With the leaves falling steadily, the squirrel hunting is getting better. While talking to John yesterday, he told me he had just come out of the woods with five bushy tails for supper. He stated he went in right after the rain stopped (Tuesday) and just eased through the woods. He could hear several playing up in the trees, but just took the five he wanted.
Keep in mind there will be a two-day break in the squirrel season at the start of the modern gun season for deer.
The rabbit and quail seasons open in just a couple of weeks (Nov. 10) and from the looks of things there will be plenty of action for those of you who choose to go after this fine table fare. This seems to be a peak year, and we can expect a steady decline after this year for a little while. Then as usual, it will again go on the rise.
The big news is, though, that the fall turkey season (shotgun) opens this weekend and there are plenty of turkeys out there. During the fall season you can take either sex.
To date Logan hunters have taken 177 total deer. (80 buck and 97 does). Again, congratulations. The Department of Fish and Game is encouraging us to take more antlerless deer this year in order to better manage a healthy statewide population. This is something I have been saying for quite some time.
Taking a look at previous years, this is how it all stacks up. In September of this year we took 52 total deer; that is up from the previous year when only 16 were taken. In October (so far) we have taken 125, and that is down from the '02 season when we took a total of 145. Keep in mind, however, that the October stats are not yet complete. Overall, though, we are down from the season totals of 1999 (when this data was first compiled) when we took 195, but up from 2000 when we only took 107.
Now I know all of this seems a little befuddled. I also know that weather, blue tongue, and other miscellaneous events were factors here. But if you look at the fact that our "Zone" has changed twice in two years, and the fact that last year people did take more does than bucks, you will see that we have actually done a lot to further our deer herd, and are slowly bringing it back to its pre-99 levels.
With the changing weather patterns and up and down temperatures, the fishing in all lakes has been relatively slow. The bass just seem to by "hanging out" and you would be hard pressed to entice a hit. Generally speaking, though, each drop off and ledge does seem to hold a few willing fish. Dave Stewart over on Kentucky Lake tells me that surface plugs fished early and late seem to be the key.
He also states that the catfish seem to be taking the plugs better than the bass. The crappie are still hanging at 6-10 feet and are being taken with minnow tipped jigs, and minnows fished under a bobber over structure.
If the changing weather patterns are affecting the big lakes like this, you know our small watershed lakes and Lake Malone greatly reflect that same pattern. The surface temperatures on Barkley and Kentucky are remaining at a steady 60, but vary up to 70 on the warmer days. This is the reason for the lethargic behavior in bass.
If it is affecting them on the large lake, just think about what is happening in our smaller bodies of water where change is often so much more dramatic due to less water volume.
Things are beginning to "hop and pop" around the fur shed. George and I made up several dozen snares the other day, and most of the traps are dyed and waxed. We are currently scouting locations for early fox, bobcat and coyote. If any of you folks in the area want or need your coyotes thinned out, feel free to contact us as we could always use another farm or two. It certainly should be an interesting year with the market seemingly on the upswing (on land critters anyway) and a seeming increase in beaver populations.
Until next week, keep your face to the wind, and your powder dry.
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