2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

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Carol
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2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Carol » Sun Nov 29, 2015 7:10 am

[align=center]Did you join the 2015 Big Buck Contest?[/align]

Start sharing your stories and pictures for the 2015 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!!


Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then!

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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:16 am

It has been an interesting season so far. Filled my antler-less tag on Oct. 3rd on my first hunt of the year on a 40 acre MFL parcel. Then had a few hunts afterward that really opened up my eyes to Beast style hunting which I have been struggling with over the last few years. In-season scouting really payed off. I ended up seeing more deer this season than any other seasons I have bow hunted. I kinda consider this season a stepping stone in my hunting career. I think Im finally starting to "get it".

Fast forward to the last week of October into the first week of November. Time for the rut to kick in. Mother nature had other plans up her sleeve though. Warm temps combined with unusually heavy pressure on two public areas I usually hunt during the rut contributed to the lack of movement during the day. Does were out and about with their fawns around Halloween, and no decent size bucks were to be seen. My daily deer sightings while on stand went down drastically. Sat a handful of days from sun-up to sun-down and the rut seemed non-existent. I was burning out my areas and running out of options.

November 7th, 2015.
I slept in until 7 am. I was unmotivated. Recent hunts have been unproductive. I spent all morning looking at maps and looking for a solution. I decided to go back where I first hunted on Oct. 3rd and give it another try. Its 40 acre MFL parcel with mature pine trees. I got there midday and took a walk around looking for fresh sign. Nothing. I only seen a yearling out feeding on a soybean field that conjoins the property. I decided to leave. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do for rest of the day. I had to hunt and I wasn't going home without spending a few hours on stand. It was 2 o'clock. Only a few hours before sun down.

I decided to drive to an area on the other side of the county that I hunted the last few years where I killed 3 deer by concentrating on the outer fringes. Its 160 acres of MFL land. For those who are not familiar with what MFL land is check out this link; http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestLandowners/OpenLands.html .

I hunted this certain area 3 times already this year with a few sightings, but it seemed like it wasn't as productive like seasons prior. There have been alot of other hunters hunting this same property too this year. More than I have seen in the past. The thing is, those other hunters tend to congregate right in the middle of the property. They are kinda predictable. I have had many good hunts there just hunting the edges of the parcel. Seems like the other hunters end up pushing all the deer out on the fringes. This is where Beast style hunting comes into play by focusing on the overlooked areas.

There is a steep east/west ridgeline where bucks usually cruise this time of year. I thought about going back up on that ridge for a 4th time this season, but decided instead to hunt about 100 yards off the road right at the bottom of the hill. This spot close to the road has had a history of being successful for me in seasons prior. I shot a doe from the ground here two years ago, I got a basket-rack buck last year up on that ridge, and there is always alot of good fresh sign along this edge. A few days ago, I found 2 fresh beds about 20 yards from the road.

Going in, I noticed a beat down trail coming from across the road into the parcel. I set up about 6 feet off the ground with my LW hand-climber on a limbless pine tree facing toward the wind. The trail right in front of me going left to right up into a draw to the top of the ridge.

I sat there thinking the whole time that this was gonna be a waste of time. Nothing is moving. Squirrels are horrendous. Maybe try again tomorrow morning. But I hung on. I was also imagining a big buck coming down that trail.

Getting close to dark I hear a crash toward the road. Sure enough, here comes a deer barreling into the woods. I first thought it was a doe. Then I see antlers and I noticed he is kinda wide. The buck was coming up that trail quickly with his nose down as he was slipping silently between the pine trees toward me. I first hesitated to pull back as he was still about 50 yards out, but since he was moving in fast, I went full draw which I was glad I did because he stopped to check the wind almost 20 yards away from me. I think he may have gotten a whiff of me, or he mave have saw me when he raised his nose into the air. Whatever it was I caught his attention. For a few minutes, he stood there staring at me, and the only thing in the way of me delivering the arrow was a tree right in front of his vitals. I was at full draw for about 3 minutes trying not to shake. He eventually got a little freaked out and as he turned to go the other way he exposed his vitals for a second. I immediately launched the arrow and nailed him right above his right shoulder blade with a loud crack on impact. I may have over-estimated the range with the high hit, but I felt he was hit good regardless. He trotted away, stopped, wobbled a little bit, and fell about 50 yards away.

I didn't wait. I knew he was down for good. I got down from the tree and went straight to him.

The arrow went in at an angle where it entered right above his right shoulder and came out on the back side left of his genitals. It went completely through him. Took out one lung and tore up his guts too. Slick Trick Magnum did a number on him. I was impressed to say the least. This is the biggest buck I have taken with a bow so far and Im a very happy hunter. His right antler was kinda gimped out compared to his left side, but still a nice buck. Im also tagged out for the season which is the first time I ever done that.

A lesson I learned from this hunt is to never give up and never doubt yourself even when you feel your time on the stand my feel like a waste of time. Its one thing to go out with a positive attitude, but to go out with a bad attitude and turn it into a great experience, can't help but think that God sometimes challenges us and puts the odds against us only to reward us when we carry on and pull through it. Well, here is the buck...
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby DeerDylan » Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:07 am

November 11th dawned very foggy and damp from the previous day's down pour. The rain had stopped for the most part and the wind was out of the north.

I was hoping the change in weather with the Northerly wind would be a good match for one of my favorite spots. The spot has a large grown up thicket to the North with a few pines interspersed. A pretty large ravine parallels the bedding area which seems to serve as a barrier along a travel corridor to the crop fields quite a ways down to the west. To the south there is a pretty large ridge running east to west, quite steep and mature hardwoods with some hemlock.

I've been hunting this spot for three seasons and it's finally starting to click. Once I realized I shouldn't be entering and exiting through prime bedding ha!

The first time I ever hunted it I mainly lucked into this tree at the head of the ravine. While I was setting up I had a shooter right under me grabbing a drink at the creek crossing.... Needless to say that didn't work out as my bow was 20 feet below me.

Last year I hunted it on November 1st and passed up a nice 2.5 year old 9 point at 9:30 am. At 2:45 pm I ended up shooting a decent 8 point coming from the bedding area on an old logging road that runs North to South right to the crossing at the head of the ravine. I got lucky as he picked me off but I ended up shooting him.

Fast forward to November 11th 2015. I decided to try accessing the area up through the ravine and try to find a different tree so I didn't get picked off again. I ended up not being able to find a tree without crossing a main trail so I set up in the same tree but turned my stand 90 degrees so I'd be behind the tree if deer approached down the logging road from the bedding.

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I got set up later than I wanted. As I was pulling up my bow a little buck was crossing the creek and got startled by my floating bow. He didn't spook bad and circled then headed to the bedding. By the time I had my pull up rope rolled up and in my cargo pocket there was a doe with fawns under me getting a drink.

Slowly I got my release on and an arrow knocked. Thankfully nothing of interest came by as I was unprepared. A couple of very small bucks ended up chasing the old doe up over the ridge.

I dropped some milkweed after they left and realized my scent was barely missing that old doe, no wonder she was acting shifty right there and mellowed out when she crossed back over the creek.

About 25 minutes later I caught a buck coming from my west cruising the downwind side of the thicket. As I looked at his body I decided to to take him.

I peaked around the tree as he passed behind me. His head went behind an ash tree so I made my move. 10 yards in front of him was a opening. I stopped him there, settled the pin and squeezed. I saw it pass through and he mule kicked.

I checked my arrow 30 minutes later then climbed back up to soak it in and give him some peace.

I took up the trail about an hour later. Good blood with lots of bubbles. I found him pretty quick in the thicket he was scent checking. The shot was a bit higher than I thought but the deed was done.

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I definitely see why successful big buck killers talk about learning areas over time. This spot is a work in progress and I'm looking forward to the future!

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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby BigHunt » Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:41 am

2015 bow buck

I started my 2015 season with a bang! getting my girl friend Jodi on a slob public land tom opeing moring of the first season! that got things rolling I followed that up killing four toms during the spring turkey seasons my self , one being a double beard( second year in a row for doubled bearders). as summer came I started my inventory on my land in western Wisconsin by running trail cams, shinning, and glassing. there was four bucks that caught "MY" eye for Jodi and my 2015 bow season as summer rolled on. one of them being a nice 2-3 year old 8 point. good mass an good tine length...

