Deer Hunting 12/9/14

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter!

Read about all of my Hunting Adventures!

You may recall in my post from last weekend that I BELIEVED I had a monster buck poached out from under me. Well, after my adventure in killing a large dog..err...small doe on Monday, I went to eat dinner with my grandparents. On the way up the driveway, I spotted the big buck. WHEW! So, he didn't get popped by some poacher after all. 

I talked with my granddad and we decided to go after this monster. We were pretty sure we had him cased pretty well. He likes to eat in the bean fields until right at dark, then he likes to chase the does up the mountain. So, granddad was to hunt one food plot and I would hunt another about 100 yards away. If he came in off the field, he would walk past one of us.

My dad and uncle built this new baller shooting house and I headed to it. It would beat the mess out of my sore booty experience from the metal stand the day before. And, it would keep me warm in these monsoon level winds that we experienced. I don't have a lot of experience with judging deer movement based on conditions. I am just now to the point of getting to hunt when I want, not when I can. I have to thank my wife....SOMEONE POINT THIS OUT TO HER!....for letting me hunt and fish so often.

Sometimes I wonder if she has some ulterior motive...but I digress.

As I parked at my mom's and walked down towards the house, I couldn't help but notice how torn up the roads were. In particular were several rubs and scrapes that seemed to be very fresh. Obviously there was a rutting buck. Well, I already knew that...considering that every time I saw the monster, he was in the company of several does. I stopped to take a pic of the scrape. 

Meanwhile. I used some cotton balls and bottled doe pee to make a little trap for this guy, leading to the T in the road right in front of my shooting house. 

I figured that the howling wind could at least do SOME work for me by getting the scent into the air. 

As I waited, I was surprised to see that the squirrels were out and active, despite the swaying trees. I managed to snap a pic of one who wasn't too sure to make of that round and moving object in the window of the house. 

I admit that I can watch them play for hours. So much so that I nearly missed the doe crossing the road just yards from him. I guess I rely on hearing too much. The wind prevented me from hearing her walk up and, just by happenstance, I saw her. 

I apologize for the quality, but the wind was stiff and it was cold. I kept the windows closed. Maybe that's why I didn't hear her.....

As she stepped to my right and into the woods, I caught some movement. All I could see was a leg, definitely a deer, but in the thick brush. I could see it make steps, and then it was gone. Exactly the type of behavior to expect from a wizened buck. So. I waited. And waited. I kept my eyes locked on where I thought he would be. 

In the corner of my mind, I heard the steps and logged their position, but paid no attention. That was until they sheer amount of noise caused me to finally look 180 degrees the other way. Just in the nick of time I watched 5 or 6 deer including a few fauns exit the woods into the food plot. Perfect. With that many does in the field, surely it will draw out a buck. 

Add fuel to the fire as 2 more does came from behind me and walked to the field. 10 deer or so. Surely he will come. 

I waited. And waited. And then it was dark. 

Oh well. It's always fun to actually see deer. I know a lot of people that don't get to. Heck, as a child hunting in Jackson county, we wouldn't see but a few deer a year. Possibly because it was a hunting club that killed them all. Or possibly because I was a 5 year old kid stomping around with his grandfather. 

Deer Hunting 12/8/2014

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter!

Read about all of my Hunting Adventures!

I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the hits on the blog and found that the two most popular posts weren't my Fishing Adventures or my Auburn Realist posts, which typically are heavily viewed (well, for me). 

Believe it or not, it was the Squirrel Hunting and my last Deer Hunting posts. 

What was even more surprising was that the deer hunting post didn't even feature a kill! 

But, I remembered what this blog stands for and why I started writing it to begin with. Being outdoors and enjoying nature isn't just enjoyable when you have success. Yet, most of us read stories online and all we see is the success of others. It can sway your way of thinking of outdoor sports. Instead, I started this blog as an unedited and no-holds-barred account of my adventures. Along the way I found that writing about my struggles ultimately profited me more than just writing about the successes. 

And, for that, I have a pretty good following from people that like to see the realism. And, I would take avid followers like you guys any day. 

So, let's talk about the last two hunting trips and laugh together. 

Monday afternoon I left work and headed to the hunting camp. I texted my uncle to let him know I was coming, where I was going to be, and that SOMETHING was going to die tonight, though I halfway expected that to be my pride. 

I had a bit of a revelation the other day. I had been passing up does on every trip, other than the muzzle loader miss I had in November. Sometimes a buck would show up, none of which were shooters, and sometimes they wouldn't. In all cases, I messed around and didn't take a shot at a doe. Then, I would kick myself for not shooting a doe. Well, that's HALF accurate. I would get home and my wife would ask where her meat was. So, I thought....this is stupid. I need to get some meat in the freezer. That will alleviate any decisions conundrums. So. First shot I got.....I was taking it. 

My uncle and dad had suggested I use a metal stand on the opposite side of the green field from the shooting house I typically use. Because I have become spoiled, I really wasn't considering that option. They build a heckova shooting house that is mighty cozy. I wasn't really excited to hunt in a metal stand where I couldn't move around, drink Mt. Dew, and read my book. I would actually have to hunt.

But, they had pointed out from their experience that the deer take a path much closer to the metal stand and that the bucks don't typically venture out into the field, but hug the woods right by the stand. I admit that the does I have watched from the shooting house don't come very close to me and that I have passed on shots that I wouldn't pass in that metal stand. 

So, the backpack with my snacks, book, and tablet, were left in the car. I actually had to bundle up because of the wind. Up the stand I went. The field is behind my back. The woods road right below me. In front of me is a swampy area. 

I found myself craning my neck to view the field more than I did watching the swamp in front of me. Every once in awhile, I watched the squirrels play in the swamp. As I typically do, I mentally make a note of where they are and ignore their noise. After an hour or so, the constant and interrupted gate of the squirrels was replaced by a different cadence...a steady and precise series of crunching leaves, but coming from the same spot. Eventually my subconscious got my attention and I looked up just in time to see 4 deer cross the road from the swamp in to the wood line of the field. It was a lead doe, followed by two young deer, followed by another doe. Because they were on my extreme right, there was zero chance that I could swing my gun around and take aim. I might could pull off a left handed shot, as I did last year....but I decided not to chance it. After all, I was positive the deer would end up in the field behind me. 

So, I waited. And waited. And waited. Now, that wasn't to be unexpected. These deer frequently come out late. And so they did. Two of them. Again, that isn't surprising. The does frequently leave the fauns behind while they feed. It isn't surprising for the fauns to wait until the last rays of the sun before joining their moms. 

I waited as the does crossed behind me, from my right to my left. Eventually, they were on the right side for me to get the scope lined up. But, they had managed to walk away from me a good bit, making this a pretty far shot. Now, in the shooting house, I can take a rest and take a good steady aim. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot 200-250 yards. But, there were no rests to be taken. I was standing up and shooting off-hand. The shot would be around 100 yards. Not very far, but far enough that I could watch the cross hairs dance on the deer. I tried to pick out which one looked larger, recalling that the does I saw earlier had a definite size difference, though they were both full grown.  These two looked identical, though I admitted that they were pretty far away and it might be hard to tell. 

