I've not been out the last week and a half. Been down with the god danged flu. have not had it since 97 and it kicked my hind parts. Back to work this week but I have 3-4 days over Christmas and I am hoping to sneak out and try to get on the board. Amazing buck Troy. Congrats man.
Thanks guys, one more to go! Gonna hunt my arse off till Christmas eve and let the chips fall where they may! In stand this eve, after work. Good luck to any of you still getting after it!
I am still freshing the scrapes, I am not seeing pawing action but witnessed two does from my blind the other day hit the licking branch 30 yards from my set up! I am pretty much hunting travel areas to and from feed right now but in a few of those spots I have scrapes so when I am setting up where I am tending scrapes.. yes I am freshing them. Its really all about the feed tho right now.. A few young does will be comin into estrus soon tho! It could get wild this week again if I happen to get set up where a young doe comes in! My most important product from BF tho.. is the VANISHING HUNTER, I tell you what guys, I have tried them all, tested them all on downwind deer, hands down I have had the BEST results by far with BF's Vanishing Hunter, it's even FDA approved as a mouth wash! I mean this stuf really helps knock down human odor to a point that deer hardly EVER spook when down wind. I can not say enough about it, I wont hunt without it. I believe I hunt some of the spookiest bucks on the planet too.. whitetails in general, our predators out here are as badazz as you will find anywhere and these deer are tuned in! Not even counting human pressure which is almost 2 months of rifle.. season.. anyway jm2c.
Shed, what does the vanishing hunter taste like? Im sold on the buck fever products, look forward to using all their products next season! I'll be back in the deer woods over the holidays will bow in hand and cant wait! Since killing my buck I've pretty much been behind a camera. It sucks not having much of a backup plan for bucks once I punch my wi tag, something I need to figure out for next year. Plan on taking a few does and see what bucks made it through the gun seasons. Looking forward to sheds falling. Good luck everyone still putting in some stand time!
Taste isnt too bad, little like salty water is all.. works really well, I tell you what go out and sweat your butt of in a Tshirt.. take that shirt off take a good whiff of it.. then spray that shirt down with Vanishing Hunter.. It will instantly get rid of all the human odor smell, I do this a lot hiking into a steep mountain stand and or while elk hunting. When I killed my WA buck the other day I had a very long steep hike abou t a mile and over 1000 feet gain in elevation.. I knew I was going to work up a sweat so I packed a bottle of VH with me. When I got to a small bench about 200 yards from my ground blind set up in the saddle... I stopped, undressed to my scivies, hung everything up on branches to air out ( lol it was 24 degrees out!) let my body cool off, and I sprayed everything I mean everything down with VH... clothes, body, bow, pack etc.. LOL thinking the whole time.. what would a normal hunter do if they walked up on me doing this! LMAO .. anyway I made myself stay there a good hour.. (planning ahead I went in early on purpose) redressed and hiked the last 200 yards in nice and dry and VERY scent free... Worked great, buck came in about 1.5 hours later.. his last 40 or so yards he came in directly down wind of me while I was tucked under that tree.. shot him at about 28 yards.. and he milled around there for a good minute or two nibbling on twigs and browsing before I shot him..Not once did he even look my way ..straight downwind.. and yes I always use it as a mouth wash on all hunts..
Had 2 bucks and 3 does stoll by last night at 18 yards.. nothing old enough to stick a sliver in ! Back at it Fri-Mon
PureB.. good luck with the bow back in your hand! Hope you drill another magnum! I have a few days left to get it done in Idaho one more time!
Got out last night, setup between a cedar swamp and south facing hardwoods ridge. Had 11 does and fawn work there way out of the swamp but conditions were dead calm and everything was so on edge I was never able to get into position to draw. Hope for a light wind today.
Finally put an arrow through a doe, 23 yards, double lunged. Dropped in sight at about 50 yards. 50 points on the board and meat in the freezer!
Good job on the doe Paul! Been quiet around here. Anyone still out? My season ends on Tuesday. Going out for a scouting/shedding/doe mission on Saturday and may go out on Monday for a season cap treestand sit. Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2
I will be in stand on saturday and all next weekend. Sent from my SGH-T959 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
Nice work Paul! Dave all done here I am already picking up sheds.. got a dozen thus far, doing a ton of scouting as well for next fall. Timber reads like a book right now with the snow.
I'm about to attempt to pick sheds here soon. I'm miserable at it, at best. But I am excited to do some post season scouting. Troy, do you think bucks will be in areas now that they'll likely be in come August/September? Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2
Well, my season wrapped up Sunday boys. I sucked balls this year. Should have had 210" to add to the total, but I missed the big 8 and my cousin killed him in gun season. He grossed 161". I usually take one doe a year, but the one I decided to shoot during early season I grazed my blind with the broadhead and hit her in the shoulder. I decided to wait until late season to try killing another doe, but it was warm with little snow and the deer were pretty much nocturnal. I did let a few antlerless deer walk the last couple weeks, because I was pretty sure they were bucks that had shed. Good luck to anyone still out there.
Shed, you seem to know a lot about sheds and just deer in general so I have a question. I read that deer shed their antlers due to the drop in testosterone, the rut in the Midwest seems to be approximately a month earlier than you experience in the West, yet your sheds fall at the same time or sooner. Is the testosterone level incorrect?
Testosterone levels, nutrition, photoperiod, stress, predation, harsh conditions (ie stress) age of a buck are all contributing factors, not just testosterone. You probably will be hard pressed to find any whitetail that survives in such a harsh overall equation of conditions as what the deer in the mountains out here endure. Stress being a huge contributing factor and lack of available feed during winter months. Predation here is hardcore, wolves, lions, bears, yotes ect ... Lack of any agricultural crops..for a lot of the mountain deer, combine that with late rut that runs into the onset of all out winter conditions ...by this time.. Mid Dec ... these bucks are run ragged, NO fat on them at all when you kill a Dec buck... They are flat out beat.. They often drop here around Christmas..some earlier and the majority all drop by mid Jan. I think where deer live easier lives, have better feed and rut a little earlier and have time to feed some before the harsh part of winter arrives plays a big roll in the lack of stress. Finally our predators ...mostly lions, wolves and yotes..by Dec .. (bears are caved up) really put the pressure on these bucks.. they target the run down deer. Bucks being the large majority because they literally step out of the rut and into shedding.. Its not uncommon here to see a shedded buck breeding or chasing late does in Dec.
Dave, our big bucks.. started shed over here around Christmas and shed hvy that week following.. there was not enough snow yet to move them..you will find the sheds this year right where they were living over Xmas..
