Deer Hunting

It's that time of year again to have to bring out the old soap box and say a few words about wearing your safety belt when in a tree stand. I recommend that anyone deer hunting from a tree stand of any type wear a safety belt. Preferably, you should wear a full body harness. This type of apparatus will save you from a catastrophic injury should you topple from your perch while pursuing the wily white-tailed deer. A full-body harness is preferred these days by all manufacturers of all types of tree stands, whether the stand is a hang-on, a ladder stand, or a self-climbing stand.

Writer's block is a malady that strikes some of us from time to time. In my case, writer's block has hit me because, other than 3-D shoots, there just isn't much going on right now. We are in a kind of limbo because, other than varmint hunting, the summer is kind of dull. Of course, there are those who really get into the varmint hunting mode at this time of year. Groundhogs were the animals I hunted mostly at this time of the year when I was younger. The animals were, while not plentiful, still numerous enough to pursue.

I sat in my blind for most of the afternoon one day last week. The weather had turned hot again, and there was an abundance of heat in the blind as I waited for something to happen. Most times the hour before dark or the dim light of dawn will be the most productive in deer hunting. However, hunting in midday can also be a period of high deer activity. As I sat and sweated inside the blind, I looked to my right through the shoot-through mesh as five hen turkeys strolled down the logging road in single file.

I have been tardy in getting ready for the deer season, but that's not the only hobby that I have neglected this year. I can't even remember the last time I took one of my fishing rods to the lake or even to a pond to fish from the bank. I do have a place to go to fish from the bank, but just haven't had the real desire to go. I guess old age is mellowing my want-to in the fishing category. However, I talked to Billy Curtsinger this last week, and he said he and his son Michael had had some good luck fishing Lake Cumberland.

With the advent of cooler weather, deer activity should increase. Also, the insect activity will diminish with the coolness of the early mornings and evenings. However, as long as it doesn't frost, mosquito activity will still be evident to those who go afield. There is always a trade-off with insect sprays. You should always try to get a spray that doesn't have a strong odor. I've touched before on the different types of sprays. Some are better tick repellents than others, so read the labels and choose accordingly.

I did venture forth last Saturday to go deer hunting at the invitation of a friend. This friend has a farm in Lincoln County, and I told him that I might take a doe if one presented itself. As luck would have it, I didn’t see anything that morning, but since I was not the only person hunting, I went back to the trailer my friend owns and waited for the others to come back in. I met one man coming down the hill on the way back to the trailer, and we then waited at the trailer for others to show up. I had heard several shots that seemed close, so I was anticipating that someone had gotten something.

Lisa Owens, the head track and cross country coach at Centre College, went to Camden, Ala., earlier this month to participate in a SuperHunt with Mossy Oak Productions, which produces five different outdoors television shows. Owens was filmed hunting whitetailed deer on a 14,000-acre property leased by Mossy Oak, and may appear on one of the future television shows. Only 36 people a year are chosen to participate in the SuperHunts, and Owens was the only woman chosen for this year's hunts.

PARKSVILLE - A Parksville man who accidentally shot himself in the chest Saturday during a hunting mishap remains in critical condition today at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center. Melvin Baker, 54, is conscious and talking but remains in critical condition because the shot slightly damaged his left lung, said his daughter, Tammy Baker. "It just clipped his lung. Almost all of the damage was done to his left shoulder," Tammy Baker said. "He's talking and everything.

With several weeks still left in the season, deer hunters have already recorded one of the state's highest harvest totals ever. As of Dec. 22 Kentucky hunters had telechecked 117,124 deer. "The late muzzleloader wasn't so hot because of the weather, but we are already at our third highest harvest ever," said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The all-time deer harvest record is 124,752 set in 2004, followed by 122,233 in 2006.

FRANKFORT - The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission has set the 2004-2005 deer hunting seasons and zones: Archery Statewide: Sept. 4-Jan. 17. Early Muzzleloader Zones 1-3 (either sex): Oct. 16-17. Zone 4 (antlered only): Oct. 16-17. Late Muzzleloader Statewide (either sex): Dec. 11-19. Modern Firearms Zones 1-2 (either sex): Nov. 13-28. Zone 3 (either sex): Nov. 13-22. Zone 4 (antlered only): Nov. 13-22.