Neither were broadside to me, so I had to wait. Let me tell you, that gun gets heavy after you have been holding it up for several minutes. Eventually one did turn. I lined it up, made a mental note of exactly where my shot would take place,  and let it rip. 

Man, this 30-06 is loud. 

The deer dropped.

I made sure that the deer stayed down as I watched the other sprint off. I unloaded the gun and headed down the ladder. 

As I gathered myself at the bottom of the ladder, I looked up towards where I expected to find my meat. And the deer was standing there. Now. Just for a second I thought about jacking a round and making SURE it didn't get off. But, I learned a tough lesson last year in the exact same situation. See, I took a LLLOONNNGGG shot at a deer, it dropped, and when I looked up a few minutes later. there it stood. So, I shot it again....only to find out that I had shot a young deer with its twin...and the twin came back to check on it. 

So, I held off, even though I didn't see the body of the other one. 

Strange, I thought. That a full grown doe wouldn't be smart enough to know that when it hears that sound and see its friend go down, to take off and stay gone. Only a faun wouldn't know better.

See where I am going with this?

Then I started thinking. What if those 4 deer had kept walking and this was a different set of deer altogether? 

Sure enough, I had popped a yearling. I called dad and told him. He wasn't happy. I told my uncle, who wasn't as mad as he should be as head hauncho. It didn't take dad long to laugh about it, though. I beat myself up over it enough for all 3. I will admit that I made a gorgeous shot, however. So...no pics. Sorry.  

I had an itchy trigger finger. I made a bad assumption. And I didn't follow some guidelines that my dad and uncle have shared. 

• When it comes to deer at range, if they are both the same size, it's impossible to establish their true size.
• Full grown does have long snouts. Fauns have short snouts. I admit that I didn't think about that.
• When deer come out in a pair like this, it is typically yearling twins who have left the mother.  

Anyway, I was able to throw it in a tote and put it in the backseat of the Yukon. When I dropped it off with my processor, he said:

"Well, at least it will be good eating!"

The Outback Bowl Preview

You can find links to all of my Auburn Realist Blog posts here.

The Auburn Realist: Overview

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube,  and Twitter!

***UPDATED 12/11/14***

Still fuming over the fiasco that was the 2014 Iron Bowl. Don't worry. Me too. And while I managed to limit my complete and utter aggravation in the 2014 Iron Bowl Review, just trust me that it's there. I mean, how could it not? Don't you just think about any of ALL THESE PLAYS that happened...or didn't happen...and say "Why?" and "What if?" 

"Why did we throw a behind the line screen to a true freshman on the first play?"

"Why didn't we take another shot from inside the 10 before halftime?"

"Why can't Ellis Johnson do ANYTHING RIGHT?"

"Why can't anyone cover #9?"

Sure. Me too. 

No, the Tigers didn't make it to 11-1 and a berth in the SEC Championship. No, they didn't Roll the Tide in the House of Cards that is Bryant-Denny. But it's over now and the Auburn Tigers are headed to Tampa to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. All things considered, this is the best bowl game Auburn could have hoped for, following the....dissatisfying....conclusion of the 2014, which we previewed in our WAAAYY Too Early Predictions way back when. 

This season has all the flavor of the 2003 squad that went on to play in the 2004 Music City Bowl, which I attended with about 10 of my friends against the.....you guessed it.....Wisconsin Badgers, which I predicted to be my surprise team of the year in my College Football Top 10 Teams in 2014. 

How do I feel about that right now? Well, Bucky didn't finish in the Top 10 as I expected, and while they did lose to LSU, as predicted, I didn't see the loss to North Western. Don't worry, no one else did either. I did expect them to lose to Oh-Hi-Oh in the Big 10 Championship, though. 59-0? No. I didn't see THAT. 

Most of you know all about Melvin Gordon, who has been perhaps the most consistent running back in the country with his 2336 yards, 26 TDs and setting NCAA records with his amazing performance against Nebraska. Most of you probably don't know much about Clement, who backs up Gordon, and has 800 yards on his own, or anything about McEvoy the QB, and his 500 yards and 6 TDs he has added. Oh, sure, they don't have much of a passing attack, which is 1961 yards if you add all the QBs together, good for 119th in the nation. And why would you when you are 4th in the nation with 314 rush yards per game? 

Oh, it might also be that your defense is the 13th best in the nation at allowing only 20 points per game. 

That's all the easy stuff to talk about. The stuff everyone knows. Let's talk about some things that matter. 

Wisconsin played 4 ranked teams all year, only 1 of those a Top 10. Of those teams, only 1 team had either a balanced or pass heavy attack, that being the Ohio State squad, who put up 59 points. Yet, it can't go without notice that even though Jones threw for 257 yards and 3 TDs, the Buckeyes RB, Elliot, ran for an astounding 220 yards and 2 TDs. LSU, Nebraska, and Minnesota featured something very similar , which lead to a 1-2 record or a 1-3 if you count Northwestern. All 3 of these teams are run heavy or run dependent  teams with at least one dynamic running back. Nebraska had Abdullah, LSU has Hilliard and Fourenette, and Minnesota has Cobb. Additionally, Northwestern, the other team that beat Bucky, is a run heavy team and Justin Jackson the NW RB rolled up 160 yards. 

Now, I know you can point to the Nebraska game and say that Bucky handled Nebraska and Minnesota fairly easily. Bo Pelini is currently without a job because, in losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota, he limited Abdullah's carries to 18 and 20, despite the fact that Abdullah is one of the few NFL-ready backs. I know this, because Abdullah was on my fantasy team and I watched both of these games and he abandoned the run almost immediately. Some of that is due to Abdullah being banged up weeks before in a tasty matchup against Purdue. The Gophers were in the game until the end and their leading RB, Cobb, still ran for 120 yards and Leidner, the QB, ran for another 50. Unfortunately, the Gophers aren't too good on defense(34th) and they couldn't shut down the Wisconsin rushing attack.

Now, if you throw out the outlier in Nebraska, you see that the path to beating the Badgers is hitting them with a formidable rushing attack while stopping theirs. How ironic that the thing they are the best at is the thing they are susceptible to. Luckily, few teams in the Big 10 are any good at rushing or stopping the rush. And, if you have a multi-threat QB...well....you can do what Ohio State did. 

So, Wisconsin has to travel to Tampa to take on our Auburn Tigers. Will you be there? Well, we will. I'm about 5 minutes from ordering my tickets. 

I look at 4 games on the schedule and ask myself "who is the Auburn offense?" In the losses to Mississippi State, TAMU, UGA and the game against Samford, you left the game wondering what you had just seen. Samford comes after a vicious thrashing by Georgia and 7 days before the Iron Bowl, so I think you can throw that out. Plus, take into consideration that until halftime adjustments, former Auburn staff members, now on Samfords staff, were undoubtedly catching the calls. What's in common with these other games? How about first play turovers? Against State, TAMU, and Alabama, Auburn has had a first play turnover. Only against Alabama did Auburn right the ship, going on to set offensive records in a loss at BDS. 

Which brings us to the real reason that Auburn is 8-4. They have the 60th rated defense in the nation. Had it not been from some stout play in the first 5 games, it would be dramatically worse. After all, Auburn's defense behind now-fired Ellis Johnson, allowed 30+ points in 6 of it's last 7 games on the way to the worst statistical performance in Auburn history. Think about that for a second. Despite the best recruiting that Auburn has ever had over the last 5 years, this group will finish as the worst in Auburn history. 

