*VOTING THREAD*POST HERE ~2012 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

[Carol]

[align=center]Did you join the 2012 Big Buck Contest?[/align]

Start sharing your stories and pictures for the 2012 Big Buck Contest here ~ IN THIS THREAD.

**** Please just post your buck stories and pics****
In other words, NO COMMENTS PLEASE!! They will be deleted


****As much as we love comments please save those for a different thread / post. That will make things much easier when we all come back here to go thru the posts for VOTING purposes later on****.


After the season, on a date not yet announced, we will invite the 500 club members of this site to vote on whom they feel should win the prizes.....

Voting will be based on the size of the buck, the hardness of the hunt, the hunters ethics, the weapon used, etc...

Please keep that in mind when telling your story. Although big bucks often win, in past years we have seen a young man whom shot a fork horn win, and a button buck shot by a foreigner who traveled all the way across the ocean to hunt our much celebrated whitetails.

So enter every buck you shoot if you like. If you shoot more than one and want to edit your story let me know and I can help you with that. All buck deer legally taken are eligible regardless of species ( mule, whitetail, blacktail, etc. )

Good luck to everyone & Congratulations!!

[MattyG]

I was on my 4th hunt of the season when I shot this buck with my bow. I had a lot going for me with 3 target bucks roaming around the property I hunt. I also did a ton of scouting in the spring and new the bedding. My 1st hunt (opening night) I didn’t see anything from my stand but walking out I saw a small 8 pointer with velvet still on and a wide thin rack buck in the bean field. The next night I set up where they came out with my lone wolf and I saw 4, a small buck and 3 does right at dark and when I was taking my stand down I could here more deer wanting to come out in the field so I new I was in the right spot but they just moved to late. Now the weekend was over and I work 2end shift into 3erd so I new I would only be able to hunt the mornings that week. On Wednesday morning I set up between two bedding area’s I thought I might see them going to the bedding after a night of feeding on the beans. And I was right, but I only saw a small buck, doe and a fawn. Then I thought about moveing closer to one of the bedding areas but I was seeing deer and must be doing something right so I decided to stay put in the same tree for Friday the 21st knowing it would be a moon morning.(thanks to dan’s moon chart) so I got in my tree at 5:50 and waited for it to open. After 2 min. in the tree I could see a small buck right underneath me in the dark and he just passed on through. Then at about 7 a doe and fawn came thought and caught my scent and wondered off away from me on the same trail I walked to my stand on. At about 7:30 a nice buck a little smaller then the one I shot came walking down the trail I walk in on and the does walked a way from me on. He new something was up but the wind shifted a little and he could not figure it out like the doe’s did. He walked behind me at 20 yards and I let him pass on by into the bedding. Then about 20 min later my buck comes down the same trail as the last buck, the same one I walked in on. He must have been ok with the sent of 3 other deer over the top of mine or something because it didn’t bother him. He was on the same path of the buck before so I got ready for him and when he was just about in the opening I pulled back and he was not stopping so I let out a quiet bleat with my mouth and I put the pin on him and let the arrow fly. I hit him high and he dropped right away and I had to shoot him again in the lungs. I had to reach round the tree to shoot so I am guessing that’s why I shot high. I new the deer were just devouring the beans that were planted late so they were the greenest beans around and I think that’s what really helped me out for early season success. This was one of my target bucks but it was the smallest of the three so we shell see if the other 2 make it to next year.

[str8shooter]

I'll try to keep this short but to tell the whole story this is probably going to get a little long winded...bear with me or just skip through the pictures and they will probably show you the jist of what has been a long story between me and a buck that became known as "Tear drop".

First off I am truly blessed to have access to this property which is roughly 800 acres of private ground within a 5 minute drive from my home. It's private, but in many ways hunts similar to public as there are anywhere from 12-20 various people that hunt it throughout the season. One thing that keeps me coming back is the fact that basically everyone is on the same page as far as passing bucks until they reach maturity, or at least trying to shoot something better than they have in years prior.

So the story of this buck really starts in early November 2010. I was perched near the top of a finger ridge, ready for an all day sit. I seen a good amount of action this morning that included does, and a handful of young up and coming bucks. One of these bucks happened to be a 125ish 3 1/2 year old that definitely put the fear of god into multiple 2 1/2 year old bucks. I had good shots at him for more than an hour but I knew that he needed another year or two and decided to pass on him. Little did I know how much that buck would occupy my brain over the next couple of seasons.

