was typical - raw, damp, windy, and then on April 1st 6 more inches of snow. Still, it IS melting and I suspect that we are down to less than 15 inches in the woods. Knowing a day or so ahead that we were going back into winter, I spent the better part of a day coyote hunting again. I hiked from Deer Camp up toward the Far Ridge Stand, and about half way up I set up. Wouldn't you know it! My Primos electronic call had such low volume I could barely hear it at ten feet! Low batteries. It had been a job getting up there, so I decided I would continue the hike, check for tracks, and check the trail conditions...The next three pictures below, you see the broken tops of the Oak my ladder stand is in. Then my miraculously undamaged stand half way down, and the third shot of all the trash on the ground that fell right at it's bottom. How I didn't lose it I'll never figure out!

Below is a pit deeper than I am tall, right on the side of the trail from two huge Hemlocks that fell down due to ice load. It may make a fine bear den one day...

Here it is from twenty feet away.

Another section completely trashed and impossible to get through. I'll be recruiting hunters to help with this one.

On my walk I passed this huge pile of chips, and looked up to see whence they came.

It's those crazy Piliated woodpeckers for sure. They are cool birds, almost prehistoric in the way they fly, look, and sound.

I then headed back to LRDC to pick up fresh batteries, and decided to hunt a neighbors farm about three miles away. He raises beef cattle, and twice while driving by I have shot off coyotes attacking his new born calfs. One instance in early spring about 5 years ago I was on my way to work, quite nattily dressed in loafers tie and shirt, when I spotted a hereford giving birth. Her calf was half way out, and was a twin. The first was lying on the ground, and two coyotes were at it. She whirled and went after them, and when she did I was astounded to see them run back to her rear and go after the not born babe. I cranked my cruiser over very hard (sorry taxpayers) and jumped out running toward her . I had to yank through an electric fence and then run through knee deep grass to get closer to her. She was about 250 yards from the road, and all I had was my service pistol. When I got about 150 yards from her, it looked like they were about to do the calf on the ground, even though she was whirling around and around trying to stop them. So, I fired a round in a safe direction just to get everyones attention. Sure enough both coyotes bee lined for the woods. Now, we shoot 24 inch metal gongs at 200 yards just for fun with these pistols, and can hit it quite regularly. But that is slow, precision fire. I tried to be precise, but out of breath, ankle deep in water, I simply tried my best, emptying the 15 round magazine before the coyotes disappeared. They wouldn't be back for awhile! Slogging back to my cruiser I called dispatch and had them notify the farmer so he could check them. The Chief, by the way, was quite impressed with my appearance and tardiness for the meeting! Well this spring much the same thing happened, and later when I was talking about it, the farmer thanked me and offered full permission to hunt his many acres of land. Here are some of his herefords as I walk through woods about fifty feet in from the edge of the field.

The first wildlife of the day, a gray squirrel...

This next photo, I was actually only seeing the turkeys up ahead. When I got home, I noticed this narcisstic squirrel getting back into the picture!

The doe below is not from this day, but one way up in our field. I took it with a movie camera at 50 optical zoom so while pretty, it IS a bit blurry

So, while I didn't harvest a coyote, I did have a great hunt day - got to check the conditions of all my trails, saw some wildlife, jumped a bunch of deer that I did not see, and enjoyed the sunny 40 degree weather. Tell me how to beat that! jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Frozen in Place - LRDC in Late March

2011-03-27T20:45:00.079-04:00

Well folks, here we are in New Hampshire - absolutely frozen in place! Too cold to be out, and too hot to be in. As I like to say, March is the honest month. She is unequivocally nasty. 5 degrees below zero, to 50 above. It nevers matters whether it is at the beginning or the end of the month. It can get really warm, sub-zero temps 12 hours later, 18" of snow , back to 40 degrees. I love it for that. I took a measuring stick with me on my walk this morning with the pups and found an average of 21 inches of snowpack on the ground. To be sure, these are slightly North facing inclines, but even so I was disappointed in how much we have left. The ice broke up, and opened up the Connecticut River a week ago, and that is always a good sign of spring when water reappears. I do observe some bob houses still out on ponds and lakes though!

One thing about these temps though, I do love walking through the woods on hard crust, no snowshoes needed, over all the trash winter has left. Smooth sailing and the dogs love it too. Unfortunately this time of year brings on other chores, so varmint hunting has taken a back seat. Shearing day was today, and now that that is over, the farm once again becomes secondary (to me). I can begin to think about coyotes again, and turkeys coming up the 1st of May. And then there is the momentous decision on what to buy for a bow target this year. I have worn out my foamers completely and my Delta buck target ( as I posted) blew out last summer. So that is an adventure in itself! A fairly expensive one. Buying a cheap bow target every year makes no sense at all...I'll keep you posted!
If you check her withers you can see the wounds on both sides of the ever returning doe. She is continuing to heal and looks like she may make it through to fawning time!

Just a few springtime pictures of the back yard...

This red fox below somehow beat the fast trigger time of my Cuddeback!

Not this gray one though...

And wouldn't you know it...a coyote to spoil the fun! I'll try to do this guy!

There is her left side, almost completely healed in the last two weeks.

And her other side, also almost fixed! She'll be a wiser and better Mom, come June!

Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Winter is Broken - or, Spring is Here!

2011-03-12T21:19:00.003-05:00

Spring has finally broken here! Four days ago, it actually rained when it went up to 33 degrees, but then it dropped to 15 degrees over night and we had a terrible ice storm. Our farm generators ran for twenty hours before power was restored. Stepping outside, all you could hear were the huge pines snapping and crashing all through the hills. Villages ten miles north of here were out of power until yesterday. BUT, today it actually went up to 38 degrees, and the snow is melting fast. The pictures below show deer coming out into our North pastures which face steeply South, and have a thin line of bare ground. I broke my own rule, and put out a game cam before April 1st. Since it isn't below zero much any more, the batteries will last. Twelve different does you can see here, along with a few raccoons. More will follow!

Muuuuahhh!

Our trails are trashed from the ice storm. There are huge trees across many places and it will take some time in the spring when the snow pack is gone to clear them all out again. Below you can see where the brooks are eating away at the twenty four inches of packed snow on the trail...

Below is the water hole the deer use all winter. After the rain it really opened up!

Ice is heavy on these trees. If it does not melt soon, we will lose even more of them.

Below is an icy scene near the Far Stand. This is a dead Hemlock, so beautiful in the light.

Walking the trails is like going through a tunnel. Everywhere, trees bowed way over, and many of them could snap any moment. I walk with a great deal of caution when I hear trees going down around me.

But, with all the ice, and wind, and fickle temperatures, it IS March, and daylight savings, and sun to come. The snowmobile trails are closed now and a new season opens! Let the snow go! Our trees are all tapped, and the sap is being boiled. A NEAT time of the year!
jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Hunting Life Begins Again!

2011-03-06T20:52:00.002-05:00

Happy upcoming spring you people! It has been a long, long winter for the nation, and it hasn't stopped yet for most of us! Until today we had over thirty inches of snow on the ground and we've had that and more all winter. So, that only means that I did very little hunting here at Long Ridge, and the few times I went out coyote hunting I did not get one. Below is deer camp a few days ago. We have no place left to pile snow and if I did not have a bucket loader, we'd have been doomed this winter. So in a way in spite of my love for winter and snow, I am glad to see it begin to seriously melt today.

It has been a terrible few months for the local deer herds. Below zero, and +30 inches of snow for most of the winter spells a high mortality rate if things go as usual. The ones we see look to be in good health, but that is illusion usually. Some look well, but are severely stressed, and their fat reserves are low, and their bone marrow gone. The coyotes will be killing them by the dozens, especially now that they are whelping out their pups. Below there are some tracks coming out of the deep snow to our trails, and below that, a watering hole they use all winter. There are two separate groups of deer visiting the small pasture up behind the house. The land slopes steeply up out there, facing South and there is a thin patch of open ground by the stone wall. Yesterday a group of seven came through and while they were feeding we noted a large doe with a severe wound on her upper withers, a gash about eight inches long and quite deep into the flesh. It was open about 3-4 inches wide. To our astonishment, when she turned around to go back, we noted an almost exact duplicate wound on her right side, same place. Clearly she was attacked by something with a large mouth, or long claws but escaped. Though the wounds were deep and long and red, they were no longer bleeding, and she was moving and browsing OK. Bear? Coyote? What do you think?

Yesterday I went out on snowshows with dogs and trimmed up six wild apple trees scattered around our fields. I left all the branches right there on the ground and today I found they had been heavily browsed by two deer over night. They came down from the Far Ridge so not part of the groups behind our house.

After last months post about my coyote hunt, I did get a comment from someone categorically stating 'You can't kill dogs with # 6's'...referring I suppose to my mention of using my shotgun. Well, I know this follower to be wrong, but it did give me an idea for a fun project - find out what the best patterning load, with decent penetration I can find using 40 and 50 yard coyote targets. I have embarked on that project as you can see below. Once I find the best load for my shotgun with extra full choke, I will run that load through several different chokes, and pass on the best combination I can find. There are places in this country where it is illegal to hunt with a rifle, but there are coyotes virtually everywhere. So for those of you who chose or must use a shotgun, I will post my result in the future. Below you see a target shot offhand at 40 and at 50 yards with no. 2's (steel) Note, even with a 2 3/4 inch shell, there are 37 hits! I counted only good body hits.

Below is a full size Delta Coyote target that I shot at the same distances with a BBB magnum 3 inch shell. & vital hits at 50 yards, and 14 at 40...pretty decent...

Here is the Remington model 11-87 I use. It has a red dot mounted on it for turkey and coyote.

I have actually taken more coyotes with my truck gun, a Ruger Mini 14 Ranch with a 4x Leupold on it. Not a tack driver but 3 inch groups regularly. What I do NOT have to worry about, is it banging around my truck. It is as rugged and reliable as any gun I ever shot, and the flash hider keeps the wet floor and salt from reaching the muzzle. It has been indestructible for 29 years!

I did get away last week for a day's foray into Massachusetts where I spent hours at the New England Sportsman's Show at the Big E in Springfield Massachusetts. I have posted a ton of neat pictures below, but I will state this caviat...this show was a huge disappointment. The pictures you see are of outfitters - there had to be a hundred of them, and I love that part of the show. Every conceivable critter and geographic location on Earth is represented, and it's all so neat. But for the rest of the show, a bust. Not a single ATV manufacturer bothered to show. Only Savage, and Smith&Wesson (Thompson Center Arms) had their firearms displayed. Incidentally because I actually picked up a TC Venture Predator, I am going to purchase one. But that's a different post...There were some bass boats on display, and the typical tables of cheap Chinese manufactured goods, a good mounted white tail racks display, and a caged live grizzly bear that amused no one except ignorant adults and kids who know no better. In all, I enjoyed talking and visiting with the outfitters from all over the world. Other than that, not worth your time. I would have learned more by taking an hours walk in the woods.

