Deer hunting 2018 thread

[jagee]

My trigger finger is itchy! All you bow guys got me all excited!

I'm taking my brother in law for his first time hunting ever. Should be a fun gun season. Now if Friday night would hurry up and get here!

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

Nice one! This is my first year bow hunting and my first year using a climbing stand. This morning I was absolutely covered up with deer and squirrels, but nothing quite like that came through. Guess the woods will be alive with gun hunters next weekend, so I hope my chances are still high.

I used to hunt solely out of a climber. I would have spots picked out before season and just climb. It saved money buying several stands, plus I was mobile if I wanted or needed to move my spot. I used an Ol' Man climber. After several years carrying a 25 lb stand up and down hills, I was ready to start investing in stands. I still have the climber and have used every once in a while when I find deer are moving too far from my stands or if I want to try out a new area. Good luck to you.

 

[DEC]

What a weekend this past one was! I went Saturday morning and right out of the gate 10 minutes into legal time in a sideways snow storm I saw a body of what I thought was a good deer about 75 yards through the woods and just into a thin spot in the standing corn. I grunted at him, he picked his head up, and ran to 40 yards and stopped behind some trees. As I tried to dissect what he was I knew he was pretty good but still couldn't tell if I liked what I saw or not. He turned away and started to leave so I hit the grunt hard one more time. He turned on a dime and circled out around in front of me. I kept catching glimpses of a tall brow tine and decided to grab the bow. At 30 yards in what I thought was a clear opening I stopped him and let an arrow fly. I saw the lighted nock blow through further back than I had hoped. I watched him run through an open bean field and disappear where my corn field meets a neighbor's woods. I let him lay until noon when my daughter Sydney got home from volunteering at a church coat bank. Together we took out after him. We ended up finding him about 150 yards from where I shot him. Pure liver shot. I am 99% sure the arrow hit some small branches that were a couple yards my side of the deer that I never saw and diverted the arrow just a bit back. Just a solid 8 pointer. Long left beam and long brow on the left side. I think I have photos of him in my archives but not totally sure. I didn't get the shot on video because the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't keep the camera on him, as the wind would blow it to the side when I let go. So no video.


After getting him back to the house, Sydney said she wanted to go hunt, so we loaded up and went to another farm of mine for the last two hours of the day. We had not been in the stand 10 minutes and we were entertained with multiple bucks chasing many does all over around us for the better part of an hour. Fun to watch, frustrating too as rut hunting can be. Every time I thought it would happen for her the zigging and zagging of deer not wanting to fully commit to the season of love would end in a close but not quite close enough situation. Then all of the sudden we see a lone young buck cruising. I hit the grunt tube one time and he turned on a dime and came right to us. He walked across the ice of a frozen swamp right to us. At 20 yards Sydney drew and stayed with him. He walked straight at us and at 10 yards stopped facing us. I whispered "he has to turn, wait until he turns". It felt like forever and then he turned to his right. He took a step and I stopped him for her and said "there it is". She took her time, buried the pin behind his shoulder and let an arrow fly. Perfect text book double lung shot. He trotted about 50 yards, stopped, and stood. After several seconds his butt swayed and then ultimately he fell. She got to watch the whole thing. Just text book how you always picture it to be in your mind. We laughed, hugged, and celebrated as if she had just killed a Booner.


What a Saturday for us and one that I doubt will ever happen again. On Sunday after we got home from church, we got both deer out and shot some photos. Then the skinning (I hate skinning cold deer) and work began. Later that evening I got a text from a great buddy of mine that he had shot a good one as well, so last night I went and helped him drag out a mid 130's 10 pointer. His boy had arrowed his first deer that morning as well, a button. Just an AWESOME weekend of deer hunting fun and great memories.

 

[phylodog]

Good stuff DEC, congrats! I look forward to see the video

 

[42769vette]

I've got a buck on the farm that is every bit of 165-170. I have tons of pictures (don't know how to post them here). I saw him Saturday evening at 150 yds chasing a doe. Sat all day Sunday and didn't see a sign on him. 15 minutes ago he chased a doe through my yard. He is taunting me every day. God help him if he does that after Saturday.

 

[Mgderf]

I sat in a tree stand for a little over 7 hours today and didn't see a thing.
A buddy was just a few hundred yards away, and he took a nice deer with a VERY small 10 point basket rack, not 10 minutes after legal shooting time.

Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[trailrider]

Great story DEC. Congrats on an awesome weekend.
Looks like there was alot of success on INGO this archery season. Good luck to those still trying. I'm gonna let a buddy hunt Thanksgiving weekend and I'll go out look for a nice fat doe. Reminds me I gotta pick a gun and check it between now and then.

 

[yetti462]

Tagged out on Saturday. Buck tag anyway. Gonna do some pistol hunting for does and my 6 yr old is chomping at the bit to hunt. I had him shooting the 300 Bo last night and I believe he is ready.

 

[amboy49]

Because I hunt from a ground blind I was rereading the regs regarding the requirements for blaze orange material necessary to be on the blind. As I read further I came across the section on the penalty(s) for violation of various game laws. Hunting out of season, wanton waste, etc. I was reminded that the penalty for violations is, at a minimum, a $500 fine and court costs. BUT, if taken to court, a judge has the latitude to confiscate physical property that may have been used in committing the violation. So . . . . . . In theory the judge could confiscate your $1,000 rifle and your $60,000 pickup truck if you are caught doing something against the rules !

Other than crimes involving drug sales I’m not aware of other crimes where asset forfeiture is a possibility. Quite frankly, the seizure penalty seems especially draconian to me. Wondering if others feel the same or should the courts not be limited in any way when penalizing game law violators ?

 

[42769vette]

Because I hunt from a ground blind I was rereading the regs regarding the requirements for blaze orange material necessary to be on the blind. As I read further I came across the section on the penalty(s) for violation of various game laws. Hunting out of season, wanton waste, etc. I was reminded that the penalty for violations is, at a minimum, a $500 fine and court costs. BUT, if taken to court, a judge has the latitude to confiscate physical property that may have been used in committing the violation. So . . . . . . In theory the judge could confiscate your $1,000 rifle and your $60,000 pickup truck if you are caught doing something against the rules !

Other than crimes involving drug sales I’m not aware of other crimes where asset forfeiture is a possibility. Quite frankly, the seizure penalty seems especially draconian to me. Wondering if others feel the same or should the courts not be limited in any way when penalizing game law violators ?

It doesn't bother me a bit. Poachers deserve it in my book.

 

[phylodog]

It doesn't bother me a bit. Poachers deserve it in my book.

I’m right there with ya. Trespassers and poachers barely get a slap on the wrist, I don’t think the confiscation allowance is used often enough. It’s easy to figure it’s no big deal to sneak in and shoot a deer on someone else’s property but some of us put a lot of time and money into our hunting areas and it only takes one moron to come in there and run a mature buck off of your property.

 

[Leadeye]

Collected a beer can trail marked into my ground. No stand around where it stopped so I'm assuming climbers.

 

[42769vette]

Collected a beer can trail marked into my ground. No stand around where it stopped so I'm assuming climbers.

They start confiscating beer, and trespassing will stop in its tracks.

 

[Leadeye]

Hunting in the ice is going to be a different experience.

 

[DEC]

Here is a video of the deer that I shot on Saturday as he came in. Sadly, technical difficulties prevented me from getting the kill on video. Basically, I bought a new camera arm before season and I didn't have the section joints tight enough to prevent strong winds from pushing the camera around on me. The winds were howling on Saturday morning and every time I let go of the camera the winds would push it sideways. Needless to say the arm joints have been tightened up for the next hunt. Anyway ... enjoy.

[video=youtube;J-ZULJayDxg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ZULJayDxg[/video]

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

To all the hunters heading out for opening day tomorrow, good luck and stay safe. I'll be driving to deer camp tomorrow, heading to VA for a 4 day hunt with my dad.

 

[Fargo]

Sitting on a brown co hill so pissed at myself. Rushed an easy shot on a big mature buck. Zero blood trail, but still scouring the hills.

 

[Fargo]

Still nothing, looks like I at least missed clean. Followed his trail as best I could a couple hundred yards till it hit the property line and no blood. He didn’t act like he was hit, head up, tail up, no broken gait. Can’t believe I did that.

Probably won’t see another deer like that all season.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Watched two little bucks this morning that were begging to be shot, but gonna let them grow a few more years and hope the bigger bucks start coming out to play soon. Sounded like a few guys set their watches ahead a few minutes. First shot I heard this morning was 7:02.

 

[BiscuitsandGravy]

Had a nice 8 pt walk in about 7:40. Couldn't pass it up. Shot placement was not my best but we'll take it.