Well, it's that time of year again, so I thought I'd start another hunting thread. Bow season opened here this morning. The wind was wrong for the stand that I was in, but I thought I could get away with it because they weren't calling for any wind. Wrong, even a `1-2 mph breeze was enough to spook the deer. I had a spotted fawn at 40 yds that was really spooky, and ended up running off due to a raccoon, and a mature doe came in directly downwind, and was on high alert with her nose in the air at 38 yds. Wearing scentloc clothes, and sprayed down with Evolved Habitat Dead Down Wind. Still didn't work.

The wind is supposed to switch this evening, I'll be back out.

It didn't help that I was about 20 minutes late getting out and spooked a deer walking in.....

Saw those 2 deer, that raccoon, what I think was a 'yote at about 120+ yds and 5 squirrels, one which was only about 4' away on another tree.

I believe this is the one that I spooked:




Both pictures are about 18 yds from the stand.

Don't you just hate getting busted. I have been very fortunate this year. Shot was a touch far forward but the results were good. Processed and in the freezer Wed of last week. Now onto some atlers!!

From last weekend. Jason was the BH catching contest winner with 18. Josh, center pic, crushed some woodies and this nice goose. And I worked on keeping the camp running but had time to pull some nice 11" BCP.



IMHO...All the hard work, time, and money is sooooo worth it when you get to share the harvest with great friends like these guys.

Nice pictures! I'll be headed out in a couple of hours, or as soon as I get the stuff done in the office that I need to finish.

Archery season doesn't start in VA til this upcoming Saturday. It started in PA this past Saturday. Can't wait to get up to PA to see how my new food plot looks. We got lots of rain, so it should be in good shape. I hope!

Good luck tonite essup.

CJ- what did u plant for food plots? My plots are not that great. Maybe because we haven't had a drop of rain for 2 months.

Please come to South Alabama and harvest all the does you want. I killed 2 last season without a gun by using the steel bumper of my Superduty F250. We are allowed to harvest 2 Unantlered Deer per Day here in our 109 day season (OCt 15 thru Jan 31) for a total of 218 deer max per season per person.

WOW!!!!! That is a crazy amount of deer. How many deer per square mile do you guys have? How does the land support that many? I can't even imagine that many deer.

Bow season opened here last weekend too. But, we have so many other seasons, especially exclusive seasons, I'll just wait. We have several for antlerless on private property. A couple for youth and old dudes like me. Bow. Rifle. Black powder. Basically, if you are over 16, you can take 10 legal deer in my neighborhood. I believe that 100 yards east of me, in Virginia, my friends can take even more.

Our deer regularly walk the Virginia/West Virginia border ridge about 100-150 yards outside our kitchen window. The state lines are at the top of a ridge between our property and the farm adjacent to ours in Virginia. I have no idea how many deer were in the herd that passed by our garage this morning, but there were a bunch of them. Probably between 15 and 20.

The good bow is in the corner of my office. I wasn't even tempted. Not a single deer looked the least bit worried. They either know my skills, my schedule, or both. They were passing by about 7:30 AM as I was having my coffee. I had an appointment 20 miles away at 9:00 AM this morning, and didn't have time to skin and quarter any for the cooler or cold room.

Unfortunately for me, I could tell that they were seriously surveying my fall garden and the innards of my greenhouse -- which won't get fully closed in until we leave for PB-V.

These deer have already gotten my beet tops, my bird-egg beans, and my green beans. Something else got my fall broccoli, and something chewed the strawberries off below ground level.

For the past couple of months we've been without a dog. And, although "Igor" our Siberian Forest "rescue" cat looks and sounds really vicious, he is a real pussy! He is even afraid of our chickens. The other cat refuses to go outside except under perfect conditions. The chickens like every living creature they see, either as friends or a snacks.

Anyway, we've got lots of deer on the property again this year. Between our place, and a couple of friend's places, we butchered and divided 14 deer last year. I think we'll get quite a few more this year. I was looking at the regulations this morning. My wife, my son, our daughter-in-law, and I can all legally take 10 deer each. My two oldest (twin) grandkids are 17, and they too can take 10 deer each.

The deer in this area are in serious need of thinning, plus we have CWD in our county and the adjoining county, so this thinning is really important.

If you come to the PB-V conference, I'll have a little bit of my venison pastrami that has not yet been spoken for!

(Whatever you do -- please don't anybody steal ESSHUP's venison pastrami allocation this year! Yes - that happened at the last conference! If you do, please provide at least a $1000 donation to the SDSU Pond Boss scholarship fund, and let me know. I'll make more, and send it to both parties.)

If you want to sample some, you better get there Wednesday evening. A pound or two is usually consumed in less than 30 seconds.

Bow season opened today here.. Put this guy in the freezer..

If you have a place to hunt (or hunt on public land) we can harvest many more than that. Bonus antlerless quota is set for every county in the state. Here's a map showing the bonus antlerless quotas:
http://www.eregulations.com/indiana/hunting/bonus-antlerless-deer/

BGK, nice going! We should be selective in harvesting bucks because we can only take one per year total, no matter what weapon or season. Last year I got a small racked 4 point in the last 5 minutes of the last archery season. The bigger bucks that I was seeing a year earlier all disappeared.

Saw a flock of 8 or so hen turkeys close to the property, and the flock of 7 gobblers right at the road on the property as I drove in. Busted 2 bedded does that were within 30 yds of the stand (they were bedded behind a blowdown and I didn't see them). Nothing all evening. Driving home at the edge of the property there were 4 does and I saw 4 more on the way home.

Figures! (either sex turkey season is open all October)

Ken, you talk to Todd lately about deer season? I swapped out the barrel on that muzzleloader and the new barrel increased it's range by a little more than 30%. (.45 cal vs. .50)

Bow season opened here on Sept. 15th. I shot this guy at 7:15 am.





I almost shot a doe 15 minutes later but she was real spooky and didn't offer a clean shot.

Esshup I use to be more selective but got sick of eating paper sandwiches.. I still have another buck tag and 2 doe tags.. Where I hunt it's pointless to be selective no surrounding property owners are and when gun season hits it turns into "it's brown it's down season" I will now wait for a big boy though..


MattWi nice bow is that the z7? I got a z7 extremem last year took awhile to get use to it after shooting Hoyt for years..

A mix of winter wheat, oats, crimson clover, winter peas and a few brassicas for the foot plot.

The new roads got rye as a cover crop, orchard grass, white clover, crimson clover and birdsfoot trefoil.

Mice buck Matt!

Nice job guys

Bow season open here too

I just can't bring myself to hunt when it's 90•

1 downside of FL

trip to GA planned for the rut

Nice deer you guys!

Matt- did you age that bad boy? 4 1/2?

CJ - Sounds like a nice mix. Hopefully they are hammering it.

Bluegillkiller, it is actually a Matthews Rezen, came out the year before the Z7.

Mnfish, the buck was 202 pounds dressed, putting it in vicinity of 240-250 # live weight. I pulled the jawbone for definitive analysis but don't have a result yet. It is for sure a 3.5 but very possibly could be a 4.5. I oddly enough didn't have it on camera, so when it walked out with three smaller bucks I was not prepared. I had to make a quick decision based on its body characteristics, whether to shoot or not. I was on one of our farms where I didn't think there was a buck I would kill, but rather concentrate on does. The neighbors take a toll on the younger age class bucks. I just solved part of this problem though, as on Oct. 25th I close on an adjoining 100 ac parcel. It is a beautiful peace, 75 ac. of woods, all south facing, with a good smallmouth stream running the length of it. I immediately obtained exclusive hunting rights until close, and have begun hanging stands. Probably half of it will serve as off limits sanctuary.

Anyway, thank you! Best of luck in Minnesota.

Matt, did you send out a tooth to be sectioned and aged?

I had 2 does and 2 fawns (still with spots) come by the stand not 1/2 hr after I got in it. One doe and 2 fawns left. I'm still amazed at how fast a deer can move. She was at 30 yds and I aimed slightly below her elbow joint and she dropped enough so the arrow clipped one lung and took out the bottom of her spine. It hit with enough force to puncture the skin on the opposite side even after going thru bone, but it stayed inside her and broke off. It was a long tracking job, about 1 yd.

437 grains, going close to 350 fps still isn't quicker than their reflexes!

Matt - congrat's on the land purchase. You must be stoked! If things go well here I would love to buy some land across the river in WI. I have gun hunted it a couple of years with a friend of mine. You guys have such a great resource for numbers and size of whitetails. I wish MN would start managing the deer herd like WI but I doubt that will ever happen. Congrat's again.

Essup- Congrat's on closing the deal, now, venison....it's what's for dinner. The technology in these bows is amazing don't you think. I remember 25 years ago when a pass thru even at 20 yrds was the exception and not the rule. And penetrating the front shoulder blade was impossible.

MasterRack Lodge just east of me in my area reports to have over 100 deer per square mile(non-fenced population). There is 187 acres I hunt just up the road from them since I was a kid. Alot of the Black Belt region of ALabama has near 50 deer per Square mile. If it was not for farming and supplemental feeding programs we would have alot smaller deer in the area. I have killed deer over 300# here (very few of them though.)The biggest one B&C harvested by my family was my Brotheinlaws 189 point NonTypical. We have a few 180 class deer that I occasionally get a look at. The one picture linked below that scored 191 B&C nontypical was killed just North of me.
[img] http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/imagesWatch/TWnontypWhitetailAlabama.jpg [/img]

BTW it has taken alot of the fun out of deer hunting for me having killed many in my younger years. When I want one to eat now days I simply just tell someone else to shoot me one. My wife would kill me if I shot one of those that come into the back yard all the time. The last time I took my dear old dad deer hunting he killed a buck and a doe while sitting on the tail gate.

Here they Keep a limit for hunters and the farmers are allowed to kill many of them off year round. I hear talk from time to time of farmers killing as many as a 100 per night. Here is the non hunting law in Alabama for taking deer.

Section 9-11-240
Opening of season for hunting, etc., of female deer and unantlered male deer.

Any law of the State of Alabama to the contrary notwithstanding, the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources is hereby authorized to open a season in any county, area or section of the state for the hunting, taking, capturing and killing of female deer or unantlered male deer by a duly promulgated regulation when, in his best judgment, he deems it necessary for biological reasons or because of crop damage to open the season on such deer, provided this meets with the approval of the landowner or leaseholder.

(Acts 1966, Ex. Sess., No. 180, p. 213, § 1.)

Congrats to all of you that have had success in your hunts.

Let's see a pic of your brother-in-laws 189 pointer..

I'm seeing an awful lot of nice bucks on the game cameras. Unfortunately, they are still nocturnal.

My grandson and his predator bow hunting buddies will start hunting on the 13th and 14th. Just couldn't make it on opening weekend or this weekend.

Hunted opening morning and had the buck I've been patterning all summer within about 45 yards - but then the coyotes started yipping behind him and he and the smaller buck he was with took off for the hills...I need to spend some time this winter thinning the coyote population apparently.

couple of shots of him from the weekend before...







I've passed on this buck the last 2 years - had him at 20 yds opening afternoon last year and let him walk - he's at least 4 1/2. His rack is good but not great - but he's a big bodied SOB no doubt about that - I killed a 10 point split brow tine buck that was with him 2 years ago that dressed out at 307 at the locker and he's about the same size based on the pics. That's big even for this area.

Very nice animal! I hope you get a chance to close the deal.

307? That's almost getting into Elk territory! Wow!

Yeah he was a cornfed pig...that wasn't an official scale but I'd say it was pretty close to accurate. West Central IL grows some REALLY big deer - as anyone who's hunted around here can attest.

I've taken 3 bucks in the 275-300 lb range over the last 10 years.

It's official...I won't be posting any more of the deer I shoot. Heck, compared to the beasts you guys are shooting, mine look like over grown squirrels!

I lost most of my pictures in a house fire a few years back. My Brother in law has past away since, however my sister says she does have the deer in storage and I can get it out and get you a picture the next time I am passing by her place. The deer should have scored alot higher if you ask me. B&C scored it very low on the spread because it had a rack inside the rack so its spread was only counted like 8". Also one of the 23 points was not scored becasue it grew back in in another area. Officially only 22 of the 23 point scored. I consider it to be a low 200 class. Will post phot at later date.

Nice pictures of some good deer out there. good hunting.

MnFish, I understand your reluctance.

3 years ago I killed one that went 165 field dressed. Last year I got one that went 145. I'm only going to mention them once. They're runts compared to the Midwest.

There's one rule to remember during deer season.. You'll never get a trophy if you don't hunt.. And most people still won't.. So I just try to spend as much time in the stand as possible just too increase my chances.. Good luck everyone..

This has been the most inactive first week of the season that I can remember. I have been out every morning and evening since openning day on Monday and only seen 12 deer. Only saw onse buck, a yearling. I am not expecting to see a good one this time of year, but I do expect to see more animals moving.

Esshup,

Yes a tooth will be sent in for cementum annuli aging, a lot more accurate then enamel/ dentin ratios. Happy hunting all!!

It sounds like you need to come sit on my front porch or pond dock. I've been too busy with other things to be concerned about deer this early in the season. I'm seeing herds of 10-20 on a daily basis -- eating the new grass on my new pond, eating apple waste from my worm bins, breaking the branches on my pear trees, and munching on the winter rye in next spring's garden site!

