wtnhunt

Don't know the answer to your question specific to Idaho, but welcome to the forums.

When I saw you had posted in your thread here I have to admit I figured I would be looking at pics with you behind this deer. Hope he is still around for you Al. You have had a great season regardless. Heck of a deer, probably 20 inches inside and 22+ inch beams as he is right there. Good luck catching up with him or at least if you don't get him with getting post season pics to see he made it through.

As it stands right now for the weekend, hoping to get as much time in a stand as possible, but have some odds and ends to take care of. Cooking two medium sized turkeys at some point on the new smoker, either tomorrow or Sunday. Not sure I like the new smoker though, tray does not hold as much wood chips, will need loaded more frequently. I think I am cooking a pot of chili tomorrow and Christina and her husband Austin are coming over. We have a new tradition that started a few years ago doing gingerbread houses in memory of my mother, so the kids will be doing that Saturday night. Last Christmas with mom they had a lot of fun with it, so we continued that last year. Catrina has to work Christmas eve. Not sure about church yet, I know we will go to candlelight communion Christmas eve at 5 pm. We are without a regular pastor now, but the old pastor who retired just before we started going to the church is filling in and he is a good one. Christina and Austin are supposed to come over early on Christmas morning, so will have all the kids here. Everyone have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Personally I think it is junk and would stay away from it, but some seem to think it is ok if you just want to make noise and don't care about cycling issues.

Have fun with it Lewis. Bought my wife a 9 mm shield a few years ago, surprised me how accurate it is. Everything we tried from the gun cycled and grouped well, the Israeli self defense ammo groups very well too and last i checked was considerably cheaper than the comparable name branded stuff.

Sorry to hear this Tim. Thoughts and prayers on the way for you and your family.

Sounds like fun. Never tried. Local high school has a team, my kids hadn't really showed much interest.

My kids are eating up the bandwidth on our dsl, will have to check these out later.

Thank you Frank. Been an odd year to say the least with slim pickins and yes for all the work I put into our place I sure want it to pay off. I did pass on some nice bucks last year that hoped would be around and Catrina did kill that old buck that we unfortunately did not find right away. We have had some young bucks around this year with good potential, so hopefully next year will be better. And we do still have about 3 weeks left, so possible a mature late season buck could still show up.

Sorry, but not watching anymore of your videos until you post to some other members threads.

Similar experience for me back in 2009 back when our seasons were split, had a nice 8 in the late archery needing to take just a few more steps following the hot little doe he was on to be in my opening for a shot. Had does behind me busted me as I was about to draw. Ended up killing him about a week later on the late rifle opener. We have about 3 weeks left of season here. Everything is open, so gun goes with me.

Thanks for the reply Frank. I had know taxidermists use airbrush on capes around the throat patch, and for detail work around eyes, nose, and ears. No idea how trying to grey/whiten the face and forehead would work out if even possible, but would sure make her mount look more like the deer she shot if it was. After the taxidermist looked at her deer's head he said he was doubtful he could ever make another cape look even close to the same. Guess we will just have to see how things work out. Who knows, maybe I will find a little late season luck on a poor racked older buck for a closer match.

Hunted yesterday and this morning, only saw does. Had been a big bodied mature buck around my trail cams a few times but has been nocturnal. Need some hard freezing weather to get them feeding or on their feet during daylight. Have a church program this evening, will be watching my girls performances there.

If you have enough ground, could be a lot of fun. We are covered up in turkeys here in the fall, I had 4 nice very longbeards under me in my beans yesterday afternoon, come spring they are off in the bottoms and don't usually see them. It is a lot of fun getting them to respond to your calling though. My luck with them here though has been that even when they were roosting on our property or near our property lines they would typically fly down to the lowland property bordering us, frustration finally got the better of me and have not really given any effort in years.

Man you had a great trip Anthony. Congratulations on all your success. A lot of good eating there.

Thanks Al. I guess now we know we at least have this one for a cape to fall back on if we don't end up with anything else. Having some fresh backstraps for supper tonight too. There had been a pretty decent very heavy bodied 8 pointer, I think is at least a 4.5 year old, that we got a few pics of that I had hoped I would get a shot at, but no luck yet. I did get out yesterday morning, real feel was 11, and with it being dry it was much warmer feeling than it was Saturday. Funny how the water factors in. Really had my fingers not gotten so cold I would have been fine, plenty warm in my body. Had a real pretty 2.5 year old 8 pointer that I watched for probably 30 minutes between him coming out twice to feed in beans. No self control problems. lol

Thanks guys. Just a 2.5 year old 7 pt, decent deer for the area. Wife took a couple pictures, she was ready to get back and out of the wet and the wind. The temp by itself was not bad, but being wet with that nne wind made for pretty miserable conditions. I do try to hold out for 3.5 year olds and older. Really think there was a disconnect between my brain and my finger by the time these deer came out.

