This last little project I wanted to share with you all was mounting my antlers (from the buck I shot bowhunting this year – scroll down for video!)  on a plaque.  I looked at several online and some were nice, but were either more money than I wanted to spend or just didn’t have the “look” I wanted.  I wanted an arrowhead plaque to let everyone know that this was a bow kill.  So I decided that I would just make it. 

I started with a pattern that I printed out onto a few different sheets of copy paper and taped them together to complete the arrowhead outline.  I then transposed that pattern onto a nice 1″ board that I purchased at Lowes for around $8.  I then cut out the arrowhead with a jig saw.  I would imagine a band saw would be faster, but when you don’t have a band saw you use a jig saw!  I then took my router that I had never used and cut a 45 degree angle about 1/2″  deep giving it that true arrowhead look.  I bought some wire strap from a hardware store for about $2, some 1″ sheet rock screws and some stain for $6.  Of course, I could do several of these plaques with these supplies I’m listing.  I also bought a nice 12″x12″ piece of leather, some decorative tacks, and mounting hardware from Hobby Lobby all for $9. 

After cutting out the plaque and routing the edge I stained the face of the plaque leaving the edges the natural wood color.  Then of course, I simply strapped the antlers to the plaque.  Now this is my first try at this and I needed something to give me some shape for the leather to go over and I used what was handy which happened to be my kid’s play-do.  This may turn out to be a mistake after this stuff dries out, but we’ll have to see.  I used some felt to make myself a pattern to use to cut out the leather with.  I then simply tacked the leather down around the the antlers as you can see. 

This project didn’t take too long and my wife said that she thought it looked great so it must, as she is very honest when it comes to my craftmanship whether it be good or bad   Plus I have that manly, “I made that” feeling and that’s worth quite a bit!!  Below are some pics of the finishing steps to the process. 

I had planned to do some late season bowhunting around Christmas and New Year’s, but my cousins had a bunch of geese picked out so I opted to be sociable and do some goose hunting.  The -6 degree actual temp. also played a role in choosing to goose hunt rather than sit up in a cold bow stand!  It’s been a few years since I did much goose hunting and I must say that I had a great time!  It’s great to see a group of geese lock up and sail into your decoys.  I was hoping to get some good video, but I just never could quite get things to click.  I got a little video of geese locking up and falling into a cut corn field – just before we had time to get our decoys set up – talk about frustrating!!  I believe that we tallied up our geese for the week at 12, that was between the 4 of us, so not too bad.  Below is a pick of a few of the geese we killed New Year’s Day.  Great time – now off to chase some predators!!

I just wanted to let you all know that I do the sort of thing that you see above (my new logo).  I created this one for me of course, and could do the same for you or for someone you know.  I have a link over on your left there that gives you my contact info.  Don’t worry, I’m not trying to hook anyone here, my site is still devoted to all things hunting, fishing, and anything else I deem worthy to write about!  This is just a side note to keep in mind.   You can check out my design site @ http://www.remoledesign.com.

I’m actually a counselor (marriage & family) by degree, designer by trade, and a hunter/husband/father/christian by choice.  I know I’m sort of a weird mix but that keeps life interesting. 

Thanks for reading my shameless little plug here and I promise not to do this again….at least not for quite some time  

Now back to the important stuff – getting back into the bow stand next week!  I’ve been a little busy lately, but the timber is calling my name.  Hopefully I’ll have some more amateurish video for you soon!

I experienced one of those memorable moments a few weeks and there was no problem recognizing it. In Missouri we have an extended doe season shortly following our regular rifle season. My son is 2yrs old now and is constantly asking to go hunting. We had a few warm days so I decided to take him out a few times. He really did great, we’ve now got the whispering thing down and we had lots of fun playing in the dirt behind our makeshift blind. This was good enough for me as it was great to have him out there with me enjoying the woods. But on the last day I had to hunt up in norh MO we went out to hunt just about an hour before dark.

