August 7, 2006: The woods are extremely dry right now.  Plant life looks severely stressed.  We need a rain badly.   Hopefully this will not have adverse conditions on the new mothers/fawns.  The creeks are down to a trickle but are still flowing, thankfully.  Lake level looks good.  From what I can tell the acorn crop is marginal to poor this year.  I checked about 20 white oaks in some of my favorite areas and did not find a single one with acorns.  Red Oaks were hit and miss, as were the persimmon trees.  Honeysuckle and other natural forage is abundant yet visibly stressed.  We will have an excellent opportunity to really draw the game in this year with supplemental planting (assuming we get rain after planting!!).  We should try to get a food-plot preparation day on the calendar as soon as possible so that everyone has time to prepare and make plans for it. The deer population looks healthy right now - we should focus on selective harvest of mature does this year to balance the herd, as my trail cam pictures are showing a lot of them. Until next time! -Coleman August 30, 2006: The woods are a lot better now with the recent rains!!!  The deer were moving quite a bit as there were tracks everywhere and I have seen a lot of deer too.  I also had 62 pictures on my camera in a single week.  Bow season is right around the corner - Sep 30 this year is opening day.  I have found some white oaks and some great trails to set up on.   A guest and I caught about 10 or 12 bass last weekend.  All were the normal pounders.  We threw them back but it sure was fun. Clint and I will be going this weekend to plant some food plots back in the woods and move stands to get ready for the upcoming season.  Good luck to those going dove hunting.  Be careful! Until next time!! -Coleman September 17, 2006: Well there's only 1 weekend between now and the opening of deer season 2006!  I can't wait.  The scouting for opening day stands is complete.  The stands are hung, the oaks are about to drop, the deer are patterned (for now), the bow is ready and I am losing sleep.  All the signs that it is close to game time!!! We got a lot of rain at the club last week and it has really helped the early food plots we have out.  Clint and I worked really hard on our "shot plot" deep in the woods.  We spent a long hot day getting the ground ready.  After disking, roundup, and fertilizing, we planted a mixture of Whitetail Extreme, turnips, rye grass and winter peas.  Needless to say, we should call this the all-you-can-eat buffet plot!  The rain helped and the groceries are starting to sprout. Excel, Steve, Taylor and Alex were busy getting some areas planted in front of the "hot dog" stand and the first food plot.  A mixture of clover and turnips planted there should ensure success at each of these stands this year. This woods look great this year, guys.  There is so much sign and activity it has been hard to wait all summer on the season to start.  I believe this will be a banner year for deer hunting!  As I said before, I think we should harvest a number of does this year as part of herd management.  They are everywhere on my trail camera surveys, and this is before the food plots are up!! I saw a good looking flock flock of turkeys this past weekend and also a covey of quail.  Wildlife is everywhere you look right now!! Until next time! -Coleman September 25, 2006: Ahhhhh Only days to go!!  Excell, Elwyn, Alex, Taylor, Steve, and I all made it to work day last weekend.   We planted wheat in all the fields, on all the trails and cut throughs, and some "secret" spots.  The food was barely in the ground when the monsoon rains came, just in time.  Talk about perfect timing!  I'll keep this short and sweet - the season is upon us we are ready!  Oh  - watch out for snakes, I killed a rattlesnake under my "new" deer stand....yikes..... Until next time! -Coleman September 30, 2006: Opening weekend went as follows: Sat morning was about 50 degrees, clear, North wind.  I hunted my new creek stand where a good trail is underneath a white oak.  I also seeded the area with rye grass to make it extra appealing.  Walking in I jumped a deer, so they were definitely there!  Not 10 minutes after daylight a nice old doe walked within 10 yards of my tree.  She sampled an acorn and moved on.  Since the morning was still early, I did not attempt a shot but chose to watch her pass by.  That was a great start to the morning and ended up being the only deer sighting of the morning. Sat afternoon I hunted out of my climber under some white oaks near the camp stand.  A lot of trails intersect in that area and the deer can come from any direction.  Unfortunately, the temperature had warmed up into the 80s and I could not catch a consistent breeze.  About 5:00, I caught movement from the ridge behind me and saw two deer quietly making their way through the brush.  They moved the opposite direction, so I patiently waited once more.  About an hour after they passed by, I heard movement from the ridge top in front of me.  Suddenly a deer blew at me.  Apparently the wind swirled to my disadvantage.  About 30 minutes after that, another deer blew from the same area.  