November 7-10th, 2013   Julie A. Mogenis aka The Judge is partnering up for an awesome upcoming event, hosted by LoneStarRanch of Harper, Texas. Mrs. Bambi Harrell has an amazing story of overcoming adversity and found The Judge’s “Day in the Life” video and was inspired by the story. These two wonderful ladies are now teaming up to make an eventful weekend for children with terminal illness. These children are so strong in their individual battles and Lone Star Ranch offers complimentary hunts for hope for these wonderful and inspirational children. The owner of Lone Star Ranch strives to create a safe haven for these children and their families to come and escape the day by day reality of their valiant fight for their lives. Special appearances:   Please visit: http://www.lonestarranchhunts.com/HUNTS-FOR-HOPE-VIDEO.html for more details.   We are asking anyone that is inspired by these wonderful children to call the Lone Star Ranch or World Wild Adventures to find out how you can help. Be a benefactor. Be a  sponsor.   #BeEpic     Lone Star Ranch: (830) 990-9500 or Bambi@lonestarranchhunts.com   World Wild Adventures: (800) 229-6789 or bvacho@gmail.com

A great day of bow fishing and a new huntress added by Mia Anstine We left in the late morning with a friend and his wife. We set out for a day of bow fishing at the lake. As we floated away from the marina I gave our friend a bow and explained to him the jug and reel. (read about his day here) The wife examined the arrow and [...] Read more of this post

The annual search for record deer antlers is under way in South Carolina.   COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The annual search for record deer antlers is under way in South Carolina. The state Natural Resources Department is holding scoring sessions around the state in advance of the Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic scheduled for March 25-27 at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia. Natural Resources project supervisor Charles Ruth says the state has almost 5,500 sets of white-tailed deer antlers on its records list. Hunters must document the date and location of the kill when they bring in a set of antlers for scoring. The department uses the Boone and Crockett system for scoring antlers. The goal is to determine where the largest deer are located and use that information for future herd management. The agency has a complete list of scoring locations on its website: www.scdnr.gov

Mia & the Little Gal at the WON: “Helping a first time shooter” by Mia Anstine A NEW POST IS UP AT THE WON! SEE WHAT ELSE WE'VE BEEN UP TO!!!www.womensoutdoornews.com Mia & The Little Gal: Helping a first time shooter We shoot quite often and it's always fun to share shooting with others. I became a shooting instructor because I wanted to properly teach safety, respect and to see [...] Read more of this post

Use these eight calling techniques to become a turkey assassin. Michael Waddell     It takes different calls to consistently close the coffin on longbeards. Have several calls and know how to use them.     Mastering a mouth call is critical for those last few crucial moments when you can't have any movement and your hands need to be free.     The author has found success by creating the illusion of a moving bird by using directional calling techniques.         While I dedicate a lot of time to chasing whitetails and other antlered monsters, spring turkey hunting is still one of my favorite pursuits. It's a great time to be in the woods, you don't have to freeze your butt off, and best of all, I can do most of it right near my home in Georgia. I grew up hunting ol' Booger Bottom right behind where my daddy still lives today, and I look forward to taking time off from my hectic traveling schedule every year to return there and hunt. But whether I'm hunting familiar woods I've hunted all my life or am chasing Rios or Merriam's in front of a camera in some place I've never even seen before, I use the same key skills to be successful. The most important skill I rely on is my ability to call. Calling is not only one of the things that makes turkey hunting so much fun, it's also the most important skill every turkey hunter needs to have in order to bring that big gobbler into gun range so he can ride home in the back of your truck. Here are a few tricks I've learned over the years. Maybe some of them will help you. 1 Mix It UpA lot of turkey hunters, especially beginners, learn to use one call pretty good, but never become proficient on other types. Or they may be able to use other calls, but they rely on that one they like almost exclusively. Bad mistake. Every call has its own pitch and sound and not every one is going to appeal to a particular longbeard. While one turkey may gobble his head off at your box call on Friday, that same turkey or even a different one, may ignore it on Saturday. Different calls may fire a tom up at different times. That's why it's important to learn to use several different calls and be able to run each of them as proficiently as the next. If turkeys aren't responding to your box call, switch to a mouth call or a slate. Even a tube call can work wonders in areas where gobblers have heard everything else thrown at them. If you prefer a box or a pot-and-peg type call, and are really good at that type, then buy several different ones and learn to use each of them as well as the other. Then you can keep inside your comfort zone, though I still recommend becoming versatile with different types of calls. 