On Sunday, January 10, 2010, the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association will be hosting the 2010 Election Year Candidates Forum and Second Amendment Rally.

Doors open at 1 p.m. with an hour reserved for socializing with fellow NRA members and candidates.  The forum begins at 2 p.m. where candidates will have five minutes to discuss their stance on Second Amendment, hunting, conservation and concealed carry issues in Delaware. If you would like to ask a question, please plan to arrive early and stay late to mix and mingle with the candidates as questions will not be taken directly from the floor during the forum.

Come rally for freedom! Show Delaware’s political leaders that Delawareans are strong and united in defense of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms!  The forum will take place at the Modern Maturity Center located at 1121 Forrest Avenue in Dover, on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 1 p.m.

Hunting The First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting, makes a great gift for the hunter in your family or circle of friends.

Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting is a must have reference for any hunter who hunts or who is considering hunting the Delaware region.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY NOW or get your copy from other online stores, including Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

Locally, you can pick up copies of Hunting The First State at Shooters Supply (New Castle, DE), Atlantic Books (Dover, DE; Rehoboth, DE; Fenwick Island, DE), Barnes and Noble (Christiana Mall), Miller’s Guns (New Castle, DE).

Find practical tips, tactics, and Delaware hunting locations for:

• White-tailed Deer
• Eastern Wild Turkeys
• Eastern Gray Squirrels
• Eastern Cottontail Rabbits
• Bobwhite Quail
• Mourning Doves
• Woodcock
• Crows
• Ducks
• Canada Geese
• Snow Geese

Learn proven Delaware hunting techniques that will increase your harvests of deer, waterfowl, small game, and migratory birds!

Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting is the only book that comprehensively addresses hunting Delaware!

What’s more, Hunting the First State includes useful hunting information that also applies to hunting in other areas of the Mid-Atlantic region, including:

• Southeastern Pennsylvania
• Southern New Jersey
• Eastern Maryland

My good friend Chris Antonio seems to harvest a nice Delaware buck every year! How does he do it?

Here’s a nice one he shot on 11/17/2009.

Chris Antonio Buck 2009

November 13, 2009 – Opening Day of Delaware Shotgun Season

I hunted all day on the opening day of Delaware deer shotgun season — in a miserable nor’easter storm that brought steady 45+ mph winds and rain. Rather than using a bow, a brought the shotgun out to the woods for the first time this year.

I saw a 4-pointer around 6:30 AM, but I saw nothing else ALL DAY. I heard few shots. It seems that the weather had the deer hunkered down.

November 14, 2009 – Delaware Public Land Deer Hunt – Augustine Stand 1-L

I was chosen in the Delaware preseason hunting lottery for stand 1-L at Augustine Wildlife area. The stand, which is right along the Delaware River on an island in the marsh, seemed promising. With the nor-easter still blowing and causing flooding up and down the Delaware coastline, I figured the higher than normal water would push the deer from the marshes onto the islands. In fact, I even discuss this hunting tactic in my book, Hunting The First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting.

I had to check in for my stand around 4:30 AM, so I walked to my stand around 4:45 — at low tide. (More about that later.)

Around 6:30, I saw too deer across the road and in a field about 500 yards away. I watched through my binoculars as a doe and huge 10-pointer meander through the field — right in front of a hunter! Now I don’t know if he was asleep or what, but I couldn’t believe that he didn’t shoot! After the deer got about 40 yards from him (after an hour), I saw him move to grab his gun, and the deer ran away. He never got a shot off.

Around 8:00, I realized that the tide was coming up quick. Because of the strong winds and rain from the storm, the tide was way higher than normal. In fact, by 9:00, I had fish swimming under my deer stand. No joke! I was stuck in that stand until the tide receded around 1:00 PM! With the flood, the deer did what I thought. They came to the island. However, I couldn’t see them! I heard them sloshing around no more than 20 yards from me, but I couldn’t see them through the thick bushes and phragmites. I did see three does about 200 yards behind me, but that was it.

