Willowpine November/December Newswire

November and December are always the craziest time of the year for all of us here at Willowpine Outdoors. Weather changes, firearm season, orange hats, hot weather, pushed ducks, breaking ice, and the whitetail rut. Some of our Prostaffers including myself have put venison in the freezer. I decided to harvest a young buck, so now I can focus on duck season. For y'all that haven't harvested a deer, it's getting down to the wire, but it's not quite over yet. This season was a season of firsts for me, and my recent harvest was the first deer I've ever shot by myself. It was the first deer I've shot from the ground, first deer I've shot at my new Avon property, and first deer I've harvested with my new 44mag H&R HandiRifle. With a pintail or any banded duck on the mind, hopefully this season will continue to be a season of firsts.

November / December Newswire Contents
1. Proposed Rule Changes to Indiana Hunting
2. Duck Season Review
3. Illinois Has Been Good to Me -By Mark Fink
4. Late Season Whitetails
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IDNR OFFICIAL PROPOSED RULE CHANGES WEBPAGE (CLICK HERE)

VOICE YOUR OPINION (CLICK HERE)

WHAT OTHER IN HUNTERS ARE SAYING (CLICK HERE)

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In hopes that my regular season duck hunts would yield the same results as a successful teal season, I had high hopes for the 2012 duck season.  Unfortunately, I've only got 2 more weeks + a week in January to have another good duck hunt.  This season is shaping up to be an almost exact repeat of the 2011 season. With temps reaching 70 degrees in December, there is no reason for ducks to be pushed here to Indiana. That has left my colleagues and I hunting stale ducks all month long. These educated birds are not as easy to trick into the decoys, and we've been hunting for the chance at pulling the trigger just once.  In years past, we hunted with the chance of limiting out. We've still got a couple weeks left, and like mentioned that week in January.  The season can quick change with a steady push of new ducks, but that's all left in the hands of Mother Nature.

Opening Day - November 3 & 4, 2012

Opening weekend, we had a reserve draw at IN's Goose Pond FWA.  We were guaranteed the 6th pick for the Saturday morning draw. That pick would also get us the same spot for Sunday. At 2:30am on Saturday my alarm sounded, and I was up and ready to for the 2 hour drive south.  We were excited for this weekend, even though it was all I could do to pull away from the whitetail rut. We were met with a packed house of easily over 100 hunters trying to get a spot that morning.  The group with the 3rd reserve picked the same pool that we acquired.  Since they had picked before us, we knew that they'd be headed right where we wanted to be. No biggie since it's a good size pool anyways.

The morning was cold with heavy rain, hail, thunder, and lightning. Nonetheless we made it across the waves and into a set of cattails. We were set up in plenty of time.  We knew we were hunting mainly teals, gadwalls, woodies, mallards, pintails, and wigeons; and not a whole lot of them. With this in mind we put out only about twenty decoys.  We had a mixed spread of Final Approach mallards, Green Head Gear greenwing teals, and GHG wigeons. Also since it was early season and a daybreak hunt, we set a mojo decoy. With the wind pretty decent, we didn't really need any motorized decoys, but since we had it we put out a paddling wonder duck and quiver butt feeder.

The sky had changed from black to dark blue, and on the horizon we could see the mix of greys and whites as the overcast day began to show itself. At a half hour before sunrise we began hearing shots on the main pools. It was officially duck season. It wasn't soon after that we had a speedy pair of wood ducks buzz our decoys. My buddy pulled up and dropped the hen as she was the one to provide a shot. We waited for a half hour working ducks, and none coming in. As ducks were landing near the far bank, we realized that the wind had changed directions. Our friends that hunted the same pool were at the far end and exact opposite of us, and they had been shooting since dawn. We had to move otherwise we'd be shooting ducks in the back, which is quite the feat. Not to get too close to the other group we moved about a hundred yards away from where we started, and set up in the smart weeds. There we had more shots, and harvested a couple gadwalls. It turned real slow around 9am, and we were hoping the other group would limit soon so we could move to their end of the pool. We looked down towards the other group and could see a huge pile of ducks on the water. Since daybreak we'd seen ducks on that end of the pool. It wasn't 45 minutes later that we saw them picking up gear. We moved to that end of the pool, but set up on the opposite side of where they were. We didn't want to spoil their hunt for Sunday. That's when it turned on. After the move we started with no mojo, and didn't quite get the response we wanted. Putting it back out was the trick, and birds were decoying after that. We ended up with mallards, more gadwalls, couple shovelers, and the wood duck from early. Satisfied and soaked from the AM rains we decided to head for the hotel in Linton. We harvested a total of 12 ducks on Saturday.