2 Master the Mouth CallMy favorite call to use, without a doubt, is a mouth call. To me, it's one of the most versatile. With a mouth call or diaphragm, you can make virtually every sound a turkey makes, varying rhythm, pitch and volume all with how you hold your mouth and huff air across the reeds. Best of all, it keeps your hands free so you can keep them on your shotgun when a gobbler is in close, but you need to work him just a little closer with a few light yelps or purrs. 3 Cadence is Key As varied as a hen's yelping and many other calls are, they nearly all follow a basic rhythm. In fact, I would say, when calling to a turkey at a distance at least, it is more important to have the right cadence than to even have the right sound. Listening to real turkeys in the woods or watching videos and TV shows of turkey hunts is one of the best ways to observe this cadence and learn to mimic it perfectly. Yelping, the hen's most basic call and the most important one for you to master, is delivered with evenly paced beats. Whether it is a casual yelp or one that is more excited and delivered with a little more speed, those yelps will always be spaced evenly apart. Cutting, which is really just a very excited, short burst of one-note clucks, will be more unevenly delivered, but still have a certain general rhythm to them. 4 Add Motion I bet you're scratching your head right now. "Add motion, he must be talking about decoys now," you're probably thinking. That can be helpful, too, but what I'm talking about here is adding some motion to your calling. How many guys, walk in the woods, plop down at the first gobble they make and just start calling from that same spot? If a gobbler is hopped up and ready for action, that will be enough. But when he is feeling more cautious and would rather the hen show herself, you're going to have to change positions. If a longbeard is far enough away, or even if the gobbles have gone silent on a particular morning, I will stand up and walk around, cutting and yelping and turning my head and body in different directions to make it sound like the hen is coming toward the tom and then moving away from him. I've walked 20 or 30 yards toward a gobbling tom that kept strutting back and forth out of sight to make him think I was a real hen. In these situations, try walking toward the turkey and then away while calling. Then shut up and move back to where you were closest to him and set up. The longbeard might think the hen is leaving him and finally show himself. When calling on the move like that, it is not only important that you do it when you are far enough away from a tom that he can't see you, but also that there is no chance of other hunters being around for obvious safety reasons. 5 Directional Calling Just like moving around while calling, it is important to be able to cast your sound in different directions as a gobbler approaches. With a mouth call, I cup a hand to the side of my mouth and use it to throw the sound of my calls in a particular direction. With a slate call, cup your hand beneath the sound board of the call and do basically the same thing. With a box, turn the sound chamber in a different direction, though I've found it's easier to throw a call's sound with a mouth call--one of the reason I prefer them. 6 Back It OffWhen trying to get a tom to offer up that first gobble or calling to one far off in the distance, it's perfectly fine to call as loud as you can. It's not okay to do that as that longbeard closes to within a 100 yards or less. Be sure to tone down the volume as the turkey gets closer. I've hunted with guys who had a gobbler hung-up 50 or 60 yards in front of them and then suddenly started calling as loud as if they turkey was in the next county. Loud calling will merely blow the turkey out, spooking him and sending him the other direction.  7 Clucks and PurrsThe yelp is the turkey's primary call, while cutting really works to get a longbeard fired up, but sometimes you need to go easy. That's where a single-note cluck and soft purrs can really come into play, particularly when working birds in close. Purrs are made when turkeys are content and can make a nervous tom relax as he works within range. 8 Keep It CleanWhen using friction calls such as a pot-and-peg or a box call, be careful not to touch the calling surfaces with your fingers. You also want to keep the surfaces free of dirt and free of moisture (unless the call is made to run wet.) Over time, oils in your skin can clog the pores in wood and slate, while it can make a striker slip and squeak on glass or metal. Likewise, don't touch the end of your strikers or stick them down in the dirt. Proper care will keep friction calls working a lifetime--at least yours.

