brendonp

I wonder why he stopped in front of the camera, was something wrong with his vision and he needed the flash to see where the coyotes were. Only three groups know what happened and none of them can tell us: the deer, the coyotes and mother nature.

There is only one time when i go into the woods without my bow during season, after i have tagged out. After i tag out i still take a rifle in case a varmint shows up. It only took me one time of missing out on a coyote to follow that rule all season. My dad instilled in me that any opportuinity to fill your tag should not be wasted. Even if i am just trimming branches or moving a stand if it is season, the bow is out and an arrow is laid out of the quiver on the back seat, the release is strapped on.

Hawg!! The double forked brow tines are a nice add on and the mass is good all the way out!

AWESOME buck! It doesn't matter how the season starts but how you end it! CONGRATS on sticking with the plan to have faith that you didn't scare him off to much!

I get to the stand at least 45 min before legal hours. I like to be set ready and relaxed, listening to the surroundings and just be at peace with nature. If i can swing it i sit all day. Granolla bars, and sandwiches, a camelbak for hydration. I not all day at LEAST 4 hours, at least.

You did that guy a favor having to carry around all that weight above his head. Poor guy he was just begging for someone to put him out of that misery. Awesome buck!! Something to be proud of for sure!

I think a "shooter" deer is a mature buck (age 4+) the antlers are not the telling factor for me. Some old bucks dont have the best headgear. For me it is all about age. Which is very hard to tell sometimes in a snap decision. I will fully admit i have not been right all the time. I have shot a two 3 year olds but they both decieved me with body size, and shape. As well as their attitude around the other deer.

These are bucks that showed up out of no where. No sightings before season, and then all of a sudden they roll in.Close but need a better pic Nice 10 pt (he is on the list) Something about a wide racked old buck that gets the heart a pumpin (made the list) He is big but looks young (please correct me if i am wrong, I think he is about 3 years old max)

get close to the bedding areas, or where you usually first see the deer with normal conditions. If the wind is even close to being wrong avoid any of your favorite spots

That is a NICE deer. I wish our trial cameras had good news that some of the bigger ones made it through. Sadly, even after relocation and watching deer move through areas we did not see any bucks of note.

Question?? Does everyone hang there deer in the same fashion (but up)? My dad and all our neighbors have taught me to split the sternum, pelvis and neck on the gorund start the skinning, and then start raising the deer by the neck. As you raise the deer start gutting the deer out, then worry about skinning. Seems to me if the guts were to rupture you would spill gut juice all over the deer rather than just the pelvis region and/or the back legs. Even if we do a field gut we pull from the throat down and keep the guts off the meat as much as possible What are your thoughts?? p.s.: That was impressive, crazy fast! Sharp tools help alot!

I have not heard of our seen any wolves in our area I just now there are some ignorant farmers/ranchers in our area and they wont listen to what anyone tells them

Why?? Why bring them back to the great plains?? What about all the livestock?? I can vouge for the area I grew up in SW Kansas wolves would only cause problems for cattle growers/ranchers on the great plains. What is there plan for wolves whom attack livestock? This is a bold move to not realize the affect wolves would have on the people whom deal with them on a local basis. I understand in yellowstone the wolve s have some refuge. But as the packs expanded them moved onto the edges and started attacking livestock. In my area wolves would lead to farmers and ranchers taking up arms against the animals, no matter the fine. Take away hunting rights for a year or keep their way of making a living alive. I know what will happen...

