congrats matt! nice buck.....good thing you didnt let these guys know you gun hunt!
i told them they had nothing to worry about with me gunhunting...my bucktag still doesnt have an ear to be tied to yet just like i figured!! me and buckhunting just dont get along. i cant figure it out. i put in more time scouting then most anyone else around here..ill get it one day....i know it. my time will come and trophy bucks will tremble at the sound of my name!! REFLEX06!!! lol
i really hope my buck hunting luck changes....and i want to be a BOWHUNTER
well...hunted all day friday here at home. started the morning in the woods that borders the infamous orchard i bowhunted in. 2-3 inches of fresh snow and i couldnt cut a fresh track. i took my cousin and set him up at a vantage point i always used to see deer in and i snuck around making a giant loop around him. couldnt cut a track or find anything! that used to be my honey hole..then ALOT of guys started pounding the deer back there...i used to make the same loop just walking around when i was young and ALWAYS seen alot of deer not even being sneaky..not anymore...guess WALMART buying the land and putting logging roads in already doesnt help...still got a good feeling about the orchard..them deer gotta eat somewhere.....
after that we started our drives at 11...we havent seen antlers on a deer at home in a week! and we barely see ANY deer..huntings just not very good...the doe massacre gotta go..
after the fruitless day of seein 3 does ALL day driving my farmer friend said thats it! were getting out of this county!! we packed up friday night and went to their family camp. he has NEVER been there and never wanted to go..but wanted to get his GFs son his first buck and hopefully get all of us to see some deer. got up and hunted from dark till dark. behind the camp we seen a bunch of does..i think around 12 or so. my buddys uncle that has a camp up there guided us and took us to 2 diffrent SGLs up there and we put on some drives. no good at the first one. it was just too big of a hollow for our small group. mountain lurel and hemlocks thicker then ive ever seen...deer could been and went anywhere.
the second area was very nice looking. 2 drivers wrapped around a small knoll and brought it back to the 3rd driver while us sitters were making the mile hike in. 3 shots rang out. my buddys uncle that was our guide killed a BIG 10point. we didnt get to measure it but the spread was every bit of 20+ inches..brow tines were 4-5inches, g2s and g3s were atleast 6+ one g4 was about 4 inches and the other g4 was 1-2 inches. long main beams..only thing it lacked was mass. wasnta really thick rack...but man it made up everywhere else..that was a beautiful buck. a giant for Jefferson County SGLs id say...you might know the type of land in the area Rob....they had alot of fresh tracks on the drive to the sitters but noone seen the deer.
after that we went back to camp and redrove it...couldnt find anymore deer.
neat story about that guys buck...his wife hunts about 300yds from where he killed it. 2 weeks ago on the opener she shot that buck. they tracked it all day and couldnt find it. found out he was hit in the leg...about 2 inches higher and she would blew its heart out..she was shooting a 243..from what i could see it looked like the bullet exploded right there..about an inch diameter hole..rotting and smelling badly. that buck would probably died within a week..didnt look like he ate in 2 weeks since he been hit. he ran fine..but that had to hurt him. he was laying on the edge of a SGL food plot when that guy walked up on him. 10feet away he seen the rack..his gun slung on his shoulder..he grabbed his gun and the buck made a dash..but he ran right by the guy and back away from him..he dropped him. i cant believe that buck lived all through rifle season...not 5 minutes from the parking area and about 100yds from the main trail on the SGLs. guess he was pretty danged smart...he could see and hear anyone coming and get down over the nasty mountain side before anyone would see him...till today. beautiful buck....im just glad i aint that guy!! i dont know how his wife took the news..killed her buck out of her hunting area!! guess its better off someone killed him...he would laid there to rot i bet. he wasnt looking too healthy..
but that ended my PA rifle season....i dont know what the late season has in store for me...id like to keep my spirits up..but things arent looking too swell in any of my areas...hopefully the bigguns reappear now that noone will be in the woods to chase them around till the 26th. think me and my buddy and his cousin are going back to their camp the 26th for a couple days to grouse hunt and flintlock hunt...hopefully his uncle can play guide...sad theres more deer in the mountains then suburbia!! all the land around my buddys camp is NO DOE HUNTING and has been for a good couple years now..makes a big diffrence!