I never knew that Warthogs were as huge as they are!

The gents below were selling all kinds of beautiful furs...mink, fox, bobcat, lynx, you name it!

One of my favorite animals is the Wolverine. Our Fisher, though smaller, are exactly the same in spirit and temperment...

The size of this elephant mount truly took my breath away. I cannot imagine being under full charge of an enraged bull elephant. This reminded me of the biggest one ever shot, a fully stuffed speciman in the Museum of Natural History in DC that is 13 feet at the shoulder!!!

For my Connecticut friends, I have included this picture of the Connecticut Trappers Association. They had an interesting exhibit.

The heads shown below were all taken in New England states. Some truly magnificant bucks.

The ones below, from all over the US...

This is the first time in twenty years I have attended an outdoors show such as this. The last I believe was in Chicago, and my memories of it were much better. In short, I won't be going again, and if you want to see everything I saw, and have more fun, and without an admission charge,visit a Cabelas' superstore.

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Post Holiday Hunting Lull !

2011-01-17T11:30:00.003-05:00

It is 12 degrees below zero as I start this post, and like the rest of the world we have a good 24 inches of snow on the ground. It will be here until May, because the snows started late this year and the frost is 18 inches deep. Before the snow came it was actually dangerous to walk on a lot of our trails. Huge chunks of frozen frost and ice had heaved the ground, and when the ground looked OK, you could still find yourself plunging fifteen inches down. I fell several times, and stayed off those trails unless on an ATV.

Below you see several pictures of a great buck, taken by rifle about 10 miles north of here. A real keeper, and good for that New Hampshire hunter!

Mid December is the time to get out and take down the deer stand foam seats/slings and what have you, because the squirrels get right to them for nest material and ruin them. The two I did leave up because I wanted to hunt coyotes from them have already been destroyed! This is the only way to easily traverse the trail just before snow.

This is the trail leading out of LRDC to the Christmas tree plantation and hunting trail network. As you can clearly see, snowmobile is the best way to break and maintain the trails in the winter. With below zero temps the trails harden up like cement and make great walking or skiing trails. It also benfits wildlife, and we see many tracks following our network. We look forward to, and love the blizzards. We are equipped and prepared for them, both relative to vehicles, and to clothing and tools. I know that unexpected snow in a lot of the country has severely impacted the lives of folks who do not normally get harsh winters, and we hate to hear that. The only downside to tough winters here, can be the impact on wildlife. If it stays as cold as it has for the past month, the deer herd will be noticeably impacted. And at -10 degrees, farm chores always take twice as long.

Before I forget it, here is the bulletin board in deer camp. The eight deer pictures are the deer we took this year. Not pictured are the four deer taken in West Virginia. These pictures stay up until next season. If it looks warm and cozy in camp, don't be fooled. It was 10 degrees in there. My Scent Killer sprayer is frozen hard enough to use as a club.

When not on snowmobile I use these Sherpas to get around the woods. In several feet of powder it is slow and hard going when you are alone, because there is no trading off the trailbreaking. But I am seldom in a hurry in the woods anyway, and snowshoeing is a great way (and healthful) way to spend a winter's afternoon. It is also the only way to get out far enough for good coyote hunting.

Winter mode of transportation in New Hampshire. For those of you in the southern climes, these Polaris Classics can forge through three feet of powder, cruise at 85 miles per hour, and can go all day long on a tank of gas. We put saddlebags on them, and can take groomed trails all the way from our barn yard to the Canadian border about 200 miles by trail away. (allow two overnights to do the trip in comfort!) The best way in the world to see moose, coyotes, and deer yards up to a 1/2 mile across. You will never see more wild game in the North Country, than you will cruising along at 20 mph on a snowmobile. Guaranteed!

Now that the twelve days of Christmas are past, I will begin taking up coyote hunting again. Actually I have been out twice this month, but could call in nothing except a fisher, which was kind of cool! It would not come closer than about forty yards from my remote. Below is the camouflage I wear while hunting 'yotes' in the snow. Because I am hunting in heavily wooded areas, and shots rarely are afforded past 50 yards, I use my 11-87 with a red dot sight on it. For ammunition I am using 3 inch magnum # 6's. I prefer the Hevi-Shot, but they are ridiculously expensive. With an extended xtra full choke the sixes work fine out to 50-60 yards.

This is the last coyote I got on cameras before taking them down for the winter.

The last picture shows a post season doe standing below the Far Stand. She is exactly where the doe I took with bow was this fall. Just behind the beech tree leaves to her right you can see the ladder going up to my stand.

As I finish this post it has gone up to seven drees F. above zero. Like summer, and time to hit the trails!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Alas, the Hunts Are Over!

2010-12-18T21:31:00.001-05:00

Camps are over and done with at Long Ridge Deer Camp as of last Sunday. Always a sad and lonely moment for me, as the last hunters pack their gear and drive away in the dark of a Sunday evening. We have had a farewell drink, but as the last hunter there, I wander around camp, marveling at it's sudden unclutteredness, pour another glass of wine and step out onto the porch to watch the fireplace sputter to a still coolness. The stars are bright, and it is cold. I can hear owls in the distance, and imagine huge bucks strolling along the very trails we hunted hours before. I am high with the waning hunt, and absolutely sick over it's ending. But as I place my glass in the sink, and gather my goods and the pups, I take a final look around the dark deep camp - I relive the stories, the laughter, the told and re-told adventures of life, and work, and play, and hunting by good friends. Just momentarily I look upward, and remind myself as Richard Nelson said " I would rather live as a rock on a hillside, than having lived this life without knowing the (hunter) animal inside me".

Below you see camp as it is today - quiet, forlorn, the two cords of wood long burned in the merry fireplace. No pickups, no hunters, cooking till next year!

It is December 9th as I write this, and it is cold, nasty cold out, a chilling 4 degrees F with a decent wind. Rifle and muzzle loader season is over now, and bow season goes for another six days. I will be out there as soon as the weather breaks. I know there are archers out there that hunt in full heater suits with bow in this weather, but I am not one of them. With the end of rifle season, I have been hunting close to 80 days, and my lips are badly chapped, the skin on my hands resembles that of a 100 year old, and I am kinda beat. Three camps we had, with nine of the 17 hunters affiliated with camp actually hunting here. (to be sure, most dropped by for a day, or an evenings drink by the fire) These were, excepting two of us, rifle hunters only. I took a deer early with the bow, and several hunters scored with bows on other land, or with muzzle loaders. In all, seven of us took twelve deer, one being taken in Montana, along with a 6x6 Elk!. Still another of our group shot a marvelous bull elk in Colorado with bow at 30 yards! That is a nice shot at 9000 feet!. Two cops from the group took a road trip to West Virginia where they scored four more Whitetails. So in every respect it was a beautiful deer season, with Elk, Whitetail, and other wild meats on line for next years game dinners. With that said, it was a wholly differerent season this year. Deer were as hard to spot and find as any year in my memory, and that held for most of New Hampshire. We hunters saw 22 deer during the three camps, about half as many as usual. No one took one here after muzzle loading season, although some hunters passed up lesser deer. I have an eight point minimum requirement here at LRDC after doe season ends, and we saw not a single deer that met these requirements. They were nocturnal all summer, and remained so during the fall. Not a single daytime picture of a large buck did I get on three game cameras. I did jump a giant basket rack just at shooting light the last camp, but did not try a shot. So no trophies this year, but great hunts, and a lot of fun!

Below you see the G5 Montec broadhead and five inches of arrow that the processessor found in my doe. As I surmised in an earlier post, the arrow went through the top of her right lung, center of her left and sunk deep into her left shoulder, breaking it. I will reconstitute the broadhead for another hunt! We did have some of her round steaks at deer camp, and it was some of the most tender venison we ever had, literally we cut this meat with forks!

Here you see a young buck rubbing a Christmas tree 150 yards from camp. ( a.m.), and he didn't seem worried, perhaps he knows the eight point rule!

Below you see a young buck on the far Ridge Stand. As he was stiff legging it across the plot I was in my stand watching him. I could have shot him, and the large doe he was with a bunch of times. It was still doe season, so I let them go hoping they would migrate to a stand lower down for hunters that hadn't scored yet. Instead, they hung out til dark, skunking us all. The doe was right underneath me, upset, pawing, but refusing to leave...

This crafty red fox certainly appears to have scored a rabbit or something, and his condition tells me that he scores on a regular basis! He is in the right place because we regularly get rabbit pictures on this camera.

And, if you check my last post or two, you will see that I said I had posted a picture of a spring fawn attempting sneak a drink from Mom in the fall. Well I posted the wrong one, so here it is!

Below is a picture of the one antlered buck I posted earlier in the summer. Well a LRDC hunter got him about two hours later, and 3/4 of a mile away, on this same date. You see him here, just before his demise scraping and sniffing a spruce just 100 yards from deer camp porch. He was taken at 40 yards with a patched round ball while he was with three does. He was a tiny guy, dressing out at 113 lbs!

The last picture here is of a bobcat coming from the same direction as the fox was going with the rabbit in his mouth. Apparently this is a honeyspot for predators!..It should be, as the last buck we took from this stand was in 1998!