Sunday was a much different hunt. We had clear skies, little winds, and we knew where to set up at daybreak. We didn't get into the far end of the pool because we knew the other guys would be back. We set up about half way between them and where we started on Saturday.  The morning daybreak was beautiful and shooting started immediately. Again we put out the mojo and a few less decoys than the day before. At shooting time my partner dropped a drake greenwing teal, and not long after a hen GW teal. The other guy with us connected with a hen shoveler, and shortly after a gorgeous drake gadwall.  "There's your mountable gadwall" I told him as I picked up his duck for him.  I found a hen mallard, and hoped to find her drake. Similar to the day before it shut off around 9am, and we waited for more ducks. We had some high fliers, but nothing that really wanted to work.  By 11am we decided to pick up and head home.  We had a total of 6 ducks on Sunday, which made our grand total of 18 for the weekend.  Not a bad way to start the 2012 season.

Here are some pics from Willowpine Friends and Staffers from their 2012 duck season!

Share your duck and goose hunting pictures with us by posting them on our Facebook page at Willowpine Facebook Page (Click Here)

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Its been a long couple of seasons learning the lay of the land, and hunting a new farm in Illinois. But this year all the hard work seems to be paying off! As some will recall, I filled my archery tag in IL on my very first sit, Saturday October 13th, two hours after climbing in the stand. After the excitement of that kill settled, I was left with the reality that I was tagged out until firearms season. I could’ve taken it easy and just waited for the IL firearm opener but I decided that I would continue to put my time in over there every chance I got, running cams and trying to stay on top of where the big boys were hanging out so that maybe I could connect on a good one come gun season.

On the weekend of October 20th, I placed 3 cams out and hunted. It was nice to just watch the critters and have no concern about shot opportunities. The following Saturday I returned to the farm but due to work commitments, I could not get there till mid-morning. When I arrived I went to my cam I had placed very near my stand I call the Pipeline, pulled the card and checked it. Among all the various deer pics were two somewhat blurry photos of what appeared to be a very nice buck. He had passed through a half-hour after daylight at 20 yards from my Pipeline stand. “I hope he makes it through till gun season,” I thought to myself. That night I sat in the Pipeline stand till legal light ran out and climbed down. While rolling up my pull-up rope I heard a deer approaching. I quickly stashed the rope and readied my binos. The deer stopped at about 12 yards from me giving me a few seconds to locate him in the darkness with my binos and OH MY, this was a good one. I couldn’t tell how many points but I could see lots of bone and good mass. I suspected it was the same buck that had come through that AM.

Fast forward to Wednesday November 14th, two days before the gun opener. Dad had gone over the previous day to archery hunt and this morning he was sitting in a stand we dubbed The Island. I had a trail cam located about 200 yards SW of this stand viewing the edge of a large CRP field, where a couple of well used trails connected the CRP and adjacent block of timber. I was on my way over that day at mid–morning when I got a call from Dad and he proceeded to tell me about how he misjudged the distance on a very large buck and sent his crossbow bolt sailing cleanly over his back. He said the buck didn’t spook but after a couple of minutes it casually walked off. He also said this buck had a slight limp in one of his hind legs.

The next day I went in 60 yards north of the CRP cam and 200 yards west of the Island stand and placed my last hang-on stand. I named it Old No. 25 due to it being located next to a 1960’s era oil rig that had been painted with No.25 to identify it. On the way out I pulled the CRP cam card so I could view it later at camp with everyone. That night as we were going through the photos, this photo popped up and everyone at the same time went WOW!

If you look closely you can see a dark spot on his right rear hindquarter, what I believe to be an injury. This combined with the date/time stamp convinced me without a doubt that this was the buck Dad had missed the day before.

