Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting and Trapping Fall/Winter 2010/2011

Well, Scott can bust my chops all he wants, but I kill the small ones so I can call it SHOOTING instead of hunting! Plus, I have two deer in the freezer already. Well, sort of. I guess the two combined are still smaller than the one Ken has pictured above (great looking deer, by the way)! Scott, just think of it as me culling the local herd so the big ones get bigger!

Todd, shooting means hitting the little ones in the head so you don't waste any meat!

Hopefully this one will walk by tomorrow. I'm really hoping for his daddy, but if someone else sees him I think they'd pull the trigger. I think the deer is only 2.5 years old, but it's the biggest I've gotten on camera on this piece of property this year. I've only had the camera out for a week. Still learning the ground.

Thoughts on the age? He's chewing on an acorn.

Naw! When he next comes to visit, if he doesn't have a smaller caliber gun, I'll lend him one of mine.

Those milk-fed little ones would fetch a pretty price if they were beef.

I just finished vacuum packing the 10-pointer I butchered last Saturday. When I started this morning, I took one of the backstrap filets and sliced it real thin. I marinated it for about two hours in soy sauce, honey, vinegar, and some spices. I made kabobs with it. It was about as tender as shoe leather.

Todd got the right kind of deer for the family table. The angle and the 50 cal. just weren't quite matched to the animal. There are so many of those critters on my property, they are like 4-inch bluegill. Thinning them just helps the others -- and my garden.

Ken, you, sir, are magnanimous. That esshup dude? There are other adjectives that come to mind!

Maybe I'll have a pic tomorrow of the size deer that the Savage ML likes.

Wellllllllll?

Uneventful day. Saw a coyote at 75 yds, but he never stopped walking. Besides, the property that I was on I only have permission to hunt deer and turkey. Lots of squirrels tho. I got out of the stand at 1:00 p.m. due to a wind shift and set up at a different place. At 4:15 p.m. a yearling doe walked out (175 yds away) and while I was watching her in the binoculars I noticed a 4-point back in the trees, then I saw the 8 point. Both bucks came out, and the 8 point was as close as 157 Yds (rangefinders are nice!). But, I have pictures of a 10 point on the property, and I don't know what else is there, so I passed. If the 10 pt or something bigger doesn't show up in person or on any cameras during the next week, then my standards will drop considerably.

The one that walked out looked somewhat like this, but with a bit more mass, and 4" and 6" brow tines.

That is a fine looking buck Scott... He does look young yet, if he is only 2.5 years old, I can't imagine what he'll be like as a 4.5 year old if he can survive that long!

Opening day of firearms season here in Virginia was a bust... Had a nice day hunting with my dad but that was about it. I saw 1 deer all day! Hardly any shooting... Certainly not like the opening day of PA's firearms season! I did pull my one game camera and found this bad boy... He'll keep me waking up at 4:30 am every day next week!

That's a nice deer Travis! That one would get me out of bed in the morning as well.

Take a look about 7 - 8 posts up and increase the picture size to get more detail. It's the picture that was taken with the Plotwatcher. To me it looks like a 2.5 yo 10 point (on the same property). If I don't see a bigger one, I hope I see that one.

Nothing this a.m. 30° temps and 15 mph wind in your face made for a chilly morning.

Good news is that the rut is still to come and in my neck of the woods and it did not sound like a war zone on openning day. I did hear a 4 shot volley a ways off making venison swiss cheese, or maybe coyote food. One shot = clean kill, 2 shots = mayebe, 3 or 4 shots = moron.

RAH, agreed! Yesterday morning there were at least 100 shots that I heard, only a couple of volleys. Today the neighbors are shooting in their yard, maybe to sight in guns that they thought were sighted in before season.

I have a friend that couldn't hunt with a single shot or a Muzzleloader. He never hits anything with the first shot. When he has a pump gun in his hands, it sounds like a semi-auto. For him, a 6" group at 100 Yds is a good group.

Update:

No deer down this evening, but I did see that 10 pts' daddy. He was at a lasered 207 yds and stopped right before going behind a tree that was about 25' in front of me. So close that I was worried that the sabot might clip the tree, so I didn't shoot. I fully expected him to come out the other side of the tree after a herd of does that was standing there. He never showed as the does walked directly away from me. He did the same, although at the time he was hidden behind the tree.

Now I know what buck to hold out for!

Safety was off and there was pressure on the trigger when I noticed the hint of a tree trunk in the right margin of the scope. I let up on the trigger and looked over the scope. I repositioned the muzzleloader to the right of the tree, and waited for him to come out. AARRRGGGG!!!!!!!

I'll just have to keep using those does as bait.

I'm bouncing around on the property, all according to the wind. I don't want the deer to get used to me being in one place every day. I've done my best tree impersonations this year 'cause I'm hunting from the ground. I had a doe feeding for 45+ minutes from 65 to 40 yards from me tonight and she was joined by an 8 point buck that came in at less than 30 yds from me. They both stayed in that general area (30-45 yds) for about 20 minutes. His outside spread was just slightly less than his ear tips (when spread out), G2's were about 6", G3's were about 5" and the main beams were 3" or maybe 4" apart from touching each other over his nose. Very dark grey deer, but body shape said 2.5 YO deer.