In any case, now we can take a (very short) rest and then start hauling wod, planning improvements, checking out equipment for next year. I am hoping to book a bear hunt soon, and will keep you posted on that!. In the meantime all you hunters, I hope you had great hunts, whether you got deer or not, and that the coming new year happens as it should! Merry Christmas! Jack jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Fruitful Hunt at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2010-10-29T21:47:00.004-04:00

I know, I know, I NEVER blog twice in a month, but Saturday, I went out and took a stand at the Far Stand. This is a stand 50 yards into the woods above the far field, as we call it. I took the stand around 3:30, and saw nothing but chippies and red squirrels for the longest time. Then about 5:45 I heard the distinct sound of a deer coming down the hill off the ridge. Stayed right behind me, for the longest time. Apparently she was getting a light whiff of me because it took her circling and sneaking, at least a half hour to get past and below me where I could see her. When I did, I saw one of the biggest does I have ever laid eyes on. No babes, all alone, and huge. I decided to take her for the pot, and then I would be able to concentrate on using my second bow tag on a decent buck...Eventually she appeared in the clearing below me, warily scoping out the field, and constantly waving her nose high in the air as they do, when on edge. She was about ten yards below me, and started down the trail when I drew, put the pin on her shoulder and touched off an Easton aluminum topped with a G5 broadhead. I heard the thwack! I saw the feathers in her, and she dug in and headed down the trail. I listened carefully and heard her running through the woods for a good 100-150 yards. This scared me. Since going to the Eastons, and 125 grain G5 Montecs, I have not had a deer run more than 35 yards before piling up. Also, this combinatin has always produced a through and through shot. And that's on quite a few deer. On this trail, I did not find my arrow! So this one, I was worried I might not find...It would be dark in twenty -five minutes, and in this part of the country, you do NOT leave a deer out over night if you expect to save any of it for yourself. The coyotes take a day or two

to find these kills, but the bears, hey, an hour later they are on them. So, I hung my gear and headed out. No blood, not a drop could I see, though I knew it was a good and fatal hit. I had to follow the digging tracks of her hind feet, for about 150 yards though heavy forest before I found her piled up in some hemlocks. She was a big one, and in order to get her dressed out I had to drag her about 100 feet to a small opening. I knew, the minute I grabbed her, that she was big. Turned out she weighed about 182 on the hoof, and final weight at registration was 141. So, once dressed out, I hightailed it for the farm to grab an ATV and a deer sled, to bundle her up and get her back to the game pole. You

can see the front of my ATV has the towels and I have used to clean my hands and the sled cover tied on for safekeeping during the haul. Also I find the Streamlight handy to mount on my head while dressing out deer in the dark.

Once back at camp I hitched up a hose (all are shut down now because of freezing nights) and prepared to hang and wash her off. Her she is, hanging up outside the camp kitchen.

The next morning I walked the pups up to where I had dressed her out, and most of her offal was gone. As a big thank you, a bear had left a large pile of his poop right on the scene (mostly apples, thank you!) Don't worry, he returned the next day and finished off all the fat, and her rumen and contents included!!

After checking out that scene I walked to the Far Stand and picked up her tracks in daylight. I had not seen a drop of blood the evening before, but if you look at the maple leaves that cover our land, you'll see the difficulty we have in following blood trails this early in the season. It is literally impossible to spot blood on yellow leaves specked with their own red spots!. Our land right now is knee deep in these leaf colors. Even those 'blood lights' sold by everyone do not help in these conditions. I have one and all they do is highlight the red pigments on the leaves. How do you follow a blood trail, in dim light, with the forest floor covered with leaves like you see here? In any case, in bright light, I was able to find a few blood spatters, and also found my arrow about twenty feet from where I had hit her. It was missing the broadhead and about four inches of arrow, which I have not recovered. I suspect it is lodged in her left shoulder, and have told the butcher that so he can try to recover it. I hung her for four days before taking her to be cut up. I prefer to hang deer for a week for premium tenderness, but it became kind of warm here the last few day so I took her in early. The rule of thumb for best tasting venison is hang the deer for one week at forty degrees, less if warmer, longer if colder. Of course if you have a cooler for game set at 40 degrees, that would be perfect!. What we do, is hang them and wrap in cheesecloth if it gets warm. Hang it as long as you can. Trust me on that.

Below, you can see Khalie, my dear Sheltie Collie buddy, who will NOT let me drive away without her! Especially to register a deer!

Below you see me at the registration station next to the scale. My scale at home (a Cabelas model) said 135 lbs. but the agent insisted his scale was correct at 141, so we went with that! If I had joined the pool, I'd be a winner! )-:

Below you see a late season picture of a young deer nursing Mom! They are fully weaned by now and will survive just fine without Mom, but sneak in for an occasional drink every chance she is not paying attention. She will kick the babes off, but they are sneaky. Funny, just like our sheep lambs!

I include the picture below because I'd like some opinions on what this is! Wide open mouth? Antlers? Bear? Who knows? We have had cameras jammed up by bears and deer antlers, so take your guess! In the meantime, tomorrow begins muzzle loader season, so I will be out there with a hunter or two to see what we can come up with! I'll keep you posted!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

October Bowhunts at Long Ridge

2010-10-21T21:04:00.117-04:00

It is a wonderful time of year at Long Ridge! The dry summer, and humid weeks we suffered are long passed, and nights now are generally below freezing. Days at 50/60 are pleasant, and as you walk across the field edges you get that 'fall smell'. The foliage is mostly gone by but below are a few images from the last few days. In the sunlight, it is bright, and cheery up on this ridge!

I have been out with bow six times since my last post, and have seen nine deer. Nothing exceptional, but I did take a shot at a large four pointer. Young perhaps, but very large of body. It was an exceptionally cold evening and I had a puffy camouflage jacket on, which caught my string. I missed by a mile, and he jumped straight up into the air, and then continued grazing at 45 yards away. I have been bow hunting for several generations and know better! Shame on me for being careless... this is he, below on camera at another location. This is just before he attacked my camera, attached to an apple tree. He didn't hurt the camera, but flipped it upside down, so the next picture of the coyote you see the titles on top, and upside down! He is a spunky one! In all I have had nine deer close enough to shoot, but have passed them all up except for a miss you will see below. In any case, mostly does, which are great for eating and management purposes, but do not begin to attract me until a bit later in the season...

Here are a couple of turkeys sayig hello at the same camera on the apple tree!

Below, though not very clear is the only creature I saw on one of my afternoon stands. He entertained me (it doesn't take much in the woods) for hours...

Below is the scene from my twenty foot tall ladder stand at the Far Ridge. The farthest edge of the green is about forty yards, by design. The light rock spot is 18 yards, and I gauge off these two marks when shooting deer. This has been a very lucrative stand over the years.

The grapes as shown here, are all over our property...All the conservation rags and biologists say they are great for wildlife, but I must say, I have never seen any bird or mammal eat them. They end up all dead and shriveled in the dead of winter and then just fall off. As wild as they are however, they do make wonderful grape jelly, which is what we use them for.

This is the fall scene at LRDC. All the wood is in, the foliage is bright, and the call of the woods literally screams at you.

Last evening, I watched several does graze below me for an hour before they meandered off for acorns. I could have shot them a hundred times. But it is still early, and I have not lost my patience yet. Things are still calm in the woods. No LRDC hunters showed for the archery hunt weekend, so the deer here are still quite unaware. As I climbed down from my stand I just had to take this picture of a fall moon just coming up. It was particulary striking, because there was a flock of Canadas way, way high up, not low enough to see, but I could hear them winging south. Neat!

Above we have a (probably the same one that did my camera) frisky four pointer sparring with an eight pointer. Luckily the eight pointer does not seem to take this little guy seriously! Looks like just good fun. Then below this, you see the eight pointer I am aiming for. I have no daylight pictures of him, and he may never show in aiming light. But I can hope, and plan, and adjust tactics to try to make it happen. After all that is what it is all about. And if, at the end of the season he wins? Bonus! A ten pointer to stalk next year!

Here is another picture of this handsome brute! He'll weigh in dressed at about 175/180 is my guess.

So that is it for the last few weeks people! I did get an email form an unknown reader who asked me to post more often. That would be nice, but honestly, I cannot. This blog is about hunting, deer camp, and the methods and equipment and management practices we use. I simply cannot fill and post blogs with plug ins from other sites, trivia etc. Can't do it. I am
going to continue to post as often as I have new info, pictures, hunting experiences and time. I am not one to sit down to the computer every day, so I miss a lot of posts from folks I follow. Those of you who post daily, just amaze me!. In any case, all that we post here, is real time, our experience, our equipment, our hunts, and remember, the whole idea behind this blog was to encourage others to start a deer camp. Even your living room is a great place to start! To the reader in Ohio, go back to my first several blogs to see how easy it is to get one started! You'll never regret it, and your worries about leased land will end!

Jack

Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

2010 Deer Season Finally Rolls in to Long Ridge Deer Camp

2010-09-28T12:35:00.004-04:00

Well people, the hunting season is upon us! The Long Ridge 3-D deer archery target finally folded for good, and has been taken to the landfill. I am all done practicing, but do draw my bow four or five times before I head out. It is not really cool enough yet, so I have only been out two times. Once (and the first) time on the East Stand. I have both bears and a nine pointer you see below, showing up there, so I lugged both bow and 12 gauge shotgun to that stand in hopes of bagging a bear or buck. No luck, I saw nothing that day. That was the 21st of september, the last day of bear season in this unit.

I have multiple pictures of this dude from many angles. He is a taker, as his rack is wider than his ears. Whether he gives up his absolutely nocturnal habits will have to be seen. All the bucks remained completely nocturnal all summer, which is highly unusual here. I think it is because of the extreme heat and lack of rain this entire summer. Now that it is cooling to the forty and fifty degree range, I am hoping they will range out a bit more.

Today, I took my loaded ATV up toward the Far Ridge Stand, and parked about a hundred yards away on the trail. I rigged up my safety harness, unloaded bow and gear, and headed up to the stand. It was quite warm, but I had showered with scent free shampoo, sprayed all my light cotton camouflage with scent killer, and was comfortable. The leaves are coming down heavily now, about two weeks early because of the lack of rain, and it was noisy going in. But once twenty feet up in the oak, I was dry and comfortable. The first thing I do is hang all my gear, then rig my safety harness to the tree. Then, and not until then, I pull up my bow. I pull out the seat, and nock an arrow, then hang my bow to my right side. Now I can sit down, arrange everything the way I want it, and break out my range finder. Now, I have hunted this stand for some five years, so I basically know the ranges to most markers but it is always good to redo, and review ranges when bow hunting. There is a stump to my left I range at 16 yard. Use the twenty yard pin quite low on the deer. There is a rock at 18.5 yards. Use the twenty yard pin dead on. There is a bald spot in the grass at 29 yards. Use the 30 yard pin low on the deer. That's the gist. I always prefer to shoot a bit low anyway, as my experience has taught me that if the sound of your shot alerts the deer, they will crouch to bound away, and that is why so many archers shoot over the backs of their deer. These days, any quality bow is so quiet, that it is generally not an issue. But it is my habit. Last year, I shot a large doe at twenty yards using the twenty yard pin. She was moving, so I was leading, and in doing so, forgot that I was twenty five feet above her. I took a good aim, released, and took out her spine, when I was aiming behind her shoulder. This is because I forgot how high I was in the air. (I do not use rangefinders with ARC, and won't unless I go on a sheep hunt!)