We sat there for roughly 40min when what ended up being a small button buck walked out just 150yds away. It was great, I shot the deer and he was pumped! It felt like I’d shot my first deer all over again! We ran up there and checked the deer out and he thought it was the greatest thing. He was my big helper, he stayed right with me while I field dressed the deer and was very proud to tell momma that we got us a BIG deer as he called it He even made an announcement in church the next day saying we got us a BIG BUCK! Looks like he’s getting started right…already telling big deer stories!

Just wanted to share that with you all and express my feelings that THIS is what hunting is really all about. It’s about teaching responsibility, passing on tradition, and most of all spending time with those we love. Looking forward to many more of such memories and please, if you have like stories with pics feel free to share them with me, I’d love to hear them! – hunterbydesign@gmail.com

I’m really not trying to one up my little cousin here, but I decided to go ahead and share the pics of my bobcat from last year. I actually called him in with a primos “tweeter” call – which is a distress call. This cat came in to about 60 yards where I shot him. He weighed in at 30 lbs so he was really good sized for north Missouri anyway. I shot him with my remingtion R-15 VTR which is the .223 caliber – a super sweet gun that’s a blast to shoot!

This is an awesome cat, great color and he weighed in at 25lbs! We mostly hunt up in north Missouri and this is where Ryan put the hurtin on this Bobcat. Great cat Ryan, thanks for sharing!

You fellow Missourians know what November 14th is, but for the rest of you that is the beginning of rifle season. Unfortunately, it is also the peak of rut here in north Missouri, meaning we have hunters coming in from all over the place! I really don’t mind the hunters for I’m one of them, it’s just the fact that there are many of us native north Missourians that do a lot of deer managing – passing on the young ones etc etc, only to see them same deer killed a few weeks later. A little frustrating, but part of the gig, I understand.

I saw a couple of good bucks really early Sat. morning, but it was just a bit too early to tell enough about them to take a shot – I couldn’t even get good video. I did get some video of a nice 8pt that a hunter on the neighboring property spooked by me. Saturday evening I hunted in the timber and I saw a lot of deer, but all does and a couple small bucks. Needless to say, I have yet to seriously consider pulling the trigger.

Most of my entertainment came from the neighboring hunter who had trouble sitting still. It was just a little after 8am when he decided to start making his rounds and that’s exactly what he did. Kept seeing him move in and around the patch of timber he was hunting. I even got some video of him just for kicks

I guess that’s yet another reason why I love bowhunting, it’s more about reading deer sign and getting right up close. Luck is definately a factor needed on your side, but much less so than stomping through some timber and blasting a deer 200 yrds away. Nothing wrong with that as long as your confident in your shot, it’s just much less intimate of an experience.

The 12th the 13th I hunted with some cousins and did some videoing of them bowhunting. I rattled in a couple of bucks on one evening hunt, one young 10pt and a young 7pt. I got some great vid of the 7pt, but my cousin made a good decision in letting him walk as he was young with some good potential. Saw the young 10 the next morning not 100 yrds from the night before, got some more video, but it still wasn’t what we were looking for.

So far it’s been a great bow season. I’ve been fortunate enough to harvest a doe, a nice buck, and a turkey, all of which I caught on camera! Now that is where the luck comes in, I still can’t believe I got all of these kills on camera! I’m going go out tonight, but this will probably be my last chance up here in north Mo, at least for the rifle season, I’m going to have to be getting back down to south Mo.

Here are some clips of the video I’ve been able to catch here in the past week, mostly while bowhunting. Enjoy!

Great hunt! The video pretty much says it all – especially after I got done rambing! The rut is coming right on. I hunted with a cousin this morning and watched a small buck chasing a doe. You can’t beat deer hunting this time of year!
Very thankful and happy to have harvested such a beautiful deer – Good luck to you all!

Unofficial score done by myself is: 125 3/8″ Gross – 117 6/8″ Net

Wildlife Biologist friend just aged this deer at 4 1/2 years old – great mature whitetail!