Deer hunting thread 2012-13

I hunted for two weeks in Montana. The elk hunting was poor, but I did manage to get a real nice pronghorn.

<a href="http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/44yam/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0014.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/44yam/IMG_0014.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
I am trying out the app Time to Hunt. It was free and figured no harm in giving it a shot.

As to the Urban areas that some have posted. I hunt on our villages property. So far the deer I have gotten haven't traveled to far after hitting them. I usually won't even take a shot if it's more that 15yds. They keep it to 3 hunters at a time. We have to take two does before we can take a buck.

Went out opening day to my grandfathers. Saw a lot of new activity (tracks), but no deer. Might be heading back out Sunday. Have my urban hunt date on Wednesday this week.

Still have a lot to learn on scouting and tactics. Can't find too many hunters around me that are willing to teach a rookie. Kind of just read some articals and self teaching. At least I've improved my accuracy with my bow. Can actually setup a target out to 33yds in the backyard. Not too bad for living in the city.
 
Mike , NICE speed-goat ! Has to be flirting with P&Y doesn't it ?

KDR053 , sounds like you have been doing pretty well and learning fast . Always figured if I shot an urban deer it would end up floating in somebody's pool with my luck .
 
The leg is mostly healed except for a couple of splintered spots that will presumably fill in eventually . The doctor has released me . Been walking on it for a couple weeks with no walker or cane . Seems to be getting stronger and I actually got brave enough to hang a stand . The other leg/ankle that I broke ten years ago is what is giving me the most trouble as using it while healing this one has aggravated arthritis in the joint . Eyes are crap due to diabetic complications from this injury . Woe is me . Screw it , I'm gonna hunt some anyway !

Trailcam pics I pulled last week were a bit disappointing . Nothing in the area yet that I would consider a shooter . That can change when the rut comes in though . There are no agricultural fields near me this year . I did find several trails beaten down going from my area and crossing a road to an oak ridge , so they must be keying in on the acorns now . Can't hunt there but I think the deer are coming to the stream next to me and then bedding up in my area . Hoping that pattern keeps up as the rut comes in and the does will draw in a big boy before they start going to the nearest corn ( pretty far away ) .

The other area I can hunt is overrun with trespassers , poachers , dope growers , burnt out stripped cars , etc. so it is tough to pattern activity there ( deer or human ). Some decent bucks in that area but very hard to hunt without interferance . Always walk back to the truck in the dark , hoping it is still there in one piece .
 
Nice pronghorn Mike,No pictures of Dorae's deer,she was watching a narrow ten point with long brow tines for 20 min when the 7 point came out she thought it had to be the ten,she focust on the shot(42 yards)and didn't know it was the wrong deer until she got to him.I was across the field and saw the ten disapear and heard the WHACK of the arrow.Needless to say she was bummed out.I shot a big doe last night didn't see any bucks only 9 does.we need to thin out more does.
 
Jack and I went to the Nebraska Ohio State game for my class Homecoming at the Shoe. We hung stands Sunday morning and put out some mineral bait hunted Sunday nite and Monday. Saw a few does and lots of rubs. We will be back when the rut heats up more in a few weeks. For now its urban hunting back home. No rut activity yet that I have seen. Checking trail cameras tommorrow. All kinds of sign locally up here. I did see a few nice deer taken at the local archery store while we were in town. Lots of acorns in Hocking County.
 
As luck would have it...(My buddy says I have a horse shoe stuck up my a$$) Sunday was my first night to hunt. We had been seeing 2 shooters regularly but they were always in the camera at night. This past week, they started showing up a little earlier. I got to the tree about 3:00 and settled in for a long afternoon. It had been a long stressful week with Jonny breaking his back and having surgery, and us watching his son (always fun) and a nice afternoon in the tree would be welcome therapy. I saw nothing for about 3-1/2 hours and my back was getting sore from the small tree. For some reason, I decided to stand up and hunt the remaining 45 minutes at the ready position should anything come in. I was in a tree that still had quite a few of its leaves on and it was hard to see too far away. Shortly after I stood up, I noticed a big doe walking down a bean field that had a patch of grass down a swail to prevent erosion. The grass was tall and it was luck that I even saw her. As she came up the trail, 6 more does and fawns followed. I was mesmerized watching them and didn't even get my bow in my hand. Suddenly as I was watching them, I heard the loudest grunt I have ever heard from on the other side of the tree! I couldn't see what made the noise, but my heart was pounding! Soon after that, I saw motion and it was a 14 point we had trail camera pictures of at 15 yards. Great, I thought...I don't even have my bow in my hand. I turned around slowly and picked up the Hoyt Vectrix XL (dinosaur, but accurate) and tried to put the sling around my hand. It wasn't cooperating and the arrow shook around on the shelf making some noise. Ne never looked up and started walking away. I came to full draw, grunted and he stopped at 20 yards. I aimed towards the back of the rib cage focusing on the back of the far shoulder and pulled the trigger. Whack! I only got about 8" of penetration and must have hit the shoulder perfectly square. The buck took off tail down and trotted away. Suddeny he turned on the nitrous and really took off. At that time he was just out of my sight with the leaves in the way. I gathered up my gear, put my backpack on and started to perpare for the climb down. When I bent over I noticed something in the bean field so I picked up the binoculars and scoped it out. There he was 100 yards away piled up. The body was so big it actually mad the rack look small on the hoof. He was probably in the 230# live weigth area. The rack quick green scored 168 typical gros but has about 12"-15" of deductions. 24" main beams and about 17 inch spread.