My buddies wanted me to come get a dazed 6-point deer early this morning as they were headed to work. One of them hauled it off the highway and into the ditch on the way to work. He figured it was non-fatally injured after getting hit by a vehicle near my house. I was too busy making apple butter!

We've got more acorns this season than I've ever seen before, and we've got a bumper crop of deer too.

I'm not worried about being late to the deer hunting party this year.

I'm cleaning out the last of last year from the freezer, and turning into pastrami, sausage, and other good eats.

Ken

Ken,

Will you share your pastrami, sausage, etc recipes?

We had our first freeze this year. This morning going to the car the rain that had fallen last night was frozen on the ground. No frost, frozen. Car thermometer said 31°F.

Esshup that's wierd I had the same thing here night before last but it only got down to 39° I didn't think it was possible.. I thought it was frost but it was a mix of frozen rain droplets and thick frost.. No one would believe me at work GLAD I TOOK PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

What was your brother in laws Name?

BGK Hoping to see you at Big Cedar this week

Won't happen.. Out of vacation, on rotating shift for the remainder of the year.. And broke lol not a good combo.. Maybe next year..

MNFish, I have some buddies near Morris, MN about 3 hrs west of the cities and used to hunt with them regularly bout 10 years ago. They have 1000's of acres and we harvested lots of deer, but nothing ever too impressive...

Yeesh! My favorite deer are those without antlers, or very small antlers. Field dressed -- I'm happiest with those between 40 and 100 lbs.

You guys must need a chipper on 65+ hp tractor to just make ground meat from those bigger monsters.

Ken, you mean one like this?

BTW, the date and time on the camera is correct.....

It was 34 this morning in Oklahoma.

27 in NE Oklahoma, going to check at lunch to see if my peppers were damaged.

Got some stand time in this weekend - saw several does and fawns out and about. Good to just get some tree time in.

Nice and cold for this time of year - we're usually hunting in shorts and t shirts practically during the first week of October. This weekend I actually had to break out the long johns!

Just got back from Saskatchewan waterfowling. Pics available at http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/Sask2012/?albumview=slideshow Good hunt but a couple of slow days. Last day we hunted it was down to 10 degrees (yes Fahrenheit) and 7 Saturday morning on the drive home. I hope to get to the stand this afternoon for the first time. The freezer is empty of vension, that needs to be fixed

Esshup,

You might want to get after that one before it loses that unique pattern on its coat

It's a definite late born fawn there. You might want to work on synchronizing your rut!

Glad to hear you had a good trip but to be honest very jealous Lassig. My partner and I had to cancel our annual trip to Sask for business obligations. Man do I miss the prairies of canada. We camp/hunt out of the Foam Lake area and Canora area. Were the birds coming down when you were there?

The one thing I didn't miss was the price of diesel for our trip

Earliest freeze on record. Hunting should be good here.

I saw something on the news about predictions of a pretty tough winter.

It was 40 degrees in Fort Worth this morning. That's really unusual at this time. 80's return tomorrow.

Forty-two here now -- late afternoon. Still no frost, but quite close this morning. The leaves are in near full color. The acorns are still falling. Lots of deer and squirrels moving around.

I'm going to go start a fire in the woodstove while I start packing to head off to Pond Boss Five!

I've been looking at winter weather predictions for a couple weeks now. Hard to tell what will really happen, but the leading edge indicates that we will be in for it this year. That's why I am staying put till next spring.

We'll have low's around freezing this week, which seems a bit early.

A strange thing I saw a couple days ago were Pink/Red sky's to the east when the sun was coming up. I never noticed that before.

An old line of thought, is if you have a very cold fall, a mild winter will follow, at least around here.

I wish I had a fireplace.

Matt:

I've seen bucks chasing does all the way into January here.

Good idea on the coat tho. I wonder if since they are blowing their coat from summer to winter if i'd be able to get it tanned, or would the hair continue to slip?

I'll see it again, I'm sure. That picture was taken 20 yds from the stand. I'll be back out there for a few hours Wed morning.

Buck and doe tag is in hand for cheeshead country.
We're leaving 11-15 to beat the traffic jam going north.

It's this time of year that I feel like I live on another planet

Got down to 66 last night !

Going gator hunting this week to fill 2 unfilled tags

If I get anything over 9 ill post a pic

Also hope to spend an afternoon in the woods

Hoping for a venison/gator tail combo week

More Geese than we have ever seen. Numbers seamed to stay the same all week, so not really sure if more came down during the week or not. We hunted the Lake Lenore area and stay in an apartment above a pole barn. Nice accommodations, full kitchen, 3 big bedrooms, and full bath. Diesel was the same as gas between $1.26 and $1.29 a liter. I had to full three times in Canada with all the scouting we had to do. More geese than usual but moving in very large groups. They would come off the roost by the thousands at a time and then all sit down in one field. On two occasions we hunted fields in the morning after seeing 10000+ geese (maybe more like 20000) in the field the night before. Shot 51 and 38 snows the next day. Typically we would shoot near limits (100 snow geese) on setups like that. Seam to be smarter geese this year and less ross geese. Of course the ross are a riot to watch working the decoys.

That sounds like a wonderful trip and congrat's on the success.

Man I really miss chasing those birds, getting set up under them, and calling out over the deafing sound of locked up birds..."Take em'!"

Shot a doe on Friday night to get some venison in the freezer. Then last night this monster body of a deer came into 10 yards and I put him down. Not the largest rack by any stretch but dressed out at 210 and most of his molders are gone. I had to call the neighbor for help in dragging the one out of the woods. This deer may be 6 or 7 years old.

Very nice. Don't see many deer that big in TX. We tend to grow racks, and miss the greatness of venison. I would have been all over that buck too!

They're starting to spar a little around here - buddy of mine had 4 bucks - 2 shooters - messing around @ 50 yards from his stand yesterday evening from around 6 through dark - sparring but still mostly in jest at this point. I'm also hearing of some halfhearted chasing happening already.

Still really early but good signs. I personally haven't seen a set of antlers since the first weekend. Several good does but no horns on stand. Gonna get some tree time in this weekend and really start hitting it hard next weekend.

lassig,

What did you use to take him down?

Lassig, that's a heck of a deer! Last week I had a trail cam pic of a buck with a G3 broken off, so they are sparring with a little bit more seriousness around here.

Shot the deer at 10 yards with my Matthews compound with only about 10 minutes before the end of shooting. This is the first real buck I have seen on stand. But I have only hunted 4 evenings so far.

Lassig...Congrat's! Very nice animal.

Things are starting to heat up here too. Beans and corn are alomost all out. The deer are using my food plots pretty heavily now. Just need one of those big boys to walk by.

Scott, I am not finding the deer aging site, do you have a link to it? Thinking of getting this guy aged, but I really don't want to mess up the euro mount I plan on doing. Found it, I didn't get enough sleep last night.

Mark:

Is this one the one that you found? This is the one that I was thinking about:
http://www.deerage.com/index.htm

I'm not affiliated with them, just posting info.

That is the one I found, I have to pull the incisors out and send them in. But first I have to figure out which teeth are the incisors, I believe they are the front most teeth. I am going to start the process of the euro mount tonight so I will pull them out of the lower jaw then.

You are correct about the teeth. Lower front. It won't affect the mount at all.

Have the head in the pot right now boiling away. Not a pretty job but the end results are usually nice.

The waterfowl season kicked off today. It felt great to be wet and cold again

Wasn't the most active opener, but we still had a great time. We managed a couple of mallards and picked up a couple woodies (after Scott left us). No Scott, I am not going to tell the entie story. We doubled our bag limit after you took off and that is all evryone needs to know!



On a personal note, the 2012 opener will be memorable for me for one other reason. Havested my fist duck ever on the pond! A nice drake mallard.

Lets see, you doubled what we had shot after I left correct? O.K. then. I don't need the whole story, all I need is 2 questions answered.

1) How many shells were fired after I left?

2) How many birds flew away after I left?

IIRC, none flew away while I was there, and I only used one shell. (that were in range to shoot - I'm not counting the 3 woodies and the 1 Mallard that flew away at 203 yards....)

Does someone need to invest in a good rangefinder?

How'd Puppet do on the Woodies?

Congrats on the Drake at the house! Where was it?

Whaddya mean you aren't going to answer the questions? (via phone call)

Any guesses on a score?

That's unreal. I have tons of deer on cam. One night pic with 6 bucks at my feeder. Maybe if they combined their racks they would look that good.

165 for my quess.. I really don't know much about scoring though.

Chris:

If I were to see that deer during legal shooting light, I wouldn't be asking what it'd score, I would be measuring it!

Even tho the mass isn't huge, I wouldn't have a second thought about shooting it.

We did better today on the ducks. 3 of us were one Wood Duck short of a limit. (we had 8 between us)

The only Mallards that we saw close enough to shoot, we let get away..

No doubt that he is going down if somebody sees him. Just wanted to get an idea of how big he was since we have never seen one that big on our property.

I think it might go over 170. Maybe higher. Saw one this morning that will be nice next year. One side was 6 points plus an additional brow tine. The other side had one brow tine and a G2, but was broken off another 4" up the main beam. Not a lot of mass and a young deer. I am looking for the one that took this guy out. I saw strong prerut activity with grunting and chasing, rubbing and scraping. They were running all over the wooks making quite a racket. More activity than I have seen all season up till now, but this heat may shut them down tonight.

Came back up to the Chicago area for the northern IL opener. Did good on the dark geese and shot limits both days. It felt good to be back out with buddies shooting geese again. Time now to focus on the huge 8 pointer I have roaming my property. Most likely will not goose hunt again until Thanksgiving weekend.

Hope you get him Mark!

let me know how I did when you take him down. I got 162".

I just put out the game cameras so I can figure out the best places to be. Our county has a special antlerless season this coming Friday and Saturday.

Eight perfect deer paraded confidently past the kitchen window this morning while we were having breakfast. I was real tempted to whack one of them with a ball peen hammer as they walked by.

To me, a perfect deer is antlerless, and weighs in at about 60-80 lbs., when field dressed!

Yum! Boone and Crockett -- eat your hearts out. My deer will make much better lunches, dinners, and snacks. (I guess they will also help grow much bigger deer for you to measure!)

Ken

Ken,

It already sounds like you know here to hunt, the kitchen window. I agree with you for the eating part, does are the best.

Yeah those are great for eating.. I eat a couple of them a year.. But a trophy is why most hunt and is what really gets your blood pumping.. Honestly when i small doe or button buck walk past my stand I have trouble waking from my nap anytime a Rack comes near my stand it instantly gets my blood pumping..

This is why I bowhunt. I get an anxious feeling even when whacking does. I usually kill about 5 a year. I killed 7 two years ago. I give away once I got plenty to eat. Ive not killed a buck In GA in seven years in GA until this early bow season. I hunted one day since killing him Setp 14 due to work. Can't wait to get back after em. in Novemebr when work slows down. I can kill one more buck if he meets my requirements. I showed off the wide rack to some of you at PB conference proud as heck of him and worht the seven year wait. yes BGK blood was pumping much more than a doe.

I guess I should say that I really enjoy what we do. This is not to take away from anyone getting trophies.

I beleive that what we take greatly assists those who are after the trophies -- and, best of all, my crazy little group usually gets the carcasses from these trophies to butcher and vacuum pack for the needy and elderly.

The groups like Hunters for the Hungry, and many others, provide a lot of good eating to many.

Thanks all,
Ken

I usually donate a butchered deer to a neighbor with a couple kids who are barely getting by.. It's pretty sad he works hard his wife died just hard to get by..


I'm with you Greg I started bow hunting about 7 yrs ago and thought I'd never really get into it, 2 yrs after starting I no longer buy gun tags and just use bow.. It's a whole different animal/rush when iyour in the stand bow hunting..

Does taste better along with the fact 1 doe is like reducing the next year's overpopulation by 3 now...better for the herd and table fare all around.

Some trail cam pics in no particular order

Chris, that's a whopper. In the last 20 years my cams have only shown me about 3 of that size.

Good luck on taking him. I figure that he got that size by only working the night shift.

Took a small one this afternoon. Still have not seen a good buck. Through the heart at 7 yards.

Good shooting! I suspect that the rut will be really picking up in intensity with the full moon. I'll be out this evening and tomorrow.

Thank you - Took a cow of a doe this morning (double lung at 20 yards). I am learning the new property that I am hunting. Both stands were put up on Thursday.

Nice pics - beards , bucks , babies and bad news. Yote looking for that fawn.

Last few days have showed intense territory marking.. Probably 30-40 new rubs and 20 or so scrapes. Lots of movement but my mornings have seemed slow.. Hopefully some action tomorrow got all day to hunt..

I took 4 boys hunting over the weekend. Three bucks were taken, none of any size. Two barely made the 13" minimum and another was a really old toothless spike. The other 2 were all 3.5 years old. Both had unusual racks that would never turned into trophies. One was a 5 point with a spike on one side and the other a 7 point. I'm glad that all 3 are out of the gene pool. It's odd that none of them even saw a doe.

Three large pigs came by the house but nobody even had a rifle in their hands. It's unusual to see 3 pigs that size during the day.

The boys are all 14 yoa. Two had never shot a deer and were pretty pumped. My Grandson and another boy have been hunting for years. We let them do all of the skinning and butchering.

All four are making plans to get back out 2 weeks from now.

The rut is just getting started here.