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I went up every 2 weeks during the summer to check cams and he was on them just about every time. I also sat and glassed. he would show every time with a bachelor group of 5-6 smaller bucks

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as the summer came to end, there was high hopes for the up coming season! I had a few nice bucks scouted on my land and some public. the night before opener came and Jodi and I headed up to glass. I set her up in a different part of the field to glass a new area. I eased over to were I was seeing the bucks. sure enough just like clock work, around 645 the bucks started pilling out of the woods... it was so relaxing they decide to play games and chase each other around

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later on that evening I was fortunate enough to see the buck I killed and another nice 8 pointer fighting!! it was a pretty cool experience!!!!!!!!!

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opening morning came and Jodi and I heading up the ridge to my watering hole ....there was food to the left of us and bedding to the right...ive shot numerous does on opening morning on this water source. Jodi had first dibs to shoot what ever she wanted. about after an hour of sitting a big doe and two fawns worked there way into us ....at first it was perfect they were walking from our left to right. I thought for sure they would pass by us at 10 yards giving jodi a perfect shot! unfortunately as most times the deer didn't cooperate :lol: they cut back behind our tree and Jodi did not have a clear shot because of a branch blocking her view....the doe worked her way closer and I readied my self ....the doe seen something and looked up. I sat motionless, she new something was wrong and bounded about 15 yards away and stopped. i quickly drew my bow and settled the pin! WHACK!!!!! my arrow was true and she took off running! she made it about 40 yards before falling over :dance:

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we only planned on hunting opening day in W WI because Jodi had other obligations. i decided that we were going to hunt the corner ive been seeing the bucks come out of! i set Jodi up in a tree down the way and i set up in another. just like clock work the bucks started pilling out of the woods just like the weeks before. the buck i killed came out and walked by. i gave him the pass hoping Jodi would take a shot at him as he passed her , but she never did shoot :? we seen 9 bucks opening night no shoots takin......i hunted hard for the next two weeks on public and passed a few smaller bucks.


Dan was up bear hunting and needed help bating so i decided to take a break from bow hunting and help him out! i figured why not!? any chance i can get with him is golden! 4 WEEKS LATER!!!!!! :lol: i learned so much about bear hunting and bating in general! ( cant wait to hunt Minnesota next year) we had a really cool encounter with a GIANT bear that was hitting one of his baits..
it was the last weekend for bear hunting and Dan had blown his transmission is his beast truck and really needed help! i decided to take two days off and Finnish the season off with him! i picked him up on Friday 10/9 and we headed up to my cabin to sleep there. chris son also joined the fun. instead of him camping by himself i envied him to stay at the cabin if he wanted. he did not hesitate :lol: they both woke up and said this is way better then sleeping in a tent ;) :lol: the weekend came and went, they both hunted hard but was not successful. dan and i packed up and headed back tusday moring. after a 3 HOUR drive, i dropped dan off at home around 930 am, as i got on to the high way to head home i looked back and realized THAT MY BOW WAS LEFT BEHIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: oh no!!!!!!!!!! i called dan and told him what was up and that i was heading back to get my bow that i left outside in my driveway! :doh: i was upset at first but then brushed it off and decided to hunt wile i was up there. i got back to my cabin around 1 pm. I shot some rounds and then headed up to check cams. I seen that the 8 pointer was there the day before just at dark so that got my attention and i knew what i was going to do...looks like he was still bedding near the field off a point just 100 yards or so in the woods( i assumed)... this time i set up just off of the trail he was using. the afternoon went on into evening and i spotted a yearling buck up on the horizon feading in a freashly cut corn field!

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the buck fed around for about an hour. suddenly i heard a stick snap just in side the tree line. my eyes scanned back and forth....i caught movement and seen a big doe and two fawns working there way to the field. they fed around and the little buck came down to investigate! what i mean by that is he was scent checking the does dogging them around like its nov 1 :shock: this went on for about 15 minutes and all of a sudden i hear all this crashing inside the woods!sounded like something was running out to the field. the does didn't know what was going on and ran back to cover! eventually they made there way back out.....still not knowing what the crashing was, i sat motionless with my bow in hand.
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after everything was clam, the yearling came in to work a scrap that was 15 yards from me.
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after filming the small buck working the scrap, i turned the camera off and soaked it all up.....i was lost in space watching the yearling work the scarp. suddenly the does busted and my attention was on them again! another deer with a bigger body appeared! there he stood!!!! the 8 pointer did not like the yearling hanging with the does and was on his way to give him a battle. he was all bristled up and was walking stiff, almost sideways!!!! i pre ranged this lump of grass and new it was my range limit ( 40 yards). i turned on my camera and just hit record and aimed it in the direction of the bucks. unfortunately the camera was still panned in from the little buck and i never panned it back out, so when i turned it on it was a close up :doh: i tried bleatin at him, i tried whistling at him ...nothing worked! he was in his fighting mode!
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i knew it was know or never as he neared my 40 yard mark. he was quartering away from me and i followed up his opposite leg with my 40 yard pin. i aimed slightly forward to compensate the walking distance ...i squeezed off and watched my lumen noc disappear right were i was aiming!!! the buck took off in a death run and topped the hill. i got the camera back on him an watched him fall!!!!!!!!! buck down!!!!!! i texed dan right away...his response was ....." NO WAY?" :lol:

way!!!!!!!!!!! im glad i forgot my bow!!!!!!!!!

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no he's not my biggest and by all means he is not a giant....I AM HAPPY WITH HIM! he was one of 4 bucks i was hoping to kill. i set a goal and followed it. that's what matters to me. it doesn't have to be a giant buck or and old buck to be worthy its about the path that led me to the buck and the adventure. at this point in time im not ready to go after just mature animals 5+ old animals. i hunt for my self no one else! my main goal this season was to shoot a buck early so i can focus on getting Jodi and nice buck. after not having a bow in my hand for over a mouth i could not resist :mrgreen: ....were taking off a week for rut and she is pumped!!!!!!!! she is the only shooter so she can kill what ever she wants, ill be running the camera!


i truly want to thank Dan, Carol, Dan JR, the mods and all the members that make this great site possible ! i am truly blessed to learn from some of the greatest hunters alive


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Last edited by BigHunt on Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby BigHunt » Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:02 am

2015 opening morning Gun Buck

This has been a very long successful year. Anticipation was high for the 2015 gun deer season as jodi, my freind eric, and I headed to western Wisconsin. there was only one buck I had in mind that I wanted to kill! MR T !!!!! Trail cams were showing that we still had good bucks on the land. Opening morning came . the smell of coffee filled the cabin. It was time to kill!!!!! We all headed out and we're set up by 530. A freash snow fall gave the land a mystical feeling as light blanketed the ridge. Waking to snow on opening morning of gun deer is better then snow on Christmas morning ;) I slipped in to a known doe bedding area and set up with my lone wolf about 100 yards away. I was on stand for about an hour ( only 30 minutes into legal shooting light) before shots started ringing out... I was sitting there sipping coffee when all of a sudden I caught movement to my left! I reached back to grab my 270. As I looked back I noticed another deer (doe) staring at me. I froze instantly with my rifle in my left hand. We had a stare down for at least 5 minutes. My arm was getting so tired from Holding my gun!! Suddenly I heard a grunt!!!!!!! I knew there was two deer but did not know one was a buck. When I heard the grunt I focused hard on the second deer. He was about 60 yards away when I noticed it was the 10 pointer I have been after for 3 years!!!!! I had an encounter with him last year on nov 2nd but could not seal the deal!
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with The doe still locked on me, I could not move! Suddenly a shot rang out on the neibors land. Shortly after I heard some voices. The doe also heard the talking turned around and started moving.. I threw up my rifle and aimed at the buck. I squeezed off and he fell over!!!! With the buck down I focused on the doe....got her in my sights and let her have it!!!!!!! Officially tagged out just one hour on stand!!