Opening morning found me in the Old No. 25 stand. Just after daylight I had a 130 class ten pointer come cruising by not once but twice within 30 yards, just tempting me to shoot him but I kept telling myself not to, that there are bigger bucks running around here.

Two hours into the morning I hear some deer coming from my left, I grab my muzzleloader and get ready only to see four does making their way to the CRP field. The front Nanny was on high alert, cautiously picking her way through and looking off to the East towards the Island stand, obviously she had busted someone there in the recent past, luckily I was in a new stand location. Just as I was starting to relax I noticed a large set of antlers floating up from the bottoms, a big buck following his girls to the CRP field. I normally get pretty excited when I see a good deer and have to calm myself but for some reason this time I was as cool as a cucumber and autopilot. My biggest concern was the lead Nanny, I just knew at any second she was going to bust me and blow the whole deal! I managed to get into shooting position and at 60 yards I touched off the ML and sent a Barnes TEZ cruising thru his boiler room. He ran about 40 yards and piled up.  
-Written by Mark Fink

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The 2012 deer season is well past the halfway point, and is now headed towards being over.  The rut has settled down, and now the deer are focusing on building fat for the harshest part of the cold Indiana winter. If you haven't harvested the deer you want, then no reason to worry, the late season can be a fun one.

Buck I Harvested on Last Day of Firearm Season

The last few years I haven't spent much time in the woods during muzzleloader or late archery season. The majority for my late December and early January hunting is spent in a duck blind. This year as the Indiana firearm season was headed towards being over, I began to check my muzzleloader supplies thinking I'd be hunting the late season. I didn't necessarily want to hunt the late season, but circumstances and meat supply displayed that I might have to. It didn't matter all too much since the odd and warm Indiana Autumn was proving to be a dud for duck hunting. Luckily on the very last day of Firearm season I decided to harvest a young buck.  This filled my freezer for the winter, but my deer season is far from over.  I'm still on the hunt for a doe, and I'd like to get my wife on a nice late season whitetail buck.  To me there are two major factors to pursuing these late season deer. The first being food, and the second being young does. Here is how I'll be setting up for the late Indiana whitetail season.

The weather is sure to get much colder as we head into Christmas. The deer know this, and they began feeding nearly most of the day. The bucks have run themselves ragged during the rut, and they too have to began feeding heavily to replace the calories they've worked off in the rut.  I once read that some bucks come very close to dying by the end of the rut. Some bucks even do die if conditions make it hard for them to get food. Focusing on feeding areas will produce the best results during the winter months.  Does will began to herd up, and it won’t be uncommon to see 10 or more deer feeding together. If you're still after a buck, then go ahead and let those does feed while you wait. A lot of times bucks will hang in the underbrush as the does work the feeding area over. They're basically letting the doe act as the point man of the herd. The buck will wait for awhile watching the does feed, and waiting to see if the feeding area is safe. When they move in with the doe, that's your time to harvest. Obviously you know the best places on your property for feeding areas.  In case you're unsure, I'd say the best bet is a cut cornfield. I put two stands up on my most active cornfield, and that allows me to play the wind no matter the direction it blows. Same as in archery and gun season, you MUST play the wind. The deer are even wearier of human scent since so many hunters have been in and out of the woods since Oct.1st.  This year with the warm autumn we've had, I've found that my cut bean fields are producing small sprouts of clover and other vegetation.  If it continues to be warm and produce this vegetation, then the bean fields can be killer too. Not often do we get fresh vegetation to hunt over in December. Oak trees are usually picked over by this time of year, but it won’t be uncommon to find a deer checking for lost or buried acorns. If you have an accessible food plot, this too will produce whitetail activity. Don't forget that with every meal we eat, we usually have a drink with us. Deer will do this too.  If ponds, creeks, lakes, etc are frozen over, then look for a place that has some open water. This could become a hot spot until it snows.  In review the 3 major factors to this part of late season hunting is food, water, and wind.