Here's a picture of him as a 3 year old


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I'm a bonafide shed hunting nut and the next spring found me in my usual trend of burning boot leather with my dog BB looking for sheds and trying to put together a plan for the upcoming season. It was a beautiful day in march when we were out stomping around and we ended up walking a thin strip of standing corn that hadn't been harvested the previous fall. It was so bright that I could barely see, let alone spot a shed. I was thinking "this is a waste of time" when all of a sudden I heard antlers clank together. WTH? I looked up and seen BB come rushing towards me with a chunky shed in her mouth...she dropped it at my feet and turned tail and ran right back where she had come from. Moments later she was dropping the match at my feet! Being that this was only her second spring and her first ever matched set I was beyond proud.

BB and her first matched set


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I didn't realize at the time what buck this was from but later when I looked through trail cam pics I realized it was from the buck I had passed in early November.

Fast forward to August of 2011, which found me glassing fields and running trail cams to find what kind of deer I would have to chase in the upcoming fall. I was tucked in a spot one night glassing a bean field that didn't have a single deer show up in it. About a 1/2 hour before dark I decided to sneak out as I was feeling discouraged. When I stood up it gave me a vantage of an alfalfa field off to my left....that field held 3 different bucks that made my jaw drop! The next afternoon I hung a camera to get a better look at the bucks and Tear drop was on one of the pics the next time I checked the memory card. Anticipation was through the roof for the upcoming opener!
To shorten up a long season of trials and tribulations I only seen Tear drop once early in the season and was never able to find him again after that early season encounter. I did manage one pic of him in October, but I wrote that off as a fluke and decided to pursue another buck.

Here's the October pic I was lucky to capture


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I managed to tag a different 5 1/2 year old during the rut and was happy that I didn't chase a seemingly ghost. All late season and winter I ran cam's to hopefully find and keep tabs on TD in hopes that I might get to hold his sheds once again in the spring.

Sure enough I found him in his same old winter haunt


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Normally I try to cover piles of ground and scoop as many sheds as possible, but in all reality I only wanted one set of sheds this past spring. It didn't take long and I found the set I was looking for in an alfalfa strip within a 150 yards of where my dog had found his previous years antlers.


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So that brings us to this season. It didn't take me long to find him on a super huntable summer pattern of coming to a bean field every night. I wasn't born yesterday though and knew that he would switch up his pattern off the beans shortly before the Wisconsin archery opener. So yeah I lost him right before season and ended up spending the opening night in a stand that afforded me a great view of the farm. Sure enough I watched him enter an alfalfa field a few minutes before dark, and shortly after he walked in front of one of my newly place trail cams.



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I instantly started scheming and with a front blowing in on Monday night I placed all of my bets on a hang and hunt for that evening. Unfortunately I failed to think about the fact that some does would bust me coming from a different bedding area. Plan B... sit back and watch, while waiting for the star's to allign for another attempt at him. I spent multiple nights trying to pick him up from long distance without success. Friday the 21'st had lots going for it, good moon position, cold front, and a perfect wind for a stand that I had hung in the spring based on previous knowledge of this buck and his habits. I basically took a stab that he had went back to his old haunt and hedged my bets that this would be the night that he moved early.

I slipped in about 3 hours before dark and within minutes of sitting down I seen deer moving up the ridge from me. All told I seen at least 6 different young bucks and a handfull of does moving towards a bean and alfalfa field. Around 6:45 I heard a twig snap behind me and I turned to see the buck that I call tear drop coming directly towards me. He walked in to 25 yards and paused, he heard something and I heard it too. A truck was driving slowly down the road to the west of us. He turned towards the truck and offered up a broadside shot. I took advantage of him being distracted and drew....only to find out that the tree I was sitting in prevented me from lining up the pin on his vitals. I let down and we both stood there for what had to of been 20 minutes. I tried re-adjusting multiple times but just couldn't lean out far enough to make the shot. At this point I was shaking, he was just looking and listening. Finally he nudged on and started on a trail the quarters past my stand at 15 yards. The shot angle was steep but I made good on it and put my arrow through both of his lungs. I watched him run and could see glimpses of him through the trees. He was a good ways out in the alfalfa field when I managed to see him stop,..wobble,..and hit the ground.