I followed the tracks to see were they came from .....surprisingly they were only bedded about 80 yards from me :shock: the tracks walked into the bedding area ( huge blow downs ) , the buck makes a scrap, a rub then beds down with the doe...after daylight they got up and worked there way in my direction.....the rest is history!!! when I walked up to him, the first thing I said was " I finally got him" MR T is mine! lots of history with this buck from shinning, glassing, infield encounters and trail cams

I put a tape on him for kicks and he is my best buck to date grossed at 160 7/8

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2.5 YO
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4.5 YO
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:23 pm

I started my 2015 season off with 3 deer in mind, but one in particular that had my attention(the booner). I had put some serious scout time in and had narrowed about 5-6 beds that were being used as primary beds for this area by these 3 bucks. Opening evening over one bed I had an enounter with a 120" 8 but he was just out of range, but I caught glimpse of my booner and what bed he was in. The next evening I set up on this bed and again caught a glimpse of him but too dark to do anything. The winds and work made it difficult to hunt this area for awhile so I stayed out until perfect conditions. On an observation sit overlooking a potential bed, I caught glimpse of one of my target bucks(the one I killed). I moved in for the kill, but was skunked that evening. Only does, and all alone, for Oct 25th that's uncommon. As I sat there waiting on last light, I kept wondering why no bucks. And then a light came on(the moon light) it was a full moon and I bet those bucks were still bedded but would be back to bed late. So I decided to come back and leave my LW up over night. I got in early and set up, little did I realize that I would see 6 bucks and 10-12 does. One of my bucks was my target 8(the big 8) and he offered a long shot but I passed hoping he may follow the doe under me. As they chased all the does away, 4 of the bucks decided to go back to bed and headed into an area I've been waiting for to heat up. I made a note of where they went in and devised a plan for the evening hunt. I wasn't exactly sure of the precise beds, but I had a good idea. Within 30 mins into evening sit, I saw all 4 together but they where about 80 yds away and caught my wind behind me. As the night progressed I caught a glimpse of another one of my target bucks(the one I shot) and he passed by same tree as the other one and was nose to ground. As evening fell I knew I had to be in that tree next night. I went into work early and got out early so I could hunt that evening. I snuck in quietly and set up in that tree, my wind was blowing to a creek behind me and my thermals were pulling right there as well. It acts as a barrier and deer don't like crossing it(very deep and wide). I'm sitting in this tree and I'm second guessing myself and had it not been for what I saw with my own eyes I would have thought I was an idiot for sitting this tree. Wide open in the middle of a grass field, no cover, and sticking out like a sore thumb. But if there's one thing I've learned its to always trust yourself. As it started to get to deer thirty I caught movement to my right and saw my target buck. All alone and headed away from me. I grunted nothing, snort wheezed nothing. I had been fixed on him and didn't see the two does about 100 yds from me. He chased them around a bit and then disappeared. I was thinking to myself, I'm the king of encounters of 70 yds this year, when all of a sudden I see him pop out about 120 yds in front of me in some tails. He turns and starts coming at me. I stand and prepare for the shot. As he gets to about 80 yds he veers off and disappears again. I hang my bow up and I'm like come on man. I set back down and I'm thinking I've got 45 mins left so I hope he comes back. No sooner do I look up and there he is, walking 60 yds but walking away from me from the right side of my stand but behind me slightly. I grunt, nothing, I grunt again, nothing. I snort wheeze. Nothing. I'm thinking what's the deal with this guy. He walks over to where I came in at down a dried up creek bed and works this bush over and makes a scrape. I can tell by his posture he's pissed and he heard me just fine he was just making a display of dominance. After he's done he looks straight my way and starts heading over. As he's closing the distance I'm counting down, 40, 30, ok top pin range until he is almost directly under me. He's on my left and I've already positioned myself for the shot and he has to clear some limbs first. He start slightly quartering away and turns his head briefly. I draw and slowly steady my pin. He has to clear some limbs first. As he clears the limbs he comes to a stop and I squeeze the tripper. I watch the arrow blow thru right behind right shoulder and exit left side neck/front left shoulder. He lets out a huge "ooouuufff" and hits the ground. He starts pushing himself on his back legs, but he's hit hard. I know we all say he had no clue I was there, but he really had no clue. He pushes himself about 20 yds away and lays still. I hang my bow up and I'm like wow! That came together nicely. I waited about 15 mins and slowly walked down. I was not prepared for what comes next. 21" inside spread, 15 scoreable tines(maybe 16 will know dec 28) solid mass and a 5.5 year old frame that dressed at 217lbs. He was not my booner but one of my 3 target bucks. I let a couple silent fist pumps out in the presence of me and him alone, and took in the moment. What makes it so special was its public land and Michigan. High pressure public. A lot of time and effort and knowing my area and paying attention to the sign came into play with this buck. I also have to thank RR7 for the support(thanks man, appreciate it) and Bucky(made a new life long friend) for bouncing ideas off of and also putting in his two sense. Sometimes it's nice to have that confirmation you already had with yourself but echoed from a fellow BEAST. Although I'm relatively young(33) I've been fortunate enough to have had some great opportunities at some good caliber deer for anywhere, and I owe thanks to many members on here for there knowledge and support. Thank you, and I hope I can repay with any help I maybe able to offer to anyone in need. P.S. I haven't figured out how to post my pics via iPhone directly so if a mod can help I'd appreciate that.

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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Redman232 » Fri Dec 04, 2015 9:59 am

Indiana

October 24th I was going to take the stand down behind my house. I had planned to do this mid day and do a hang and hunt sunday morning on a different property. The day got away from me with other obligations and 6:20 p.m. roles around and I told my wife I was going to run back and take the stand down. The field behind the house didn't get planted this year and is grown up with chest high weeds. As I walked down the low valley , I crawled up a low spot to look down into the corn field so I didn't bump any deer off the field. Of course there were does right in front of the stand. I sent a text to my wife letting her know I was going to wait til the deer left before I crossed the field to the stand. The does fed off and crossed the creek. I used the low areas to mask my movement from the does and from the woods further back. I was two climbing sticks up the tree when I heard some sticks break in the woods. I hugged the tree and watched as legs and a belly of a deer soon materialized. I couldn't tell if it was a buck or a really big doe. I let the deer walk out of the woods and into the grown up weed field. I dropped out of the tree, grabbed my bow, snuck back where I had come from through the low area and popped back out in the grass field on my hands and knees. Peeking up I could see the deer but with the back drop of the woods I couldn't tell how big of a buck he was(usually a good indicator it's not a monster). He initially headed right towards me but then cut south to drop down the hill into the corn field I had just come from. At this point I could tell he was out to his ears and that was all the confirmation I need. I decided if I could pull the stalk off I'd shoot him. It was windy and with good cover from the weed field, I made a 100 yard loop to a lower elevation in the weed field, hoping I could come up right behind the deer. As a got to the edge of the weed field the buck had used an old tractor path to enter the corn field and was standing right at the bottom of the hill (only about a 10 foot grade change). I slipped my quiver off and guessed him to be at about 35 yards. He had no clue I was there, I let the wind die down and drew back and let him have it. His jaw dropped(dropping an ear of corn) and I could tell I hammered him. He went about 50 yards and tipped over as he tried to make it up the hill. He's by no means the biggest buck I've killed but the first I've killed while walking out the back door of my house and the first one I've killed on the ground in 6 years. I forgot how awesome it is to go after them on the ground with a bow.Image