             10 Tips For Crossbow Success This Hunting Season   Are you toting a crossbow into the field this year? These 10 solid tips can give you the edge you need to find horizontal-bow success. Brad Fenson — September 16, 2015 10   Tips for Crossbow Success There are no shortcuts when it comes to hunting with a crossbow, and minding the details will ensure a freezer full of venison this season. A strong knowledge of the principles of archery and marksmanship will help you get the most out of your equipment and be successful under any conditions you may face in the crossbow woods.   Practice On 3-D Targets   Once you’ve got the sights/scope on your crossbow dialed in, it’s time to shoot some 3-D targets. Why? Whitetails don’t come with a target-shaped birthmark on their sides. Picking a small spot on a large body can be tough. You need to practice on a life-like target and imagine aiming at a single hair. In addition, it helps to review the anatomy of a whitetail deer. This way, during your practice sessions, you can look at your bolt impact and know if you got the heart, lungs, liver, etc.   Range Ahead   Save time and decrease movement in your stand or blind by knowing your range before a deer shows up. Use a rangefinder to confirm the distance to known objects in your shooting lanes, such as trees, rocks, flowers, grass or any natural features, and use them as reference points. Confirm the farthest distance you can shoot, and anything inside that zone is fair game.   Trigger Pull   There is nothing more critical to consistent arrow flight and accuracy than trigger pull. A slow, gentle squeeze on the trigger prevents you from pulling your bow off target when releasing an arrow. For best consistency use the center of the pad on your index finger and make sure you place the exact same spot on the trigger every time.   Focus Your Reticle   There is a quick trick for properly focusing the reticle in your crossbow scope – with or without the scope attached – and it takes less than a minute. Simply go outside, glance up and find a piece of blue sky totally clear of clouds. Turn the focus ring on the back of the scope all the way out. Lift the scope, point it at the sky and quickly look at it (no more than 3 seconds) to see if the reticle is in focus. Turn the focus ring one turn and repeat the quick look. Repeat this procedure until the reticle is in perfect focus as soon as you look at it. Then continue the exercise by turning the focus ring until the reticle is out of focus again. Then turn the focus ring back in the opposite direction until the reticle is clear, and you have bracketed the focus area and confirmed the correct dial position.   Make It Real   If you plan on hunting in layers of warm clothes – gloves, facemask, stocking cap – then conduct practice sessions wearing this type of apparel. The extra bulk and loss of mobility can drastically impair shot and arrow delivery. Rather than taking a chance, know exactly how your scope lines up from your shoulder while wearing these garments and whether you can find the reticle in your scope quickly. Most importantly, make sure you can still squeeze the trigger with your gloves on.   Check Limb Clearance   There is nothing worse than having one of your crossbow limbs come in contact with something. Treestands and blind setups are notorious for spoiling a hunt because hunters don’t run through their shots before the real thing happens. If you plan on shooting out of a blind, practice out of a blind. Make sure to try various angles to confirm you know how much clearance is required when you squeeze the trigger. The same goes for treestands.   Use A Rest   Shooting sticks and bipods are a great way to stabilize your bow on the front end. The extra support allows shooters to hold on target and reduces muscle fatigue, which causes accuracy-robbing shakes. Bipods mount directly to sling-swivel mounts on the bottom of the stock, but shooting sticks need to be field tested to ensure they don’t get in the way of limbs or strings. A trigger stick is quickly adjustable for height and provides a cradle to support the forestock of your crossbow but isn’t directly mounted to the crossbow.   Try Back Support   Supporting the butt-end of your stock is a great way to improve your accuracy. The good news: This isn’t hard to accomplish. The simple act of leaning into a tree with the shoulder that is supporting the bow will provide outstanding stability for improved accuracy. You can purchase field rests to support both the forearm and butt of a crossbow.   Practice The Mechanics   When shooting at the range or at targets in the backyard, it really doesn’t matter how much noise you make. However, if a mature white-tailed buck is standing a mere 20 yards away, you better know how to slowly and silently lift your bow, shoulder it for quick target acquisition and ready for the shot. It may all sound simple, but the mechanics are what typically foil a close-range shot.   Practice The Hold   How long can you hold your crossbow in the shooting position? If you start to shake after just a minute, your accuracy will suffer. To prevent fatigue make sure you watch your quarry over your scope and not with the reticle tracking every movement. Prolonged focus in a scope quickly leads to eye fatigue. Dropping your eye in line with your reticle seconds before a shot opportunity will ensure you focus on the reticle and deer at the same time, with little or no movement.