Dave love reading this so glad you take the time to pass in the tradition.

That is nice, my daughter wants to try her hand at it this year, but do not have a gun that fits her and really do not want to buy one that she may only use once if she does not care to go.

My mother-in-law 223 may shrink down enough for her to shoot just have to get the scope on and site it in before riffle season starts.

If nothing else I can at least put her in the stand with me in hopes for daddy to take one out.

I need to get some pics posted of bucks taken by friends and family this weekend as I have not had a chance at one yet, but did get a doe on Sunday so have some meat in the freezer.

Nothing wrong with 22 calibers. Three bucks and one doe were taken last year on my place with a .222. One buck got taken last weekend with the triple deuce. The trick is shot placement and to keep shots under 150 yds.

I think i got windburned on my eyeballs sitting in te stand this morning.. Sucked didn't see a thing..

With a .22 cal centerfire, you also need to pay attention to bullet construction. Many bullets are designed for varmints, they go in a couple of inches and self destruct. You're better with a monolithic bullet like a 55-70 grain Barnes TSX (depending on rate of twist in the barrel).

I reload so don't have a problem with bullets. It might take a little research to buy an off the shelf hunting cartridge.

100g 2 blade HyperShock exit. 125# doe @ 20 Yds.



She took off at a dead run and I found her about 50 yds away.

What bow?

I weighed mine also since my wife swore it was 200 lbs (after she helped me drag it in). It only weighed 165 lbs. Saw a button and a doe last night but have not seen or got a picture of a big one yet. We still have a couple hundred acres of corn in within 1/4 mile. I hope that they get it out next week!

Haven't seen a big one yet? 165 pounds is my all time big Texas buck.

Beautiful morning here in west central Illinois.. Seen the giant last night unfortunately had about 5-10 coyotes move in and start yappin instantly killed my night, came back this morning already spotted a yote 150 yards away hopefully they stay clear and something is strolling through..

Need to remove a few of those yotes, have caller will travel. Didn't see anything last night going to get serious starting this afternoon since I am off work till the 12th.

These things never get within 50 yrds of the stand and there usually on the run hopefully a few will get lead poisoning this gun season

Bring a call to the stand with you and call them in. Even a lip squeak might work at that distance, depending on the wind noise. I lip squeaked one in last Spring from about 100 Yds when turkey hunting, but it was dead calm. It made it until 20 yds away when a 2 oz load of #6's rearranged it's muzzle.

Dave:

Barnett Revolution. Broadhead supposedly has 2" cut. Arrow weight is right around 435g, and now I only have 3 left. I have weighted inserts that I can put in the new ones to up the weight forward and make them heavier, hopefully that will quiet the crossbow down a bit. Right now I have to have the varizone scope set on 350 fps for it to work the way it should.

At the shot, I saw the red streak from the lighted nock, but after it went thru the deer it just disappeared. I looked last night but couldn't find it. The ground is pretty soft, and I think it disappeared into the ground. You're supposed to unload the bow after every hunt, so I have an arrow that is set up with a field point that I shoot into my bag target when I get home. (can't uncock it manually)

I made the mistake of shooting it into the ground the first time I was out hunting and even digging into the ground 8" I couldn't feel the end of the arrow. That was the first one out of the dozen that I lost. Lesson learned......

Can you shoot Rage 2 blades out of a crossbow? I might have to try the call idea AFTER I KILL THIS HUGE BUCK

Yep, I tried them last year but they don't fly the same as the field points, no matter what I did. I thought about using them anyway, but the target takes a beating from shooting broadheads into it, plus they are a real PITA to remove! They are more susceptible to having the blades open when moving around too. A buddy shoots them and has to keep an eye on his.

Did you use the range broadheads? I push mine through and unscrew them then pull the arrow out.

The broadhead you shoot is a non-expandable 2" wow.. And why do you want so much weight on your arrows 435 grain just curious? What's your advertised FPS on that bow?

Nice work Scott. Hunted first time since killing Wally sept 14. Great am hunt before 945 saw 13 7 bucks. Big one stayed in thicker and passed a nice pretty 8. Hope this pm gets good in about thirty mins. GL to all. BGK ground check him.

Ground check?

Going on 11th hour in stand a$$ is killing me.. Only seen 3 deer so far 1/4 mile away.. Please let something come out here in the next 20 mins

Quit moving around and playing on your phone

Had one 6 pointer come through.

Atleast on my phone I can watch live hunts on Midwest whitetail counting those I seen quite a few monster bucks today lol.. Phones not the bad thing in the deerstand it's my laptop Jk

I tried the Rage Broadheads. Can't push them thru the target, it's a bag target that is about 20" thick. I tried using a "block" style foam target, but when the arrow gets buried in the target to the fletching, there ain't much to grab to pull out, and it seems that the foam welds itself to the shaft. I had to wait until the target got cold enough to freeze that I was able to remove the one arrow. I switched to a bag target from http://www.archerytargets.com/BGTargets.aspx and is very similar to the FPS300 target. I can shoot it from 5 feet away and still remove the arrow with 2 fingers, something I can't do with a compressed foam target. It only goes in the target 8"-10" even from that close of a distance.

No, the broadheads that I use are expandable. They are called HyperShock made by Aftershock Archery. http://www.aftershockbroadheads.com/products/3.aspx The 100g 1.99" cut is what I'm using. The blades don't open until 90% of the head is past the skin.

Barnett recommends a 450g minimum arrow weight. I had to go to a brass insert for the broadhead after I switched from regular nocks to the lit ones, either Burt Coyote or a different mfg. I couldn't just swap out the nocks because the group size went from 1" to over 6" with the weight of the illuminated nocks. If I swapped the nock back to a non-illuminated one, the group size went back to normal.

I bought the Rage in 125g to see if by bumping up the weight of the head would give me enough WF to allow me to use the lit nocks. It didn't.

The new arrows that I bought, I bought with carbide weight inserts that are screwed into the back (nock side) of the insert. I bought them in (IIRC) 25g and 50g increments to see how well each weight does on quieting down the crossbow. I put the Limbsaver X-bow quieting package on it, and also filled the hollow stock with expanding foam. That helped the most (the foam). But a heavier arrow is supposed to take out some of the noise too.

The advertised FPS is 320. When I break out the chronograph I'll run some thru and see how the weight changes the FPS.

For the heck of it, I moved the target from 50 to 60 yds just to see what the drop was. The arrow dropped another 16" in just those 10 yds. Even tho I can group right around 1" at 50 yds if there isn't any wind, the furthest that I've shot a deer has been 32 yds. Most are in the 15-25 yd range. The Vari-Zone scope has aiming points for 10,20,30,40 and 50 yds. Zero the scope at 20 yds, check the point of impact at 50. If the arrow hits high, move the fps ring on the scope to a faster fps until the arrow is hitting where you are aiming. It doesn't change the 20 yd point of impact.

Scott, I thought that XBows were accurate and effective at further than 50 yards.

You can make your own lighted nocks out of lighted bobber lights. I made some when i use to shoot lighted but I haven't shot them in a coulple years.. YouTube it there alot nicer than the store ones too they click on and off..

Also I was talking about the Rage "range" heads for targets.. Honestly I just use field points for practice and I'm always within an inch or so on my shots..

My bows suppose to shoot something like 320 but I chrono'd it and it was always mid 290's I don't believe advertised fps it's a rip..

I have a Barnett Predator. It supposedly shoots 375 FPS. I shoot the Rage 2 blades and havent had any problems. I shoot the practive broad head that they send with it at a cheap bag from wally world and they come out pretty easy. I also discharge after every hunt into this bag at only 10 ft away and have no problems pulling the bolt out. I shot a doe Sunday night directly under my stand and it blew a hole so big that I think I could have set a pepsi can in it. I wish I had a pic to show. Anyhow, thats just my 2 cents.

Dave, they are accurate, but they really start dropping, and unless you've shot them a lot in the wind, you don't know what the wind will do to the arrow. You'd also have to do a lot of shooting to get them tuned in with a non-mechanical head. The mechanical heads take some kenetic energy away from the arrow to open. The cut-on-contacts don't, so they're better for longer shots, or bows with less speed.

The new compound bows surpass the crossbows for speed and accuracy in a good shooters hands. I can't shoot one offhand for nothing - if it's not on a rest I'm not shooting the x-bow. It's a different story with a rifle or a shotgun, those I can shoot offhand.

They are MUCH noisier than the vertical compound bows too. With the technology and research that has been done lately, I think the newest vertical compound bows are better than an x-bow. For sure they are a LOT quieter! For someone that can't or won't take the time to shoot on a weekly basis, the crossbow is a better hunting tool for them.

Heck, I shoot my rifles and shotguns 100's of times more than I would shoot a bow during the year.

That new Barnett Ghost supposedly shoots 400 fps, but I wonder how noisy it is? I really, really dislike the trigger on my Revolution, but I don't see any way of fixing it. If and when I get a new one, that's going to be one of the things that will be checked before it's paid for - a good trigger.

I'm not in love with the HyperShocks because of the small entry hole, but I can't complain too much because I've never lost a deer that I've shot with one. I think I have 6 of them, and enough spare blades to last for a few years. They work just as well on a turkey as they do on a deer. (the date is 5-2-2007) They open up once they get past the feathers too. I also made my own string overtravel stops to take some of the "twang" out of the x-bow. Now I see that they're factory installed on some bows. Another good idea down the tubes.

Hoyt has developed limb silencers for split limbs that no longer fit in-between the limbs (kills performance supposedy).. They actually attach to the frame and only contact the limbs when they are fully released (like your string stoppers but for the limbs).. Really cool concept not sure if it's even out this year or next but really cool innovation that I think will be the norm soon just like string stopper..

Head a good and bad night on stand last night. Had 11 deer come in during the last hour and a half. At one time 7 of them where in front of me, 3 bucks and 4 does/fawns. Had a 2 1/2 year old 10 pointer walk 10 yards from me. Followed by his buddy 20 minutes later a 120 - 130 inch 8 pointer walked 20 yards pass me. He offered me a great broadside shoot but I just couldn't do it. The best two weeks of bow hunting is just starting and didn't want my season over already (you can only kill 2 buck a year in IL). They all cleared out of the area about 10 minutes before 6. At 6 a doe walked in from behind me and gave me a nice 15 yard angling away shot. I decided to shoot her, big mistake. On the shot my bow broke, the string suppressor came off and the string came off the cams. Doesn't look like any other damage to the bow. The bow is a Matthews Switchback XT, anyone want to recommend a good bow shop in west central IL that could fix this quickly? I will be calling the Matthew dealers this morning once they open closest one is in Havana. Maybe it is time to get another bow to have a backup for when this happens, just hate to spend that money. Plus this is not the time to be having bow issues.

Yes I did get the doe, dressed 110#. Will butcher her in between running the bow around to get fixed. Looks like my hunting is over for a couple of days.

lassig,

Too bad about the bow, but glad you were able to harvest the doe. Congrats and good luck.

Buckstop in brownstown best in the biz, draves in effimgham good to where you located?

Dave - After my wife and I could not load up the buck I took 3 years ago into my pick-up truck (and I weigh over 200 lbs), I bought a scale. I got my tractor and loader for that one - scored over 150. We get some big ones around here. My 160s buck last year was much lighter. We now have 113 acres most of which we are developing as wildlife habitat. I am real lucky!

Lassig, when you said the bow broke, I thought it grenaded. Good thing you weren't hurt and it sounds like the bow is repairable. Hope you get it fixed today.

Rah, a really big deer around here is 130 pounds or over. I guess our average buck will go about 100 to 110. Last year I got one that went 145 pounds field dressed. Two years ago, I got one that dressed out at 165. Very few Texans have even seen one that size and yet they are common in the midwest.

Without a front end loader, I would be hosed. I bring all deer in with it and then tie a rope on the horns or the neck to lift it for skinning and butchering.

Located in the browning il area. Ended up going to American sport in Havana. Turned out one of my came was messed up and joined in the area had a 28 rh cam. So ended up talking myself into buying a z7 extreme with a new site and rest. I will use the xt as a backup box after it is fixed, maybe in a week. Not what I really wanted to do but I am on vacation all next week and I want to hunt so pulled the trigger

That's what I shoot.. Nice bow but honestly I'm ready to switch back to Hoyt..

I shoot a Hoyt Contender with aluminum arrows and love it. I have not had an arrow stop inside a deer yet.

Shot a carbon arrow through the front shoulder of a doe last year cut through a bone the size of my thumb, front leg turned ragdoll it ran about 2 ft the arrow fell out the other side deer went another 20 yards and dropped.. It was gnarly to say the least 2 blade bloodrunner was annihilated.

Son Jeff "harvested" this nice 10 pointer this morning on our ranch property....

Looks like some decent mass out on the beam - Nice deer!

Real nice deer

Nice deer! A lot more mass than what I'm seeing on the deer around here this year.

Missed Deer Camp this year but they kept my seat open around the campfire ..... sweet memories!!

I like those dark antlered deer, the antlers are almost bone white around here. It's rare for a deer to have a lot of mass in this area. Don't know why.

Most around here a almost bone white too.. Although i seen a very dark one today good looking 10 pointer within shooting range, unfortunately I was at work driving up to it..

Lots of young bucks chasing the last two days. The does have shown 0 interest so far. Hopefully the big boys will get it in gear soon. Actually I know of three deer over 150 taken by friends this weekend.

