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[lonehunter]

well i couldn't have picked a better run .
had a deer snort and crash off as i got near my ground blind in the pree dawn hour of 6 am . thought for sure i wouldn't see anything for hours after that noise .
come daylight doe after doe came walking by , 17 in all . then a pair of 6 points came thru , they stoped to feed on the acorns , first one down to eat while the other stood watch , then they would switch dutys . i drew up on the first one just as they were switching , the second buch had a larger rack , i just moved my sights over to him , thunk !
the shot outta there like crasy , i knew i hit a little high , but waited 15 minutes to be sure he was going to be down for the count . after 5 minutes a nice doe came in , well i thought , i can fill that tag too , thunk went another arrow and down she went about 10 yards away .
i looked for a blood trail on the buck and couldn't find a drop , i knew i hit it .
i followed the hoof tracks for about a hundred yards before finding 1/2 of my arrow and a long trail of blood . the trail lasted another 100 yards and suddenly stopped , no more hoof tracks either . i backtracked , re studyed the trail for signs of backtracking of the deer . circled the blood trails end time and time again without another blood spot or hoof print to be found , he just vanished in a clearing the size of a football feild . three of us spent a little over 9 hours looking for that buck , but we decided after all that time in 80 degree heat that if we did locate him there wouldn't be much to salvage .
i spent all day sunday making jerkey out of the doe on the smoker , i'm set for ice fishing season now .
dosen't look like we'll get cool weather for the rest of the week so the bow is going to get a rest . there's some salmon calling me for saturday and i'm gonna visit them .
those puffballs are starting to come up all over the woods , sounds like i'll be taking a onion bag with me for some fresh shrooms for a venison or tree chicken stew for the cool days ahead , yummy , yummy !
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[callie]

Whoa! Now this is what I would call an action-packed day in the woods. Too bad about the big boy. Maybe someone else is enjoying some stew from your stag and is looking for you to give you the antlers they saved. THEN AGAIN-MAYBE NOT!!![sly]
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[lonehunter]

Todays adventure was a trip to the Au Sable river and the Foote Pond Dam . Imagine the surprise when I realised my specs were back at home sitting on the kitchen counter .
It was a challange to put a fly on or to put a #20 hook on my 6 lb. test line , add in the bitter cold wind that funneled upriver to the dam and you can feel my fustration at having the possibility of loosing a coho to a faulty knot . My fears were never realised , I had the pleasure of seeing a solitary male fanning the zebra mussels for a bedding spot and the only fish I landed was a 6" L.M.B.
The regular croud of fellow big fish anglers were not to be seen with the exception of a guy from lansing that stayed for about an hour and left in disapointment due to the lack of fish and the onslought of lead slingers that arrived around 10 A.M., Bottombouncing spawnbags is a little difficult when you have people casting over your line and ripping the treble ladened lures interupting your drift .
Oh well , thats the only way some guys know how to fish , I guess.
I did see three huge wild eastern turkeys along River Road on the way to the Dam , each one was worthey of being called a trophey gobbler . The fall turkey hunt sure was a disapointment when I saw the zone eliminations . I expect it was due to the eratic weather we encountered this spring , the mortality rate for the young chicks must have been extremely high .
I'll be taking the bow out sunday morning for another try at Bullle , who knows if my luck continues in this direction I just might have to settle for his sidekick Rockey , lol !
How goes it in the upland game bird hunting ? The leaves are sure comming down around here .
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[davetclown]

the color change is late down here, it sould have been this wensday or fryday.

aint seen a feather one down my way, no tree chickens in the woods but about a dozen or so in the yard.

I am so dry my thoat is soar, I havent wet a line in two months already.
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[davetclown]

[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][#000000]Turn in Your Deer Heads[/#000000][/font]
[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"]
If you take a deer in any season in the following counties in the Lower Peninsula, we are asking that you turn in your deer's head at any DNR office or deer check station (see below) for free tuberculosis testing: Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, and Roscommon.
A list of [url "http://www.michigan.gov/documents/2005DeerCheckStationStatewideFINAL1_138311_7.pdf"][#0000bf]Deer Check Stations for the 2005 Deer Season[/#0000bf][/url] is available in Adobe Acrobat format.[/font][font "Times New Roman"] [/font]

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[font "arial, helvetica, sans-serif"]
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[#990000][size 4] [/size][/#990000] Wildlife Disease Laboratory Testing Results

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[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"]Use ONE of the following options below to check your wildlife laboratory testing results. Testing results will not be posted until 7 to 10 days after the specimen is provided to the DNR. [/font]
[url "https://secure1.state.mi.us/testresults/"]https://secure1.state.mi.us/testresults/[/url]

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I think they were refering to a tripple threat. I saw something about it in the news down here as well.

[url "http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10856_10905-32311--,00.html"][font "Arial"][#0000bf]Lymph Nodes & Hemal Nodes[/#0000bf][/font][/url][#0000bf] [/#0000bf]
[url "http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25806---,00.html"][font "Arial"][#0000bf]Chronic Wasting Disease[/#0000bf][/font][/url]
[url "http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25804---,00.html"][font "Arial"][#0000bf]Bovine Tuberculosis[/#0000bf][/font][/url]

not that you need this but other readers might want to check this next link out...

[url "http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10856_10905-47502--,00.html"][font "Arial"][#0000bf]Field Dressing, Handling & Cooking Wild Game[/#0000bf][/font][/url]

a little know threat is that animals can cary anthrax. (the original form of the terrorist veriety that is found in nature) this can kill a person if you cut your self and you get a blood inter change.

all worm blooded animals can cary it, deer pigs cows horses chickens phesants rabbits and so on.

and no they do not check for it in your food you buy at the store... so this is a good start for every one to learn how to handle food. weather it be wild game home grown or laying in the cooler in the super market....

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It is important to cook your meet to a suffecent tempriture to make sure all the unwanted little buggies dont survive to infect you....
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[callie]

One woodcock and three grouse to show for my last 5 times out. I'm seeing more woodcock than I expected, flushing a few grouse like I expected and shooting up more boxes of shells then I expected-I really need to get to the range more often I guess!!
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[lonehunter]

this was a new threat with two reported human transfers so far this year .I haven't spoken to the bioligist yet but will let you know what he states as soon as I turn in my deer head . I hear the patches are pretty snazzy this year .
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