A photo from a recent bird hunt with the setters.

A second photo album has been published. This one is about my English setter, Mugs, and is his life story in his own words as he would have told it.

And a new book, this one a photo album. Available as a paperback

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y4LNM8Y/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=George+Naugle&qid=1569012056&s=books&sr=1-1

or as a Kindle book.

https://www.amazon.com/LUCKIEST-HUNTER-ALIVES-PHOTO-ALBUM-ebook/dp/B07Y3VZ5H4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=George+Naugle&qid=1569012312&s=books&sr=1-2

THE LUCKIEST HUNTER WITH ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE should be available in the next day or so as either a paperback or ebook.

We are in the process of putting the finishing touches on a fourth book. The title of this one is:
THE LUCKIEST HUNTER WITH ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE.
At age 77, I guess I am getting closer to that finale, but I'm not quite ready yet to give up the ghost. If all goes well, this one should appear on Amazon.com sometime late summer or early fall of 2019.

Another book is about to be published. Title is CABIN FEVER. It is a compilation of stories spanning over three decades of things that happened in my Pennsylvania hunting camps.
I have also put both of the first two books back in print on Amazon.com. Feel free to visit my Author page at Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00IW5KL0Y?redirectedFromKindleDbs=true&tag=viglink20248-20

Nice recap. Sorry for your unsuccessful hunt.

We closed and winterized camp Rip-N-Tear today.  The week was interesting, to say the least.  Not a lot of hunting pressure except for our camp and one other.  The problem is that in order to hunt in our little corner, one has to walk at least a quarter mile off the road, just to get to our cabin.  We had three hunters in camp for the entire week (Dave, Larry, and yours truly), and were joined at times by Crawford, Dave's nephew Judd, and Stan, aka Bluetick from the other site not to be mentioned.  I did not have a tag for deer, except for a DMAP for the Mt. Davis area, so I went there the first morning.  I have never seen as many hunters there.  Cars and trucks were parked everywhere, and after trying to get away from pumpkins for a couple of hours, I gave up and went back to camp to cook dinner.

Dave and Larry reported in shortly after dark. Each had seen deer, but the only buck Dave saw was a four point. Dinner was my tenderloin recipe I stole from a poster on the other site named Zummer. As usual, no leftovers.

Tuesday was another day in the woods for Dave and Larry. I read a David Baldacci novel and did a couple of short pushes for the guys. Stan did a lot of walking and saw a whole lot of deer. Dave and Larry did mostly stand hunting and saw fewer. Larry had still not seen a buck, but Dave had one of the big boys cruise past his stand at Mach 8 or so and was unable to get off a shot.

Wednesday brought in bear season, so I was out and about. Crawford showed up and saw seven deer, one of which was a legal buck, but Crawford is picky and passed on him. Larry saw a bruiser with what he described as a “wide rack,” and got off a shot. No blood was found, and we looked for about an hour and a half, so one shirt tail for the wall.

Thursday was Larry’s day. I know you all will understand when I say us hunters work hard and hope for a dumb one to come our way. It happened for Larry. Wouldn’t you know that, while sitting under the same hemlock tree, the same buck came past and Larry downed him with one shot. I heard the shot, and shortly got a text message to bring the deer cart. When I got to Larry, he had the buck just about gutted. I took one look at it and said, “I think we need Dave.” With a lot of grunting and cussing we managed to get the buck back to camp. The PGC’s weight tape estimated the buck at 161 pounds dressed. Outside spread is 17 inches, and officially it is a nine point with three fighting tines broken. We know it was the same buck because it had a crease where Larry’s Wednesday shot grazed in on the back.



The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, with the exception of Stan taking a doe on Saturday when they became legal. No bears were sighted, but there was a goodly amount of sign, so we are a bit puzzled as to why we didn’t.

The total number of hunters we saw other than our group:
Dave saw three, Larry saw none, Crawford saw none, Stan saw five, and I saw three. There was more shooting today than all the other days combined, probably since baldies were legal. I doubt that this area ever had a pumpkin patch. It is just too out there. I am sure that hunting pressure is a lot less than it was twenty years ago.

I enjoyed my week at camp, even though I had no deer tag to fill. A bad day of hunting beats a great day at work all hollow.

