"HARD LUCK" Buck contest....

[spring creek]

Well, I guess I will add my poor season to the mix. Going into bow season, I had high hopes due to the fact that one of my cameras had pictures of 4 different bucks. 3 of these were regular visitors, coming every night. The first issue was the night part. I decided that if they weren't getting to this spot until after dark that I needed to set-up...upstream on the trail..so to speak. So I go up the trail about 1/2 mile and find an area where they were crossing a 4-wheeler trail and following the base of a hill headed towards my first location. I climb a tree early the opening day of gun season. Just before daylight, I hear something and realize what I hear is packing a flashlight. Well, he climbs a tree almost in my hip pocket...about 50 yards. Thinking maybe he had previously hung the set, I decide to just sit real still so as to not mess him up. Right after daylight, he starts blowing a bleat call....badly. Sounds like a 6 year old blowing a horn. Finally, he climbs down around 10:00 so I climb down and let him have the area.

The bucks quit using the area except for a 7 point and he appears to have a bad case of road rash. He lost hair in a spot the size of a volleyball on his side and has a spot on his muzzle that the hide and meat is missing all the way to the bone. Maybe he will live and grow into the name of Scarface.

My next piece of bad luck was a bit later when I drew out for a lottery hunt I had applied for. We (a buddy of mine and myself) saw several deer during that hunt but the only buck either of us was able to get a shot at was a medium sized 8 that I evidently shot low on. We tracked blood for about a half mile according to my GPS and it just petered out. Hope he survived.

So, all in all; I have just had a poor season. Its the worst I have ever had. The only bright spot was that my wife shot her foirst buck so at least we have a little meat. Oh, and she hasn't let me forget that I haven't connected and she did too!!

[Czabs]

The 2011-2012 Wisconsin bow season for my hunting partner Mike and I was a long drag through some ups and downs. Mike has put down a lot of big bucks in his short hunting career and I was bound and determined in 2011 to find a hunting/filming partner that would stick with me the whole season and not call it quits when the going got tough.

We started out the season shining and doing a lot of velvet footage. With my 2nd shift schedule I did a lot of the shining and Mike did a lot of the velvet footage. We got out as much as we possibly could. A lot of my velvet filming spots in the past was a flop with the fields being standing corn and wheat. Mike had a prime spot with corn, clover, and alfalfa however.

He filmed a number of nice bucks in velvet, 2 in particular. “Longwell” is a 4 ½ yr old 8 point that will probably score in the high 130’s to low 140’s. He showed himself a lot in the summer but come bow season he was never spotted. The other buck we named “Waldo” as in “Where is Waldo” because he is a very wise old brute. Waldo was filmed a total of two times throughout the summer and was never seen on trail cams or during a hunt the whole season. He would probably score in the 150 inch range and is over 5 yrs old.

The beginning of the season started on a high note with me killing a public land doe, opening night and filling my dad’s freezer. We got the hunt on film, clean kill, on public, doesn’t get any better than that. We bared through the bugs and the hot weather all the way through mid October. Hunting this year just wasn’t going our way for both of us, wither it be too much hunting pressure, lack of scouting, or slow deer movement. We just couldn’t catch any type of break whatsoever, with no luck whatsoever. Small bucks and does could pretty much sum up September-October.

Late October is when the hunting started to pick up A LITTLE BIT. Our first shooter buck was spotted in late October in a cedar swamp. Being the way we sat in the tree, Mike could see the buck but I couldn’t get it on film. Our lack of communication and the way we were perched in the tree so differently I missed the shot and that buck was never spotted again.

Another instance in early November Mike was filming me on a local piece of public land. We sat all day and the last 30 minutes or so of hunting light here he comes walking right down the trail that goes right past our tree! I thought to myself “there is now way this is going to happen like this…NO WAY” Well I was right as soon as he hit 45 yards on my rangefinder he veered off the trail and cut parallel to us and headed into the brush. A doe followed him and busted us. The whole event unfolded with Mike not getting any of it on film. (Same reasons lack of communication and the way we were perched in the tree) Keep in mind it’s not as easy as it looks on TV and this was our first year hunting together.

