Red Rabbit

Welcome Bill. According to Jim H's new book and other readings, studies have shown no effect of the full or new moon on deer activity. But I do like the full moon to aid my hike in or out of the hills. RR

DesertSheep, Sounds like a great trip you have planned for next fall. Best of luck and enjoyment. A dall hunt has been my dream hunt for many years. Doug~RR

Sounds like sweet success. How many hunters were in camp? How long were you up there personally? Doug~RR

Have some great hunts, Tommy and Bill. RR

Congrats on your buck, Jim. Brilliant sunset pics. You guys are too young to get sore and tired. Doug~RR

Jake, Congrats on a nice buck on a father/son hunt. Doug~RR

Campfires are mesmerizing to look at, warm the near side of the body, and restore the spirit. But I am like TAM in that I do not like smelling smoky clothes. Rarely will have a fire in camp, as pillow time is important before the next hard day of hunting. I do not know what the deer thinks of smoke, but if he smells the smoke, he can smell your human body, so work the wind. Doug~RR

Casey, Here's a pic of the accubonds recovered from the two deer. The one on the right entered behind the ribs, traveled through the liver, lungs and heart, and ended under the hide in front of the offside shoulder. It weighed 152 grains. The other weighed 143 grains. As evidenced by the forward facing prtals, we suspect the bullet tumbled inside the deer and traveled backward. Maybe not a bullet failure in the sense that the animal died, but concerning in that two bullets travelled backwards. Here's a photo of a brownie that was on a point 340 yards below the kill spot, between us and the beach. We drug the deer sidehill to the next cut to get away from having to drag dinner directly underneath him. He got up and walked around the point a little during the drag, but did not make a move towards us. Doug~RR

Deerslam- It was evidently too early for Old Squaw and Eiders. Scott- Rica stayed with Grandma in Phoenix. We did not jump any Ptarmigan atop the hills. The grass was so high that she would have been unseen. RR

CB1, Bob- Besides the slippers, maybe some fleece pants to wear on the boat, and some foam earplugs to muffle for any snorer and wave lap at night. A good liqueur or sipping whiskey for after dinner and bring some to share. I shot resting on the backpack and did not carry a bipod. Lighten the pack load! I was just a jazzed about the Harlequin ducks as the blacktail. Tim of TR taxidermy in Flag were talking today about ideas on mounting the waterfowl as my creative juices were flowing. My last thoughts were of a duck taking off with one webbed foot still in a rippled bed of clear resin next to a shore of slate rocks with another standing Harlequin drake. Allen- it was special country that begs for a return for another blacktail. My long time dream hunt has been for a Dall sheep, so guess the serious planning should begin. RR

Go get 'em! Best of luck. RR

P&Y Doug- Nice framing by the puddle-neat photo. Bill- We were over by Uganik. Have a great trip next year. Christian- The climbing was a lot more difficult due to the alders, brush, stickers and grass. When spooked, the sitkas did not run as far as coues, but there was always an alder ticket to get lost in. CB1- I left the tripod in the boat to save weight and often the grass was too tall to sit down. It would have been useful at times though. Good raingear- I wore the rain pants alot for the wet grass and snow- use a belt or suspenders as the elastic waistband alone ain't enough. Waterproof surdy leather boots with straight beeswax melted in. A silicone spray or mink oil would be useless and snowseal does not last well for several days. A couple of guys used ankle-fit Lacrosse rubber boots. No cotton clothing; Cabelas Microtex is great stuff, as are Smartwool socks with a thin liner sock. A light rifle with a short barrel. Leather gloves for busting through the alders and stickers, and clear safety glasses so you don't get poked in the eye. Just carried 1 quart of water with cytomax or Clif shot mix. Safety kit with lighter, fire tabs, and an emergency mylar space bag. We drug the deer down the steep slope with a line that had a swivel in it for when it rolled. I tried a plastic deer sleigh from Cabelas that slid easier and protected the cape. Would have prefered the 3' wide model, but it would be too long to carry in the pack. Dragging the deer gets it out in one trip so a bear does not claim the deer left behind. Mine weighed over 200#. Splitting the load between two guys to pack out would work. RR

Scott, Congratulations on another successful hunt earned through working harder. Again, nice trophy photos. Good luck in Nov. Doug~RR

