From First Light…

I first met Jeffrey during the 2002-2003 deer season.  He and my son were friends.  They were about 18 years old and just graduated from high school.  During visits, Jeff expressed interest in hunting, and would I take him out with me “sometime”.

  I let him use a decent little rifle, a .44 magnum Marlin lever action with a 2.5X scope mounted and sighted-in, shooting 180 grain bullets at around 1800 fps-more than adequate out to 150 yards or so.  I had Jeff take the Hunter Safety course, required by Mississippi state law for a license by hunters born after 1972, and buy his hunting license.  I allowed him to get familiar with shooting the rifle, on beavers in a pond on the property that the owner wanted controlled.  The water rats were burrowing into the pond dam and about to destroy it. 

One morning, while sitting in a ground blind we made overlooking a power-line cut, a nice, 125-130″, 3 or 4 year-old 8-point buck came out in the clearing.  I whispered to Jeffrey:  “Shoot him!”  Jeff moans:  “I can’t”.  His eyes rolled up in his head and he swooned into a semi-conscious faint, thrashing around on the ground!  The buck, only some 50 yards away, heard the commotion, high-tailed, and turned inside-out into an all-out dead run.  I shot at him, missed, shucked in another round and shot again.  I missed again.  The buck disappeared in the thicket on the other side of the cut.  Jeff was lying on the ground by his chair, moaning:  “I can’t believe that.  He was RIGHT THERE!”  We nicknamed the deer “the pass-out buck”, and we all, including Jeffrey, had many good natured laughs over the incident.

hey Mr. Ron
this is jeffrey.  i’ve been meaning to contact you for some time now but haven’t really had a chance. What’s your email address?  this “contact me” form just turned my whole email into a bunch of question marks and weird gray blocks.  to make a long story short i bought a 30-06 and want to get back in the woods.  i need some help getting there. I’m gonna get that monster that scared me into fainting years ago, haha.

Jeff:  you can hit “reply” on this email…I’m living about 45 miles north of Jackson just off I-55…I haven’t hunted at all this fall…trouble with the hip implants and the heart…maybe sometime..?

Man yeah! You name the the date and time and I’m there. By the way do you still keep in touch with that foster guy? I would like to see if I could get permission to go out there since it’s so close

I haven’t seen him in over 6 years now..since before I left Tupelo…he may be listed in the phone book…he may remember you from when we hunted out there on his place..?  ….no idea about him now…my hips are pretty bad, and I can’t get around very well…if and when I hunt, I just about have to drive to a stand or location….that’s why I haven’t been out since late last winter…

Well I got curious if there was any activity out there on his place. So i rode out there this evening and saw that the place was covered in “hunting club” signs. There was a truck parked where we used to go in.  I guess it’s WMA’s for me this season. I’m gonna go out to the canal section on hwy 6 by Amory tomorrow morning. I got a wma stamp when i got my license. What’s the deal with that? Do you have to pay at the ranger station when you go out? I know there are cards or something to fill out.  There are no good “deer for dummies” articles with info on the wma’s.

Jeff:  I had some more thoughts on Mississippi WMA’s…there is another down near Houston, MS.,  (Chickasaw WMA)…as I remember, it has about 55,000 acres….I turkey hunted on it many times.  i recall seeing a good bit of buck sign while trolling around for gobblers–scrapes, hooked/torn-up trees, trails.  By the way, scouting for bucks by turkey hunting, or getting out right after the season closes, is a really productive scouting technique.  If you find shed antlers, that is pretty good evidence that buck “made it” and will be near that area again next year.  The hooked trees, scrapes and trails are ones used in the hunting seasons, not early, summer/fall signs.  Back to WMA hunting–all have check-in/check-out stations on main access roads.  You can find maps, daily use permits, and the regulations for hunting on that area.  I suggest that you do a “ride-around” before hunting on a WMA, with a map and/or a GPS.  That allows you to see campsites of other hunters, parking areas (and how much they have been used), and familiarizes you with the overall area layout in relation to roads and other landmarks.  WMA’s are pretty heavily used, lots of hunters who may be tuned in to the same area you are hunting.  At any given time, you never know if and when someone may walk in on you, or vice-versa.  BE CAREFUL.  Wear-without fail-at least the minimum 500 sq. inches of hunter orange.  Be ever alert/aware of your surroundings.  You don’t want to get shot, or shoot someone!

Go to the mdwfp.com website…click on WMA’s-they have an interactive map…and tell on the site what, if any, fees are charged…plus, the phone number and contact info of the Area Manager is posted on the site, too….up north of Tupelo, off the Trace somewhere, you can get on the Divide Section….I can’t remember just where, but there is a lot of  Corps of Engineers mitigation land up there managed by the mdwfp…check out the website, and do a little research…the MDWFP manages a lot of mitigation land, owned (I think) by the US Corps of Engineers, lands set aside when the Tenn-TomWaterway was established;  several hundred thousand acres  It’s be a  a good bet to hunt on those areas to find a good buck.