This deer should really be Zachs. He has hunted it for a few weeks and was putting their pattern together. I am a casual hunter when it comes to deer, and would have been happy with a managment buck to keep the heard strong for the future. But when this bruiser walked up I just went into auto mode and all the years of shooting came back to muscle memory and got the job done. I don't even remember drawing the bow or centering the peep!

Hopefully Z can get the bigger bodied 8 point and then I wont feel too bad all season.

He was with me on an elk hunt when on the first day we were just playing around and I called in a bull and shot it just 4 hours into a 9 day hunt. I'd rather be lucky than good I guess. And I think I'll keep that horse shoe right where its at!


Thanks Zach!

Vince

Buck_2012_012.jpg
PICT0043.jpg
Buck_2012_007.jpg
 
Holy cow! Cool story and a hell of a deer! You eat lucky charms? I think I'm going to try that!

Tonight Court and I rushed out to one of our local spots as soon as Ipulled in the driveway from work at 530. By 615, she had arrowed her first deer with her compound (bowtech heartbreaker at 45lbs shooting a 600 st epic with an 85 grain thunderhead). Cool thing was, my buddy sam, court, and myself were all in the new "hotel" we build this summer. Texas style box blind 20ft up. We tried to video, but being the video amatures we are, the camera died as the deer was getting into shooting range. Court made a hell of a shot at 20 yards, slightly quartering away. Caught liver and 1 lung. She ran 20 yards and fell over. Ironically, she fell in the EXACT same spot that courts first ever arrowed deer (crossbow) fell just a few years ago..

She is pumped and I am pumped. She busted ass learning the ins and outs of the vertical bow world over the last year and a half.

I will post pics once I'm using a computer.

My turn to focus on a good buck! Zach, need someone to take hunting? Seems like you put off some good mojo to your friends you hunt with. Lol..
 
P.s.

For the record, call that vectrix xl a dino, but holy cow I wish I never woulda sold my vxl. I loved that bow. I'm shooting a rampage xt now which is pretty close, but a little shorter ata..
 
P.s.

For the record, call that vectrix xl a dino, but holy cow I wish I never woulda sold my vxl. I loved that bow. I'm shooting a rampage xt now which is pretty close, but a little shorter ata..

Actually its a favorite of mine. Cant seem to get the Katera going again. The Maxxis 35 is much better than both though.
 
Congrats Vince thats going to be tough to top.Went out Monday evening had deer around me from 5:15 on, had a 8 point and the narrow 10 come in at 70 yards.Great night of hunting.
 
Great buck Vince . Ran into Zach at Hog Heaven last night and he showed me the pics on his phone .

I've made it out twice now and could have taken shots at some does from 10 to 15 yards out . No real rut sign in my areas yet . Kind of saving my better spots for when things get going . My vision is a pain in the arse and costs me the best first and last 10 minutes of shooting light due to previous laser treatments for my retinopathy . Of course that is when I've always seen and taken my best bucks .

Not sold on the solunar table predictions yet . So far they have predicted exactly the opposite of what has happened for the deer movement I've seen . Only having been out twice I know that is not close to a fair trial and many other factors are involved . I'm keeping a log of the conditions pertaining to each of my hunts this season and will see if any correlations develope that are worth keeping up with . As with everyone else , I'm always looking for an extra edge but there is no substitute for good scouting , extreme scent control , stealth , and being out there every minute I can to hunt , hunt , hunt .
 
I wish I could write the stories some of you can, but I suck at it!

I finely got out this week on Wednesday. In the morning I hunted on my property in Ashtabula Co. and saw 4 does. After hunting, I went to check the trail cameras and was pretty disappointed about the lack of pictures. The corn is still up and the deer have yet to start eating the brassica. So for the evening hunt I decided to hunt on my parents property in Lake Co. I'm sure glad I did, one of the bucks that we have been watching this summer came by at 20 yds. I came to fulldraw and had to grunt at him to get him to stop. He must have turned toward me because the shot looked good, but he ran only 40 yds and stopped and just stood their. There was too much brush in the way to get a second shot, so I got my binoculars and could see the exit hole looked farther back than I would have liked. I watched him bed down five minutes after the shot. After 2 hours I snuck down and headed back to the truck. When in doubt, back out. After a sleepless night, I headed back to the last spot I saw him. The Rage did it's job and there he laid. The arrow had passed through one lung, liver and guts. He's a tipical 8 with a kicker coming off the right brow tine. With the kicker I know he won't make PY, so I won't even put a tape to him. He's a great deer, and I'm proud to have been so lucky to have got him.

