I apologize to everyone for being "MIA" I work as a 911 dispatcher and over the last month or so, things have gone down the toilet! We have had 3 people quit and 1 guy got fired, so overtime is mandatory to keep things running smooth. I've been working 60 to 72 hours a week (12 hour shifts) and seems like the day or two I have off is usually spent trying to catch up on sleep or things around the house. Our archery season ends Saturday, and I was able to work enough to have Friday and Saturday off so hopefully I can get a buck on the ground. They are chasing pretty good in my hunting area and I've been bummed that I haven't been able to be in the timber. Wish me luck and say a BIG prayer for me!!
My brother and I just returned from Ohio where we each filled another buck tag. Season to remember so far and now I will focus on putting a doe in the freezer and on the board.
Well Im home from a good day in the woods and Im tired out ... do Ill make this brief. I killed a 3.5 year old buck this morning at 25 yards, then killed this 4.5 year old doe at 25 yards this evening. Ill tell the whole story after I get my hunting cloths washed, cook some dinner and get some sleep, since I have been down sick with a head and chest cold Im wore out. Ill get the score later tommorrow. And the Rut was in Full Swing here... YEEEEEPEEEE
Thanks Shane 11/11/2011 morning I awoke still sick and really not wanting to get out of bed and go hunting, but I forced myself. I headed to a spot where I had been seeing some bucks. So I am walking down the foot trail to the new spot I want to bowhunt in the dark with a full moon lighting my way so no flashlight was needed, when I hear multiple deer running towards me and a doe was leading the way all the while she is blowing and she was being chased by 4 bucks all hot on her heels and grunting. They run the top of the ridge where they were siluoetted by the full moon so of course I stop to watch when it turned ugly. I am standing there with my climber on my back and my bow in my hand when they decide to run down the ridge right at me. The ran by me at less than 15 yards and I dont know why but I froze up, its not like me but for some stupid reason I just stood there frozen in place. I guess I should have turned my flashlight on them to ward them off but like an idiot I just stood there and almost became a bad christmas song of Momma Got Ran Over By A Bunch Of Rutting Deer. Once I finally arrived at the new spot I wanted to bowhunt I readied my climber when nature called so I did the unthinkable and dug a little hole and went to the bathroom not 5 yards from my stand. I made my way up the tree and got all ready for the sun to rise. After getting a bad chest and head cold that kept me in bed and on the sofa and caused me to miss 4 days of rut hunting I was really anticipating a great morning in the woods. When legal shooting light arrived of course my cold reared its ugly head and I had a long cough attack in the stand. I figured after the coughing attack and the bathroom incident I was proabably not gonna seek jack ! Boy was I wrong, Right at legal shooting light the 1st deer to show up was a big buck. He made his way towards me but there were no big trees between him and I to cover my movement of standing up and drawing my bow. So he approaches a small tree no bigger than 6 inches and it was all the cover I had, so when he goes behind it I stoodup and of course he saw me and the gig was up. After he had a stare down with me for what seemed like an eternity he decided he didnt like what he was seeing and turned to go back the way he came so when he turned I came to full draw. I hadnt had the time or the light to get any yardage readings of my surroundings with my rangefinder yet so I had to guesstimate it and I figured I had a quartering away shot at roughly 28 yards so I released the arrow and I missed, the arrow went over him and imbeded in the base of a dead tree behind him while he trotted off. Turns out I had way over judged the yardage, that isnt like me ... but it happened, OH WELL . DAGNABIT ! A bit later I watched a lone doe work her way through my area out of shooting range. Maybe an hour had passed since I had seen the doe and I was thinking about getting down and calling it quits for the morning but thought to myself just stay a little bit longer, when I hear a deer walking in fast over my right shoulder. I look to see a shooter buck coming to almost the same spot where I had misssed the other buck earlier... but this time I have my yardages all figurd out and I have cover to stand and draw as he goes behind a tree at 25 yards I then Meep at him to stop him broadside between two big trees, settle the pins on his vitals and shoot. And I watched my arrow disapear in his vitals as he ran off and died not 50 yards from the tree I was in. YEEEPEEEE The arrow passed through both lungs and severing the heart artery about one inch above his heart. I didnt relize when he came in though