Thanks for sticking through my drawn out story, I wanted to make this a short story of how I killed him but in reality I couldn't possibly tell the whole story without sharing what brought me to the kill. I loved every minute of this pursuit...it's spending time in the woods that makes me who I am and the kind of deer hunter that I am. I live for the journey and hope that you enjoyed my rendition of this journey as much as I did living it.


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[Remington guy]

Wow what a stud buck congrats

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[G3s]

When you take what you believe to be the oldest deer on the land you hunt, it is a strange and crazy feeling. All your life you are taught that the oldest deer are always the toughest to get, so I type this very humbled that I was able to connect with such a magnificent animal. October 22nd was called to be one of the better morning days for October according to the moon chart. Dawn broke with a light N.E wind and clear skies, warmish at 46 degrees. We had found this subtle trail through some tall spruce trees that opening into some sumac bush. Right on the transition line from spruce to sumac there was one lone Red Oak that had 3 large scrapes under it. That tree would become the perfect location to ambush bucks heading back to bed from the fields near by. Monday morning would be my first morning hunt of the season, just after 8 am I could hear deer working towards me, the first into view was a dandy 8 point I would guess to be 3 1/2 yrs old and a mid 120's deer. I had drawn back on him when I noticed another larger deer right behind him, when he picked his head up I immediately changed my mind and all of my attention was focused on him. I was blown away by the difference in body size, he simply made the other deer look like a fawn. After a few tense minutes the geezer finally worked into position, perfectly quartering away at 46 yards. I released the arrow and saw what I thought to be a less than great shot. In hindsight I hit a bit back on the front side, while aiming for the back off the offside shoulder. The shot did him in I did cut the front of the stomach, plowed through the live and lung, exiting about an inch behind the right side shoulder. The deer bolted toward the bedding area. He almost made the tracking job to easy, he followed a very visible rub line right to his bed. 130-150 yards from shot to where he went down. He was a mere 5 feet from his preferred bed. Every year I learn something new in this sport. The past few years I have been learning of using the moon to my advantage which has netted me 2 fantastic bucks during the month of October. Secondly by reading and listening to Dan and everyone on the beast, I have learned not to be scared of approaching and hunting near a mature bucks bedding area. Hunt smart, use the wind, and select your days carefully and you can kill big bucks in their bedroom. Geezer blessed me with one of the most memorable hunts I have ever had, I knew he was a big fella, but when we put him on the scale at the butcher shop I was blown away, He field dressed at 231 lbs, a rough guess by the DNR field agent put him at 8 1/2 or 9 1/2 yrs old, long past his prime he still grew some beautiful antlers that gross scored 131 6/8"

[robert richer]

well my story short and true,

I hadnt really planned on hunting this past weekend with work and more importantly some health issues with my wife Tracy. Tracy insisted, so really I went on her request.
to my property in Vernon County
I recently celebrated my 49th birthday and favorite hunting partner purchased a go pro camera for my hunting and outdoor experiences.

With reguest from Tracy and gift from Nicholas I left early morning on Thursday morning to my property in Vernon County. I witness a extreme crash on on est bound 94 with deputy sheriffs and flight for life for a young boy. Quite frankly I had every sign from frustration at work, my wife health condition and others to stay home. No, I went solo with my new go-pro camera and went forward.

I had to correct and re-install a new stand which I call the lightening stand. Felt very unsafe climbing so I used a very load extension ladder. Made quite alot of noise and secured the stand by 11:00 a.m., thinking no way will this be a good stand for the ladder part of the day. Well to my strong belief of not to, I did...had just a feeling with the wind and the way the deer were moving, it just felt good.

I arrived on the stand approximately 3:20 p.m. under somewhat windy warm conditions. Well all excited with my camera and hoping to harvest a deer wether it be a buck or doe, I was excited and somewhat anxious to get home. Quite honestly I was hunting for venison, for uocoming gun hunt dinner responsibilities.

Well I video'd 25 to 30 turkies cross the soybean field and then right about 4:50 p.m. my hired farmer decided without letting me know start harvesting all the soy bean. I video'd him a couple times, heck I was ready for action and had quite abit of practice.

