Well, deercation ended without releasing an arrow. I passed a couple good up and coming bucks, had a couple shooter bucks give me the slip. I had one dead to rights at 6 yards walking quartering away, but as I started to draw, he spooked forward a couple steps and looked back. There was a small tree blocking his vitals so I couldn't get the shot. Saturday morning, I had that young 9pt walk by perfectly broadside at 15 yards, but I had decided to take my gun out for the first time in about 5 years. I would have shot him if I had my bow, but I was hoping to get a shot at that big 5X3 I have running around. Luck would have it, that big buck came out on the neighbors property at about 120 yards away and I didn't even realize it was him until later. All in all, it was a good week in the woods and considering I did all my hunting on my 40 acres, I was pleasantly surprised by the quantity and quality of my encounters. I'll still be out there trying to get one on the ground as the season progresses. My soybean plot should be dynomite in the late season, I just hope some of my target bucks will make it though gun season.
Well I killed a buck. He's definitely not my biggest, but he's a solid 3 year old. I was initially disappointed because it was getting dark when he charged in& I mistook him for a different buck. But with the year I have had (fewer big buck sightings than ever...I think due to the terrible weather thus far) I'm happy to tag him & call my Indiana season a success. Haven't scored him yet...I will tonight. I'm guessing right around 120. I'm off to Illinois this weekend to try to get a buck over there
Nice job. Congrats. I feel kinda bad for passing up those 3 year old bucks that I've had a chance at, but I'm really hoping to catch one of the mature bucks I have running around now. That 3.5 year old 9pt is haunting me now, I'm guessing he's going 130ish.
Yeah! Congratulations boonerville! I just got back from my trip to Missouri on Sunday. I passed on some small bucks and does, but I didn't get a shot at anything worth taking. I checked my cam behind my house and had a video of the buck below cruising through my little "kill plot" on the 8th. Muzzleloader season opened here on the 7th and I was afraid that he was probably dead, but we spotted him cruising through our bottom pasture Monday. I'll be able to get after him Thursday morning and then again this weekend. He's a stud for this part of west Tennessee. I'm not sure if the cropped screen shots from the video will show anything, but he appears to be a mature buck.
Here, let's try this instead. The tree he's in front of at 16 seconds is the tree I'd be in with a northerly wind.
What a crazy night. My daughter had basketball practice this afternoon. I didn't get home until about 3:30. I threw on some clothes, grabbed my gun and camera and jumped in out little UTV and drove over to my tower blind. Met three doe on the road, turned up the driveway on the neighbors property and saw two more out in the field. I have to drive on the neighbors to bet to the back side of my property because I can't cross the creek as it's banks are too steep. Climbed up and settled in. Had a doe fawn feed out in front of me for quite a while, then saw 3 more doe in the beans about 100 yards west of me. Had a young 8pt move in and check out the doe fawn that was feeding about 30 yards out in front of the blind. He fed for a while and moved on. Had a group of 6 doe file in right beside my blind and cut right out in front of me at 15 yards. At least 4 of those doe were mature. Had another group of doe come in the same way about 10 minutes later. At one point, there were at least 13 doe feeding in the 3 acres soybean plot. Just as I ran out of any usable light I noticed a dark spot at the far end of the field. He fed his way in my direction, and I could clearly make out he was a good buck, but I just didn't have the light to be 100% sure what buck he was. The light faded away with all those deer still in the field. I ended up pushing my UTV about 100 yards, up and over the hill so I didn't spook them all out of the field I almost didn't go hunting. Rifle season will be over after Tuesday and I plan on putting a tag on one of those doe and hopefully one of the bucks I'm after. For as bad as I thought things were this spring and summer, This has been one of my better seasons for number of deer and encounters.
Awesome glad you are having a good season! I also had one of my better seasons. If I hadn't screwed up on that 1st buck I shot I would have killed a doe and a 140" buck in 5 sits for a total of 15 hours on stand. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm guessing tonight was probably the most deer I've ever seen during one sit on my place. I would say somewhere between 20-25 different deer tonight. As for the season, I've had some great encounters, missed some solid opportunities and passed up a couple bucks that I wouldn't normally pass up. That 3.5 year old 9pt has gotten the pass 3 different times in hopes that I can get a shot at one of the mature bucks I have running around. He still may get an arrow in the right situation though.
I had a really nice 8 point walk right by me this morning, but I passed on him hoping I'd get a chance at the bigger 8 above. Needless to say, the big boy was a no-show this morning. Hopefully he'll walk through this afternoon. I saw 11 other deer this morning - all does and small bucks. Here's hoping I don't regret passing on that buck.
Things are slowing down here. Rifle season was rough for me. I shot and wounded a nice buck opening day. Honestly have no clue what went wrong. I squeezed the trigger and it felt good, but when the buck took off, his reaction didn't make it seem like he was hit very well. I only had marginal blood for 100 or so yards. I spent the next 4 hours looking for any sort of glimmer of hope, as well as three hours the second day but with no luck. Ive got two cameras set up on my Last Heart Beet food plot, hoping he is still alive and I can close in and finish the job with the bow. Tears me up knowing that this deer probably survived but will most likely have a tougher go of things thanks to me.
That's always a tough one Ryan. I've been there. 4 or 5 years ago I shot one of the biggest bucks I had ever seen on the hoof. I'm guessing 160+, from about 170 yards away. When I pulled the trigger I must have squeezed to hard and shot about 8 to 10 inches to the right. Had to just miss the liver. Had trail cam pics of him 2 days later walking towards a bedding area. On the third day, my daughter and I tried to find him and jumped him out of his bed. We never found him and never saw him again. Sucks not knowing.
Thinks have been pretty good on my place. I've been hunting out of my tower blind lately due to the terrible weather we have been having. I have the best food source in the area, and they all know it. I'm seeing anywhere from 6-20 doe using my field every evening. Last night, there were nine 9 doe feeding and a smallish basket rack 8 feeding for the last 30 minutes of light. I got daylighted by a pretty nice buck from about 200 yards away while I was getting set up in the blind. Then I had a really nice buck come in to about 45 yards, but spooked before he made it into the field. I think it's only a matter of time before the bucks start hitting the beans hard. My wife called me this morning and said she had just seen the biggest buck she's ever seen on our property walking across the field behind our house. I'm hoping I have the perfect storm for late season hunting with just about the only food source in the area.
Those beans should be stellar, but would definitely be better if we got some good cold weather Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's been nasty here for the last week. Constant rain, sleet and freezing rain. Finally cleared up yesterday but the temps have still been hovering around freezing. Tonight would be a great night to be in my stand on the beans but can't hunt tonight. Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
We have had the rain/snow mix here but the temps haven't been cold enough to get the deer on heavy feed patterns. They have been hitting the alfalfa fields fairly regularly, but after dark Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
