If there's anything a whitetail hunter finds depressing, it's persistently warm, windy weather during the rut.
After enduring day after dreadful day of those conditions in November 2005, I figured the 2006 rut was likely to be great. But maybe there really is something to this talk about global warming. November 2006 turned out to have more than its share of warm, windy days as well.
Despite such challenges, the North American Whitetail team has done reasonably well since my last report (Nov. 20). Early on the morning of Nov. 21, I rattled in and shot a mature 10-pointer at Pecan Creek Ranch near Christoval, Texas (www.powellhunting.com). Cameraman Lance Tangen shot some really good footage of this hunt, which will be on our TV show next year. (This was the same ranch Lance and I had bowhunted in late October.)
Then, over the Thanksgiving holiday, Greg Miller arrowed a high-racked 8-pointer over a decoy in eastern Colorado. Greg and cameraman Brach Pulver were hunting private land near where Greg had arrowed a wide buck for our TV show in 2005.
Unfortunately, a couple of our late-November hunts didn't pan out as well. Stan Potts and Hunter's Specialties pro staffer Rick White bowhunted southern Kansas Thanksgiving week, and they had a rough go of it. Sightings of shooter bucks were way down from a year earlier, and Stan never had a shot opportunity.
Meanwhile, Dr. James Kroll and I, along with cameramen Mike Clerkin and Lance Tangen, tried a new ranch along the Pease River in North Texas. With the rut waning and the weather warm and windy, we saw nothing of note in four days of hard hunting. (We did see quite a few bucks, but not the right one.) Thanks to landowner Richard Naron and his guide, Drew, for their efforts to put us onto a good deer; it just wasn't meant to be on this hunt.
With December now upon us, our thoughts and efforts turn primarily to late-season feeding paterns. There are still several hunts left to film, primarily in the Midwest, Texas and Mexico. Stay tuned for more reports from the deer woods!
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