The Traditional Woodsman

I haven’t written anything in awhile. Mainly, we are preparing a new retail aspect to traditionalwoodsman.com. Partially, because I have been compiling a few stories for publication elsewhere. I apologize….I will be back in the saddle soon.

I am driven by current events to break form and write about something that has nothing to do with the outdoors, traditional archery, or woodsmanship. Those peaceful pursuits have taken a backseat to me lately. I feel a strong need to express my opinions…and maybe a little common sense….to this tragedy in Florida. We have all been preached at by these  so called “experts” reporting such one sided nonsense…..I have this website, hopefully someone reads my opinions, and hopefully it makes at least somebody slow down, and think.

Trayvon Martin : I am very sorry that your life was extinguished so early. I cannot imagine the pain your parents must feel. I (and either does anyone but your parents) don’t know a thing about you. I don’t know if you were good, bad, honest, a thug……nothing. But it appears to me, that you didn’t deserve to die. That said….and I’m not implying that you did any of this, again, I don’t know….it makes me want to grab these young boys I see walking down the street; pants 1/2 way down thier rear, hooded sweatshirt hiding thier features, conducting yourselves in a thug-like manner, emulating the gang-bangers so glorified by pop culture……..STOP IT! Odds are, you are not truly “thugs”. Most likely, you are young guys just trying to fit in. Trayvon Martin didn’t deserve to die because he wore a “hoodie” (I hate that name by the way). But lets be clear, his appearance and demeanor contributed to the consequence. Is that fair? Nope. Is it reality? You betcha. Geraldo Rivera (whom I think is generally a knucklehead) made a great point in noting that the “hoodie” has become a thug symbol. He was pretty much shouted down….too bad. Inner city folks have for years adjusted their wardrobe based on staying safe. Don’t wear blue on the Crip block, no red bandanas around the Bloods…..or whatever the hell the protocol is. So why is it so odd to tell a child “Put the damned hood down, it isn’t cold, you aren’t outdoors!” …? Why not make your children dress decent, and properly? Nonsense.

George Zimmerman – You, Mr. Zimmerman, are an idiot. You broke the #1 rule of concealed carry: Mind your own damned business! I carry every day. I do not carry so that I can play cop. I do not carry so I can accost a suspicious person on my block. I carry for the singular and selfish reason of saving my own or my loved ones lives if there is no other option. Period.  You were soooo close to doing things right. You volunteered to be a neighborhood watch participant. You saw something that caught your eye, you called the police….you should have stopped there! You knew you were carrying a firearm….yet you didn’t consider where your actions might escalate to. The kid wasn’t doing anything that required immediate confrontation. You could have waited in your car for the police to arrive. Had you done that, nothing would have happened!Responsible folks that carry a firearm for self defense know this.  You obviously, did not. The rest of the questions….did you need to shoot because Tayvon was beating you, etc….they don’t matter, because you should have never allowed the situation to get that far into the danger zone.  Ego? Stupidity? Both? Probably.

Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Mikhail Muhammad, etc. : You folks are the scum of the earth, and just as racist as any sheet wearing member of the KKK. You are participating in hatred, based on race, to further your own sad agenda(s). You are almost gleeful in your leaching of this incident. A boy died. Parents are sad. And you have the slimy notion to use that tragedy to a) make money b) recruit new members c) grab some limelight. And Mikhail Muhammad…..you may be the worst of them all. I saw you little speech on CNN, I heard you proclaim to be “military”, while your goons stood by mean-mugging for the camera. You have placed a bounty on the head of a man not convicted of a crime. Imagine if the head of some white supremecy group put a bounty on your head, and went on national TV to shout it out loud? You are a thug, a criminal, and you are fueled by the hypocrisy of political correctness. And news flash….the original Black Panther Party thinks your an ass.

So there it is. Anyone in the media dwelling on one aspect of this tragedy is doing a disservice. It isn’t one thing. It’s a combination of poor choices and bad decisons, inflated by conscienceless scum who see it as an opportunity. A very sad, perfect storm. I hope it blows itself out to sea soon.

See You Down The Trail…….

This is a picture of my daughters friend, just goofing off with my new Rancho Safari  ghillie suit. Pretty amazing camo!!

We took my good friend and his son out rabbit hunting this morning, the pictures tell the story. Darn good morning on State Land, we ran 4 and killed 2.

It was a strange deer season. I’m almost glad it’s over. I passed on several smallish bucks early in the season, and then never had a chance at one later. I did kill a small doe in the UP, maybe the smallest deer I have ever killed. It was with my longbow though, so that was satisfying. I had a muzzloader misfire during the late season, on a doe that was hobbled with a broken leg. I felt bad about that, she needed to be put down.