Nice.

Thanks, Walk. Take care.

George, fascinating reading. Thank you. And I shouldn't say it but I'm glad I'm not the only deaf person here. Excellent reading, I was there with you. Bad knees so I can't hunt nor play golf. But I can still read about it. Glad you got your deer.

The Haloween Buck

With surgery to remove the fingertip of my left hand index finger pending, I decided to give archery deer season a bit of effort this past week. I suspect that following this, my hunting will be quite limited for several weeks due to doctor’s orders. I went to camp Tuesday evening, October 25, planning to stay until Monday. Nobody else showed up until my buddy Dave came in on Sunday, October 30.
I hunted Wednesday AM in the stand we call the mini condo. It is an elevated box blind with a roof, which seemed to be a sensible choice with rain scheduled to arrive later in the day. About 8:00 AM, a smaller buck entered the scene from the hollow on my left and freshened a scrape next to the driveway, not twenty yards from me. He is probably the six point I have been getting game camera photos of, and while he is a legal buck, I decided to hold out for one of the larger bucks we have been seeing, at least for a few more days. My patience seemed to be rewarded when a few minutes later a nice eight point walked within 10 feet of the stand. I made a bit of noise while moving to get into shooting position and game was over. He exited at a stiff-legged trot, stage right, and disappeared into a dense stand of mountain laurel.
That afternoon, I hunted out of a double ladder stand we call the laurel stand. It is located about half a mile distant from the cabin along a hillside above the creek named Alex Run. I saw two does a short time before dark, neither of which was close enough to shoot at had I had an antlerless tag. Mine had been filled on Saturday October 15 with a nice doe which has replenished our hamburger supply.
Thursday it rained most of the day. I don’t hunt in the rain anymore. As I am fast approaching the ripe old age of 75 like a runaway freight train, and having survived a bout with pneumonia the past spring, it makes no sense to me to tempt fate in that way. I fully realize that deer are active on rainy days, and some of my best hunting days in past years have been wet ones, but enough is enough. I spent the day in camp, relaxing and reading a Dan Brown book.
On Friday I hunted from the bear stand. This is a comfortable ladder stand, also about half a mile from the Cabin, along an old roadway named Harbaugh Lane. This roadway used to lead to a homestead, abandoned many years ago during the great depression. Some locals still remember the name of the road. The only deer I saw was about 8:30 when the wierd ten point in the photo below (a 6 X 4) passed by at 50 yards in the mist without giving me any sort of shot. Bummer! Obviously the photo found at the link below was taken much earlier in the year when he was in velvet, but I think the reader will agree that this buck is distinctive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/8%2018%20three%20at%20salt%20lick%20-%20Version%202.jpg
The above buck and a doe with what I presume were twin fawns of the year were the only deer I saw that morning. I returned to camp for lunch shortly after noon, took a nap, and returned to the bear stand for the evening hunt. I saw no deer that evening, but a decent sized single bear did pass the stand within crossbow range, reaffirming why we named that stand as we did. The history of this stand began in 2008, the first year in which we hunted bear from what was then our new camp, Camp Rip-N-Tear. On that first snowy day, I was sitting beneath a hemlock tree roughly thirty yards from the present location of the current ladder stand. A sow bear with four cubs came past me early in the day. My rifle missfired and I lost a shirttail in the process. In 2012, I made the first bear kill for our camp, taking a young sow bear with my crossbow during the archery bear season from this ladder stand. It was named “The Bear Stand” after that event.
Saturday morning, I sat in another ladder stand we call the Front Stand. It sits almost within sight of Back Road, some 200 or so yards distant. That morning, I saw three bucks, all small ones, and did not shoot, but I got a wild idea. Why not put up a stand across the road from the scrape menytioned above? The more I thought about this, the better I liked the idea and the less wild it seemed. I returned to camp to watch the Penn State game in which they had a great second half to beat Purdue, and while watching, I continued to formulate my plan. After the game, I went out to our storage shed and picked out a spare ladder stand which I carted to the chosen location and erected, with the idea of hunting it Monday AM, which would be my last hunt before finger surgery.
On Sunday, Dave arrived, bringing with him a supply of moose baloney and some streaks from his harvest of a young moose in Newfoundland just a few weeks earlier. Eating will be a high quality endeavor in camp this year. We seldom go hungry.
Dave decided to do a walkabout Sunday afternoon, set up a pop up blind, and put up one more ladder stand. He had just finished putting up the stand we call The Brown Stand (that is its color) when it began to thunder. He hustled the 3/4 mile back to camp, but still arrived soaked to the gills. We ended the day discussing things as they are but should be over a few foamers and retired to dream of big bucks and sunny days. The next day, October 31, would be Haloween, and a Haloween buck was on my mind. Thinking this might be the last opportunity I would have to hunt deer during archery season this year, I resolved to take the first legal buck I saw on Monday.
The temperature dropped as we slept, and Monday morning it stood atabout 40 degrees. What slight breeze there was came from the North, which was perfect for my recently erected stand. I left the cabin in total darkness, as we were in new moon phase. By 6:45 I was seated in the stand, waiting for daylight which came shortly.
It is interesting to be out in the woods on a quiet morning and listen to the woods come awake. Since I have major hearing loss in both ears, that requires that I have both of my hearing aids in, which I did that morning. The first notable event was the hooting of a great horned owl, which alerted me to the fact that Dave and I were not the only hunters out and about that morning. Several birds signaled that they were awake and their daily chores about to begin, and a squirrel made his way up a white oak tree in search of one more acorn. Nothing much happened for half an hour or so, but then a couple of does emerged from the woods edging the sand mound where we have planted a patch of turnips and brasica. A few minutes later another deer appeared. This one sported antlers. I got out the binoculars and gave him a good look. He had three points on each side and was walking slowly on a path where he would cross the cabin driveway some twenty yard to my left. I had a good broadside shot as he stopped at the edge of the road. When I squeezed the trigger, I had a perfect sight picture so I knew the shot was a good one. The buck ran less than fifty yards and it was over. My buck tag is filled. I called Dave on his cell phone to report the news. He said, “I’m on the way!”
After tagging and gutting him, Dave and dragged the buck to camp and began the process of skinning and cleaning the carcass in preparation for our Butcher, Darrell Grove. I left camp later that morning and delivered it with instructions for butchering the way Ms. Doris directed. Hopefully the surgery will be successful and I will be hunting a few more years. A link to a photo of me and my Haloween Buck follows.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/IMG_0244.jpg