Well, Johnson is gone (and don't let the door hit you) and Auburn is left speculating on who will lead the Tigers (or is it Tiggers? :-p ) on defense. I am not sure what history says about interim or new coaches in bowl games, but we can make some assumptions. 

1) According to the recruiting sites, Auburn has recruited very well. Even on defense. 

2) Throughout the year, Johnson was unable to get any pressure on the QB, despite who the Tigers were playing. Tipping my belief that he was being outcoached through game film breakdowns. All I have to do is point at the Iron Bowl. At no point was any attempt made to stop Amari Cooper. Johnson went in his last presser and tried to say he "rolled coverage" to Cooper. No he didn't. This is the same guy who said in the last weeks that he didn't care WHAT fans though of his coaching. That is the line of a guy who has given up. 

3) Without the ability to breakdown film, it is impossible to gameplan for new coaches/players. Time and time again you see a backup look like a star, or an interim coach (USC offense post-Kiffin) look like a genius. Gameplanning is much of the battle, and if a new coordinator comes in, it will be tough for Wisconsin to gameplan. 

So, with the terrible defense that the Tigers have put on display, and the 1st play turnover trends that the offense has shown, it's pretty obvious to see WHY Auburn is 8-4. 

Auburn's Offense vs Wisconsin Defense

Auburn had been able to move the ball on essentially everyone. Aside from an amazing performance by UGA, no one has been able to shut the Tigers down other than the Tigers themselves. Marshall will end his career as possibly the best....and most unappreciated QBs as a Tiger, despite being Unstoppable for pretty much the entire year. He has thrown for 2300 yards,  18 TDs with 7 INTs. Of those TDs, many of them were batted balls.  He has run for 11 TDs and 780 yards. But, this playmakers have had fumblitis for much of the year, which have limited his bottom lines.  

Cameron Artis-Payne has rushed for 1482 yards. While it was impossible to break Mason's record from last year, 1400 puts him in the thick with the long legacy of terrific Auburn backs. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry with 11 TDs. 

This Auburn offense isn't as polished or dominating as the 2013 unit, but it makes up for it with its diversity and balance, thanks to the addition of Duke Williams and much improved play from Quan Bray, whom I thought was the key cog to making this offense hum, way back in my Post A-Day thoughts.

Though we have spoken briefly about the struggles of the Wisconsin defense, we do have a solid data point to refer to. In 2011, Gary Andersen, then coach of the Utah State Aggies, was able to stuff the Auburn rushing attack, which by years end, was the only thing the Tigers really had. He limited the Tigers to just 78 total yards and forced Barret Trotter to play his best game of this career to throw for 261 yards and 3 TDs. Surely I don't have to remind you of who the offensive coordinator on the Auburn sideline was. I do admit that despite losing Andersen 2 years ago, Utah State has maintained one of the best run defenses in the nation.****And in a crazy turn of events, he has left for...wait for it...OREGON STATE?!?!?!?!***

What will be compelling will be whether Duke Williams and/or Sammie Coates will declare for the NFL draft and how that will affect the play calling in this game. Will they be heavily showcased? Will some of the outbound seniors get some love? Or will newcomers have coming out parties? I said it a few weeks ago, but the personnel groupings throughout the year have tipped the play caller's hand, at least to me. Ray, Davis, and Stevens are recivers that didn't see much time and when they did, were largely used in run blocking. Yet, whenever these guys had the rock thrown their way, they took advantage. I can't remember a drop between the 3, which I can't say the same about some of the starters. This would be a prime time to introduce them to starting roles, assuming Coates and Williams declare.

I fully expect number 44 to get the first touch, this go around. I will say this, CAP will have his time to shine at the Senior Bowl, his Pro Day, and the combine. With Roc Thomas having his redshirt pulled, I wouldn't be surprised that he becomes the feature back against the Badgers.

Either way, I don't suspect Auburn to have much of a problem scoring points as long as that first play isn't a turnover.
Advantage Auburn

Auburn's Defense vs Wisconsin Offense
I can't remember a defense in the SEC who has had such a regression. Sure, there have been defenses who have lost starters and stars from year to year. I have seen defenses be exposed midway through the season. I have not seen a defense that looks totally incapable of keeping up with an offense. It all starts up front, of course. Despite losing Dee Ford and Carl Lawson, whom I expected to be the lead man in my 4 Horsemen of the Sackocalypse, Auburn has been unable to get ANYTHING going up front against any level of competition. Not only did it surprise me, but it has surprised even the media who had made guys like Gabe Wright, whom I wrote about as
THE  force to be reckoned with, their All-SEC pick, just to see him be limited to a handful of behind the line stops. That lack of production forced Johnson to do some things to bring pressure. Namely, constant edge and/or LB blitzes. B ringing 6 and 7 men forced the Auburn secondary to play man to man, usually with their backs to the ball. Despite that, Auburn had a star emerge in Jonathan Jones, who lead the SEC in pass defense efficiency. He broke up 12 passes and had 6 INTs. Aside from Ole Miss' Golson who had 9, he lead the rest of the SEC with 6. However, guys like Therezie were forced into roles that limited their play-making ability, despite being an impact player in 2013 as Star 27. The very definition of the star is a hybrid player capable of playing in run and pass defense, though not necessarily built for either, but thrives on being mobile and free to make plays. Therezie wasn't given that ability this year as he was a pure reactionary player at times.

What can you really say about Auburn's defense other than it is the statistically the worst in Auburn history?  It made regression throughout the season and much of that seemed to come from gameplanning. Johnson seemed to want to force opposing offenses to adapt to him instead of taking away their strengths. We all saw how that worked.

On the flip side, the Badgers have a Heisman finalist who is trying to make a statement to close out his college career before going to the NFL. What scares me about Melvin Gordon is that he has the ability and a coaching staff willing to give him as many touches as it takes to win a game. We saw it against Nebraska as he set multiple records. When Wisconsin identifies a weakness, they will exploit it and you will not see them trying to outsmart themselves, which I can't say the same about the Auburn coaching staff.

Outside of Gordon, the Badgers only have 1 legitimate passing threat. Erickson has 730 yards, 3 TDs on 51 catches, which is double the next man. The next man is Arneson who has 27 for 350 and 4 TDs. Much like the Auburn team of 2013, these receivers are not used for possession but for play action pass. The good news is, Jones has shown that he can win those 50/50 battles, as opposed to Mincy, who has been picked on. The issue is that Johnson's 4-2-5 relegates corners to specific sides of the field, not on players. So, Wisconsin has the ability to motion into the formation and matchup they would like. Since Auburn hasn't named a coordinator, it is impossible to know who Auburn will try to limit Erickson.

It is also possible that after his 3 INT performance in the 59-0 beatdown against the Buckeyes, Stave may be benched for the more dual threat McEvoy, who started ahead of Stave. McEvoy struggled against LSU in the opener, tossing 2 TDs without a TD, so whoever starts against the Tigers has had struggles this year.

The problem is, I don't think Auburn can stop Gordon and the Badgers who are eager to prove themselves after getting waxed.
Advantage Winsconsin

Special Teams
Gaglianone is 55 for 57 on extra points and 17 for 22 in field goals. He has a range of 50+ yards where he has gone 2/3 over 50 and 3/4 from 40-49.

