08-09 deer season
 

anyone had any luck yet? pics?

Hopefully in November:D

I bagged 2 does on 15 Sep 08. I didn't have my camera at the time. They were both young (no spots though). Taste great!

They're coming into town daily around here. Lady in a Navigator bagged (?) one as I drove by this week, and I almost did the same on a huge buck Tuesday. Find the river and the deer will find you.

Going with my father for the first time Thanksgiving Week up in the PA mountains. I've been with him during field dressing when I was a kid, but besides that I've never been hunting.

bucks for the boys SC
 

Hey guys , not into showing off my deer as much as my nephews.
these are there first bucks. Shot in South Carolina this year.
Future SF material , these boys can shoot. I will have to wrestle them away from the marines tho. My brother was career Jarhead :)
Bradley is 12 and the one with the eight point Trevor is 8yrs old. Shot a 270 150 yrds perfect heart shot.
Enjoy

Thanks for sharing the photos. I'm biding my time until I can take my son on his first adventure :D

Out with my bow yesterday. Didn't even see one. Might move to another location as this is the first year hunting the property and I know I don't have the deer pattered .

Full moon and corn in nearby fields is not helping where I am hunting.

Did see a rub in the area where I hung a stand for my boy. Waiting for him to hunt that area. He hasn't had a chance to go yet due to sports and school. Hopefully I can get him out there soon.

Leaves were down, leaving a foot carpet of leaves everywhere. Beautiful.

Finally got the hang of my tree saddle. Really like it. Anyone thinking of buying one PM me with questions and I'll give you the straight scoop.

Heading out this Saturday looking for some tasty doe meat to add to the freezer. Supposed to be drizzly with some possible snow. Means more noise for cover and longer that I get to hang the quarry when they're dressed. Hopefully will have some pictures soon.

hdgb, nice deer!
Been out a couple times, seeing ALOT more pre-rut sign, still no luck. Still plenty of season though. Though it is past time to arrow something :)

Headed out on Sun for Montana. Hope to be returning in 10 days with 3 cows and 2 does for our hunting party.

Congrats to all who have bagged an animal this year !

I made a rule for myself that I would try to only take a buck bigger than the last one and would settle for does to stock the freezer.

Unfortunately 2 years ago I killed a 13 pt buck near my house so unless I see an 8 pt with a spread like a moose it could be a few years. :(

North Woods Hunt
 

I spent the last week "up north" Temps were from 20 to 30 degrees. Started on the 8th with fresh 1" of snow,great to highlight deer in the woods. I got a nice doe that morning, slip hunted for a few more days, and at 0830 on veterans day I was working a very nice area with good sign when I got a nice 8 point. (4x4 for some of you) The .308 did what I ask. Field dressed he weighed 180 lbs. Not big, but a nice buck. Saw 12 deer over the course of a week in the woods, heard a few more. Sure was nice mid-week after the city hunters went home. Lucky if they go more than 200m off the road. Which leaves us LOTS of forest to roam in. Pics are still at the camp so I cannot post.

Congratulations on your successful hunt, make sure you don't forget the pics.

North Woods photos
 

Here are some photos...The Eagle was on a gutpile in a meadow. They are on one in a short time. Nothing goes to waste .

Nice deer. Do you use an igloo for a blind?:D

and I thought it got cold in Georgia....

No blinds or tree stands (read no bushwacking) We slip hunt (stalk and walk) and mid-day we do drives through the forest. some may take 1/2 hour, some 2 hours. Cold? Hasn't even started yet. This is balmy compared to Jan./Feb. The Objibway call Feb. the month of the popping trees. -30 F can do that. I won't even start with windchill at that temperature. Oh well it keeps the Kalifornians from moving here. No offense to those of you with a more conservative mind. I have 2 brothers who live in Ca. They will only visit in the summer.

Right at dark I had 8 does milling about under my stand when this fella came charging out of the woods and ran them off.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...h/e6e3248c.jpg

Got this one two nights ago
 

Mine

Killed a doe here in NE MO tonight, but lost my favorite field dress knife. :boohoo

I still have my buck tag to fill.

Missouri hunt
 

How does it work in Missouri? Do you have earn a buck like Wisconsin (Doe first then a buck) or do you have 2 tags to fill and you just got a Doe first? Here in Minnesota we buy one tag , then depending on the DNR area you can buy bonus tags. I was allowed 2. The bonus tag must be a Doe or button buck (less than 3" antlers) Our firearm season ends tomorrow. Tribal season ,members of the Ojibway bands, ends Dec.31st

No, we don't have any rules like that. I just got a doe first because I'm picky about bucks & my trigger finger got itchy.

You can get 1 antler or an "any" tag (can use it on a buck or doe) & then one or two doe tags if you want them. Landowners get one buck and then however many doe tags depending on acres. Our antler rule on the north side of the state is there has to be at least 4 points on one side. Our season runs a week & a half, then we have a weekend doe season in December.

I have lived in IL & currently live in IA and of course both of their rules are completely different. I can't keep track of them all...

I didn't get a chance to on a buck:( But I Got my jerky meat! Picked off a nice Doe Saturday morning in Southern Missouri with my AR shooting MK262 at 60 to 70 yards. I got a nice shot and she dropped after about 10 steps.

Conrad's first deer.
 

My sons football team didn't make the playoffs this year. This is the first in 5 that we haven't played well into November, so we hit the woods hard. On opening weekend, he had a shot at a nicely developed 6pt on a bean field.
As it turns out a 150 yard shot was a little much for a 9yo's first deer. He missed the mark, but strengthened his resolve.