I'm off from Wednesday til next Thursday.. Plan on putting some serious stand hours in.. Skunked again tonight lots of fresh tracks and a new scrape on my trail into the stand (since last night) so there's action just gotta be in the stand when it takes place..

lassig flip me an email if you could. Im headed up to Knox county and buddy to Fulton county. Love to get the rut report.

I hunted again this am. 13 deer Thursday, 7 bucks. Friday just 5 but one nice 3 yr old 130ish I let walk. This am 9 5 bucks all scrubs. They are moving in this cool weather.

We should hit it for some great weather next week. Im going up to hunt my KY farm friday and saturday but it is going to be hot. I should be hutning by Sunday little NE of you. I had another client report major losses to EHD I hope it has not effected your herd too badly.

BGK, ground check is my way of sayig to kill him and then check his score with a tape. Get it?, must be a southern thang.

Nothing like some Venis steaks with a little Carbon Arrow Sauce

Greg I can't even get a stand check on this buck.. I have a couple trail Cam pics.. He's been spotted last weekend during shooting hours but never seen by me.. I've been seriously getting no buck action this year (one decent 8 pointer and he's in the freezer)

Good luck to you Greg let us know how it goes.. I think it'll be peak around here towards the end of the week..

I wish we'd get about 6" of snow it'd be really prime action

Keep the reports coming I will report from the stand if any action. Actually warmer up your way TH-Sunday. I hope this keeps them slowed down on daylight action until I get there. Monday calling for rain as cold frotn comes in. Then 28-48 type weather Nov 13-17 so cant wait. Of course longterm forecast probably wrong more than right.

Action picked up today and last night with the immature bucks.. Been in the rain most of the day going on 3rd day of no deer in shooting range starting to get really aggrevating.. Best chasing action I've seen so far was 2 small bucks last night one actually laid down and waited for a small doe while it ate.. I'm still thinking the weekend will be te best but it'll be good for you Greg with big buck movement for sure around that time..

Just had a small 8 pointer come clear across the field didn't want to come into the woods to the trail I'm on maynrhe scented me don't know he was calm just didn't want to commit to the can call.. Oh well least the skunking is over

Did you try to rattle him in

Oops I see youi did try to call him in

Saw two basket bucks bothering a doe and then gently sparing this afternoon. Its getting close.

Button buck down tonight.. Actually thought it was a doe but it came in then circled out.. Kinda took a long shot maybe 45-47 yards and quartering away.. Aimed kinda back and I'm thinking it was to far back and not necessary I seen him run 40 yards lay down then try to get up and walk off with his buddies but had to lay back down, watched him for about 30 mins he still was holding his head up so I left him lay get him in the morning hopefully the coyotes don't first..

I had a busted rack basket 6 point aggressively chasing a doe this afternoon. He was grunting away as he chased her. That was around 3:30 this afternoon, then around 4:15 this chubby fellow came out into my food plot and starting grazing the wheat and oats like a cow! HAHA



Too bad bear season wasn't in yet!

Wish we had bear

When I checked my game cameras up there today I found the strap to one around the tree with the camera lying 20 feet away on the ground with teeth marks in it. Apparently the bear liked the taste of it...

Here's the last pics the camera took, the pics prove it was a bear. HAHA




He came back later that day to chew on the camera some more... Bears are a PITA!

Trail cam pics from this week. Gun season is just 8 days away and its just a bit more exciting knowing we got a couple booners walking around....

Is that your new property N8? Good luck

BGK you find your kill? The old saying comes to mind shooting tomorrow trophies today. Just giving you a hard time on the button. Rather see a button get killed than an decent two yr old buck. That is if you care for quality bucks.

Lol Greg I haven't walked over there yet I'm in the same stand though. Button bucks I shoot small racks I don't I've passed on alot of small racks this year I quess it's a psycholigical when there buttons it's easier to not see potential even though the button I just hit would have prolly Been a new world record with my luck..

Got some seat time in the stand yesterday morning - had a small 6 point come crusing through right at daybreak but that was all. They're shut down a bit around here, likely because of the warm temps. Supposed to be 65 here on Saturday but the bottom falls back out on Monday - I'll be on-stand all day celebrating Veteran's day.

A buddy and I are heading to my place this evening to hunt tomorrow with NO KIDS AROUND.

The bucks are ready but the does don't seem to be.

Same with me and my wife

Brian, have you tried feeding?

Button buck was nothing but bones and head when I found him coyotes must of jumped him right after I got out he bled out alot then jumped ran about 200 yds and stopped or was brought down you could tell there was a tussle he didn't stand a chance.. Sucks perfect eater size..

This is really common around Central IL for sure - I haven't felt comfortable letting one 'bleed out' overnight in years. Too many guys around here end up finding feet and ears the next morning. A coyote pack can make short work of a deer carcass in the timber where nothing will interrupt them.

Just out of pure curosity as I know nothing about the limits, tags, etc. in Bond and Fayette County, but do you have to use one of your tags in this case, not sure if tags are even needed, if they cost anything, and whether they are in limited supply!

Hate to hear that about the small buck. Don't think I would sleep too well after that.

Bing that is a good question I don't have an answer too.. Your allowed 2 buck tags either one gun one bow or just 2 bow which I get. Doe tags I believe are 10 tag limit, you can tag a button buck as a doe.. I didn't tag the mauled button..

I really hate to lose a deer especially this way.. I found myself trigger shy tonight on a 40 yard doe because of last night..

Last year I lost a huge 8 pointer not letting him sit long enough so I've been reluctant every scince to dive in without adequate sit time

BGKiller,
that is a new property just this year, but not the one I wrote about...its a 194 acre farm along the spoon river in Fulton County. I wanted to buy this particular farm 4 years ago when it went for sale for $3500 per acre and ended up waiting it out and just bought it for $1200 per acre about 2 months ago...

BGK -- I know what I would have done, just sayin' if i only had one tag I'd still be in that stand hoping for another shot.

Naahh, it's either an undocumented alien or Big Foot.

"I think there's a Squash in these woods."

What would you have done Bing? I still have 3 tags 2 Does and a Buck

I think I would keep hunting.

no matter how much you practice or how ethical of a hunter you are, losing wounded game is just something that happens at some point or another to everyone. If you can take a positive out of the situation its that very rarely does it go wasted. Coyotes are a very important to the ecosystem as a whole, so no worries if they end up getting a deer before you do.

If more people would go hunting and learn outdoor skills our country would be a much better place.

Yes, losing game does happen ..rarely, but it happens. Failing to retrieve an animal who's location is known.....well, I suppose we should all strive to keep improving our judgement, as well as our aim.

Yes, coyotes need to eat also. I was just brought up to believe it's the needless suffering that doesn't have to happen.

I thought you was talking about the retrieving of the deer?


N8 your absolutely right I hate that this happened but I'm not losing sleep over it.. The arrow hit exactly where I aimed it was just an error in my part thinking the deer was quartering more than it was and placing the shot from the back of the rib cage going towards the shoulder..

Anyways I'm over that deer I've hunted last night and this morning but I'll probably take the weekend off with it being almost 70°

When I bought my property there were some guys that had been "driving" deer, especially on the last day of the season. I soon put an end to that practice, especially when I found out they occasionally killed too many and left the extras in the field

BGK, I think you need to thin some of the 'yotes. They eat a LOT of fawns, and when times are tough they might not kill an adult deer, but they'll sure stress them.

Nate, didn't Dr. Grant Woods say that in the study that they did, 'yotes killed and ate almost 80% of the fawns in the first 4 hrs after they were born?

I sure wish land was that cheap here in VA! And we don't have crazy big bucks like that either...

I know I'm just a couple hours away from N8 and I wish i had all the stuff he has I'm super jealous

A friend got a buck on my place yesterday. We pulled most of the meat off and I hauled the remains into the brush. Then I put up a game camera to watch what happens. Looking forward to the coyote, cat and coon pics. Or, it might just be the neighbors dogs.

Shot this buck last Sunday. Hadn't been in the stand 10 mins. when he walked out. It's my biggest buck so far.

Nice Texas buck Chris!

Chris, how old you think he is/was? Hard to tell with him on the ground but I'm guessing about 5.5 yrs.

Kind of a bummer that you didn't get to hunt very long.

I was thinking a year younger Dave.. Either way good looking buck and Mature..

Biologist at the processor said he was 6.5 years old. I got a quick look at his jaw and his teeth were really worn down.

Wow I thought everything was bigger in Texas I quess that don't include deer bodies lol nice buck Chris I'm surprised on the age, what's the kill details? Gun, bow, broadhead? All the juicy details

BGK, Texas Whitetails have small bodies compared to the Midwest and Canada.

I'm figuring that Chris's deer was about 140+ pounds which is a really nice deer here. At 6.5 years, it had started to decline and was probably heavier and might have had a little bigger rack last year.

I've visited a couple of the breeders that have the monster racks that may go 20 points or more. These guys wanted to get a free pond consultant. Very few of those bred freaks go more than 120 pounds. However, if you wanted to buy one for breeding purposes, the price would be in the 6 figure range.

I shot an 8 point 5 or 6 years ago that went 165 lbs field dressed. The rack wasn't but 17 inches wide but the weight was off the charts here. I shot one last year that was another 8 point that went 140 pounds. Lots of Texans have never seen bucks of those sizes. Both of those deer would be about average in the Midwest.

Chris got a really great deer for his area of east Texas. Four bucks have been taken off my land in the last 2 weeks. None would have gone over 100 pounds.

Scott, there is no shortage of deer in my zone so I could only imagine what would happen with no natural predator...Also all the deer that get hit by cars but dont die immediately go to the coyotes for clean up as well...

Check out this deer from our property yesterday morning...

I don't know If it's just me but the YouTube vid don't work on my screen N8

Nevermind got it too work.. Why isn't that deer dead if it's out running around during daylight hours..

Nate, if you can't get close enough to it, I have a Illinois legal muzzleloader that'll reach out 400 yds. I sent it to Todd and he whacked 2 deer in Va./W. Va. with it. 195g .400" dia. Barnes "X" bullet leaving the muzzle 'near 2875 fps.

If the wind cooperates tomorrow I should have a drop chart figured out to that distance.

That's a heck of a deer. What do you think it'll score?

N8 that deer should be killed with respect/bow

The boys have been after it with Bow and seen it several times.

Scott, I have a muzzleloader I am very comfortable with up to 250 yards, but even if the gun was good to 400, I probably wouldnt be...

We do have awesome slug guns too that are just single shot H&R's, but with hornady slugs we have them dialed in at 150 yards. the days of slinging lead with bird guns are over for slug hunting...

All I can say is that is one nice deer. I didn't hear any calling in the video. I would of hit him with a couple of grunts or bleats and if all else failed maybe a snort wheeze as a last resort.

Ah, a good rest, calm down, proper hold, relax, squeeze the trigger. Just watch the wind. If you can get a good read on the wind, and read the chart taped to the stock of the gun, it's doable.

I hear ya on the slug guns. I got tired of fighting with my Ithaca Deerslayer II and bought a Tar-Hunt. If I had to do it again, I would have went 20 ga instead of 12.

I hope he walks in range soon!

If you are headed to your deer stand before sunup, and maybe a little bleary eyed, make sure you check things before you climb up.

We do not have bears where I live, but I have had to address 2-legged inhabitants (not birds). Wish there was a season on those!

Be careful what you wish for. This happened close to my old neighborhood.

My brother still lives just a few miles from where this tragic situation took place.

Ken, I remember that. I was up there hunting at the time. Meteor is about 100 miles from where we hunt.

The bears on our land in PA love to rip the climbing sticks off the trees, leaving the hang on stand 20 feet up with no way to get to them. I hope one gets stuck on one of my hang ons next week during bear season! It'll make for easy hunting! HAHA

I remember the incident mentioned above. The guy was plum loco, but I seem to remember that the guys started slinging racial insults at the guy. My wife worked hard for our property, and I'll be damned if tresspassers will be allowed to steal its recreational value from us. Maybe these will be my famous last words...

Scott,

I was up hunting on our land, with family, in Rhinelander when this happened. Made me sick to my stomach when I heard it on the news.

I killed by far my biggest buck in IL but not had a second sense to mention it here. I will try to post pics when back in GA.

Well let's try this. http://illinoislandblog.com/giant-buck-d...in-knox-county/

Won't work on iPhone.. But congrats to you Greg.. Did you go to a preserve or guided hunt or do you got a buddy up here with some land?

Dang Greg, you did it with a stick and string. How much did that sucker weigh?

Greg, I just saw your picture. Truly impressive! I am envious! Our rifle season opens this Saturday and I do have an any deer tag for a change!

Nice buck Greg!

I've been wondering why I haven't been seeing any deer, then 3 of these guys show up today.

He has a buddy up here with access to some pretty awesome hunting land....This is Greg's third year up. Last year he killed a nice one, but....Here is a pic of one of the coolest deer ever!

Thing looks like he has an angry crab on his head with those crab claw brow tines. Definitely some impressive bucks coming out of Ill. Congrats Greg!

Beauty buck Greg. Nice shot.

WOW!

Greg that is a dandy buck right there - buck of a lifetime. Makes me almost ashamed to post this guy - took him on Monday right at noon.

Nice tine length

That's a beautiful buck! Did you shoot it on your own land?