12/18/10. This all started when December began I realized I was going to have about 5 days to go back home to Kansas and hunt. So my dad and I through phone communications came up with a plan and put corn in a feeder and trail cam to observe. Left Lubbock at 4:00am and was in the treestand for the first evening by 3:00pm. Had numerous deer come in and walk by, took a shot at a flat racked short tined 11pt, MISSED!! I ranged the whole area as soon as I sat I guessed him at 26yds (he was with the range finder after the shot), but I forgot to dial it down for being 10ft up in the air. As he runs off my heart sinks, I think that was my chance perfect set up and I blew it. My dad walked the south end of our property to spook deer into moving to the north towards me. He spooks a group of 14 with what he says is a GREAT deer (not a term we use loosely). He says it was a 12pt with 20-22” spread, great mass and a big body. When they spook he sits down and the deer calmly walk to the north, the buck passes no more then 20yds away from him. He thinks the group has passed and starts walking to the south again, a doe is no more than 30yds further north when he steps out. She blows and goes and all the other deer jump up (they were bedded down at 4:50pm) and head off to the east. That night I sit down with the media card from the trail cam, it took appx. 200 photos of deer from 12/2 through 12/16. I see a nice 8pt buck and tell myself if he walks in he is a shooter. 12/19/2010. Next morning my cell phone alarm never went off, I set it for 5:00am. I woke up 20min late and had to rush to shower and get out the door to make it to the treestand. As I drove to the location the sun was beating on its rise and I was pissed. This is one of those spots were being early and sitting quit in complete darkness is necessary to see deer, not today. I got in to spot without using a headlamp it was about 30min before legal hour of shooting. I got ready as quickly and quietly as possible, I was expecting not to see anything and have to wait until the evening for another chance at a buck. Here is the break down sitting in finger off trees creak 50yds to the west, sandhill pastures to the east, and more trees along the creek to my south; I am sitting facing north. There is no wind, frost and fog are present.To the north of me I hear noise; in walk two young does about 10min before I can shoot. They mill around the feeder and pick up loose corn. As I sit watching they keep looking off into the trees to my east. In walks a small tined, narrow racked 11pt (I estimate 2yr old). All three are no more than 15yds from me and I am just trying to sit still and use the “live decoys” to draw in more deer, IT WORKS!! 20min of them walking around the area directly to my east in walks the buck I missed and a nice 8pt. I look long and hard at the 11pt, and the 8pt. I realize the 8pt is the one I said I would take so after all other deer leave he remains, gives me a shot at 20.5yds, WACK!! Damn, bad shot back, he falls over immediately, I grab another arrow nock it, he is out of range running!! Now I am really pissed I still see the arrow in him but there is something weird about his running. I call my dad and tell him I am going to need him to help track, it’s a far back shot I’ll check for blood in 45min. I get down and there is great blood bright, bright red and I can see blood 20yds to where he makes his first turn. I wait 2hrs for dad to get done with the farm chores for the day, and we talk it out and start tracking. I told dad I think I hit the leg in his femur and he is limping badly. We track and track in 5ft tall CPR grass, we don’t pasture this little chunk of hunting. The deer goes for 70yds and changes directions; this is how it goes for the 700yds he traveled. Sometimes we find great blood and can track easily, but when the grass get short or he goes under trees we are on our hands and knees looking for blood the size of a regular tip sharpie. I am so frustrated because I made a bad shot, and now I might lose this deer. We break after 2 hours of tracking to give the deer sometime because we are starting to find wet blood, we wait for an hour and start out crawling on the ground looking for blood. About 50yds south of our one windmill on the property we find good pools of blood where the buck stood for a long time and bleed. From this small group of trees he veers of to the right into a thicket of Russian olive trees. We lose all blood, now we are tracking his drag marks from the back leg, and just finding tiny pin size spots of blood. We spend an hour tracking him through this thicket that is no more than 20yds in radius, I work the entire outside edge and cant find blood for 20 yds from the edge of the trees. We finally find some blood, and decide we need to wait again, another hour goes by and we decided to walk to the south end of our property along the creek. My dad will walk the fence line on the east edge looking for blood and walking through all thickets and groups of trees to check for sign. While, he does that I will be walking on the mowed paths silently stalking in front of his positions in case the buck breaks out and trying to finish him with a shot, while I look for sign if he crossed my path. We go about 300yds and dad finds great pools of blood in a small group of trees but can’t tell where he goes from there. So I go over and I take a knee and look in all directions for a sign of where he went. After about 30min I find two drops of blood on grass about 4yds from the group of trees. Dad works up to them I go up on his right about 2yds ahead and see a great pool of blood. I tell dad to move up to it he hooks around two small cedar trees and there the buck LAYS!! I am very lucky I entered his left side about 2inches behind the last rib but the angle missed the liver. With my elevation the exit was about 4inches above the right side back knee. I am pretty sure the arrow fractured the femur and when the deer jumped the fence twice and with all his running he tore that back leg up. Which means it will be really hard for me to shoot any other broadhead than a Muzzy, I used a three-blade 100grain. I feel bad about not making a clean kill, but I am just glad we recovered the buck and he is not still out there laying dead without being found. All in all I took the shot at about 7:40am, and we found him at 3:30pm. Sorry for the long read, and thanks for all the advice earlier.

