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Get the current issue of Field and Stream. They have an article titled the rut that explains deer activity October-December. They advise the use of grunt calls, rattling, buck urine vs. doe urine, when to make mock scrapes and so on. Not sure if I believe it all, and it may not hold true for every place in the country, but it's a great general resource. I'm using doe estrus right now, grunting, and will start rattling tomorrow.

Congratulations to Mike! I remember that picture Randy. Sounds to me like Mike has a dern good buddy as well.

Same thing has happened to me in the past. I knew it wasn't gut shot becuase a tree blocked the mid section. A gut shot wasn't possible because the arrow would have been in the tree. In addition the blood was bright red. (No bubbles) but bright red. The arrow was covered in hair and blood coated, but not much blood on the feathers. It was right at dark and a 25 yard shot so I wasn't exactly sure where it hit, but I think it might have been a little high and towards the neck. I waited 45 minutes then I followed the bright red blood trail for about 100 yards. Then it went from great to average. I followed another 50 yards and started finding blood clots. The trail went from average to poor. That's when I decided to go back the next day. The problem was that it was 60 degrees at night and I knew the meat wouldn't be good because I had to work in the morning and wouldn't be able to get to the woods until afternoon. I hated to call off the search, but since my flashlight was failing I had no choice. The next day I picked up the blood trail and followed another 50 yards up a steep hill until at last there was no more blood. I did several circles covering hundreds of yards, but no deer. Never did find him. I doubt he survived, but I'd sure like to think so.

I picked up a pair for 59.00 on sale at Cabela's a couple months ago. They are not the lite's but they are great for warmer weather hunting or wet conditions. I also have Cabela's goretex snake boots I picked up for about 100 a couple years ago. They lost their waterproof after 1 year, but love them for hunts that require longer hikes and walking through briars and over fences.

Congratulations! I sure hope I get the chance to hunt an elk some day.

I guess about 6 hours. However, I'm planning an all day sit for the IL shotgun opener. I'll be packing in a lunch and warm clothing. I even even posted threads on peeing from the stand earlier this season in preperation. Hope it pays off with a mature buck. There will be some luck to it hunting on public ground. However, with the IL rut being a week late this year the opener should be a prime day.

Sorry about the weather in KS Tim. IL will treat ya right! Can't wait to hear about the IL hunt!

I'll add another tip I've learned the hard way. If you have a walk to the stand more than a couple hundred yards you will likely sweat regardless of how cold it is. You can walk real slow to minimize the sweating, but if you're anything like me I can't wait, I'm always in a hurry to get on stand before daylight, or whatever reason I can come up with. What I do now is take an extra pair of socks and t-shirt with me and keep my heavy clothes in my pack until I get to the stand. Then I change my wet socks and put my warmer layers on. Wet socks means cold feet. I also change t-shirts (primarily due to sweaty arm pits). I place the wet clothes in a plastic bag in my zipped pack to keep the scent down. This is only when it is 45 or below. Anything above 45 and the moisture wicking socks are good enough and I don't need real warm outer layers.

Great shot randy. Well if someone gets a shot at that buck at least he has his genes out there.

There's something about that buck! There are bigger horned bucks posted in these forums, but yours has that special look. I'd love to even see a brute like that on a snowy day! Congrats!

I'm sort of doing my own study this year. I'm keeping a journal for each day I hunt. I keep the weather conditions (temp, wind, cloud cover) and I'm adding moon phase (day before and after). I record the location(s) I hunt and the deer activity I see (including scrapes/rubs). At the end of the year I should have some decent information to look at that will help me plan/decide on where and when I hunt next year.

Sounds like the shot was back. You'll probably find him in the morning, but if you tracked him 100 yards be prepared to search another 100 from where you left off. I had a complete pass through once and had bright red blood (no bubbles). The blood trail was great for 100 yards, ok for the second 100, then specked for another 50 and dried up. I searched another 200 yards (circle) from where the blood trail ended and never found that deer. I thought it was a good hit, but thinking back I now think the shot was high and closer to the neck.

Anyone interested in moon phases? I've been following more this year than in the past. I found a site that you may find useful. http://www.briancasey.org/artifacts/astro/moon.cgi

I work with people who I know little about. I even serve on several boards with people that for all I know could be terrorists. If someone were to say that I hang around or pal around with these people they would be wrong. This could go on and on as politics do. At this time I'll be taking my leave from the politics forum and staying within the hunting ones.

I know how you feel. I've been there too. Best thing to do is chalk it up as a learning experience and get back out there.

Awesome! Glad to see another dad getting his kids into the greatest sport of all!

Thanks backwoods and ohiobucks. I thought I'd add that I just finished weighing her. I was shocked to see the scale read 190 lbs. field dressed! I knew she was big, but not that big! This is the largest doe I have ever shot.

Well I'm not a meat expert but here's what I know from experience. I shot a doe a couple weeks ago right at dark. I hit it back a bit (no lungs, not even the liver). I let her sit all night. I found her the next morning around 9am (about 13 hours). I'm not sure when she died? However, the low was 28 degrees and by 9am it was 40. I took her to the processor in the afternoon. I got the entire deer made into sausage. I got it back a few days ago and it is great! Now, I shot another doe Saturday night at 4:45pm. I hit her pretty good (got one and maybe both lungs). I still let her lay over night (cloudy with a low of 35). I found her Sunday morning again around 9am (13 hours). The high Sunday (today) was 40 with cloudy skies. She's hanging in my dad's garage until tomorrow evening when I get off work and have time to process. Low tonight is around 35 degrees. We'll see how it goes?

Here's a picture of the rapid rails and the deer I shot from the stand on 11/8/08.

Doe 2 for 2008A nice big mature doe shot in the evening of 11/8/08. Bow: Fred Bear TRXArrow: GoldtipBroadhead: Rocky Mountain Gator XP

Doe 2She may not count as an upgrade for the contest, but she is for me. A nice big mature doe compared to the young 1.5 year old from a couple weeks ago. I saw several smaller bucks, but no shooters.

I was hunting Saturday night in a spot I had not yet hunted in the evening due to the wind. Well Saturday the wind was perfect and this doe came in with her 2 fawns from last spring. I was surprised to see them still tagging along. Usually by Nov. 8th the does have pushed them off? I figured it was going to happen any day now and why not make it happen a day or two early. She came in from a thicket and walked into an opening I had cleared last month. She spotted me at 15 yards and tried to smell me, but the wind was in my favor. After several minutes she put her head down and that's when I drew. As soon as I completed pulling back her head came back up looking at me. I had a straight on shot which of course is no shot at all so I had to wait. The wait seemed to be an eternity, but was likely only a couple minutes. Finally she presented me with a broadside shot and my Gator XP had some dinner. I gave her overnight since the low was in the 30's and had my son help me find her this morning. She went about 125 yards. I saw a couple small bucks as well, they were running all over acting like crazy teenagers. They were very interested in smelling my scent wafers.

I think it's poor taste for anyone to use a smear campaign. Offended isn't exactly the right term. I'd say the smear campaigns are what motivated me to reseach certain issues. For example: I couldn't vote for a person who hung around with terrorists no matter how much I agreed with his/her ideas.

I really took a big chance (or at least I thought I was) with this post. What I anticipated in reply was flat out meaness to threats. However, no one posted such a reply. I'm really glad because I like it here on the forums and was hoping someone wouldn't say something that prohibited my continued discussions here. Perhaps many of you don't care, but for those who might, I respect your opinions as well.

That's what we're looking for. Congrats!