Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting 2012-2013

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.