I saw him before he saw me...

Maybe I'm just not lucky enough to see these guys regularly. I've seen a handful over the past couple years, but they've been few and far between. But this one, this one I spotted first. Look very close in the center of the photo, see the owl?

 

Burr under my saddle

I just finished reading an article in Minnesota Sportsman magazine titled "Hunting Rainy Day Whitetails" by Stephen D. Carpenteri in which he is making the argument for getting out after whitetails in the rain, something I completely agree with. I do get out in the rain as it is a special time in the deep woods when movement is quiet, scent is not blown about near as much in clear sunny weather, and if you know your ground you know where the deer take cover.

What I take umbrage with, in his advice, is the following statement:

"Before I tell you what you should bring with you on rainy day hunts, I'll explain what should be left behind. Don't bring electronic gear (unless you are willing to risk losing it to moisture). Forget your wallet,keys, pocket knives, extra flashlight and GPS unit. Leave your pack behind. Don't bring cameras, cooking gear, tripods, range finders, space blankets, survival gear or anything else that rain will ruin."


Ok.
First, I would say he carries too much shite in sunny weather if he is carrying all that.

Second, ever hear of hypothermia? When does deer hunting take place, that's right, fall and winter. When wet you loose body heat about 40% faster than in dry conditions, at a slight breeze and below 40 degree temps and you have the perfect recipe for hypothermia. We won't get into the what ifs, like getting turned around or getting so far out you need to spend the night as making your way back in the dark through rough country could spell disaster via broken ankles and nasty falls.

Third, if your "survival gear" can be ruined by rain, you don't have "survival gear" you've got some mamby-pamby hucksters version of survival gear.

I enjoyed the rest of the article, but advice to potential green horn backwoods hunters to leave their survival kit behind when hunting in the rain in the fall/winter is just plain stupid and reckless.

A survival kit needn't be heavy nor adversely impacted by wet weather, hell that's when you are more likely to have need of it!

Wind Direction ~ Natural Indicators

If you hunt you know you have to hunt the wind. Wolves do it, all natural predators hunt the wind. You also know that to an animal, a human stinks. One whiff and they take off to the next county. Some folks use bic lighters, flame blows in the direction the wind is blowing, problem is it's only good for the wind right where you are and it doesn't help you see what the thermals are doing. Others pack small bottles of talc and a little squirt and you can watch the powder drift, though it isn't very visible past a few feet, and it smells. Lots of folks recommend Milkweed seeds but I find them to be a bit messy to carry about.

For me Cattails work so much better. I just cut a bit off the top, not much. Pick it a bit and the pieces will begin to float out. It's easy to do, also they tend to hold their shape real well. I carry mine in my pocket, pull it out when I want to check the wind/thermals. You can watch them float for a long long way. I once watched them float on thermals as the sun was setting for 10 maybe 15 minutes.

In the first picture below you can see them slightly to the left floating down that old logging road, some of those are a good 40 yards away and still visible, they also ride thermals so you can tell where your scent is flowing even if there is no breeze.

Keep the wind in your face.

Youngest Son Practicing Bushcraft

These are old pictures but I really enjoyed teaching him and watching him work through this. Though he had a knife he didn't use it at all, I wanted him to be able to do this without one, as that is a fine skill to have in a chips are down situation.

We started in the pine barrens, a section of woods on my property of thick pines with pretty much no undergrowth. We found this downed tree and he set to work.

He started by simply "walking up the tree", breaking limbs with his foot as he went. It is fairly easy to do.

Once done he gathered what he had broken off and some extra limbs that he will use in the walls.

Next he was bounced on the downed tree in a couple sections till it broke, he supported the section to break with a smaller log, this gave him the positioning he needed to get the tree to break. The he took the broken pieces and made a tripod for the ridge pole. I did check his work here for stability.

At this point he starts on the rearward wall, using the broken limbs from earlier to set in the first layer.

Still laying in the rear wall.

Working the front now and layering in the needles and leaves and other insulation.

 More insulation and coverage.

Here is a view of the interior.

His fire is a little big here, partly because he'd just gotten it started and added too much fuel. The shelter is further back than it appears in the image.

Finished product with one proud nine year old, Dad was pretty proud too.

The trees are on fire...

Words can not do them justice, pictures only meagerly bring the richness to screen. They are positively on fire here in the North Woods.