  I thought I would write more during the season, but I just didn’t have it in me. I thought about that quite a bit. Why wasn’t I in a writing mood? I went into deer season full of anticipation….and then fell into a slump.

 Towards the end, the thought of sitting in a tree stand wasn’t appealing at all. I think it may be time to become a full time ground hunter. The days I slipped around the swamp and sat on the ground were the best. I found a stool I like, I will write about it and do a full review later. Treestand sitting just wore on me this year…uncomfortable, cold, and the older I get, the more dangerous they seem. A young friend of mine fell from a tree this year, thank the Lord he was unhurt. He and I hunted rabbits yesterday, he showed me the tree he fell from. He fell every bit of 20 feet. I am utterly amazed he wan’t hurt. Looking up at the treestand…..it was one of those moments for me. I believe a fall like that would have killed me. A ground hunter I will be….

I also messed around with trail cameras this season. There is an ethical debate, a question as to whether they are an unfair advantage. My personal jury is still out. I used one extensively in the UP, and it recorded almost 1000 pictures in 10 days. Many of the same deer, mostly does at night. I did put the ethical question to the test…I recorded a few bucks in the daylight, and I hunted thse spots the following day(s) trying to get a crack at one. They never showed at the time previously recorded by the trail camera. Recording a deer on a trail camera doesn’t put him on the buck pole…at least for me. I did enjoy seeing all of the non game species that passed my camera. Coyotes, fox, rabbits, racoons, turkeys, oppossum. I suppose a guy could learn to abuse trail cameras, to use them as an unfair advantage. I also agree with the notion that trail cameras are a high tech substitute for woodsmanship, for scouting. I won’t be buying anymore, or reviewing them on this site. It’s a neat piece of technology, but it isn’t something I want to make a serious part of my hunting kit.

I have also been working on changing this site. I am working with a couple of fine craftsmen on some products I will be selling on this site, products I use and believe in whole heartedly. More information to come..

I have hunted deer this year more than normal….with less than stellar results. Friday night I saw a doe and a coyote. It was an enjoyable evening, but I am tired of sitting still and being quiet.

Saturday morning I loaded Daisy in the truck, gathered up my cousin and great hunting partner Danny, and headed for the rabbit spots. There were some deer hunters out, so we dawdled around some of the “lesser” spots, and gave them a chance hunt the morning. About 9:30 the parking spots started to clear out, so we moved in.

Daisy got on 2 good runs, the second one I chose not to shoot the rabbit. I have killed enough rabbits in my life, and saving this one for another day was just as satisfying as pulling the trigger.

Sunday morning was perfect. We didn’t get 5 feet from the truck before Daisy was on one. Danny and I had cut some brushpiles for the bunnies at my Uncle Jacks place, and it seems to be working. We decided to shoot at least one, to give Daisy a reminder as to what she is chasing. Rabbit Number 1 popped out of a grass clump at my feet. In years past it would have been a dead rabbit, as i never gave a second thought to jump shooting a rabbit. But now, because of Daisy, I won’t shoot them if she doesn’t bring them around ( I know, it’s actually the rabbit leading the dog). She trailed this one in a wide loop, drifting out to a point where I almost called her back because of property lines. But then I saw a grey form skipping out ahead of her. The rabbit was in a pot hole near a cut field. It didn’t want to leave the thick stuff, but eventually it lit out across the cut corn field straight at Danny and I. After a flurry of shots…..I know my first shot was a clean miss behind it….We had the first rabbit of the season tumbling across the 2 track we stood on.

Not very much time passed before Daisy was on another. This one embarrassed me. It came out of some of the brush Danny and I had cut, First pass, 2 misses. 30 seconds later Daisy and the rabbit came zipping by again. They were on fairly open ground, and Daisy was running and bawling like I had never seen before. She was only 4 feet behhind the fleeing bunny, both rabbit and hound came by as a blur. No way was I risking a shot with Daisy so close.

I stayed where I was, and 5 minutes later I missed again….twice. I hustled to the other side of the thicket, lucked into the right position, and killed bunny Number 2 as it came rocketing toward me.

Two was enough. We packed up hit another nearby public hunting area, more to get one running than to shoot one. We saw very little sign, and called it a day. Tomorrow night, Daisy and I will share some rabbit and dumplings. I might be done with deer for the season, this weekend was way too much fun!!

See you down the trail……

I just got this email and picture from my friend John Allmand. You might remember John from his role in my story about the red squirrel….Below is his story of a great buck he killed yesterday, unedited, as he sent it. Note that John has spent his gun deer season bringing a young man into the sport, and I submit that this buck is proof thatgood deeds reap good results. John is a good hunter, and works hard at being successful. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first buck he has killed from this tree…..but I know that spot has looked good to him in the past, and I’m glad his hunch paid off. I love it when a deserving Woodsman puts one on the ground! Great job John!