One more:  when you find your spot, make some mock scrapes, and infuse them with both Intruder Buck scent, and Doe in Heat….will attract deer to your spot, and hold one in gun range while it checks out the “smell”…..you can double the quantity of the commercial scents by diluting them half and half with plain ole tapwater, and put it in a small spray or CLEAN spritz bottle….and use the spray to re-scent the scrapes….also, I use 35mm film cans with clean cotton balls stuffed in ‘em, tie a loop of hanging string or wire on it, and infuse the cotton with scent (carry them in and out in a ziploc bag)…hang ‘em around in shooting lanes on trails near your spot to also “attract and hold” target deer…..try these tips out…

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Historians speculate that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, a loose association developed between primitive man and wolves, or wild dogs.  The specific how’s and why’s of  this association’s beginning may never be clear.  Maybe man watched as packs pursued and killed animals.  Opportunist Man then may have scavenged the remains or leftovers after the pack ate its fill.  Or, as Man gorged on charred meat by his campfire, a wolf ventured ever closer, near enough to grab scraps tossed to him.

We know from hieroglyphs that the Egyptians bred and trained hunting dogs.  The royal Romans’ elitist lifestyle also gave them the time and opportunity to develop different breeds for their sporting pursuits.  Their conquest of the known world spread their whole philosophy of life-including their leisure activities-all over the European continent.

By the Middle Ages, hunting with dogs was widespread, and specialized breeds for hunting different game species had been developed.  Our modern breeds are the result of the selective breeding and cross breeding done over the centuries.

‘Way back then, and equally true today, the “Three P’s” (Patience, Persistence, and Perspiration) must be the ever-present, or omnipresent(?) mantra of a dog trainer.  Make that “Dog Owner”, rather than just “Dog Trainer”.    Whether grooming and teaching a sleek, stylish sporting dog for field trials and/or personal hunting, or instructing the family pet in obedience and “manners”, these 3 P’s are super important.

Years ago, when I first trained a retriever, my training aids were leads, leashes, a Thunderer whistle, boat bumpers, an old starter pistol, and a bottle of duck scent.    The primary training ground was my fenced backyard.   Later, as she and I each became familiar with the other,  we advanced to shooting and retrieving blackbirds that came in to roost at a friend’s house in the country.  His house was in a pecan grove.  Every evening, the huge flocks of migrating blackbirds swarmed into the trees.  He shot his Diana grade Browning Superposed, and his big, long-legged lab “Klinker” did the honors on the nuisance birds he downed.  I had my Belgian Browning A-5. “Light Twelve” model, and my “Smokey” learned of feathers and bird smell as she worked my successful shots.  Then, through numerous-almost daily-dove shoots we finally graduated onto the Big River for ducks.

My friend was a devotee to, and a disciple of James Lamb Free, and his book (“the retriever trainer’s bible”) “TRAINING YOUR RETRIEVER”.  He insisted that I buy and read a copy of Free’s book “right now, before you go any further”.  I immediately complied.  Later, I discovered Richard Wolters’ book “WATER DOG”.  Both were interesting and informative, though somewhat contradictory.  Free insisted that a retriever should not be trained-except for obedience work-until at least one year old.  Wolters espoused that training could begin as early as three weeks of age.  Between my friend’s suggestions-and instructions-and the books’ information, something worked.  Smokey retrieved ducks, turkeys (shot incidentally in the fall season while duck hunting), tracked wounded deer, masterfully worked dove fields, and guarded our house, myself and my family.  She was a family member as much as any of us humans.  My friend said she became an accomplished retriever in spite of my training.  Maybe so.

Were I to do all that training over, starting today, I’d still read the books, and likely others, before starting.  Garnering the knowledge and information of others’ experience and education is an invaluable jump-start.  With the advent of, and advancements in electronic training aids, I’d likely go with a Retriev-R-Trainer Dummy Launcher Kit, the SportDOG SD1825 electronic collars.  They are waterproof/submersible, have no external collar antenna to hang in brush or limbs, and have an advertised 1 mile range.  NO choke collars, or chains.  I lost a promising young retriever when, wearing a choke chain collar, he tried to jump a kennel fence, hung the ring on the fence, and strangled before he was found and could be freed.  Costly lesson-in money, time and affection-learned!

In most any situation of training, be it for sporting dog or family pet, the electronic training and control aids should be considered.  There are electronic devices designed for most every need, from electronic fences, barking controls, GPS and radio telemetry trackers, beepers (for upland dog use), and a myriad others.  Name a pet situation/problem, and most likely an electronic device exists for that application.

Valued hunting companion, potential field trial champ, or a loved–and love returned–family member, we owe it to them all to keep them safe, and under control.

All of the products mentioned here and a wealth of information can be found at Gun Dog Supply.

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