Farmer finally completed and it was approximately 5:20 p.m. I heard that familiar cadence of deer coming from my right I looked to my right and sure enough to my great surprise here come this buck. Happened so fast especially after the tractor left, I hurried the camera on and tried to my best to turn or click the video program on but instead hit or clicked too many times to just the photo program Long story short, took a photo of me turning the camera on and turning the camera off......didnt know this until after the shot....horrible feeling, yey total excited because I just placed my carbon express, rage with my new Mathews bow into the buck's upper left shoulder in a downward direction. As you can see in the photo the arrow went into the scapula and decended through the lower right shoulder, right scapula. The deer took off, ran through the woods and clear'd the newly plowed soybean field......26 yard shot...all was good ...right?

Here is where the story gets a little sensitive. I waited a good 45 minutes, thinking he would be down within 100 yards......nope. He went further into the woods and vanished. Interesting enough other than finding the tip and about 19" of arrow, no blood! Just a little tore up mud, etc....again no blood.

With no assistance, I was alone and searched until about 9:30 p.m., decided to wait until morning. Tired and hungry and very concern, knowing a half mile to west inwhich the deer was going, I think, I though he is heading for water. That is what they do, right?

That morning, Friday about 7 a.m. I sat inside the tractor in the plowed field and put a game plan together. Plan A, called my wife and asked how she was doing, not good and thought I should look until noon and get home as soon as I can.....not good. Plan B or next thing to do is wait until sun rises and get goign to the last turned up leaves and dirt. I litterally spent 7:30 a.m. to about 11:15 a.m. zig zagging and crossing ever freaking train and going on my hands and knees for sign, nothing...very exhausted and dis-stressed. What to do next, call again to Tracy my wife and ask her thoughts, she replied spend another 45 minutes to hour and "pack up come home". You can hunt another day, we have to get going as soon as possible......With that said, I ate a honet crisp apple and snickers for nergy and walked about another 300 yards somewhat close to where IO was earlier in the morning, and couldnt believe it, here he lies......right smack in my logging road. As though someone or something picked him and laid him down for me to find. See photo of deer laying, Go-pro photo.

Called Tracy and she was very excited and insisited on coming home right away. I called my son Nick who is currently attending Oshkosh college of the good news (deer) and the bad news (no video) of total hunt. Packed my gear , my dear and all photo equip which basically can fit in both of my hands and headed home.

Was I happy with the experience, my camera, my hunt, my location of deer stand, my farmer farming my soybeans at that time, my son confidence my hunting capapblities yes definately with all that....what an experience all solo......W

what I'm not happy with is that I'm typing this story in a waiting room waiting for my wife's diagnosis of her health condition.....Tracy seems to have a problem(s) with her uterus, not really sure but she is in a lot of pain. Something I'm sure I will never have to experience.....god can only hope for good news...I'm waiting and I',m here for her like she was there for me while searching for my deer.

Although it might be something simple, although she is in great pain and in good hands.

I dedicate this deer and my solo experience of deer hunting this past thursday and friday to all those significant others, especially wifes who wait and anticipate our arrival from a day out in the field and not show or complain of any pain.

Thank you and thank you all those that believe in a prayer or two for those of us on a safe hunt and a successful outcome within next hour for Tracy......

I'm tired.

[robert richer]

apologize for the spelling and grammer.

[rudy78]

Like father, like son- Here is the recap from my weekend in IL-
We went out the first morning and right at good camera light we had a decent buck bump a doe past us 50 yards away, we couldn't tell if he was a shooter or not. So 10 minutes later I rattled and he came back but again stayed 60 yards out in some thick stuff. Later in the morning we had 2.5 year old (not same deer from morning) chase some does around by us they came to 5 feet from the tree and were all around us, so that was pretty sweet. Oh yea we also had a giant coyote come in and i missed just over his back, too bad because he was blonde and awesome looking!!!! Friday night we didn't see crap a few deer 100 yards away that went into our food plot. Saturday morning right at first light we bumped a deer as we started to climb our stand it blew a few times, then when we got up it circled back and blew again. Good thing it was kind of windy, but still you feel like the morning is somewhat blown. Then right at good shooting light (hardly camera light) we had a good buck cruising 50 yards from us, so I hit the grunt call and he came right in. When we was about 10 yards he looked up and didn't like seeing us in the tree. I was at full draw but the way we was coming it was going to be really hard for me to get a shot because Brent was right there. He froze for a second then moved back and stood there, I let down my draw as he stood behind a big tree. There was one point where I maybe could have shot hit as he walked off but Brent wasn't on him good so I didn't. He was a decent buck his left side was great a big 8 with a split g2, but his right side was just a giant fork, so I'm not too sad that I didn't shoot him. A little while later we had some on the hill in front of us, then a spike came and started to chase them around. After about 15 minutes he stopped and just started coming our way, when he got about 15 yards away Brent zoomed and started to film him. As he got right in front of us all the sudden he freezes (Brent zoomed out to get me and him in the video). I look to the left and all I see is his rack, you see the deer on the video as I point and say shooter coming, clip my release and draw as he comes in, then Brent zooms in tight and he angles right to us 10 yards right in front of the our tree. I shot him slightly quartering towards, but thought it was a good hit. We gave him about an hour before we got down because we knew I hit some guts and probably only 1 lung. As we started to track him we had good blood on both sides which was good and some of it was good lung blood with bubbles so we figured I nailed a lung. He went down a giant hill and along a creek. He probably went about 175 before he died, but it was all down hill. He tried to go up a tiny hill but couldn't make it & must have coughed up a bunch of blood.
So when I was in the stand my dad called, responding to my text that I shot one and told me he was standing over his deer. His is also a 9 point that he shot in his first morning of his hunt in NE.
Here is the raw video of the part of the morning:
[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo8_4Xtf6NA&feature=youtu.be[/bbvideo]

