With some preliminary harvest numbers being reported by states around the Midwest it looks like this year’s deer harvest may be up from last year.

  So far leading the way is Missouri. According to the data released by the Missouri Department of Conservation, hunters there took 189,938 deer during the November portion of the fall firearms deer season which ran from November 14 - 24. That’s an increase over last year’s harvest of 166,383 deer during the 2014 November portion.

  The Missouri harvest broke down like this; 92,020 were antlered bucks, 21,256 were button bucks, and 76,662 were does.

  Hunters in Illinois reported 57,968 deer taken during the first weekend of the Illinois Firearm Deer Season that took place November 20-22 even though the weather turned bad and some hunters couldn’t or wouldn’t go out in the rain, snow and wind. Compare the first weekend with last year’s and hunters took 6138 more deer than the 51,830 deer taken during the first firearm weekend in 2014.

  The second weekend of the firearm season and the first weekend of muzzleloader season runs December 3 - 6. With good weather forecast for most of the state the hunting should be good with does that didn’t get bred during the main rut coming into heat.

  Iowa’s first firearm season opens on December 5th and hunters are anxious to improve on last year’s overall harvest of 101,569. That number was down 39% from their historic peak and the Iowa DNR says the 2015 harvest should be similar. We’ll have to wait and see.

  Could the upward trend continue around the region? We won’t know for sure until the final numbers are tabulated in late January. As of now it looks like Oklahoma is behind last year’s numbers.

  As of the middle of November, the Sooner state was reporting lower numbers than last year. Archery hunters have checked in about 16,130 deer, a pace slightly behind last year's harvest of just over 17,000. The archery season runs through Jan. 15, 2016.

  The muzzleloader season which runs in late October only saw 13,306 deer checked in. That’s 11% lower than 2014’s total of 14,927 deer.

  Youth deer gun hunters in Oklahoma checked about 3,595 deer for the October 16-18 season. That number is 16 percent lower than last year's youth deer gun harvest of 4,277.

  Although no deer numbers have been reported from Tennessee as of this writing, they have reported that three out of five hunters were successful during the annual elk hunt at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area held October 19 - 23. The biggest elk was taken by Jacob Parker, a 15-year old from Sparta. He harvested a 5x6 bull elk that field dressed at 547 pounds. It marked the second straight year that the heaviest elk came from the youth hunt participant.

  The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has worked to make elk habitat improvements at North Cumberland WMA. The first arrival of 50 elk came in December 2000, the first wild elk to be in Tennessee since they were last reported in Obion County in 1865. Since the first managed hunt in 2009, 31 elk have been harvested.

  It’s great when you’re sitting in a tree stand and a deer whether it is a buck or doe comes down the trail toward you or steps out into the field you’re watching. You get a feeling of satisfaction that you’ve done your scouting correctly and you’ve set-up in the right spot. It’s especially rewarding if you’ve sat there for days without seeing any deer. You think back to those hours of watching and waiting and to all of the things you’ve seen.

  For example. On a recent trip to Oklahoma I was sitting in my stand one afternoon along a pipeline right-of-way when I heard some scampering over to my left. I had seen several squirrels running around earlier and figured it was just them creating a ruckus again but I couldn’t take the chance of not looking. Sure enough about 25 yards away on the opposite side I spied some movement on the ground. “Squirrels” was my immediate thought but then I got a better look at what had perked my interest. It was two birds scurrying across the open ground. Then there was more noise and more birds running across the pipeline. Some would run half way across, stop and look around then sprint on across. Others ran the whole distance without stopping. Three and four would go as group, then a couple of singles, then a pair, then multiples again. I lost count but there had to have been at least 20 or so. I chuckled to myself as the last one started its run, got about a third of the way across when it said screw this and flew the rest of the way over in an awkward, haphazard flight. Later I told the story back at camp and my friend David said they had been young turkeys. Pretty cool.