In any case, once I have reviewed ranges, puttered around for five minutes with equipment, it is time to wait. In this case I waited for an hour, seeing and hearing nothing but squirrels and chipmunks scavenging the many acorns I could hear dropping all around me. As I said, with all the crispy dry leaves, it was LOUD out there! About 5:30 I heard deer coming in...first a momless babe, obviously born this spring, but having lost 99% of her spots. She was alone, and edgy. I'd give good money to know how her mom died. She popped acorns, and grazed toward me for about twenty minutes before she alerted to sounds I could not hear, and beat it out of there fast. She should have saved her breath, it was only a large shiny doe with spring twins. Couldn't tell their sexes, but both were good sized and shiny, and playful. They grazed all around me, while I pulled my bow from it's hanger. Our doe season for archery is closed until October 1st this year, but you never know when a silly young buck might burst upon the scene! Anyway, these five deer kept me entertained for an hour or so, as the younger ones raced around and played, and the does grazed and kept careful watch..It was an instructive hour, because I noted that the deer, while grazing initally, actually meandered to acorns...so now we know where the deer will be - up on the high ridges, where the mast is.

The other day I found these moose tracks wandering all over Long Ridge parking lot. He wandered in from the South, sniffed around my equipment, and wandered off down the lane toward our sheep on pasture. I have not caught this one on camera yet...but it is a large one.

Here is a young five or six pointer. There are a half dozen of these younger guys hitting the cameras, but we won't take anything less than an eight pointer. This is the second year I have instituted this rule as an experiment to see if we increase the size and regularity of seeing large mature bucks.

Below is another six pointer, and as I said above, all the cameras are getting ones like this.

This youngster below is an odd ball. It appears he got tangled up somewhere while still in velvet, and lost one antler and severely deformed the other. I do not believe this is the result of bad genetics and definitely not the result of a fight. We'll give him another chance for next year.

So, while I have not recorded many mature bucks, I am hopeful that they will begin to appear. The coming week is cooling, so I will be out there. October 9 and 10, Long Ridge Deer Camp will host a two day non-stayover archery hunt for members. I'll keep you posted and hope you all are finding the deep excitement, and solace found as deep season approaches! Good luck, and let me know how you do! Jack jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Annual Summer projects Ending

2010-08-03T22:39:00.003-04:00

Hello fellow hunters, summer is wrapping up! I know, I KNOW! August just got here, and it is HOT! But never the less summer is coming to a close as far as hunting prep goes! Remember there are astrological seasons, and meteorological seasons. But here in New England, we consider summer to be June, July and August, fall to be September, October and November, and winter to be December, January and February, leaving spring as March, April and May. So as we enter the month of August we have a myriad of chores to get done in order to be ready for Whitetail season. Since bow season starts September 15th, we need to be ready and fit. Below you see a view of my deer target 40 yards away. (No, I do not shoot over the pup's backs!) And below this picture you can see a 3 and 3/4 inch group shot from forty yards. I am not satisfied until I can consistently make 2 inch groups at twenty yards, 3 inches at thirty, and 4 inch groups at forty. Not once or twice, but consistently. If I find this is not happening for me, I visit my local archery shop and they always set me straight. It may be my technique, or equipment, but he can usually spot it right away. In any case, the standard I have listed is my own, and I have no idea how I arrived at it years ago, only that I will not go out until I have achieved it consistently. Thankfully, I am there for this upcoming season...

The next job we have is to put our fields and food plots in shape for fall. This means liming, fertilizing if necessary and seeding. When we first started to set up LRDC as a paradise, we did it all by hand. I can well remember humping fifty pound bags of lime into the woods on my shoulder, hand raking, and no equipment. Gradually we cut trails, aquired ATV's, a tractor, and implements. We still do a load of handwork, but nothing like back in the 90's! Below you can see the limespreader I use, a piece made in Pennsylvania, and the ruggedest, most versatile limespreader I could find. This will spread any lime you put in it, including dripping wet lime. Below that, check out the massive axel inside that churns out the lime. It holds 1000 pounds per load, and I have hauled this baby way into the woods and ridges, over the toughest ground you can imagine. The lime pile is a leftover from liming our sheep pastures three years ago. I have twenty tons delivered bulk, and that way it is cheap. Have them dump it on a tarp! I still have about four tons left for next year.

Above you see a plot I tilled over, limed, retilled, and it is ready to be seeded. Below this you are looking at our tiller. It is a six foot First Choice, and if you have bushel basket and basketball sized rocks the way we do here, this is the only way to go. This piece of equipment has hacked acres of rocky New England soil for years. No breakages, faultless so far. My wife can hear me tilling from over a mile away, when I am in rocky areas. The next picture is of a plot that I lime first, then till, to mix in the lime before I reseed by August 1st.

Of course one of the 'chores' we hunters all have during the summer months is to rifle practice,. Now I don't mean just to 'sight in'. That is something you do the week of your hunt. I mean to practice regularly. I suppose if all you do while hunting is sit in a stand, with a handy rest and a rangefinder, then 'sighting in' will do. But if on occasion you decide to still hunt through the woods and want to be able to swing up and on a jumped buck with good chances of success, then regular practice is required. To sight in, I use the targets below which I make myself. They are 2 inch dots made with a magic marker, three to a sheet. I shoot these to sight in a rifle or new scope, to practice fundamentals, and to test the accuracy potential of a new gun or load. Once I have done that, and selected my load, my practice consists of standing off hand, shooting at a 14 inch by 14 inch metal plate at 100 yards. If you can make hits consistently like that, you are going to be successful in the field. I hunt exclusively with a 30-06, so there is some recoil there. The following pictures show a good spotting scope necessary for sighting in, and a ruler for measuring groups, and a recording book for different loads, factory or re-loaded.

I fully admit it, I am a sissy. Maybe it is my SWAT operator background, but I ALWAYS wear elbow pads when sighting in a rifle at a shooting bench. They do not care what caliber you are shooting - they cushion and protect, and prevent flinching. In other words, if you shoot your rifle with elbow pads on, you WILL be more accurate. Doesn't mean you need to wear them in the woods - that is silly. But when it is time to sight in, concentrate on that, not pain. Next to them you see a Past Recoil pad. (remember I admitted to being a sissy?) Use one, and get good with that rifle. When the time comes to actually use it, you will not be thinking about recoil, only about calling your shot. Well worth the money. Yes, Sally, even if you shoot the demure 7mm-08...

Below is my Winlite Winchester 70 in 30-06. It weighs just a tad over 6 pounds so kicks a bit. I have a Kick-EZZ pad on it, but otherwise it is stock, and I get sub 1 inch groups from it with regularity. The scope on it is a Redfield 3-9 for sighting in a load, but for hunting I use a Redfield Widefield 1 3/4 x 5. But it's accuracy isn't what I love best about this rifle. It has the slickest bolt (cool) and a good trigger (nice) and is very lightweight (still feels good at the end of a long day) and will shoot a 3/4 inch group with factory ammo. But what I love best, is it's inherent forgiveness. That is to say, when you pull this rifle up, and plant the crosshairs on game, it barks and the game drops. I have pulled so many shots that I was sure were bad, but when the smoke clears (figuratively) the game is always there. I marvel at that. Moving or not, it gets them. It's not a fancy 'claw extractor' model, just an early 90's model push feed, with a McMillan stock. Other than African Water Buffalo , or Elephant, I would be confident with this rifle on any game on earth. If you feel that way about your hunting arm, no matter what it is, you are a blessed hunter! In any case, summer is going to end in three weeks or so, and we need to be ready! Have fun, and let me know what you think!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Summertime at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2010-07-07T21:22:00.003-04:00

Back in April you saw just the first layer or so of camp wood laid out here. With the literally dozens of trips to and from the woods each week, the pile is now complete, and will fullfill the wildest dreams of campers for nine days of camps this fall...

You can see that the fawns here are much bigger than just several weeks ago, and we are glad they do not all succumb to the bears and, fisher and coyotes.

What did I just say about coyotes?

Mid June or so, this is on the Far Ridge Stand, and we have two bucks - the bigger one in the rear, coming along. Hard to tell this early what they will turn out to be, but by mid July we'll have a better idea...

Here is a developing handsome fellow, but still with remnants of a winter coat. This week in Southern New Hampshire it is 95 degrees, and the deer have to hate this, just as we do. In fact, it has not rained here in weeks, and the lawns are dying. I know my friends in Mississippi take this in stride, but it kills us. -40 degrees to +95? Yeesh! It about puts the Moose down.

This doe is sleek and healthy, and well bagged up. Can't see her fawn here but it is likely to be a healthy one. This is just below the Far Stand.

I decided to put a small plot up on our Eastern Ridge, where we have always had a woods stand (pictured below). Not very productive in the past (one buck in ten years) but it IS on the edge of a 30 acre sanctuary that we leave mature bucks undisturbed in. This is nasty country, about a half mile from camp. It is ledge, loose rocks and terrible soil. Six of us and a mini-excavator did the cutting and clearing in about 5 hours. All large pine and Oaks up there. I took the Red Oaks off, leaving the Whites.

After the inital help from fellow hunters, I spent several days up there de-rocking the place. I have a six foot heavy duty rototiller on the back of a 1070, and I weasled that up there, spun the rocks and soil over. I had to hand shovel most of the rocks out, and with the deer fly population at it's height, this was NOT fun!

Below is the plot mostly finished off. I would haul my harrows up here but the trail is simply not wide enough. I think I will lime, fertilize, and seed the plot, then haul a four foot roller up here to set the seed. It'll come in all right by late September, and by next year, I 'll make access for harrows.

Here you see the woods stand we have mounted on a Red Oak many years ago. This was simply a strategic stand twenty feet up on an Oak on the edge of the sanctuary. I have gotten away from the permanent stands. They ruin good trees, such as this otherwise valuable Oak. The trees grow around them, so you can't remove them. Now we use ladder stands, and hangers. Since we are changing this over to a food plot, I will erect a twenty foor ladder stand on the North side. Too late to remove the permanent one at this point...

Down below you see the basic products I use to make initial food plots. Mostly I use Whitetail Institute products because they carry a full range of things such as seed, weed killer, mineral stuff and the like. I have a field planted in the Whitetail Clover seed and it has served the deer (and hunters) well. It is not the best clover out there for attractant strength, but it is good. When I make a new food plot, the first year I generally seed it with No-Plow. After a year or two I like to switch to Secret-Spot , and both have shown great results as far as making deer more healthy. I have three spots where I put down minerals (30-06) and the bucks are literally tearing up the ground to get at this stuff. Does prefer to have some poured on a stump, but follow Whitetail Institure directions if you want the bucks to use it. By the way, the five gallon bucket has left over clover seed in it, but it is a Lamb-Saver milk replacer bucket that has kept a bottle feeder healthy and happy!

These are bowhangers which I found on sale for twelve bucks for three. How can you beat that for summer shopping?

