OK,
For all you children and Grandchildren out there, I got to know Tom or "Dad or Grandpa" (Or "Papa") when he was a young mountain climbing hard hunting whippersnapper. He was kind enough to let me into his family and friends hunting group and those hunts and times are some of the most cherished times of my life. I have lots of pictures of him hunting in those mountains, (Wet and Soaked after getting lost on Treadway Mountain because 'He knew where he was going" (Remember Trent?) And bent over a stream sucking it dry from thirst. I still go fishing in Rock Pond, Clear pond, Crane pond and hike those woods. Maybe I'll get to see you guys in OK sometime. And then the stories will fly!

2013 DEER SEASON PICTURES

Dates on all pictures wrong:

Devin's muzzle loading doe. Coyotes got to it before we did. With in 1 hour of shooting.

Kevin's crossbow buck:

Colten' buck:

TR's buck:

Shilo's first buck:

Shilo's 2nd buck:

PAPA's:

Girls visit camp:

Misc pictures:

Archery Season

It's September 18th, 12 more days till the opening of the Oklahoma bow season. Looking forward to this archery season. I have a new bow that is faster and quieter than any other I have ever had. It has allowed me to shoot better than I ever have. Four inch groups at forty yards is pretty tight for a bow. Dad will be here next week, I hope it has cooled down enough by the first to at least be able to get in the stand in the morning without being soaking wet in sweat. I am ready to be in a tree as the sun rises.

32 Days..... Going up to the cabin this weekend to finish cutting and marking trails for the boys and I to get to our stands. Got some real good hard wood funnels picked out for this year. Priority number one is to put deven and tc on good bucks for the weekend of the youth hunt. I got it all figured out and I am just gonna drive down the road and drop them off in their spots and see what happens. Priority number two is to see to it that my father has to do minimal work this year leaving free to focus on his hunting. Priority number three put my fathers cousin that is coming down for muzzle loading season in some good spots, God some good ones all picked out. Last but not least are my personal goals for the 2013 season. 1.Going to be selective with bucks. I am only going to kill bucks that are bigger than ones I have killed in the past. 2. I want to kill a good buck with my bow. 3 While bow hunting I am going to kill every doe I see. A hunter in the know always takes a doe. I plan on taking four, and pack the freezer. 4. Hunt harder and longer. Staying on the morning stand till one pm. According to the Oklahoma history books four the last ten years A high percentage of record bucks were killed between the hours of 11:00 and 1:00. Most of all I would be thrilled to see the boys and my fathers cousin to get good bucks. If my father and I get to be apart of the boys getting some good bucks for me the season will be a success. Many memories will be made at the old cabin this year. Counting down the days.....

The Hunter.

When I am not hunting I am thinking about it. It is on my mind cause it is in my blood. When the hunt calls I think of so much more than deer, blood and guts. I think of great memories made in the great outdoors with family and friends. In the corrupt world we live in today hunting the way I was taught to hunt with ethics and responsibility, is probably one of the most pure, honest forms Of self expression protected by our 1st amendment rights and protected by the 2nd. The old adage a bad day in the woods is better than a good day at work is near and dear to my heart. I am a hunter! I believe in the wisdom gained from hard work and reward. So many life skills and lessons are obtained from the hunt. If you get to see a deer or to that's great, If you get to kill one that's even better. But being in the woods at the break of dawn is the best. The cool morning breeze whispers secrets into the ears of those who are listening. Will you be there to hear them?