Nothing to be ashamed of there.. Awesome buck

Greg - Did you have him green scored?

Dlowrance your buck is a stud way to go. Dave pushing 300 lbs 5 or 6 yr old. Thanks for comments I never in the life of me thought I would get one that big. THe video kinda tells the story but passed three bucks bigger than any in my life earlier int he am but looks like I made the right choice. He is 171 3/8" A Gross Booner! I will post a pic in the other section.

BGK I meet Mike OReilly, via Nate of course, and we became hunting buddies. He has invited me up to hunt three times. I just wonder how Im going to top this next year, lol.

Good for you Greg.. That is a truly unique buck.. Sounds like he is a good buddy to have.. Next year if you guys have a cold stand seat that needs warmed up I'll be ready

The deer you guys are putting on the ground are incredible. I would be tickled just to see an animal of those sizes while on bow stand, let alone shooting one that big.

I think I will now go back to "the kids table" where my hunting skills belong.

Congrats to all!

Well, I am still waiting for the rut in central Indiana, and the gun season starts tomorrow...

Still waiting for the rut in Va. also and hunting with dogs starts tomorrow so all bets are off to patterning bucks as they will be doing their loving by moonlight.

So funny that in VA you can hunt deer with dogs. In PA you can shoot dogs that are chasing deer. Amazing what a couple hundred miles will do...

WWIII was off to a good start in my part of Illinois I must have heard 30 shots laying in bed today before 8 o'clock

You might have a hard time finding it because it's prolly in post/late rut already..

http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/publish/posts/2276/the-chase-is-on.html

Getting ready to head out on the second day of the gun season here in IL. Lots of chasing yesterday and saw over 20 deer. Not counting the 6 and 8 pointers that I saw multiple times. Just nothing big enough to get me to pull the trigger. Hopefully I will see him this morning.

Well my deer don't read the internet. Still have small bucks half hardily chasing does and does walking around with their fawns in my neck of the woods.

Yesterday morning we performed major surgery on a small 8-pointer (16-inch spread) after it sustained a major gunshot wound. The backstraps, quarters, and neck meat are in the cooler. Now that the patient has stabilized (at about 34 degrees F) I'll finish up the remaining surgery today. Great looking specimen. Very heavy fat along the backstrap and on the ribs.

The rut is in full swing here. Lots and lots of chasing through the woods yesterday while we were skinning and quartering in the back yard.

Good luck all.

Ken

I think the deer will be quite healthy going into winter this year as there was one heck of a bumper crop for white oak acorns.

Still no big bucks but it should time be soon. The doe that I took yesterday and the one I took today had little food it their gut. Only little bucks chasing so far and not very effectively.

Didn't hunt the last few days during wwIII.. from what I've gathered some buck action Friday zilch last couple days.. Seems like the best days around here were about the 10th-15th.. The heat and lead flying shut everything off the last couple days here..

I can't believe your that far behind us RAH sorry wasn't trying to be a smarta$$ on my first post just read your deer can't read post lol

Hey - I am confused about what is going on here. Maybe I just missed the rut, but that would be strange as I have been out every day. Most years we see bucks running by the house during the rut, but so far nothing. Some folks are speculating that maybe blue tongue took out all the older bucks, but I have not found any dead deer in my area. Saw three small does together last night unhurrassed, and a very small fawn came by being chased by a yearling buck.

I did indeed...a little piece of heaven it is.

Not sure about IN but here in IL the blue tongue and EHD were both very spotty - there are areas west of me that DNR estimated lost 60-70% of the population. That could certainly be your issue...I've got a buddy over about 40 miles west of me that swears he has 3 deer on 200 acres.

Schyuler county hit bad as well. KS also has had major issues. My farm in KY is the best ever and only two decent bucks on camera for soem reason so Im blaming EHD.

When you kill a buck on your own land from your own hard work, it is something to be proud of. Killing a nice buck with an outfitter is nice, but to me at least it's no as satisfying as doing on your own land or least land you lease and work hard to scout and hunt.

EHD is a nasty nasty disease... I will cry if it every hits places where I hunt. Not enough nice bucks in those parts as it is because of intense hunting pressure. Don't need EHD killing what few are around!

We seem to have lots of deer. I just have not seen (or got a picture) of a nice buck. I saw 22 deer openning morning and have taken 4 does (2 w/bow + 2 w/gun). I have been lucky for the past 6 years, so maybe its my time to skip a year...

I hit the giant tonight.. If you told me I'd see him first day back out after gun season I wouldn't believe it and 1hr after I put the stand up soaked in sweat.. He's a giant we got good blood suspended the tracking for a couple hours we'll be sitting in the area listening for coyotes.. Hit looked slightly high but I'm in a 20 foot stand should e good on the exit.. WISH ME LUCK..

If a picture's worth a thousand words...Nate just gave us about four thousand worth.

Nate -- Having just finished getting one in the freezer, all I can say is -- that is a lot of skinning, quartering, butchering, trimming, grinding, and packaging ahead of you.

I once heard that deer hunting is hours of boredom followed with seconds of excitement that turns into hours of work.

I generally haul along an old friend called Louis L'Amour.

Back in the days when subsistance hunting was the norm, we had few to no deer in our area of East Texas.
In the early 50's scrawny hill country deer were trapped and released in areas previously barren areas, and continued to be shot in or out of season.
Recent attitudes on conservation and game laws have changed for the better - just ask son Jeff and Chris!

I have and never had the patience to shiver in a deer blind!

This was my kind of hunting..

Nice Goat George, That is a vintage picture. What ever happen to the pipe, don't see anyone smoking them anymore.

Greg,

Where did you see that Schuyler county was hit bad? Living there I haven't seen any dead deer on my property but know of about 8 in the neighborhood that appeared to be victim of it. None of these where big bucks. But on the NW side of the county I know of a 176 Gross buck that was very sick and killed in youth season. My neighbor shot a 173 Gross score buck opening morning of gun so atleast one big buck was left in the neighborhood.

I do have a fear that some of the big bucks in the neighborhood have died from it since I have good trail camera pics in August and only seen one of them in September. Have spent parts of 25 days in the stand and haven't seen any of the big bucks that lived in the neighborhood. Yet I have seen plenty of 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks while hunting just not what I want to shoot.

Ken,
Since it got warm, we all took off work yesterday and got them all done by 4:45 pm. We have a #22 LEM grinder which works AWESOME and we do all our own taxidermy so we got the bucks all prepped and ready for mounting.... Justin does about 10 bucks every winter...

Also when you have 8 people all helping it makes the job alot more fun and doable....

George, your pic rocks...you were a stud....

Nate

Hard to see in the pic but how big where the bucks? On the taxidermy are these shoulder mounts, euros, or a combination.

Well after basically an all night track we found him.. 19 points

Congrats, it had to be both a relieve and an exciting moment when you found him.

Wadda 'ya mean WUZ?

It's all in my memory bank - savor those memories Nate - they will come in handy some day...

From the biologists I have talked to it sounds like this is going to be a bad year for BT in many parts of the US. Watch for sloughing hooves as a possible early indication of a hemorrhagic disease that could either epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) or blue tongue (BT).

Nice Buck!!!

bluegillerkiller that's a beaut - split G3, good mass, all you could ask for. Very nice!

Real nice buck.

Aw, come on George, you know that those memory banks don't hold all of the info they used to.

BGK, that is a super buck!

Peak rut is definitely gone here and I'm about worn out, but it seems every year some big boys are taken in late November too.

I appreciate everyone sharing their successes 'cause it helps keep my son and I psyched up and in the stand where we need to be!

Thanks guys it was the toughest season to date,, Rut was early or was it late I have no idea but it was weak either way.. Next year I'm concentrating more on patterning and less on rut because I think the chasing games and wondering bucks are gonna be slow unless we get back to cold novembers..

The bucks were just average 115-130 inchers. We shoulder mount every buck we shoot. Justin is very good at taxidermy, I sent him to taxidermy school 3-4 years ago cause there will come a day when we will be mounting lots more deer with all the kids we got coming up to start hunting.....

Yep, was a stud, now your an old buck....I started a fishing blog which is more of a diary back in 2008. Nates Fishing Blog Basically been documenting pictures and such weekly since then...Now I just need to back up those files or maybe print off the whole thing to make sure its around as long as I am or even longer.....

BGK,

Your buck rocks!!! but your pictures are terrible....Also its crazy to think how warm the last two novembers have been....with such a mild winter last year most predicted there would be more big bucks than ever, then the drought this summer and EHD wiped out the big boys in many Illinois counties...

Yeah I know the pictures sucked.. My phone died over the course of the night and actually had my buddies girlfriend take the pics and send me them..

Great deer guys! Just got back from Northern Wi. Nothing to speak of. We thought it was going to be good, seeing 3 bucks and 9 does when scouting on Friday, but I was the only to see brown hair out of 4 guys and that was at 2:15 p.m. on Monday. I gave her to 2 of my buddies that haven't shot a deer in a few years. Found 3 tufts of white belly hair Sat. on a trail that we walked Friday, and heard a large pack of 'yotes on Sat. Figure the 'yotes ran the deer off. Illegal to hunt 'yotes during deer season in Wi.....

Anyway, back home, going to work on the house next 2 days while it's warm out, then go chase some Indiana deer.

Nate, did that big boy ever show up during the first 3 days of shotgun season? Nice bunch of deer there.

Greg and BGK, good shooting!!

Got a phone call last night that FCM67693's daughter dropped a 156" or so buck towards the back of their property while they were hunting from the ground. 15 yd shot. I have a not great pic of it, but they are out taking pictures this morning. I'll get him to tell us about it and post pics later today.

Well, sorry guys. It wasn't as big as I thought.

It was 154 1/8"!!!! 200 lbs even dressed weight.

We hunted from the ground and she shot him at 15 yards with a 50cal TC Bone Collector muzzleloader. Stars aligned and he came in directly upwind. Walked right at us.

This was not only her first buck ever, but it was her first deer ever. I still can't believe how it all happened.

Well, here is the star of the show..........

Wow, beautiful buck and beautiful lady. Love to see the girls taking em' down right beside the guys. Great job !!!!

Mike, is she practicing for the NASCAR winners circle with the "new hat in every picture" look?

Lets see, she can outshoot you on the skeet field, now she whacks a bigger buck than you did......

My niece was legal to hunt this year.

She got a doe this morning. Very happy!

Youth and ladies are the future of our sport!

Yes Scott, she does outshoot me. I am her hunting mentor, skeet instuctor and overall life coach. All I have to say is that she is a VERY good student.

As far as the hats go, yes, I plan to send that pic to as many sponsors as we can. Hopefully, she will make her first million by the end of next week

Airborne,

Thanks for the kind words. My daughter is sitting here reading this with me and she is blushing.

She is a great kid and has huge goals. She'll probably achieve them all!

Seeing more and more bears on game camera over the last few years and then seeing a nice bear during archery season a couple weeks ago. I was excited for bear season this year. My father is friends with some Mennonites who are very good bear hunters. We invited them down to hunt the last day of bear season with us.

Instead of sitting in a treestand waiting for the bears to come to us. We came to the bears! There were 25 of us, the largest legal group of hunters you can have for bear season. We set up 8 standers, 7 blockers and 10 drivers and pushed both sides of the mountain our land is on. In the end we pushed out over 50 deer including several very nice bucks so that is encouraging for next week when deer season starts. We also pushed out 3 bears and killed two of them. The guy just up from me shot one when I was a stander.

Although I didn't get to shoot one, it was a gorgeous fall day and a blast working with 24 other guys stopping through the thickest clear cuts of briars, saplings, raspberries over some of the steepest terrain in PA. It was a butt whooping but getting a crack at a couple black bears made it all worth it! There are still plenty of bears left on that mountain and we're gonna make this an annual tradition.

Here I am with the 250 lb black bear


And here is most of the group of hunters with him

Wow! That is awesome.

I learned somehting new. I didn't know that hunters actually conduct "bear" drives.

Sounds like fun. Wait........I have never hunted anything that can eat me! A whole different set of rules.

The time with friends and family is as much fun as the harvest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yeah, when the guy next to me shot and then I heard what sounded like a freight training blast through the thicket not 25 yards from me I was waiting for a 500 pound very angry black bear to pop out and eat me. Fortunately the guy above me made a good shot and the bear didn't go far...

Holy S#*%!!!!

I felt the same way when my daughter shot that buck! I thought he was coming into out lap!

Nice, Nice Buck!!!!

Mike, you and Chris are doing a great job, and I think Sam will follow in his sisters footsteps.

No T/C hat?? At least you could be waiting in Wal-Mart when the Wadell boys get their licenses and get a Bone Collector hat.

Hey Travis -- that is a neat story about the bears.

I'm just curious what you guys do with the bears after you shoot them.

As you know, I like a lot of different foods, but I don't have any fondness for bear meat, unless it is a cub or small sow. After that, boars by the time they reach puberty, can really stink up the kitchen.

Worse than that, cooking bear can threaten your health, as my brother and his friend found out the hard way when we were teens. My mother was ready to beat both of them very severely with her 12-inch cast iron pan, because late one night they used her favorite 12-inch cast iron pan to cook some boar bear. It ruined at least 50 years of seasoning in a pan her family brought from Finland when they emigrated.

I believe that is when my brother got the Finnish nickname "Satana Poika" -- translation: Satan Boy!

