wtnhunt

Jerry makes a great point with his post. My father died in an auto accident in 1971 when I was 2 years old, most of that side of my family continued treating my mother pretty well even continued doing so after she remarried about 4 years later.

Ummm, well guess my take would depend on the relationship and how it was with each of those involved. If it was a good relationship and I kept touch with them would probably still call them my inlaws and consider them family. Where it could get awkward or more confusing would be if ever arose the occasion that a new spouse came into play.

That was a December pic with the buck being rundown hard. His antlers were busted badly very early on and he was still the dominant buck. It was very obvious in 17 that he had been fighting a lot and chasing does hard. Here was a thread from last year where I asked for thoughts on age Seemed the consensus was that he was mature. I plan to take his jawbone in to the biologist at our local office in the near future.

Those are pretty funny Dave, thanks for sharing. Will have to share them with my wife.

Happy New year to you too Mike, good to see you check in. Have fun with your new pistol.

This was the one my 13 year old killed Sunday afternoon. He was a pretty big boy, I did not look at his teeth, but asked the taxidermist to keep them. I will report back after I get the teeth back. I tried to weigh him but our gambrel scale did not want to cooperate and honestly was more concerned with getting him quartered and in the cooler. Regardless of weight, I am pretty sure he was a mature deer.

Some good posts in this thread. Like I posted above, I am just a hunter, the mount or trophy when we have one that goes on the wall is a great reminder of the hunt and I enjoy seeing our mounts on our walls, and what better way to share the details of the hunt with others who visit us in our home. This season has had some real lows and also some highs. I kind of encouraged my 13 year old daughter to pass on this 2.5 year old buck below that has been hanging around, knowing he could be real nice next year. She was kind of bummed about it and I told her the gun would be ready if or when he showed and she would make the decision that I would be proud of her either way. I told her if she shot the 8 that we would not have him mounted since she already had her first deer on the wall. Turned out she would not have to make that decision as she got an opportunity on a mature buck that I personally would have been proud to shoot. And she hammered him. This is my trophy from this hunt, a great memory and we will have a reminder on the wall in about a year that she may take with her when she has her own home. It does not get any better in my book than seeing my kids successes. Story here

We hit 69 here this morning, was still 69 when my 7 year old son and I walked in walmart. The bottom dropped out with hard blowing rain coming in sideways just as we were walking out of the store, temp fell to 64 in just 30 minutes. No great surprise on the way home a tornado watch was issued for the counties just to the east of us, air has that feeling to it that just doesn't feel right. Looking like we may get snow or eh mix or eh slop here Thursday, that is the day the kids go back to school. One thing for certain is this ground here is absolutely rotten, we did not need more rain.

Catrina killed a mature buck with the muzzleloader back in early November, unfortunately he did not leave a good blood trail and I ended up finding him 4 days later. Can see more here. This is the highlight of the season for me Tim. Long read but worth it.

Gonna be in the 60's here today. Had to quarter Allison's deer and get it on ice last night.

I had taken Allison, our 13 year old daughter, on Christmas day and we saw a real nice 2.5 year old 8 point. She was a little bummed that she did not shoot him, she had a great opportunity on that buck, but did not decide she wanted to shoot him and I did not know until he had gotten to a point where she would have had an awkward shot. I told her if we saw him again, she would have the gun and be ready and could decide. I have seen that little 8 point from that stand probably 6 or 7 times before yesterday. I had told her that if the 8 made it through this year he would be a great deer next year, but also told her that there was no right or wrong, if we saw the deer and she was happy to take the deer I would be proud either way. This buck below is the one we watched Christmas day. We went Saturday afternoon and sat a different stand over the bottom, wind was not really right for the stand where I had been seeing the 8 point, did not see a single deer. I went yesterday morning back to the stand looking over the beans and watched the little 8 come across and into our beans about 8:30 in the morning, but also noticed him being a little more nervous looking than the last time I had seen him and he did not feed long. Yesterday afternoon, we get a light east to east south east wind, but much warmer weather in the 50's and a warm front and rain moving in. Back to the old stand over our back field where we can watch the beans. We had some does come out a little after 4 pm about 170 yards off to our south. One good sized doe, a medium sized gimpy doe and a fawn. I told her that she might consider taking the doe that was limping if she got closer. The does were feeding heavy but kept looking to the east of them, down the hill where we could not see. I figured there was another deer around and told her we needed to keep a watch. About 30 minutes later we had 3 more does come out of the woods from our left or east side, they fed in the beans in front of us and were getting pretty close. The bean plot they are feeding in a long c shaped plot that runs along with the edges of treelines. Allison gave me no nudge or did not try to tell me she wanted to kill one of the does, I figured we would give it a little time. Her mothers .243 was rested on the rail in front of her. About 4:55 or so one of the 3 does in front of us about 45 yards away boogered a bit and she hopped on down the hill where we could see her body but not her legs, the other 2 does were still feeding in the beans, still pretty relaxed. Dunno if the wind shifted for a second or if she caught movement from us or what, she was looking at us and back to our left but she was not too bothered. The does to our right now are heading to the does that are in front of us. Being overcast just after the sun set it was getting pretty dim, legal shooting light end here is 30 minutes after sunset. I broke away from watching the does and catch movement to the left, south east of the does, between a brush pile and the thin strip of trees on the edge of our property and immediately tell Allison that's a good buck and help her get the gun to her shoulder. I knew without the binos in the dim light at about 125 yards he was a good deer, he was coming straight on and looked to be past his ears. She did not see him at first, but she found him. I told her when he was broadside to take her shot. As I pick up my binoculars she asks "now"? I say yes, but as she flips off the safety he charges at one of the does and I tell her to wait until he stops again. He stops again and she again says "now", and before I was done getting the word yes out of my mouth she fired. He took off at first like he was not hit, but then wheeled around and back end went out from under him just before he entered the woods. I managed to get another round in the gun and get it back to her, but he was already gone. I heard crashing, and I knew she had hit him. Evidently Catrina sent me a text at 5:03 asking you. I never saw it before I sent her a text Allison just shot a nice buck. We waited just a minute for the does to be where they would not see us get down, and quickly got down and headed back to the house for flashlights. We got back and found blood right away. Good blood, followed in to the woods, Catrina caught up to us about 5 minutes later. Got to the edge of our neighbor's mess briars and junk grown up chest high on me and lost blood. Catrina had followed a trail a little way into the mess while Allison and I were looking in a straight line from the last blood. Catrina yells here he is. And this is what we find. The 6 mm 100 grain hornady interlock pushed by 40.6 grains of imr 4350 exited through the off shoulder. Bullet entered just behind the shoulder on entry, leaving a massive amount of damage. It was this buck, and I can say from the drag I had that I strongly believe he was heavier than me. I am 205. Unfortunately I did not get an accurate weight on him with our gambrel scale, really need a better scale. Buck this big with no brows, honestly think he is close to being at his best antlerwise. He was the one I was after for a better cape for Catrina's buck. He will go on the wall as he is. I could not be anymore proud of this kid, she made a great shot on a buck that most grown men in this area would call a wallhanger.