Thanks for sharing George.

That is definitely more preparation than a bicycle would be.

" Excellent, George .. !!

Awesome pics, George!!

The huge bottom land where I had a shot at a moose. He was beside the farthest pond.

some of the hunting territory, with my guide in the photo looking for moose.

The "lodge" in which we stayed along Biggin Lake, Newfoundland.

Flew from Hawke's bay to camp in this float plane, a DeHavilland Beaver.

We drove to Newfoundland, a three-day drive, in this rig.

Paul pushes new bill to thwart Obama action on gun control

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263932-paul-aims-to-reign-in-obama-on-guns

Sen. Rand Paul is pushing for a vote to restrict President Obama's ability to enact new gun control regulations.

The Kentucky Republican, who is running for president, has introduced legislation that would decree any executive action on gun control that either infringes upon congressional authority or potentially violates the Second Amendment as "advisory only" until legislation that supported the action is passed by Congress.

“In the United States, we do not have a king, but we do have a Constitution. We also have the Second Amendment, and I will fight tooth and nail to protect it,” Paul said in a statement on Monday.
The legislation is currently being fast-tracked through the Senate. It's expected to be placed on the Senate calendar next month once lawmakers return to Washington from their recess. No vote has currently been scheduled.

The legislation would also allow for any state official, member of Congress or person affected by an executive action on gun control to launch a civil lawsuit.

President Obama is reportedly considering action on guns, potentially to expand background check requirements.

The legislation to stop him faces an uphill battle in Congress, where Democrats are likely to block it

Pretty gutsy move if ya ask me but a job well done.

Good post.

As requested by Ksquared on another board, this is a group shot of most of the guys who participated in that drive, along with part of the entry in our camp logbook for this bear hunting season. Hunting, especially bear hunting, can be grueliing, but when you have a great group of guys to do it with, it can be a wonderful experience.