Some bear does taste better than other. As you said, smaller bears taste best. It's been my experience it tastes similar to pork. Not cutting into bone seems to help keep the stronger flavors out. Most bear meat is made into sausage. Our Mennonite friends will give us some the next time we see them.

A guy told me awhile back that it was not a good idea to eat bear. Is this true? He said that humans can get sick from it, but he made jerky out of it and could that have something to do with it. He couldn't tell me why this was, other than somebody else had told him this. I assumed that it may have something to do with them being carnivores(but not always). Just curious what others know on this.........Jim

Bears are omnivorous just like pigs. I've tasted bear and didn't love it or hate it. If I were cooking bear, I'd cook it to the same "doneness" level that I cook pork to.

I've never heard of using pork to make jerky.....

Deer Hunters and Bass Fishermen

Y’all PB I & II Conference guys remember Brandon Powers that captured an audience tyin” his famous deer hair bass bugs?
He’s the best I know of and so good at it I don’t even try to tie ‘em!



Well, I’ve come across a pattern that I can tie that requires less skill that is a weedless/snagless bug that a friend of mine came up with - the reason for this post.
Here's my version of "weedless" bass bugs:

You northern deer hunters can help me out on this - different deer hair from different parts of deer - y’all are all familiar with bucktail but hair for spinning/stacking comes from deer body or belly - that’s where I run into trouble.
I need courser longer belly hair to act as a weed guard that is long enough for a 2/0 gape hook - deer hair is hollow and causes the hook to ride “hook-point-up”.
Fabulous bass bug for springtime aquatic vegetation.

Northern deer hair is much better for this purpose than our deer because of the cold weather - I process Texas bucktail because I like the texture but I need a “patch” of long course northern belly hair.

I know that Nate, Cat, Scott and others process their own deer - I’ll swap a bug or so from any of you guys if interested.
Take a piece or so of belly hide and dry it out in borax - I can bleach and dye….

PM if interested
George Glazener

George, what about Elk hair? If luck is on my side I will be able to lay my hands on some a week from tomorrow.

Deer hair will be no problem. How big of a piece do you want, and where exactly do you want it from on the deer? I plan on taking 2 does and a Buck yet this year.

George,

You have it from the next deer I shot.

Scott, I know nuthin' 'bout elk hair but assume it has the same porous cell structue as deer hair that adds flotation and ability to "flare" when tied.

My research says deer belly hair is courser and longer than body hair but pick a patch or so from area that will work best for bigger bugs
Patch of so that will fit in 8x10 envelope will last forever...

Really appreciate - I'll start tying when it gets too cold...


Really appreciate!!!
PM sent

What happened to the hunting thread? I was loving the pics and comments and late season gets here and poooooff ! Everybody dropped it. Keep posting those deer guys ! and gals !!!

I took a trip out to Colorado for a Cow Elk hunt. Nada. Not even an Elk track in about 12,000 acres. One of the guys did bag a Mt. Lion. It seemed that a Female lion moved into the same canyon that the elk herd liked, and they didn't want to be sleeping and feeding in an area where they might become dinner. We think she came into heat, and somewhere between 4 and 6 toms also moved into the same canyon.

I'm not saying it's a tag sandwich yet, as the outfitter said that since our tags are good 'till end of day on 12-31, if any move back in he'd give us a call and we would make a mad dash back out there.

He fully expected all 6 of us to be tagged out by noon on the first day. Didn't happen. Another hunter, his wife and I stayed another day and nothing. Mule Deer? We could have had our pick. I'll throw the pics on Photobucket and transfer a few here.

Our deer season here ends Jan 6th, I plan on going out and putting at least 2 more in the freezer.

scott sorry to hear no kills on Elk hunt but bet it was still a great trip.

Here is your update. I normally kill a bunch of does with the bow and zero bucks. I haven't this year since success on nice bucks and a 300 lb hog. I want to get a couple and shot high on one and hit another in the neck. Not proud of that and still no idea what I did wrong. Last night however got this one. In metro ATL they have extnded seaosn until end of Jan so hope to get another for jerky.

Greg, great shot placement on that one!

Yeah, the trip was good. It's amazing what close to 10,000 feet of elevation means in the amount of Oxygen available......

Didn't see an Elk, saw some Mulies that were HUGE and one of the guys in the group was able to shoot a Mountain Lion.

Let the pictures roll:
Black Canyon National Park. Looking down from one of the viewpoints. It's about 800 yds down......

Here's a right side and left side of a canyon that I kept watch over for any elk movement. Nada. The Elk were up in the high country to the right of the first pic. It was 705 yds down to the bottom of the canyon right in front of where the picture was taken, and right about 1400 yds across.

I was ready.....






Even tho the temp in the morning was 1°F, with the low winds and bright sun it was pretty comfortable out.

Rembeber the Mountain Lion? Here's a couple pictures of the smaller ones tracks:
Size 11.5 boot

Here's da kitty:



A large sized glove on me is tight.....




The hunter is about 6' to 6'-2" tall......


It took about 3.5 hrs between first cutting the cats tracks and finally getting the cat. Here's a couple of the the main players that were instrumental in getting the cat:



I was told that a Mountain Lion will kill a deer or elk every 5 days to eat. With somewhere from 5-7 lions in the area, it's no wonder why the Elk were scarce.

Here's what the deer looked like. They were in a different area than the cats and Elk, and they barely moved 100 yds in a couple of days.











I wasn't able to get any pictures of the largest Mulies - they disappeared into the brush when we crossed the 300 yd mark. The biggest one was a large very heavy beamed non-typical 5x6.

We ate well.......
Those were the best steaks that I've had in a long, long time. Forget about using a knife, you could cut them with the fork. You could fit the steak and potato on the dinner plate only if you balanced the potato on the edge of the plate.

Last evening overlooking the canyon in front of the lodge:

Beautiful, beautiful pics. Sounds like you had a large time.

Awesome pics, Scott! I'd love to do a trip like that. One of my neighbors at the farm goes out west every year with his brother. They don't do guided trips, instead setting it up all by themselves. They brought home a beautiful elk a couple of years ago.

As for my contribution to this thread, I shot my first ever buck, an 8 point, this year. Unlike many here, I don't hunt real hard so I know not to expect much. We eat a lot of venison, so I prefer does and they are certainly more readily available at our place (other than today, that is!).

I shot this guy on the first Friday of the season after working on our pavilion all day. Right at dusk as I was driving out I spotted him along my main road and jumped out and shot him. It was a neck shot that didn't kill him but would have been fatal eventually. He couldn't get up and I didn't want to shoot him at close range with my .270, so I called a buddy who lives just up the road and he brought a .22 pistol as well as his step son. His step son has a thing for martial arts weapons and he had just gotten a spear, so they brought that, too! Turns out it was more desirable than another shot, so I administered the coup de gras with his new spear and immediately dispatched the deer, and that is why it's in the pic!



The deer doesn't look really big in this photo, but when it was hanging in my building with an 8 foot ceiling, its front hooves were just touching the floor and its back hooves were up into the opening to the loft. It was a big bodied deer that, had I let it go till next year (if it made it that far), would have probably been an exceptionally nice deer. The big question mark is an adjoining parcel of about a hundred acres that is hunted by a bunch of yahoos that shoot everything that moves and there was little likelihood of this guy surviving another year, so now he's mine and getting mounted by a local guy who does a lot of work for Cabelas.
He's not a trophy like many of the beautiful deer posted here, but I am thrilled to a level only second to my son who can't believe he is finally getting a buck mount to put in his room!

Nice Deer. A trophy is in the eye of the beholder. I have a nice 6 point on the wall that most guys would never mount. Long story short, the deer was 7 and 1/2 years and had a long history with me and my cam. Its my trophy and no one else has to worry about it. He will live with me forever. Thanks for the additional post guys and gals, I love this thread.

nuthin wrong with that shot Greg. Congratulations.

Good going Todd! That's a bigger buck than I've shot in a number of years, and for sure bigger than one that I have yet to get this year.

Shup i seen somewhere there outlawing dog hunting (hounding) bears, cats and other animals in some states this coming year.. I don't think Colorado was one of them.. Always something aint it..

Scott -- great photos. I guess you wouldn't want to slip off the edge.

Todd -- A spear?? We gotta improve your aim.



Actually, isn't there now a deer spearing season in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and a few other states?

Nice deer though.

Today is the last day in my part of WV to legally take a deer. I'd like one more small one for the freezer. My rifle is ready at the back door. I just need a deer to walk past the window while I read by the fire. It is a perfect day for it. Light snow all day on top of 8-9 inches already on the ground.

Love it, Ken!

Actually, the season runs through Monday, so you have another day to bag one. I need to do the same thing and hope to run out to the farm in a bit. Usually able to just drive up, see one, and kill it. Even without a spear!

Thanks, Scott. I was thrilled with him.

Yeah, they outlawed baiting and running bears with dogs there. The bear population is exploding now.

As for the cats, the outfitters weren't too happy having that many around. The guy that is running the "study" said there were only a few cats in the hunting zone, so he set the limit for that area at 5 cats, saying that all the cats in the area had a transmitter on them.

Not true, as this one didn't, and the other 3 that were seen running in front of the dogs didn't have collars either. The whole area quota could have been filled from just one canyon.....

Luckily when the outfitter and the hunter went in to check in the cat, the head honcho of the Colorado fish and wildlife was there, and got an earful. The guy that is running the study was back out on the property the next day.

It turns out that his girlfriend is from Ca. and was very instrumental in getting the Mt. Lion hunting stopped in that state........

The outfitters see the cats targeting the trophy Mule Deer Bucks vs. the does because the old boys are loners, and one set of eyes/ears is easier to fool than a whole herd of deer.

Lots of money being lost, not to mention livestock. The sheep in the area were moved off of the property 2 weeks earlier, and on Sunday we came across a sheep that was left behind. It was killed a couple of hours earlier as it was still warm and limber.

It'd be impossible to hunt the lions without dogs - you'd never see them.

Scott,

Aren't you going to show everyone what your "FREE" guide got you onto today?

I do apologize for being off on the time. I said they would show up at 9:15. It was 9:20

Alright....Post the pics for em'.

Hey, you got the same pics that I do, and know how to post them!

If the "free" guide was so good, he wouldn't have made his client get up at 4:00 a.m.! He'd have the Dekes in the field and take the client out there maybe 20 minutes before the birds showed up.

He'd also put the client on the "X".

O.K. lazy, here ya go.

Good thing you didn't see what happened when I shot that last goose...........

Standing on the slope of the ditch, leaning WWAAAYYYY back because I waited 'till the very last second to shoot, hoping that the birds would continue over you and Sam, when I shot the recoil shoved me off balance and I tipped over backwards into the ditch. The birds had actually flown overhead and were already past me. I couldn't pivot because I was standing on the steeply sloped bank of the ditch. I'm glad that it was full of snow and it wasn't full of water! Hey, at least the bird that I shot at fell and I didn't have to walk a half mile to finally shoot it to kill it.

Even tho we weren't on the "X" a few fell anyway.

My "guide" took his son on his first (or was this his 2nd?) waterfowl hunt. We were hunting in a chopped and chiseled cornfield. Really, really nice to walk in and drive over, especially when all the low areas were filled with snow. The farm manager said he'd run some of the equipment over places in the fields so we'd have a smooth place to drive. This is the second year that he's said that..... I think I'm going to show up there soon and tell him to give me the keys and I'll do it.

We had maybe 100+ Mallards land 481 yds away, and the main body of geese landed out more towards the center of the field, 150 yds away. (Laser rangefinders sure do come in handy!)

Here's his first Drake Mallard:


His first goose:


Here's a big goose that I dropped (when I tipped over):


Todays bag, minus one goose. We picked it up on the way out as it sailed a LONG ways (but it was dead right after it hit the ground. ):


Birds and gun:


And one with the mutt after I got home:


We had a pair of Pintails circling early in the day, but they wouldn't get low enough. I've been shooting too much with 1200 fps lead shot at clay birds and was over leading the birds by a bunch. If I would have been on my game there would have been more birds on the ground.

Not a bad morning for not even being on the "X". The geese didn't want to commit to the dekes for some reason. But, enough gave them a close enough look to knock down a few. Typically the landing gear was down, then retracted..

Went on a pheasant hunt with Marlie this weekend. Good dog. http://imgur.com/a/u7qg1 for full album.

Good pics! Looks like it was cold out.

12°F!

Great pics!

Brrrrrr!

Some of my pics are older, but im just figuring this picture thingy out. This is a pic of my best friend and I. It is not the best pic, but that is a 2 wheel drive Dodge Dakota, 4 cylinder, with a Honda Foreman 450 and 3 deer piled on. Theres a doe on the front rack, a nice buck with a long history with me on the back rack, and a doe on the tailgate.

Be funny to see that vehicle at the drive-thru at McDonalds.

For those of you having trouble with photo hosting, may I recommend http://imgur.com ? It's very easy to use (and I promise I have no financial stake in the company).

No sign-up, no registration needed.

Zep, honest to God that is exactly where we went. It is just a simple tradition for us, but we always grab a bite to eat real quick at McDonalds on our way thru the small town of Versailles. We even had a conservation officer pull up behind us at a stop sign and never even checked us, I could'nt believe that. It was a great day, 2 days actually. One of the deer was shot the night before, right at sundown, so we just iced it down and left it on the truck for the morning. It was definately a memorable time for me. I had just gotten out of the military the month before and this was my first time hunting the Hoosier Hills again in 7 years. It was a great welcome home for me.