that his rack was all busted up he apeared as he had been doing some hard fighting with another buck. His right side G2 was busted off, his left side brow tine was partially busted off and his left side G 3 was partially busted off as well as a few point ends were chipped off. If I had known his rack was busted up I wouldnt have shot him cause it really hurt his score. But I am still proud of him and for making a good shot. I really didnt want to hunt the afternoon since I was still sick and tired and smelly from gutting the morning buck but a little pressure from some friends I was with prevailed so I headed to one of my favorite spots that I hadnt hunted all season for the afternoon hunt. It seemed the winds wernt doing me any favors since they kept switching directions and swirlling so I figured I wouldnt see anything. But about a half hour before sunset I spot a Doe with twin fawns behind me heading my way. The doe gave me a nice broadside pose at 25 yards which I rewarded with a arrow through her vitals. She made it about 40 or 50 yards and piled up with a back flip ending her final run. I got him scored and posted in the official Score Card Thread this morning for our Team Points / Right = 4 Left = 4 Right Left MB 22 1/8 MB 21 5/8 G1 4 1/8 G1 3 G2 3 2/8 G2 5 4/8 G3 6 4/8 G3 6 4/8 H1 4 4/8 H1 4 5/8 H2 3 6/8 H2 3 7/8 H3 3 5/8 H3 3 7/8 H4 3 H4 3 3/8 = 50 7/8 52 3/8 Inside Spread = 17 Total = 120 2/8
First day on the tree in Kansas today! Saw a nice 6X1 this mornin. His right side was broke off just above the base. Would be a dandy otherwise. Hopefully a big'n will cruise by just before dark.
I got Buck number 2 on the ground http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?28039-The-Fat-Lady-Sung-For-Me-In-Illinois-Tagged-Out
Deb, congratulations on #2. Funny how it can be so dead out in the woods (except for the squirrels) then it can turn in an instance. Nice one to add to your collection. I'm still here guys. Been hunting some. Will take my oldest son out on Sunday - I think. He's 16 now and his schedule and priorities change constantly. I've only had one decent day of hunting (Thurs, Nov 10) where I saw several decent bucks in a day, but never had a chance to get a shot off, or they were just too far away. Maybe things will turn around soon. Good luck to all.
Hey guys been huntin hard here in Pa our archery buck season is over for now and I just couldnt get it done here but Im gonna hunt our whole rifle season with my bow. I have seen two shooters since our buck season went out on saturday and I couldnt shoot them because the county I live in has a extra doe season. Any how congrats to you lady forge for layin two nice bucks down.
Just swinging by to say I'm still here! Will try again this weekend despite the forecast of rain and snow. Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. I did a little pheasant and goose hunting in Nebraska with my wife's family and my boys, so we had a good time.
Hope ya have a great time this weekend and slam a big one I thought that I was wasting my time yesterday trying to bowhunt the crappy weather but it turned out I was wrong... it was rainy with spitting snow here with 35mph winds so I did a short afternoon ground hunt and they were moving early( 2:30pm ).. seen 6 doe's with fawns ( they were all moving in an area that was out of the wind) and I could of shot a doe fawn but the tag I have is for a mature doe only and of course the big doe busted me and took off From now one its gonna be weather be damned .. Im going hunting ! I got this big ole doe the other day and I caught the kill on video. http://youtu.be/rr3dwyzfOnY
Hey Forge, I enjoyed the video. That's a huge doe. I've never seen a mane on a doe before. Thanks for sharing.
I am sorry to say but I wasted my buck tag this year with my shotgun.... As team Capt. I am very sorry to do this to all of you... To try and make up for it I am going to go out in the morning and try to put a doe on the ground. Tomorrow starts late bow and ML season so maybe I will finally put some points on the board!
IMO you dont have any need to apoligize to us or anyone else for how you hunt ! I find hunting to be a highly personnal... what you choose to shoot is your buisness and I feel we should never let others influence what we shoot or dont shoot.. its your tag, so hunt the way you want and shoot what you want. So Congrats on your kill and are ya gonna share with us a pic of what you shot ?
HAHAHA Big Misunderstanding.... When I said "I wasted my buck tag with my shotgun" I meant in the way that my teamates will not get any points for it. I am very proud of my buck and he tastes great! Even if I had my bow that day I would have not been able to put an arrow through him. Out of bow range for me. Here is a pic of him. He scored 80 or 82 I dont remember. Big deer with bad antler genetics... wide 4 point
Congrats on your buck and its so nice to see the smile on your face in the photo, looks like you had a good day
