and a strong cup of coffee

I got my skull back from Lori and Jim at New Frontier Taxidermy !  They are incredible.  Not only are they tanning my bear hide but they saved my skull.  Saved it! A look into my bear's mouth  One of the things that I did not want to tell people was that when my bear was getting cut up at the butcher's, his skull was cut.  I knew it was bad and the look on my guide's face was a give away for how bad it may be.  But, I had my bear head, hide and an extra bag with the back part of his skull in it that I took up to New Frontier Taxidermy for Lori and Jim.  I lied to people when they asked me about it and hoped against hope that Lori and Jim could but it back together.  I wanted a complete skull and if I could make it into the record books, that would be an added bonus. This past weekend, I got my skull.  It is together but not complete.  Not quite the same angle but close. They had to wrap my skull and the additional piece in ...

Well, I can still look at the photos right?  Since Dad and Hubby still need to fill their tags, we are still looking at the trail cameras to see which deer are around.  It is also fascinating to see how the deer change their behaviors as the season progresses and the rut starts. Case in point - those two big 8-pointers that I want the guys to shoot, are still around! These are from a couple week ago.  I forgot to get the newer pictures from Saturday am when they walked through. I have been chasing this second deer for two years now.  If the guys don't get him this year, I want to land him next year! Also, how funny that the two biggest deer around are within three minutes of one another in the woods.

For those of you who live out of State or have not picked up the November issue of Downeast Magazine, here is my article online.  I would love to hear what you think about it.  Thanks! Why We Hunt: Belonging

What happens when you tag out in the first 30 minutes of deer season?  You get bored and are done hunting.  Hubby and Dad both needed to be elsewhere last weekend so we stayed out of the woods.  This weekend though, I am going into the woods. I will bring my camera and play photographer but I may also bring my gun and look for some coyotes.  We know they are around - we saw a ton of high traffic areas in the snow recently. The issue of coyotes came up recently in a weekly newsletter from the National Deer Alliance .  The NDA is a new organization that was started by hunters and managers at the North American Whitetail Summit.  The goal of the group is to get all deer hunters involved and talking about the issues facing the deer herd in each state. From coyotes to Chronic Wasting Disease and habitat concerns to celebrating youth hunters... there are a lot of things that deer hunters should be talking about and sharing our concerns.  If you have not ...

As I walked into the woods with Dad, I noticed many more posted signs than in previous years.  And more than what had been there even two weeks before.  No one had signed them but they were clearly on the property next to ours.  We walked along the property line towards my treeseat.  It was raining hard enough so that I could see the drops flash in front of my headlight but I was in my wool pants and coat so I knew that I should be OK for the five hour sit that I had planned. Dad waited until I had climbed up, got situated and clicked off my headlamp (it was a new purchase that I had made when I decided to go bear hunting and it was very useful now as we walked into the dark woods.)  I settled in and waited for day light to break on opening day of deer season! I wasn't going to sit in this spot.  I had planned to be in the Sky Condo but after viewing the latest trail cam photos and seeing that 8-pointer make his first daylight appearance on Thursday mo...