Ohio

Having tagged out early in Indiana, I sent a text to several friends asking if anyone was interested in going on an out of state hunt(I have close friends scattered across the midwest). One of my good friends asked if I was interested in coming to Ohio for a few days to hunt. At this point I was having what I would consider an amazing fall. October 9th I tagged a doe at 25 yardsImage, October 16th I got my first coyote of the year at 4 yards, October 24th I filled my Indiana buck tag and November 1st I filled my fall turkey tag and got a bonus coyoteImage. I tell you this not to brag, but when you've got the hot hand(which rarely happens to me) it's darn near impossible to walk away from the table. Riding the success streak I took my friend up on his offer. He shot me a few addresses of properties he could get me on and I did my part by printing off aerials and topos and scouring over them for 2 days before I left. I circled some spots on the topos I thought would be worth sitting for various wind directions. A couple of the areas I had circled overlapped with areas he had hunted before and he thought were high percentage spots. The overnight hours before the hunt were filled with rain and wind. Typically I would wait til gray light to enter an area I have never been into before, but the saturated ground and wind would cover much of the noise I would potentially be making. I was directed to follow the line of cedars until I saw a trail that went up the ridge. However my friend hadn't been in this area in 3 or 4 years and I either missed the trail or didn't make it to it. I saw what I believed was a trail and headed up the cedar covered ridge. I quickly discovered I was off the mark. In short order I was on my hands and knees crawling up hill under the cedar trees trying to be as quiet as possible. The moon light was bright enough at this point I didn't need a light, but as I got close to the crest of the ridge I could make out a deer trail and a couple of rubs and scraps. There was nothing to setup in and would have yielded no shooting lanes so I pressed on given I was still on the windward side of the ridge. The after getting to the top of the ridge (very skinny) I could tell there was a heavy trail and the leeward side opened up to a hard wood valley before the cedars started on the next hilltop. Using my phone I finally made it to where I thought I wanted to be without making hardly any noise. I had made it to the leeward side of the main ridge with a steep sided creek 30 yards to my right, the crest of the ridge 20 yards to my left and a small, flat, cedar covered point coming off the main ridge 30 yards in front of me. From looking at the topo I suspected this point could possibly have buck bedding on it for a NW wind and if nothing else, it was November 10th so I thought I may pick up a cruising buck hunting the leeward side of the hill. As folks with lonewolfs will completely understand, once you discover how crooked a tree can be and still get the lonewolf on it, it seems like every tree I choose is the most crooked son of a gun in the woods. I was soaked to the bone, left a wet shirt and gloves at the base of my tree and got settled in for the morning. As daylight broke I discovered what I thought was open hard woods to my right was covered in honeysuckle. It became very apparent if something was going to happen it would be very quick and I would need to be ready. I stood with my bottom cam resting on my thigh for the next 2 hours, on an awfully crooked treestand platform. Eventually my calves and thighs were burning so bad I had to give them a break. I did a quick scan and didn't see any deer and took a seat. As I was hanging my bow up I heard sticks break to my left on top of the ridge. I don't know if they saw me sit down or if it was just poor timing, but two does came out of the cedar and proceeded away from me on the ridge top. I stood up and readied myself in case a buck was in tow. With really limited shooting lanes basically in every direction I picked a couple of holes to shoot thru along the path the does had gone down. Within seconds I saw antlers coming out of the cedars and drew my bow. As he passed thru my first hole I could tell he was only about a 110'' deer and let my draw down. As he followed where the does had gone he made a few scrapes and rubs and was grunting. All of the sudden from directly in front of me in the cedar covered point a snort wheeze broke the relative silence and nearly made me mess myself. Until this point I had only ever heard young bucks snort wheeze, it was clear from the volume and tone this was not a young deer. I don't typically carry a grunt call with me because like most guys when I have it I want to play it like a trumpet, so I leave it at home. Knowing if I could get this deer on the ridge top to my left or pinched between me and the steep sided creek on my right I could probably get a shot. That thought process was enough in my mind to snort wheeze right back at him with my mouth, a first for me. I was instantly regretting it after I did it, but he quickly responded by rubbing a big cedar that I could see shaking, then I could hear him tossing dirt as he made a scrap and I was really confident he was coming. Just as I thought he would, he hugged the edge of the creek coming down the hill to my right, trying to get down wind. I had one really good shooting lane I had shot with my range finder(the only spot I shot, as it was my only shot over 20 yards) and it was 25 yards. As he stepped across the log I had shot with my range finder he swung his head side to side looking for the intruder. I was already at full draw and once I confirmed he was well past his ears I shot. I probably punched the trigger a little because I hit 3 inches or so higher than I intended to. He mule kicked and continued in the direction he was headed, after the first or second step I saw my arrow fall out, with I have never had happen with muzzy 100's. I thought "Did I really just bust this deer in the shoulder?". He ran out of site 60 or 70 yards away and I heard some crashing. Did he go down or just bust threw a tree top? Not knowing what happened I was going to sit for a couple hours before I even got down. About 1/2 hr later after running the shot threw my head a million times, I felt like I needed to see my arrow. Either I hit him square in the shoulder or above it and he would be fine or I punched threw and got into the heart and lungs and he would be dead. Just then I thought I heard a coyote growl and then a deer blow. I didn't know what was going on so I got down and decided to try to figure it out. I got to the impact site and found the arrow near by. To my relief the arrow had broke off on his shoulder after about 10 or 11'' of penetration.Image. There was no blood on the piece of the arrow I had recovered, only some meat, so that concerned me, I followed where he had drug his leg for about 10 yards and then I could see where blood was pouring out of his mouth and then about 5 feet off the ground on the bottom side of the honeysuckle leaves where it had started to blow out the top of him. I followed the trail for about 70 yards and this is what I found.Image I could see some white hair scattered down the hill side and discovered a coyote or bobcat had stole the tail off my deer. His rack grew on me as I approached. Image. We fought threw a honeysuckle jungle for 5 hours.Image But at the end of the day I had scored my biggest buck to date and my first out of state deer.Image Well I probably broke the record for the longest post every, sorry I can remember every detail like it happened this morning.(I'm sure you all if anybody can understand).
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Jeff G » Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:40 am

Two of Everything Makes things Better

As a hunter, we want the best…..a big fat stinky mature buck.

That’s not asking too much, right? After all I turn on the tv and all the guys shoot 180” and up.

Over time we create a pattern, hunt here, bring this, leave that, yata, yata, yata.

Our farm is not managed, its free range and reality is if its big and has 4 points on one antler, someone is gonna shoot it. The last 5 years in S.E. MN have been antler point restrictions. Yippee!

This year I added a wrinkle to my set up. For the second year in a row, I was taking my 9 year old son (we will refer to him as Junior) on opening day MN 2015 firearm season. Two hunters, two stands, 2 of everything…

History: 2014 was the first year Junior sat in the tree stand with me. We were able to harvest a doe with the muzzleloader. He got his first experience at seeing a kill first hand. He said field dressing was a bit stinky, but was ready to return to the field.

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We recently took our annual road trip, MN 2015.

We drove up Friday, snuck in pulled a few cards and started taking inventory of what was roaming around. I was very happy with what I saw. Lots of large bucks, even a 15 pointer!

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In the offseason we set our goal: Harvesting a nice buck (four points or more on one antler). 2 people in the stand is not an easy thing to accomplish, especially when your 9. In summer we practiced using our lifeline, taking our time, getting into the stand. Fine tuning our woodsmanship.

The night before the hunt we didn’t sleep a wink, the anticipation of the hunt kept us up. Opening morning arrived. We decided to park 1/2 mile away and walk in so the bedded deer would not see our vehicle headlights when we drove in. We dressed light, packed our clothes and gear in an alice pack. This is where 2 of everything is NOT a good thing.

I carried both stands, pack and firearm. Junior carried the lantern. When we got close we stopped, dressed and got a little more organized. We went in, found my pre hung sticks and receiver blocks. I hung the sticks and receiver blocks during my spring scouting. I use the millennium M100 stand for 2 reasons when sitting with my son. #1 I climb the tree and slide the stand into the receiver easily and quickly, #2 the deep comfy seat keeps my son sitting a lot longer and I feel he sits safely in it incase he falls asleep.

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A couple trips up the sticks to set the stands and backpack (full of books and snacks to keep junior occupied when the deer activity is slow).

Now it was time to clip junior into the lifeline and follow him up the tree. It was pitch black out. We practice a lot in the offseason in the back yard climbing, but I was sweating bullets on his ascent. We made it….safely.

Some people might think I am nuts, but we sit 20 feet up when we sit this stand.

We were hunting the leeward side of the hill, hoping to catch bucks cruising the thermal tunnel.

I need to be this high to get my scent above the thermal tunnel, otherwise scent plunges down the bluff.

We were sitting at 6am. Now I am sweating big time and exhausted. Ready to die, I sat quietly and thought to myself “It will be a miracle if we see a buck with this much commotion and scent”.

20 minutes past, Junior says "dad there’s a buck". I said “ya right, your telling stories and have buck fever. Junior said "It’s right here i can see its rack, it’s an 8pt buck. I slowly turn and can now see a deer at 20 yards. yup, he was right. The buck was an 8pt, just inside his ears. We allowed the buck to pass and continued our hunt looking for a better buck.

I like to grunt and rattle on opening morning. Junior asked “When can I call and rattle?”. I said at 7am. 7am arrived. This time I grabbed the horns smashed them together started to rattle like crazy. My rattling sequence was cut short when I heard "Dad there’s a deer, and another one" I froze. I never saw them sneak in. It was 2 little does. We watched them for the next 20 minutes. Soon Bambi left. Shortly after 2 more does walk by, one was a button buck. He stood there for 15 minutes. Junior was a statue, I was proud. I leaned over and asked him if he wanted me to shoot the young buck. Little did junior know I was testing him. Junior said "no, lets wait for a big buck". I was very pleased to hear his response. I normally rattle 1 time per hour in the morning on the opener, so I was going to rattle next at 8am.