I pretty much told you the story, but here it is in a nutshell:

Well, I was supposed to be heading home from Deer Camp in the N.W. UP today, but had to stay home because of starting a new job recently. The deer gods blessed me with a nice consolation prize this morning. In fact, on my way to the morning’s hunt, at about 5:15 am, I had a brilliant shooting star streak across the sky, in the direction I was headed. I had the feeling this was a sign the day was going to hold something special.

After a long, dark walk out to the hunting spot, I bid good luck to my friend’s Son Keith, who would accompany me for this day’s hunt. Keith is new to hunting, and exudes the fire and excitement I remember having when I first started about 15 years ago. He shot his first deer, a button buck, on opening day, this past Tuesday, and was immediately hooked. After eating the tenderloins from his first harvest, he said it would be very hard to get excited about any other kind of meat.

Keith would be hunting from a ground blind we set up prior to opening day. It is situated close to the highway boundary where the deer tend to cross frequently. I was sitting in a restorer stand edge of a small pocket of woods, adjacent to a small pond. The deer tend to funnel past this pond on both sides, which made this a good vantage point.

At about 7:15, just light enough to see, I heard the rapid shuffling of hooves coming from behind me. It turned out to be a 6 point buck, who walked within 10 feet of my tree, and paused about 10 yard out in front of me. Just then a doe sprang across the field about 80 yards out, no doubt sensing the presence of her pursuer. I watched as the young buck trotted after her, rounding the edge of the pond. I had hoped she would lead him past Keith, but they turned into a thicket before reaching his shooting zone.

At about 7:30, a single shot rang out from the East. I watched in anticipation of deer scrambling from that spot. Nothing materialized. At about 8:30, the hunter, who apparently took the shot, descended from his treestand for sign. After 15 minutes of scratching his head, he climbed back into his perch.

Another hour passed with no action. At about 9:30, the hunter on the eastern property, was down from his stand again, searching in earnest. He was soon joined by his hunting buddy, who had been sitting in a blind about the same distance Keith was from me. It appeared they had found some sign, which slowly lead them in our direction, skirting a large swath of cattail marsh and thickets. I immediately called Keith and told him to focus his attention to the east for deer that might get bumped from the security of this cover.

At about 9:45 am, the search party had advanced about 200 yards, no more than 400 yards from our positions. It was then when I caught movement out of my left eye. It was a nice set of antlers bobbing through the tall weeds. I immediately knew this was a deer worth shooting. As he passed me on the left at about 45 yards, I noticed he had a bad limp. I didn’t see any noticeable blood or wounds, but that didn’t matter. I had my crosshcross hairs up behind his shoulder when he hit an opening. At the crack of my muzzleloader he went down. Immediately, he came to his feet, only to fall again. He simply couldn’t get a firm stance.

Although I hate to admit it, I had forgotten my ram rod, and couldn’t reload the muzzle loader; fortunately, so I thought, I had my .44 magnum pistol (Ruger Super Blackhawk) handy. It is outfitted with a red-dot scope. In the excitement, and with all of the commotion of this wounded deer trying to escape, I proceeded to unload 5 shots in his general direction. Yes, I only had five bullets in the gun, none on my person, but several conveniently located about 500 yards away, in my car.

Although the deer wasn’t going anywhere fast, I just about jumped out of the stand, and sprinted the opposite direction, towards Keith’s blind. He knew something was up, and was already headed my way. I quickly gave him the story, pealed the Remington 870 I had loaned him from his hands, and made haste back up the hill. With Keith in tow, we skirted the buck’s location, making sure to stay down wind and out of sight. I still didn’t know how badly hurt he was, and didn’t want to take a chance for him to get an infusion of adrenaline, sending him into the next zip code.

As I approached where I anticipated him to be, I could make out antlers in the weeds. He was doing his best to lay down and hide, and as I closed to within about 40 feet, he tried to get up. His attempts failed. I put two quick shots into his broadside chest, and watched him expire. I never like to end an animal’s life in this fashion, but I prefer it to prolonging their suffering.

When he was down for good, we approached with excitement and admiration of for this nice buck. Based on his body and antler development, I judged him to be a 3 1/2 year old deer. It wasn’t until later that I discovered his left hind leg was broken at the joint. There was no blood anywhere else, so I think he may have had an encounter with a car, or was on the losing end of a nasty brawl. He had a broken tine, and many scars around his neck and face. A definite scrapper!

In the end, I felt good about ending his suffering. Plus, he’ll taste good, and will compliment the left (empty) side of my fireplace. Good luck to all of you who are hunting this season, and be safe.

Regards,

John Allmand