We hunted all the way through the rut and into gun hunting with no success besides the constant 2 yr old bucks walking by. Longwell started to show up on Mikes trail cams late December through Early January but he couldn’t seal the deal. Like I stated earlier we just couldn’t catch a break! Mike continued on through the late season hunting. While he hunted I scouted a lot, I was bound and determined to not have another year like this.

Our season was filled with a lot of LEARNING and HARD LUCK. Hopefully next year I will post my stories in the Big Buck Thread! I am bound and determined, that’s for sure! Nothing is stopping me!
Watch our 2011-2012 season unfold on video. I will be editing and uploading more in depth videos. This was more so an overview of our season…Enjoy. BTW sorry for the quality of the video. It looks so good on my computer but I can't get the settings right on youtube...UGH You can change the quality settings in the bottom right hand corner...

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5bTQwnV8aU&context=C337a8d3ADOEgsToPDskJvJUyd7iYsDCHFHU_j3nW1[/bbvideo]

[Stuart]

A SEASON OF FIRSTS
By: Stuart Turner

It was October 1st, and I was up bright and early at 5:30...but not to kill a SLOB. I was up because it was my last day of tobacco harvest season. This would be my last day of walking through a freezing wet tobacco field and the last day I would be daydreaming about being in my Lone Wolf near a buck bedding area. Anyways, most of the land I would be hunting this year would be public within 20 minutes of my home. I only scouted about 4 of the areas I would be hunting because of school (I am senior in high school) and because I just got my full drivers license in the summer just before deer season .

But my story doesn't start here....After the 2010 season I was determined to take a buck the next year. I started by getting the arterial maps from my County Office for the public lands near my home with the land boarders. On the weekends I walked the land to get a feel for what would be good come deer season and what wasn't. This was my first year that I started looking for beds and only found about 5. I hunt small pieces of farm land with no marshes near my home. One day while riding my bike in the spring on the next concession north of my house, I kept riding by a woods that seemed like it would be good for deer hunting. It took me about a week to get the guts to finally go to the house. I knocked on the door....not knowing who would answer or what they would say when I asked to go bowhunting on their land. A short man answered the door (I'm 6'3 so a lot of people seem short ). I politely asked him if I could go bowhunting on his land if I payed him a bit of money, or did some chores...He said "you don't owe me anything and don't worry about the chores. I don't have a problem with you hunting here this year." I said thank-you with the biggest smile on my face and I rode my bike back to my house as fast as I could.

Behind his house there was a 20 acre. tobacco field where me and the rest of the workers would be from time to time because the farmer I worked for had about 400 acres. all over the area. I would stop in once in awhile to make sure it was still ok for the deer season.

Fast forward to early October...The season had just began and my Mom already had enough of hearing about deer. Probably because I started a countdown to bow season for about 5 months or maybe because I told her every day she needed to be home in time from work so I would use the car after school to go to my hunting land in time for the evening hunt. What are mothers for right! Waiting on my desk in full camo, came in the drive way a little late but I knew I could still make it out in time. I throw my Assault in the back of the car, said Hi to my mom, and then I put the pedal down on the Honda Civic.

It was my first night hunting at the new property and it was a good one to remind me of why I hunt. I had I north wind, which was perfect for what I wanted. I hunted in a secluded field that could not be seen from the road and was about 70 yards from a soy bean field. This way I could see what was happening on the land with diving right in to the core areas. I set up about 8 feet off the ground in my Assault Hang On because the trees were garbage. I didn't have a doe tag but was still a great hunt!

SORRY ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE VIDEOS...I WILL FIX IT WHEN I GET MY LAPTOP BACK...

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqgo6n_RXfM[/bbvideo]

I hunted hard for the next month seeing a lot of does and small bucks and got some great footage but I didn't want to use my only tag just yet. I also found that hunting in the rain was great because the deer couldn't smell me and there was no one else on the public lands. Anywho, It almost came together on November 3rd. My dad gave me a lift over to one of the public lands I knew best. I have seen a group of does on one of my hunts and thought I would go back there. I knew a buck was bedding near there but never scouted his actual bed...hoping that a buck would be in the area with the rut just around the corner.

