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Finally got one, he's not the biggest but he will help fill the freezer. 6 scoreable points, he had a 7th point that is busted off. more pics in the entry thread.

Keep at it Martin, it takes less than a minute to change the outcome of an entire season. I'm not sure why the Lord chose this year to bestow His blessings upon me, but I'll take it. My luck was terrible during the opening shotgun deer season this past weekend. The weather was having a bipolar issue with 70 degrees on Friday turning to thunderstorms Friday evening with 40 mph gusts of wind, turning to 29 degrees Saturday morning with 20 mph winds. Not the best conditions for tent camping (LOL). Anyway, Saturday was a jacked up mess but somehow I managed to harvest the biggest buck I've ever taken from public ground which ends my season earlier than ever before. Those target bucks I posted pics of from private ground will have to wait until next season. He's a broken brow tine main frame 10 with a 1 and 1/4 inch sticker off the back which gives him 10 score-able points and an additional point for the team. Here's one just for our team - I'll put more pics and the story in the deer hunting room for anyone interested. It's been great sharing the season with everyone - thank you. Good luck to you all as we close out the season and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you get the email I sent you? I sent an email to the address you have listed on your profile page. If not I will give you mine and you can send the pic to me. You can also text me the pic of your tag. I can use the other pics to get your deer loaded. Your deer will win this for us.

Get rid of all this useless Facebook horsecrap. Go to a normal minimalistic forum. It's a bunch of old farts around here, not 14 year old girls, though some act like it. We don't need to read someone's blog, we don't need to know if someone likes our post, we don't need stupid orange bars under our names telling us how fantastic we are at typing on a forum. We need a place to write a post, share a picture and call each other names, nothing more.

whitetailfreak55 Pruts pointingdogsrule Ozarkgal Wgumz MNhunterr SouthGaHunting

This deer weighed 212 pounds field dressed and estimated 270 live weight (my heaviest to date). I was hunting my land on October 16th when this buck came to the edge of a cut corn field to make a scrape about 30 minutes before last light. I heard a doe blowing at him about 15 minutes earlier. I had grunted earlier and I think that's why he came up from the bottoms. A cold front had came in and I suspected good deer movement. When I first saw him I was electing to pass because I could only see the 4 points on the right side. Then he came out of the brush and I could see the massive body and character of the left antler. I decided to take this deer. Just at that time he started walking away, presenting me a quartering away shot - I took it and double lunged him. His death run took him 100 yards down into a gorge that took me 2 hours to get him out of. He will provide a lot of meat and look great on the wall.

A couple more recent pics.

While xbows are legal in IL I had the old Matthew's out this evening. Stuck this good looking fella at 25 yards. He ran 50 and fell dead within 10 seconds. BEAUTIFUL! My first compound kill off my new land. Living the dream!

YOUR BACK!!! ALRIGHT! C'MON PEOPLE...Im already out hunting, we need to get teams set up really soon!

Holy Moly..Dakota, clrj, silldeer hunter, billkay too...wow..in ONE post! NICE!?

One of the joys of spending time in the outdoor world is spotting something you would never have seen sitting at home in the recliner. Yesterday, on a hike with my daughter, we had the privilege to witness a Northern Pygmy Owl at a distance of less than ten feet. The little guy was about 6 inches tall and maybe as big around as my fist. It had flown down from a nearby tree to check us out. Good stuff.

Ok, been trying to figure this one out. What is the meaning of this? Since I have such a low number, does this mean I cant be trusted? LOL

Merry Christ mas Steve!

Merry CHRISTmas

Merry Christmas Buckee!

I haven't been here long enough to get to know very many, but reading through the Moron thread was hilarious!!

We need redkneck, Jeramie and 92xj to stop by. I had numbers for John and Ben but lost their numbers somewhere down the line.

somebody pinch me...I think I';m dreaming... NOOOORM!...holy cow, need2hunt is here, it just keeps getting gooder!

yup gotta love it!

footnote to story; we used to do a lot of pushes or drives back in the day; thus, one would get some fast shooting in and sometimes marginal hits that we would have to follow up on., we seldom lost an animal this wasnt our first rodeo, and we learned from my Dad, he taught us soo much, and how to think like a deer and read what sign we saw. Thanks Dad! R.I.P. To have my little brother be in on my hunt was FUN! Just Like old times! Thanks Jim!

