The Meat Market

The After Hanging for a Few Days and Butchering Shot. As close as I can get to supermarket-like images of our kill. There are several pounds of meat we ground into hamburger style, a large bag containing the sirloin tips, a couple bags of tenderloins, and one small bag of the fish loins.

And Please Vote-->

And ps, you know that feeling you get after a big steelhead (or whatever you are fishing for) jumps out of the water and shakes your hook-that mind racing "what could I have done differently, why me?, that was so awesome!, dang it,etc etc"? That's how I felt at 7 am as the light was barely breaking and we confirmed it was a big buck and it walked many many hundreds of yards away as I watched it helplessly through my scope. Dang it.

The Opening of Doe Day 2009 and The Call For A Poll

As I said before, the opening of doe day here on the Taylor Farm is a big deal, so Saturday eight eager hunters gathered long before daylight. Once assigning everyone's position, my dad took my neice down to an almost guaranteed spot. The results of her and her grandfather's morning are best told by her entry into the Taylor Farm Hunt Journal:



The hot sunny weather felt a bit sweltering as we gathered at the barn to clean Meredith and my Dad's morning deer. Gene, a long time friend of the family and hunter on the farm, excitedly showed up to gather the troops for a drive on the far field where many deer had been seen by his son Chris in the last hour. After the drive and much gunfire, almost everyone had a deer.

That being said, I have been wondering the consensus in regards to posting photos of the deer that have been shot? I am not squeamish, so the photos I take are very real images of the hunt. In my experience, if you eat what you kill, then soon the 'gore' of blood and guts and death escapes you and the thought of plastic wrapped chicken starts to freak you out more than gutting a freshly killed animal. But it is not for everyone and I wonder how you readers feel about the scenes from the hunt. If you have a weak stomach do not attempt this: For example, if THIS IMAGE FREAKS YOU OUT, then VOTE NO. If you hunt and eat your kill and would like to see images from the hunt, VOTE YES.
Poll to the right at the top of the page ---->

Deer Huntin' 2009!

That's what I left on Loretta's answering machine only eleven months ago, sort of screaming it into her delayed ear. I was overly excited then and now having waited eleven long months spent fishing in Oregon, Baja, Alaska, and British Columbia we are finally back in Virginia.

I've been here two days and hunted two mornings and got thunked four times already. In a few minutes I will be walking out the door and choose a spot to hunt the evening. Probably would have hunted yesterday evening but my mom made me drink a few beers too many. We had some catching up to do.

I'm thinking about going back to the same spot as this morning overlooking an immense field where I watched a doe (doe season opens tomorrow) leap across the field some 300 yards off. Also watched two coyotes seperately yet bravely cross the fields. All at daybreak. Being sly and all, they waited until we were getting ready to move and were naturally looking down. Jack Big Buck Taylor can hit a buck at 250 yards (he proved this yesterday morning) but can not seem to take those coyotes down this year. Hmmmm.
I posted up at Mac's corner while Dad (JBBT) hiked up behind me to a nice spot overlooking the hilltop. I patiently waited as the forest came alive. If you have never just sat in the woods at daybreak quietly, you should try it. It's an impressive event.

Ignoring all those damn squirrels and rustling birds I kept a watchful eye on the thickets thirty yards from my seat. With the weather rising into the mid fifties this morning I had no chilly feet like last year. I was quite comfortable and could have caught a nap, but knew I would either get busted by Dad or miss those deer that I just knew were out there somewhere.
Heard some shots from the first and third gamefields where The Crumpster and the Liberal Prof. were holding sentinel...they came from that general area anyway. Watched a doe pop her head up from that thicket in front of me and bound off with a small buddy. I had no chance anyway as she didn't stay long....and remember it isn't doe day. We called it a morning at ten and worked our way along the fence line with hope on our sleeves. Showed up at the barn with nothing to show, only to see The Crumpster and The Liberal Prof with two nice bucks, a two point and a nine point, respectively. Some bourbon was passed around and beers and bull shooting. The Taylor Farm Hunting Journal came out of the dusty box and everyone wrote down their own biased account of the morning. It's always best to be last 'cause you get to make appropriate 'corrections' to all the other bs written down.

After a lunch break we took some time to sight in our rifles and especially my neice Meredith's new 243. All of ours were dead on except hers, which took a bit of rounds until we got it good and ready for her to shoot her first deer tomorrow. Anticipation hangs in the air like a tree stand. The whole gang will be here tomorrow plus some newbies, the opening of doe day is always a BIG deal around here.

Anisa's first fish ever.

"Strangely Beautiful"

That's how Rogue Angel Lisa describes sturgeon:





After a forty minute fight, she needed a little refreshment: ;)

Colors of Fall in Alaska

Evander Holyfield:

I Like Big Bucks....

Not a bad day.

Novembah.

Since we ended October on a good note, let's start November with some more good luck to pass around. Another blarney stone if you will.
Rogue Angel Lisa, new to fly fishing but completely hooked-pardon the pun-has wasted little time in figuring out how to catch steelhead. Her wildly successful first time steelheading trip documented below:





If the weather isn't amazing enough, what about catching those beauties with a dry line and a wet fly? yeah, pretty much awesome.