Long story short....It was the first time I ever missed a buck, the first time I ever got two shots at the same deer and the first time I lost a deer. I think the second arrow just grazed him low... He wasn't a slob but he was big enough for a first public land deer kill on film. Dan's hunt on Extreme Whitetail Tactics touched upon loosing deer and how new hunters shouldn't quit hunting because of it.



viewtopic.php?style=43&f=3&t=10067

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwFFk0ugqbo&feature=related[/bbvideo]


Now with my deer season closing in fast I was getting nervous. It was going to be shotgun season tomorrow and I had a crazy idea. I was going to take a bit of time of school. After talking with my parents, they knew how important this was too me and I got the green light ...I went in my basement to get my orange and my shotgun ready. As I was packing up my Lone Wolf, something was missing. My fanny pack that had my tag, and camcorder and my outdoor cards was GONE I searched the entire house. NOTHING...I knew it must have fallen off my Lone Wolf when I was in my last public land hunt, but didn't want to face reality. With my so called "vacation" started, I drove to the woodlot. I walked about a mile back to where I was. Amazingly, I would the exact tree I setup in. I look at the base of it...NOTHING....I almost had a heart attack but started backtracking my way out. But I knew I would never find it. Heading back to my car thinking my deer season was done for good, 10 feet of the road in the woods my pack laid at my feet. I was so happy that I got my cards and tag back, and my camcorder worded perfectly.

The next morning I was up early to hunt a piece of private land that I got permission to hunt on from my best friend's father. It was the first snow of the year and was a great hunt. I passed on this little buck but got some great film. I have never really had a problem with seeing deer, I can never find the one that I want, and when I do, I duff it.

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZlC8vBJHDU&feature=related[/bbvideo]

I sure many of the BEAST members on here remember their early days of bowhunting. I did not post this for you to feel sorry for me because I had a great season and have more stories to tell because of it. Winning the climbing sticks would be great because my younger brother is also getting into bowhunting and there is no better system to use than a lone wolf. This forum has taught me everything I know about bowhunting for whitetails. I now realize that scouting is far more important than actually hunting. This was my first time entering something in the "Hard Luck" Contest and hopefully my last. Next year is the Big Buck Contest.

Thanks for reading and watching,
Stuart

[deer-addict]

I would like to start off by saying thanks to Schultzy for the great donation.

I am new to post on this site but have watched it for about a year now and it looks to be one of the best! I am an avid bow hunter and gun hunt as well.

My tough luck story from this season revolves around a buck named "Jimbo" and my history with this deer started in the summer of 2010. This particular property is managed for 4.5 year or older bucks and there are several other individuals who also hunt the property which needless to say can make things difficult at times. In the summer of 2010 I glassed Jimbo on several occasions, he was a big framed 10pt with a sticker on his left g-2 and looked to be in the 160's. In August while placing a stand for bow season three bucks came out of the corn field and he was one of them. As they emerged only 34 yards away I was trapped on the ground in the middle of a logging road and had no where to go, I just crouched down, to my amazement they never spooked and slowly moved off.



In 2010 I hunted that property a limited amount and tagged out on a good buck with bow on another property. Once gun season ended and muzzleloader season began I decided it was time to go after Jimbo again. Finally on the second to last night of muzzleloader season out stepped Jimbo at 75 yards, unfortunately I could see he had broken his right g-3 off and chipped off some of his other points. I decided it would be a shame to shoot such a great deer that was all busted up and figured he'd be 170" or better in another year, so I passed him.



As shed season came I wanted Jimbo's sheds more than ever, I managed to find his left side which scored about 71" even with about 4-5" broke or chewed off. It turns out he was probably in the upper 160's in 2010 as a 4.5 year old.





As the summer of 2011 rolled around I started seeing a BIG 10pt, it was Jimbo and he was in the same fields. I put up a few cameras and got a few velvet pictures of him, he looked to be right around 170". I decided that I was going to raise the bar this year from 150" and try to hold out for a 160" or better buck as long as I knew there were some of that caliber in the area (this could be tough!).



