J.ALLEN.IA

Congrats- great story-good eats.

Great looking buck- congrats!

My dad's Friend (60ish) was in a tree stand 12 feet up last weekend. All of the sudden the straps/chains broke on the stand and he fell to the ground. Pretty hard fall, he fell on his shoulder. Doc's were saying if he was only 3 inches over on his shoulder/head more head would have died. What does it take for people to understand the necessary precautions? I believe every new stand comes with a harness (they're not the greatest, but would save your life). The scary part is I had accumulated 5-6 of them, and just got rid of most of them as I bought a hunter safety system.

Thanks for the info- I typically only have one deer a year, so smaller one's are probably ok. We'll see what Santa brings this year!

Congrats to your girlfriend- I'm sure she's hooked on it like the rest of us now!

My morning started off bad... left my house and had to wait 30 minutes for a train that stopped with it's last car across the road. Needless to say I didn't get to my stand before sunrise. Got to the farm, usually drive down a lane, couldn't due to 14+ inches of snow Wednesday, had to hike it in. Got to timber and saw some does. 20 minutes later had other guys walk in on me. Later heard some shooting, got exciting had 8 does come in within 50 yards herded up pretty tight. Took aim, shot, they all stood still- apparently I missed- not sure why/how. Took my muzzleloader, should have had my shotgun. Late moring when hiking back out, ended up having a couple of guys following behind me. They ended up walking out of the farm- not supposed to be on the property- it's a family that thinks they can go and do whatever they want. I think my wife jinxed me- she really doesn't care for my hunting. Hopefully tomorrow's better.

Awesome buck- hopefully I'll see on here in Iowa like that as well.

I am looking ahead, as I haven't shot a deer yet this year... What is a decent meat grinder and vacuum packaging? Looking in the $100-150 each.

Congrats- great looking buck! Started snowing in Iowa, hopefully I'll have the same this weekend.

Wow- That's by far the largest doe I've seen!

Congrats- hope he's good eating!

Congrats- good looking buck! Glad you were patient and diligent to stick with him...

Big racks are great, but I have the same problem- excitment and the venison...

I would agree on the giant 6 pt.- congrats.

Congrats- awesome to see not one, but two drop tines.

What a horse, good looking buck- proud of daddy!

Congrats- great looking buck- bet good tasting!

Outside of rut, I don't usually use grunt call unless a deer in sight. Now that we're getting into rut, I've had good luck rattling about every 15-20 minutes. Usually mix up the rattling about a minute or so. As others stated, works awesome when you know there's a buck within close distance. I rattled in two small 7 pointers about 30 minutes apart. Was able to get them in, let them go off, got into next sequence and they came back.

Congrats- always exciting to get one in the freezer.

Great Buck, nice size and mass. Congrats to your buddy.

What a bruiser! Some good eats for a while.

Great looking buck, jealous of him and your game cart- makes it easier to get the horse out of the woods!

Let me say OMG! what a monster... Not enough details to know the guy's permission on the property. I know the land that I hunt is private- the family has stands and I have stands. We agree we can use any of the stands any time to prevent this. They just got a monster 10 on a trail camera 5 feet from one of my stands. We help each other- fair game whoever gets the shot.

Good looking buck, looks like a large body on him- plenty of good eats!

Real antlers are great, other than the size compared to a bag. I use both. Bag early in season, antlers later as rattling becomes more effective.