New Rub I Found on 12/02/2012

The second part of late season whitetail hunting is that the yearling does will be began to come into heat. This becomes what many call the 2nd rut. It's also said that the does that didn't get bred in the first rut, also often come back into heat for a second chance. To be completely honest I've not had a whole lot of 2nd rut activity on my properties, which makes my knowledge and experience limited. However after doing some research and from what other hunters have explained, they swear by that this rut is a great time to be in the woods.  When I asked them questions about the 2nd rut they said they hunt it exactly the same as the first rut, but they put more of an emphasis on feeding areas.  I have noticed (this year especially) an increase of pre-second-rut activity as far as buck sign goes.  I've found new rubs, updated scrapes, and even saw a buck chasing a doe. Therefore I'm a believer, and I hope that on my property we can find a buck with 2nd rut on the mind.  

If you are still out in the woods chasing whitetails, then hopefully you'll find the one you're looking for.  In 2003 I harvested 5 deer total. 4 of those 5 deer were with a muzzleloader in the late season.  It can be a great season if you stick to feeding areas, and keep an eye out for rutting young does. The pressure from other hunters is WAY down, and some say it takes a fool to be in a tree stand when it is 10 degrees.  I've found that the only fools are the ones who think deer season is over when the rut is over.  Food, food, and more food will be the key to filling your tags before the season is out. Happy Hunting and Good luck!

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We appreciate your taking the time to read Willowpine Outdoors' November/December Newswire. We also very much appreciate your support in WPO. As mentioned above, we're always looking for people interested in contributing their writing, taking pictures, adding videos, etc. If you think you might like to do this, then please shoot us an email at willowpineoutdoors@gmail.com.  If you haven't already, please take a moment to add us as a friend on Facebook. If you like what we're doing, and want to support us, the best way is to tell a friend! Always remember that Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we can control our appetite. Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!  - Joey W. Buttram, Willowpine Outdoors

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2012 Deer Harvests

Share your deer hunting pictures with us by sending them to willowpineoutdoors@gmail.com.  We'd love to put them up on the site. 

Willowpine October Newsire

The temperatures have dropped, the leaves have fallen, the moon is full, and the rut is on its way to being in full swing.  It's October and that means it's hunting season.  The Indiana Archery season came in on October 1st, for the Willowpine crew, we've had some ups and downs. One staff member shot a management buck, but he was not found.  Another staffer's arrow caught a limb leaving a doe with a sore belly. Not a single whitetail has yet to be harvested, but sometimes it goes that way.  I'm hoping the deer wounded will live another year, and hoping that a bruiser will find his way into my freezer.  With the November firearm season ahead of us, we know we only have a couple short weeks before the deer start to get very nocturnal.  I also know that come November, I'm going to have to make some hard decisions between a duck blind and deer stand. We hope you, your family, and your friends have the most successful season on the books!

October Newswire Contents
1. 5 Tips to Hunting the Rut
2. Indiana Duck Season Dates
3. A Promise Kept - A Story by Mark Fink
4. Our 5 Picks for Places to Duck Hunt in Indiana
5. Bucks Pro Mount Taxidermy

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When you’re walking in or out of the woods, take extra precaution to remain unnoticed.  The last thing you need is for the deer to feel pressured around your stand. Here are a few things we suggest you do to take this extra precaution. 

• Make sure your boots are scent free and don’t wear them until you’re in the field. Spray them with Dead Down Wind or whatever scent eliminator you use when you put them on.
• Don’t use the trail you expect deer to come on. No need in taking any chance of leaving scent.
• Rake areas you’re going to walk in on prior to hunting season and right after the leaves fall. 
• Never spit, urinate, leave cigarette butts, or any other things that may have unnatural scent. Why take the chance? Big deer are smart for a reason, and even though you shot deer with tobacco spit under you before, chances are that the dominate buck will avoid an unidentifiable odor. If you have to pee, use a milk jug, bottle, or creek. 
• Make sure your stand doesn't make any unwanted noise. 
• Walk slowly and lightly. Use a flashlight only when necessary. If you enter a field and can see by moonlight, then turn that bad boy off. 

Remember you’re hunting, so it’s important to sneak in and out. Why wear camo if you’re going to announce your presence otherwise? Become one with the environment, and remain unseen. Go in as though the entire hunt depends on it, the truth is that it might. 

