Flatlander Outdoors

Newsletter #2

Skunks, Scrapes, and Scapulas'


Skunked....is what I was in the month of October, 100+ hours in the the tree stand, sighting of 2 shooter bucks, no Doe's offered themselves for the Cheever family freezer, but i did have one rendezvous with a skunk... hate those things.... so yes it was a skunked month. Fortunatley not everyone had my luck. Buddies, Mike and Danny took some nice meat deer and trap line master Chad Schieler tracked his way into the lair of this mature whitetail buck. Chad took him stick and string style from the ground, CONGRATS to these fellows.


Scrapes....every year I try to refine my hunting or understanding of whitetail deer. Last year it was food plots and this year it's ground scrapes. In September I started making mock scrapes, I wathced 4 scrapes particulary, one man made with bottled deer urine, one deer made scrape with nothing at all, one deer made scrape with bottled buck urine, and one old deer scrape with man made urine (yes you heard that right, recycled H2O from yours truely). Rumor has it from the old timers that the later is the best medicine for bringing in big bucks.

My conclusion was and is the old timers know their stuff. The mock scrape with store bought pee was hit but not too often. The deer scrape refreshened with bottled pee was hit pretty well. The old deer scrape that had nothing in it, hasn't seen much action, and the winner is the old deer scrape that i have been "doctoring" on my own is getting hammered regularly. I tried to snap some quick photos but the camera battery was too weak......... more to come as the scrapes unfold through the season

Scapula.... is the large paddle like bone (I beam) that supports the weight of the front shoulders of a 300+ lb. live whitetail which i buried a broad head in on Nov. 5th. The deer of a lifetime was rattled in along with another wide mature 9 point that had a broken up rack. I experienced every exciting thing that can happen in the deer woods all in the firs hour of daylight on Thursday morning, I used buck and doe decoys, a drag line of scent, doe estrus, rattling horns, and grunting. The only thing i left at home was the kitchen sink. I had 2 mature bucks respond simutaniously to the calling/horns. Both squared off for a fight. The 250+ lber. went after the big 10 with a vengance, until he got close enough to see the enormous size of his opponent. The giant 10 will easily go 300+ lbs. live weight and score in the upper 140's, both had incredible spreads to their antlers of over 20" wide. The broken 9 was inferior to the big 10 and kept a satellite's distance.

I shot the big 10 in the shoulder only getting about 2" of penetration and a few drops of blood, due dilligance was done after 7 hours and then again the next day, but the big 10 lives today. It was the best and worst hunt of my life at the same time......... I know this sounds like a tall tale but i gladly have about 35 minutes of video to account for the wonderous day in the woods. Amazing footage is all i can say. Sadly i have lost another battle with the wiley whitetail. (bowhunters often get used to losing)

along with these two deer i rattled in 5 other bucks this weekend, some were tempting 120"ers but the thought of the giant looming kept me from releasing another arrow. That may change very soon........... more to come

these pics may be grainy, as they came from video footage, but i just had to share

the big slob 10, well over 3oolb. on the hoof

the broken 9 pointer

the fattest live deer i have ever seen


the slob buck and the broken buck squaring off



some of the bucks that i gave the green light to eat, sleep, and breed another day

And here are a couple pics of what a starving deer hunter look like (much like a Cubs fan a month into the season :) ......... disgruntled and trying to cover the stink :)

Good luck and GOD bless,
Matt Cheever