Efton continues to run a little late season doe patrol in Georgia.  Feeding the need!  Way to go Efton! 

It's been a dozen years or so since I last hunted with my friend, George Lowe, for ducks.  We had some good times hunting the backwaters off the Mississippi River and learning new tricks for killing more ducks along the way as decoy technology was revolutionized.  I'll never forget one of our first hunts together.  It was the year the spinning wing duck decoy first came on the scene.  Because they were backordered beyond belief I decided to make one of my own by sticking a remote control car motor and axle inside the body of a decoy and adding plastic wings.  It worked like a charm and ducks dropped out of the sky to check out our new creation.  It was one of the coolest hunts of my life.  
This past weekend I had the chance to catch up on a lot of years as George and I once again chased ducks together in the beaver sloughs of Arkansas.  George is now part of a duck club in Arkansas and is living the dream of being a co-owner in a little slice of duck hunting heaven.  Despite less than perfect weather conditions the ducks played the game and dropped in to our decoys.  45 ducks died on that morning in the blind.  With mallards, teal, and the prettiest pintail action I've ever seen, it was a day that'll rank among the top in my duck hunting career.  
A big thanks to George and his crew for a great hunt and more memories made.  
 

A big congrats to Ben Clark on his great late-season whitetail success, killing a great buck with his bow near Nashville.  

Ben says, "I love sticking it out late season with the bow!  Don't get me wrong, I love gun hunting, but nothing beats bringing down a brute with a bow!"  

Way to go Ben!  

See Ben's website at www.banjobenclark.com

I've spent a lot of time this season trying to get my little boy, Aidan, on his first deer.  One thing or another has led to this not happening as of yet.  However, when I took my little girl, Avery, out to climb up in the stand, she made it look pretty easy.  We moved back to TN from MT this fall and the kids are finally able to hunt for themselves.  MT game laws won't allow kids to hunt until their 12.  Pretty sad really.  In TN these kids can go whenever the parent feels they are ready.  So needless to say, my kids were fired up to get back in this part of the country where they could get some trigger time for themselves.  
Just before dark, a big fat doe stepped out of the timber just 40 yards from our stand.  Avery quickly found the deer in the scope and began to dial in tight.  The deer caught me moving with my video camera and stopped to stare us down, 60 yards out.  Avery settled in and made the shot.  The deer dropped in her tracks.  Avery seemed as surprised as she was excited. It had been three years since she shot her first deer, a buck, on the TN youth hunt back in 2010.  
I thank God for states that allow little kids to hunt with their dads!  Way to go Avery! 

I was recently told by my wife that we didn't have enough deer meat to get through the next year.  "You need to kill some deer," she said.  I took that as Orders from the Headquarters!  So the next morning I went on a meat mission.  I don't usually hunt with a rifle, but I was glad when the opportunity came up to help fill the freezer with the boom-stick.  I also thank God for a state where opportunities abound for doing work on the local deer population.  

Some of us have never gotten over the thrill of shooting does with our bows.  Are you one of those bowhunters?  Do you still get jacked up when a slick-headed fatty walks into bow range?  Sure, we all love big bucks.  But doe fever runs deep in the heart of the bowhunter that lives for the chance to punch one more tag.  

Efton Green is one of the those bowhunters.  He works on the does like nobody else.  He's pictured below with a big Georgia slick that got just a little too close. Way to go Efton!    

A big congrats to Nikki Parker on her first deer!  And she got it done with a bow!  This is Nikki's first year to bowhunt and she continues to do work with her Mathews Jewel bow on big game out west.  She killed a big Idaho black bear back in the spring and now her first deer at home in Montana.  Way to go Nikki!!!   So proud of you!  
Check out the Mathews Jewel at www.mathewsinc.com 

Aidan did a little work on the squirrel population behind the house the other morning before school.  He got a new Cricket .22 for his birthday and this was first blood for the little gun.  Way to go Aidan!