Rattling can be a huge asset when you're hunting the rut. Make sure you're scent free, get up in the tree with a big set of antlers, and slam those babies together.   

• Make sure you get a grunt, weeze, and snort in there. 



Get into it... If you're doing it right you'll feel like you actually just fought the biggest deer in the woods. 
• If you're worried that you spilled a little gas on  your boot, or that the wind just isn't in your favor, then NEVER rattle. A big deer will almost ALWAYS wind a set of fighting bucks. This means he'll come to the fight with the wind in his face. If you're giving off human scent while rattling, then you're hurting your spot more than helping it.  There is no such thing as "Eh, what's it going to hurt?"  It will hurt your chances if you're not scent free. 



Use the biggest set of antlers you have. If it sounds like two big deer are fighting it will encourage big deer to come and fight the winner.  If you're just after a good buck, that's ok too. A medium sized deer will come try to fight the winner also.  His chances are better beating a deer that just got done fighting, compared to being the first opponent. 

A lot of guys will put doe and buck urine out as soon as they get to the stand. This can definitely work, but why not when you leave, too?  I've found that when I throw scent out when I get in the stand, the buck will come in very nervously.  If I'm unknowingly giving off human scent, then that's blowing down wind also.  Not only is the buck smelling doe urine, but also my human scent.  So sometimes (especially before rut), I'll toss out some dominant buck urine when I leave the stand. My theory is that this represents that a buck has been in the area right around sunset.  If the buck is territorial he'll eventually start showing up right before dark to see if his ghostly friend shows up again.  The best part is since I've left the stand, the scent is blown downwind without any chance of an added human scent.  Since I started doing this in the 2011 season, I've had shooter bucks under my stand 6 out the 10 times, one day after I've thrown out scent when leaving. Maybe a coincidence, or maybe a trend. So far I've been pleased with my results. 

Pay attention to the changes in weather and temperatures.  When hunting the rut, the weather can make a huge difference.  I love to hunt the rut on a cold, low wind, blue sky evening. I like a morning with a similar lineup, but add a little frost to make the leaves crunch as they walk into my shooting lane.  Pay attention to the weatherman cause he may change your mind to hunt a day you didn't plan to.

• There is a storm coming tomorrow, and you should be on the edge of your corn field.  Studies have shown that deer react to barometric pressure. They know when there is a storm coming, and they want to get food in their bellies before it gets there. When the does are in a cut corn field eating, there is sure to be a buck nearby ready to check them.  These studies show that deer begin feeding when the barometric pressures are between 29.80 and 30.29. You can get the barometric pressure for your area at WeatherChannel.com.
• When it's windy or if there is a slight drizzle, I'd be in a bottom or field edge.  If you're hunting around standing corn, you have to put yourself in the deer's shoes. I know when I've been in standing corn, and I can't hear a thing with all those dried leaves scratching each other. The deer feel the same way.  This can be true in the woods also. The trees and leaves make a lot of noise when it's windy. Hunt a place where deer can hear, and can see their surroundings. Grass fields, crop fields, and open bottoms have always been a good bet for me.



Some guys stay home when there is a warm trend in the weather.  Not me, I'm in a tree. Sure you have to go slow as not to get all sweaty, but the deer still need to move. I've had great luck hunting bottoms, water holes, and shady areas when we get the early November warm up.  I almost always notice a 60-70 degree day in late October or early November.  
• Near the end of October, we always get a full moon. Every year I've deer hunted, I've noticed that the full moon causes the October deer slump. You'll see lots of deer for a week, then the moon starts getting full, and you sit there for 4 hours watching squirrels. Yet there is new sign around my stand, what's going on?  They're moving at night, and there's nothing you can do. You may catch one right before dark, or headed for beds at daylight, but chances are that things will be slow.  If you have a family project to do... do it during the full moon days. Many will debate this, but I'm only going off my own experience. 

When you're hunting the rut, you have to remember that half the equation is the does.  You need to be where the does travel, where they bed, or where they eat.  If you pattern the does, then you're sure to find a buck.

