RB, Thats a tough break brother..... Looks like you got a few hanging out though!!!! Best of luck in getting a crack at big boy again... Guys, I am still around just haven't gotten out of Mexico yet but I am on short change now... Nine days left and I will be heading to Illinois to try and get a good-un.... Will check in with you guys while in Illinois if anything good happens, as long as I can get some internet access... Best of luck to all you guys that are out there doing it!!!! Keep the stories coming and post them pixel's when you get it done!!!!
Holy Crap I know it's early to be in, but I am hunting a field edge and the deer pass through early in the morning and right before dark. If I haven't seen one by 8:00 am it's time to get to bed. I work nights. I just saw one deer this morning, not sure what it was. Saw it across a field at 300 yds or better. I pulled my SD card and wasn't real happy when it only had 12 pics. Was I surprised when I checked it. This is not the one I missed either. I hope to get chance at him. I think he will score better than the one that got away. Check out his nose. A sure sign of a mature buck.
Solid buck RB!! Hey guys fyi I have contacted Justin via pm a few times now regarding our missing man. He has yet to respond to me and it's been over a week now. Maybe a few of you should try giving him a pm as well? maybe that will get his attention. It's not really fair to our team if we have to compete a man down!
SH, I sent him 2 pms as well. I don't get it. If he's gonna run the contest (without any helpers) he should at least do what needs to be done. I guess we'll keep trying, maybe we can post a thread asking for an alternate. ?? Ok, so I have a long one for you guys. 2 weeks ago tomorrow (opening day in VA) my neighbor shot a bear with a xbow, and lost it. He took a bad shot "because he thought it was gonna leave" and lost it. I reamed him in a nice way. He's a rookie bowhunter this year, so he has alot to learn. He's probably 45, and hunted a long time with a gun and a good guy. We get along well. Told him sorry about his bear, but he needed to learn alot in regards to hunting with a bow. I told him lots of things, hoping some would set in. Yesterday evening he calls, he shot ANOTHER bear from the same stand. Said he made a good hit this time, did like I told him and waited for broadside shot. It was 15yds. Well it was pouring rain yesterday all day long, I have no idea why he even went out. (we had a discussion about that too) Well, he was worried after the shot because of the rain so climbed down and began to trail immediately. Said he saw it, and tried to get another shot...but didn't get a chance. He said it went onto my property, and he circled around the last area he saw it, nothing. He came in and called me. I told him I'd help him in the morning, and if he actually hit it behind the shoulder like he said, it was most likely dead. He did get a pass thru too. He calls me today around 10am....said he couldn't find it. He had already looked for about 3hrs. He DIDN'T call me, just tromped all over my place looking, with no game plan. GRRRR. Oh, but on the bright side....he did jump 2 decent bucks from my thicket that I haven't been in since Feb. man was I mad. So I told him I'd go give a look and see what I could find. I grabbed my little daschund dog and my wife, and we went out to take a look around. He told me it layed down near a log, and he jumped it up...but there was still blood there. I knew basically where it was and had just started looking for the blood spot, and he came along through the woods. He had his house dog, which then distracted my dog. It was comical, neither of them could have cared less about anything at that point. Needless to say, they just wanted to play. I told my wife to go back and get our lab mix, she has a really good nose and seems to find ANYTHING dead and bring it home to show us. My neighbor and I looked around for a while while she went back, and then when they came back she had the dog on the leash. My dog only wanted to lick me, she was so happy to see me. LOL, she could have cared less about the blood that I was putting right in her face. I said, this ain't working...and took her off the leash. She circled around about 20yds, then stopped and put her nose in the air. Immediately she went forward a ways to a brush pile and then her hair stood up on her back, and she jumped back a bit. I thought...there it is. I went over and looked in the pile, and sure enough it was piled up inside a tree top. At first I couldn't even see it, had to look hard. My neighbor was jacked. We drug it out of the treetop and brush. He made a perfect shot, if he wouldn't have jumped it...it would have been dead right where it layed down. It only went about 100yds total, maybe 65-70yds to where it layed down the first time. I'm not a good judge of bears, but I guess its about 150-200lbs live weight, a female. Glad we found it, and he was VERY happy. My dog gets a treat Here are the pics of it. Still not happy about him tromping my whole place, but oh well. Hopefully the deer will be back. Maybe I'll hunt tomorrow evening.