The weekend of the 15th had a perfect moon phase, and again we hunted hard. Mother nature blew a front across the south and the winds were up all weekend long. After breaking camp, and packing the truck up on Sunday morning, I told Conrad that we would "still hunt" the swamp, walking into the wind and hopefully up behind a deer for him to shoot. As we were easing through the swamp (picture the swamp scenes from the movie Southern Comfort), the wind was blowing hard. Up ahead, behind a large cypress tree, there was some scrub oak shaking out of tempo with the wind. We stopped and took a knee. After a minute or two, a large black back emergerd from behind the tree. I began planning an escape route, just in case our company turned out to be a hog. As it continued to rub the tree it turned with the hind quarter facing us, and then I could see the white. It kept circling around the tree, exposing itself more and more. When it got into full view, I told Conrad to hit it. We didn't see the rack until we got over to the animal. His eyes were as big as cue-balls.

As it sit's it's a main-frame 7pt with 3 scoreable ticklers around the left beam (10pt). The end of the left beam was broken right at the fork of 2 tines which would've made it an 11 before the rut.

Conrad will be 10 in about 3 weeks. In 2008 he's shot a 21.5lb tom & 10pt buck. I guess we'd better start working on that 10lb bass.

Excellent, congratulations to your young hunter.

Man, that's great. The look on his face says it all. Get kids out and involved early and they'll be hooked for life.

Success!
 

My 11yr old boy got a deer this weekend! His first! A little button buck, but a trophy to us!:lifter

Shot him with a 140gr Remmington Manged Recoil round from the 7mm-08 NEF Handi-Rifle that I got him for his birthday.

Hunted in the stand with him a couple of weeks ago to give him a check ride. He hunted by himself this weekend with me in another stand about 75yds away.

Made a bad first shot (deer quartering towards him at about 70yds) which dropped him in his tracks, but had to follow-up with one to the head.

Just got done hanging him in the gargage and finished trimming his heart and liver (lunch tommorrow!:))

By no means am I an experienced hunter, but my friend got me hooked, so here goes:

I recently acquired a newer Ruger M70 in .257 Roberts, and was wondering: compared to my older rifle in .300 Win Mag, which would you (the more experienced hunter) take with you in the inland Northwest (Eastern WA, Northern ID)? Say the target is relatively soft-skinned game like white tail or black bear.

Accuracy is not the issue, as both are almost equally sharp at 100yds, but I'm concerned about range and versatility. Both are also roughly the same in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Thanks!

(Edited to add) The choice of rounds I have are: Federal 120gr .257 (+P) Nosler Partition, vs. Hornady 180gr .300 Win Mag Inter Lock

Heart warming story, must be proud to have a young hunter capable of waiting by himself in silence, fighting the boredom, and still bagging the game :D

Enjoy the venison.

Yes, my son was proud of me for waiting for him to shoot that damn deer so I could get out of my stand, stretch, get back to the truck, make a fire and get something to eat.

I'm not that young, though.;)

Congratulations to your son! Didn't see a tail yesterday myself, but there's still a couple weeks left up here.

If there's a lot of brush, take the heavier bullet. Slugs and sabots are great to penetrate the little trees and bushes here. We just use rifles for the long, open shots.

The mast crop is exceptionally bad this year. Earlier in the year I could see the reminants of acorns EVERYWHERE, this fall... Nothing.

Just read an article in the paper talking about the same thing. Last year caused an increase in the squirrel population and this year they are starving.

My boys and I will get out the .22 and 20ga shotguns and see if we can help out those suffering squirrels in a bit....

Next week i'm taking a couple of days off and giving the deer one more shot with the bow. The property I hunt really has nothing to hold deer or funnel them with the acorn crop as bad as it is. (given their likely direction of travel towards the nearest cropland). It will likely be an exercise in futility, but who knows...?

Rifle choice
 

Personally, I would take the .300Win. Mag if I were to be hunting any bear. LOTS more knock down power. The .257 roberts would be just fine for deer. I hunt with a 6.5 Grendel AR (100g Hornady interlock) and it does the job admirably. I also use a .308 Win. just my 2 cents worth.

Ron

That's pretty cool, isn't it? Mine was pumped too. Congrats.

I'm jumping out of my lane for a quick post on this thread.

I cannot describe the heat I take at the office for holding the view that the Duke was one of the greatest American actors to appear on the sliver screen. My position remains unchanged: what other actor has taught so many what it means to be an American?

Now, I'll get back in my lane.

ATR's triple Thursday
 

Got three Thursday with the .54 muzzleloader. 2 does ran by me, the first one went down and about 15 minutes later her friend came back to check on her and joined in the fun. In the evening, I took my 8yo nephew out with me. He did great and even experienced his first gray squirrel alarm. The little guy ran across 6 trees to see what was sitting down in his woods and then let us know he wasn't happy. The little buck was the third taken, the two does were hanging by this time. Nephew enjoyed hmiself, stayed still, and didnt complain about the cold and wet. After the muzzleloader smoke cleared, he was still shaking like a leaf, and asked if we could go again in the morning. He's hooked!

Pardon my face camo, my "makeup artists" have a combined 7 years of age and did a bit of playing . Nephew was afraid he'd spook the deer without his paint on, so we had to go back to the house to grab it and get him all done up too. 150 pounds of meat in the freezer. The flank steaks will go to jerkey, and the hearts made excellent anticucho (recipe from this site) over brown rice. :p

Last kill of the season
 

He went down @ 261520R DEC 08. Already looking forward to next year. This one was definitely the best of this years deer season ( 4 kills total). Unless the urban season has something to yield.:D

Hunting a field standing behind a hay bale. 135# doe at 200m with a Remington 700 .300 Win Mag with fluted Sendero barrel and 6.5-20x50 Leupold scope. Field dressed in the dark. Now at the butcher for steaks, sausage, and hamburger.