We sit 1/3 down on the hillside to take advantage of the thermal tunnel. I looked down the buff and saw a deer. I could only make out the back half of the deer and it looked big. I grabbed my binoculars to take a closer look. The deer took another step, and looked up the bluff in our direction. I saw the rack was well outside his ears and had good mass. I tossed the binoculars to my son and said shooter. The buck took another step, looked up in our direction again. I new he had smelled us, and it was a matter of seconds till he bolted out of there.

Ka BOOOOM!!! I shot, the buck mule kicked and tore off running down the bottom of the bluff. I quickly fired off another round to see if I could stop him. As fast as he appeared, he now disappeared…

It all happened so fast. Did I hit him?

Junior says to me "Dad, you got him he jumped up, I can't believe you got him on the first day, we only had to sit 2 hours, I'm so excited, way to go, this is awesome. I love this!!!!"

My heart ached…junior was so excited. I sat quietly cursing inside my head, I can’t believe I blew the opportunity!!!! I told my son "It happen so fast I don't know if I hit him. He didn't slow down or look hit. It was a 50 yard shot. I said we don’t have him yet. I said I tried my best and don't know”. I felt like a total shmuck! I have shot quite a few bucks in my day, but letting my son down topped all of that.

I had a very bad feeling…..

10 minutes pass, "Dad i need to go to the bathroom". Junior can you wait? “No, I gotta go NOW!”

We go thru all the hoopla of getting situated to make our decent.

We get down, he waters a tree, I think to myself this set is screwed up for the year. “Junior wait here at the bottom of this tree and watch me”. I wanted to wait longer, but I couldn't. That little boy was so excited that I had to find out what happened. Half way down the hill I found the plastic wad that was wrapped around the slug. I must have been on the right path to where I shot. I got to where the buck stood. I looked for blood, hair, hoof marks…..nothing.

The cursing in my head is at an insane high. This sucks! I took up the exit route. I found a handful of hair. Hmmmm, I hit it. No blood……@%#&! Lets walk where he ran. I could see his gallop track and pushes in the leaves. I walked and followed where he ran hard down the hill. I went 50 yards, still no blood. $@&$! Now I am starting to think I grazed him……I followed the tracks to the bottom of the bluff. I found a few drops at the bottom. I looked across the ditch and there he laid piled up. He only started to bleed the last 10 yards.

What a relief. I waved my son down. We took pictures and celebrated. The shot was right threw the lungs. The buck has a 19.5" inside spread and 8 points, he broke one point off fighting recently. I found him on my trail cameras. He’s not the biggest buck in the woods, but to us he is a big fat stinky buck.

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We sat beside the buck, talked about the hunt and the prep it took to get to get there. Our hunting story has just begun, next year junior get to buy his first tag and I get to water the tree.

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Now go make some memories and remember to bring two of everything.

Happy hunting to all! Jeff
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Beartown18
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Beartown18 » Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:56 am

A little history about this farm, this is my Great Uncle's farm and he is 98. I talk to him from time to time, and he gets more excited about me killing deer on his place than anything. I have hunted this farm for about 20 years now, and have only killed a few small bucks and a lot of does. Nobody to my knowledge has ever killed a decent buck here, and he said this was the biggest buck to come off his farm that he knows off. A little about the hunt, I saw a thread a while back talking about old farm houses and nothing really registered to me at first. I remembered my Great Aunt's house that has been abandoned since she passed about 15 years ago. I decided to dive in behind there in the spring and found some bedding around the old barn. Couple of things I learned here where 1. old farm houses can be dynamite 2. Dan preaches this, but hunt where no one else would think to hunt. Like I said I have hunted this farm for 20 years, and my Dad has hunted here longer but this spot has never been touched.

Here is a picture of where I hunted. The orange line is my entrance, red dot was my stand site, yellow line was the buck's path, and red circle was the buck bed I found in the spring. Everything lined up, and I feel the buck was headed back to his bed when I got the shot on him. This was a muzzle loader kill at 40 yards.

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Stanley
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:50 pm

I first saw the buck the last week of October. I was doing some glassing and saw him traveling through a CRP field. He was headed for an unpicked corn field. I needed to get on him and hunt him as soon as possible. The rut was around the corner. I was afraid he would start preferring does over corn. He didn't, his mistake.

This buck was bedding on a property I have permission to hunt (good part). He was feeding regularly in an un picked corn field that I do not have permission to hunt (bad part). I was keeping an eye on him glassing from afar. He was going from bed, to staging area, through a crp field, across a gravel road to the corn field. I kept my observations on the down low. I did not want the other hunters that hunt this property to know, what I knew.

The buck was bedding on the west side of a deep ditch (40 feet deep). He was crossing the ditch and staging in an alcove type section of timber. Perfect for him, any sign of danger and he exits via the ditch and disappears. My plan was to wait for a south wind and ambush him in the staging area (alcove). November 2nd and there is a good south west wind, but man it's 78 degrees.

I'm off to make my play. API stand in one hand and bow in the other (I was going to leave the stand up and maybe hunt the spot again but....). I get the stand into place at 3:00 PM I'm getting too old for this stuff. I was roached out and sitting in the tree in a tee shirt. A doe comes in and beds down about 25 yards from where I set up. I'm a little agitated, couldn't she see I'm hunting here!!!! :lol:

At 3:50 PM I see movement in the brush from the ditch. It's the drop tine buck. The buck gets up to the doe and grunts once and then moves on towards me. I have to let him get through the first opening I wasn't anchored correctly. He gets into another opening and I send him a carbon greeting card, crack goes a rib. He bolts hard crashes hard into a tree and heads for the ditch. I'm thinking if he expires in that ditch I'm in for some real work.

I hit him in the liver, I knew the arrow was a little back. I wait an hr get down look at my arrow it's soaked with blood. I walk to the ditch he's not laying in bottom. I decide to back out and wait till morning. Not much worse anxiety, but I just have to wait. I preach this all the time. Don't push.

I found him the next morning dead in his bedding area. He just got into the bedding area and bedded down and died. I was glad he didn't die in that ditch. I was by myself. Couple of points to make. When it's too warm and the other hunters stay home might be a good time to get out and hunt. Anther point is, to make your play first chance you get. If that corn field gets picked before I make my play it's more than likely no buck. The buck was bedding about 1 mile from the back side of the corn field.

Lesson session: I have found the farther away the bed is from the food source the earlier the buck leaves to go to feed and the later in the AM the buck comes back from feeding. Not etched in stone but worth noting. Another thing to mention, a deep and steep ditch usually has an easier path to get across. Look for those easier ramps/paths, the deer often use the easier route. :think: This buck used the easier path, entering the staging area and exiting after being arrowed.

I'm keeping the story and pictures to a minimum. I am more interested in sharing how and why I killed the buck rather than posting my hero pictures.




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You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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DaveT1963
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:36 am

2015 was a different year for me. For one, after five years of severe drought, OK and TX got flooded. Many of the places I had been hunting for the last 5 years were no longer available as the lakes have completely filled up and then some. I knew I was going to have to re-learn a lot that I had gained from hunting this area for previous five years.
I also found the beast hunting site last December and decided I would try to take some of Dan's methods and see if I could adapt them to my particular hunting areas. I also decided to keep an on-line journal and document my progress throughout the year. I was in the woods at least one weekend every month and most months 3 weekends. I probably scout 5 to 6 days for every day I hunt in most years. This year, due to my success, that number was probably more like 5 to 6 days of scouting/prep for every hour I hunted. Scouting more then I hunt was something I learned pays off many years ago. But this year would be different as I wanted to see if I could tag a particular buck from a solitary bed. Now most of the time our bucks down here rarely, if ever will use the same bed two days in a row. Our public land is probably 70% good bedding, 20 % open woods and 10% open fields – they don't lack for bedding here. So I knew going in I would have to come up with a unique approach to increase my odds the buck would be using the bed I planned to hunt the day I planned to hunt him.

Now in most years, especially over the last 5, I focused on some isolated water holes in early October and had great success. I have filled my buck tags in both states for several years now. But I was looking for something new, a new challenge to see if I could push myself harder and stretch my techniques for pursuing big bucks. So I read everything I could on the Beast Hunter site for several months. Bought the DVDs and took a lot of notes. I quickly realized the specifics of how they hunt bucks in cattail marshes wasn't going to be a cookie cutter approach to what I would need to do to be successful in N Texas. But the general concepts were the same.
January –March I was scouting – all the time. I found beds and I started to narrow down a couple good areas. In March I put in over 17 mineral sites in an area where I had seen several good bucks in years past. By the summers end I had several good bucks located. And although I took two bigger bucks later in OCT and Nov, I choose to make this my "story" buck because it just epitomizes to me what hunting is all about and shows how even an old fart like me can learn new tricks. It also illustrates why some of us old timers say – hard work equals success. This to me was one of my best hunts in regards to developing a plan, executing it properly and having success. It doesn't always turn out this way – but sometimes it does.