Carlson is perfect on extra points and 17 for 21 in field goals. He has struggled outside of 40 yards where he is 4/7.

Auburn has shown flashes with Bray as a punt returner earlier in the year, but has struggled to do anything down the stretch. The Auburn kickoff returns have been a non-factor.

Advantage Wisconsin

Conclusion 
Auburn has opened as the favorite in this bowl game. It is an interesting matchup, for sure. Preparation time almost always benefits the offenses, but I can't help but think that Auburn's defense will use it wisely and come out improved. Honestly, how could they now?

Now Wisconsin is without a head coach, and the coordinators aren't exactly known quantities.

To me, this game is a pick 'em. Who gets the ball first and who gets it last?

Auburn travels well and has history of winning in Florida. Auburn has won against North Western in Tamp, but did lose against the Badgers across the state in Orlando.

The series between these two are tied at 1-1-1. That's right. The 1931 matchup was a tie.

Auburn shows up for bowl games and checks in at 8-2 in it's last few including 2 BCS Championship game appearances. Their losses? You guessed it. FSU and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is 3-7.

I saw the matchup in 2003 in person and Auburn won. I am going to this one as well, so I can't help but think that will turn the tide.

Auburn wins 45-43

Deer Hunting 12/5-7/2014

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter!

Read about all of my Hunting Adventures!

***12/5/14***

I was able to shake loose just a tad early on Friday, so I headed to da club. Yes, I am aware that 50 Cent references date me a bit. But no, not "da club" but THE club. Our hunting club. While on the way, I recieved a text from my dad, giving me a scouting report. 

Well, it wasn't EXACTLY a scouting report, but instead a "DO NOT SHOOT" list. On that list was a one antlered monster, which he had spotted during his last hunt where he killed a buck. He gave me the down low on a beastly guy who had been running the show over in the area I have been relegated to hunt. It isn't the prime hunting area, but I haven't put in my share of hours at the club. Plus, it is more of a "brown and down" type area known for tons of does. The shooting house is nice and cozy, with a good view of the Flint River (floatin' down the Flint River, catch us a little catfish dinner) to boot! Which fits my lazy hunting style anyway.

There was a light sprinkle and a good bit of wind. I had my doubts on if I would see anything. But, sure enough, the local does began coming out around 4pm. There were 3 of them. I really wanted to get some meat in the freezer, so I got the scope on them. They looked small, so I though I might good glass them and see which one was the biggest. Thing is, none of them were any bigger than the rest....and they all looked small. Well, you don't want to be THAT guy. You know THAT guy. The one that brings in the dog sized deer? I have been THAT guy in the club, so I wanted to avoid it. 

Despite giving me ample shots, I held back on the trigger. Suddenly, all 3 does heads came up. I thought maybe the jig was up, as I put the scope back on them, I could see their heads pointed across the field away from me. They held their gaze, and I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. I eased the gun out of the window facing them and rotated 180 degree. I spotted a loan deer walking down the path some 150 yards away. And, immediately, I could tell it was a buck by the mass. The heartbeat began to rise as I got the scope on him. He was watching the does. The does were watching him. And I was busy trying to see if he was a shooter, per club rules. That would be, antlers outside of the ears. But, the dude was walking perfectly perpendicular to me, so I could only see the height and girth of his antlers, which was sizeable, but not the measurement that mattered....if they were outside of his ears.  

I whistled. I grunted. I did all but bang a dinner bell and he never looked over at me. Eventually, he turned off the road and gave me a head on view. He had a massive rack....on one side. The other was broken off. Since I was expressly prohibited from shooting this guy, I sighed and dropped the gun. By then, it was too dark to shoot at the does, plus my dad had left to go see a movie, depriving me of any transportation of the carcass had I shot one.

***12/6/14***

Saturday, I had no hunting plans, but my mom wanted the kids to spend the night. Anytime a grandparent wants ALL your kids, you take them up on the opportunity. We dropped them off and visited for awhile. My mom had a childhood friend who was helping her put up her Christmas stuff, and she made a comment about having run over the biggest squirrel she had ever seen. I asked her where she had hit it and when she told me, I KNEW it was my neighborhood fox squirrel. Though squirrel hunting is one of my favorite past times, I have let this guy continue to do his squirrely business, since they are rare. With a broken heart, I went down the road to pay my respects.

Some of asked if, by the look of his choice in football teams, that he decided that life wasn't worth it anymore, since the Tigers were out of the College Football Playoffs. No. I just put that in there for scale. And not, as my Facebook friends inquired, I did NOT eat him. I do have standards. Rodents? Thumbs up. Road kill rodents? Thumbs down. 

As we finished paying our respects, my wife spotted deer in the field adjacent to our property. Among them was a massive buck. Initially, I just said "wow, what a big one." But as put the car in drive, my wife said: "Are you crazy? Get your gun out and blast him!" I didn't go into how shooting within 100 yards of a road is illegal. I just didn't shoot. That doesn't mean I didn't get the gun out....

But the deer stepped into the woods, which was right about where a firelane heading to one of our shooting houses is located. I put the car in reverse and headed back to the property. Donning a rain jacket, which was the only thing I had to wear, I took off into the woods in tennis shoes, my new Academy Sports fishing wet gear, and my trusty Marlin 30-.06. 

Guessing where he had stepped into the woods, I figured him to head up the firelane and into one of the food plots. There are several entrances into said food plot, but 2 of them leave you visually exposed. One pops you out in the center of the food plot with good cover and a good view of the entire food plot, but requires you to take a longer path. I figured that he was headed to eat, not make his way up the mountain. But, if he decided to do the latter, it would put him on a different section of the road, slightly above where I planned to come out. So, I would need to hug the wood line, and when I came to the Y-in the road, one side that led down to the plot and the other up the mountain, I would need to sneak a peak from as much cover as I could. 

It's amazing how quiet you can be in tennis shoes on wet ground. I approached the Y in the road carefully. You can't view down either road until you are right on top of it. So, when I reached the apex, I stole a view down towards the food plot on my left. Nothing there. I looked right, down the path that heads up the mountain. 

The buck was 20 yards away. He looked at me and I swear I saw him wink at me before he took 3 hops into the woods and headed up the mountain. That was a slick move, since running away from me and down the path would give me time to line him up in the scope. Instead, heading into the woods distorted any shot I would have had. I am almost certain I heard him laugh. Maybe that was just a snort. And with that, I headed back the car...dejected, and yet impressed that I knew where he would be, which was 200+ yards from where I last saw him, with the chance that he could take on 12 different road combos. And, I was able to get pretty dang close to him. He was the biggest buck I have seen in person. 

So, we headed to our friends house to watch the SEC Championship. No surprises on the winner, though I still am shocked how the Top 10 turned out. At least I was close. Sorta? 

***12/7/14***

After talking it over with my dad, he suggested I hunt there instead of the hunting club, as that was easily the biggest deer I had seen all year. So, I game planned my Sunday afternoon. I was on stand by 1:30 in the afternoon and ready. And by ready, I mean with my smartphone and my book. 