November 14, 2009 – Afternoon Bowhunt

I should just stick with my bow! After my morning flood hunt with a shotgun, I opted to use my bow on private property in the afternoon. I made the right choice.

I set up on the ground instead of a tree stand. I grunted and bleated for about 30 minutes, when I noticed a giant 8-pointer coming toward me. It was just like a TV show. Everything worked out perfectly — until the time for the shot. He came at me nose to the ground. He refreshed a scrape and rubbed a tree. He actually came to me at 10 yards! However, right at the moment of truth, he stopped behind a tree in front of me. He was looking for the deer that were grunting and bleating. I had my Hoyt 38 Pro at full draw. His head and neck were passed the tree, but nothing else was! I thought about driving an arrow through his neck, but I decided not to take the low-probability shot. After 2 minutes, I had to come out of the draw.

He walked away, so I rustled some leaves and grutned again. He came back to me, but then I only had a shot with him coming toward me at 35 yards. Again, I chose not to take that shot. Becuase of my good King Of The Mountain camouflage, he never saw me. But he never saw the other “deer” either, so he lost interest. He circled away and dropped into a shallow gully. He finally was broadside at about 40 yards, but all I could see was his ears, antlers, and top of his back.

Damn! It was a perfect situation that just didn’t work out.

Hunting Updates 10/31 – 11/7 – Morning

I have not had much time to post hunting updates over the past week, so let me bring you up to speed. In case you haven’t noticed, the rut is on here in Delaware. I bowhunted all day last Saturday, October 31. In, the morning I only saw three does, but I did see a lot of deer sign, including deer scrapes and deer rubs.

I went back to the same spot in the early afternoon, and things heated up. I saw an 8-pointer around 4:30 PM. He was interested in the doe estrous scent I put out, but he was really cautious. After sniffing the wind for a few minutes, he walked on by me at 70+ yards. Around 6:00 PM, 2 does came out about 80 yards from me and chomped acorns like there was no tomorrow. Realizing it was getting late, I tried to call the does closer, but they would not leave the acorns.

I grunted for a minute or two. The does raised their heads, but didn’t walk closer. After I grunted again, I heard grunts in return. I then saw a giant buck walk out 90 yards from me. He kept his nose to the ground, and went straight to the does, grunting the entire way. I did everything imaginable to draw his attention toward me, but he would not leave the does.

Right after legal shooting time, I look behind my tree, and wouldn’t you know it? The 8-pointer from early is 20 yards behind me. Jut my luck.

I went out for a quick bowhunt this morning. Let me tell you — I nearly froze! I didn’t realize that the temperature was 29 degrees when I left the house. I was underdressed, and lasted about 2 hours in the woods this morning. I did see a spike buck, but nothing else.

I will try again this afternoon.

Here’s is my latest article from The News Journal.

While the seemingly nonstop rain put a damper on Delaware’s archery, antlerless deer and muzzleloader hunting seasons in September and October, area hunters are hoping for better weather — and more successful hunts — this month.

Friday the 13th is the opening day of the shotgun deer season, and it seems that the poor weather over the past two months may help the orange-clad hunters who pursue whitetails next week.

Joe Rogerson, game mammal biologist for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, says, “As of Oct. 31, 3,493 deer have been harvested. This is down approximately 15 percent from last season but … the weather was less than ideal during the October muzzleloader season this year.”

Thanks to Delaware’s new telephone check-in system for registering harvested deer, state officials can now provide real-time deer harvest numbers.

“I am able to receive harvest estimates up to the minute,” Rogerson said. “Previously, I had to wait until the season ended and have all of the paper harvest record forms entered into a computer manually. Not only can I monitor the harvest while the season unfolds under the new protocol, but I will also have complete harvest estimates within days of the [deer hunting] season ending on Jan. 31.”

