WV Mountaineer...
Looks like at least part of the rut will be during rifle season. I'm still not seeing what I consider true rut behavior.
Do you hunt any of the WestVaco land in Pleasants?? My folks live in Wood Co. and was thinking of heading to the WestVaco land up there and trying to take a doe over the Holidays. If you know exactly how to get there, would you mind e-mailing me some directions, thanks!
The rut is going on strong here in Hardy county. The 7 point i killed tuesday was grunting his butt off and fast on the trail of a doe when i shot him. I heard a buck grunting and tearing things up in a clear cut today when i was out. Plus ive already seen enough rubs and scrapes to fill a battleship. I've seen several bucks running does, so its getting pretty heavy up here so far.
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I can see the concrete a slowly creepin, Lord take me and mine before that comes. Ronnie VanZant
Good, beltedmag. I am heading up again this weekend.
Here's what happened to me during the opening two days. I saw a small buck running after two does, too fast to shoot at.
Day two, I had a 4 point trailing a doe that came nearby. I was going to shoot the doe, but got a little cocky and decided to wait and watch them interact a little first. He charged in and ran her off before I could raise my rifle to shoot her.
Then I got busted eating lunch at about 10:00 by two deer who ran down the mountain. 1/2 hour later, I heard a shot and celebrating (first time I have heard the neighbor's people celebrate a kill) about 1/4 mile or so away. Later, I heard they took a 12 pointer along with 12 other bucks (860 acres), but don't know what day that was on, much less if it was one of the deer that busted me reaching for my pretzels. The good news is that my gun was jammed, and I didn't realize it until I got back to camp. As bad as I feel that I might have inadvertently pushed a big buck to the neighbor, I would have felt sick to my stomach if I had him close and couldn't shoot him because my gun was jammed (no excuse for not checking it).
They were rutting like mad all week in Braxton county. I saw 5 or 6 bucks in the woods, but no real big ones. I killed a high racked 5pt on friday that I wish I had let walk. He was much smaller than I thought.
Coming back up our lane saturday evening, we saw the biggest buck we've ever seen on our property. He was an absolute beauty. Glad he made it through...but wonder where the hell he was all week. LOL
We had 6 hunters and killed 4 deer, my 5pt being the smallest.
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The more you cry, the less you have to pee
Pro-Line it happens to all of us. We see a buck thinking it is bigger than actually is after we shot. I have sometimes wished I had not taken that shot as well.
Christina B. I hope you and your family had a good year. I finally got the 11 point everyone was telling me about.(Roane) God he was a dandy, he wiegh out at 165 lbs field dressed and this ole soldier had to have his friends help him hump it out.
He had a 22 inch spread and his tines were very tall , very heavy beams.
I am still not used to this cold weather since it is always 70-85 degrees here in California.
I have one question to ask.....Is it me or is the deer smaller than the previous years? I have seen more spikes, fours and small six's than ever. No rut activity the first week at all.
Glad everyone had a safe hunt so far.
Will rut in WV be in...