  Another trip years ago to Oklahoma I was hunting the same area one morning. It was very early. You know that time when everything is gray and although you can’t pick out things at a distance you can see objects closer to you but without much detail. I heard quite a bit of noise across the pipeline from me in the woods, critters running and fussing at each other. “Things are waking up grumpy this morning”, I thought. About 10 minutes after the ruckus had ended a bobcat stepped out of the brush opposite my position and stopped about 25 feet away. I noticed something hanging from its mouth. It turned its head slightly and I got a good look at the rabbit it was carrying. All of that noise had been the bobcat attacking the rabbit. After giving me the once over the bobcat decided it wanted no part of whatever was sitting in the chair and turned back the way it had come and silently slipped back into the brush.

  Over the years I’ve had numerous squirrels in the tree with me, jumping from branch to branch overhead as they headed to the nearest nut tree. The past few years I’ve had them come down the tree or up the tree and sit and stare at me within an arm’s length looking like they were going to pounce on me. Believe me I don’t need a squirrel on my head or in my lap so after we give each other a good look I’ll make some noise to scare them off.

  Have you ever had those little black and white birds, we call them ‘Goonie Birds’, under your stand picking their way through the sticks and leaves creating a commotion? You know they’re just Goonie Birds but you got to look anyway. I’ve mistaken the noise for Goonie Birds and not pay any attention only to finally give in and look to see a deer that has camouflaged its footsteps as Goonie Birds has slipped in on me. Clever deer.

  I’ve seen raccoons under my stand. Dogs, cats and armadillos have all visited me while hunting. Wild hogs have made appearances too.

  Last year I was hunting over a food plot one evening. My goal was to take a fat doe or as I like to call them, ‘meat deer’ when a group of hogs came in for supper instead. I didn’t want to shoot and scare off the deer I knew were going to show up later but I needed to get these porkers out of the way but how to do it. I took off my gloves and clapped my hands as hard as I could. With trees surrounding the plot and with a steep hill opposite me the sound was really loud. I thought it sounded like a .22 being fired. Anyway when I clapped they all froze like statues. One even stopped in mid-step. I let them stay like that for 30 seconds or so then I clapped again. They took off like a bullet from a gun and hauled ass across the creek and up the hill out of sight. It was kind of all for nothing as no deer showed up later. I guess the hogs must have told the deer to skedaddle as they ran past them.

  Another time I was in my stand when this flock of blue jays that had landed in some trees across from me suddenly took off with a lot of commotion. I wondered what had spooked them so bad when a Cooper’s hawk came swopping in and snatched a blue jay out of mid-air and took it to the ground! The blue jay struggled as it loudly called out. I grabbed my camera and got some shots but even with the telephoto lens they didn’t come out too good. After a minute or two the hawk finally put the killing shot on the jay and took off with it locked in its talons. That was really cool to see.

  I’ve seen owls before too but the best sighting was early one morning again that time between dark and light when the world is shades of gray. I was in my stand when this owl came silently swooping in toward me from across the field and landed on a limb not 6 feet away from me. It was a bit spooky because one, it made no noise and secondly as soon as it hit the limb its head turned straight toward me! It was all in one movement, landing and fixating on me. It startled me to say the least. My camera was still in my pack so I just soaked in everything I could about my visitor. The owl sat for several minutes scanning the field and occasionally turned back to me. I guessed it decided to look elsewhere for breakfast and just as silently took off over the field and turned into the trees and up the hill.

  These are just a few of the things I’ve seen during my series of unfortunate hunts over the years. I’m sure some if not all of you hunters can relate to these stories. Sure, I remember the deer I’ve taken over the years but there are many more stories of the deer I didn’t see. Stories of the wonderful world and its inhabitants God created for us. As I like to say, “I’d rather be in the woods thinking of God than sitting in church thinking of the woods”.

  One more sighting. This one didn’t take place in a tree stand or a ground blind but it’s worth telling. One evening I was heading back to camp. It was dark and the headlights on the 4-wheeler lite the trail in front of me when I came around a slight bend and jammed on the brakes. Why you may ask? There was a skunk right in the middle of the trail. He was casually trotting down the road going in my direction so I just eased along behind it at a safe distance keeping it at the edge of my lights. I expected it to scamper off to the side at any time but it didn’t so we be-bopped along together for 60 or 70 yards. I guessed he finally got to his exit and took the off ramp. I hesitated momentarily to give it time to put some distance between us then zipped by. Just goes to show, you never know what you’ll going to see. Until next time, Jim Bob.