Now begins my story of my pursuit of a unique double beamed nine point I came to call "double trouble" or DT (same initials as my name) for short" I determined DT was going to be my primary target for the October first opener. In July he began to start routinely showing up at two of my mineral sites. I then started "walking my cameras back" towards where I believed he liked to bed the most. This was simply pointing the cameras towards where he was entering and exiting and then moving them further in every three weeks. I also raked out several track traps along a couple faint trails I suspected he might be Using.

In August it became clear that he was the dominate buck in this area and that while he would not score real high he definitely had enough character to place him on my hit list. I would estimate him to be 4 1/2 years old due to his body size and the length of his face. For sure he was at least a 3 1/2 year old buck. Since I am allowed two bucks in this particular county I made him my first choice to go after on opening morning.

Here is one of my first pictures of him in mid-July, could already see he was going to be a non-typical:
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Over the next 3 months I accumulated quite a few pictures and tracks from my traps and had his general travel preference pretty well summed up. I set up three stands for South to South West winds which is our dominate wind during October. I did notice one particular area he seemed to use a lot in Sept but I would need a North to North East wind to hunt it. So I put in two licking branches as well as a mineral lick here and placed a Moultrie 990I to capture any use.

Late August Picture – I can see clearly now he is a nine point with a split main beam:


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My scouting and checking cameras continued right up until opening morning.

October 1, 2015

The weather was really weird in late September and continued into October. For some reason it was far cooler than most years and we were getting a lot of N/NE winds swirling with S/SE winds making it difficult to hunt any one stand. Since I didn't want to mess up and give DT an idea someone was after him, I decided to hunt a different area opening morning that I have no cameras in. I just didn't want to take a chance on spooking my non-typical. That evening I also hunted a different area. No shooters were seen.

On the morning of Oct 2nd the winds were calm so I decided to hunt my preferred spot for this buck. I got there well before daylight and heard a solo deer walk around in the lake, I am assuming to fill up on water before he headed to bed. He then passed about 30 yards north of me safely due to inadequate light. I waited until 1030 and then paddled over to the area I had found in early summer that he frequented a lot and checked the camera. I had a mineral site and a couple licking branches here. As I checked the card I got several pictures of him as well as several other bucks. What caught my interest the most was that I had a picture of him at 7:30 today! So I knew for a fact he was bedded in a narrow row of small birch trees and red brush that was thick and nasty. I also knew form my scouting and cameras that with a NE wind he would use a particular brush row to exit his bedding that evening. This are could only be hunted with a N/NE wind – which I had. I felt pretty confident as I walked back to my NuCanoe.

I quickly grabbed some gear from my NuCanoe, got out some steps, Lone Wolf stand, saw and pruners and headed back to the brush row. As I looked over the brush row from a distance there was really only one tree I could set up in and that was a thorny Hackberry tree that was not very high. Good news was that it was covered with all kinds of back cover and would over me about a 20 yard max shot between it and the lakes edge. I got the stand set at 8 foot high (a little under 1/2 of the height I usually prefer my stand to be at). I cut very minimal shooting lanes, one to my east (the one I figured he would travel on) and one to my west. I set up a game camera and then left to shower and grab lunch.

I came back at 3:00 PM and quickly climbed the stand. I knew form pictures that he probably would not come through until last light but wanted to ensure I got there early enough just in case he decided to move early. At 6:45 I saw them. A doe followed by a small 8 pt and my Non-Typical. The doe passed by rather quickly to the east of my stand and I figured it was just a matter of time until I got my shot. Then the two bucks started sparring. And they kept on sparring and I was hoping they wouldn't take too long as daylight would pass in less than an hour. I waited for what seemed like an eternity as the bucks continued to push each other around. Then the nine point non-typical walked right to one of my pre-made licking branches and worked it over. The he turned and started to walk back the way he came…. My heart sunk a little. But he quickly turned again and walked right by me at 17 yards. I let him pass and he veered and gave me a hard quartering away shot at his left shoulder. I aimed just in front of his hip as this would deliver the arrow straight through his chest and into his off shoulder. Which is exactly what happened. I was a little shocked that I only seemed to get 1/2 an arrow of penetration as my 55 pound recurve usually drives the big Simmons broadhead right through deer.

I watched him run off and listened as best I could at where I heard him last. The shot looked good and I assumed he would be lying at the end of a great blood trail. I got everything down out of the tree, loaded in my canoe and then walked over to where I had hit him. Nothing! I walked the trail he took for about 150 yards and did not find one drop of blood. After 20 minutes of searching I was really getting discouraged. I backed up and walked the trail three times and still had not found even one drop of blood. I use bright yellow fletching so I knew the arrow had hit him good and that it was still in him…. but usually it gets broken off at some point in this brush terrain and is often the first real clue. Forty five minutes later I was still searching and not finding anything. I was getting that sick feeling in my gut and I was losing daylight fast.

Picture of him running off with arrow in him:

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Instinct took over and told me to just walk the trail that I would take if I was a mortally wounded animal. As most deer, after their initial bolt, will usually put their nose in the wind… so that is the trail I took. I walked about another 100 yards and I saw the white of his belly first. He had run full steam until he just ran out of gas – about 250 yards. The arrow was still lodged in his off shoulder and there was quite a bit of blood at the final site. He did have some coming from his side and from mouth. Despite all this blood at the place where I found him, I re-walked the entire trail the next day and was only able to find one drop of blood???? Most of the blood was at the final spot and still inside him. Both lungs were nicked, and his liver was destroyed by the big broadhead…… the prayers I had said most definitely were answered that night as had I not walked up to him I doubt I would have found him by trailing/tracking.

Picture of how I found him in small opening:

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So that’s the story of my first ever Hunting Beast style hunting. I know a lot of folks here use spot lighting to locate when deer are in bedding areas/crop fields and then plan their hunt accordingly, but unfortunately it is illegal to do that here. Since there are no agriculture crops I can't check for large tracks on field edges either. So I rely heavily on game cameras that I place in funnels that lead to and from known bedding areas. Seldom does it work out so perfectly to where I can check a camera and know that deer is bedding and get to set up on him the same day.

Here he is loaded into NuCanoe with bow (in plastic bag to keep it dry)on top: It was cramped but got him in it. Sorry for the poor picture taking but I was by myself and in a hurry to beat total darkness – still had 2 mile paddle to truck:


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all those hours of studying, scouting, prepping in 100+ degree weather was quickly forgotten and replaced with the satisfaction from taking a great buck, on heavily hunted public land, and on purpose. For me, few things can compare – it's what keeps me going all year waiting impatiently for the next October opener.

The story of my other two 2015 bucks is in my on-line journal.

Thanks to Dan and all the Beast Hunters for inspiring me and making this year such a hoot. Bring on 2016!
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Bowhunter4life » Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:38 am

