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!!

8-22-09
Although today wasn't the best day to be fishing, since it's the second day after a major front. It was just too nice outside to sit around the house. Me and Ashley went down in the bottoms and went to one particular
spot
that I knew might hold some fish, only because there was running water. I managed to catch a few bass on a crank bait. It definitely was very slow but I knew that would be the case, but still managed a mess of bass.

My Biggest Bass - 8lbs.

I caught this particular fish when I was 17 at Holla Bend Refuge. It was in the spring during the spawn, which helped this fish weigh what it did. To make a long story short, we were just hitting the banks with spinner baits like most people do this time of year. I caught the fish and we weighed it at a local grocery store, and I decided to put it on the wall. I'm sure this story is nothing out of the ordinary, but since that day I have been fishing just trying to catch big bass. I met my soon to be wife when I was 22, and quickly realized I was going to have one of, if not, the best local avid fisherman/bow hunter as a father-in-law.

9-27-09
Last Sunday morning Me and Ashley decided to go and try to catch a few fall crappie! We ended up fishing for about 3 hours and ended up with 18 total. We fished vertical in different types of structure anywhere from 4-8 ft. The morning started off slow and the fish were in deeper water. By noon after the sun was shining we were catching numbers of fish in 4-6 ft of water.

9-9-09
Well I decided to go back for some more crappie yesterday afternoon, hoping it would be similar to the day before when me and Ashley caught 18. The barometer pressure was lower and there was a south wind, which usually means good things are going to happen! That definitely was not the case for that evening. I fished multiple spots I usually catch fish and caught 1 crappie. That was the only bite I had got, so I knew something was wrong. I was fishing the same jig as the day before, chartreuse, hot orange, black. As the evening progressed, and it begin to get closer to dark, I pulled up to the same tree top I had fished before and never got a bite. I changed colors to a chartreuse/pink/chartreuse (brightest jig in my box), and ten minutes later, I had ten slabs in my ice chest! The lack of daylight ended this trip with only 10 fish, but they were all good ones!