A lot of hunters build their rut-time strategies on long-held, but faulty beliefs. To fill your tag this November, first you'll want to separate fact from fiction. 10 Rut Lies Debunked By Doug Howlett     Belief: The peak of the rut is the best time to hunt. Reality Check: As far as I'm concerned, the peak of the rut actually kind of sucks. It's the pre-rut, that week to 10 days before the rut peaks, that most hunters think of when they describe deer charging around the woods like crazy in search of estrus does and getting careless. And that is when you want to be on a stand as much as you possibly can. While you will still find some decent bucks roaming about in search of a hot doe during the peak, the big boys will be on lockdown at that point, typically already with a doe ready to be bred and not moving unless she does. Belief: It's too hot for deer to rut. Reality Check: While a good blast of cold will usually put deer on their feet more during the day as the rut kicks in and consecutive days of soaring mercury can make it appear to shut down, the truth is, deer in a particular area are going to breed at roughly the same time every year regardless of what the weatherman delivers. Biologist after biologist will confirm this. Hot weather may force rut-weary bucks to chase and seek more at night than during the day, meaning hunters won't see them moving as much and mistake the lack of activity for a shut-down rut, but the fact remains: It's still going on. Hot weather won't force the rut to start weeks later or, as I've heard some hunters suggest, not take place at all any more than prematurely cold weather would kick in the rut a week or more early. If you have a good feel for when the rut typically kicks in year after year, that's when you want to be on a stand, regardless of what the weather is doing. Belief: The full moon affects the timing of the rut. Reality Check: Here's another one that almost every hunter has a theory on, but again, the science just isn't there to support it. Famed wildlife biologist Mick Hellickson says that while a number of hunters and scientists have examined the issue, no definitive relationship has been found between the moon and the timing of the rut. That doesn't mean a full moon doesn't affect deer activity in general. M.A.D. Calls founder and outdoor television producer Mark Drury says that while he can't say why, he has observed a definite increase in deer movement on both sides of a full moon. He says afternoon hunts are a top bet during the 10 days leading up to a full moon, then mornings appear to be best in the 10 days after a full moon. For my own part, I like midday hunts when a moon is full, choosing to sit a stand back in the woods, preferably along an edge of old-growth and new-growth stands of timber. Belief: Hang your stand over a fresh scrape, and odds are good you'll kill a buck coming to check it. Reality Check: I've seen guys scout the woods, find a single big, fresh scrape and hang their stand 20 yards away, positive the big boy is going to pop by to check it that evening or the next morning. And sure, it does happen, but not regularly. Odds are that when the buck does show, it will be in the dark. In fact, one Georgia study found that 85 percent of buck visits to active scrapes two to three weeks prior to the rut occurred at night, and as many as 50 percent of the bucks only visited a scrape once and were not seen again. Rather than focus on a single scrape (and definitely not a single rub), look for areas where there are a number of scrapes and a good line of clean rubs indicating frequent buck traffic. Hang a trail cam near the biggest, freshest scrape; analyze the photos to determine what time and which bucks visit it; look at an aerial photo of the surrounding land and figure out where to set up ambushes along funnels and well-worn deer trails that lead into the area. Focus on rub lines and scrapes made in thick cover and near a good bedding area; they are more likely to be visited during shooting hours. Put less emphasis on scrapes along field edges and more on trails entering the open areas. Belief: Big scrapes and rubs are made by big deer. Reality Check: The truth is, a scrape as big around as a truck tire could've been made by a hopped-up six-pointer just as well as it could be made by a 12-pointer. Different bucks will visit and scrape in the same spot, which can make it larger over time. On the other hand, rubs on really big trees are a fair indication that they were made by a large buck. Again, focus on areas with multiple big scrapes and big rubs either in a cluster, indicating a possible staging area before the buck moves off to feed or look for does in the evening, or in a discernible line, indicating the direction of travel of the bucks rubbing in the area.   