I was wondering if they saw or winded my 4 wheeler parked about a hundred yards from where I was sitting - or maybe it was swirling winds - who knows.  That pretty much sealed my fate for opening day. Sunday morning it was raining when the alarm clock went off at 5:00 AM.  I didn't mind the extra sleep, however.  About 7:00 I got up and made coffee, turned on Church on TV and pulled out my camo covered Bible.  The church of the woods was alive in camp!  As always it is important to reflect on who makes such things possible and I always try to pray when in camp for the opportunities to spend time outdoors and to thank God for family, friends, and moments such as that.  Later Sunday when the weather cleared I spent time scouting and looking for new places to hunt. October 6, 2006: Friday I drove back to camp for more hunting.  It was a lot warmer and the moon was full - not ideal for hunting but here's how it went: Sat morning I hunted my new creek stand again.  I did not see a deer as 10:00 approached, so I got down and walked across the creek to check on a persimmon tree with an old stand nearby.  I couldn't tell if any persimmons were on the tree because it is so tall, but there were not any on the ground either.  I decided to hunt the camp stand from 11:00 to 1:00 to see if they were moving mid-day.  Nada - hardly a squirrel was moving. Sat afternoon I hunted my new cutover stand behind the long field.  This was the first hunt off this stand and I was excited.  I found a lot of large rubs and scrapes in the area last year after the muzzleloader season, so I knew atleast one buck inhabited the area.  There was already good sign in the area this year, so this stand was looking promising.  About an hour before dark I heard movement to my left so I went ahead and stood up.  Soon I saw a doe moving toward me, then another and finally a fawn.  I could not tell which doe the fawn belonged to, so I decided to watch them rather than shoot.  Soon it became evident that the fawn belonged to the smaller doe.  They ate around me forever, offering many broad side shots but I passed.  Eventually the mother and fawn moved into the cutover, leaving the other doe under my stand.  She finally walked within a few feet of the stand and looked up spotting something unfamiliar.  So, she declared war on me and demanded that I move.  She walked, stomped, head bobbed, up down stomp stomp until my arms felt like lead from holding the bow.  Finally she did a semicircle trying to get down wind and sniffed the trail I walked in on.  She let out a blow and I thought good, now she will move on.  NOPE.   She only came closer to this strange object up a tree (me) with the former routine all over again.  Enough, I couldn't take it anymore.  I decided this must be a sign.  As she was partially obstructed by a bush and had her head turned, I drew my bow.  I did not take enough time to pick a clear spot before releasing the arrow (nerves).  As I released, the arrow slightly grazed the bush allowing her a chance to flinch back.  The arrow grazed her brisket!!  Well, I thought, at least she learned a lesson - run at the site of danger.  I was wrong - she blew and ran, alerting the rest of the woods that exploded with deer blowing and running.  I thought she was gone, but SHE CAME BACK!!  I know it was her because of her light colored body, dark head and large frame - and the head bobbing!  I drew again but this time she didn't wait around - she left town in a hurry.  Lesson learned.  And good experience for the hunter!! Sunday morning and afternoon I tried the same stand with no luck - no deer sightings either time.  I guess I messed that up for a few days.  Good news is that a buck is already using the area based on the sign and I have his number.  Another good weekend afield!! October 14-15 and 22-23: Here's the deal - I did not get one.  Had a few close calls with does.  Also saw turkeys on 2 occasions.  I am hunting too hard because I sat on the road one afternoon beside a scrape and saw 3 deer.  One walked to within 10 steps behind me and was practically looking over my shoulder when I heard a twig break and turned to scare it off.  There is so much sign already this year - rubs and scrapes everywhere.  I still say we have a lot of doe harvesting to take care of.  Notice the fawns in the pictures are still young with spots and in one picture drinking mommy's milk (Oct 06 pictures).  Is this indicative of an out of ratio herd??   Kind of late rutting - maybe the bucks are having a hard time servicing all those does if you know what I mean. Looking forward to the next trip.  I have to skip this weekend but plan to make it over the next.  Hope a lot of members can show up to join Clint and me that w/e.  Brad (guest) and I have been the only ones over there lately to enjoy the steaks, beverages and fire.  By the way - Piggly Wiggly in Coffeeville was closed down Sat!!!  Don't know what the deal is there. Food plots look great with all the recent rains!!  Many tracks in them. Big bucks will be down soon!!! December 22, 2006: I have a lot to update here after the season - please accept my apologies for not keeping current, but the rut is near and I will be in a treestand!!