Yesterday, when I was doing the final rock removal at the East Ridge plot, I stopped to have a cold beer (hey, it IS 95!) and looked up to see this fellow staring down on me. He was panting like a dog, but followed me with his eyes wherever I went. They DO love clearings!

And here, mid-summer is a patch of the Far Field, which I never mow til late summer, because of the beautiful wild Sweet Pea. The deer don't eat it, so I don't know what purpose it serves except for beauty, but in that respect, it is worth sparing and enjoying. The following picture is of the rest of the Far Field. If we do not grow clover for deer, or graze it to sheep, we let our fields grow through the summer. I try not to mow before August 15th, so that all the field birds are done fledging out, turkeys are matured, and resting fawns a memory. The sight of fawns through mower conditioners is NOT pretty...of course in deference to real farmers and ranchers, we do not make a living from farming, so I make no judgements on those that must make hay!

And here you see the results of my daily bow practice...At 40 yards I was a bit high with four arrows and literally broke the back of this 3-D target. The last arrow to hit sent his head jerking to the ground, and he looked like a live deer for a second!. But what a costly mistake, as these things are not cheap. In any case I assume all you bow hunters are out there sending a half to a dozen arrows a day toward some target, so that when the day comes, you are in shape and ready for the challenge. In two weeks I will begin shooting at this target from elevated heights. I put it below a climber for realism.

Just had to throw in this picture of another little one. Looks quite new to the mobile world. Have a great summer, all, and keep your aim in line!

Two Months at Long Ridge deer Camp

2010-06-13T21:16:00.003-04:00

Hello Fellow Hunters! It has been about two months since I have posted and the reasons are legion, but stated succinctly, I have retired from the police services after 32 1/2 years, and also we went through lambing here, and ended up with a bottle feeder...Of course I took that chore on, and it becomes a love, even if you do have to get up and feed every two hours for the first week. It took pretty much all of our turkey season, and still, even though little Lily has grown from 5 lbs. to nearly forty, I still feed her about 90 ozs. of milk from the bottle a day, four times...Also, we have been haying so putting first cut in the barn has left little time for much other than changing cards in the cameras. Below are some pics I have weeded from the hundreds taken this spring, some rather graphic.Below, you see a doe at the end of April still in shaggy winter coat. Later on, you'll see some others also still in winter coats as late as June. That is New Hampshire for you!

The scourge of all deer herds in the east is the coyote, several times his western cousin's size. Some 70% of Eastern Coyotes have gray (timber) wolf blood. That's the reason they reach 70 or more lbs here...

Most of our deer came through the winter looking sleek, and well. This doe below is NOT! I have some dozen pictures of her, and was not sure she would make it. But she seems to be gaining weight on our whitetail clover. If she gives birth, not sure what kind of chance hers have of making it...

Below you see a recent trail picture of mom and babe..a future trophy maybe? I find that the little bucks usually precede their moms, while the girls follow. Just sayin'

Below is a fairly tragic example of why we hunt coyotes with such fervor. If you zoom in in this guy, you will see his belly absolutely stuffed, and in his mouth is the head, front quarters, and legs of a fawn. I just hope it's not the little guy above! Actually, if you check the picture dates, you'll see that it was not!

Here is that weaker doe again, a month later. I think she will make it through, but offspring? Doubt it...

This little gray fox is beautiful, and shiney. We don't bother them much because they are no harm, although they are pretty good at finding turkey nests...

Here you see a doe on June 9th still sporting most of her winter coat. Time to lose it girl, although we realize that preparation for temps as low as -40 degrees requires a lot of hollow hair and undercoat!

This young lady is the same doe as seen with the fawn. She is sleek, and healthy and has shed her winter coat. Obviously had a better wintering ground...

Each week I go out to a food plot and do something, anything, to improve it. Back in April, I went out to the West plot and girdled this hemlock to kill it. It is in lockstep with the white oak next to it and taking valuable nutrients form the nut bearing tree. When it is dead and dry, I will take it down and we'll burn it at camp fires.

Below are two different does, about a mile apart, but both sleek and healthy...not flanked out at all, so really hard to tell if they have birthed out yet. Here's hoping for a high fawn survival rate!

Mid April at Long Ridge, a busy time!

2010-04-12T11:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Spring to everyone from Long Ridge Deer Camp! We have finally lost all our snow, even up on the Far Ridge, and the last of the lake and small pond ice disappeared a week ago. Once that happens things get really busy around the camp.

The first chore is to get a game cam out. I know for you lucky folks in the Southern tiers, you can leave them out all year around, but with our temps going below zero, batteries last only a few days, so I bring them in til spring. Up it goes during the first week of April. Below you see the first buck captured in a photo this year. He is in excellent condition, and shiney and alert. The mild winter was good on this group for sure. We'll be watching antler growth over the spring and summer months!

The second pressing issue is to get all the trails opened up and cleared of blowdowns, ice damaged trees (and there were a ton of them) and to clear some new trails. Below is one that I am clearing along the Eastern edge of the property, where there are no trails yet

Here I have cut my way along, and have yet to walk back to clear debri from the trail. Some folks have asked me if I always travel by ATV, and never walk! Well I do walk, with a pistol, or rifle, and binoculars. But when traveling with a chainsaw, hand tools, gas, and oil, I ALWAYS take transportation!

While walking along heaving brush and cut trees out of the new trail system, I discovered a bear den, kind of exciting because I have never found one right on our land. This one is very well used and there are black coarse hairs on the sticks around the cave. The trail in and out is well worn. I don't know if there are babes in there, but there could be. The sow I caught on camera this past summer had two yearlings with her, so it would be her breeding year. But there is no way to even know if it is her. The opening is about 24x30 inches, just perfect. I didn't poke around much in case there were cubs, but went home to bring Nancy back to show her so she'd believe me. She wasn't all that thrilled about sitting that close to the opening, so we did not

stay long...

Yesterday I hauled out two small Maples for runners and began to pack out firewood for fall camps. I use seasoned stuff that I cut and stack along the various trails. There is so much I would give it away for free if there were any takers. When this pile is all done and stacked there will still be at least five cords, seasoned and waiting around the food plots, trails, and fields. This stack will fuel a roaring fire for a full eight days of camps.

Coming up, I hope to get to the range soon, and try those Winchesters with the triggers all adjusted. Just been too busy!

April Fools at Long Ridge Deer Camp

2010-03-28T20:50:00.000-04:00

It is just about April 1st here at Long ridge and we are finally able to see the end of Old Man Winter. For as mild as a winter we did have compared to the usual, it did seem to drag out. Any month beats March here in Northern New England. March has a span of historic temperatures from 70 degrees to -20 F. Day before yesterday it was 15 degrees! Nasty and unpredictable. But during the good days we do get out and start projects. Below you are looking down from the Tall Stand onto the start of a new food plot. I cleaned up a lot of logging debri in the fall and burned a huge pile this winter. Now the final cleanup and then around mid summer I will lime, rake, and prepare the ground for a fall planting of No-Plow or Secret Spot. You won't believe how green this will look. This is primarily a bow stand though the hunters do take deer here with muzzle loaders too. It is not a popular stand because it is within a hundred yards of camp, and 200 yards from the house so the feeling is that people talking and yapping dogs will keep any deer from coming in. Quite the contrary, there is heavy cover here between the farm and the stand and the deer pour in here like water.

Another view above from the tall stand, just to the right of the ATV. This also gives a view of the far field

Typical for April 1, most of our snow is gone. The trails which I ran today are mostly clear (except for ice crushed trees) , with occasional runs of snow. Below you can see the last snow in our fields. Once that is gone the frost will leave the ground and we are off and running to a full spring. Tonight starts a nasty long rain storm and that will likely wipe out what you see of the white stuff .

Above: Once I got to the Far Ridge, I was amazed to see that the opening there was almost completely covered with snow. It is in the open, and unshaded, so I thought I would find it clear. Walking across it I found a foot of snow in places, so I guess it is the elevation that makes the difference. This is just a tad less than a mile from camp...

And last, above you see a project I started several years ago and am finally bringing to fruition. A wild apple orchard - there are a dozen or more trees in here. When we bought the place this area was dark and dank, shaded by huge pines and maples, and poplar. The apple trees were tall and stringy and dying, some already beyond saving. But with a bit of sunlight we let in, and ongoing pruning and logging, the trees are full of blossoms in the spring and drop a ton of apples each fall. The deer gorge on these apples, and turn the soil into a bog!. Today I was in there to prune the apple trees and to remove downed trees from the winter ice storms. I'll post a later spring picture of this area when it is green and beautiful. Next month, more food plot prep, game camera placement, and organizing hangers and ladder stands for the coming fall!

Mid-March at Long Ridge

2010-03-13T15:24:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago I took a picture of this beautiful Red Fox from our kitchen window. He is about 50 yards behind the house just beyond the garden hunting mice in a pasture. We watch him (or her) all winter pounce on big fat voles down through feet of snow. Even with hard crusts they jam their snouts down through it and manage to catch them. I could see the shine on this one's coat, and fox are in season, but hey, they whelp out this month, so I won't. I do worry for the one lone free ranging chicken we have left though. ( It's the hawks that really do them!)

This is what we call the Overlook. It is on the opposite end of the property from the Far Ridge, faces East, and would be an extraordinary view if I logged off in front of it. We ATV, hike, or snowmobile up there and have fires, and lunch sometimes. During deer season I strap a seat on a maple just over the edge and it makes a great stand looking out over a nice open hardwood draw..

Today, as usual I walked the dogs up one of our main snowmobile trails. If this weather keeps up, it will be too muddy in a few weeks. You can see where this year around brook has finally busted out through two feet of snow. This snow trail won't be back this spring unless we get a late March blizzard, (don't bet that we won't!) and actually even in April and early May we have been wacked. But the sledding season is OVER. Now it is hiking alone, until mud season is over.

On this mornings walk we passed under the Mid Stand whick looks out over the Far Field. It is a good stand, and I have taken great deer from it. It's drawback is that it is quite exposed and you cannot even twitch in this stand or you will be had. You can see that the floor of the stand is quite crooked and I will fix that this summer. It's like that because I put this up last July, all alone. I was twenty feet up, trying to hang this 35 pound base with one hand while I drilled holes for lag bolts to wrench it tight to the tree. It was about 80 degrees and very humid, and when I assessed the job I had done I was too beat to fix it then. Never got around to it, and stood on it like this when I arrowed a deer in October. We'll get it changed...

These two purebred Shelties are the dogs you do NOT want to take for walks in the woods if you want to see anything. They bark, herd my poor old Lab, race around like the nutcakes they are, and I am sure can be heard for miles. In fact I know they can, because often in the fall when I am way out on stand I can hear their barking as far as the Far Ridge. But they are smart, neat dogs, both rescues from smokey, small urban apartments. They can hardly believe they live on a farm now, with real sheep and fields to run on. The physically abused one (Blue Merle on the right) has almost forgotten her pain. They are happy!