Nice tracking Mike! I've always wanted to take a bear with my bow. I plan on going on a hunt somewhere in the future. I went out this morning, it was a great morning. About 9:00am I looked behind me and saw a 1.5yr old buck, looked to be like a 6pt sparring with a button buck. First time I have ever seen two bucks sparing. I ranged them at 40yds. I accidentally dropped my phone from my tree about a half hour prior to seeing these deer. After seeing the two bucks walk away I had a good feeling they headed right towards my friend who was also hunting with me this morning. I waited about another 45 minutes, then I climbed down from my stand and retrieved my phone. There was a text message from him saying "smoked a spike" Now here is the deal, I have no problem with people shooting younger bucks. Shoot what makes you happy as long as you have a tag for it and do it ethically. But so far this year I have had two young bucks within range, one being a small 4pt, and the other being a spike. I have yet to kill a deer over 1.5 (my only two bucks that I have killed were 1.5) so my main goal is to not shoot a buck unless I believe it is at least 2.5. Well the 4pt I passed on was shot by a neighbor far back, he took up the trail too early IMO and never recovered the deer. The spike my friend shot was the same exact spike I had at 15 yards one week ago. I know this because one of his sides is real funky. I'm really happy for my friend and I'm not going to preach to him that I don't want him shooting younger bucks. But I think you guys get my point! I just needed to vent:p
SH, good job passing - and congrats to your friend. I totally understand how you feel. The first year I decided to begin passing the young ones up (1998) was a tough one. I was used to taking whatever I could get a shot at, bow or gun. I especially hated when I would let a young basket rack go, and he'd walk over the hill onto another property and get killed. That was tough to swallow. BUT...over time, letting them go did two things for me. It taught me to be a better hunter, and it allowed me to stay out there and get shots at older deer - that I was never getting before. I think most hunters eventually progress to a point where they just don't want to shoot "any" buck they can. Heck my 11yr old said "this year dad, I'm only shooting one 4pts or bigger, no more spikes". Granted, he's only killed one spike ever, but he did get that nice buck (in my avatar) last year - it changed his thinking on his own. He wants one like that again. Keep at it, it will pay off. The other thing, once your hunting buddies tag out - that leaves all the mature deer for you :D Oh, and if you want to really have the passing young bucks help you....when you get them into range, practice drawing on them (finger off the release:p) and saying "gotcha". I still do that some, its a confidence booster, and you know you could've smoked em. I'm gonna head out this evening, to the opposite side of my property. It will most likely be more of a scouting event, than a hunt with confidence. Haven't been there all year. My property behind my house is tromped from the bear incident, so I'm gonna leave it be a few more days. The property on the other side (in front of my house) is my inlaws. Its usually very good for gun season, but tougher to pin down during bow as their travel patterns are very random. Good luck guys, hopefully we can put some down. The cold is here - its only 40 right now, and wet and dreary...but not raining. Mike
Went out tonight to new property Cold, Rainy not ideal but i was in the woods! Only saw 5 turkeys and lots of squirrels. Two other buddys were there as well one saw 2 does the other saw what he said was either a Button Buck or a 1.5 year old doe. The one guy was there this morning and saw 4 turkeys, squirrels, and one nice buck:D Gd sign for first day of hunting on this property. I will be giving it a try some this week with the bow on Mon , Tue , Wed. Thursday Early Muzzelloader comes in and i will be doing that for a couple days, Then back to just bow hunting hard until late November. Gettin close to the gd time of year boys!!!!! Gd Luck All. Oh and SH gd job on letting the little ones go. You cant control what everyone else does. As long as you are proud of what you shoot or what you let go thats all that matters! I used to shoot whatever came in first until a few years ago, and the quality of deer we see now is much better and if we need to let the air out of something theres always NANNY'S:D
So pissed, I just wrote a rather long summary and it didnt post. Im out of time, so here is the nutshell version. went yesterday and got a another doe. now freezer is full. can concentrate on the bucks. people will start passing on bucks when they are ready. All my friends do now, after you get comfortable ,I think it just comes naturally. and I too go through the motions and draw on deer even if I dont wish to shoot. practice as I see it. my biggest peeve is when people rush recovery. I take mental notes of my shot , and then use binos to strengthen my notes, finding arrow from stand (white arrow wraps) ,looking for blood by a spot I saw the deer run passed. and most importantly to listen, a double lung shot for example the deer will have a gurgle sound, as it flees. and listen to where its going, you can here it crashing into stuff, and get a good idea where its at. and most importantly ,if you are not sure of your hit, WAIT!!!