Been a tough season, normally I would have let this buck walk and have let plenty bigger ones walk. I had previously let him walk on more than one occasion. Actually had him chasing a doe all over my pasture a couple weeks ago one morning in front of the house at about 8:15 and watched him for a few minutes standing broadside less than 100 yards from me standing on my porch. I walked in and grabbed my bino's and he was still standing in the same spot. At that time thought he would be a nice deer for my 13 year old. Yesterday afternoon had me sitting in a wet cold stand with a stiff north and north east wind at my face with wintry slop steady coming down at my face with cold rain and ice chunks pelting me. I am in a hickory about 22 feet up, but the stand is over ground that drops off into a bottom and all the cover is gone. After about 2 hours in the stand my finger tips on my trigger fingers on both fleece dry plus gloves had gotten wet, so fumbled with taking them off and resorted to using my handwarmer pockets on my parka to try to get my hands warmed back up. Kinda cumbersome with where my harness was situated around my parka and the arm rests on the stand. I had pulled my hands out to look at my phone to check the time, screen on the phone went unresponsive, cold and my damp fingers I guess made for less than ideal conditions, but was at least able to see the time it was a little after 4. I put my phone in my chest pocket thinking maybe it would warm up. I was thinking about getting down, but figured I might make it to dark if I could get my hands warmed back up and maybe the heavy 8 point we had gotten just a few pics of might still be alive and maybe he would show to feed in the standing beans. I went to put my hands back in my pockets and saw this buck staring at me about 100 yards out in front of me. He must have picked up my movement but he was not too bothered. The buck is on higher ground, so he is almost at eye level with me. I pick up my binoculars after he looks away and see he looks to be past his ears on both sides and looks consistent with what I expect of a 2.5 year old, but not sure really what he is, I had bumped the covers for my bino's at some point and so the lenses were wet and icy. I thought to myself he is not good enough, I need to let him walk. Saw a doe behind the buck standing inside the edge of a brush pile, and he again looked back at me. This time when he looked away I picked up my gun, rem 700 varmint sf in .308 with my handloaded 178 grain eld x rounds, and got steady. Thinking in my mind, I guess at the second I squeezed; I need a cape for Catrina's deer, I am ready to get down and don't want to be stuck in the stand in this miserable mess with this buck and does feeding. He looked back at me again standing there broadside and I don't even remember squeezing the trigger, but he went straight down and fell just over the other side of the ridge where I could barely see white belly. Saw his antlers go up once, twice, then no more movement. I let my gun down with my pull rope and climbed down within just minutes after the shot, sure he was done. I walked on over with a round chambered, was not necessary, he fell in his tracks. Second deer shot with this gun since I started using it last year with these loads and again same results dead deer in their tracks. After seeing him close up I realized he was a buck I had passed on. Walk on back to the house and get the wife and tractor, when we get to the deer there are two does within 50 yards of him just standing there. I drove to within probably 30 yards of them and they stayed there until we stepped off the tractor. Reckon they are heartbroke, I whispered to them while I was on the tractor to go and bring around a new boyfriend. lol. I am allowed to kill one more buck, considered going back to hunting with the accura, but may focus more on yotes and stick with a rifle.

Sorry to hear that about your grandfather Tim. Happy Birthday to your daughter. I had planned to get out hunting as much as possible for the weekend and try to kill a decent buck to get a cape for Catrina, and put some meat in the freezer. Been a tough year here. Weather here for this weekend has been miserable, freezing rain sleet, and wind chills with the 10-14 mph n to nne wind in the 20's and teens. Had a calf come up with pneumonia Thursday morning, thought the little guy was a goner when I was on my way taking the kids to school. Been trying to save him, got him eating hay and standing, think we are on the right track but still a guarded prognosis with this wicked weather. Sooo, this afternoon I get in a hang on stand I never killed a deer from about 2 pm, conditions were so miserable I was soaked and getting cold and ready to get down. At about 4 a buck is looking at me about 100 yards away, wind is in my face and he is out in front of me. Past his ears and thick neck, no idea how he picked up on me, but then again I am in a stand I had set for archery and there is NO cover left. Anyway, will have to tell that story in the deer room later........ I was going to go hunting in the morning tomorrow, but think I will hold off for the afternoon. I need to take care of some other priorities.

Makes sense to me. imo all those trying to get in need to try to do it right, or go home. Shame tijuana has had to support them and all the problems they have brought with them, but better them than us. Just a sign of what is to come IF we allowed them to come in. BUILD THE WALL!

Yep some advantages sometimes. Needing to move some hay around here over some wet ground, from one side of barn to the other. Probably try to catch a morning early before it thaws out if possible.

Been the worst season I have had in quite a few years.

Honestly think the idiots slapping around labels are totally ignorant. I have no issues with someone whacking an animal they have no intentions of eating and that does not mean they are "trophy hunting". I personally see conservation matters that require the killing of animals that are destructive to property and other animals. There is no trophy in killing rats or mice, but you can be danged well sure that those boneheads spouting off at their mouths don't want them in their beds with them and they would pay an exterminator to rid them or use baits to "magically" make them go away. Far as what Jerry has to say about all buck hunters being trophy hunters, I would tend to disagree. When you have an issue with declining numbers and want to do your part to help and you hold out for a mature old deer that is gonna yield twice the meat of a mature doe, in my mind that person is conservationist and hunter. Me, I am just a hunter, I do indiscriminately kill some species though. Yotes, beaver, armadillos, possums all will get a projectile coming their way.

Nice buck. Congratulations.

Different worlds, around here some would and probably still do shoot dogs that ran deer. Buckshot isn't legal here for deer either. Grew up in central Florida, remember guys using dogs to run pigs, but those were mostly pitt bulls and bull mastiff mixes. Guess the good thing about the dogs, probably makes for pretty simple track jobs.