At around 4:16, I heard a shot ring out. It wasn't where my grandfather was hunting. It was definitely on our property and it was definitely coming at me. After using my powerful deductive reasoning, I triangulated that it came from our road and was aimed at the spot in the field where we had seen the buck the previous afternoon. I quickly texted my wife to call my grandmother and have her investigate, which she did. She drove down the road and spotted a white truck on our road. When they saw her, they sped out of sight. 

Poachers are nothing new, of course. They are probably more common than actual legal deer hunters around here. It seems anyone with any amount of land in a rural, deer holding area, are going to experience it. And, in this case, there is nothing more maddening than knowing what just happened and being unable to do anything about it. 

Anyways, I held on for hope. Minutes later, from up the hill, came a small buck. I let him pass along with the doe that he was following. 

Then I was privy to something funny. Up ahead, I watched a faun jump from woods on one side of the road to the other, over and over. Back and forth. It was a sight. 

The big deer never came by. Sad face. Hope he isn't missing his antlers in a ditch somewhere. 

Fantasy College Football Year In Review

You can find links to all of my Auburn Realist Blog posts here.

The Auburn Realist: Overview

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube,  and Twitter!

Just like my beloved Tigers, the season came to an end on Saturday. But, unlike the Tigers, I managed to come away with a win. I know I haven't posted some updates in awhile. I just figured yall didn't care. But, I won. So I feel like gloating a little bit. 

Naturally I have received a lot of ribbing about winning while being the league commissioner. But, most of it is light hearted and several members of my 20-man league (whoops...that doesn't include my wife) So...my 19 man and 1 woman league that is...have asked about how I won. I don't think they are surprised that I won as much as managing to go 9-1 going into the playoffs in this league, and 10-2 in my SEC-only league.  

The SEC-only league is fairly easy to explain. I drafted Auburn's Marshall and Artis-Payne while being anchored at WR by Missouri's Bud Sasser. 

But, in our Victorious Sekrit leagues, there were definitely some tricks to winning. 

Let's take a look at the statistics:

Fantasy Points

• I scored 1541, which was good for 1st place. 
• I had only 925 points again, which was the least scored on in the league, which certainly helped

Offense

• I had the overall best offensive unit
• I led the league is passing yards with almost 4,500. 
• I was 9th in the league in passing TDs with 31
• I was tied for the 7th fewest INTs with 10 (of those 10,  I believe Bo Wallace had 6 in his first two games)
• I was 19th out of 20th in receiving yards. That's right. Next to dead last. 
• I was 10th in receiving TDs. 
• I was 1st in the league in rushing yards with almost 6,000 yards. Only 3 other teams eclipsed 5,000 yards.
• I was 1st in rushing TDs with 76,which was 17 more than the nearest team. 
• I was tied for 11th with 10 fumbles lost. 
• I was tired for last in kick returns for TDs with a fat zero. That would be players, not my DST. 

Kicking

• I was tied for 3rd overall
• I had 23 field goals, which was tied for 2nd place. 
• I had 54 extra points, which was 9th. 

DST

• I scored 4th overall in DST
• My defense allowed 281 points, which was 12th 
• I had 3 defensive TDs, tied for 6th
• I had 26 takeaways, good for 4th place

The trick to winning was a combination of things which included critical trades, understanding the scoring system, monitoring the stats weekly, and taking advantage of matchups.  I won't go into the weekly decisions, but will instead give you some broad strokes. 

The Draft

Though there are 120 teams with 85 players that we could draft, so there are some things to understand. There are only so many dead-lock players. In each position group, there are about 5 guys across the country that are can't miss guys. Even then, some get hurt. Look no further than Braxton Miller. So, the chances of you actually drafting one of these guys is slim. If you are the middle of the draft, you either have to settle on mid-grade guys, burn draft picks early for positions, or come up with some other strategy. 

My game plan was to make sure that I drafted players with double-up potential. That is, a near top tier QB with a favorite target. Neither has to be top shelf, but if both are in the top 3rd of the league, you  get a 2:1 advantage in yards and TDs. For example, if your QB throws a 20 yard TD to your WR, you get 1 point for the reception, 2 points for WR yards, 1 point for QB yards, and 12 points for the TD each way. That's an 18 point swing.  I drafted Shane Carden in the first round because I knew he was a lock as a top tier guy, but took Wallace in the 2nd to make sure I had two good QBs. The other reason I took both of these guys was that both have their favorite receiver. Treadwell is (was?) an NFL prospect and Hardy will end the year as ECU's and the Nations leading receiver in catches. Surprisingly, a competitor took Hardy in the 4th round, which is early for WRs. I immediatly snatched Treadwell. To surprise everyone, I then took Evan Engram, the Ole Miss TE. Of all the TEs that I had on my draft board, he was the only one I was POSITIVE would be a true weapon. And, again, I had a 2:1 point swing with him as long as Wallace was in.

The rest of my draft was spent on long shots, many of which didn't pan out. But, that wasn't unexpected. Last years stats don't mean anything and sometimes the next hot recruit on campus isn't as hot as everyone thought in August. Speedy Noil was a solid draft pick, which I traded away, as as Storm Woods form Oregon State, McKay from Washington State and Pharoh Cooper.  I had plenty of busts that I was rid of quickly, however, such as Troy's Chunn and Auburn's Uzomah. 

I didn't draft a kicker or a defense. Why? With the chances of actually locking down stars in the draft, I decided not to spend any draft picks on low value positions. Let's be real. There is always a defensive matchup to be found every single week, just as there is always a mid-range team playing an FCS-team and headed to a blow out. Drafting players who will, at best, get you 7-10 points a week is a waste. I knew that if I drafted all 17 skill players, chances were that only 5 or so would pan out. 

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned up until this year was not assigning emotional attachment to players, specifically those I drafted. Of the  17 players I drafted, I ended the year with only 2. In regards to the paragraph above, it was important to watch the stats, read the news, and know whether you had a commodity that wasn't going to produce or was on limited time. Woods shared carries all year, as did Kelvin Taylor from Florida. Sharing is not something you want in fantasy land. That's especially important when drafting receivers. Teams like Washington State may lead the nation in passing yards, leading you to believe that  drafting a receiver from that team will lead to success. The problem is that spread teams throw it to 8-10 players per game. You are just as likely to have zero points as 25. 

Trades, Acquisitions, and Drops

Speaking of defenses and kickers, my thought process was to find a week to week matchup where I could get points. in regards to kickers, I didn't just look for extra point bonanzas, as you might think. I wanted close games. Baylor vs North Texas may be a 7 extra point outing, but Baylor vs Oklahoma may feature 5 extra points and 2 fieldgoals. These match-ups are what I looked for and you can see that by my kicking stats. I was midrange in extra points but 3rd in FGs. It's just simple math. FGs are worth 3 times as much as extra points. Additionally, I frequently picked up kickers on spread teams who lacked a running game. Why? Because they sputter in the redzone. Case in point, Baylor. Without a run game or a redzone TE, failures to score in the redzone are a gold mine. 