Few Pics-






My dad with his deer that he shot the same morning.

[browning3]

Shot this toad November 3rd at 9am. Buck Growl buck.

This buck never showed up on any of our cameras placed through out the property. I think I may have one pic of him going into the cedar stand early friday morning. I didn't check that camera until after I shot him. Most of the bordering land is big chunks mainly owned by the local farmers. None of the farmers had seen him nor any other local neighbors. He was a ghost. The farmers I talked to said it was bigger than any bucks they had seen throughout the year...and they see hundreds of deer every week.

The hunt....I had a few smaller bucks cruising through the small stand of cedars just after shooting time. They all came down the trail under my stand. All yearling or small 2.5yr olds. Things got real slow and quiet around 9am. I pulled out my new buck growl grunt call I bought the day before. I literally went nuts on it. Growling, clicking, tending grunts and some improvised sounds. LOL! Not more than 2 minutes later he came walking down the edge of the cedars with his hair all bristled up. I was in a poplar tree about 16 feet off the ground near the edge of where the cedar trees start. He came down the perfect trail and gave me a broadside 18 yard shot. Double lunged him and he piled up within 50 yards. I didn't realize how big he really was until I walked up on him. My biggest and should go over 150. Main frame 10 pt with double brows making him 12pt.

I didn't have time to hit record on my bow mounted camera. It would of made for great film. Darn it!

He's 19.25" on inside. Haven't put tape on him yet but he should hit low 150's.

[whitetailassasin]