Sooo Marty, U never has a doubt ey? It wasnt " if " it was going to happen, just a matter of when Story; been passing everything, and was waiting for the old guy to make his appearance. Well two weeks ago with sub zero temps, he came in at 2 a.m., then at 10 p.m.. Finally he came in with a wide 6 Ive been passing up. Soon they would be in 10 minutes after i baited and left with Gator. Been really busy forwarding out wood, and loading semi all day, you know; leave in the dark, come home in the dark kinda stuff. I Sat last Saturday for a no show in sub zero cold. Wednesday I loaded last truck at 3:30 p.m. and headed home. Called ahead to alert Kim she was driving me out to stand when I got home. At stand just after 4 p.m. I get up in and wave her on home with gator. small bucks come running in while sound of gator was in distance. Then they all turned and did the "LOOK", YUP here they came. Old guy came right in turned and presented a clear shot facing to my right. I came to full draw, and some of the small bucks busted me and flew, old guy looked at them like whats your problem? Then he turned and went back to eating corn, I had just got to full draw, swung pin on him and "THWACK"!! I knew I had rushed my shot, I hit back a bit. I got down asap and followed him up about 70 yards, good red blood, he was at a walk. I backed out. Me and little Bro went back in at 7 p.m. he had bedded up 3 times, and we jumped him, we decided to push him hard as we have 6" of snow, and hw was leaving a pretty good trail. We took him a half mile at a fast walk. He never once ran. We stopped to check gps as it was heavy clouds and we got a bit turned around in the dark. We were 400 yards from the next road. We decided to push him as close to the road without bumping him over. We jumped him up again as we had stopped for a few minutes for gps to load, and he had laid down, that told me he was losing it. At 150 yards we broke chase and angled to right on a cabin driveway, buck had angled to left. I knew he would bed as soon as we dropped him. we called kim to come pick us up. Next day I went in and cut track, took him 200 yards to where he bedded down 6 different times, last bed he had expired. gutted him out and dragged him 100 yards to road.

I did a "Ruth" pic!...I came right home from work and went and got him. story later;

Just home from Sidney Mt Hunted with forum member NBomb500 Nathan F. had a great time and took this awesome buck!!!

Sorry to hear that Martin. We lost our sole rights on the neighboring tract, only 35 acres but half of that was a mature oaks and mixed hardwoods. Got bought out from under us, we were one day late making our offer, and is unfortunately likely going to eventually be timbered out. Will destroy the area we tried to keep a sanctuary, further the boy that bought it is gonna let his buddies hunt it. I have had our property here since 92, so that stings.

I agree, being able to calculate yardages is vital. I shot my 2nd IBO shoot and somehow got some arrows to hit the Xs. Shot 307 (13 X) and finished 1st in my class. That is my personal best score!

I'm hoping to plant some food plots for me and the family. Too wet in Ohio to plant anything.

Yup it sure has....very few females even on here anymore....other than you and Ruth sure wish Buckee would come back, well,...not to this room or we'd have to call him Buckshee

