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Glad that red dot worked out for you! Nice buck

I found a skull and antlers of a decent 9-point that I'd like to clean up and make a european mount with. The antlers are intact, but some chunks are missing from critters nibbling on them. What type of material is generally used to repair antlers? Any special process to make the color of the repaired part match the rest?

Dan congratulations to your dear, on her first deer.:clown: That's a big bodied fork horn!

The regulations say an antler 3 inches or more requires the either sex tag. I'd say the buck had spikes about 5-6 inches long so I had to burn a buck tag. The next firearm season is also the ML season and I have an either sex ML tag so I can still get a crack at a big boy if I see one.

Nice Ruth! I got a spike during the firearm season, but will wait on posting for the contest. In IL we can get 2 bucks and I'm still hopeful to get something that will score higher for our team. The story and picture is in the deer hunting room.

Had a great first firearm season even though I didn't see anything larger than a fork horn. Hunted sun up till sun down Friday (12 hours in the stand) and saw one fork horn at 9am. He was fun to mess with. Kept leaving then coming back to my grunting and doe calls. He actually licked the tree I had my stand in! What a blast! I've always wanted to hunt a stand all day now I've done it. Saturday morning I had 4 or 5 does come up to me right at sun up. I kept my eye out for a trailing buck, seeing none I figured I'd go ahead and fill my doe tag. There were a couple larger does and a couple fawns. They were acting nervous as most deer do on public ground after opening day. Anyway the larger doe was about 30 yards from me and just before I pulled the trigger she caught scent of something she didn't like and bolted. I shot as she ran but missed! The deer seperated with the fawns on one hill and the larger does on the other. I figured they might try to re-group so I let out a doe call. Sure enough here come the fawns back in my direction. Then a few minutes later I heard and saw a deer coming from the other hill the larger does had ran to. The approaching deer was in a creek bed so I couldn't see it real well. She walked to within 40 yards and stopped. I briefly saw the head and did not see antlers so I figured it was one of the larger does. She stopped with her head behind a tree and vitals in clear view. Bang! this time I didn't miss, however, the shot was a little low. I decided to shoot again and made a better shot (after missing again). However, those things have a will to live! As I looked at the deer in my binoculars it was down, but not dead. That's when I saw the little spikes on top of the head! (That's where the DOH! comes in). I got out of my climber and finished the year and 1/2 old buck with my knife. I'm not dissapointed though, I love everything that goes with deer hunting (not just the big bucks) and was glad to bring a legally harvested deer back to camp even if it meant using the coveted either-sex firearm permit!

Hey William, come to Illinois and hunt with me next year so I can kill a big buck!:clown: Congratulations Randy!

Glad to see those Rage broadheads working for you! Great looking deer there!

Great buck Smack! Shot one about like that last Thursday at 5pm. Looked like a perfect shot. 30 yards quartering away, saw the arrow in his shoulder with good penetration as he ran. Went back Friday and found hair, no blood. Not a drop. Followed the trail he ran on and found more hair, but no blood and no deer. I'm sick over it. Glad to see you came up with a BEAUTY this season. >Frank

I love it William! Best of luck with the finish work.

And depression sets in. Well I did everything wrong Wednesday, but did everything right Thursday. Waited for the perfect shot and after watching the same buck (big 8-point) as Wednesday for 30 minutes he finally moved into range. At 5pm I stopped him at 30 yards quartering away with a Maaaaa!. The arrow hit the mark. I could see I got good penetration, but it did not go through. I figured it hit the opposite shoulder and would be dead in minutes. He ran into a deep creek bed and I didn't see him come out. I waited 1 hour and 20 minutes and then got down from my stand. It was very dark and although I expected the deer to be dead, with archery gear one never really knows so I backed out. I got down real quiet and didn't even use my light till I was headed back to the truck. No way I bumped him. I looked for 4 hours today and nothing! I found a clump of hair at the shot spot but not one drop of blood. I found some more hair up the trail he was on, but no blood and no arrow. The leaves are gone so I could see well, he simply was not there! I can only guess the arrow must of hit a bone and richocheted missing vitals. The shot sure looked good as I watched him run off though! I did find a skull of a 9-pointer. I'll post in the shed room later. I'm wore out and depressed...going to take a break from hunting until the shotgun season next Friday.

If you want the head and claws included around 600 bucks for a 6 foot bear. This is what I have found to be the price for the taxidermists I've checked with.

I thought 50 posts made the next upgrade. Takes 2 thousand to make Monsterbuck!

Congratulations jm and sky. I missed a big one last night (TWICE)!!!! Not sure how big, but likely 140 inches plus. I'm sick about it, but they were clean misses and he wasn't spooked bad. Never did get a make on me. Both shots were low and between the legs. Mis-judged the distance both times. Shot for 35 yards and he was at 40 or a bit more. After the first miss he came back 30 minutes later and came in to my snort wheeze mad as heck. He would not come in any closer than 40 yards. Just circled me. Going to try again tonight (different stand).

Would love to see more pictures of that brute! Let us know if anyone finds any.

No one likes to be lied to, but for now I'll assume dance is being truthful with us. Date rape drugs can be a variety of things from alcohol and over the counter antihistamines (Benadryl) to anesthetics used in surgery. Of course the greatest sedation comes from the anesthetics. Some of the drugs stay in the body for up to 72 hours and others for less than 10. Blood and urine tests can be used to detect. Some sources I read indicated some drugs are detectable for a longer time in the urine (great news for someone that does not like to be stuck). As far as the lab testing goes (I've stuck thousands of people and never seen anyone pass out for more than a few seconds). Still what may only be a short time may seem like a lot longer to the person passing out? If indeed a person passes out I could see where taking care of the person would take precedence over drawing blood and the sample may have been collected in a way that caused it to hemolyze. The lab could have also be to blame for a faulty result. Ruth, most lab techs are not nurses and in my experience are often not as compassionate. Dance, you need to remember that the forum members here have been lied to more than once which makes a lot of us skeptical. Anyway, I'm really sorry to hear about your situation Dance and I hope everything works out for you.

I'm new to the facebook thing sounds like you really have to be careful and use passwords that are not used for other stuff! thanks for the warning.:bat: I guess the message I got yesterday from Bill Jordan asking me to be a Team Realtree Prostaffer (I just needed to send my e-mail / password / SSN / and birthdate) wasn't for real huh? (Another lame joke).

I'll usually just walk in and get set up in the dark (morning). In the evening I'll walk real slow and try to sound like a critter in the forest instead of a human trampling through.

Second this.

Good luck battling the "warrior" Tim.

I guess the most memorable thing was a watching a raccoon awaken from his home inside a hallow tree that was about 10 yards from my stand. He lazily popped his head out of the hole, then his arms, smacked his chopps and yawned. He looked at me as if saying hello there, and then climbed to the forest floor for the night.

Great deer and great shot! Congratulations!

Way to go Joe! He's a beauty alright!

Just got back from Randy's show at Cabela's. The man has some skill with a bow that's for sure! We also had lunch with him and his sister at Longhorn! Also got to meet and talk with Randy's dad Randy Sr. (Great family you got there Mrs.'s O). We (my wife and kids) had a great time and it was well worth sacrificing a day of hunting. Best wishes to the Oitkers and I'm looking foward to seeing Randy on an upcoming MB video which I'm sure all us forum members would like to see. Good luck getting a big one this season Randy!

Good luck Dan! Hope to see some pictures soon.