Wisconsin Farmer Rescues Bear

http://www.chonday.com/Videos/bearcanwi2

Little Girl Catches A Huge Fish On Her Own...

LOL.. he'll be back.

Nice dog, Gary. Sorry, but the old guy couldn't shoot worth a damn this morning.

Nice pic.

Mugs and trk go hunting for birds, and Mugs (the setter) does his job. Wish we could say the same for the trkyhntr.

Wow... Thanks George.

Just a quicky to let folks know about a recent hunting trip. A group of us went south to Deerfield Plantation near Saint George, South Carolina to hunt deer last week. We took 17 bucks and a bunch of does during the week, but it was not as easy hunting as usual due to the recent hurricane. The best areas of the Plantation (over 16,000 acres) were still way to wet to get to, so we had to limit our hunting to the high and dry areas. Here is a link to a photo of the buck I took last Thursday October 15, 2015.
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/hero%20best.jpg[img]

Nice.

Nice deer! I'll bet your grandson was proud of himself!

A couple of photos for your enjoyment:
1. Last Saturday while archery hunting, this brown color phase bear walked past my stand. Color phase black bears are quite rare in Pennsylvania. Only three out of over 4000 bears taken last year were of a color other than black.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/100305_165500.jpg

Last Spring, I was high bidder on a whitetail hunt at a local preserve, and chose to let my grandson do the hunt. Last evening we did the hunt and this is the buck he killed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/16%20Grandma%20would%20be%20proud.jpg

Just found this board. Will be keeping a eye on it!

Good post.




* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Progressive Liberal Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Won't it be wonderful when we can ban lion hunting and when ecotourism takes its place?

Yea!!!!!



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Progressive Liberal Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Justice is served!!!!

http://nwsportsmanmag.com/editors-blog/okanogan-buck-beheader-gets-5-years-24k-in-fines/

How Wildlife is Thriving Because of Guns & Hunting

Since the late 1930s, hunters, target shooters and the firearms industry have been the nation's largest contributors to conservation, paying for programs that benefit America's wildlife and all who love the outdoors. In fact, the U.S. Department of Interior just announced that firearms and ammunition manufacturers contributed a record $760.9 million in excise taxes in 2013 through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program. NSSF has created a new infographic, " How Wildlife is Thriving Because of Guns and Hunting," to illustrate how we as an industry and as sportsmen are the greatest contributors to wildlife conservation in America, providing nearly $9 billion over the past 76 years. Please spread this message far and wide. Share it on social media, post it to your websites -- let the world know about America's original and largest contributors to conservation: hunters, shooters and the firearms industry.

• View the Infographic at website.

Note: There are active links contained within the original article at the website posted above.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Progressive Liberal Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Pictures of your own house from a glider would be pretty cool K.

Loved the story.

It was a good piece of writing, I could feel your thrill.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Progressive Liberal Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Thanks, Big Guy.
Long ago and far away.

The pictures came out well. No idea what I did with them. I have shots of my house from the air. I should try to dig them up.

Wow... What a great story K²! I thoroughly enjoyed your story and your writing; I am so glad you had such a good time. How did that fi;m turn out?

I got a chance read this post as Id Jit posted a link to it; I thank you both.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Progressive Liberal Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Bear Arms...




HARRR!!!!!!!!!



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Liberal Progressive Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Thanks TH!!!



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Liberal Progressive Politics Must Die Today
So That Freedom Can Be Sure Tomorrow!!!

Some outdoor photographs for your enjoyment.
The king of beasts, Kruger National Park, Republic of South Africa. June, 2011


A white rhino. This was taken on a ranch near Kruger. Perhaps a bit close for comfort?


Giraffe couple. They remind me of an old married couple with their heads together.


Crocodile. Is this one close enough?


An African sunrise.