Our oldest daughter Christina was home for a few days and I told her I would try to kill a deer this morning early before she had to leave to go back to the other end of the state. I had a feeling it should be good, but of course you never know if the deer are gonna cooperate and while there is a front moving through it was still in the upper 50's when i walked out. During our archery season, last Thursday October 29th sat a stand that I have not really hunted much the past few years and had a pretty decent buck pass through out of range. I guessed him to be 18 inches inside and thought he had no brows. Later had a doe come through behind me. That was enough for me to kind of form a plan. Noticed when checking cams that there were several scrapes in view of this stand, so I figured I would try and help tick this buck off a little or maybe the bigger 9 that was my primary target. So fast forward to this past Thursday this week, I took a scrape dripper and put some active scrape in and hung it near our property line on the west side, knowing if the deer came on the edge from the opposite direction he might catch the scent and a little grunting might entice him. Trail cam pics had the deer at a scapeline about 1/4 mile away 3 times between midnight and the morning of the 29th, I saw him just 10 minutes before the last pic of him. So it seemed he was cruising making circles the same direction. I had hung a dripper filled with active scrape on that line back before the youth hunt and activity had spiked prior to the neighbors cows getting back there which unfortunately left things cold that weekend of the youth hunt. Had heavy rains yesterday and then the north winds moved in. I had been watching forecasts pretty close and they called for a nne wind, less than ideal for that stand, BUT if the deer did the same thing he would not get into my wind until after I had a shot, and even if he skirted the edge coming from the opposite direction he may catch the scent from the dripper and not ever catch mine until too late. So leave the house for the walk about 5:15'ish and am up in the stand within 5 minutes. Very overcast and it was slow to get light, legal shooting light should have been about 5:53, it was pretty dim, heard the first shot of the morning about 6. Within a minute or so scan around and see a doe right past the bush the scrape dripper is hung on. She is acting a little flaky, looking back and a few times looking up my direction and then across the river. Wind should not have been blowing to her, thought crossed my mind they watched me walk in in the dark. Then she looked back hard and then snapped her head around the other direction looking back again. I know right then there has to be a buck and start to get ready as she starts easing on around to the south. She gets on around about to my 1 o' clock position, not quite in my wind still walking casually, never blew and to be honest once I got my attention on finding the buck I lost focus on the doe and don't know where she went. I look back to the right and catch an antler and cannot see much more than antlers coming through the woods. Then I see the body and he gets in an opening, he did not ever stop though, did not give me a great look as he was steady moving through in the dim light. I got him in another opening and and got on him, but he did not stop, so I reached down and pulled my grunt tube up and blew one time, he stopped then and looked around but I had no shot where he stopped. I could tell he was well outside his ears had decent mass and knew my window of opportunity would likely run out if he got downwind of me or if the doe caught my wind and took off. So I picked a spot on the other side of the tree from where he was stopped as he started walking again. When he stepped in the spot I squeezed the trigger on the accura and he dropped flat on the ground. Thought he was dead, thought wrong. I hit just a little forward above the shoulder, he tried to get up several times and couldn't and kept slamming his antlers in the ground. I had a bad angle to make another shot with him laying on his side, but tried to put one in his armpit thinking I should catch the heart and the bottom of the lung, not sure what exactly happened if I hit something between I did not see through the scope or just what happened but I don't think that shot made its mark. He managed to make a 180 and now all I can see is his back. Feeling sick now, I consider getting down and sneaking around down wind of him and getting a better angle. He managed to get on his feet and go a little ways before bedding down again and then a little buck came through, I had to get down and got a better angle and finished him off. Pretty good body size deer. Not great tine length and not a shoulder mount wallhanger for me but had good mass and has an 18 1/4 inside spread, tough to pass in the backyard. Christina and I looked at the teeth, she thinks he was a 3.5 year old will get a better look after i pull the head out of the compost barrel in the spring.

About 4:15 Sunday this 4 point buck was chasing a doe by my stand. I blatted at him and he stopped just long enough.

Thanks guys. The farmer just moved in to start harvesting corn & beans. While harvesting a big field (~170 ac.) near where I'm hunting the big buck they found 7 more dead deer from EHD. That makes 14 dead deer found now & counting. Thank goodness no big bucks were found there. Who knows what else they'll find while harvesting though. Right now they're on a 30 ac. corn field that's also near where I'm hunting the big one. Fingers crossed. Because of the EHD impact this year, we'll probably lay off the does in MO. I can always wack does in MS.

I still lurk around from time to time, read what you guys are saying not logged in. Been working like a dog, trying to get a fly line wet! LOL!

Thanks for putting this on john. Means a lot to all of us. My first year on the winning team as well. God blessed me with a wonderful deer this season.

No winter time blues for me, I love winter! We're on modified layoff at work starting this week sl I only work 2 or 3 days a week until the end of March, but still get 95% of my salary when we're off. So I have lots of time to enjoy it. Got a new toy at the start of the season. A customer brought this in late last year stating the pullcord was stuck. Well that was due to him failing to put oil in the injection reservoir (it's a 700cc 2 stroke) one of the pistons was melted and seized to the cylinder.... doh!! He traded it for a new one. I ended up buying it and rebuilt the engine. Have around $800 in it including the price of the sled and parts. Pretty good deal considering some of them of this year and shape are going for $2500-3000. Anyways been riding around any chance I have around the 100 acres I live on. I've only been out once trying to kill some coyotes, but plan on doing that more often too. Could literally shoot them off my front porch if they come out in the fields. Other than that I've been cutting firewood to keep me occupied. Gotta get out and do some ice fishing soon!