Update on the Winchester model 70's - I did spend an afternoon last Monday on the PD range, and shot both rifles.
The wooden stocked Featherweight I shot with Federal Premium 125 grain (remember I want this as a varmint gun) PowerShocks. With it's seven pound factory trigger pull the best I could do was 1 1/4 groups.
I hadn't touched this stock gun until now, and that is as good as it shoots with any load. I decided that this gun needs trigger work first, so when I got back to Deer Camp, I adjusted it down to 3 pounds. We'll shoot it again with the same loads, and see what a difference if any that makes. Remember I am sticking with the same load in an attempt to wring best accuracy. When the gun has achieved that, THEN we'll seach/load up the best round for the rifle.

The Macmillan stocked Winlite also is completely stock, though if you recall I took the stock off and removed a bubble that was in contact with the side of the barrel, sanded it down, and refit the action at 45 inch pounds. With a stock trigger weight of just under 5 pounds I started off with Federal Premium 180 grain Barnes Triple Shock X. I was amazed! Just the small bubble removed from the stock gave me an immediate 1 inch group with this factory load. I was able to reproduce this group several times. I then took both rifles home and as above, adjusted the trigger down to three pounds. Can't wait to hit the range again. I have had that rifle for twenty years, and never, with any load, has it shot better than an inch and a quarter!. I'll keep you posted.

Last item, this week Fish and Game bulletined that everyone should take in their bird feeders, because the bears are out in force and marauding them. They haven't hit us yet, but got a house in the neighborhood about three miles away. Usually we have til about April 1st before they break out of hibernation, so that illustrates what an easy and short winter we've had... Jack

2010-03-08T20:25:00.026-05:00

Above is Long Ridge Deer Camp as you read this. But don't get the wrong idea! Today it will get to nearly forty degrees, and we will lose a lot of this snow. The sheep were sheared yesterday, and we are counting on low temperatures of 28 degrees. T-shirt weather!

Today at Deer Camp it was forty degrees in the sun at 1 PM! Imagine that...I spent the afternoon snowmobiling and packing trails before I put the sleds back inside our trailer. Typically in the winter, I load snow into a bay in the machinery barn, pack it with the tractor, and this is where the winter machines you see above will park. Fire them up, and go. But by this time of the year if we get a warm spell like this week, the snow starts to melt and they'd be sitting on dirt if not moved. In the morning now, we can walk the dogs on the trails through the fields and woods, and not break through. They are hard as cement in the morning. But by 1 PM, they start to get soft and hard to walk on. The picture you see above is a trip we took up to the Far Ridge, about a mile from Deer Camp. Lots of snow up there, but even in the near field this evening there was 21 inches of snow waiting to melt. Seems strange since this was a low snowfall winter...we never even went on a real snowmobile trip because of the scarcity of snow on the trails.

Since this blog is primarily about deer hunting, I will say that the winter has been particularly kind to the Whitetails. They are used to surviving way more snow and cold than they were exposed to this winter and they are looking pretty good. The coldest temperature at the house over winter was 7 degrees below zero, way warmer than most winters. If we don't get one of those typical late March blizzards that dump another twenty inches, the deer will be fine.

Deer Camp is still packed in with snow so not much in the way of projects going on, but I have assembled another twenty foot ladder stand, and a hanger for placement next summer.

Still working on the Winchesters to see what they can improve to for group, and today I used a trigger pull gauge I borrowed from the PD armory to measure trigger pull. The wood stocked Featherweight you saw in the previous blog pulled about 7 pounds! No wonder it won't group better than 1 3/4! The Winlite 70 pulled at 4 3/4 pounds. Funny, because I couldn't feel much difference between them, Not terrible, but I will get the needed wrenches and adjust both to about three pounds..

Above is my snowmobile in front of Deer Camp. This is a short lived sight this time of year, though in New Hampshire, ANY time in March you can get 20 inches of snow and -5 degrees. The deer don't like that, and neither do we!

This is looking out of Deer Camp doorway, and the snowbank you see is what had slid off the roof. Today I rode my Ribicon out on the snowmobile trails, and when I strayed off, I bogged helplessly down. Bottomed out, but within walking distance of the machinery barm. Jumped on a second one and hauled mine out. I measured the snowpack there and it was nineteen iches. It's going fast though!

The Dead of Winter - Long Ridge

2010-02-07T21:08:00.001-05:00

Well, it is the second week of February everywhere, and in New Hampshire, this is what we call the dead of winter. Normally this time of year sees a ton of snow, and cold. This year we have the cold, but little snow. The trails are mostly bare which means the snowmobiles are stationary. Very unusual...The cold we have plenty of. It is near zero or below every night, and the days are lucky to see high teens or twenty. Even our fastest brooks and widest rivers including the Connecticut are frozen solid. I love the old adage "running water never freezes"..

Oh, really? Our very waterfalls are a solid cascade of ice. Our dashing brooks are frozen solid in the layers of flow that they struggled to maintain, the ice flows from rock outcroppings along the highways are fabulous in their beauty...

But it gets old...without snow, brown dirt at 5 degrees looks down right depressing. So we put together 'winter projects' that may last well into summer. Here are some that are underway at Long Ridge Deer Camp..

Below you see two model 70 Winchester Featherweights in 30-06. The walnut stocked one on top sports a Leupold 3.5x10, and the MacMillan stocked one below carries a 1 3/4 x 5 Redfield Widefield scope. I use the lower one with the 1 3/4 power in our woods for deer and the upper one with the Leupold for smaller game such as Coyotes, etc. They are both sighted in at 100 yards, the black one with 180 grain bullets, the wood stocked one for 150 grain bullets. Both, at their best, no matter the round (sans handloads) shoot 1 1/4 inch groups on a good day, 1 3/4 inch on a bad one. This winter's project is to get them to shoot 1 M.O.A. consistently by mid summer.

I want to accomplish this task for very little money, since that will appeal to the most of you. I have never messed with these rifles, I have had them for years, I shot them right out of the box, and I want to say, that the present accuracy is totally adequate. These are the sweetest shooting rifles I have ever owned. Bolts as slick as honey, you point and shoot these babes and they always take game. It's almost uncanny how they are so forgiving. Put the crosshairs on it, and squeeze, and you own it. Simple as that. And firing the 30-06, they are good for anything on the continent. Anything. So this is a cheap experiment to see what we can squeeze from them, if anything, without spending much money. The Walnut stocked 70 I will work with 125 grain bullets, factory loads, for the smaller game such as whitetails, and coyotes etc. The Synthetic will be loaded with 180 grains, factory available loads only, good for all North American large game (though for grizzlies I would re-sight for 200/220 grains)

Above you can observe the two bores. They are rough. These rifles have been hammered over the years. I hunt with them, not show them. There are small nicks and dents all around the bores. For about fifty bucks I can have these bores crowned, and re-set. I won't do it until I have shot for groups without it so we will know what a change, if any, it made...

The 30-06 is not a terrible kicker, but there were days when I shot a hundred rounds at the range. This could be hard on the shoulder if you don't untilize a lead sled or some such device. I do have a magnum shoulder pad I utilize, but researched recoil pads on the market. Above you can see the hardened and unforgiving factory pads attached to my rifles. I've never minded them, but let's make it better! I have settled on the Limbsaver by Sims. Thirty seven bucks or so, and reports are that the felt recoil is unbelieveably attenuated. I'll let you know!

The walnut stock on the Winchester above is cracked, but when that happened it did not seem to effect accuracy, so I never worried about it. These barrels are not free floated, so there is a rise in the stock cut toward the muzzle end of the stock to put pressure on the barrel. I removed the actions from the stock, checked to see if all was well, and replaced, tightening stock action screws to 40 inch pounds each. The walnut stock was fine, the Macmillan stock had a bubble in the glass just to the left of the riser, and I removed this, smoothed the riser, and re-installed the action, again, tightening these screws to 40 inch pounds. This rifle always shot less than one inch groups, but ALWAYS threw a flyer out an inch or more. I wonder of it was this bubble on the left side of the riser, which a heating barrel would expand against, that caused this? We will see.

Just a picture above of my modest and un-organized work station in deer camp...not many or complicated tools needed for the work I do. I mostly need ammunition, not tools!

After I do all of the above, and achieve the best groups these rifles are capable of, I'll install, and sort out, and experiment with a Sims Laboratory barrel de-resonator. The factory claims these can drastically reduce groups. I'll report, you decide. If they do work, I am not sure what I'll do! I don't think I'll like the look of a rifle with one of these silly things around the barrel! And by the way, if your rifle has sights attached, don't bother. These won't fit!
After all of the above, should I decide that more needs to be done, a trigger job on each will happen. But that is real money, and I am hoping to tighten groups for just pocket change.

I will report on intial groups, and improvements (if any) with each change...I can't wait to get started! Jack

A Cold Hike at Longridge Deer Camp

2010-01-29T20:53:00.001-05:00

Winter is back here in the Connecticut Valley... -4 degrees this morning with twenty mile per hour winds, it was cold! Three inches of rain over the weekend left us with a foot loss of snow, and in the yard, we have next to nothing left. But today it actually went up to 8 degrees so I decided to take a hike in the heat of the day, up though a typical deer yard...I thought there was no snow, so I hiked without snowshows to my later regret. Below you see the Southern side of the Far Ridge...little snow. Lots of blowdown from last nights fierce winds..

Then you see the far Ridge Food Plot, on the North side of the ridge, with a good 14 inches of snow still there..not bad traveling because there was a crust that held me up pretty well.

Below is the tunnel we cut through our Christmas tree plantation last week. The deer love going through here, and we snowmobile though it. It reminds us of a tunnel cut through a huge Cedar swamp grove in Maine that we went through on a snowmobile trip some years ago. It was just like this but a mile long, and called the Love Tunnel...

While these pictures for some reason are not in order, at the end of my hike the sun had gone down, and a beautiful moon was rising. I've heard that it is being chased by Mars this month, and when it gets high above I'll step outside to try to see the red planet.

Next you see me entering the deer yard area, which is typically dark even on a bright day. The rifle you see is my Browning T-Bolt .22, which comes with me on many a hike. It is deadly on squirrels, headshots to 50-70 yards. None chattered today, but I also had my eye out for rabbits, mostly snowshoe hare, for the pot. They are white this time of year, and very difficult to spot without dogs to jog them.

Here is a rabbit trail, and if I had Beagles, this is where I would turn them loose...thousands of tracks this year, whereas last year there were hardly any. Go figure...

