I think that we have lost Marshall and Vicki Jeffus for good

Hunters:

We enjoyed having Marshall and Vicki Jeffus at BBHE last year and we were looking forward to another year with them this year..... until their daughter Jordan decided to tie the knot on opening week of deer season. Not a big deal, it happens to the best of us. (pay no attention to the birth date of two of my sons, 11/12/87 and  11/07/07)

In the meantime, the Jeffus' have been quite busy beavers. They purchased some hunting land outside of their home town of Wichita Falls, built a cute cabin on the property, and then got right to work getting this place ready for hunting season. You can see photos of the place in previous posts by clicking here. They have done quit a job in both picking a perfect place to hunt and building it out.

Here is a nice view of the property from one of their deer blinds.

As you can see, it is a typical beautiful TEXAS sky, very cool rolling stock with gun mounts and the works, and in the background is a feeder to help attract deer to the area.

But at night the scene gets even prettier.....

You can click on any image to enlarge it.

THAT is an impressive deer. Just remember, Marshall, you shot your first deer at BUZZARD BLUFF HUNTING EXTRAVAGANZA. We will always be your first deer, but not your first trophy deer. That is very exciting.

Your deer are better, your blinds are more comfortable, your toys are cooler AND you get to sleep in your own bed at night. All we have to offer is a warm campfire, some good eats, and a bunch of half way true hunting stories. As I wrote in the title, I think that we have lost Marshall and Vicki for good.

Happy hunting and please share the photo when you take that monster.

Buckskin

Hunters:

Every year Buzzard Bluff we leave between 3 and 5 good deer hides on the ground for buzzards to eat. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that (the buzzards need to eat too) I have decided to try and use the skins to make clothing that we can wear around the camp site. If it works out then I will make a garment for everybody who wants one

I have been doing a little research on the topic and most of what I have read says that tanning a hide the old fashion way, brain tanning, is the best way to do it. It supposedly makes for softer clothing that doesn't impart chemicals into your skin.

To that end, I have purchased a book called Deer Skins to Buckskins.

 
As I have been looking for clothing patterns for buckskin, most of what I have found has either been Native American or frontier style with lots of fringe. I am going for something a little more modern, I think.

I just think that we would be proud to wear clothing that came from the deer we take from Buzzard Bluff. I don't like to waste. On that note, when one makes clothes there is always scrap material left over so I am proposing that we do not waste that material either.

I think that our ladies would be more than proud to wear clothing that we hunted, skinned, tanned, and produced. Don't you?

From what I have read so far, I think that we need three skins to make a shirt. That means that we could possible produce one garment per year. For all of those who want to be included in the project, all you have to do is hunt, help me prepare the hides in the field. and give me moral support.

All of this will be off the table if it is too hard to tan the hides. I may make the first shirt (and bikini) and decide that the effort is not worth the end product. Cross your fingers.

Kit

Rainfall - Sept and Oct

Hunters:

It would appear that Rudy, Arkansas has been receiving above average rainfall for the months of September and October.

September:
Average - 0.07 inches
Actual - 1.79 inches

October:
Average - 0.02 inches
Actual - 0.39 inches

I hope that this means the deer will have had plenty of food to eat in order to grow antlers and be as healthy as possible.

The extended forecast for Rudy for the week of 11/13/16 still shows high temperatures of 64 degrees and lows of 41 degrees. As we all know, the colder the better.

Quick Fletch - Very cool way to fix arrow fletching

Archery Practice

It has been several years since I have actually shot my bow. I have taken it hunting and drawn the bow a few times, but I haven't actually shot an arrow from my bow in more than 5 years.

SO..... I figured that I had better tone my bow specific muscles AND sight the bow to make sure it will still hit what I am aiming at, assuming that I can still pull it back.

Good news. I was able to pull it several times without fatigue and I was shooting some good patterns.

I was dead on at 10 yards. So far so good. That deer would be dead for sure.

At 20 yards my sight was a little off but I had good grouping.

After a little adjusting I was able to get it closer to the kill zone but I still need to make a few more adjustments. That deer would probably live long enough to escape and never be recovered. NOT responsible hunting.

Finally at 30 yards, I was WAY off the target but I was satisfied with my grouping. I was almost all the way off the bag. I would have missed that deer completely, and probably lost my arrow in the process.

So, I still need to make some big adjustments there but I didn't want to pull a muscle on the first morning practicing, so I will work on that one more tomorrow.

All in all, GREAT practice run. This is the easy part. The hard part is getting close enough to a deer without it smelling me, then drawing an arrow without the deer seeing me, and doing that without the deer hearing my coat rub against itself or a tree. A lot of planets have to align before I can take a deer with a bow. But you have to play to win so I will give it another shot this year......AFTER I take a deer with a rifle first.

Note: No deer were harmed in the making of this blog post. The same cannot be said for the Super Sack. BBHE supports ethical hunting practices and does not condone bow hunting with shots like the ones seen in the photos above.