Crappie Jigs

Two new colors that we ordered from skip at thumpitjigs.com
--see more in our blog archive

Late season

Well it's in the middle of December and all late season bow hunters
know it's time to change up the strategy. Killing a good buck this
time of the year is tough. It's all about finding a good food source.
When the cold weather hits in late season the deer have to eat much
more and the food sources dwindle down unless you have late season
food plots. This time of year is when I just enjoy shootin does
because with the rut being over its hard to even see nice bucks. The
majority become nocturnal after the rut and unless there's a late doe
the odds are slim. Shootin deer in late season boils down to finding
good food sources and trails coming from bedding areas to those food
sources.

A few good bucks....

To start things off, the top left and middle right set of horns were killed locally. The other three sets were all killed in Illinois. All these bucks were killed by Ashley's dad (Bud Reece) with his bow. All bucks scored pope and young with obviously the one on the bottom scoring the highest at 155. If everything works out right, we will be taking a trip to Illinois next year with some family to try and kill another big buck.

Deer Tenderloin

This is something I was just experimenting with and it actually turned out to be really good! Try it out the next time you cook deer meat and let me know what you thought.

Soaked tenderloin in -- Milk/ splash of Louisiana Hot Sauce and a couple squeezes of Sriracha Hot Chili sauce (soaked for about an hour.)

Battered tenderloin in -- Hungry Jack Pancake mix (Extra Light & Fluffy)

Batter included -- Lawry's seasoned salt/ground cayenne pepper/and cavenders seasoning

Fried in -- Peanut Oil on medium heat

I know this is late news but I thought I would share it with everybody! It's been a tough season for me ever since I killed the small 8 in the second week of October. The third Sunday morning of October I shot a huge buck around 8 a.m. and around dark that evening we gave up trying to find him. Sketchy blood trail started about 30 yards from where I shot the deer (also the arrow came out at this point) and went a total of about 100 yards before it just stopped. The following Tuesday morning I shot a nice 8 point out of the same tree. Arrow had light blood on it but I thought I made a good shot. Not a drop of blood anywhere but I watched the deer cross a county road and go into a thicket. I gave him 2 hours and then went into the thicket and what do you know, I jumped him so I immediately backed out. There was a small puddle of blood where the deer had laid down. I came back late that evening and followed blood for at least a quarter mile before it just stopped. Talk about being sick, 2 nice bucks in 3 days that were never recovered.

A Couple of Buck Stories

First off, I know these two deer are nothing spectacular, but this one to the left was my first buck with a bow! My father-in-law constantly
talked about how fun and addictive bow hunting was, and it made pretty good sense why! So, I took his word for it and bought a used Matthews Switchback last year. This was the best investment I have ever made. I hunted hard day in and day out trying to get a buck on the ground, and finally it happened in the third week of October! Me and a buddy went up to Atkins to some private property that I thankfully have permission to hunt. I went into an area that I had never hunted before with a bow and just went up a tree! This particular place was an oak flat just south of a thicket. There was a NW wind which was perfect! I sat there until about 6 when I heard what all hunters want to hear, something crunching the leaves coming from up from the thicket to the oak flat. This 7 point looked like he was on a mission, perhaps cruising looking for some does. The 4-blade muzzy went right through the boiler room and he went maybe 30 yards. Boy was I excited!

These set of horns are from this year! Once again, nothing out of the ordinary, but still a decent 8 point. I was hunting up in Atkins on the same property. I found a fence row coming up from a thicket that had a couple giant white oaks that were loaded. I knew deer would be using it, but the first time I hunted it I climbed a tree a little far out from the area just so I could get an idea of where the deer were coming from and how they were using the area. I saw numbers of deer with one being a shooter buck but it got dark on me before I could get a shot! I went back to the same area the next weekend and moved in closer. I had a cowhorn spike working the area for an hour or so, and never seen any of the same deer I had seen the time before. A few minutes before dark this 8 point came up from the thicket along the fence row to have a little supper. Boy did I surprise him!

I caught this limit of bass early this spring on a chartreuse spinnerbait with double Colorado blades, one gold and the other chartreuse. Believe it or not, it only took me about 45 minutes total to catch the ten fish, and that includes culling a few small fish out. I tried to get Ashley to come with me that morning because I knew what was going to happen, but she decided to sleep in. I caught a limit in the afternoon on the day before that so that's how I knew it was going to be good the next morning, and the low pressure front that was hanging around for a couple days only helped. There was rain and storms all over the state, which during any time, helps tremendously. Needless to say, that afternoon after I caught these ten fish me and a buddy (Dustin Tippin) went back and caught two limits, and were culling the smaller fish out for the last hour we were there. I caught these fish where there was running water in the bottoms, the rest you will have to find out on your own!!