Didn't make it out Sat evening guys, the rain picked up again about 3pm, and never let up till Sun morning. I didn't feel like getting soaked, and am not a big fan of bowhunting in heavier rain. Beautiful and clear today...and only 40 right now at almost 11am! Man do I wish I was out! Gonna try to get out a couple times this week for sure. Good luck guys!
I hung a new stand on some new property. Hasn't been hunted in years. It is my girlfriend's fathers property and I have seen some monster rubs in the same area year after year. He finally gave me permission to hunt after he realized I was a pretty cool dude :D I hung a stand in a opening surrounded by a thicket. I also setup a mock scrape with a active scrape dripper. I have my game camera hanging over it also. I'm really hoping I get a picture of the buck that has been making those rubs. I think he will be pretty pissed when he goes to freshen up that rub and sees that scrape :p Here is a pic of the spike my friend took Saturday morning around 9:00 am Check out the shot he put on him too On a non hunting note It's my 21st Birthday today, going to hunt the evening then hit up the bar for some Monday Night Football!!. Good luck to everyone this week, it's really start to heat up out there. DON'T SLEEP IN! SH
Yes, happy b-day SH! 21 is a good year...enjoy it! :D Ok, so I slipped out this evening...decided to try one of my spots I haven't been to yet. So I ease my way down the logging road behind my house, and I get about 100yds out and see some deer. I glass a BIG doe, and can't see what the others are. About that time, I hear my wife yell to my dogs (her and the kids were heading out to football and soccer practice) and here they come. My lab, and daschund busted out the back door when my daughter was lazily going out....of course, they begin trailing me. Deer blow and go, and the dogs - followed by my son come storming by. Our dacshund doesn't get to run free, so she's on a beeline to ANYWHERE, with my lab in tow. They roll right past me....and about another 150yds deep. My son is running after them, everyone is yelling - total chaos. I'm jacked. My son catches the little dog, we take them back home and I debate even going out at this point. Its 4:45 and I'm sweating due to trying to catch the dog. So I decide to try a different stand opposite end of the property. I drive my truck down that way and park, and slip in nice and quiet. I get to my stand, and for whatever reason - I have no pull rope. No idea why not, there should be one there. I bumped one deer about 30yds from my stand, couldn't see what it was. So I climb up the stand with my bow hanging from my safety belt, what a cluster. Didn't see a darn thing except about 50 squirrels, they drove me nuts. I sure hope my hunt tomorrow morning is the exact opposite of tonight!
I've had plenty of those hunts Mike, It just seems like everything just goes wrong. This year I went on a hunt where my friend was going to pick me up after work. He was in a huge rush to get out in the woods so he never stopped to get gas (he thought he would make it) we get about a mile away from our spot and hes like "****. ****" and sure enough we run out of gas. I had no idea he was low on gas,. We just happen to be by the cemetery which borders the property I hunt. I told him to just park here and we would walk. Had to walk through a cornfield about an extra half mile to my stand. I had to walk against the rows too! Then I go to a new stand and there is no bowstring to carry up my bow! I was sweating like a pig by that time. That night sucked lol! and of course I didn't see squat!