I hunt central Michigan state land(public). Which is where my story starts. One of the counties I normally hunt was struck with EHD, worse case in Michigan history. I had scouted this particular track of land all spring/summer and fall. Only to have all 9 of my target bucks die to ehd. So after hunting the first week and seeing virtually no deer, I decided to go to a neighboring county that wasn't hit by ehd. Using a lot of new information from guys like "singing bridge" and "Dan", and the many threads by all the rest of the forum, I set out to find a mature buck 3.5yrs or older and successfully harvest him before the season was over. I found some huge rubs and tracks in an area that was new to me, but was a very long walk in with no roads for 2 miles squared. After scouting on rainy days, and setting up two observation stands(for different wind directions prevalent for October) I caught sight of the old boy. I watching were he disappeared and noted his approach. I then waited for the next rainy day and moved closer and hung two stands and set-up my cuddeback attack is on some runs that had huge tracks I believed to be his. I only hunted this stand when the wind was perfect and I also used an adjacent ditch that had water about 6 inches in to mask my scent traveling to and from this stand location. 4 hunts produced no sightings of him physically, but 4 scrapes the size of my car hood were being worked very regularly and a lot of new rubs(big rubs chest high with tine mark) were surfacing more and more. I gave this stand a rest waiting for the rut to come into full effect before I went in again. I hunted outskirts and possible travel corridors that had some signs of his but no luck. On November 6th I went in 2 hrs before dark in the morning and waited for daylight. At 6:15am the sound of an approaching deer got my attention. It was light enough for me to see him, but not my pins thru my peep. He walked right under my stand and wandered back to bed. He came in and scent checked his scrapes and was gone as quick as he came. I waited until noon then got down and pulled my sd card. To my pleasant surprise he was on there oct 28,29,30 and Nov 1st. Very good sign for a highly pressured area of state land. I decided that I was hunting all day November 7th and my fiance wanted to come along, she's known all the hard work and dedication I've spent on this deer and she wanted to be there with me. We arrived 2 hrs before light again, but as daylight approached no buck, then the magical sound of approaching deer!! 3 does worked our way, but no followers. As they left back to the bedding area, I was amazed that he wasn't around with the rut in full swing. No more deer moved by me and at 10 am I got down and headed for a quick bite to eat then back in the stand. At 3pm a 6 pt moved thru nose to the ground and back to the bedding area. At 5pm I heard some branches snapping and some water splashing then all went quiet. I turned to Crystal and said I bet that's a buck cruising the thicket. Then the sound of approaching footsteps came from the same place the snapping branches and splashing water. HEAVY FOOTSTEPS, then i seen him lumbering thru the thickets and water. As he got closer I couldn't tell if it was him or a smaller 10pt I've got on camera in the fading light, then he passed a pool of water that showed off his headgear and it was a no brainer it was him. He approached without pause until he was standing 21 yards from my tree quarterind two, I waited for what seemed like 5 minutes until he turned slightly and offered me a almost perfect broadside shot, then he paused and looked back. Pull, steady, aim and hold...RELEASE, the arrow struck him behind the shoulder smashing thru both lungs and exploding into the dirt and leaves behind him. He bucked wildly and ran like a bolt of lighting back to where he came. As soon as he hit the start of the thickets 50 yards from my stand he crashed about wildly, coughing and bawling until the woods went silent. I turned to see my fiance almost in tears repeating "you got him, you got him". I knew the shot was good, but I asked for reassurance as if I wasn't sure. Then the adrenaline took over and the shakes and excitement came over me and we enjoyed the moment for what it was. After about an hour we descended down and headed over to were the shot took place. Arrow stuck in the ground half way soaked in blood and hair. Blood was instant and on both sides of his retreat to the thickets. The blood trail was all over the water, leaves, trees...it was everywhere!! As I approached the thickets, i could see the deer slumped up but his headgear was blocked. I approached slowly until I could see he was expired for good. I put my bow down and reached down to pick up his rack. No disappointment, matter of fact, a pleasant surprise, he had a kicker/drop tine i never noticed in the cam pics. I tagged him and gutted him out and drug him out of the thicket to the open woods. My fiance is just a little ol thing so I needed some help, especially how far back we were. So we headed back towards the homestead and stopped by to pick up my father. In case some of you don't know, he was diagnosed with lupus. We have been best friends and hunting partner's since I started and this was the first year he wasn't with me due to his illness. He just can't do what he used to because of his illness and his time in the woods with me is limited to a few days during the entire season. He was so excited because he knew of this buck and my story because I called him every hunt and gave him all the details, emailed him pics of this deer, the whole nine yards. He immediately grabbed his gloves, hat, and coat and said what are we waiting for. It took us until 2 am to get him to the car. We hugged and enjoyed the moment. On a funny side note, it was freezing cold when we got to the car and we were trying to get him atop the car and my boot slipped on the trunk and I fell thru the back window shattering the safety glass into a million pieces. 170 dollars later it was all worth it.

[Footballer]

I was fortunate to connect with my biggest mountain buck to date. After watching this buck for three years, I finally felt like I knew where he bedded. Saturday morning I snuck into his bedding area with my smoke pole. As I was watching a six pointer feed by a 10 yards, we both heard what sounded like a deer coming up a steep draw below us. Eventually, our suspicions were affirmed when a deer appeared about 100 yards down the logging road I was overlooking. Initally, I could not tell whether it was this buck or one of the other bucks in the area due to the thick brush. However, I could tell he had a nice rack and I readied my gun hoping for the best.

As he slowly made his way my direction, I confirmed it was the buck I was after and prepared for the shot. After freshening a scrape, he finally entered one of my windows and I dropped the hammer. As the smoke cleared, I saw him down the logging road and out of sight. Of course, I immediately started doubting my shot despite feeling confident in it. For some reason, I never had buck fever- even after making the shot.

To be safe, I gave him an hour before I climbed down to look for blood. My spirits were lifted when I found what appeared to be lung blood about ten yards from where he was standing. 100 yards later, I found him laying in a thicket and the celebration was on!