Found out yesterday that the guys hunting on a few acres across the road shot the buck that I saw under my stand a few times during early October. It had 6 points on one side and a double brow tine on the other side, but was broken off after the G2 on the double-brow-tine side. The guy that shot it was quite proud of it, but there will be one less trophy buck in the woods next year. Well that's the way it goes. If you let the smaller or broken antlered deer walk, they may get shot elsewhere. I met the guys when they asked to track a doe through my place (3rd time in the last few years). They did not find it alsthough the tracks were very clear in the snow. It was bleeding very little and ran 1/4 mile on my place without being pushed. If it was not mortally wounded, it will be a lot more warry in the future. Happy New Year to all!!!

That's a shame. I'd hope guys would pass on bucks like that. This is from the outfitters web site in Colorado. I can't believe how busted up this rack is!

I pushed a doe to these guys this morning by accident. A few minutes later, boom-boom-boom; less than a minute later futher east, boom-boom-boom. Swiss-cheese hunters

They should take up hunting with a muzzleloader. They'd learn to pick their shots.

Got a buddy that's the same way. Really quick to pull the trigger, then usually empties the gun.

I had a line of 7 does walk past me last evening. I thought I could take the last one in line, but missed. Between 120 to 150 yds away, there was some brush/branches between us and they never stopped walking. I think the bullet hit something and deflected - no hair or blood at all (6" of snow on the ground), and I saw them all run off 20 minutes later when I went to check for any sign of a hit. Muzzleloader was resting on shooting sticks, I was seated in a chair. It felt right when the trigger broke, I was suprised she didn't go down.

Tomorrow evening I'll be out again.

I too have had shots hit brush that I did not initally see, but it is the exception not the rule. The guys said that they took one muzzleloader shot at the doe they wounded and we tracked through my property a couple days ago. I talked to my retired neighbor late this morning and he said that there were three shots in a row from these guys at that time, not one (he was checking traps just east of where they hunt). I should have had a clue when they carried a rifle (looked like a .357) in case they jumped the doe. They are not hunting on my land, so they can hunt as they please, but I will not risk rousting deer to track deer on my place in the future. The sad thing is that they are training a 13-year old to hunt the same way. The deer that they shot at today was standing 20 yards from me for 5 minutes but there was some brush in the way, so I did not shoot and it finally detected me standing on the ground and ran into the place that they hunt. I do not enjoy tracking a poorly shot deer, and no will go hungry if I do not shoot a deer. I feel really good this year; 5 shots (2 bow, 2 .44, and 1 muzzleloader) and 5 deer in the freezer. Three of these were heart shots (1 at 70 yards with the muzzleloader - luck), and the other 2 were double lung. This is my best markmanship for a deer season, and although I never saw a trophy buck, it was a satisfying season.

RAH if you wanna help them learn too shoot don't allow them on your property anymore.. They'll learn to shoot or you'll eat there deer pretty simple.. where I hunt we don't let anyone track on our property, and they don't let us track on there's which is expected..

I am trying not to be such a hard a## based on my wife's assessment, but I am in agreement with you.

Life sure is simpler when you limit your hunting to squirrels!

Deer hunters are a bit nuts which is what squirrels eat. Ironic...

Tony, you don't have to track them far when you hit 'em like this:
(.50 Savage Muzzleloader)


Or this: (she was facing me at about 20 yds, she folded straight down) Both deer were taken 20 minutes apart.

Yep, that do look permanent!

And mushrooms sprkplug

And shup is your gun off that much at 20 yrds to shoot both deer in the neck

Nah, it's actually pretty accurate. First one was at 20 yds, It looks like a neck shot, but the bullet entered below the spine/neck junction and made a mess of the lungs, ending up somewhere on the far side of the diaphram. Her legs folded up and she went straight down. The 2nd one busted me at about the same distance and I couldn't get a shot. It didn't seem really spooked, it just didn't like something. I had a grunt call, so I grunted a few times, and it circled around, coming back for a look, but a LOT more cautious. It stopped behind a tree at about 80 yds, and sorta of peered around it. All I could see was it's left shoulder and it's neck/head. Thanks to Todd, I got a Primos trigger stick (bipod style) and that really helps steady the gun when I'm standing.

From a bench, it's shot groups that were in the 1/4" high x 5/8" wide range @ 100 Yds if I concentrate. .50 cal Savage Muzzleloader, 43.5g IMR-4759, MMP Short black sabot, 250g SST or T/C Shockwave, CCI 209M Primer. Right around 2300 fps MV.

The .45 cal Savage (a rebarreled .50 cal) is shooting about the same accuracy, but a LOT flatter since it's shooting a 195g Barnes "X" bullet at around 2900+ fps. 68.0g H-4198, Harvestor Blue sabot, same CCI primer.

Sad day for me earlier this week...the close of the 2012 MN bow hunting season. It was a good year for my little piece of land. We never put a big boy on the ground but saw a couple of dandies both on stand and on the cameras. After years of timber improvements, tree plantings, and food plots, it looks like it's starting to work. Can't wait for the ground to thaw and spring planting!

As a side note...I wont miss those minus degree days in the tree.

Answering the question about Scott's favorite past-time after deer season closes.

A friend and I limited on Gadwalls in 45 minutes Tuesday morning. We both shot pretty good, averaging 50% on shells shot vs. ducks in the bag. 12 birds

Scott,

I started a good average with my new Browning Maxus. Pulled the trigger 4 times and 4 geese have dropped. Buddies are waiting to give me a hard time when I finally miss with it, which will happen. They are going to have to wait for next season since the goose season went out a couple of days ago in Northern IL. Unless the snow geese come back north pass the farm and we give them ago.

Saw a bunch of snows down in Arkansas near Stuttgart, AR on the way here. Couple of thousand in the field and wave upon wave of geese in the sky winging towards them.

I'll be getting back home right before the Nusance Canada Goose season opens. Hoping to whack and stack 'em.

We had some of the Gadwalls for dinner tonight. The recipe will be in the next issue of Pond Boss. It'll work with any duck, and it's really, really easy to make.

Recipe doesn't include the old joke about "cook in brandy - throw out the duck and drink the gravy"?
Just kidding Scott - see 'ya in a few days!!
G/

Or smoke with hickory throw out the duck and chew on the wood lol

Actually they were really, really good. Not as good as the duck dinner that I had at San Remo Restaurant in Sulphur Springs on Wed night, but durn close!

George just reminded me of that joke I heard it this past season about deer loin.. Still kinda gets a chuckle outta me one because people have no idea how good wild game can be.. Also when I bring it into work the guys who don't like are lined up at the tables like they haven't ate in weeks..

Esshup, Had a guy bring in some duck to work a couple of weeks ago. I knew it was duck but know one else in our costruction trailer knew. We told them it was Filet Mignon and everyone thought it to be true based on the taste. Mind you this was reheated duck. Matter of fact we had a hard time cinvincing them it "was" duck. I took some home that night cause we were butchering a deer that evening and I told those guys the same. Anyhow best duck Ive ever had. And too easy.

R&R, post the recipe if you can. I'd like to try it.

I can tell you a similar story about my dad eating Muskrat meatloaf.....

I had to read that just when getting breakfast ready.

I had too read that twice.. That sounds disgusting and ill have to take your word on the taste..

Long story short after eating it he didn't know the difference between that and beef hamburger.

I couldn't bring myself to eat Rat especially a giant rat.. Now if I was tricked I could prolly eat most things on earth but mentally I'm limited lol..

When it comes to eating wild game, you've got your glamour animals....deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, various fowl.....then you have those animals that don't quite measure up to the romantic, urbanized idea of "eating off the land":

Muskrat, raccoon, young possums, suckers and carp, turtles......my grand parents didn't bother trying to differentiate, it was food and that's all that mattered. As a boy I ate most of it too. By the time I was old enough to believe I should care about such things, times weren't as harsh as they once were, and life was different. But I still have a few family members who continue the practice, and although my grandparents are long gone, their 9 children get together once a year to remember those days by preparing a wild game "feast".....and while I never cared for everything on the menu, some of the more unusual items are pretty doggone tasty.

My dad grew up eating all that stuff.. It must not of been prepared well because he says it wasn't too good.. He still eats more squirrel and rabbit than anyone I've ever met lol..

esshup, I meant it when I said easy. Basically cut it into about 1" cubes hit it with a Jaccard soak it in buttermilk for about 4 hours. put it on a skewer with a chunk of bacon in between each piece liberally coat with some Cavenders seasoning grill just enough to where the bacon is edible and thats it. Delicious.

Shot this Saturday morning, actually trying to call up coyotes. Got it at about 100 yards, 110 gn V-Max bullet, entry wound tiny and no exit, 6.8 SPC. I love hunting surprises!

Deer season ended Sunday with me killing nothing. However, 5 bucks were taken on my land by 14 year olds. Heck, that's OK. The kids had a ball. Funny, we saw very few does.

Two of the deer were big, older, spikes. The others were misshaped, but still legal, 5 to 7 points. I'm glad that they are out of the gene pool.

In Texas, a buck has to be either a spike or a minimum of 13 inches wide between the antlers.

Nice going Svoberts!

R&R, thanks for the recipe. Bob is going to have to try it as I forgot all the rest of the gadwalls in his fridge.....

Finally got all the videos from the 2012 Saskatchewan goose hunts up on you tube. If interested check out my channel there "marklassig". Here is the one from the last day. The night before there where at least 20,000 geese in this field. We only got 39 this day but had some real tornadoes working us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubfkb4rVfYs&list=UUodJWzqyiXepspcUylOVT-w&index=1

esshup (Scott)Texas trip, enjoying 75 degree weather.
Brought me some really good northern Whitetail deer hair for tyin' bass bugs .
Thanks for everything Scott - enjoyed your company and Brian's hospitality,
George

George glad you got some deer hair, my season didn't end the way I wanted it to.

George, if you think that brown deer hair is coarse, wait 'till you see some hair from the back of the deer!

Scott, be careful. George is already in time out at home. Something about new deer hair and a washing machine.

I am a slow learner guys - should have have known better by now..

Uh oh. I can see the inside of the washing machine coated with loose deer hair.........

George, you still have enough?

Enough to last forever Scott!
Many thanks - they are a treasure trove - good variety of length and texture.
G/

So is trapping allowed in with hunting?
My first.

Dead Coyotes are always welcome

Heck yes! Good job on the 'yote!

I understand that coyotes will learn from my mistakes, but I will also learn as I go too and get me to find other ways to trick them. I saw that this yote had most of his front toes gone on his front foot from someone elses trap. It gave me a little bit of a confidence boost that I was able to get him because of his waryness.

I felt that I needed to go after the yotes because our deer population got hit pretty hard this summer with that bug. We only have about 10% of the deer population that we had a year ago. Getting rid of the yotes may help the deer poulation come back sooner.

Check out his front foot;

Good job! Yes, 'yotes are hard on deer. Not only the fawns, but during the winter they'll chase mature deer and even if they don't catch and kill them, the stress that they go thru weakens them.

With the deer population down the predators will be hungry and overabundant vs. their prey, putting more pressure on the remaining deer, especially during the Spring when they are feeding their pups.

Coyote/Deer Cam

This one didn't go so peacfully. It was a cold night. It seems as if I have better luck raising coyotes than I do fish in my pond. That's a pretty amazing link Zep. Can't believe the deer stayed in the one spot so it could all be caught on camera. I guess his big rack didn't help him out.

[img]http://[/img]

That deer had to have a pre exisisting condition/wounded..

also is finding dead deer while shed hunting allowed here:

Yeah but it's sad N8

nate:

EHD/Bluetongue or just poor shooting on surrounding property and they are using that property as a safe haven?

For the most part just poor shooting and tough deer...the injured deer flock to our native grasses and new growth trees along the river.....throughout the hunting season we saw tons of injured deer pouring into the property....this was the first day we spent waking the place since season is now over....

We still have an 80 acre tall grass field to burn in a couple weeks and likely will find lots more in there....

I'd say those deer took the whole shedding concept just one step too far!

Nate since near water I would suspect EHD if u see less in grass away from water then EHD claims many more victims. Yes Mother Nature more cruel than a well placed arrow

Most of these were too fresh to be EHD and not quite close enough to the river....

To fresh? They can die from on up into winter. If suspect hunting injuries that would not be fresh either right. Update us when I investigate other. It about wiped my deer out in KY but rebounded well in two years. You have such good habitat you may draw in plenty of surrounding deer. Sorry for your loss.

We still have literally hundreds of deer on the farm and in the area on our trail cams...I investigated tons of EHD deaths this year for clients all summer long and its pretty easy to spot the EHD deaths with most of the deer still partially in the water or very very near it....I'm quite sure that the deer we were finding on our property were hunting injuries and car crashes as opposed to EHD... During hunting season it was very common to see injured deer coming in from surrounding farms almost every time out, we were not surprised to find so many dead ones...we anticipated it...the farm is a deer factory, the tall grasses and new growth trees hold waaaay more deer than hardwood timber.... Will keep you posted when we burn in a couple weeks, there are lots of carcasses in those fields....

Sorry to hear it Nate.