Weirdest thing ive ever seen! The dog and I found this buck on our property, deer appeared to be in his bed area when the tree fell. appears to have initially landed on his midsection and broke the two ribs, coagulated blood found on the log probably from predatory feeding. Hair clump also found on underside of log. Blood discharged from nose. Only thing this reminds me of is an old illustration in "big game animals of north america" by Jack O'connor. Thought id share, probably never see something like this again! (See my second post below for larger pictures)

nothing but the hide on the side of the road today...

Yep, that was me, and funny thing is, my daughter is going to OSU because the Navy medically disqualified her, she was headed to that nuclear program too, until they turned her down, lol. Congrats to your son; I know that's some big money too.

Ok "RED"...lol Red Green's "Man Prayer" .."I;m a man, I can change, if I have to, I guess" Been there done that..gotta do what ya gotta do..Phisically went to choir and band concerts in late bow season, but mentally I was in my stand;).....I hear ya Chris

I finally had a chance to get in a stand and unfortunately didn't have an opportunity to let any arrows fly. I did get a nice wake up call when I was headed into the barn to get the ATV. Hopefully you guys don't run in to any of these fellows in the woods!!!

125

Anymore a lot of energy is capable. Mechanicals like the Gator (2" cut) slaughter deer. 25 years ago when bows were much slower it was a different game. Now with the speed and quality of broadheads, just about any name brand head will smoke a deer if the shot is good. The main thing I look at is blade construction. If they lock in stable it will kill deer. Muzzy, Thunderhead, etc... just about any of them are deadly! Its become almost general in the same terms of a rifle. A .270 will kill them just as dead as a .25-06 or a .30-06!