LOL, SH! I've never run out of gas...that would suck. At least you were close. Haven't been out lately guys, hoping too in the next couple days. SH....quick football update. My son's team won their first game last night, and did it in Bret Favre 'ish fashion. They got the ball back with less than 1:00 left on thier own 30 (80yd field). He unloaded two passes down the field, one hit the hands of the reciever at about 25yds out...but got broken up. The second aired out for about 30-35yds....15 feet too long. So anyhow, with 14 seconds left on the clock - 3rd and 10, (basically the last play of the game)....they roll play action right, and he dumps it off to one of the RB's about 5yds out on the LEFT side. The whole d bit on the play action R....only a corner and safety to stop him -- and they didn't :D He was jacked...a 50yd touchdown pass play to win the game, and his first passing TD! Man, that was as exciting as it gets....they won 6-0! You couldn't have knocked the smiles off their faces with a sledge! He did run one in for a TD earlier in the game also from 8yds out, only to be called back for holding, and they ended up not getting in. Ref's were a little tough this week. One game left, vs. the best team in the league. Ok, sports update over...back to hunting! :D
Well I went this evening, against my better judgement. It was raining...light but steady. Got in the stand at 3:45 and it let up for about 15mins (I was temporarily excited), then proceeded to ramp up to a steady moderate rain and never let up. I stayed until dark like an idiot, got soaked and didn't see squat. I really don't like to hunt in the rain, but figured I'd give it a shot - can't kill em on the couch. I was hoping it would let up and they might start to move after. Oh well. Good luck this weekend to those of you who are hunting, we've got the rain set in now it appears. Mike
Sounded like a sweet game! Does your son have some wheels on him or what? Who do you root for on Saturday and Sunday?
Went out last night. The rain ended, but it got really windy. I was in a stand near a creek crossing that is usually good in the evenings, but didn't see any on stand. I did bump 1 deer about 30yds from my stand on the way in. It appeared to be a doe, but was by itself which was wierd. I guess it could have been a small racked buck, but I didn't see any horns and it was only 30yds from me. Gonna try and hit it a couple mornings this coming week, hoping things will start to pick up, they should. Muzzleloader also comes in here next Saturday...so I'm trying to get one on the ground before the pressure ramps up. SH...my son is pretty fast, but not blazing by any means. He's probably in the top 2 on his team speed wise, but it takes a bit for him to get it going. He's not real quick yet. This is his first year playing QB and running the ball too, so he's learning. He's done a great job overall, especially since its his first year at it. Last year when he was 10 he played tight end, and defensive end. Never ran unless he caught a pass. He has 2 more years to go in this league (11-13), so he'll likely be much tougher as we go. Excited about that for him. Most of all....he's having fun, and he's developing leadership skills that will help him in the future in all things. Wish us luck Tues, we're gonna need it! :D Good luck guys...I feel some points coming for the team this week! Edit: SH forgot to say...I like VT and Penn State on Sat, and Giants on Sun :D Honestly, I just like to watch good games - I don't get all worked up over who wins or loses, and often like to root for the underdogs! I do have some teams that I DON'T like on both days...but we won't go there
I had a good evening Sat. I saw 12, 11 were does and fawns. One small buck chasing a doe. Only had a doe and two fawns in range, but it was right before dark. No chance for a shot. This morning the wind was crazy and blowing from all different dirrections. This afternoon I had to help my son bleed the brakes on a truck he was working on. About 4 pm it started to rain steady, so I stayed in. Any of you guys starting to see rut activity picking up or is it just me?
rb....no rut activity here. I don't get it - I'm seeing squat right now. Went out this morning, saw 2 does from stand about 125yds off very briefly, and that was it. Hunted till 11am. I decided to scout a bit on the way back. Went down one logging road that I usually see alot of scrapes and rubs - nothing. Not one rub or scrape yet. I walked the perimeter of our land earlier this week....freshening up the posted signs. Only saw 4-5 small rubs, no scrapes. Muzzleloader opens Saturday....so time is winding down on unpressured deer. I am gonna take my son Sat morning and see if he can get a buck down - then probably bowhunt Sat evening in a new set I put up right off a buck run. We'll see. They are calling for more rain here now starting tomorrow grrr I hope you guys are seeing more than me. Not often it is this slow around here. I'm sure it will pick up, its just a little frustrating being so dead right now. Usually the first two weeks of Nov here are pretty good with chasing and seeing lots of bucks - hope it is. Good luck guys... :D