Of course, anywhere you find rabbit tracks in this part of the country you are going to see some Fisher tracks too...these were four plus inches, a very good sized animal.

Now, in the deer yard we can see some deer scat, and trails. Today, there was nothing really fresh to see. I have entered this yard in the past and observed many deer. When the snow is very deep they do not run at first, rather they check you out and decide if it is worth the risk to tramp through the deep snow...Today I saw none...indicative of the low snow level.

Apparently the deer had decided at one point to yard up, and had started to strip the hemlock trees of their bark. There isn't much nutrition in this, but it fills their bellies and quells the hunger pains as they burn off natural fat to stay alive. The tree below is so stripped it probably will not make it another year, though they ARE tough!

On the North side of the ridge I began to regret my not bringing snowshoes. There was easily 18 inches of snow, and while that is very little for this time of year, I had thought we lost a lot more. Fortunately the crust was decent in a lot of places and held me up quite well.

Once I got to the trail system, and stopped bushwacking I found places on the trail that the rain had washed nearly to ground level. Then at temperatures way below zero, the ground froze and produced these heaving crystals over 18 inches high. In some places when you hit bare ground you will fall in over a foot, as the earth has heaved and frozen so hard that you are stepping on nothing but a world of crystal, and plunge through!

Below, as I approach the farm through the woods, I take a look at the mess ahead of me, all ice and snowstorm blowdown, and a huge clean-up project that surely won't start before spring. But all in all, a nice two hour hike, it was 8 degrees when I started and four when I finished. Didn't see a single creature, but know that they saw me! Another wonderful afternoon at deer camp!

A Winters Afternoon at Long Ridge

2010-01-17T17:34:00.001-05:00

Today I just had to get out and do something related to hunting deer. Can't work the land, yesterday I felled some Maples for the deer to munch on during super cold spells, and burned a couple of brush piles...what to do?

Yesterday it went up to 36 degrees here, and we lost a lot of snow. I didn't even wear a sweater! Today it just about went up to freezing and was very pleasant. Tonight we are getting up to a foot of snow again, so I figured I would take my ATV out to the Western stand to loosen the hanger straps, and retrieve the foam seat from it before the mice beat me to it. Another week or so and the ATVs won't be able to make it through the snow, and we'll be on snowmobiles. I headed up the road we live on and a quarter mile away is one of our log landings you see above, to enter that part of the trail system.

Just above the log landing you enter the Western trails and I am headed to a food plot, both to service my hanger stand, and to check out any recent sign. You can see I have been up here before we lost some snow on a snowmobile...

When I reach the food plot I can see that the deer have been on this one, digging down through a foot of snow to reach some greens. That will soon stop though, as we begin to accumulate snow, the deer winter in their yards and stop moving around. With a foot or less on the ground they are still active.

Twenty feet up on a Black Birch, shrouded in Hemlock branches is my hanger..Up I go and loosen the straps and toss the seat down to my ATV parked below...

After I got the job completed I couldn't bear to head back to camp quite yet and head on up the Western perimeter trail to see what else is going on. On quite a few steep inclines I have to work the Honda to keep going, but make it up over the top, and head along the upper reaches. A ton of tracks, mostly deer, fox and coyote, but I do find one very fresh set of Fisher tracks crossing the trail. These are just a bit bigger than a large Coyote track, and easy to spot by the way they kind of scrabble along. Then up and across the top and over to the Eastern stand, and on the way back to camp I took the time to mark trees that I plan to take out along the trail this spring. Not an exciting afternoon at Long Rindge Deer Camp, but a satisfying one! Hope you all were able to get out as well! For those of you still hunting, lucky you!

Experience An Evening at LRDC

2010-01-09T12:13:00.001-05:00

The evenings typically start at Long Ridge about 5 or 5:15 PM as hunters return to camp from still hunts or stands. During the main of deer season it gets dark here about 4:50 PM or so and it'll take 20/25 minutes for 6 to 10 hunters to all get back to camp.. some are walking, some on ATV's, some arrive in vehicles because they hunted spots up or down the road and way out. In any case, there are floodlights at camp and these can be seen for some distance as you approach from any angle in the woods. There is a perennial fire going in the large stone fireplace and first hunter back to camp stokes this to intoxicating levels. Sparks and the crackling of burning fire wood are what I first see when I come out. Because I do not like to school the deer on my elevated stands, I wait til well after dark to return to camp, so am often the last in. Coming across the fields to camp I can see the shadows of hunters around the fire, and it is always exciting to hear what they saw, shot, experienced. After unloading rifles and carrying in whatever gear we want, we gather around the large dining table that seats ten. On the table you'll find soda, a large variety of wines, liquors, mixers, beer, snacks, and the most delicious array of crackers and cheeses you've experienced. It's cocktail hour! Above you see a typical shot of a toast about to be hoisted...no doubt to a successful past year. If this is the first night of the season, it is time to clink glasses, refresh ourselves of family, work and personal news, and to renew long and enduring friendships...

After an hour or so of socializing, we begin preparing the main meal. Always, good Maine Russet potatoes, the best baking potatos grown, are wrapped in foil and tossed into the grill for a good hour or more. This give us time to gather around the fire, hoist another drink, admire the harvest, and to prepare our meats. Our meats are rarely purchased, almost always wild game harvested by us. Venison, moose, elk, mule deer, wild boar, bear, are all consumed with gusto. Several of the hunters actually enrolled in a first water cooking class and learned how to make up the most savory sauces one could imagine. These meals truly rival anything I have ever eaten in some of the finest restaurants in the East. Our best grill artist is a hunter from Pennsyvania, who can broil any game there is to tender perfection...Toss in a first class salad, and the crew is called in. Tons to eat, tons to drink - diets are put asides for deer camp, and mountains of gourmet food is enjoyed by all, delicious red wines accompany the meals and we all wonder why we cannot live like this year around!

After supper, of course, out to the fire and chatting over the possibilities for tomorrows hunt, our children's future, national politics, or the beauty of life itself. A lovely evening indeed..work is far away, drudgery, if there is any in our lives, is far away, finances, The Long War, everything, right now, is far, far, away from us at deer camp this evening.

Several hours later, depending on how early one wants to rise to hunt, it is moved inside, deep in easy chairs around the reading table for a night cap, easy conversation, or quiet contemplation. It is the moment of first walking out of the woods, and this final moment of the day, that I have my deepest thoughts and appreciation for real friends, in a real world, so far from Washington DC, so far from where our brave youngsters are warding off the murderers around the world. Our camp is primitive, and modest. Just a porta-potty. No running water. But it is warm, and dry, and comfortable, and when filled with the voices and bodies of real hunters, a true variety of cool people who love nature, and family and life, then I feel surrounded by a richness and luxury I can hardly explain. I have sat in my easy chair and listened to the buzz of enjoyment around me, and been humbled into stunned silence and not a little thankful prayer. What a thing, deer camp!

2010 - A New Year for Long Ridge Deer Camp

2010-01-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

Here it is in January and very cold, windy and snowy. Above you see one of the main trails out of camp leading to the Southeast Bowl, the Trail Stand, the Ridge Stand and the East Plot Stand. This is how it looked after being beaten to death by foot traffic and ATV during deer season, which was as rainy and wet as any I have ever been through.... The top photo shows it just over a month later, frozen solid, twelve inches of snow, and farther up, eight solid inches of ice under the snow where the draining water from rain froze in place at 5 degrees.

Like the pictures above, you see LRDC in it's glory during November, full of use, firewood consumed, and ready for a winters rest! Tired!

And here we are, snuggled in for the winters beginning..by beginning, I mean, it'll drop to 20 or 30 below before we are done, and the snow will pile up 3 to eight feet by February. Right now it is sixteen degrees inside camp - cold but not cold enough to stop the projects we have started already. Got a new hanger stand for a stocking stuffer, brought it down and have just put it together. Come spring I will buy seven, eight foot 2x4s, pressure treated, to make a twenty foot ladder. Up she'll go and I'll hoist this baby up and attach it sometime in August over a new stand site. We are off to a good start!

Hunting Season 2009 - Gone!

2009-12-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

Well people, it's over for us in New Hampshire! This Sunday is the last day of season for archers, and few will be out, probably including me...It is cold here, wind chill down to about zero, and trees waving all over the place. Like seventy five per cent of the rest of the country we have a foot of snow on the ground. While this is great for tracking, firearms season is over, so save your energy. Bows won't cut it. As I write it is ten degrees!

Here you see hunters arriving and getting ready for first camp, early in November for a late afternoon hunt!

We harvested a lot fewer deer this year. Only four campers tagging out except for several that went to West Virginia and (as usual) hit the Southern jackpot. I got one by bow, two got deer by muzzleloader, one by rifle. One of my trooper buddies, earlier, hit a ten pointer with a high shot arrow, and he was never recovered, most likely surviving. We even had game wardens tracking him, and he never laid down.

Cooking venison for eight!

One of the reasons we took fewer deer this year is that I instituted rules eliminating taking anything smaller than eight points ( except does in season) and having only two, three day camps vs. three in past years.

Our first camp was a bust because of weather...Friday afternoon we hunted, but by ten that night it was pouring and never stopped all through Saturday into Sunday morning. That put a big damper on things and definitely brought out the cribbage boards!

Interest in the second camp was limited at best, and next year we may cut back to one single four day camp. Not sure why attendance was down, but most of New Hampshire is wide open to hunting and we all have multiple places to hunt. Many of the hunters tried new places, some with great luck.

In any case, after about November 8th, I noted that not a single buck fired up any of our game cameras until after dark. Evening after evening I sat over does, twenty feet below me, feeding contentedly with no bucks in sight. After hiking back to my ATV after dark, I would just ease down the 1/2 mile trail to the far field and inevitably find a half dozen deer on my clover. I could never see in that light if there were any bucks among them, but I doubt it. So it's over. The freezer is full, I have arrow heads to sharpen, guns to clean, and camp to put in order for the winter. All of it is fun.

Campfires always bring out the best in us all...

And below, we see the cramp and joy of hunters downloading their gear into camp...

Gearing up for a venison supper...

Rifle Season Opens at Long Ridge

2009-11-11T21:26:00.014-05:00

Ok People, today opened rifle season in New Hampshire. Today, tomorrow and Friday, does and bucks may be taken. From Saturday on, through December 6th, only bucks may be taken. By state law, bucks by definition must have one antler at least three inches long.