I did get Allison out and this afternoon she drops a backyard monster, story to come..........

Happy New Year to all. Likely I will be in bed by 10 on New Years eve, but will also likely be up and in a stand 30 minutes before sunrise on New Years day, priorities.

Pretty, but you can keep it. lol. Only snow we have had to stick this year was the snow back around Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the reply Al, interesting to see how a buck makes transformations. Are your oddballs in MO still around? I do remember reading about contralateral condition where an injury to one side would lead to irregular antler growth on the opposite side. That would make sense since he clearly sustained injuries to his right side last winter and he has a goofed up left side.

Trying to get over a sinus infection that has moved into my left ear, seems to be getting worse instead of better. Afraid I am going to have to get in somewhere and get some antibiotics but really don't want to drag my 7 year old into an office filled with folks with the flu. Wife has to work New years eve, don't really have any plans. Wanted to get a few sits in with only one weekend left after this one, but gonna depend on how bad the wind is. Might get our 13 year old(Allison) out for afternoon sits over the weekend or may just lay around and let Catrina take Allison.

No first hand experience with them, but that is a shame. Didn't they sell with a lifetime warranty?

Thank you Lynn, and hope the same for you.

Hope you had a good one and all is well with your family Dan, good to see you check in. Think all our kids were happy, only thing I think that did not go over well was at the fading minutes of legal shooting light last night when my 13 year old and I watched a nice little 2.5 year old 8 point that I have seen several times. She had great shot opportunities on him, but did not tell me she wanted to shoot him until after he got where she really did not have as great a shot.

Congratulations on the doe.

Hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to all.

This buck has been around our cams a few times since late November, after a bean field up the road was finally harvested, but he is always around at night. Been seeing a lot of buzzards around, and seeing some 2.5 year old bucks around during daylight chasing does, so dunno if he is still walking or not. He is a decent 8, but considering I am sure he is mature he is really not that great in the antlers. He is one I have been after, said if I was lucky enough to see him, he would make a much better cape for Catrina's old buck, and I would not have a problem donating the cape. Have a couple weeks left, primarily focusing on hunting our standing beans, really need some hard freezing temps. Figure this late in the year when they are usually run down he is still very heavy. Think he is at least 4.5, probably easily over 225 on the hoof. What do you all think?

I had told Catrina next deer I shot I would take a high shoulder shot to anchor it so there would be no tracking. I typically aim tight behind the shoulder in the crease between 1/4 and 1/2 way way up the chest, that usually puts my bullet close to or clipping the heart and taking out the lungs. This last deer I shot a couple weeks ago in nasty weather, I honestly don't know where I aimed as I don't recall even flipping the safety off or taking the shot, but the 30 caliber eld x punched through the center of the shoulder blade. The 178 grain eld x ended up traveling up, hit the spine and was recovered in the hide on the off side(pic below). The 178 grain bullet had shed to 147.3 grains of recovered mushroomed bullet, 82.75 percent retention not counting the tip, not bad considering it punched a hole through the shoulder bone. Surprisingly the shoulder was not destroyed. Past history I have had with shoulder hits have been splintered bone and ruined meat, not the case with this bullet. I had not been one to deliberately take shoulder shots, but had always heard high shoulder shots usually dropped deer in their tracks. This deer dropped straight down. Last deer I shot with the same load also was drt but that was a tight behind the shoulder shot at close distance. So, what say you? Are high shoulder shots more often than not anchoring kill shots you try to take or avoid? Happy with these bullets so far. Still have to kill something with these from the .270.

Wow, thanks for sharing Jerry. Looked like a random homeless guy, but man can he play. Don't visit too many malls but never seen a "public piano" at one. Turns out this guy is a music/piano teacher?