Me too, all day sit on Saturday. High of 62, still a bit warm, but not bad. Haven't been out in a couple weeks, can't wait. Just a primer for 10 days starting next Thursday!
Awesome! I'm on vacation next week also and trying to do all day sits all week. I have a feeling dnoodles buck is the first of may for us this week!
Teaser... I don't have any pics of me with the deer on this iPad. I will have to pull them off my phone to my laptop and do a full write up tomorrow afternoon.. I'm still at deer camp so I have to drive out to the highway to even get a cell signal . Despite my success this morning, I've had a pretty rough week of hunting. I'm actually pulling the plug tomorrow and going home for a few days, then will be coming back to deer camp on TH night. Ineed to clear my head. He's not going to score high but honestly I'm more proud of this morning's deer than any I've ever shot. I worked my rear end off for over a week and I spot and stalked him through CRP this morning. Details and pics mañana... It's November, boys. Time to make it Reign!!!
Just shot a buck. 15 yard shot maybe a hit high. He let out a gutteral sound when I shot him and crashed off through some brush but didn't hear him go down. Just heard something stomp through creek not sure if it's him or not. Going to wait another hour or so then get down and assess.
Congrats, MO!!! give him time. Both bucks I shot this week roared like that deer call promo video when I shot them. One was dead w/in 60 yards, the other disappeared... I'll post pics this evening, boys. On the road now
Alright backing out until about 3. Blood was super hard to pick up and follow except one stopped where he stopped and dumped pretty good. About 100 yard blood trail and pretty sure he crossed creek. I just can't pick up blood to the creek.
that's exactly what happened to me on Nov 2 on an 8 point that I shot in the shoulder (I think) at appx. 25 yards. Plus a "scattered showers" forecast that turned into a steady 5 hour downpour. I lost him; but am hopeful he lived. Hopefully your story turns out better.
Well no happy ending to this one. I could not find any blood between where I last found blood and the creek but I knew he had to have crossed. I also heard a deer cross through the water about 10 mins after I shot. I started searching all of the creek crossing for blood and came upon a drop on a leaf. I followed three more drops over another 15 yards to edge of another field and could not find anymore from there. I searched the woods on other side of field, I searched most of the head high field and searched a large section of brushy creek bottom. Didn't come across the deer or another drop of blood. Looking back in thinking that I hit shoulder because I only got about 6-8 inches of penetration. He bled very little over the 200 yards or so I could find blood and it was all dark muscle blood. I'm praying he's still living. This would be first deer I've wounded and not found and man has it got me in a mood.
Sorry I haven't been participating much lately, but my Pop has been a handful. BUT, the good news is I get to do a dark to dark tomorrow!!! This will be the first time I've hunted in more than a week. Temps look decently cool, wind direction will be perfect, so this should be interesting. It's time!! Good luck to anyone hunting tomorrow.