Had 2 young bucks under me for over an hour last night. One was a typical 8-point that looked like a 2.5 yr-old (needs 2 more years). The other was a 1.5 year old 6-pt with half its points as drops (one with a sticker). More length in the drops than the main beams. It has a bum right-front leg. I saw it earlier in bow and got a good look at it this time at 25 feet. I cannot see any evidence of a wound, but it is atrophied and is very weak. The larger deer seemed like it wanted to start trouble, but the 6-pt kept its head down feeding and walk away. The good news is that maybe he won't go far and will be safe for a few years. Saw two immature does yesterday evening which headed off the property into a woods; 15 minutes later - 2 shots. Well that's how it goes...

One rough season so far... Weather has cooled of some today, hoping the deer will come out and play. Day after day in a tree stand with no shooters is frustrating. Throw in the trespassers and I'm about fed up. The stand I'm in now seems promising though.

I just got access to hunt 60 acres. The owner tells me mo ones hunted this on 30 yrs. Needless to say within 30 minutes of walking the property I found 2 ladder stands and a brand new climber.. All are being hunted because limbs are freshly snipped off. Owner said well I hope you like your new stands.. I didn't take but I put a note on them stating they had one week to remove and quit tresspassing.. Kinda hoping the stands are still there after a week.

Also one stand is about 100 yards from his back door he was shocked to say the least..

I don't know how it is in the state that you are in, but in Indiana, if a person wants to admit that they were trespassing, they could call the sheriff and press charges on you or the landowner for keeping their stands. Stupid, I know.

The only way around this would be to call the conservation officer and have him remove the stands. If there is no name and/or address on the stands, I'd be tempted to put my information on them and then move them. On second thought, I'd call the CO now and remove the stands asap, leaving a note on the tree to call the CO to retrieve their stands.

Make sure you have permission in writing from the landowner and keep it in your posession at all times while on the property. I'd also have the Sheriff and CO on speed dial on the cell phone.

That's a great place that you have. It's a deer refuge, and a deer magnet. Keep a low profile from the deer and you'll see an amazing amount of deer.

I'm hunting a piece of property like you described, and the deer activity that I'm seeing is unlike anything that I've seen on property that is hunted hard. Just this a.m. I had 8 does bed down between 25 and 40 yds from me. I couldn't move for almost 3 hours because I didn't want to let them know I was there. They got up, went to water and then moseyed off. I got out of there asap and headed for home and a hot shower. I was hunting on the ground, not in a ground blind and thankfully the wind never shifted.

.. Simple as this.. " I didnt take those stands, they were there when I left the note, gone when I came back figured he took them.." see you in court.. Also he would be charged with tresspassing and found guilty by self admitting his stands on someone elses property were stolen.

I'm not saying I'd take the stands but I will take them down.. And you'd have to be a pretty dumb and brazen trespasser to do something that stupid..

Better this way. He is gone with no need for violence. Although hunting is hardly violence free. I must be getting old though, got my buck in early October and let a medium doe walk last night. Just unjoyed seeing the doe and nearly-grown fawn. If I had my bow, then it would have been toast, but with a gun, just too easy.

I'm having just as much fun watching the deer, not shooting and waiting for the big boy to show. I'm learning a lot about deer behavior being able to watch them for a couple of hours per day. I'm amazed at what spooks them and what doesn't. I can't believe how far away they can pick up on something different in the woods, be it another deer coming, or someone talking a couple hundred yards away. Gunfire doesn't seem to bother them, at least when it's a couple hundred yards away and further.

Hunting in urban areas, it is amazing how adapted deer are to those conditions. They know where the smells and sounds should and shouldn't be coming from... If they come from the wrong place, they're gone just like any smart mountain deer would.

Well, I have been busting my butt this year putting in way too much time in a tree stand, but it finally paid off. Yesterday afternoon just a bit past 2:30 I caught some movement to my left and this bad boy rolled out of a thicket. My slug round clipped a branch and broke into at least 3 pieces, broke his front shoulder, hit him high in the back and also hitting his back leg. Knocked him down into the creek he was standing next to. He laid in the creek for 4 minutes without moving and then took off crashing through a swampy thicket. I was able to keep up with him as he was hit bad. After missing several running shots, I let him bed down and was able to sneak up on him and make a good finishing shot on him. He ran over 800 yards before I was able to get him. Took me over 3 hours to drag him through a laurel thicket, back across the swampy creek bottom and then up a 100 yard 70 degree incline, down 200 yards of fire trail until I could get him to where I could get my pick up truck to. I was tore up by briars, covered in swamp mud up to my waste and sore as heck, but it was all worth it! He only scores around 120 gross, 19 6/8 inside spread, 8 scorable points, 3 on the left, 5 on the right to include a tiny 1 1/8 inch G3 and a 1 3/8 inch kicker off his right G2. He is no Midwestern beast, but for sandy coastal Virginia, I am tickled pink!

As I found him...


Couple photos from today before I starting processing him.




Yesterday was my last day of my hunting vacation as there is no Sunday hunting and I go back to work tomorrow... So the persistence and patience paid off!

Congrats Travis! That's a hell of a deer. I'm not a "big" deer hunter, and I could care less about what a deer scores. (although it wouldn't stop me from having a nice one scored)The only reason that I haven't shot a buck this year is that I've seen one bigger than I have on the wall and I'm holding out to see him again.

Sounds like you need to get a game cart or at least a plastic sled to tie them to. I feel your pain from the drag. Been there done that and it was 2 of us doing the dragging. From finding it until getting it to the truck took a bit over 5 hours, and it wasn't even my deer.