• Bucks will abandon their normal travel routes, and will begin using the doe travel routes. Sometimes you'll see a smaller and less used trail going along a more heavily used trail. This can almost certainly be a buck trail. It'll usually go through thicker cover, but it will end up at the same place. 
• Bucks will make fewer rubs and scrapes. They'll also do a whole lot less checking and updating of their rubs/scrapes.  Pre-Rut can be killer hunting around a bunch of rubs and scrapes. When the rut gets in full swing, it may be beneficial to focus less on these areas and more on doe areas. 

Hopefully this article was helpful in some ways.  You can get opinions from thousands of hunters in hundreds of hunting magazines. They all have an issue out right now with tips for hunting the rut.  I've listed the ones I find to be the most important. They're also the things that have helped me the most over the past decade. Use your own judgement and knowledge, and you'll surely be on a nice buck this year!

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Get up-to-date Indiana public FWA hunting location bird harvest counts.  The IDNR seperates the FWA locations by zone. To see these counts Click Here
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A couple of weeks ago on a Friday afternoon I drove over to the family farm in Illinois that I hunt, to meet up with our “hunt club” members to put up some stands, set out some cameras, and just have a good time talking hunting. Dad had gone over earlier in the day to drop off his camper, and I stayed in it that night. The plan was to meet up early on Saturday AM in town to have some breakfast and put a plan of action together.

Saturday I awoke early, anxious to get a start to the day so I made a cup of coffee, got dressed and slipped into my truck to take a drive around the area to see what might be moving around at first light. The previous evening I did the same drive at last light and counted 50 antlerless and 2 small bucks in an hour’s time. Ten minutes into my drive as I was getting past a finger of woods to reveal the next cut bean field I spied a nice eight-pointer standing in a waterway. At the very same time he decided it was too close for comfort and he ran a hundred yards or so to the back edge of the field and stopped to look at me. After glassing him a few seconds I rolled down the window and stuck my “hand” gun out the window and with a couple snaps of the thumb I said, “Bang, Bang! If you keep hanging around during the daytime I’m going to get you!” The buck seemed to dismiss me as he stood there and then he melted into the wooded edge of the field.

After breakfast we loaded up some stands and ladder sticks and off we went. The first place we hung a stand was in a place I call the Hub and have wanted to put a stand there since the first time I laid eyes on it. It’s located in a 30 yard wide strip of woods and briars that runs north and south and splits a corn and bean field. On the North end of the strip about 300 yards there is a 40 acre CRP field and about a 60 acre woodlot loaded with White Oak trees. On the south end of the Hub are more strips of woods and briars going in three different directions with a creek in the East to West running strip. All of these strips are connecting AG fields and other woodlots so IMO, it should be a deer highway. We managed to get a few more stands up by 2PM when someone in our group suggested that we call it a day and take advantage of the somewhat cool calm weather and hunt the evening. I had not really planned to hunt but I did bring my hunting gear and bought my archery license the night before, so I was good to go for a hunt. I was pretty tired but getting in a tree for the first time this year sounded pretty good! Someone asked where I wanted to sit and I said I would like to go to the Hub stand and wait for that nice 8 I saw that morning to come through so I could kill him. The Hub stand is located about 500 to 600 yards NW of where I spotted that buck earlier that day.

One hour later I was in my hunting clothes and settled in The Hub Stand for the evening. The wind had been out of the SW all day and I was expecting to see deer come from out of the creek to the South and take to the fields. It was a very uneventful sit until a few minutes before sunset when I looked behind me to the South in time to see two big nannies, each with a young one in tow coming from the creek. Following up right behind them I spotted a small six or eight point buck. The Doe and yearlings came up the main trail through the strip I was sitting in and when they got near my stand, they slowed way down and started smelling everything. They were obviously alerted to all of the scent we had left hanging this stand. They ended up directly below my stand and getting very nervous with each whiff, I just knew I was going to get busted at any moment. I considered shooting one of the big nannies, but decided to hold off for tonight to see what might happen. The two nannies decided that they didn’t care much for what they smelled and walked on to the north at a brisk walk and they never saw me…whew what a relief!