Additionally, with a defense, it is important to understand the scoring system. Sure, you get 30 points for a shutout, but the amount of shutouts pitched these days is minuscule. And, after the first points are scored on your defense, the point value plummets. It's not important to have a statistically good defense. It IS important to have one that puts a value on turnovers. This year, Houston, Temple, Utah State and Memphis were insanely good on takeaways. Amazingly, at least one of all of these teams were available every single week. It is perfectly fine to lose all of the per-point scores in exchange for the takeaway points. Not only did having these teams available help, but as I said earlier, there is always an available matchup to look for and exploit. I didn't use a draft pick on a DST for this matter, as well as the fact that DSTs don't carry the weight value of the skill positions. 

Over the last few years, few offenses have been more potent than the Ole Miss Rebels. So, when Bo Wallace was still available in the 2nd round, I picked him up. I was delighted when Treadwell was on the board in the 4th and I opened a lot of eyes by taking Evan Engram, the Rebel TE in the 5th. Making half of you starting lineup from one team is a very ballsy thing to do. If they struggle, you will loose. But, Hugh Freeze has been unstoppable in the first third of the season before collapsing each of his 3 years. Treadwell is Wallace's go to guy and Engram was a redzone TD magnet. So, for every passing yard and TD Wallace threw to these guys, I reaped double awards. But, all along, I looked at that first critical SEC matchup (Bama) and knew I would trade them, which I did. Though they did win that first big matchup against Bama, it was better to trade them while they were hot. 

With about 5 weeks left in the season, I noticed a free agent WR who had been blowing up. Yet no one had picked him up. His per game average wasn't very good. But, I had been filtering stats based on 3 week increments, which put him on top. I noticed that he, like Johnson, had been moved positions. In this case, to RB from WR. Farrow, the Houston converted RB scored over 20 points in 3 of his last 4 games. Why is that important? Because points from WRs are hard to rely upon. A WR is just as likely to have 150 yards and 2 TDs as to be held without a catch, just because of what goes into the passing game.  I now had another  consistent RB that was starting in spot that usually has inconsistent results. 

Obviously Ameer Abdullah, my 3rd round pick, worked out well. He has been an absolute beast at Nebraska for several years, though Pelini's decision not to ride him late hurt me...it hurt him worse as he was fired this last week. And he should be. Abdullah is an NFL-caliber back, and Pelini limited carries in the back to back losses. 

What put me other the top happened about 3 weeks ago as my wife and I were watching Toledo play. Toledo was starting their 2nd string QB, who went down with an injury. The next play, the 3rd stringer was hurt. The 4th string QB was actually a starting WR. Macon wasn't a terrific QB, but as a fantasy point producer, having a WR who accumulates QB stats is gold. I picked him up immediately. I held him out the first week to make sure they would stick with him. They didn't start him, but he was used as a wildcat QB, putting up 2 TDs in each of the last few games. Again, consistent points from a inconsistent position. 

Perhaps the league-winning trade came around week 6. I noticed a TE on one of the opposing teams that was scoring ridiculous points for about 2 weeks in a row. Upon further review, he had been moved from TE to RB and was getting a ton of carries. It was Devon Johnson from Marshall, who was pounding it up the middle while Rakeem Cato was throwing the ball around. I went into the trade knowing I would give away essentially anything the other guy would want. It cost me 3 or 4 good players including Bo Wallace and Evan Engram, but I know had a TE who was accumulating RB stats. Let's think about that. Good TEs average around 7 points a game. This kid was running the ball 20-30 times a game, especially late in the games in garbage time. He averaged 25 points over the season. 

Game Strategy

If you read the stats and the paragraphs, you will see that I spent significant effort in emphasizing a few things. With the escalating point system that we use in this league, I scrapped conventional wisdom on QBs, which says that you should use a dual-threat guy because of the advantage of rushing yards over passing yards. Instead, I went with Carden, who is a true pocket passer. But, Carden went over 300 yards in all but 3 games all season while surpassing 400 yards 5 times.  That escalator means all the world of different when a QB goes over 300. So, I went after a guy I KNEW would frequent that stat. Truth be told, I had all my eggs in Carden's basket, because I didn't carry a backup QB on my roster for most of the season. I was able to do that because of the moves I made in my rushing attack. It did cost me a perfect season against Temple, who managed to hold him to his season low in fantasy points. 

Of the other skill players, I featured 5 RBs at times. That's 2 in the RB slot, 1 in the flex slot, and my TE and one WR were actually RBs as well. Obviously, that would explain the 6,000 rushing yards. And, again, the points system favors rushing yards over receiving yards by a 2:1 ratio. Additionally, I carried several other RBs on the roster and watched the matchups. Sometimes it is not advantageous to play players against certain teams. For example, Utah State had one of the best run defenses in the country and Houston caused multiple fumbles a game. So, I avoided those matchups. 

I put nearly zero emphasis on WRs for their receiving points, especially after trading Wallace. The only time I did spend effort on WRs was when I was matched up against a player who had a QB with an available target. For example, I played against Notre Dame's Golson. His favorite target, Fuller, was available. And, that offset any TDs that Golson threw against me. 

I also avoided starting RBs in games against FCS opponents. Coaches are just as likely to sit a guy to save them then to rack up stats. 

One of the trickier plays I made this year was in watching injury and suspension reports. When Gurley was suspended, I immediately picked up Chubb. I had no intentions of playing him, but used him as trade bait. When Wick, Wyoming's leading rusher went down, I snapped up his backup. Wyoming is a run heavy offense, and that was good for 2 huge weeks for me before trading him up. 

Well, that's enough secrets for this year. I ended the year 32-7. Not bad. 

Till next year!

The Iron Bowl Review

You can find links to all of my Auburn Realist Blog posts here.

The Auburn Realist: Overview

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube,  and Twitter!

Maybe I am a spoiled brat, but writing this post took a good bit of mental convincing to put together. Fact is, as a fan, it isn't fun to write about losses. Most writers love when games are on one end of the spectrum or the other, especially when there is drama involved. Good news sells. Bad news sells better. The media loves compelling stories. After all, that's how they get those clicks and cash their checks. But as a fan first and writer second, I take no pleasure in writing about losses. Pointing fingers and making scathing remarks isn't my style and I won't do it to get hits on the blog. I don't get paid to write, so I can't even do it with the expectation of making money. It just hurts to lose. It hurts worse to lose to  Alabama. And it hurts even more to just get stunned after taking a lead into the 4th quarter. And writing about it makes it hurt more.  Maybe in 10 years I will look back at this game and consider it one of my Taylor's Tiger Tails. Heck, half of the ones I have written were losses. Maybe this one won't hurt so bad in the future. The weekend was a lot of fun as we were able to visit with family, fish in a tournament, and even go to the game. 

I was so happy to be able to take Aubree, my daughter, to her second Iron Bowl. Though she went to the 2011 game, this is the first year that she was really into football. She knows the players. She understands the game. And, we had a chance for her to participate in something special

By midway in the 4th, I had a daughter who was miserable because she was watching the game slip away. I feel for her. She took it hard. Hard. I won't say any more than that. 

Several times I hit "new post", then found something else to do. Or I sat here and stared at the screen. Why? Was it due to the disbelief of losing the Iron Bowl? No. That's not it. If you read my Iron Bowl Preview, you will see that I was pretty harsh on the team coming into the game. I expected a loss. I predicted a 35-17 loss in T-Town, though I was almost CERTAIN coming into the year that Auburn would win. I made a preseason post JUST ABOUT IT. Not only did I think Auburn had a record-setting offense, a defensive front 4 that were the best in the conference, but most importantly, all the stats pointed to the Tigers. 5-2 in BDS. Saban had never beaten a ranked Auburn team. The list goes on. In talking about the opponent, I even took time to write a comical "Tide Name Starting QB." 