I placed several more stands before bow season and felt good going into season. The bow season didn't start off the way I'd hoped and I had no sightings of Jimbo and no new pictures either. In late September I did have an encounter with a really good 150" class 5yr old 10pt, he came in and temped me at 8 yards but I knew he was short of my 160" goal and there was a lot of season left, so I passed him.





As the season continued I had a few hunts that went bust due to the other hunters on the property (I won't get into the details). I did manage to take a nice doe with bow in early Oct. As mid Oct. rolled around I started getting pictures of Jimbo again and some of the pictures were during daylight, I decided he was probably bedding closer to the food than I originally thought and I needed to put up some additional stands.






Finally on Oct. 30 I climbed into my stand at about 4pm just as a rain shower was moving off. I hadn't been there long and two small bucks passed by. At 5:45 I caught movement over my left shoulder, I turn around, 30 yards away a fat doe emerged from behind the point, I pick up my bow, I thought to myself "there should be a good buck with a doe like that", not 5 seconds later I hear a deep grunt from the brush behind the point, I then thought to myself "that's got to be a mature buck". Seconds later out steps Jimbo, the doe passes by at about 20 yards, as Jimbo approached I drew back. Once he was broadside I tried to stop him, he didn't hear me and kept going, then after a few steps he stopped at 18 yards but his chest was behind a tree. As he slowly took his next step from behind the tree I had my first pin (25yd) on his heart and squeezed the shot off. He took off, it sounded like a hit but I didn't see where my arrow went. I don't think either deer knew what had happened and it looked as though he was just chasing her along the base of the ridge. I didn't see my arrow as he ran off so that made me nervous, was it a pass through? I couldn't have missed at 18 yards!?!? I glassed over to where he was standing, no arrow, ok that's good I thought. I sat for a few minutes then glassed again where he was standing, then I could see my arrow, it didn't look like any blood on it so I got down and ran over to check it out. No blood or fat, just a bunch of brisket hair! I was in disbelief. I climbed back up into my stand and hoped he would come back. As I sat there I thought "you just blew your one chance at the biggest buck of your life!" and things like "hopefully those other guys aren't out tonight since they have a stand in the direction he just ran". The night ended and I climbed down. On my way out I saw one of the other hunters leave in his truck (that really made me wonder...).

A few days later I learned that the other hunter did indeed see Jimbo after I missed him, he came right under him but he didn't get a shot until he was 30 yards away, it sounded like Jimbo was close to straight away when he shot but it was "now or never" he thought he got shoulder, there wasn't much penetration and never found him. A few days later I got some pictures of him, you can see where one blade got his brisket and one blade got the back of his opposite front leg, you can also see where the other guy hit him.



I managed to get him on camera a few more times before gun season but never had any more encounters or sightings. I didn't know what to expect out of a wounded deer or if he would lay low or act like nothing happened.



Gun season rolled around and I decided to hunt my regular spot at home since there tends to be quite a few gun hunters on the property where Jimbo lives. My gun season was uneventful. I did learn that on the last Saturday of gun that another hunter did see Jimbo and actually missed him 5 times with rifle!!! The shots were from 200-500 yards. This deer must have 9 lives!



I had high hopes for muzzleloader season once again, unfortunately I never saw Jimbo and the weather never really cooperated to push the deer onto the food. Once again, I learned that the hunter that hit him with bow, missed him not only in the middle of muzzleloader season but also on the last night of season as well!!!! Luckily Jimbo survived to make it into late bow season. Sorry for the poor picture.



I felt like if the weather cooperated (cold and snow) for late bow I would have a decant chance. I also needed to move my cameras to relocate Jimbo because his summer/winter range differs slightly from his fall range and my cameras went dead after muzzleloader season. I hunted many times and checked the cameras to no avail. Finally on Jan. 3 it was cold and crappy out, I was was going to check a camera then hunt the stand that was 20 yards away but at the last minute I changed my mind and hunted a different stand that was a few hundred yards away. Just as the light was fading guess who showed up in the standing bean field, JIMBO. Unfortunately he was about 80-100 yards away and never came in before dark. The following day it started to warm up, I decided I had to make a move to the corner of the field where he came out the night before. I went in blind with a stand and my bow, I hung and hunted that night but never saw him. It continued to warm up, the last few nights of season I hunted the bean field but never saw him again. Just the other week I checked the camera that was by the stand I didn't hunt that night and guess who was standing 25 yards away !!!



