Shoulder boulder solution

Maybe you're like me and don't like carrying things in the field draped or wrapped around your neck either. Like a pair of binos, grunt call, etc. But things slip off when just slung over your shoulder,  so how do you manage this problem?
The Shoulder Boulder!
I have found at times I'd like to have an extra pair of socks with me while hunting. Sometimes my feet get cold, or my son get wet. If you take this extra pair of socks and stuff them between you outer jacket on top of your shoulders you cream a bump that will keep your binos from sliding off your shoulders. It's a solution for 2 problems. Extra socks, and a way to keep your shoulder straps from sliding off.
Try it out. You might like the solution.
Happy hunting!

Rattling for bucks, why you shouldn't

I've been a believer in rattling in deer for several years. I've rattled in bucks in Mississippi to Indiana, and it works. However you have to be setup just right for it to pay off, or else the go down wind and bust you.
I think I've found something better and why it works.
The common  belief is that bucks respond to rattling because,  "they want to see a fight" or, " they are determining the pecking order in the herds". But I don't think deer think like we do. People gawk at a school yard fight, and some pay big money to go see 2 guys fight it out in a cage or boxing ring. But I think deer are smarter than people on this score. Deer just want to survive. Part of that is breeding and raising the next generation. And a buck is determined to be the one to be the "Big Daddy". So his interest in responding to a rattle sequence is breeding opportunity.  Two bucks generally IN THE RUT are duking it out over a doe. But a buck that responds to rattling doesn't want to waste time and energy. He wants to make sure the doe is ready,  so he goes down wind to smell out the prospects. NOT to sniff out the other bucks that are fighting to see if he wants to be the next fighter in the ring. That's why the smaller bucks often are the ones that respond to rattling, not the big boy. The little guy can't compete up on the front lines.
He'd much rather sneak off with the doe that those 2 big bucks are fighting over and have his moment of privacy to seal the deal. Hence the down wind sniff to check out his prospects. And if he can get down wind off a hunter he will smell him and then he's out of there pronto!
YOU'RE BUSTED!
But there is a way to get the biggest buck in the area to come straight to you without him going down wind to check for a hot doe and thus sniffing you out.
Call him a coward and challenge him to a fight!
I've tried this on public ground and it seems to work without fail. And it works for bucks AND does.
I learned this by accident and seeing the response of the biggest buck in the area.
What you want to do is sound like the new biggest buck in the area  y stating it in this manner.
1ST SNORTING FOLLOWED 10-30 SECONDS LATTER WITH SNORT WHEEZE.

2ND BUCK GRUNT LOUDLY WITH GRUNT SET YO MAKE IT'S LOWEST OCTAVE NOTE. (This grunt is an extended long grunt bordering on a growl.)

3RD GET A STICK OR BRANCH AND SCRAPE THE NEAREST SAPPING FOR 30-60 SECONDS

4TH BUCK GRUNT 5-10 SHORT BURP GRUNTS.

If Big Boy is within 300 yards, or maybe even out to 500 yards, he's going to come straight to Mr. "Johnny Come Lately" with the intention of settling this RIGHT NOW!
He will come straight to you.
No down wind check.
No waiting.
He's coming in to kick your tail!
Try it out. Maybe you don't want to try this in your favorite stand, in fact i don't recommend it. 
But try get close to a trail and try to anticipate which direction you think he's hanging out in, and position yourself down wind of his suspected positioned to yours. And if it doesn't work, go on to your favorite stand. Nothing lost but 20-30 minutes of waiting for him to respond.
This works.

Hunting- Greene Sullivan East Side 9/25/17

PICK MILK WEED IN MID TO LATE SEPTEMBER AT GREENE SULLIVAN!

Today 9/25/2007 I hung 2 deer stands by Roger Ballewes place and then I scouted the West side of Greene Sullivan Forest. Basically anything east of S.R 350 is not open to hunting. I don't know why,but it's not.
I had a pretty good day and covered a lot of ground, but there is still more to be covered in that one little section. There are several likes in there with trees and scrubby brush all around. Most of it is scrubby brush with a 15-20 ft tree here and there in little clumps, I suspect that deer are bedding in these clumps of larger trees that are dispersed throughout the South side of this West side portion. On the North side of the West side divide there is larger timber in there that might work for early bow season. I saw a doe crossing the road as I was coming out tonight at the bigger timber. I also had several deer blow at me it the scrubby stuff southern end, so there are deer living there as well
 Trying to figure out how to hunt them is going to be challenge. But I have a few ideas and tactics, The wind is the hard part. With so many lakes around and thermal from lake effect playing a part its a touchy thing there. I did fin one interesting thing about thermals. I was setting on the edge of a ditch about  3 ft deep and I noticed my powder and wind indicators kept sinking right down in the ditch while I was setting low on the edge, It was like the ditch was sucking up my scent. A cool technique to master.
  I also had a close encounter with a coyote there. He came up out of a draw chasing a rabbit, He wound up about 30 feet from me. He was a small yearling, He looked healthy.
Tomorrow if I get a chance I need to get some yellow chalk line chalk and fill my powder winderizer. I also picked up some old sheets from someone who was up grading there bedding ware at a lake out there. I got some brown die and I am going to make some more ground blind covering out of them.
Well got to turn in. I will give a few more moments to topo maps and then hit the hay.