so here's my much anticipated competition buck pics and story (may be more than one installment.) So a few days ago I posted that I missed a buck and hit a tree. On Nov 2, I hunted in a nasty cedar swamp in the AM where we had been getting pics of a nice 120-ish 8 pointer and several smaller bucks in daytime hours up to Oct 31. The weather called for scattered rain showers. Hah! Anyway, very long story short that morning I ended up shooting a nice 2-3 yo 8 point in the shoulder area, quartering away. After the impact, the buck roared, spun 180* and ran back across the private property line towards a creek. We gave him 2 hours, then the "scattered showers" turned from a steady drizzle to a straight downpour. Then I went to the point of impact and tried to pick up the trail. I found hair right away and then a few yards away the arrow was just laying on the ground completely intact. The NAP Spitfire DoubleCross broke a rear-deploy blade on one side; the other side failed to deploy at all. Needless to say I lost blood after about 75-100 yards and that coincided to about the last place I saw him limping away. We grid searched as much as we could until dark. it's a swamp so any deer footprints look fresh for days. We just could not get a reliable trail. I reviewed the video and my memory many times and I am hoping that I hit the shoulder square and did not penetrate vitals. Anyway, fast forward to the morning of Nov 3. It was super foggy, and I decided to wait until daybreak to sneak into a CRP field that I hunt. I based this decision partially on an article that I recently read advising that if you're going to run and gun as a bowhunter, it doesn't always pay to go crashing through the woods at 0-Dark-30...sometimes it's better to wait until you can see and sneak your way in. So I parked off the road at the red square and walked in through the CRP (yellow dashes path) to approximately the blue circle. (Green X is where I originally spot buck. Green circle was intended stand site.) So as I'm walking through the fog with 30 pounds of Lone Wolf hand climber and back pack on my back, I get to approximately the green X and through the fog see what looks like a giant-bodied buck just standing in the main trail approximately 80 yards away - just staring at me (blue circle.) He takes a couple bounds down own of sight into a depression that houses a giant old oak tree at the bottom. I shake my head at my luck and then continue up the path...then I get the funny feeling that the buck might not have gone too far, because I was so far away through the fog that he probably didn't even know what I was. So I nock an arrow and creep up to the green X with the red circle and look down into the bowl. I don't see him at first and am about to continue up the path to where I planned on getting in a tree when all of a sudden I see the buck's head swivel in my direction. I can literally just make him out through the fog. I figure him to be about 40 yards off, but he's perfectly broadside. So I went ahead and draw back, still with my pack and LW on my back. He's still just standing there broadside, now looking mostly ahead. I put the 45 yard pin right on his heart, and press the trigger on my release. (my pins are set @ 35/45/55. I'm only a couple inches high at 20 on my 35, and a couple inches high at 40/50.) I figured if I was short on the range I'd miss low or he'll duck into it. I watched my Nockturnal and 448 grain Victory V1 and Muzzy Trocar Hybrid zip through the fog - it looks like it's going to be low and then he must've seen the Nockturnal at the last second, and ducks down into it. I hear the THWACK, he bounds forward through a briar and out of sight, but I can hear him roaring and crashing through the CRP for a while. I could see the Nocturnal embedded into his side as he ran through the brush so I know I hit him pretty good. So right now I'm feeling happy. I walk over to where I think he was standing and put down my bow and pack. I decided to walk back to my truck with my LW and go and get the deer cart. I get back to the truck, send out a few texts, and hear back from my uncle who offers to help me go get him (only fair; I helped him haul his buck about 4 days prior.) I get back to camp, get the deer cart and text my uncle to meet me at the road gate in about an hour so we can start tracking. I leave to go to the gate and saw this absolute BEAST chase a doe across the road less than 150 yards from camp. I tried my best to get a good pic of him on my phone but the stupid thing kept focusing on the windshield. He was at least a 10; with a rack like a muley....the doe and he run back across the road and I continued on to the road gate. I know the pic sucks; but take my word for it...he was a 150" deer. I'm only including it to show how foggy it was; even an hour after I shot my buck. So after a half hour or so, my uncle arrives, and we head out to the old oak. I find hair pretty much right at the impact sight...48 yards from where I shot at him. He was a little further than I had thought. I would not have taken that far of a shot. I then found bubbly pink blood right at the briar bush where he went through. We had pretty decent lung blood all through the CRP until we found him piled up maybe 80 yards from POI (blue dashes indicate path, blue X with red circle is where he went down.) He wasn't near as big as I originally thought...the fog messed with my depth perception; and his rack was all busted up toward the end of velvet. Every tine he had except for his brows were broke off at some point; and not all at the same time. He's a big 2 1/2 year old; dressed out to 165#. I'll get him scored later this week but it will be less than 100". But I don't care...He's a trophy to me. I worked my tail off this season and had no venison to show for it. Plus an impromptu spot/stalk on a whitetail in an open area? With 30 some pounds on my back and to bust both his shoulders at almost 50? without further adieu; here's my trophy:
I gotta say; the Muzzy Hybrid TORE HIM APART. When he ducked down, the arrow entered directly into his near shoulder blade and blew through it into the lung. Then, the head went into the offside leg directly below the shoulder blade and absolutely shattered the leg bone. Somehow this all happened internally...there was no exit. The shaft broke off inside the body appx. 3" behind the broad head. I later found the rest of the arrow shaft in a briar that we had skirted around while tracking. I had to cut the head and broken end of the shaft out of the offside shoulder when I got him back to camp. Anyway, I cannot believe how much damage this broadhead did. Going through the shoulder blade and shattering the offside leg at that distance??? I'm only shooting 65#. The only damage was a bent/chipped fixed blade; an easy swap with a repair kit. The rest of the head is still razor sharp and ready to go. I've always been a self-admitted broadhead floozy...I've used Muzzy classic 4 blades, NAP RazorBaks, Rage Hypos, NAP SpitFire Double Cross, Slick Trick Mags, G5 Striker Mags, and many others. I can honestly say, that unless laws forbid it, I will be a Muzzy Trocar Hybrid devotee until I die or they stop making them. And I'm going to stock up! couple of pics to show only damage to the head was that chipped/slightly bent fixed blade.... This stray cat has dropped in to our camp 2 years in a row now... kind of cool... there's a drain hole in the tailgate. Works for all liquids, I guess...
Congrats nice buck! Heading out the next 2 days finally got all the corn off hopefully I can put some points on the board guys.
After I recovered my buck on Thursday, I decided to hunt just up the road where I saw that giant chase the doe through the fog. Nobody in my camp has hunted that area before; it's always seemed too close to our camp and other human activity. So anyway I climbed up an oak tree about 2pm and got settled in, facing south (blue X marks the stand.) I was only about 60 yards into the timber from the road. About 4 pm I see movement across the road to the southeast, across the open field right up against the timber. I'd say approx 175 yards away from me. (purple dot and dotted route.) It's a big buck; not the giant I saw earlier but a mature 8 or more. He's cruising the tree line headed east. I go ahead and give a very loud grunt/roar. His head comes straight up and he stops in his tracks. He stays there for a second and then stalks forward a few steps. I think I hear him grunt back. So I give another one, and he stomps forward a few more steps. Then I give another big roar, followed by a snort-wheeze. He heads my way across the field on a rope! At precisely this moment, a Jeep Liberty (bright green square) comes flying around the dirt road from the direction of our camp. That N/S road is almost impassable, BTW. It's barely more than a 2-track and is under about 2 1/2 feet of water to the north with all the rain we have been having. That road gets maybe 1 vehicle up and down it ever 2 or 3 hours; almost always locals. I have no idea where/how/why that Liberty made it from that direction, or more importantly why it chose this exact moment to come down the road, but that's Murphy...Anyway the buck is only about 5 yards from the road when the Liberty intersects with his path and the driver sees him and slams on the brakes. Of course the buck diverts and runs into the woods a ways to the east and I never see/hear from him again. About a half hour later, I pass on a nice little 4-6 point who trots through about 20 yards from my east to west, then south across the road. Just before dark, I hear some steady walking through the oak leaves over my RH shoulder. I grab my bow and get set. A nice 110-ish 8 is coming up the draw from my 6 on an angle towards my 2 o'clock. (Red dot and trail) He gets to about my 4 o'clock where he's mostly broadside/slight quarter away and I give a blatt...he stops right behind a 4" tree. So I'm at full draw for maybe 15-20 seconds and he takes a step forward clears the tree and I let it fly - right into the freaking tree he was standing behind. He goes crashing away through the woods toward camp. 20 yards and I couldn't squeeze it past a 4" tree. Needless to say I was pretty bummed. I needed a mental break so I cut my rut-cation short by a few days and came home. I'll be back in the woods next week with my wife, trying primarily to get her her first deer but still on the lookout to punch my last MI tag. Until then I'll be a cheerleader for November Reign! here's my "trophy" shot close up at least I had a climber and was able to get it tight enough on the tree to reach up and unscrew my arrow from the broadhead.