Belief: Rutting activity is constant during the rut. Reality Check: While we'd love to trust in a magic switch, triggered by the shortening day, that sets all bucks in motion to breed and thus start rutting over the same span of time, the truth is that the rut progresses much like the crowd in a college bar gathers during Dollar Draft night. At the bar, you have your handful of young, eager male students who show up well before the women in order to capitalize on the special pricing. Over a short time, the crowd grows, with the co-eds eagerly socializing and the cooler, more dialed-in dudes (usually already with their girl in tow) showing up to hang out and make an appearance. And then, as the night winds down, the bouncers almost always have to force out the door a small band of stragglers who don't want the night to end. Deer are the same, with some bucks chasing and some does going into estrus earlier, while the bulk of the deer will begin breeding activity days, even weeks later, with most of them overlapping each other until the activity begins to die out. Think of it as a bell curve, and if you plan on taking vacation days, you want to pinpoint when the top of the curve will take place so you are in the woods at that time. As for the second rut that occurs roughly a month after the first--well, that's more like the after-hours club for those who didn't quite get enough earlier. And just like the after-hours club, it's usually hard to find and in most places not really worth the effort. Belief: The rut makes big deer careless. I don't have to be as cautious. Reality Check: I've seen hunters who were diligent about controlling scent and taking all kinds of precautions to minimize their presence in the woods during bow season abandon those same worries once gun season (and usually the rut) came into full swing. Their reasoning: I can shoot farther, and the deer are running around and not paying attention to anything but chasing does. It's true, bucks do get more reckless and are more apt to make a mistake pursuing does in brood daylight, but remember, big deer didn't get that way by being stupid. Their nose is still always on alert, as are their eyes, for anything out of place. Those does that are nearby also act as sentries and are usually the first to detect something, since they're leading the boys around. Don't leave anything to chance. Maintain your regimen of keeping still, quiet and scent-free at all times during deer season. Belief: Heavy antlers and the deepest-sounding grunt tubes will attract the biggest deer. Reality Check: I hear this from a lot of well-known hunters who work in the hunting industry and hunt so many quality places that they can be choosy and seek only the biggest deer a property has to offer. While every one of us who deer hunts would love to kill a record-book buck, I'm willing to bet that there's just as many who would be happy to kill an eight- or 10-pointer in the 130s or even 120s, particularly when in many places the odds of killing something much larger may not be good all season. For bucks like this, super-deep grunts and heavy, smashing antlers can intimidate as much as entice. I've seen bucks that looked big enough to whip anything in the woods turn tail and run at the first crash of antlers. To be sure, you want to challenge big bucks--enter the octagon, so to speak--but you want to sound like you can be whipped, too. Be big, but not too big. Think more Clint Eastwood than Kimbo Slice. Belief: That big buck you scouted on your land in September will definitely be around when the rut rolls in. Reality Check: A buck's summer range can differ drastically as the rut kicks in, expanding from an average of 600 acres to as much as 4,000, with some radio-collared bucks roaming an average of 10 miles a day--most of it at night. That means if you're hunting a 200-acre tract, the whopper you saw in your September soybean field could be well off your land for much of the rut. Some reasons for this dispersal include where a buck lines up in the order of dominance, food and the number of does in an area. This is probably the best argument for maintaining quality food plots. By doing so, you'll keep does on the land, and the bucks will be right there with them. Want some good news? Bucks will range from other properties onto yours as well. If you start catching a sudden influx of never-before-seen bucks on your trail cameras or observing them in the field, get in the woods, because it is game on. Belief: Hunting pressure during the rut will make it almost impossible to kill a nice deer. Reality Check: It seems in most places that just as the rut is kicking in, gun seasons open up, too, bringing a sudden influx of hunters into the woods. If you hunt a lease with other hunters or with a club, you know what I mean. The three or four guys who had the place to themselves in October are now fighting to get to the hot spots before another dozen guys and gals do. But don't let this pressure discourage you. Use it to your advantage, as all of these pumpkin-colored folks walking about are sure to push some big boys from hiding at any time of the day. Identify where most of your fellow hunters like to hunt--many will hit the same stands day in and day out--and figure out from which direction and at what time they generally approach. Then position yourself along likely escape routes and funnels with heavy cover, and be there before and after the other hunters typically move. Hunting pressure can actually be a good thing at a time when an abundance of shooting would otherwise force racked monsters to sit tight until dark.