October 6 2017
It is 8:21a.m The day is mostly cloudy with a wind out of the S.S.E.
I am hunting the dual stand besides Rogers. I thought I heard a deer jump the fence on the road about 8, but I never saw him. I could have been mistaken, or just couldn't see him.
Lately things just have not been meshing well. Things just haven't felt "right". Nothing seems to come together and things feel "clunky". I've been trying to hunt public from a tree saddle type deer stand. That method is completely foreign to me, and things haven't gone as hoped
I tried the one stick method and I found it to be absolutely exhausting! So I bought some Rivers Edge Grip Sticks, and they work, but they are heavy and too long to transport comfortably.  Perhaps I just need more time to get comfortable with them but, like I said, everything has just been clunky feeling. So this morning I thought I'd just try the old pre-hung tree stand to help me get some good vibes going and maybe get out of this funk and into a groove. At least drink some coffee and watch the sun come up from a deer stand for a change.
It looks like the deer are using the Eastside trail here at this location. So maybe something will come by. I wanted to save this for hunting with Nyle, but things have been so discouraging I didn't feel like hunting, so I thought I'd take a break and do some "enjoyable " hunting today.
BREAK 8:40
Sun October 8 Yesterday I went hunting on Greene Sullivan on the most southwest corner of the property. There was a strong wind from the south /southwest. I parked at the trailhead and walked in about 50 yards and turned due north towards the bigger lake found there. My thought was to hunt westward along the lakes edge while my scent was blown over the surface of the lake. On my way to the lake I bumped a deer located very near the small trail, within 20 yards after heading north to the lake. This deer ran north towards the lake. The lake was approximately 150-200 yards away.
UPDATE/LATE
On October 9th Monday hunted The far southwest lakes on the west side of G.S. Forest. The wind was from the S.S.W but very variable sometomes swirls seemed 360 deg, at about 6mph.
I hunted slow and sneaky down the south end of the lake through the stand of walnut groove. Started about 1 p. m.
I didn't see much of anything until around 1 hour to 45 minutes before dark. I was tree saddle in to a small walnut tree located in an open meadow area just east of an overgrown thickety DNR road that runs from the entrance gate to a overgrown thicket on the west side of the big lake. Basically located just east of the road between these 2 lakes. If you look close here you can see a reddish looking tree there in the corner. That's approximately where I was huntin.

I saw a doe come in from the S.S.W. from of this littlemail Rd and sheven came in to the meadow where I was in my tree. It is very very thick between me tree and this little road, it is almost like a 5-10 curtain of thicket there. Unfortunately my boots squeaked as I had no real platform and she went back. Though she was only maybe 5 yards from my stand she lacked a few more feet of getting clear of the last bit of brush for a clean shot. I did come to full draw, but she knew something wasn't right, or maybe she heard something.. any way she went back. About 40 minutes later a buck with a wide dark rack but on carrying at most 6 points came from the north just to the eastside of the road thickety stuff. I saw him coming several yards away. He looked as if he was going to come within 10 feet left of my stand on his way towards me. However 1 feet to the north of my tree, between this buck and i, was an evergreen tree about 10-15 feet tall. I was looking over the top of it at this buck until he got within 10 yards or so from me, and could no longer see him. If he came out from behind it on the west side, my left side, it was going to a shot of only maybe 10 feet from my tree. However he came out east side,my right side, and I could not draw and shoot him on my right side due to using a tree saddle without a platform. He did come within 10 feet before I made enough noise trying to swung around the tree to draw on him. He saw me and ran a distance of some 30 yards, turned broadside and waited on me to get situated to drawork on him. I final released an arrow but I'm sure I shot over him a few yards as I heard my arrow go rattling in to the brush behind him.

It was frustrating but I learned how NOT to hunt from a saddle. In the meantime I've readied a lockon tree stand with hopes of returning soon for another try.