The season I will never forget. Not sure where to even go with this but I'll start by saying a big thank you to my wife for allowing me as much time in the woods as she has this year. I have not spent this much time in roughly 10 or more years. Purchased two out of state tags as well which is something I've never done before. To start off the season I was hunting Missouri and running several cameras as I always do. I was getting picture of a pretty decent 9 point on south winds as he entered the bedding area. First few days of season j was unable to hunt but the first day I could there was a cold front coming through. I figured this deer would use the other side of the ridge to bed on with winds changing out of the north. With the good steady north wind I slipped in as close as possible. Was pretty slow until 6 that evening & I noticed some movement coming from the suspected bedding area. The 9 was working a scrape. He slowly worked his way toward me working several other limbs along the way. I had figured he would cross in this one spot where the majority of the deer where crossing. Of course he stuck to the cover and jumped the fence in a little lower. As he was coming by he was heading toward my downwind side. I knew I was in for a rushed shot. I had a small opening and as he approached it I drew back. It was a pretty steep angle shot but it worked out. I put the arrow where it counts but by the time I got down it was dark and I was just a little unsure of the shot so I backed out. I gave him till morning when I came back to find him no more than 70 yards from the shot location.
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I decided to head to Arkansas and hunt with a cousin of mine who had been asking me to come down for quit sometime. I loaded up and headed down for a 3 day hunt. I had never been on this particular piece of public we were gonna be hunting so everything was to be based off maps. I did do a little walk through just checking on a few areas the day before I hunted. My cousin tried to point me in a few different directions but I wasn't too interested in them. My first sit was above a draw near what I expected to be bedding to the west. It was a very slow day and I saw no sign of any chasing morning or evening. Studying maps pretty hard that night I took interest in a spot a good ways back. It looked to be a thicket and the distance it was from parking I figured it hadn't received any pressure. The following morning I set out on the long walk back there. I kept my distance from the edge of it though as I didn't want to mess things up not knowing the sign in near it. That morning I set up at a safe distance using the site for more of an observation sit. As the morning passed I had no sightings so I decided to get down and scout the edge looking for fresh sign. I walked a majority of the thicket along the edge and I located a lone oak tree. It was apparent deer were feeding under it and a few fresh rubs just 30 yards down. Figured the does may feed here and a buck could slip by to check on them. I sat up near the oak for the evening sit. As light was fading I noticed a buck moving my way. He was heading directly for my tree. I knew it would be a difficult shot as he was less than 8 yard and it was pretty much a straight down shot. I took what I was given though and made it count. The buck didn't go far and I went to get help getting him out as I was a long ways back. This was a really enjoyable hunt for me.
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Off to Illinois now. I was really excited this year to hunt there and I couldn't wait to get set up in the tree. I hunted hard setting up in funnels and pinch points for a few days. Just wasn't seeing much other than some dinks. The land was pressured a lot more than I expected and guys using 4 wheelers which isn't allowed but indeed they were. I was hunting pretty deep on each one of my hunts but nothing was paying off. I was really struggling on this land and beating my head against the tree trying to come up with a better game plan. There was this one area I knew of the does liked to bed. Back in the fall I had jumped them doing a little scouting and I kicked them up the first day on the land this year as well. My plan was to go right in and bust them up then set up accordingly. Going in middayish I busted three does out of there. I set up just downwind of where I kicked the does up from. A few hours passed and I noticed a little buck working my way with his nose to the ground. He went right on by following the tracks the doe made when I kicked them out. Not long and I heard grunting. He chased them back by me. As the evening was winding down I head something coming from the same area the small buck came from. I noticed a pretty decent rack coming down toward me with his nose stuck to the ground. When he hit my opening at roughly 27 yard I let the arrow fly. Shot was perfect and he didn't go 80 yards. I pulled a risky move here by diving right in on the does but hunting funnels leading to them was not paying off. Luckily this did.
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Now on to Missouri rifle season. As a kid the night before rifle season was more exciting to me than the night before Xmas. I have a crazy obsession with deer hunting and it hit me at a very young age. Anymore the thought of rifle hunting just doesn't thrill me as I love to chase the deer with a bow. Unsure of where to go as I had no time for scouting with hunting Illinois so hard. Had pictures of a dandy 10 point in this one area and the year before I had several pictures of a real tall 8 and even found a shed from him. I kicked him up in late January doing some scouting so I knew he used this area to bed in. The area I was to be hunting was a big grown up field with very small trees ( too small for climber) and briars all throughout it. Had a big crop field to the north picked corn and big timber to the east. This area did not hold a lot of sign in it. The woods to the east was torn up with buck sign though. Figured this would be where most of the hunters would be setting up. Was a long walk back there and I knew the tree I was gonna get in had a lot of trimming to do even to get my lone wolf in it. I was going in early and the first vehicle in the parking lot on opening day of rifle season. About a hour before daylight I'm set up ready to go. I watch in the distance at the woods to the east of me and deer a couple flashlights. My plan was to beat everyone in and be set up in the heart of the over grown field and let the pressure push deer to me in the bedding area. First hour for me was slow. Lots of shots coming from the woods to the east of me. Hour or so after first light the action picked up and was non stop from then on. Bucks were chasing does all around me. This went on for at least a hour and half. My issue was these were all small deer. Basket racks and one decent 120 inch 8. I started wondering if I had made the right decision to try this area. I had pulled my phone out and started looking at maps trying to think about if I should make a move that evening. As I'm doing that in front of me I hear some noise and look up to see a pretty good 6 point coming out of the brush. He kept stopping to look back which made me think that there may be a bigger one behind him. I ready myself and before I could even see the deer I saw antler tips coming through the brush. Knowing how tall this stuff is I knew this was a good deer. Once he clear the brush and I got a good look at the rack I knew right away it was the big 8 I had the shed from in 2013 and trail camera photos of in 2014. Laid the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger. At the crack of the fun he hit the ground. I felt like a kid again in past rifle season when I would get one down. It was a very rewarding hunt for me to kill a buck I had hoped to see.
Trail camera photo
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2013 shed
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On to the late Missouri bow season I really wasn't sure what to do. This was turning into a season I had always dreamed of though. I have hunted harder and spent more time in the woods this year than I care to say. This hunt all started out on a Saturday when I went out on some public ground that I have seen bucks bed on after the gun pressure puts them on lockdown. It's a wetland with a pretty decent creek that wraps around it. The deer bed up on the islands or high spots out in it. Some spots are pretty deep too. As I went in last Saturday and was setting up I had pretty much just got settled into the stand when I was caught off guard by a buck slipping by me crossing the creek. I set up there cause it was a good crossing for them beings the water wasn't quit as deep. He slipped by me roughly 35 yards and I believe he busted me setting up. Well I blew that hunt but now I knew where this buck was bedding. I didn't have enough time to get out there any through the week so I planned my hunt for the following Saturday. The wind was a little different but still out of the east. Northeast when I jumped him. Figured that he would be right back in the same bed so I set up accordingly. It literally took me a good hour or more to travel the last hundred yards because of the crunch leaves. I really figured I was gonna knock him out of there going in cause winds were light and it was so loud no matter how softly I stepped. Used some squirrels playing on the hillside to my advantage and tried my best to sound like them when I would move. Once I got to the tree and was set up I really was t too confident just because of the crunchy leaves I had to travel through to get in there. Well to my surprise he was there but bedded a little differently this time. There was a patch of brush between me and him but this buck was only 60 yards away from me. When he got up and moved in front of me I was shocked!! He was coming in but the light swirling winds were push g my scent in the directing he was heading. Had to wait for the opening and once he hit it he locked up. I was drawn back already those and once I found my spot I touched the trigger. At the same time the buck didn't like what he smelt and wheeled around right as I shot causing my arrow to hit him back. I was sick to say the least. He reacted funny almost like he was gonna go down but kept his footing and jumped the creek and up a steep bank out of sight. I got down and wanted to go see the area I shot him. Saw several beds he was using in this spot too. Found some blood and followed it across the creek just to mark a spot to pick back up on later. Was not a lot of blood and what I was finding was real watery. I heard a deer take off and could just see the tail in the darkness so I wasn't sure if it was him or not. Backed out of there and came home to replay it all in my mind. Unsure of what to do and posted on the site even asking for some advice I decided to go after him. Thanks James by the way for the advice. Went back out and was not finding a lot of blood but some here and there. He crossed a tall grass field which really made it tough. I was able to find some of his running tracks though and once I crossed the field I found him piled up on the otherside as he tried to jump a fence which would of lead him into private ground. Luckily for me he just didn't have it in him to get all the way across. My arrow just missed the tail bone hitting the back ham sliding into the intestines and caught liver. Shot was at 4:30 roughly and I found him sometime around 10 or 11. Not the way I wanted it to go down putting a bad hit on him but one of those things that happens and nothing we can do about it. Just glad I was able to recover the deer and put my last tag of the season on him. This buck was ran down from the rut pretty bad.
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adudeuknow
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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby adudeuknow » Tue Dec 15, 2015 12:44 am

I was prepared to sit from dark until dark every day if necessary and if everything out of my control cooperated. That's just how I prefer to hunt. The first day on stand was fairly uneventful with minimal deer movement which was surprising to me with a perfect wind and drastic drop in the barometer. Three doe and one small buck let me catch a glimpse as they hurried from their feeding grounds to their bedrooms. I would imagine this due to winds that changed from nonexistent to 25mph almost instantly. The rain reared its head and the remainder of the day in terms of deer sightings was halted. The second morning the wind had shifted to NE and I was very excited because it meant I would be able to make my lengthy hill climb and hunt the stand I will now refer to as my home away from home.