Jimbo should live on to be hunted another year. I am looking forward to finding his sheds. This season I hunted more than any other year (65-75 sets), I passed up my best buck yet and missed the biggest buck I've had a chance at. Sorry the story was so long, I hope you enjoy it and the pictures.

Matt

[jlh42581]

Update:

My season finished out with zero shots taken, bow or rifle and I hunted till the last day. Additionally, I spoke about the honey hole ridge in my original post, with fear of a house being built. I drove by the property on my way home from hunting yotes with a buddy last weekend and sure enough, there sits a brand new house and the land is now locked up private property. So much for that place. That is the property where I posted pics of the summer scrape. Cant blame the guy, he got one heck of a nice little spot to himself.

[GRFox]

My 2011 season started out nice and early and warm on September 15th in Connecticut. I was focusing in on some new public land out there and had high hopes as well as a a private spot where I intended on hunting a buck that I had watched all summer. Opening afternoon I hit the private land. I had watched this buck come out of a cattail marsh and stage in the same area from mid July til Early September. 4 Days before the opener came I took a ride and sure enough there he was still staging in the same secluded field that he had been for the last 2 months, only now he was hard horned.

I hunted that buck openeing afternoon and a couple other afternoons but I am guessing he switched up his routine because I never actually laid eyes on him.

Switch back to the public land, I hunted every afternoon I could until the NY opener on October 15th. For a full month I bounced around on two different tracts of public land. One afternoon I went in blind. Based on topo maps, I knew where I wanted to be, a point jetting out into a cattail marsh / swamp. I snuck down there and got as close as I felt comfortable. I was facing the swamp to the north with the point to the east and a hiking trail 75 yards to the east. Just at last light I hear crashing coming through the woods. It was a buck, and a nice buck for public land, with a german shepard right on his tail. He came by at 35 yards at a full run and crashed back into the cattails. I could hear the dogs owner calling for the animal back on the trail. It took everything I had in me not to climb down and confront that person about theyre unleashed dog in a state park open to bowhunting. But I resisted. I am pretty confident that the buck was working his way out of the cattails and towards me when that dog spotted him off the trail.

I hunted that buck on the same wind the very next day and he was a no show. I continued bouncing around and hunting different areas. There were no acorns at all this year in my neck of the woods, and with no agriculture to key in on the hunting was tough. I never saw another deer in Connecticut from the tree.

Here comes NY opener October 15th, the hunting.......horrible. Like I mentioned above we have no agriculture, we hunt strictly based on acorns around here and there was no mast this year. I jumped around never hunting the same location more than twice in an effort to get on deer. i was setting up on deer sign with the wind in my favor and still not seeing deer.

Here comes October 28th and we get a freak snow storm. All of the leaves are still on the trees and with the weight of the snow they just couldnt take it. Branches with still fresh green leaves fell from every tree making every piece of hard woods a huge food plot of endless cover for the deer. The deer DID NOT MOVE. Guys who had been bowhunting this area for 30 years were left scratching theyre heads as to what to do. The does would bed down any where and not have to move at all, the food was everywhere.

No problem right? Just wait for the rut and sit in the funnels, no brainer. Well the rut came and went and it was in the 60's and 50's all of early November. The bucks just were not moving during daylight hours.

I wound up killing 2 does, I saw 2 shooter bucks while hunting all year. One was a mid 140's 10 point and the other was a 100" chocolate horned 8. he must have been bumped by someone because he came in at a full run. I stopped him at what I thought was 30 yards.....well it was 20 and I shot right over his back.

The season was definetly dissapointing, but no matter what I still had a ton of fun, learned a lot, and this will only make me a better hunter for next year.