Getting ready for 2013 seasonI

It's July 18 and already we are thinking about deer season. Both TR (my son) and I are talking about plans for youth season and muzzle loading season. We have a couple new , very remote, areas to hunt. TR is scouting all ready and seeing big buck sign from last year and giant fresh tracks. These areas are nasty, snakey, and seldom hunted. I have found 99.5% of hunters in OK hunt "pretty" places or easy places. Hard to get to spots, rugged ground or steep hills are seldom hunted much.
I was fortunate enough to work a paper mill shutdown in Ticonderoga, NY and made some good money. I bought TR and his 3 sons all new Summit Viper climbing tree stands. No more messing with those ladder stands for the boys. They are ready for climbers and borrowed mine often last year. Finally bought a Remington  model 760 308 pump for my oldest grandson, my favorite gun for deer. They are fast, light, reliable. My brothers Bob (passed 2003), Dick, and I have killed over 200 bucks with them and thats in the North East where bucks come hard, usually running, 1 per licence. With practice and good low power scopes the pumps are deadly.  Now my son and his 3 boys and I all carry 760's of different calibers. (  308, 35 rem, 30-06) Loaded right u get big exit holes with blood trails about 6 foot long!!!!!!!!!! No small calibers ( 25 06, 243, etc) that people in OK seem to like. My favorite 760 of the boys is the 30-06 carbine with a Burris 1 to 6 variable scope.This gun belonged to my brother Bob it has killed a ton of deer. My youngest grandson TC Allen ownes it now and the first time he hunted with it last year, he killed  first buck a nice 8 point buck during youth season. I rattled it in and my son TR was watching TC's back side with his bow. It was abig time for several reasons.
My cousin Walt Chapleau is coming down for muzzle loading season from Kentucky. Looking forward to that.
TR is working out of his own shop this year so should have more time to hunt and that will be good because we really like hunting together.
We are improving the cabin this year so Dawn ( TR's wife), Judy and Sadie (TR's daughter) can have their own 'women's only' place to sleep and be private. Making some other improvements too.

Keep tuned for more 2013 update notifications I will be sending out.

Uncle Howard - Funny & True

No one has posted since the close of hunting season, so I thought I would break the boredom by telling a funny, but true hunting story.

Up until a few years ago, any deer killed in Kentucky had to be taken to a Fish and Wildlife check station to be registered.  In the early 1980s, I was invited to hunt with my partner, David and his brothers. David's family had always lived in rural Kentucky and since it is farming country, they knew dozens of farmers. David and his brothers had eight farms they regularly hunted (before the farmers realized they could make money leasing their land for hunting).  Since they drove deer the way we do in the Adirondacks, I felt right at home hunting with them. Kentucky has a large population of farmland deer and the farmers were losing a lot of money in crop loss and damage, as they still are. The farmers, whose land we hunted on, wanted us to kill all the deer we could.

The first year I hunted in Kentucky, David and I took the whole 10 day season off from work. Opening morning, I was placed on a watch and told to kill anything that came out to me. The boys drove a large 10 pointer and a doe past me and I killed them both. Altogether on that first drive of the season, we killed two bucks and three does.  Most of the guys were going to sneak their deer home without registering them, but I was not going to take a chance of getting caught and losing my job. I thought my hunting season was ruined since I  had no tags to hunt the rest of the season.

David said that he had the solution to my problem. He said that for a case of warm Sterling beer (real rot gut stuff!) his uncle Howard would tag the deer. We loaded the deer and went over to Uncle Howard's. David went into the house and came out leading this old crippled, 90 year old man whose eyes were white with cataracts. Uncle Howard was blind as a bat!  I gave David one of those, "What kind of shit is this?" looks and David whispered, "Trust me."  We loaded Uncle Howard into the Blazer and headed to the check station. I was certain we were all going to end up in jail with David and me fired from our jobs to boot.

We got to the deer check station and David led Uncle Howard in with me following.  The conservation officer greeted us and Uncle Howard told her that he had killed a couple of deer.
She replied, "Lucky again this year, huh Howard?" Uncle Howard said that he surely was.
The lady went out, checked the deer and came back in and filled out the registration form for Uncle Howard.  She had to place his hand on the form where he had to sign and he signed with a X because he couldn't read of write. After we dropped Uncle Howard at his house, I asked David how in hell  he managed to pull that one off. David asked me if I had noticed the bulge in the back pocket of Uncle Howard's bibs. I hadn't. David said that the bulge was Uncle Howard's .32 and no one messes with Uncle Howard when he's packing his .32.

A while later I was having breakfast with the captain of our local State Police post. Since we were pretty good friends, I asked him about Uncle Howard without telling him about the deer. Capt. Mort told me that Uncle Howard had been notorious when he was young. The captain said that he had been told that Howard had been involved in several shootouts in the old days which was not at all uncommon in Kentucky. He said that the old timers who knew Howard said that he was no one to "trifle" with.