I'll post the whole stroy later with pictures. He is not a bruiser but a good 4 year old to take, 8pt at about 125". I asked for advice earlier this year from everyone and got some great input. I am glad I did, all i did to my equipment was change out the bow string and cable. I hunted 2 days LUCKY I KNOW!! I entered back in the guts and went through to hit the opposite back leg, FRACTURED IT!!!!! I'll post the whole story tomorrow hopefully, it was a long, LOng, LONG day!

Clarification.... Sorry about this the drawlength is 31" and axle-to-axle the bow is 40" and weighs 8lbs (without anything on it). I dont have any spare money right now...just enough for beer (haha)

Hello everyone; First just wanted to say good luck to all that are doing what I cannot (because of grad school and work) tag some deer for me. I have been out of bow hunting for about 3 solid years now. When I first started I saved up the money and bought a Mathews Ovation 31" 60-70# with 60 or 80% let off (2004 I believe). Bought the Trophy Ridge top of the line 5 pin Guide series sight, and a Bo-doodle drop away (spring loaded rest), and a Mathews attached 5 arrow quiver. Purchased some standard arrows to get going and was fairly successful in the field (I practiced a lot). Now it looks like there are going to be some narrow windows of opportunity for me to hunt in the years to come. Deer is the primary target (unless a coyote gets to close), elk (have been applying for points in CO for about 8 years now), and hogs. Okay now here are the questions: What should I do for a bow? The Ovation is big and long in the tree stand/makeshift blinds or stalking. I love the Ovation and how smooth and quite it is. What is out there in smaller length and lighter bows? For equipment what is the best thing on the market for rests and quivers? I ground stalk sometimes and really want good equipment I can trust (I take care of my stuff). I prefer hunting about 12-13’ up in the air, or getting set into some cedar trees at trails. Arrows - What is there now? I know technology has changed a lot of things and I am sure arrows have not escaped. Are small diameter shafts a necessity for penetration, how do they fly, what about making contact with a shoulder blade (things happen)? And the ultimate question eternally debated: Broadheades. I love Muzzy's 3-blade 100g strength and ability to cut through bone (blasted clean through ribs on each side of a 3.5y buck at 35yds). I also know Rage heads are all the "rage" (pun intended), how do mechanical heads differ? What about failure to deploy blades? Sorry for the long post not being about a big buck down, just trying to make financial plans for the monetary investment into new hunting equipment. Thank you and once again GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE in the blinds, tree stands or stalking.:clap::rockon:!!!!!!!!

Let him grow till next year. If it was necessary to take him, then it would be 2nd from bottom green.

On the way in with pack on, binocs on chest; makes this a tough one. Wait for him to make a mistake: turn his head, move that left front leg. I would be ready for him to do anything. If I can get everything aligned the exact middle of the diagonal line between 2nd from bottom green, and 3rd from bottom blue.

Hello everyone, I am new here to the Realtree website. I am looking for information on what trail cameras, everyone prefers to use. This is going to be my first trail camera purcahse, and I want the best camera no matter the cost. Here is the cirteria I am looking at (in no particular order): Durability & Weather Resistance Battery Life IR Flash or Regular Flash Still Photo or Video capable Trigger speed Storage/Viewing of Photos Ease of Use Distance of photography I am currently leaning toward the Cuddeback IR or NoFlash. I apoligize if this is not the correct forum to post this question in and any help to steer me in the correct direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you