The action wasted no time coming to a boil and I was immediately greeted with the horrible sounds of deer blowing below me in a very deep hollow. I was highly confused because the wind was perfect. The thermals were perfect but there I sat in utter disbelief for several moments simply shaking my head. The culprit soon revealed itself as a medium-sized bobcat came directly from where I heard all the commotion. He nonchalantly jogged down the path oblivious to the well hidden blob tucked between the split trunk tree that allowed me to remain very well hidden. He reminded me that I was in his bedroom when all of a sudden at ten yards he stopped on a dime and stared up at me. He didn't spook but he never took his eyes off of me. I was amazed he spotted me through the 3 inch sliver from which I was peering at him through. He made his way out of sight and then the action started.

Two doe suddenly began feeding up the fence line to my back right behind me and dipped off over the hill directly to my right. It wasn't even two minutes later when the pleasant sound of tending grunts filled the air. A yearling 4 point followed their very steps and he too disappeared out of sight. I stood there appreciating the day for close to ten minutes when a young 120 inch ten point showed himself directly in front of me at around 80 yards and already on the neighboring property and moving out of sight quickly. I decided to attempt a better look so the grunt tube was activated and that buck found himself at the base of my tree in less than 20 seconds. I admired him for several moments and he made his way past me and out of sight. Little time had passed and I glanced over my back right shoulder and settled my eyes on a gorgeous 160+ class ten point. He quickly approached my tree but made a sudden right and disappeared over the hill directly where the day's first deer had headed out of sight. He was at exactly 28 yards as I later ranged but no shot opportunity was presented. I quickly reached for my grunt tube as his antlers disappeared through the incredibly thick and green bush lining the fence row. I grunted 3 times in an aggressive manner. Within seconds and around 15 yards closer to me I saw good antler coming back out of the brush. I determined where he would enter back into my shooting lane and drew. He jumped the fence and was headed directly past my tree at 13 yards. As soon as he entered that zone I released, the arrow disappeared and two punctured lungs resulted. He bolted to around 40 yards painting the ground with every step and stopped. He looked back at me and this is when I realized I had been deceived. This wasn't the massively tall 10 point. This was a much smaller 8 point. My heart sank and my excitement shifted to remorse. I collected my thoughts as the buck took his final steps over and down the hill. I eventually climbed down and found my arrow buried a foot in the ground and headed back to the vehicle.

I returned about 1 hour later and quickly found the ridiculous blood trail. We followed the blood and were greeted with a respectable and very handsome 130 inch 8 point. I am pleased to tangle with all deer in one way or another when in the woods but releasing an arrow for me is something I tend to be very picky about. I am literally in the land of Boone and Crockett bucks and I just allowed myself to be fooled by the dreaded transforming buck in the bushes trick. This is what I was rewarded for training myself to focus on vitals with. Haha.

It wasn't long before I became very pleased with the deer I had harvested. I made a very lethal shot that resulted in instant death and realized I was blessed to have experienced the morning I did.

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His live weight was estimated to be a little over #200lbs. You can see the shot entrance if you look hard enough. Slick Trick Mag 100 grain. 2009 ROSS CARDIAC shooting Easton as always topped with JBK bowstring! USA!

Now to get focused on the PA late season. Scouting is already underway and as for Illinois...UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

Thank you very much to what I consider to be the best deer hunting site(PERIOD) for this opportunity.


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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Sam Ubl » Tue Dec 15, 2015 4:51 am

What a season it has been. With a little one on the way, my wife urged me to get a lot of hunting in this fall because surely time would be limited in future seasons with my new parental duties. Despite the blessings from my better half to spend a lot of time in the woods this fall, I hunted only five sits in Wisconsin, and spent another five days in Minnesota and found success enough to tag three great bucks.

The wind was all wrong for me to get into the areas I had in mind on a particular piece I've been hunting over the last five seasons. Unwilling to throw in the towel, I chose to climb into a tree overlooking a 30-acre standing bean field to watch and see what came out - if anything. That night I filmed a large heavy horned 10-point buck feed out into the field and work his way into 50-yards of the observation stand I was hunting. Another good 10-pointer came out and lightly sparred with him for a while and before long it was dark.

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Thanks to a promising wind, I slid up that field edge the very next day with my Lone Wolf on my back and settled into a tiny tree in hopes that big buck I watched the night before would slip up and stay the course of his route the previous night. As luck would have it I watched a deer emerge from the dogwood and tag alder thicket the big one had come from the night before and zoomed in with the camera to get a better look. What I saw caught me off guard. There before me was a piebald buck and he was moving at a pretty good clip and closing the distance. With the camera running, I waited until he fed inside of 20-yards of my stand before loosing an arrow.

He certainly doesn't boast inches of headgear, but the rarity of this encounter was worth it. I'm still thrilled to have been fortunate enough to have the chance at such a cool buck. This entire hunt and the big buck encounter from the night before will be featured in the upcoming Wisconsin Whitetail Pursuit DVD.

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With the season only just begun and my buck tag filled, I got on the phone with the owner/producer of Whitetail Adrenaline, Jared Scheffler. Jared asked, "Well, now what are you going to do for the rest of the fall?" I figured I'd hop in the stand with a few buddies and do some filming just to keep myself out there, plus I rarely muskie fish in the fall because I'm usually out in the woods so that was a real possibility of how to fill the void, as well. Jared told me to buy a tag for Minnesota and come stay with him for a week, we would hit the ground running on Minnesota hunting exclusively public land to see if we could get on a couple good bucks for the next Whitetail Adrenaline DVD release.

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Fast forward to the last week of October and there we were putting on the miles of Jared's minivan driving down long dirt roads in the bluffs of Minnesota. On the third day we took the canoe to access a few pieces that abutted a river. The idea was although there was a small access point for each of these pieces from the road, it would be a long treacherous hike to get all the way back to the land we could access from the river and our hunch was most wouldn't put in the work. Taking a boat in sounds easy, but the public canoe put-in was down river from the public we intended to walk into - a few miles downriver. After a long paddle and walking the boat through light rapids, we walked into some public and connected on a great buck. That was one heck of an adventure to say the least, and just what I needed after staying out of the woods over the last 30-days or so.

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Opening day of Wisconsin's firearms season was a night away when a good friend of mine who agreed to film for me the following day joined me for a scouting mission to see what was still coming out into the now cut bean field I connected on the piebald buck in back in mid-September. There we filmed a couple different bucks, including one dandy that got my heart going pretty good, and a few doe. That night the snow fell heavy and by morning we had accumulated a few inches. The property we were hunting is long and narrow and abuts the road on one side and a small river on the backside. We planned to access via the river to avoid pushing deer out before the sun came up, so there we were loading a boat into icy water with two Lone Wolf's, camera gear and two packs loaded with snacks and extra clothes.

We were dressed in chest waders to keep dry pulling the boat over beaver dams, a small 3' waterfall, and to cross a couple of flooded drainage ditches to access the tree I had in mind. We were drenched in sweat from the hike in, and with the cold and snow, there was no way we'd make it all day in those waders. The ground was soaked in the swamp we had waded into so it was no fun changing out of the waders and into our winter boots, but we made do and soon we were up the tree and waiting for shooting time.

It was very light because of the snow, so we could see a few deer chasing around at 200-yards before shooting time came. Soon after legal shooting hours began, the big heavy buck we scouted in the field the night before walked out in the cattails 100-yards away. I took the shot and he bulldozed into some tag alders. With the wind in our face and in a tree with little cover, we sat there shaking and trying to keep warm until a couple hours had passed. By this time we had accumulated nearly seven additional inches of snow, and we started to worry about losing the blood trail. We climbed down, changed back into the waders, crossed the ditch to where the buck was standing when I shot and followed the blood to an awesome deer.

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The drag was hard enough to get him to the ditch, so an additional 200-yard drag through the marsh to get back to the river was sounding pretty awful. We opted to go back for the boat and attempt to get it up the connecting ditch and hopefully float our gear and the buck out that way. It was a lot of work, but made for yet another incredible adventure. I am fortunate Jesse was willing to film instead of hunt because we captured this whole adventure and the scouting from the night before on film! This hunt will also be featured on the upcoming season of Wisconsin Whitetail Pursuit.

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Re: 2015 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

Unread postby Bucky » Tue Dec 15, 2015 10:33 am

Seven years of history (pics, sheds, encounters) and the story here

Part 1
viewtopic.php?f=287&t=32960
Part 2
viewtopic.php?f=287&t=32963
Part 3
viewtopic.php?f=287&t=33600

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"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear


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