[Schultzy]

There's some great entries here!!!

[headgear]

Thanks again Shultzy!

I don't want to say I had a hard luck season but more of a season full of lessons learned, sometimes its just not easy to get a nice buck on public land. Time is also hard to find with a young fam at home.

The season started out pretty well, I got on two decent bucks in the early season, nothing remotely close to a shot opportunity but I logged some valuable information about early season bedding and hopefully I can convert my new knowledge into a buck in the future. I did manage to take a doe so the freezer was doing ok. As the season progressed it become more difficult to find the deer, the sign was around but the bucks were not cooperating. We had a super dry end of summer/fall here in MN and it was becoming clear that this dry season was going to cause some problems for me.

In the past I had many of the wet public swamps all to myself, with the dry weather I was finding more human activity and less buck activity. Kind of amazing to see atv tracks in places that use to be water up to my knees, clearly I was going to have to up my game. I continued my attack on some of my best bedding areas without much luck. I suspect the dry swamps gave the bucks numerous bedding locations to choose from and the human activity pushed the deer to other locations off the public land I was hunting or in bedding locations I had overlooked.

Finally halloween was here and I had a few days off before the MN rifle opener shut down the rut. I did have a pretty exciting week. I saw lots of rutting activity in and around the buck bedding areas, heard more gruting than any previous season but there seemed to be a bubble around me and the deer were just not getting into bow range. I even heard my first snort-wheez so that was pretty cool. I was down to my final hunt before rifle season, it found me on a 2 mile loop sneaking into the back side of a tiny little island, I was excited and there was great sign everywhere. As I closed to within 75 yards of the bed I kept hearing russling to my left. Finally as I was climbing my tree I hear the noise again and up pops the head of a pretty large black bear. I managed to sneak up on this bear, I found his bed just 40 yards from my tree, I was pretty shocked to say the least. Sure enough the bear gets a little nervous and heads strait for my little island where I was hoping a large buck was bedding. I got my bow ready just in case but the bear didn't push anything my way. With my island burnt out I made a quick move to another bedding area that was only holding a couple of does. As closing time neared I heard all kind of chasing going on a couple of islands over and could not help but wonder if there was a big buck pushing some does. All was well as I had 6 days set aside for rifle season up north.

Rifle season turned out the be the biggest bust of all. There was no sign of the mature bucks from the previous year. I know all the hunters in a 10-15 square mile area and no one I know shot them last season but we had a pretty hard winter last year and that clearly took its toll. Deer sightings were extremely low, opening weekend produced 2 small bucks amoung 50-60 hunters working the area. It didn't take long to decide we needed to make a move to a new area. I was able to get on more deer but working a new area proved to be difficult, I did see a flash of one rack but a kind of shot was impossible. Both areas we hunted had a healthy wolf population working the area, it was impossible not to cut a track or hear howling in the distance or right around the corner. The season ended without a great opportunity although I did find a couple of bucks to chase they knew the land far better than I did and more than likely evaded all hunters in the area. Late season was pretty slow as well but it was fun to get out, I did some hunting mixed in with some scouting.

I did have a fun season, some of the best times were getting out with my 3 year old. We put in a bunch of evening hunts from a ground blind and never had anything show up. It seemed every time he wanted to stay home I would see deer and every time he tagged along the deer were a no show. He would endlessly toot on my grunt call so it was a long shot to get a deer to begin with but he had a great time. If we weren't in the ground blind we were out and about stalking bear, moose, elk, tigers and lions. You probably didn't know I had that kind of hunting right out my back door.

[spring creek]

Congrats to whoever winds up being selected as the winner!

[Spysar]

So when do we get to vote on this thing???

[dan]

So when do we get to vote on this thing???

I will try and get something set up tomorrow.

[Spysar]

ttt

[dan]

500 club members and Pro-staff go to the private forum and begin voting:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=11995

Good luck!

[muddy]

Congrats to whoever winds up being selected as the winner!

The winning loser or the losing winner?

[spring creek]

Hmmm...hadn't looked at it that way. After reading the posts; I know who it won't be..so again..Congrats!!