Nate, is EHD the same thing that's hit Nebraska? We cancelled our reservation hunt this year because of low numbers of available deer. Our buddies that went up last year said there was a shocking difference in deer seen.

More than likely... The states that were hit with drought got hit with EHD really bad...

PLEASE DON'T TURN THIS NASTY, POLITICAL, ETC.

I have an old JC Higgins .22 auto that started to have jamming/ejection problems a few years ago. I got it as a gift in October 1961. The jams/ejection problems only happen with certain bullet brands.

I have the original manuals. I took the old rifle completely apart and totally cleaned and lubricated it yesterday, but didn't get a chance to shoot it before bedtime last night.

I had to take my wife to a metro airport this morning. I have been gone from home since 5:00 AM this morning. -- and still not home due to a few stops.

I stopped for breakfast near a sporting goods store in the city ((UGH!). The sporting goods "return" shelf had a Nikon BDC-150 scope for about the price of a piece of Jerky. No packaging, no book, but it looked complete, including the mount and lens caps. A check on my cell phone said it should fit most .22s, and usually sold for about several tanks of gasoline in my truck.

But, the real reason for this post -- since I fully cleaned and lubricated my old gun, and found what appears to be a good scope, I wanted some good shells to "sight it in."

So, after breakfast, and after getting my bargain scope, I wanted to get a couple of 50-count boxes of .22 LR shells.

WRONG!!

I went to eight different stores! All were sold out. This is just plain crazy!

I'm sure glad I have my 1200 fps .177 pellet gun, with scope, to keep the critters under some control!

Ken:

If you're going to be coming this way anytime soon (or I could give them to Todd if we get together in the near future) I have an extensive "collection" of .22lr shells. I bought (IIRC) a box of each and every flavor that was produced to see which one my 10/22 preferred. I can give you some of each.

I found that the factory barrel shot CCI Blazers as well as Eley Tenex Red Box match ammo. Rim thickness sorting the Blazers tightened up the group even more.

Or, I can buy a brick of CCI Blazers from the local Sporting Clays range. They just got a shipment of ammo in and they had 500 count boxes of Blazers for $30 + Tax. Price from last shipment to this shipment increased $9/brick.

Oh yeah, the shelves be bare in most stores!!! It seems in the stores that I've been in that .17HMR isn't going near as fast as .22lr ammo.

Ken, same offer. I have in excess of 20,000 rounds of 22lr. So, if you need some let me know if you will be in the "city" in the next week or so and I can get you some... If not, the next time I go up to PA I can try to meet up with you in the Winchester area to get you some if you can't source any before then.

There are going to be many buyers of ammo who will have remorse in the future. This was the way it was 4 years ago with primers and ammo. After things settled down,these prices was lower then before the buying spree. The military will use a lot less ammo in the future and it will be cheaper.

I'll know better tomorrow.

Years ago I bought a 'bucket o' bullets' with a gazillion .22 LRs in the bucket for about $50. I don't know if is because they are hollow point, but they just keep jamming. As I recall they are Winchester.

I also got several boxes of old Soviet LRs, but they are collector's items.

I still have most of a box (plastic holder) of CCI. Even before bullets became scarce, I was having problems finding them. Frederals also became scarce.

Anyway, if the gun cleaning did any good, I'll have plenty of shellsto take care of critters and to sight-in the new scope.

Everybody is always out of 22LR these days. Since I really don't often shoot them, I have plenty; about 1,500.

Ken,
the price isnt really the issue at this point, might as well stock up and if the price goes down again, stock up again....but I do see your point, a few years back when gas prices really started to rise or maybe it was after 9/11 everyone went to fill up with gas all at once and the gas prices started to rise by the hour...well anyhow the local caseys store actually got fined like $50,000 or something insane for raising the price of gas to an unheard of $4 per gallon....everybody was all stark raving mad at them for months for doing that, but I was like you guys are the idiots who went and bought the gas for $4 per gallon and now your complaining about it???? Anyhow, nowadays gas costs about $4 per gallon, but it was only like $1.50 back then....

This thread made me think about ammo and components. So, I went to my shop and did a 1 minute inventory. I reload everything from 222 to 45 cal. I haven't done a lot of shooting lately but am starting again with a 22 to correct a flinch.

My partial inventory here. This doesn't include what I have in the country:
2 ammo cans of primers
30 one pound containers of powder(thought I had more)
About 75 boxes of bullets
A bunch, pretty good sized bunch, of cast bullets. Plenty of melted wheel weights and a bunch that are waiting to melt. Need more gas checks.
Probably about 60 or 70 boxes of primed brass, mostly 30-06
About 1,500 22 shells
Unknown #, probably several thousand, loaded cartridges
A couple of cases of shotgun shells

This is probably a drop in the bucket to Scott

Dave-Trying to make in the mornings to get back on the forum...
Hope you do not have a fire

Otto

Mike, I didn't think you were home often enough these days to use a computer.

A fire scares the daylights out of me.

I have a client with those outdoor containers locked up with more ammo in them than the local national guard....it's impressive to see and how doesn't show many people.....
Me and my bros haven't stocked up on much of anything yet, but do have at least a couple seasons worth of ammo....

If you don't shoot on a regular schedule,I don't know why you would want so much ammo. A lot of ammo won't shoot accurately in some guns so you would be better off with a sling shot. As far as living through a nuclear event and then only the strong live, I had rather be gone quick. Does anyone think about what the food supply would look like. But,it is a free country and we can all do what we want. I buy all my shotgun shells at gun shows for less then half price and a friend handloads for my rifles. If a gun can't shoot in a two inch space at 200 yds. it is going to some other home. Try to do that with some of the cheap junk they are selling today.

I have some original 38/40 ammo for my ancient Model 1873 Winchester. I killed a doe with it a couple of years ago. Ammo doesn't go bad but the price does increase. And it increases a lot more than the return that I can get on it.

To me, a couple of seasons worth isn't much. When the current craziness ends, I'll probably pick up some more components, shotgun shells and various types of 22 ammo. I really believe that it is a good investment.

BTW, I once read that in failed economies that deteriorated to being a barter economy, the most sought out products were ammo and whiskey.

1873 Win. is one cool gun,swap a semi-good woman for it.Go to a gun show,there is someone there looking to get rid of shotgun shells and 22 also. The military shells sell easily but the others are cheap.

Not at gun shows around here they're not.

Right now 22 shells can be found. However, the price is out of sight.

Dave:

I have a couple of rounds here and there........

I did a lot of experimentating with different loads right after I got my first .257 Wby. Once the gun told me what it likes, I have components sitting.

Same for about every other one that I have. My cousin moved from Ohio to NC, and the moving company wouldn't move his reloading stuff. So, he called me and said that if I wanted some reloading stuff, to hop in the car and make the 5 hr drive to his place. I came back home with 6 copy paper boxes full of stuff as he used to shoot Garands and Palma matches. Some of the stuff I traded off, some I used, but I still have a bunch of things left. Enough that I have to split it up between a few buildings to keep the fire marshall happy.

I agree about buying components when the price is low, not high. I'm still kicking myself when I didn't buy the 4 pallets of shotgun wads at one auction that I was at. I wasn't thinking and could have sold them for 5x-6x what they went for.

I used to shoot more shotgun than I do now, and would buy shot by the ton. That wouldn't last me a year. There were days when I'd go thru 500 shotgun shells...... I'd usually shoot Wed nights, and most weekends I'd shoot Sat night and a couple of rounds on Sunday. When I was reloading for shotgun then, I'd just put a 5 gallon bucket under the reloader and fill 'er up.

I had a Savage bolt action .22lr re-barreled so I could shoot the 60g Aguilar SSS shells. I'm glad that I bought a supply of them when I did - have you seen the prices of those now???

I agree, prices will come down (some) in the future, but not much unless the price of energy comes down too (oil). It takes a lot of energy to produce and transport ammo.

If you keep ammo dry and somewhat out of the heat, it'll last for a long, long time. Same with powder and primers. IIRC Alliant (Hercules) tested some powder that was made around the turn of the century (1900) and it was still just as good as when it was made.

The Aguilar shells that I use only have the primer and no powder and generates 6lb. but is deadly on squirrels to 60 ft.

The little 22 I use doesn't do a great job with the "sans poudre" ammo. But, I can still shoot it in town with no problem.

That may be a bit much on ammo,
but Ken don't ya think there are
lots of scenarios between an
orderly society like we have now
and a nuclear holocaust?

Personally I could see some civil unrest
in our not so distant future. Heck that's
a small part of the reason we purchased
some property away from the big city.
I hope we're wrong.

Coyotes in the City

Heard 'yotes howling along our backyard creek at noon - unusual!
Looked out and saw male big as a wolf!!!
Smaller female.

Zep, I think your words are pretty spot on...not saying there will be all gloom n doom, but civil unrest or increase in violent crimes could very much be possible in our lifetimes....

George:

Good thing you don't have the Weiner dog. It'd be a quick snack for them.

That the first time you've seen them in the back yard?

We hear them more than see them - but have seen the big male on occasion.... dangerous - they have no fear of humans.
Had city trapper out twice but no sucess.
Pets are at risk - we never let out little weeny dog outside alone.
Neighbor lost their little dog.
G/

Mark, you are a very astute thinker. I hope it doesn't come to pass. Ammo will be cheaper in the future.

When I lived in Oceanside, Ca., we had 'yotes in the yard and they were brazen enough to walk down the street. The houses were further apart than your neighborhood, but still..... Cats left out at night weren't safe, but at that time, no dogs were taken. A few years later a friend had a very friendly, docile (when he was home) pit bull. You didn't want to go in the yard when they weren't home. She was killed by a pack of 'yotes when he and his wife were at work and she was in their fenced yard. He lived in Fallbrook, Ca.

Last summer one night about 11.30 pm after we had came to the farm after a long day of harvest. There was a yote that walked within 100 feet of us. He glanced at us and froze for a second and then continued walking on like it was nothing.

Packs of yotes tend to gang up on dogs and kill them if they have the chance. A friend of mine had their Border Collie killed by a pack. But my uncle who lives in the same section, he has a Great White Pyrenees. He has no problems with his dog getting hurt or anything.

Scott, here's you deer hair at work - gonna catch a big old post spawn bucketmouth out of the water primrose this spring..

Thanks again,
George

That looks great George! And I don't even Bass fish any more....

Now I'd have to take up hunting if that happened when I get my border collie. God I love that breed....but most all dogs don't deserve that ending. That must be aweful to lose a dog that way.

That bug looks great George! No fly fishing here for a while - the pond probably has enough ice on it to go ice fishing.

I like it George, but I think I spotted a problem...

You put two right feet on that thing! You're gonna have to try to keep it moving and hope they don't notice!!

Aw.....you're just pickin' on me...
Just the way they are laying on my desk....feet hang down in the water....

Only George is good enough fly fisherman to catch a lunker from a glass of water...

Got the results back on aging my deer from last october and they claim it is a 5.5 year old buck.

Congrats on outsmarting a smart one!

Bow opener in Wisconsin was on Saturday. Harvested a nice doe right away Saturday morning. It is starting to feel like hunting season as well, 38 degrees when I pulled up to the farm.

On a side note my RBT should now be safe and have made it through the summer intact!!

Good news on the RBT and congrats on the doe! It was 38°F here on Saturday morning as well.

I'm still seeing fawns with spots here. Our bow season opens Oct 1.

Tree stands are prepped and tuned, been shooting solid groups out past 45 yds consistently, food plots (such as they are with the lack of rain) are either in or just finishing up.

COME ON OCTOBER!

Loaded feeders and set up cams last Saturday.

I can't wait for October 1st...I still have one stand I am going to relocate for youth season...Other than that and tuning broadheads I am READY...

Removed a deer last year that was causing many problems for me the last couple of years...He was a very mature deer probably on the down slide...Field dressed at 267 after hanging for three days, so lost some water weight...

I watched this deer chase off several deer that where pushing or easily would have made B&C...The photo doesn't do him justice...I was by myself and was in a hurry to get him out of the woods.. He had a inside spread of almost 26" and would struggle to go mid 140"s...

Was the 1st deer in 10 years I shot with a gun and am as proud of it and any I have harvested...He always seemed to stay one step ahead of me...

I had the exact same situation the year before last...had a 6.5 year old buck, GIANT body, but a fairly small 10 point rack. Bad genetics. Field dressed right at 275. Huge body, small rack.

And I realized last year there are literally dozens of his progeny running around the area. I have a whole slew of good bodied bucks with weak genetics on the rack.

I'm not totally against that...I'm in this for the freezer first and the wall hanger second. I assume that the gene pool will also increase the size of the does as well, which are my main source of red meat throughout the year.

A friend of mine is a taxidermist and owed me a couple of favors so he talked me into mounting it...I normally would just take him the caps to use on others heads that were neck shot or screwed up during field dressing or capping...

He looked at this deer in awe for several minutes then started measuring the skull for a form...The eye to nostril measurement was a full half inch longer than any form made and the neck measurement was 2 inched larger than he has ever mounted...Said he will have to basically cut the form in quarters and lengthen the skull to fill the cape...

That is a beautiful deer.

It is still too hot and humid here to sit in a stand. I rode a forrester around some of the perimeter at my place yesterday and could not go ten feet without running through a monster spider web with monster size spider right in the middle of it.

I still feel like I have spiders on me.

WOW that's the nicest buck I've seen in awhile!

How'd you manage to attract that thing?


LOL