Not much to say on this one… just look and click here to read the whole story about this monster posted at GotHunts.com.

Saw this great buck on Facebook.  The caption claimed it measured over 300.  What do you think?

Attention Deer Hunters:

The ND Game and Fish Department is giving away 5 MUZZLELOADERS and 100 SAGEN SAWS for people who donate deer heads for the purpose of CWD and TB testing. The NDGF needs deer samples from the Western and NE corner of the state for the purpose of CWD and TB testing. If you hunt in units 2C, 2D, 3A1, 3A2, 3A3, 3B1, 3B2, 3D1, 3D2, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 4F and you submit your adult doe or buck heads for the purpose of CWD and TB testing you will automatically be entered in our Hunter Cooperator Drawing to win a muzzleloader or a Sagen saw.

For more information and drop-off locations visit our website:  http://gf.nd.gov/

Thank you for your assistance,

Daniel Grove, DVM
Wildlife Veterinarian
North Dakota Game and Fish Department
100 N Bismarck Expressway
Bismarck, ND 58501
Phone: 701-328-6300
Fax: 701-328-6352

An article in the New York Times is claiming that scientists have tapped into the brains of deer and they now know how they see.

Sound too good to be true?  I thought so too, but it looks like the makers or Gore-Tex rain gear have found out how to use computer-generated images to camouflage a hunter so well that deer will just simply think there’s nothing there.  Not a tree, not some grass… nothing.

The psychologists who worked with Gore to develop it — Jay Neitz, an animal-vision expert at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Timothy O’Neill, who pioneered the United States Army’s digital camouflage as a researcher at West Point — say they’re confident the deer will be fooled.

“A camouflage that makes a person look like a tree can work if you’re in a place where other trees look like that,” Dr. Neitz says. “But what if you’re somewhere else, or if the deer sees you move? This new camouflage is a totally different approach. It fools the deer’s vision system at its roots, so that it doesn’t recognize the person as anything.”

Expect the new camo patters to start showing up for next fall’s deer season.

Read the entire NYT article here.

I hate to post things like this, but if this accident can help save lives, it needs to get out.

An upstate toddler was killed by a stray bullet when a New York City deer hunter fired his rifle too close to her grandparents’ Hudson Valley home.

Edward Taibi, 45, of Queens was being held without bail Monday after arraignment on a second-degree manslaughter charge in the town of Bethel court. Taibi was hunting from a tree stand Sunday afternoon in rural Sullivan County when he shot a deer. He came down from the stand and fired the .30-caliber rifle again about 400 feet away from a trailer home in Swan Lake, a small community just south of the Catskill Mountains.

The bullet hit 16-month-old Charly Skala in the upper body. She was flown to Westchester Medical Center, where she died. Police said the child’s parents live in nearby Woodburne.

Taibi is friends with the owner of the neighboring property and had hunted there before, said State Police Lt. Pierce Gallagher.

His case was assigned to the Sullivan Legal Aid Bureau, where attorney Jeff Bradley said Monday it was too soon to comment on the case.

Several neighbors declined comment Monday afternoon when reached by The Associated Press.

The rifle season for deer opened Saturday in the region that includes Sullivan County. Under state law, it’s illegal to discharge a firearm or bow within 500 feet of any occupied residence or business unless the hunter owns or leases the property, or has the owner’s consent, according to Maureen Wren of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Swan Lake is about 85 miles northwest of New York City.

Remember everyone, be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE what is beyond your target before you squeeze that trigger.  This was an accident, but one that may have been preventable.  Mr. Taibi did not try to kill little Charly, but he should have looked beyond to see the trailer home.

Safety first!

The North Dakota deer rifle season started last Friday, November 7th, but a fall blizzard dumped 9-15 inches of snow across most of the western part of the state, paralyzing much of the deer hunting.

I personally didn’t leave my home in Mandan until late Friday for Dickinson, and didn’t get any hunting in that day.

What I saw on Saturday was nothing short of amazing.  With the cutting of much of the CRP, and many of the draws and tree rows snowed over, herds of whitetail deer were sprinkled across the landscape, sometimes gathering 30-50 at a time.  Of course they were miles away from the main roads, and the section lines were blow in and impassible (see image above).

Even the pheasants were forced out of the cover in an attempt to get warm and find food.  After seeing literally thousands of pheasants in the fields I had to take a photo out the window. You’ll have to click on it to enlarge, but this is a small sampling of the number of birds forced from habitat due to the weather.

Now, back to the deer hunting.

We knew that to get to the deer we would have to take some chances and walk in to the back side of some hills.  But since the roads were in such tough shape, that meant walking in, and back out, all through wind-blown hard-packed snow that was waist deep at times.

But then we saw the muley.  He was standing on posted land, proud as hell, at the end of a tree row.  He was watching some does, and seemed oblivious to the traffic on the road to his west.

After debating for nearly an hour, I finally decided to call the landowner and get permission.  He generously granted us access, and less than 1/2 hour later, he was down.

At 39 years old I finally got my first mule deer, and the biggest deer I’ve ever shot.  He’s not a monster by any means, but a respectable buck for my area and North Dakota in general.

Take a look.

Remember that monster whitetail that was videoed in Wisconsin a couple of weeks back?

Well, if you don’t here’s the video.

And now to the real star of this post… the GUY WHO SHOT THAT DEER!

Yep, that’s right kids, that deer on the video was harvested in Wisconsin, with a bow, by Mr. Bob Decker.  Congrats Bob on a massive whitetail!

Image from www.leadertelegram.com

The image below was submitted to a popular ND hunting and fishing website, FishingBuddy.com, and the question was asked, Mountain Lion or Deer?

The trailcam was mounted at about 4″.

Send this to you friends and let’s see if we can solve this mystery for him!

Click for larger image.

I usually don’t get too riled up by advertising.  I am a businessman, and know that stretching the truth a little is common.

But this new XBox 360 ad for Cabela’s Grand Slam Hunting is just horrible.

What the hell is Cabela’s thinking?  Their whole business model is to keep outdoorsmen happy.  Why would you depict deer hunters as some broken-grilled hillbilly who stalks a goat, and gets shot while mimicking deer antlers with sticks?

Anti-hunters just LOVE stuff like this.  They point to the tv and say, “See?  Those damn rednecks are just crazy?  And just look how dangerous hunting is!”

Cabela’s, you really sold out to the XBox people on this one, and it’s tainting your brand.  I currently don’t own a 360, and if I did, this commercial would make me NOT want to buy this product, and now even think twice about shopping in your stores.

Here’s the commercial.  What are your thoughts?

UPDATE : Cabela’s management is claiming that the commercial is a fake!  I can only hope it’s true.