Mark Fink with his Buck

Finally I was able to turn around to look to the South and try to see what the small buck was doing. It took a minute or so to locate him and as I was watching him he kept looking towards the creek that he had just came from. Now you know what I’m thinking, must be another deer coming…sure enough as I am watching that trail I catch movement and see two sets of antlers coming up out of the creek. I train my binos on the first buck, it is a small six, then I move to the next one and wow it’s a pretty decent looking buck. Wait a minute, the more I look at him I suddenly realize this is the same buck I had spotted this AM!
He stopped there for what seemed like a long time and then proceeded to walk up the same main trail that the Doe and Yearlings had just walked. I thought to myself, should I? It’s my first sit and I have a week off planned so I can hunt the rut over here, and I know there are much bigger deer running around.  However, I did promise that I would get him if he kept hanging around during the daytime…HMMM, AW what the heck! I grabbed my bow and when I had a tree between us came to full draw, and at about ten yards I let it fly. I’m far from a great bow shot, but the arrow appeared to be true. He ran about 10 yards and stopped to figure out what just happened. About 45 seconds later he got the wobbles and tipped over. 

Upon field dressing I discovered a perfect X right through the center of his heart! If I had not had the encounter with him that morning, and made that promise, I most likely would not have taken the shot. The way it all came together I just had to. So now I hunt does and bide my time for the IL firearms season, maybe I can pattern a couple good ones by then.

Here is one of only two photos I have of this buck. Sorry for the poor quality, I was so tired from the day of activities I didn’t have a clear enough mind to get a good photo…all I wanted to do was get him cut up and in the cooler so I could go home. After arriving home and caping the head, I finally got to bed at 3:30AM.

By Mark Fink, Indiana

**Share your story with us by Emailing Us.
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The number one question I get when I tell someone I duck hunt is, "Really? In Indiana? Where do you go?"  Now I wont give away my secret spots on a public website, but I will help point like minded folks in the right direction.  People are very protective of their favorite places, and in some aspects for very good reason. However everything listed is public, and can be found on the IDNR website.  Indiana Fish & Game printed a similar list a few years ago, but I do believe they left out a few that should have been listed. Below are the 5 best places I've duck hunted in Indiana. 

For maps, dates, directions, rules, and regulations follow the link below each location to visit their spot on the IDNR website.   

Goose Pond FWA

Willow Slough

Monroe Lake / Stillwater Marsh

Kankakee FWA

Hovey Lake FWA

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For the last year or so I've had the privilege of doing artwork for Todd Buchanan at Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy.  I enjoy doing the artwork for him because I'm always amazed by the detail living within his mounts. He'll send me a picture to add a background to, and I can spend a half hour just admiring the work.  He is truly and artist, and when it comes to your memories within a mount, I'd put my trust in Buck's. BPMT is located in Fairland, IN.  You can check out some of his mounts below, and also on the web by clicking the following link. Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy. Contact information and other details are also on his site.


From the Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy Website:

"Here at Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy we strive to produce some of the most artistic wildlife art in the industry.  Unlike many other studios, we put as much time and effort into studying wildlife and references as we do in producing taxidermy pieces.

It is our belief that the study of animals and anatomy go hand in hand when producing quality wildlife art.  This alone is what sets us apart from the others and it shows in your trophy.  Taxidermy is a form of art and we make every effort to make your once in a lifetime trophy a piece of art to be admired for years to come.  Here at Buck's Pro mount Taxidermy your hard earned trophy will receive the highest quality craftsmanship and attention to detail.  Why, after the money spent on that once in a lifetime hunt and taking that once in a lifetime trophy would you want to take a chance with sub standard taxidermy work?  You want a taxidermist who will best represent your hard work and memories of the hunt. By choosing Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy you have made a wise decision that you will not regret."

Buck's Pro Mount Taxidermy
9039 Punkinvine Rd. 
Fairland, IN  46126
317.861.4783

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We appreciate your taking the time to read Willowpine Outdoors' October Newswire. We also very much appreciate your support in WPO. As mentioned above, we're always looking for people interested in contributing their writing, taking pictures, adding videos, etc. If you think you might like to do this, then please shoot us an email at willowpineoutdoors@gmail.com.  If you haven't already, please take a moment to add us as a friend on Facebook. If you like what we're doing, and want to support us, the best way is to tell a friend! Always remember that Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we can control our appetite.  - Joey W. Buttram, Willowpine Outdoors

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