I know it is hard to believe by hunters who spend hours in their stands and see nothing but squirrels, but Delaware’s deer population was estimated near 31,000 in February. That estimate is approximately 17 percent lower than a similar deer count conducted in 2005, with figures showing that deer populations declined 11.4 percent in Kent County and 5.8 percent in Sussex County.

Deer populations could not be accurately measured for New Castle County because the 2005 and 2009 counts were conducted in different geographic areas.

However, Rogerson feels that areas in northern New Castle County (north of I-95) have higher deer densities due to the inability of hunters to access hunting areas because of safety zone restrictions.

Although the deer count totals show an overall population decline, the outlook is positive for the upcoming shotgun season.

“Since the weather hampered the harvest during October muzzleloader season, I expect things to pick back up during the November shotgun season,” Rogerson said. “The lower than normal deer harvest in October should mean there are more deer available for hunters in November.”

Steven Kendus’ Hunter’s Journal appears monthly in The News Journal. Kendus is the author of “Hunting The First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting.” Follow his blog and podcast at www.HuntingTheFirstState.com. Contact him at skendus@HuntingTheFirstState.com.

What is it with the rain on Satudays? It seems like it has rained every Saturday for a month here in Delaware.

We had rain overnight Friday, so I bowhunted Saturday morning. I saw absolutely nothing.

The weatherman were calling for thunderstorms for Saturday evening, so I headed to the woods around 1:00 PM for an afternoon deer hunt. While walking in, I saw two does feeding, They never saw me, so I proceeded to my stand. After about 2 hours in the stand, I saw two more does. The closest one came was 49 yards, too far with a bow.

I saw a ton of squirrels, two foxes, a raccoon, and another doe. I had not shots at deer before the storms came. They hit Delaware around 5:00 PM, and it was miserable. There was thunder, lightning, and torrential downpours for 2 hours. I left the woods early — soaked.

Like a lunatic, I got up at 4:30 this morning and headed out to the deer woods — during the second nor’easter to hit Delaware in three days.

I thought there would be a few drizzles early, and the heavy rain would start in the late morning. Boy was I wrong! It poured the entire time I was in the woods (which wasn’t very long).

I stayed for the first hour of light. After seeing nothing, I headed to a local restaurant for hot coffee and breakfast!

Today is the last day of Delaware’s first muzzleloader season for deer, so maybe I will dust off my TC Encore and go for a late afternoon hunt — in the rain.

We’ve had an early cold snap here in Delaware thanks to two nor’easters that have lashed the Delaware coastline over the past three days. It looks like the cold weather has turned some bucks on.

Despite a constant drizzle, I bowhunted at one of my suburban deer spots on Friday evening October 17. Rather than sitting in a deer stand, I stayed on the ground and moved around a bit.

Within 30 minutes, I saw a nice buck and a doe about 200 yards away from me. I grunted a few times and caught the buck’s attention. He started walking toward me, so I quickly moved to get into a position where I could intercept him. When I last saw him, he was about 120 yards away.

I positioned myself in a great spot, but I never saw the deer! I have no idea where he went. He either bedded down in the thicket between me and him, or he cut through a back yard.

I aw two little does about 30 minutes later, but they were too far to shoot.

Has a nice Delaware bowhunt this afternoon.

I got out to my stand in the big woods around 4:00 PM. Within 15 minutes, I heard some leaves crunching. I looked to my left to see two does. While watching them, I heard some more noise behind me and to my right.

I looked over my other shoulder and see this 8-point buck standing 5 yards from peeing where I pouted some buck scent! He never knew I was there. He ate some acorns and and stood in front of me at 10 yards.

Delaware catch and release 8-pointer

He was a young deer with good genes. He already had 8 points, but they were all only a few inches long. Since It was so early in the hunt, I opted not to shoot. I put my 10-yard pin on him, then I chose to used my iPhone camera instead of my bow.

As my luck would have it, I saw nothing else all evening.