Good luck! How much snow do you have up there. Last Friday/Saturday we got 10+ but it has been mid 30s and tomorrow is supposed to be mid 50s so don't know how much we will have left. Sent from my SM-N986U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
We got about 6_8". Not a game changer. My 80 year old neighbor (super guy) killed that shortened 5x5 last night. I had him at about 33 yards at 3:00 but my limit is 30. Watched him follow a doe fawn over his way. I helped him retrieve it. Very happy for him! Hope I can still bowhunt at 80.
Keep the town next to us in prayer(Stanley). Last night it was hit by a tornado. Thankfully no lost lives but businesses and home totally destroyed. Sent from my SM-N986U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Went out this morning and shot a small 8-pointer to celebrate finally being done with jury duty…. Can't enter him in the contest since I shot him with a rifle but don't worry I still have another buck tag. I had planned to bow hunt in a stand but when I got up it was a nice and cool with a bit of fog, the leaves were damp, and we had a good steady breeze so I decided to go on foot and do a little still hunting. Considered taking my bow, but in the area I wanted to hunt the wind direction meant I would be hunting through some pretty heavy brush and briars and a bow doesn't lend itself well to moving through the thick stuff without making a ton of noise. It also happened that the suppressor I bought last November for my 6.5 rifle just got released from NFA jail on Friday and I was really pumped to take it out in the woods so that probably influenced my choice to abandon my bow as well. Got out there right at first shooting light and still hunted through the woods for about an hour until I caught a glimpse of an antler moving to my right about 60 yds away and on the other side of a really thick briar patch. Slowly lifted my binoculars to peer through the brambles and realized that there were two deer there. One was the little 4 pointer with a suicide wish that comes by my feeder exactly an hour before sunset every single day, and the other was an 8 pointer I had never seen before. They were borderline downwind from me so I knew I had to act fast. I slowly sidestepped to a nearby tree to use for some cover and an improvised rest. The brush that was between me and the deer was so thick that I couldn't make out their whole bodies and was just catching glimpses of deer parts here and there which made really hard to tell which was which. After 2-3 minutes of waiting one of the deer moved and his front shoulder back to his liver area became visible in an opening and he was standing perfectly broadside but I couldn't see either deer's head or antlers and I wasn't certain which deer it was. It looked like it was a pretty big deer, but I wasn't sure and it could've been the 4 pointer. Thought about it for a second and decided that its late in the season, I got two buck tags left, and while I was 75% sure that the deer was the 8 pointer, even if I was wrong, that 4 pointer wasn't going to live long enough to become a trophy considering his propensity to walk around during the daylight and he would've still added some meat to the freezer so I decided to take the shot. I was kind of near the property line so I aimed for high shoulder, squeezed the trigger, and dropped him in his tracks. Still couldn't see his head or antlers so I still wasn't sure which deer I had shot, then I catch a glimpse of that dumb little 4 pointer as he walks right up to the dead buck, sniffs him for a second, and then goes right back to munching on briars as if nothing even happened. I had already accepted that I might kill that 4 pointer when I shot the first deer so as I sat there watching him through my scope I came very, very close to adding him to the pile, but ultimately decided not to. His saving grace was partly that I didn't want to burn my last buck tag on a 4-pointer and partly because I was hunting alone pretty far back in the woods and it is supposed get up to the mid-70's today and had already starting to really warm up and I wasn't sure that I would be able to get both deer dragged out of the woods, cleaned, processed, and on ice before at least one of them starts to turn. I also forgot how much messier and generally more of a pain in the ass it is to clean a rifle deer compared to a bow shot deer. I much prefer simply quartering them and putting them in the fridge to age without having to cut away a bunch of shredded flesh and clean all the lumpy coagulated blood thats pooled in the bubble fat on the surface of your meat.
Need some advice. Went out this evening and shot a doe. Just recovered her and she is covered with these oozing abscess. Y’all think the meat is safe to eat or should I donate her to the coyotes? She has them on pretty much every meat-bearing area, both on her back hams and front shoulders and a big one on top of her back that’s eating down into both backstraps so I can’t just cut off a bad quarter and keep the rest, I’ll have to pretty much cut bd trim disease out of every cut of meat. What y’all think?
Yea. I took a second closer look at that big crusty hole where her tail is supposed to go and noticed poop was coming out of it. That pretty much made up my mind.
Good story Possum. Glad to see you getting out again. Tough call on the oozing doe but yeah! Be though to try n eat that. Our 3 day cwd hunt starts tomorrow for 3 days. Gonna kinda steal a line from the movie Tombstone. "I got 3 arrows, one for each of ya". Temps are gonna be COLD but I'm gonna kill something!
Heading out in a little bit. We got a fresh covering of snow so hopefully will paint it red! Sent from my SM-N986U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Well team. I seen 3 nokturnals light up today. Killed a small Buck and hit 2 does that made onto the neighbors. Waiting for a call to get permission to follow up.
Does that mean two scores going to the board?, nice job, I’m in the woods next week. Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting .com Forums
Embarrassed to say team but I didn't get crap for pics. The buck was just a spike so no big points. I couldn't find my tags so had to call the warden. Mind was jumbled. Between mine and 2 buddies, we shot 5 deer yesterday. Ended up being a long day yeserday/today. Pics really didn't enter my mind. Sorry guys and will feel terrible if we lose because of my bubble. Check out the Live From the Stand Thread for how it all went down starting about 4:00 on the 19th.
Congrats on your deer and your memorable day with your buddies! That is what hunting is about. Sent from my SM-N986U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Do y’all think that when a buck sheds his antlers for the first time, does he realize it’s normal and they’re gonna grow back or is it more of a WTF, why are my body parts are falling off kind of situation?
Got a new arrival showing up on trail camera lately… And he is showing himself during daylight with an easy 20-25yd chip shot from my favorite tower stand. All the days he has shown up be had wind is out of the east which is perfect because the stand and my access route are directly west of that spot. There is a 7’ high chain link fence right behind that stand then a road and the gate for the fence opens up 2 feet from the ladder so unless he has figured out how to open a gate then the only way he can approach is from the north, east, or south so he doesn’t even have a chance to smell me out. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