All summer we have been monitoring our fields, food plots, and woodlands for deer population, and our conclusion is that the fawn survival rate is way down this year. I can only guess that this is due to the high bear population. Bears do raise cane with newborns left by their mothers when they leave them to feed. I have three different bears on my cameras from June through September, and even one bear can comb a large forested tract clean of any food. In any case, we are setting up to hunt bear next fall. We had a similar situation with coyotes several years ago, shot a bunch, and the problem seemed to go away. I'll keep you posted.

This year we have instituted Quality Deer Management Standards to our camp. By this, I mean we have researched what that means, and implimented whatever parts of it would seem to apply to our area. Since we are under fairly light hunting pressure, the simple rule is, shooting does OK, shooting bucks with less than eight points is not.

This rule is being found hard to swallow by some camp members who do not often get deer. For those of us that regularly harvest two or three, it is no big deal. I sympathize with hunters who resist the change. After all, some of my campers are truly in it for the meat they can place in the family freezer. But as you can see from past summer and fall postings we have many four and six point, two and three year olds, and we have regularly harvested them over the past ten years or so. This year we are letting them live so that they may join the ranks of the more seldom seen eight, ten and twelve pointers we do love to bring in. I hope to increase exponentially the handsome trophys hunters at LRDC bring in. I will keep these rules in place a minimum of three years before I try to measure success/change.

These rules are not cast in stone. A first time hunter, a far traveled guest, or youth on their first hunt, hey, take what you will...get hooked, become a lifelong addict to nature and hunting. THEN we'll clamp down on you! (-:

You can see in the pictures a four,
six,

and eight point buck.

The six and eight point do spar a bit,

and also you can see in the darkest picture, a Fisher. This is a little guy, I'd guess ten/fifteen pounds...

For those of you who do not have them in your part of the country, they too take fawn after fawn for dinner. Here in Northern New England, we call them the Wolverine of the East. They are tough to the core, fearless, and they never give up. I have live-trapped them, and driven them miles away to free them, and they never, ever, stop attacking the cage they are in. They average 15-20 pounds, but can reach double that. And when they do, they are nothing to mess with. While moose hunting with a LRDC pal several years ago about twenty miles North of camp, we saw the biggest Fisher either of us had ever seen. Comparing this one to weights of beaver and other animals I have had more experience with, I'd have guessed this one at about 40 pounds. Any game warden would scoff at that but my buddy, no stranger to the woods and nature guessed closer to fifty
pounds. Whatever it weighed it was huge and nasty as we watched it savagely aattack a rotten tree trunk and eat mice or some other small rodents it found. We both had scoped 30-06's on it and while it was not in season, I did feel an urge to take it, just to prove that they get that big. When I trapped them, even the smallest was eager to take on my 100 pound Lab (who knew better) and he was no slouch for a fight!

So, Friday at noon, I light the out door fireplace, and retreat into camp to get into Scent-Lok and other gear. I'll stay in camp long enough to hear other rigs arrive, the unloading of gear, beer, ATV's and laughter and raucous greetings, before we sign the log as to what stand we are headed for, and head out, Winchester Featherwight 30-06 in hand...

Muzzle Loader Opener and Mock Scrapes

2009-11-06T19:08:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was the opener to our muzzle loading season. This was not a stay over camp, and no one showed up to hunt the property. I did go out several afternoons on stand, and morning still hunts but did not see any deer. Oh, they were here - every evening I came out of the woods they were all over the fields and barely moved as I puttered down on my ATV. But as far as decent bucks go, nothing. I did not really expect to see any as it is normal for our big guys to stay put until real cold, and the second and third week of November set in...As you can see from the pictures, it was a beautiful full moon this past weekend...if you did not know, the November full moon is officially called the Hunter's Moon.

I sat two evenings far up on the Ridge from camp. No deer, but as it got dark and that beautiful amber moon came up over my left shoulder, big as a dinner plate, I knew, simply knew, that I was in the right place in this tiny glimpse of history. Typically I lower my gear from the stand in the dark and hike down a trail a hundred yards or so to my ATV where I load my gear and putter on out. About a half mile down toward camp is where I pass the Far Stand, (check the pictures) and right after that I hit the fields I cross to get to camp. That is where I see the does all chowing down. On Sunday night, while I was still in stand, and the moon coming up like a big saucer, a flock of around ten raucous Canada Geese crossed it on their way South. I was close to Heaven.
Now, someone asked me about mock scrapes. Believe me I have subscribed to, and read every major deer hunting and archery publication available in the last twenty years (before that I was a yeoman patrol cop who couldn't afford such luxuries) and I have hunted New England for 54 years. So about fifteen years ago I began to set up mock scrapes. Exactly where and how all the experts and pundits descriped. For the last ten years I have used the drippers and scents from Wildlife Research Center and here are my results. Zip. Save your money.

I have set up scrapes as directed, used every scent made, as directed, used scent free gloves, spent countless dollars on products, and conclude, in New England, that mock scrapes are not worth the time or money.
Below is one I have had in place by the Far Stand for 12 years. I have yet to take a deer over it, though I have shot many deer from this stand...

The pictures of the stand you see is the Far Stand, fifty yards into the woods looking down at a field.

Upper is the stand, lower is the field it looks out on...

Right below the stand is a cross roads of deer trails.

I have seen literally hundreds of deer while sitting in this stand. Once, in fourteen years I saw a young immature buck sniff the mock scrape. Once. Now, to be fair, I did shoot a buck in 1998 that was walking toward me from my right toward the mock scrape. He was still seventy five yards from it when I shot him. He was a nine pointer that dressed out at 240 pounds. Huge. But there is no indication that he was headed to the scrape. Last year while sitting in this same stand, a ten pointer came up across the field headed directly for this scrape. I passed up an easy seventy yard shot thinking he would stop at the scrape, but no, he veered off leaving me with no shot at all. He never went close to it.
I have used every scent Wildlife Research makes, a myriad of doe-in-heat/buck tarsal, you name-it scents. Just for fun. And I don't mean to discourage your use of mock scrapes. They are fun to do, fun to watch, and divert attention. But in this part of the country, if you are doing them to attract deer, forget it! If you are doing them for an excuse to get out there, go for it!

Almost Muzzle Loading Season, and How NOT to Book an Out of State Hunt...

2009-10-24T19:16:00.007-04:00

Well people, this coming Saturday opens our muzzle loader season at Long Rindge. Saturday, Sunday and Monday are either sex days, and then until the regular firearms season it is bucks only...We've left the land undisturbed for the past two weeks, and yesterday for the last time for a bit I retrieved and changed both camera cards. The bear you see is up on the Far Ridge, and as the grass is about 7-8 inches tall, he is a hefty dude. Seems to come through about once a week.

The six point buck in the picture is an example of one we will NOT take under QDMS, but rather let him mature into a trophy mature animal. This is the first year I have imposed restrictions to eight pointers or up (there are plenty of them out there) so I expect it to be tough for hunters with unfilled tags at seasons end to pass on these guys. In the long haul it will pay..We are isolated enough here that pressure is relatively low around us so I am not too worried about someone else taking bucks on the interior. In any case this coming weekend is a non-stayover weekend hunt. We'll hunt during the day, and then after dark gather at camp for hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and pictures of any deer taken, before heading out. The rules for this hunt are to be on afternoon stand no later than 3 PM, and do NOT come out at end of shooting light, but wait until dark. If a deer is taken, do not bring it out until dark. At that time, we can all assist in the chore.

A hunting friend who hunts primarily in Connecticut and the New York Catskills wrote me the other day. He had intended to get a jump on the season by booking a hunt in New Jersey, and did so, finding a guide service on the web. A relative neophyte to the world of big game hunting, he neglected to ask for references. The pictures you see above of the wooden stand without ladder,

the provided 'chair'

and the description of the area and hunting conditions are quite unbelievable. The living quarters were worse. One finds better digs at the most Northern Quebec caribou quests! I enclose in parentheses parts of his notes to me about this.
"Jack,
Hello, my friend. I thought I would fill you in on my latest 'hunting' adventure (nightmare) in New Jersey...although I am not even sure where to begin. The accommodations were basically a garage behind someone's house that had been outfitted to resemble some kind of a cabin. When we arrived we were greeted by our guide who promptly uttered "what kind of a$$holes show up at 11:45 pm?" We then proceeded inside where there were no blankets, pillows or anything (not that we would be inclined to use them after seeing the way the place was kept). Cigarette butts were scattered all over the floor and a half eaten frozen pizza was up on the counter in the 'kitchen' area. The running water was brown/rust colored and the sleeping area in the loft was complete with rat nests and low hanging rafters with rusty nails protruding in some spots.
The guide wanted to try some local spots so in the morning we were brought to our treestands. We were basically hunting 1/2 mile from elderly housing communities and strip malls. You could hear the car radios from nearby traffic. When we arrived at the location for my treestand it had been stolen so he decided to put me up in this...
Somehow I gut up the thing and then after my bow and gear was hoisted up I clung to the tree for dear life. I don't normally scare very easily but needless to say I didn't even get a chance to hunt as I tried desperately for two hours to figure out a way to get down...However, it was more of a situation where the guy I booked the trip with farmed out the guide services to someone else. SO, the pictures on the website, etc were not what we encountered. I have to say, though, that we laughed like hell all day and into the night. The one part of the story I forgot to tell you is that when I finally got down from the tree I decided to hunt in the same spot using a fallen tree as cover. I promptly dispensed one of my new Buck Bombs and as I did, I ended up ingesting a good 5 seconds of the blast (eyes, nose and mouth direct shot)....that just about sent me over the edge! The guys howled at that one....

I thought I would add a couple of more details to my treestand issue. The told me that there was a seat up there and to 'get comfortable'. Here is that beauty:
Finally, here is my look down (notice there is no ladder)

...Later, after I got down we were all picked up and went back to the garage. The guide decided that he and his son would try to do a deer drive (it was raining and there weren't may options left). As we got to his spot there were signs everywhere that said "CAUTION - SAFETY ZONE". We were within 450 feet of school property and any loaded gun or nocked arrow would result in a minimum $500 fine. Well, that was the end....we politely asked to go back to the 'camp' where we packed our stuff and indulged in some good 12 year scotch. We spent the night at a nice Hilton about 20 miles away and headed back to Connecticut on Friday morning.
I will never hear the end of this one from my friends....but, we will also never forget it."

He has learned! But being a bright upbeat guy, instead of brooding about it, he did the right thing..retired to a 1st class hotel, and enjoyed some good Scotch with his hunting buddy. I haven't pressed him for the name of the outfitter. That will come in time. About the time it takes me to pour half a quart of Glen Livet down his throat. In a way I envy him. He has Deer Camp fare to last thirty years. I can't match a story like that! Stay safe everyone, and good luck in your 2009 quest for the elusive Whitetail buck! Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net