Amanda, Looks like your trip was timed well to coincide with the fall colors. Seems you kept quite busy up there. Your pics should entice many to visit. Danke. Doug~RR

Keven/Peloncillo made a comment in the unit 29 thread about how he felt the Nov hunt was different and more difficult than the October hunt. I have noticed and participated in lots of threads about equipment, but seems we talk little about the more important methods and tactics. In what ways have we seen deer patterns change and how have we changed our hunting tactics from early to middle to late season? Doug~RR

The two burgeoning bags are packed with warm cloths, raingear and daypack. The HS 300WSM rifle is waiting as it was mailed ahead of time. I will be leaving tomorrow for a Sitka Blacktail hunt on Kodiak Island for my first trip to Paradise . Will be hunting with a couple friends and staying on a boat for 7 days. Hope to get a couple nice blacktails, some Harlequin ducks, and of course lotsa pics. Y'all hold down the fort and good luck on any of your October coues hunts. Doug~RR

"can't believe you doubted me" No Thomas in my name. Would like to have seen some of the racks that have passed through your hands through the years. This one's a bute- a cross between beauty and brute. Doug~RR

What Ernesto and Shortpants said. I like to glass the south facing slopes first thing. Especially hit the southwest and west sides before the sun rises and you cannot glass into the sun. Make a few quick scans in the other directions also for obvious deer. When the sun forces me to glass to the north and west, I tend to follow the shade line down as the sun rises, looking more into the shade than the sunlit portions. Keep track of any saddles that may be passages between north and south. In the late afternoon, I look west into the shady northeast or east side. Difficult to glass into the sun. Try to be in position at dusk as deer move from the noth bedding zones towards the feeding areas. I tend to glass shorter ranges since you probably can't get into shooting position before light fails. As Keven said, deer may not make it back to the north side. Glass the cuts on the south facing slopes for deer that may be bedded in a speck of shade or a solitary tree. Two years ago November we glassed up a solitary, low-eighties buck that had bedded in the shin daggers on a open east slope. Good Thread Doug~RR

Usually I am far enough in that I do not encounter many, if any, other hunters. However, the last two November seasons, I have been hunting a saddle that has good deer traffic from north to south, and unfortunately also hunter traffic since it is only 30 minutes off a road. So, I try to be in position before daylight that any other hunters starting out after dawn will push the deer from the southern feeding slopes through the saddle to the north side bedding area. So guess one could say that I am using the greater number of hunters in the Nov hunt to push the deer past me since I am in position ahead of time. During the November hunts I have spent the midday hours near a waterhole overlooking incoming travel routes from the northside slopes bedding areas. During December, I have not done this, as I am looking in the shade for bedded deer. In Nov I am looking more for a buck and then looking for the bigger buck that may be part of a group of bucks. In Dec, if I find does, I look for buck hanging around the group of does. I personally have not had an October tag for comparison, but have been on Scottyboys Oct hunt. But we were far enough in that other hunters were not a factor. Doug~RR

Fortunate indeed. My college roommate's brother bought some reloading equipment, including powder. The guy he bought it from had put some pistol powder in a can labeled for rifle powder. The result was not good. Eve though he was wearing shooting glasses, he still suffered eye damage. For reasons similar to the above, I do not like to share reloading recipes or use someone else's handloads. What is "safe?" in one rifle, may not be in another. Doug~RR

Christian and Jim, You might want to consider the J105 since you can adjust for torso length and it has a plastic back-sheet in addition to the aluminum stays for more rigidity with heavy loads. Also read where you can get some strap extensions from Eberlestock for really large loads. Doug~RR

I have been using the DropZone on my LX for a few years with no problem. With the Trophy Taker, you may want the support with the deeper V, and put some moleskin or adhesive felt on it. Doug~RR

Happy Birthday Amanda! Enjoy your day. I'm sure Scott has a present hiding for you in 27. Doug

Austin, what a nice season you are having. Congrats. Doug~RR

Just got back from a nice day behind Rica. Hunted about 4 sunny hours and have enough for a few dinners. We flushed a covey of about a dozen juvies about the size of sparrows from a prickly pear, and passed on shooting a couple other young birds. Doug~RR