Just a quicky report from our visit to camp this past weekend. I got there about 3:00 PM on Thursday and started a fire in the woodstove. Temperature in the cabin was 22 at the time I arrived and it takes about three hours to get the cabin warm with just the woodstove, so I put a couple of gallons of venison vegetable soup on the stove and then took a walk to do inventory. Snow depth at the cabin (1941 feet above sea level at the front lawn) was a couple of inches of crusty and crunchy stuff, but as I gained elevation it got a bit deeper. The north-facing slopes still had about a foot or more and that made walking downhill a bit challenging. Lots of tracks to subject to analysis. A fairly large pack of coyotes made the rounds, plenty of deer tracks, and a fair number of turkeys scratching the forest floor for a living. As to the coyotes, the ones I have seen are not the large critters yinz guys encounter in the north country. Ours might go 25-30 pounds for a big one.
There is an old homestead on the hillside below a PGC food plot that is not worth being called a food plot. I traipsed through the area, noting the heavy deer travel through it. What remains of the homestead is a stone foundation and, for some strange reason, the privy is still standing. There is an old trash dump that I keep intending to explore for old bottles but for some reason never get around to doing so. We had a ladder stand near there where my buddy Larry got the nice eight point in archery season. The area close to where it was located is heavily used. I continued on downhill to an old logging path that parallels the creek and then crossed the stream to investigate the laurel thickets on the other side.
Most of the deer beds I encountered were clustered under hemlock trees, presumably to get out of the heavy snow and other precip. I continue to be amazed at how the numbers have recovered in the area. I crossed the creek one more time and climbed the hill to camp. When I returned the inside temperature was up to nearly 50, so I loaded more wood into the stove and went outside to fire up the chainsaw. There are a number of standing dead trees on our property, and I get anxious to convert them into cabin warming wood. By 5:00 I was pretty well done with wORk, so I went in to sample the venison veggie soup, which by the way was pretty decent. The weather comedian was forecasting light wintery mix for the morning so I wondered if my buddy Dave would show up in the morning.
Dave hoved upon the scene about 10:00 AM on Friday. He reported that an accident had shut down US Route 30 just west of Bedford so he had a detour to make. On the news that evening we saw that the accident involved a propane tanker and had the hazmat crews hopping for several hours. We decided to take another walk, this time below the road and across the swamp. Many more deer, turkey and coyote tracks. I am getting the feeling that a trip to camp with the shotgun may be in order with the aim of harvesting a coyote for the Museum. Friday afternoon we worked on splitting some of the wood I had cut the day before. When the temperature is in the 20s it is an adventure trying to start the wood splitter and we finally gave up and did the splitting with an axe and mall. That certainly works up an appetite, so we made inroads on the veggie soup.
Our chores on Saturday included filling the feeder, downloading photos from the trail cameras, and repairing to the living quarters to watch the Nascar race. Exciting ending was hardly the word for it. We agree that without restrictor plate racing that final lap wreck would probably not have happened, but I digress. This is an outdoor message board, but come to think of it, auto racing does take place outdoors, doesn’t it? Toward evening, a couple of guys from a neighboring camp showed up and we swapped lies. The temp on Saturday afternoon rose into the fifties and the snow is now pretty much gone. It was so nice out that Dave and I actually sat on the porch and had a cigar and a beer. Life is tough, but someone has to do the hard stuff. Dave tried out the reloads I did for his .300 H&H and pronounced them “good enough to kill a bear.” I finally got around to sighting in the .250-3000 Savage I bought from Big Ken last year. It is accurate and I plan to take a deer or two with it this coming fall.
Not much was left of the soup by the time we got ready to leave on Sunday. I took the rest of it home. When I returned home to reacquaint myself with the woman who lives there, nobody was present to thump me on the head except for She Who Rules the roost. She Who Rules pronounced the soup to be edible. I spent Sunday afternoon reloading a few rounds and thinking about the next trip to camp. I did watch the end of the cup race. Mark Martin can still drive pretty good for an old goat, can’t he.
For those so inclined, here is the recipe for the venison vegetable soup:
Into a large (at least three gallon) stock pot, place the following ingredients.
One pound of stew meat
One bag of frozen peas
One bag of frozen green beans
One bag of baby carrots
One chopped onion
Four fairly large peeled and diced potatoes
Two gallons of water
A large dollop of beef soup starter
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Put the mess on low and go about your business for several hours while it becomes soup. A really lazy man’s recipe, but then, I am an expert in such stuff.