2017 - Official Deer Season Thread

[snapping turtle]

That right there is the biggest reason I enjoy hunting. Not seeing owls, just being able to be enough a part of nature to see things happen as if I weren't there. Hope it all works out with the vehicles too.

Things are looking up.
doe down.
Came in about five minutes from last post. mature easy shot no trailing she just ran 15 yards and fell. Alone which is weird for doe. Just finished washing hands after field dressing. And of course now it is not raining. Nice not having to travel far to hunt three minutes drive is sweet. Doe in truck was the hardest part. Easier with a second person but you gotta do what you gotta do. 4 wheel drive chevy pickups a little tall to lift em in alone. She ran out of woods and dropped right at the field edge. Did not even have to drag just drive up and field dress. Getting ready to call in to DNR. So maybe things looking up. Should be a nice afternoon to do some butcher work but my butcher is hunting till noon or so with his son. Only heard one shot other than mine this am.

Now the truck is weird. Kicks out of gear and glides at about 34 mph. Then kicks back in second. Fluid level is ok but does not look real good. Maybe it will he just a drain filter flush and refill with new but some how I don’t think so. Either way being an off road I can’t remember how hard it is to get to it with the skid plates.

Meat is back on on the table boys.

 

[snapping turtle]

Cold finger double post

 

[Fargo]

Blanked so far, headed to a different place where I can stalk some wooded ridges. Based on the doe tracks I cut while walking out, I may just not have seen some go by with how hard the wind is howling and how much the woods are moving.

 

[srad]

Got on the ground in my favorite patch of woods at 6:30; sitting down against two trees to watch what developed at first light through the 50 yd wide funnel in front of me. Nothing moving except water-logged squirrels from dawn till 10am. Rain started pouring down pretty good. Heading back into the house till 3pm.

Daughter called me yesterday at 5pm, a Mustang whacked a BIG bodied buck about 3 miles from the home. Said the police where still there. Jumped in the truck to hopefully claim it and by the time I got there (10 minutes), officer said someone already picked it up. Said it was a big 8 with 8-10" tines. Ran right across the 4 lane highway and got clipped by the Mustang.
Good to hear that they're moving!

 

[djones]

Dang wind keeps trying to take my hat. Almost doubled on coyotes during a thunderstorm that blew through earlier. Shot the first one somehow through the rain covered scope. Had the 358 Winchester bolt worked and on the second as it tried to get away. I am pretty sure I missed the second but I gave it hell.

Good luck fellow hoosiers. Be safe and watch out for dead trees and limbs.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

Good luck to all those out there braving the weather. Just watch out for Bigfoot!
https://ultimatetheraphy.info/?p=940

 

[ghitch75]

i slept in......no getting killed by falling limps and trees......they will be there tomorrow...

 

[Leadeye]

Did some hunting and saw a small 8 chasing a doe go by about 20 yards away. Hawk in the tree next to me could hardly stay on a limb. Heard no shooting at all.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Lots of wind today and a few big gusts started to make me sway a lot more than I was comfortable with, so left at 10. I heard 1 shot at 6:58am this morning (my bet is an AD), and at 7:05 I had a small doe walking towards me and the spook big time. Must have winded me, so I need to revisit my scent strategy. She bolted the opposite direction snorting and kicking like mad.

Otherwise just watched some squirrels gorging themselves on walnuts. I'm debating whether or not to go back out this afternoon with all the wind. If I do I might just sit on the ground.

 

[snapping turtle]

Wind/rain like this is great for stalking. Scent and sound decreased. Slow and slower wins the race.

Just been hitting smaller almost patches of wood this afternoon. There is a nice field with electrical towers in it. Brush all grown up underneath if they get pushed in the AM I often see them head to these as an open area hideout. Unless the wind is like today the corn in that field always gives you away.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Anyone ride out the t'storms this afternoon?

 

[Leadeye]

Can't see 20 yards into the woods in this rain, but that's an observation from my kitchen window.

 

[jagee]

I took the doe to the processor, visited my great aunt in the assisted living home (I hunt her property and stay at her house) then came back to the house and took a nap. Power is out in the house now...guess I should have just gone to the woods.

 

[King31]

Anyone ride out the t'storms this afternoon?

Hunted through all of it, got pretty dang wet, but did see a few deer. Decided being cold and wet wasn't going to cut it so I called it a day.

 

[Hookeye]

Tried twice this morning, got pretty wet and headed to truck (each time).
Total woods time? 1.5 hrs.
Saw 2 fawns, 2 small does, a little 6 pt and a 100" 8 pt.
2nd visit the creek was up a foot.
Walnut and steel..............I wasn't happy to be toting it today.
Let the 8 walk, had crosshairs on him (was on the ground).
Figured I did that last yr, so would hold off.
Proly not see anything that big next two weeks LOL.

 

[Fargo]

Today is not a very good stand hunting day, but to think that means it is not a good day for deer hunting is incorrect.

A guy should get outside the box, get off the stand, and use his feet on a day like this one. It can work really well. (But same as today's conditions demand something different, you have to know what days you are meant to stay put.)

That having been said, it WILL test your skills and gear much more rigorously to attempt to kill deer face-to-face. Wear wool (under a decent rain shedding layer if you have it), go slowly, keep the gun UP, and the wind on your cheek. Glass constantly from 10 yards through as far as you can see. Move with the wind. Don't be afraid to belly crawl.

-Nate

ETA: Rain is only annoying until you realize you're going to get wet.

I went this route late morning in Brown Co, shot myself a fat little butterball doe that made the mistake of wondering what that was on the other ridge and stood staring. Getting it out was a good bit of work, but I was able to drag her to where I could row a boat to her pretty easily which made it a lot better than trying to drag her up those 45° ravines.

Being from out west, I find I much prefer stalk or push hunting to stand hunting.

 

[Chase515]

I sat in the ground blind in the bottom of the field this morning. Took a first time hunter and we saw nothing. There were a couple shots after sun up from the south and east but nothing after that. Got tied up with a family dinner and didn't make it back out this evening. But headed back out in the am. The blind in the bottom is a neat area to hunt, its a T that goes into the middle of the woods it goes 100 yards into the woods 40 yards wide and then its 175 yards across and 40 yards wide.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

A good friend of mine took a 14 point old looking buck this morning down near Jasper.

 

[ChrisK1977]

I rode the storms out. Shot my buck at 10:05. Prolly the first deer killed in Indiana with a 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum.

 

[Dirty Steve]

Shot a +/-130" 9 point at 7:50 AM yesterday near Unionville, dropped the deer off at the processor and was back home by 10:00. Do not recall hunting in a tee shirt on opening day of gun season in the 40 years I've been doing it.

Dirty Steve