By the way there is a local track owner who shot a big buck last night.

<a href="http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/44yam/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0024.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/44yam/IMG_0024.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
Definitely one to be proud of ! Looks heavy too . Let's get the story and some pics from that track owner .
 
As luck would have it...(My buddy says I have a horse shoe stuck up my a$$) Sunday was my first night to hunt. We had been seeing 2 shooters regularly but they were always in the camera at night. This past week, they started showing up a little earlier. I got to the tree about 3:00 and settled in for a long afternoon. It had been a long stressful week with Jonny breaking his back and having surgery, and us watching his son (always fun) and a nice afternoon in the tree would be welcome therapy. I saw nothing for about 3-1/2 hours and my back was getting sore from the small tree. For some reason, I decided to stand up and hunt the remaining 45 minutes at the ready position should anything come in. I was in a tree that still had quite a few of its leaves on and it was hard to see too far away. Shortly after I stood up, I noticed a big doe walking down a bean field that had a patch of grass down a swail to prevent erosion. The grass was tall and it was luck that I even saw her. As she came up the trail, 6 more does and fawns followed. I was mesmerized watching them and didn't even get my bow in my hand. Suddenly as I was watching them, I heard the loudest grunt I have ever heard from on the other side of the tree! I couldn't see what made the noise, but my heart was pounding! Soon after that, I saw motion and it was a 14 point we had trail camera pictures of at 15 yards. Great, I thought...I don't even have my bow in my hand. I turned around slowly and picked up the Hoyt Vectrix XL (dinosaur, but accurate) and tried to put the sling around my hand. It wasn't cooperating and the arrow shook around on the shelf making some noise. Ne never looked up and started walking away. I came to full draw, grunted and he stopped at 20 yards. I aimed towards the back of the rib cage focusing on the back of the far shoulder and pulled the trigger. Whack! I only got about 8" of penetration and must have hit the shoulder perfectly square. The buck took off tail down and trotted away. Suddeny he turned on the nitrous and really took off. At that time he was just out of my sight with the leaves in the way. I gathered up my gear, put my backpack on and started to perpare for the climb down. When I bent over I noticed something in the bean field so I picked up the binoculars and scoped it out. There he was 100 yards away piled up. The body was so big it actually mad the rack look small on the hoof. He was probably in the 230# live weigth area. The rack quick green scored 168 typical gros but has about 12"-15" of deductions. 24" main beams and about 17 inch spread.

This deer should really be Zachs. He has hunted it for a few weeks and was putting their pattern together. I am a casual hunter when it comes to deer, and would have been happy with a managment buck to keep the heard strong for the future. But when this bruiser walked up I just went into auto mode and all the years of shooting came back to muscle memory and got the job done. I don't even remember drawing the bow or centering the peep!

Hopefully Z can get the bigger bodied 8 point and then I wont feel too bad all season.

He was with me on an elk hunt when on the first day we were just playing around and I called in a bull and shot it just 4 hours into a 9 day hunt. I'd rather be lucky than good I guess. And I think I'll keep that horse shoe right where its at!


Thanks Zach!

Vince

View attachment 7001
View attachment 7002
View attachment 7003



No problem Vince...And no worries... Glad you got an arrow in him and made it count...I surely wasnt getting the job done. ha You have nothing to be ashamed of, that is a dandy and I am glad you put a hurtin on him...

Mike, excellent speed goat and great buck...He looks pretty close to P&Y to me...

You guys are making me look like a fool...You guys are all hammering deer/big bucks! I have one deer I will shoot right now...But he is an absolute ghost...But I will do my best to kill him, I know it is going to be tough
 
Thanks, Zach and Randy. Sweet November is one day away and I will be in the land of the giants on Friday ( Illinois ).

I can't believe the local track owner (AC Frank) hasn't said anything about his awesome 10 point.


I going to leave this with my fellow bowhunters. A little Fred Bear.

http://youtu.be/aopqfl1srpk
 
That song goes thorugh my mind when I am in the tree or in the mountains and really gets my blood boiling! Awesome tune for the blood brothers!
 
I was fortunate enough to spend some time out West again this year hunting elk. As others experienced, the elk hunting this year was not so good. I did snap this pic of a nice group of Muley's together. Unfortunately I didn't have a muley tag, only elk.
 

Attachments

  • Muleys.jpg
    Muleys.jpg
    53.7 KB · Views: 184
Back
Top