He's 5 1/2 years old and I rough scored him at 142 gross. Not bad for an ol' East Tennessee mountain buck! Now if I can only connect with the possible booner running around on our property...

It must be good luck to be a law school student, because this is my fourth mature buck in two years!

[G3s]

November 15th...a long held holiday in Michigan...opening day of firearms season. I have been on a kick the past few years to bow hunt during gun season...I don't know if it is a challenge thing or if it just the fact I love to bow hunt. This season was looking like a bummer to say the least. For some reason the neighbors see it necessary to continually steal my stands...I have lost 6 stands and 3 cameras to these dudes...needless to say I am getting real tired of that so I decided to focus my attention on a different section of the property. It turned out to be a good idea! I climbed my tree at 5:45 this morning with wonders of what the day had in store for me. I was sitting all day and nothing could keep me from it....except if I filled my tag of course. The day started at 7:15 when a beautiful Bobcat stepped in front of me and did a little hunting of his own. Shortly after he was out of sight the deer were on the move, at first it was a group of little bucks harassing the local ladies group. About 8:30 I finally saw him..the deer I have been after all season, he reacted perfectly to the calls and light rattles and closed the distance form 180 yards to 15 in short order.....only problem was the fact that a deer that once would have been a 170 class 10 point was now a 75 inch 5 point...he had broken his right antler clean off. Awesome encounter none the less. Things quieted down for awhile, at 10 oclock I heard the running steps of deer coming from the south....in a flash she was by me and he was hot on her heels...I yelled at him and he put the binders on...I was already at full draw...to late for him. At the release of the arrow he jumped in the neighborhood of 100 feet high and hauled tail north into the popple slash. I knew the shot was a good lethal shot, but I gave him the usual 1/2 hour to got out peacefully. After a brief 110 yard track job, I had my 2nd mature buck of the season here in Michigan and I was fortunate enough to get it done with the bow during gun season. At the scale he weighed in at 220lbs even and is guessed to be 4 1/2. I have had a blessed season, now I will be after putting my family members on some good hunting as best I can and enjoy their seasons with them. I have to add that you flat out can not beat Predator Camo...the deer just look right through you...I feel like a ghost when I am in a tree...the stuff is plain unreal!

[robert richer]

Just a short hunt on thursday november 15th for the land owner, his request.

Not a big story, although I can tell you that this deer meant alot for the land owner.

His wife assisted with drag, field dress and registration. Once again thank you to all the signaficant others, they do make the difference.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Stanley]

The Halloween buck:

My 2012 deer hunting season started on the 7th of October. I finished picking corn on the 6th. I hunted locally for a few days and headed about 230 miles from home. I saw a great buck 6x5 but not in bow range. I hunted this area for 5 days with no results. I stayed with bed to corn pattern. I also hunted a parallel trail one evening. My original intention was to hunt some water sources but my trail camera intel suggested that might be a bad move. I saw some smaller bucks but nothing I wanted to kill. I then headed back home to hunt locally. I travel around a lot during hunting season so I'm not burning out my spots. I hunted locally for about a week with no results so I headed out to a spot about 200 miles from home. Hunted there for 4 days with no results and headed home again. I hunted around home for a few days and headed back to where I saw the big 6x5. It is now October 30th. I was going to hunt an area from buck bedding to corn. As I was headed out I noticed some turkey scratching under some white oak trees. I decided to set up and see if a buck would be interested in this food source. I saw a nice 9 pointer he went to feed on the acorns. I was tempted to kill this buck but decided not to. The next day was Halloween. I normally don't hunt one stand site twice in a row but the wind was perfect and I felt I had snuck in and out without disturbing the area. On Halloween day I went out about 11:00 AM. This buck came in to eat some acorns at 1:50 PM and I double lunged him. He traveled 50 yards and tipped over. He was on his feet for about 5 seconds and was down for good. I killed this buck because I adapted to the situation presented to me. The turkey scratching for acorns is what put me on to this buck. This was not a case of a long history with this buck, but more of taking advantage of the current intel available. I guess you could say I got lucky on this one.