First off, a BIG THANK YOU to our wonderful hosts Steve B. & Connie. Two nicer people you will not meet. They were the greatest hosts.We had an exciting spring black bear hunt on POW island. I should have titled this: "A BIG LEARNING CURVE". We learned a lot and had lots of fun. It's not as easy as those people on TV make it look (or seem to make it look).I went along with my brother and two cousins. They had tags and I was along for the ride. I have a tag for next year and I hope to go back.If any of you have questions on hunting the island I will share my "newly gained knowledge".This may be boring for some of you that have been to Alaska.Waiting to board the plane in Minneapolis.... on to Seattle and Ketchikan.Ferry from airport to Ketchikan[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13470_1404092289379_775[/ATTACH]~~First day in Ketchikan was the wettest day that we had.[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13437_1404092664234_700[/ATTACH]~~Had to see the local sights before the ferry left the next day for the island.[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13468_1404093443587_554[/ATTACH]~~Me and bear[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13469_1404093553604_467[/ATTACH]~~Lots of float planes.[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13471_1404094187483_760[/ATTACH]~~After a 3 hour ferry ride to Hollis on POW island. Then a two hour drive to our destination.[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_13461_1404094309299_54[/ATTACH]~~The place that we stayed. It was nice to have a bed to sleep in and a shower everyday (and the great hospitality). The place overlooked the inside passage. Everyday, sperm whales, pilot whales, seals, sea otters, and dolphins. Thanks, STEVE & CONNIE!!!! ~~View from the house everyday and night. The home overlooked the Inside Passage ~~Cruise ships passed in the Inside Passage every morning and evening. ~~We had one day when the water was like glass. So calm ~~The boat that we had to use for the week. Thanks Steve ~~Harbor at the place we stayed ~~Day 1 we headed south in search of bear. We drove the boat close to 20 miles the first day. My brother drove the small boat. What an adventure ~~The grass flats that we hunted on day 1. We hunted mid morning and mid afternoon. No bears. Learned that we should have been hunting earlier and later. ~~On the afternoon of day 1 we learned how fast the tides rise. Yes, I remember seeing shows of other people's boat getting stranded. I can not believe how fast the tides rise and fall. Picture of my brother wading across 3 feet of water to get our boat.... that was now on an island. Next year a "LONGER ROPE". ~~Boat tied to island ~~Day 2 we planned on hunting some "inner lakes". We got there in a mid tide so the lakes were not accessible by boat. The plan was to enter the lakes and stay overnight and hunt early mornings and late evenings. My brother did not feel safe with the idea. We covered much shoreline without seeing a bear. (NOTE: a few days later a local went out to the same place and shot a bear on his first time out on the water). Next year I hope to go back and set up a spike camp to cut down on travel time. Tough to navigate a small boat in the dark with the tides. ~~My two cousins decide to hunt the clear cuts. On the first day they spotted this guy and after three shots he was down. They were being safe as they did not want to track him into the thick woods. 20 inch skull and the locals say he went about 550 lbs. The second biggest that the locals saw this year. ~~Some of the higher ground that the guys hunted ~~After 2 days in the boat my brother decide to hunt the clear cuts. As a result I was off to fishing with my hosts. Fishing was slow, however, we did catch a few. We were about one week early for the salmon run. Some locals were catching a few salmon. One halibut was caught. Excellent eating. ~~Heading out to fish in the bigger boat ~~I just caught "junk fish". My first time ever bottom fishing. I caught a dolphin by accident. I have never seen line go off of a reel so fast in my entire life. I ask Steve what to do....he says "there is nothing that you can do. Just hold on and the line will break". Fortunately the dolphin released on his own before I ran out of line. (I wonder if the dolphin might have been tangled in the line rather then hooked). Either way it was a first time experience. ~~This is how thick the forest was. ~~I did some hiking on my own to scout other areas for next year. I carried this while hiking alone. I found it easier to hike the streams and logging roads then try the forest ~~When we arrived there were tons of Sitka deer all along the roads. They were as big as barrels. Two days later there were fawns all along the roads in the grass. The fawns would just drop to the ground as a vehicle approached. Some defense mechanism. Locals say they are good meals for the bears. I hope to go back some fall to hunt Sitka deer. ~~Steve set out crab pots and we ate crab for dinner on two nights ~~Was able to meet the island law enforcement. I asked for a photo with him, however, he stated: "NO, you will not believe what people do with my photos" ~~ was fascinated by the colors and shapes of all the starfish. ~~A barge pulling rail cars. He was headed north when we passed him and two hours later he turned around and was headed south. OOPS!!! ~~Filling the tank at the local gas station. Directly from the fuel truck. ~~Two cousins ~~Me and brother ~~Our WONDERFUL HOSTS... STEVE AND CONNIE. Thanks for everlasting memories Steve & Connie relaxing. Steve in his favorite place (chair). Good luck to allthe dog

Yup, will just write you off!

Pretty neat video. That is so different than me parking my butt in a tree for 6 hours lol...looks like fun though. It looks like some thick, nasty stuff around there.

Hope there is a good pic waiting for you! I hope to be in a stand friday! Looking to put some meat down. Id really like to drop a nice fat doe.

speaking of squirrels...we are clear cutting & grinding a 40 acre, 30+ year old christmastree plantation, guys never trimmed them at all...red squirrels are running back out to a barren landscape... looking for what was home....I was greasing up the other day, the foreman came running by me zig zag like...I said what the heck are you doing?? ' 'Chasing a Red squirrel''!! Chased one with the Grapple today, as I was heading back to get a pull.. he got to the fence with a big 'ol Yellow CAT right on top of him http://usedequipmentsale.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2004-CAT-525B-Chase-1000x750.jpg

Not gonna watch those links right now, may try later on. A lot going on in the world, seems things under this current "administration" have only gone from bad to much worse on several fronts. He has single handedly undone the work of great presidents before him. What happened to those self touted "diplomatic skills", remember before ever elected he promised a better relationship with other parts of the world, certainly had not held true. He against advisement pulled troops out based on his timeline leaving an unstable new govt to fail. This "administration" has been the biggest failure and has left this country more insecure and with a weaker viewpoint from the rest of the world. Yes, i believe we are at greater risk now than we were before 911.

not much activity around us either. just a few here and there.