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Brent Bowles has been hunting his new land in Botetourt for four years, and finally got the trophy he was wating for. The 10-pointer was 3 1/2 years old. It had a 20-inch spread and green scored 136.5 on the Boone and Crockett system.

Yesterday morning I got in my stand, tried to cock my muzzleloader and realized the bolt wasn't working. I took it apart but couldn't solve the issue. I was OK yesterday because my buddy Tony Kelly had his son Tyler's muzzleloader and Tyler wasn't hunting, so I used that in the afternoon.

I don't like hunting with a gun I've never shot. But I knew that one of the other guys here had just sighted it in and it was shooting great, so I went with it.

I sat over a clover field with my decoy, in buck form. I know decoys aren't recommended for gun seasons, but we are on private land and I felt comfortable. Does started coming out into the field quickly, but they were all really wigged out by the decoy.

Then I spotted a big buck in the thicket on the edge of the field, staring at the decoy. I ranged him at 120 yards. It was probably a doable shot. But, again, I didn't know the gun. Plus it looked like he was going to come attack my decoy. Unfortunately, a doe spooked and he followed her.

Tyler was hunting this morning so I was going to be gunless. Then I remembered that we had an old sidelock muzzleloader sitting in the gun safe. Amazingly, we had everything we needed so that's what I carried.

It's a DMAP property so we had the green light on does. When this doe came in to 35 yards I figured I would see just how well that old-fashioned gun worked. It worked well. She went 50 yards.

We took a break for lunch and are heading back out.

Tom Williamson of Botetourt County shot this big eight in Floyd County on Nov. 10. Man, Floyd County grows some good ones.

I'm headed out in a couple minutes. It seems the wind has finally laid down. Today has potential.

Walt Hampton sent in this shot of his wife, Cecelia, with a nice eight-pointer she killed on leased property in Grayson County.

Here's what Walt wrote: "Cecelia is a 4th grade teacher and only gets to hunt 4 or 5 days a year. She shot the deer with a new Savage smokeless powder muzzleloader at about 90  yards with a difficult downhill shot.  I was with her, and it was very exciting, a great hunt."

An election day hunt on his family's Grayson County property produced this awesome buck for Tyler Kane.  What a dandy.

I have hunted less so far this season than any season in recent memory. But that's about to change. I'm taking vacation to hunt all week. I guess it's not a total vacation because I plan to update this blog thoughout the week. (My Verizon broadband card gives me wireless Internet, even out here in the boonies.)

It's 7:30 a.m. and I'm already back at the Botetourt County cabin several friends and I are staying in this week. I got in the stand this morning and found that the bolt on my muzzleloader is not working. So I'm working on solving this issue so I can get back out there. I guess it's not rocking too much out in the woods because I've heard no shots. I did bump a bunch of deer on my way back out, and that was painful.

Good luck to everyone this week, and be safe.

This is the kind of sight that can be good or bad.

If you just spooked this buck and he's high-tailing it out of there, it's bad. But in this case it's good: The eight-pointer was chasing a doe.

This doesn't mean bucks are chasing everywhere. But they are chasing at this location, which is along the Blue Ridge near Buena Vista. The photographer sent a series of shots and this was one of two eight-pointers he saw chasing does.

As for the photographer, he's Todd Hostetter. He's just getting started in nature photography, but, as the saying goes: If you've got it, you've got it. He's really good. As in, he has potential to make some money at this. I've used one of his shots in The Roanoke Times and I'm planning to put him in touch with some potential markets for his shots.

For now, he's generously sharing with all of us and we don't have to pay him a cent. To see more of Todd's work, check out the forums at Vaturkey.com and look for subjects that are clearly pictures.

I've heard from a number of folks in my regular hunting circles that things have been slow this week. With the warm weather, that's not much of a surprise.

But it is early November, and even if it's slow you know some good bucks are going down.

This one fell in Franklin County at that hands of my friend Jeff D'Agostino, who lives in South Carolina but gets up this way to hunt deer and turkeys a couple of times a year.  What a great buck.

Jeff was hunting with our mutual friend, Freddy McGuire, and he has Freddy to thank for this deer. The buck walked by Freddy first. Freddy shot and hit a sapling. The deer bounded off and headed right for Jeff, who didn't let it get away twice.

Freddy said the hunting has been really slow and that the group has seen just a few deer this week.

Another frequent correspodent shared a similar report. He said he was going away with his wife for the weekend and wasn't even going to miss the hunting. Of course he plans to hit it hard the next couple of weeks.

I still think that next week is going to be the time to be out there.

 Chris Vaughn sent me this great shot of his son, Blake. He's a proud dad, which is understanable.

Here's Vaughn's note:

"I hope your season is going well.  I just read your article about the lack of urgency with the expanded hunting opportunities in the western half of Virginia.  I agree it might not make that much difference to most hunting adults, my son Blake took full advantage of all the rule changes yesterday afternoon, with me by his side to video the whole thing. ( I have a new respect or the hunting videographers now too!) 

He's 12 now, and I taught him to shoot my muzzleloader this year to take advantange of the increased season.  We went to some private land in Craig County, and Blake took his first deer under the special youth rule that allows a kid under 16 to take one doe on any day in the rifle or muzzleloader season.  We got set up at 4:30 and he got his deer at 5:30. But he's "paid his dues".  He's been tagging along occasionally with me since he was 7 years old. 

So while this hunt seemed easy, he stuck it out and kept going with me until it all came together yesterday for him. He's using the apprentice license this year as well.  With the expansion of the muzzleloader season, this could be the very best week to get your kids out to hunt, especially in the afternoon.  The weather is milder, the deer are still pretty much unpressured, and the rut is not yet in full-swing.

I applaud the Virginia Game Department for making changes that increase hunting opportunities for our youth.  He wants that first buck now, so we'll be back out there with that new goal later this week. Maybe I'll do a better job on the video too!"