The Thanksgiving day buck:

I hunted around home for about a week. Went with a friend to his farm hunted for a week. Past some smaller bucks, my friend killed a nice 9 pointer with a sticker (10 points). I hunted around home for 5 days and headed back to where the big 6X5 was. Got a call when I arrived the big 6X5 was killed by another hunter. Now both of my best target bucks were killed by other hunters. It is November 21st I passed a real nice 8 point on the 21st. The rut has wound down and the bucks were basically on a bed to corn field pattern. I always like this time of year over any to knock down a good one. On Thanksgiving day I got into the stand at about 11:00 AM. Very slow until the last hr of the day. Saw some does and a couple of scrub bucks headed for the corn field.
I was done hunting for the day and was just taking a last second look and saw this guy coming through the brush. He was coming exactly as I thought he would, headed for a picked corn field. he stopped at 25 yards and I had a perfect shot on him, unfortunately I still hadn't sized him up good enough. I let down looked him over and decided to take him. By this time he was moving again. I drew back and followed him through the brush and dropped the string when he got to another clear spot. I did not lead him in all the disarray and hit him about 8 inches back of where My pin was, when I let go. After the arrow passed through he hunched up and walked very slowly on the same line. I had another arrow knocked but there was no shot. He then walked straight away from me. He was about 50 yards away but I lost sight of him because of the thick brush. I was in a pickle I couldn't even go look at my arrow because the wind switched from SW to NW the last hour of the hunt, plus it was bone dark. My only option was to back out and look in the morning. I got out at first light and found him exactly where I had last seen him, he bedded down and died in that bed just 50 yards from the tree I shot him from. He only traveled 35 yards total. Tagged out for 2012.

[wiscbowhntr]

To get the full picture of this hunt you have to go back to the 2009 season when I drew my mule deer tag. I trained for the mountains, shot my bow religiously, and read every book I could get my hands on about mountain mule deer hunting. My hunting partner drew a once in a lifetime elk tag for the same time period as our hunt so I loaded up the chevy impala and headed towards the Rockies solo. That’s where things started to go wrong. In Denver my ears didn’t equalize and my ear drums ripped open due to the pressure (I flew before, and hunted the mountains for elk and never had this issue so it was definitely a surprise). I stopped at the ER and they gave me some meds and I was on my way to camp. I set camp and was into good deer right away. On the second day I started getting a loud ring in my ears, third day some pain, and fourth day unbearable pain. I went into town and the doc told me I had double ear infections and had to get out of the elevation before things got worse…MY HUNT WAS DONE. I drove home bleeding out of both ears! Fast forward to June 2012 and I checked the mail to find that I drew my mountain mule deer tag. First thing I did is I called my doctor and made an appointment to get the ear situation ironed out. I had a minor operation done and had permanent ear tubes put in so that I would equalize. I already started training and shooting since I anticipated drawing the tag. I loaded up the ford ranger on August 23rd, picked up m buddy and headed west. I arrived in camp with ears intact and made camp. Glassing a couple of areas revealed the deer were much lower than last time I was out. The drought was worse in this part of CO than it was in WI. Things were slow until the 4th day I had a good buck bed 30 yards away from me at 9:45 and I sat there until 1:00 when the wind revealed there was an intruder in his bedroom and he took off. On the fifth day I glassed a giant come to a water hole and I decided to sit that water hole the next evening. I got to the waterhole early and had does coming in almost instantly and then there was a couple of hours of nothing. About 45mins before dark I had 5 does and a fawn come in drinking and playing around but they kept looking down the drainage. I thought I heard something and slowly turned to see what it was and it was a buck and definitely one I was willing to take on the second to last day of my hunt. He bumped all the deer of the waterhole and started to drink. I ranged him at 36 yards and had a quartering away shot. I settled my pin and let the arrow fly and I lost it in flight 2/3 of the way to the deer, but it looked that it was going to find its mark. He jumped higher than Michael Jordan could and took off and stopped at 60 yards and hunched up and walked like he was gut shot. I recovered the arrow and it revealed a gutty smell, but a lot of dark blood. I assumed gut and liver. I backed out and had some dinner and told the guys at camp and we went back to look. I didn’t want to wait too long in fear of the black bears and coyotes finding him. My friend Mike came with and we were getting near the water hole when Mike shined the opposite side of the drainage and I saw an eye glow. We got closer and it was my buck. It went 125 yards and piled up. We quartered it up and loaded our packs. I was curious so I checked the guts and I nicked the guts, hit liver, and one lung with my shot. When I wrapped my hands on those velvet antlers the training, practicing, and research came full circle. I finally placed the last piece of the mule deer puzzle and can’t wait to start putting together the puzzle to the 2015 mule deer hunt. Good luck to everyone this upcoming season and stay safe.