Auburn's Defense vs Alabama's Offense

As the year drug on, it was apparent that the defense was perhaps the worst statistical defense that Auburn has fielded in the modern era. Though the offense was potent enough to score points, and lots of them, they were unable to outscore the other teams and at times, simply dug themselves an early grave. Of the 4 losses the Tigers had in 2014, there was a common thread in 3: First drive turnovers. In fact, in all 3 of those games, Auburn turned it over on the first play of the game. And, in every situation, it led to a TD. In this case, a behind the line of scrimmage pass to Roc Thomas fell to the ground on the first play of the game and Thomas made no effort to cover it. Bama took the ball and drove for a TD. Auburn was immediately on the defensive and the defense just hasn't been able to come up with the stops. 

It's a massive departure from the heritage that most Auburn fans remember. Defense has been a staple of Auburn since I can remember. It has been a constant backward slide since Tuberville left. Despite the coaching carousel on the defensive side of the ball, nothing seems to improve it. Change the coach. Change the system. Change the players. Nothing works. It is so frustrating to Auburn fans to see all this come and go, with no change. Who would have thought we would look at the 2010 coached under Ted Roof and consider it "the good ole days?" But, even then, it was Tuberville's recruits that Roof had used. Though Auburn has enjoyed the best recruiting in its history since Malzahn first came on the Plains as a coordinator, it's becoming obvious that there is recruiting and there is "recruiting." Despite the lofty star ranking that has come with the last 5 years, Auburn's defense has not seen any improvement based upon statistically recruiting. That school on the other side of the state has not only recruited MORE star power, but they have turned then into stars. As I watched the NFL yesterday, I counted 7 former Bama  defensive players who have played their college ball in the last 4 years. Auburn has it's share of workhorse NFL players. None of which came from an era after Tubby's. 

No, I didn't forget that the D did come up with 3 INTs and several first half stops. While they seemed to do their job, it was the offense that sputtered inside the redzone, unable to convert on several goal-to-go downs and having to settle for field goals. That didn't help. But neither did the defensive performance in the second half.

Starting late in the first half, Kiffin zero'd in on Amari Cooper, which we have seen him do in the past to teams like Tennessee. In response, Ellis Johnson made little to no adjustments to stop Cooper. It was painful and laughable when Cooper would line up in single coverage and we, the fans, were laughing...LAUGHING.....because we knew where the ball was going. 3rd and 9? Where is number 9? Streaking down the field. The one time I remember Cooper being double covered, he managed to split the corner and safety and burn them both. How? I don't know. But he did. It left us all awestruck. Auburn would score to take the lead back and Sims would connect with Cooper on the first play for 75 yards. 

By now, you have all seen the memes where Kiffin was already celebrating TDs before the ball was ever thrown. Well, we were on the other end of that celebration. It makes you wonder: if we knew it was coming...did Johnson? It doesn't matter now, of course. Johnson has been fired and I secretly wonder if it was going to happen anyway, or did this performance seal his fate? Neither makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I joked on the way out of BDS that I wouldn't let him on the bus. Well, it was halfway joking. Sorta. The Christian thing to do would be to get him a taxi. I think he was gone regardless. After all, this is the same guy that got in front of the cameras after the UGA game and said that he didn't care what the fans thought. Coaches only say that after they know their fate. It isn't the first time we have heard that line before. The apathy he showed to his fans is the same apathy he showed to future Heisman winner Amari Cooper. And, to me, that's the most painful thing. It's one thing for a Bama player to win the Heisman. It's another to serve it up, which the Auburn defense did. With the run of injuries and busts of the other leading contenders, Cooper tying his own records on the most heavily watched game of the year sealed the deal. 

What did Kiffin do that was so special? I noticed a few things. First, he hit Cooper with quick passes. Most of the time, the other receiver would run block the corner. Auburn's corners have been unable to get off of run blocks all year. So much so that I frequently assumed that opposing blockers were holding our corners. I still maintain that some of the plays were holds, but getting off blocks is one of the fundamentals taught to kids in high school. At the very least, you cannot allow the opposing team to set on outside edge and push you inside. Cooper would hit the sideline and would be gone. Other times, Cooper would be in the slot, the outside receiver would simply chop block our corner at the knees. Additionally, the fundamentals of open field tackling has been an issue since 2008. Auburn secondary players have rarely, if ever, won one-on-one battles. In the Preview post, I made a note about this. Well, right on the money it would seem. 

When the corners would come up into press coverage, they wouldn't respect Cooper's speed and he would blow past them.  Where was the safety on these plays? Your guess is as good as mine. The fact remains that one of the basic skills highschool coaches give to defensive backs is to always respect your opponent. If he beats you once, once should be enough to know to give them more room. I am sure every player on the field feels like they are the fastest and best. But, how many times does it take before coach calls you on the sidelines and tells you to back up? If you watch his long completions you will notice something alarming. None of them were contested. 

Many of my Bama brethren have chastised me for blaming Johnson and not giving Kiffin any respect. I do respect Kiffin for sticking to it. He found a weakness and he exploited it masterfully. I am sure he went home Saturday night and had a good laugh that Johnson wouldn't make an effort to stop the bleeding. It sure didn't hurt that the Tigers continued to be unable to force any pass rush outside of the first quarter. 

Auburn's Offense vs Alabama's Defense

I feel like, despite the total numbers, we forgot what happened on the first play of the game, which has been the undoing of this Auburn team in 2014, who cannot win from behind. Is it bad luck? Nerves? Seriously, I have never seen a team that I could, with reasonable certainty, bet on losing the ball on the first play of the game. What would the game be like if Auburn had actually scored a TD on that first drive? We will never know. One day when I make my "what if" machine, I will check that out. Offensively, Auburn was able to move the ball at will within the 10s. On no less than 3 drives did Auburn have a first and goal and were unable to punch it in. Costly first half drops by the receivers did not help. Coates and Uzomah were unable to hold on to passes in the endzone and a diving Williams missed a pair. The former two had the balls in the hands before dropping it or having it batted. Saban and Co had made a decision to take CAP out of the game, and they did that fairly well. It is hard for me to criticize the offense too much, though. They wanted Marshall to throw for the win, and he did his very best.  With the stats they put up, you should win every game. All things considered, it's just as surprising to lose when you rack up 600++ yards and 44 points on Alabama as it is to lose on a returned field goal attempt. Sure, it isn't one single play, but if you showed the stats to a stranger and didn't show the scores, they would be just as stunned.

Special Teams

The kicking game for Auburn, field goals aside, was fairly horrific. The coverage unit looked to be jogging on several kicks. And, if a player missed the play, he made no effort to track it down, though the Bama returners reversed fields on several occasions and found no one home. Additionally, the Auburn returning game took a major step back this year, failing to post a kick return for a TD. Bray did manage two punt return TDs, but was very inconsistent in the second half of the year. 