Choose the right kind of scent and technique to attract and stop a buck in his tracks. by Jack Young Most hunting-related scent products are designed to eliminate human odors. Four scent categories include: masking, odor-adsorbing, odor-eliminating, and oxidizing. Each has advantages, disadvantages, and preferred applications. Masking Scents Masking scents are most misunderstood. Covering one scent with another is a poor approach to odor management. Game possess olfactory senses many thousands times better than humans. Dousing oneself with masking scents means game animals simply smell you and the cover scent. Adsorbing Scents Odor-adsorbing products are better solution, but after active ingredients (baking soda, activated carbon, Abscents crystals/powder) reach carrying capacity they will adsorb no more. They’re certainly effective but require frequent recharging. Odor-Elimination/Oxidization Odor-eliminating or oxidizing products prove most effective on a wider variety of odor sources and have become the industry standard. Active ingredients chemically neutralize or oxidize odors. In the first case key chemicals react with odor molecules to turn them into inert, odorless compounds. Oxidizers quickly accelerate the break-down of odor compounds to make them disappear. Scent Lures And Tools Unlike masking or odor-eliminating scent-control products designed to camouflage game-spooking odors, bowhunting lures are meant to attract attention. These contain urine, glands, or hormones to arouse sexual interest from game. Some also contain “curiosity” agents that many deer feel inclined to investigate. The latter are used for early seasons preceding the rut. In general, game lures, like “doe-in-heat concoctions, are most effective during rut periods when males seek female companionship. Many over-zealous bowhunters dump entire bottles of lure around stand sites hoping to attract full-out charges from love-crazed bucks. It could happen, but it is highly unlikely. Effective approaches to sex-lure attractants include creating drag-lines to bring trailing bucks within range and placing scent pods to stop animals in desired shooting lanes. Regarding drag-lines, take care to assure that your human scent doesn’t mix with the scent line. Tie a clean length of cord to a long switch, a wick, or clean cloth saturated with lure attached to the end. Hold the branch at arm’s length. This distance, plus the added reach of the switch, will help leave your drag-lines free of human scent. If you know that your boots are completely scent-free, you can apply lure scent to your boot soles and trail in. Create a multitude of drag-lines around stand sites. Each line vectoring toward your stand can help bring a rutting whitetail buck in for a closer shot. Too, by paying attention to wind direction, you might actually be able direct animals away from your downwind quarter and avoid being winded. Scents Can Stop And Distract Using scents or lures to stop or distract animals is also effective. Place scent-charged wicks or scent pods upwind of your position to create standing shots at preoccupied animals. Placing scent pods behind stumps, tree trunks, or rocks might also stop deer while also blocking their vision, allowing you a chance to draw your bow undetected. Scents of all kinds can prove to be highly effective tools to regular bowhunting success. Use today’s array of scents to disguise your own scent, to better position animals for the shot, but do so wisely. Avoid desperate measures and always, always watch that wind to prevent educating animals in your hunting area—or sending them into retreat at the moment of truth.

POWELL, Ohio - An insect expert was traveling the state to warn counties and veterinarians about an increase in deer ticks, 10TV’s Kristyn Hartman reported on Monday.   Fifteen years ago, deer ticks were unheard of in Ohio. Now 26 counties, including Franklin and Delaware, are on the watch list The black legged deer tick, which can be as small as a poppy seed, can carry Lyme disease.   If bites are diagnosed early, the illness can be easily treated with antibiotics. If missed, it can mean years of misery, Hartman reported.   Paige Caulley said that she discovered that first hand.   "We think I was bit when I was really, really young," said Caulley, 27.   Caulley grew up in Connecticut, where Lyme disease was more common. She said that she knew many classmates who had gotten the illness.   The Powell resident said that she has suffered from health problems throughout her life but never associated them with Lyme disease.   Caulley said that the problems grew worse after her daughter was born 18 months ago.   "I had a family doctor who just told me I need to start exercising. And that I need to see a therapist. And that it was all in my head. And I was in so much pain that I could barely walk," Caulley said.   Caulley looked to many doctors for help before finding a specialist in New York. Now, Caulley makes monthly trips to New York, takes a variety of pills and gives herself a daily intravenous drip of antibiotics. Her medical bills exceed $50,000.   Glen Needham, an entomologist at the Ohio State University, who works with the state health department, travels the state warning county health departments and veterinarians that ticks are on the march across Ohio.   "We've gone from what we believe were no counties with black legged ticks, to two counties, to 26 counties," he said.   Hunters brought deer heads to the state lab for tick checks. In one year, numbers ballooned from 29 ticks to 1,800, Hartman reported.   “Dogs will be kind of canary in the cave for us.” Needham said. "So we think dogs may get Lyme Disease first in the state. And that may alert us to where some of these hot spots are," Needham said.   The infection is first identified by a bull’s-eye rash that many people may not notice.   Those infected could have a few days of flu-like symptoms, then feel better. But the disease does not go away. It could spread into the heart, the joints, and the nervous system.   Caulley thought that is what happened to her. Now she faces four more months of an IV antibiotic and a struggle to feel well, but a struggle that she thought was worth it, Hartman reported.   "I'm like 50 percent better," Caulley said.   Needham says Lyme disease may be difficult to diagnose, because patients experience a variety of symptoms. To cut the risk of getting sick, he said people should spray skin and clothes with an insecticide containing DEET.   Watch 10TV News and fresh 10TV.com for more information. ©2012 by 10TV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

It takes planning, practice, and some good old fashioned woodsman skills to sneak that close to a coyote without his awareness. by Tom Austin   The Wyoming sage peppered the yellow grass valley where a dozen or so head of Black Angus were grazing. White capped mountains in the distance warned me that the heavy snows of winter would fall here soon. I parked the Tacoma out of sight from the valley I planned to call and carefully snuck along the 10-foot deep, red-clay ravine, which split this valley into two equal halves. After gaining some distance from the Tacoma, I ascended out of the ravine and quickly sat down on its edge concealing myself with a sage tall enough to hide my silhouette. I chambered a round of Dead Coyote into the Benelli and began a stint of the bunny blues with a well-used FOXPRO, open-reed hand call known as the Lil’ Skyote. I groaned and wailed quivering tones into the call for less than 30 seconds when I caught motion right in front of me. Coyote! Totally unaware of my presence, the coyote came double time to my cries stopping seven yards from my feet. I decided that was close enough so I put the Benelli to work. I gathered my calling gear along with the coyote and snuck back into the ravine quietly so I could call this stand another day. At 30 seconds into the series, that coyote had to be less than 100 yards away when I started. The stealth approach to my stand location put another hide on the stretcher. It takes planning, practice, and some good old fashioned woodsman skills to sneak that close to a coyote without his awareness. I get a lot of opportunities to mentor newbie predator callers with my guide service, Predator Strikeforce. As a result of this, I’ve developed some rules for approaching a stand with stealth and precision. Rule 1: This Ain’t NASCAR Don’t rev and race your motor while approaching a stand. I realize in NASCAR this type of behavior will draw a crowd, but when predator hunting, you’ll finish last. Rule 2: Bumpin’ And Slammin’ Is For Gangsta’s Coyotes and bobcats could care less if you have 1,000 Watt’s of power crashing through your speakers. Keep the windows rolled up, turn the music down, and don’t slam the doors. Rule 3: Crossing Fences Is An Art—Perfect It Any sound you make while crossing a fence will travel both directions sending a telegraph to critters that you’re in the area. Cross as quietly as possible and if you happen to snag your delicates on barbed wire, scream in silence. Rule 4: Sticks And Stones Might Break Your Stand Stepping on sticks, crashing through leaves or tripping over rocks are all great ways to ruin your stand. Slow down, watch where you’re stepping and tread lightly to avoid making a lot of noise. Rule 5: Monkey See, Monkey Run Away If a predator sees you, that predator will leave. Don’t expose yourself while approaching your stand and expect to consistently call in predators. Plan your approach using the terrain for concealment. Most of us loved to play Army when we were younger, some of us still do. Figuring out the terrain, sneaking in on the enemy and planning the attack are all part of it. Apply these five simple rules, use some discipline, and make a plan of attack on a battlefield near you. About The Author For the past 26 years, Tom’s passion has been calling predators and because of that passion, Predator Strikeforce was born. As owner and operator of Predator Strikeforce, Tom has daily opportunities to hone his skills “hunting the hunter.” Predator Strikeforce allows individuals of all ages, both male and female, the opportunity to get up close and personal with the hunters of the animal kingdom. Individuals who embark on a predator hunting adventure with Predator Strikeforce have an opportunity to “get their 15 minutes of fame” through the film. Tom writes editorials for AR Guns & Hunting and authors a monthly column for Predator Xtreme magazine titled “Caller for Hire.” He literally hunts predators from Canada to Mexico and every hilltop and valley floor in between. For Tom, predator hunting isn’t just an obsession; it’s a way of life.