The game is over and all of those predictions and statistics are put to rest. I'll be honest, I don't even want to write about it any more. Watching our lead slip away was sickening.  I hope the Mother of All Revenge Iron Bowls was just as sweet to the Bammers as Kick Six was for us Auburn fans. The 2014 Iron Bowl ended up not being the winner-take-all game that we all hoped. It did put Bama right where they needed to be to make a National Championship run, however. Auburn will go on to a mediocre bowl game. Other than the Outback Bowl, the others are just mid-level...a far cry from where Auburn expected to be in 2014. 

Fishing Report for Tuscaloosa Lake 11/30/2014

Follow me on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter!

Read about all of my Fishing Adventures!

Follow my Fish of 2014

Many of you know that my wife's family is from Tuscaloosa. So, when it's Holiday times, we usually make a trek down to T-Town to visit. And, as a bonus, every other year we get the added pleasure of having the Iron Bowl in town. We had tickets, thanks to my wife's wonderful uncle, who is on staff at the University, so we planned to go and take Aubree with us. Aubree had been begging to go to another Iron Bowl since I took her in 2011. I was really hesitant, and you can read why in my Iron Bowl Preview. 

On the Tuesday previous to the Iron Bowl, I received a phone call from Alyse's other uncle, Uncle Tony. You may recall that he occasionally asks me to fish with him down there, especially during the Eagle's Wings Benefit tournament. 

He knew I was going to be in town and asked if I would be interested in fishing a club tournament with him on Saturday, the day of the Iron Bowl. It was going to be tight for me to fish it and make the game, but since I was pretty sure on how the game was going to end, I didn't figure it would matter if I missed some of the beginning. So, of course I said yes. 

Recall that fishing Tuscaloosa lake is very different than what I am used to, which is great for me, since I am trying to become more versatile. Frequently that means fishing ways that you aren't used to. And what's more different than fishing Guntersville? How about fishing jigs and shakey heads in 30-40 feet of water? Though my Fish of 2014 won't show it, I felt like versatility had grown a TON in 2014, and for the most part, it showed....and you can kinda see that in my 2014 Tournament Fishing in Review. 

So, how did he tell me to prepare? I would need 3 rods rigged up. A jig, a shakey head, and a swimbait. Swimbaits? Yeah. I can dig some swimbaits. While I haven't caught many fish on them in the last year, the PTL Swinging Hammer has been a solid producer for me, which you can buy on Amazon for the best price by clicking this link. Shakey heads? Sure. Shakey heading has been, by far, the best producing presentation for me in 2014. I have been using the PTL shakey heads backed by the PTL Sick Stick, another bait you can get for the best price on Amazon by clicking here. In fact, by my count, 25% of the fish I caught this year were on the PTL Sick Stick. But the jig? Ehh......I started having some success in 2013, but I just hadn't thrown it much. What's a better way to learn, though. And, PTL came out with a line of jigs this year that I wanted to use, since I get a great discount on them and they seem to be great baits. 

So, we got to T-Town late Friday afternoon and I ran to Academy to spend some money my dad gave me for my birthday. I really needed a set of fishing coveralls. I have been making due with some ski bibs and a heavy hunting jacket. But, they don't do well against wind or water. I ended up picking up the H20 Xpress setup, which cost right at $200. Turns out, they don't go on sale on Black Friday like everything else. Go figure. 

So Saturday morning rolled around and we were on Uncle Tony's Venture, headed out to catch some fish. He said to expect between 10-15 boats and he was dead on. There ended up being around 17 I believe. And, we needed around 8 pounds to win. Which meant that you could either try and cull up spots all day, or go after one largemouth kicker. The gameplan? Scare up a limit of spots real quick with jigs and shakey heads and then hunt a largemouth kicker with swimbaits. 

The fish weren't exactly hopping in the boat. We ran a couple of bluffs and points with out many bites. Uncle Tony had several, but they were all picking up the jig and swimming with it before spitting it out. Because I don't have a feel for the jig just yet, there is no telling just how many times one did exactly that to me and I didn't even notice. In fact, try as I might, I was having trouble feeling the bottom and/or having enough patients for the lures to find the bottom in 40 feet of water. I tried going to a larger 1/4 ounce shakey head instead of a 1/8th shakey head and a 1/2 ounce jig instead of the 1/4 ounce. But, I was afraid the larger presentation may not get the bites. 

Finally, we started finding some bites. By "we", I mean Uncle Tony. He bagged a small spot that measured on a jig. I did follow it up with one of my own on the PTL jig backed by the PTL Craw D'oeuvre. 

Uncle Tony then went on a 3 fish tear and bagged the rest of our limit while I didn't have much of a bite. But, we had a limit. A very small one. But, we didn't want to waste time trying to cull up. It was time to go hunt a kicker. 

So, we put down the jigs and shakey heads and picked up the swimbait. In the past, we might have kept trying to cull, but he knew the fishermen in the club were good enough to do that as well. He didn't like our chances (or theirs) of finding the one spot among millions. Instead, he wanted to do what few people in the club were comfortable with....looking for that one big bite. Sure, catching tons of fish is cool, and I wouldn't have been against it, but we were here to win. 

We headed to look for the bucket heads. 

We were working some creek channels when we got just the bite we needed. The fish came out from some cover, opened that big mouth and sucked the swimbait in. Then she dove deep...just what we needed her to do. Uncle Tony slammed the rod. The fish came churning back at us, made a jump, and tossed the bait back at us. It was easily a 5 pound fish...a monster on that lake. And just the fish we needed. 

Sure, it was easy to be upset, but we had a lot of time left. We did realize that the chances of getting that quality of fish to bite more than once were slim, but maybe we could make it up by catching 2 medium sized largemouth. 

The fish weren't overly active, but we were able to get bites. The problem was that many of them were simply headbutting the swimbait. Some would even follow it to the boat. Every once in awhile Uncle Tony would snag one. I couldn't get one to hook up, however. Uncle Tony did manage to get one decent largemouth in the boat, which bettered our chances. 

After hours of chunking and winding, I finally had an opportunity to catch one. Uncle Tony had a solid fish come up and headbutt the swimbait. As he retrieved the bait, I tossed back towards where the fish had been sitting. I twitched the bait as I would a soft jerkbait...popping the tip on slack line. One pop. Two pops. Let it fall...and the fish smoked it. Another largemouth in the boat which culled one of the small spots. 

We finished up the day still trying to find that big bite, but to no avail. I have to admit that my shoulder, which I had surgery almost a year to the day ago, was really giving me fits. I guess it's the constant use with shakey heads and jigs, but by noon it was really hurting. We came in a good bit early. Aubree, Griffin, and their twin cousin's were at the ramp and wanted to see the fish. 

It took 8 pounds to win, which I believe came from a single 5 pound largemouth and a short sack of spots. Everyone else either had 7 or below, which is what we had. My largemouth went a little over 2 pounds. Sure, there are some things we could have done different. Could we possibly have culled up spots? Yeah. We have done it before. We have weighed in 13 pounds of spots before after spending the entire day. But, we have also managed to spend an entire day trying only to have 5 fish for 4 pounds as well. We had the bites to win, that's for sure. 

But, I LOVE fishing with my kin folk and I LOVE trying to become more versatile. Getting outside of your comfort zone is what makes you better. Tony's phone call asking me to fish was the best news I had received all week and I was so excited to get to fish. We had a good showing and you don't have to win to have a great time!