RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Congrats on the addition Mitch.

Hope all goes well for your family and the remainder of your season :)

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Again, Congrats Il Bow Man.

PM sent.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Congrats Bow Man....looks like you have yourself some future hunting buddies.

For the entries in question, it does notreally matter to me. Personally, I think that the hunter in the picture with his deer but no bow is legit.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

sorry guys i havent even been in the deer woods yet this year but i am going to missouri tomorrow and am going to do some bowhunting plus our duck season opens saturday so i have a fun weekend ahead... a friend was up there last week and saw several deer better than 150" so i cant wait to get after them... hopefully i will have some good pics for everyone when i get back

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Well it's game time for me. I will be able to hunt 7 of the next 9 days. I'll be in my favorite stand tomarrow morning and hopefully on here later with pics of the big boy.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Well my "lucky" stand struck out for me today. It was the first time in the 3 years I have hunted this standthat I did not see a deer. Moved to a different stand this afternoon and had a buck grunting to my bleats just before dark, but never got a look at him.

The woods just seem dead for this time of the year for some reason. I am going back to my stand tomarrow morning and if I see no activity then I am going to hang another stand on the property where I saw the big non typical.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Good luck on the Big non Typical Illinois Buck Hunter.I'm headed up that way at the end of the week 2 trymy luck.I hope i did not use it all up last year.They have been seeing some good Buck's on the farms i hunt can't wait to get up there!Good Luck Guy's it's getting that time of Year!!

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Sorry I have not been around much gentleman. This season has been really hectic. No luck on my end yet but I am hoping this Saturday proves more opportunistic.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Sorry guys but I went hunting this weekend with the smokepole and wouldn't you know it I had two bucks and 6 turkeys within 18 yards (I got one of each). Still had a good time though and went out for the evening with my bow but had to cut the hunt short to help my Dad drag his eight pointer. Oh well. Here's my take for the morning:

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Well guys I have got some great news. WERE ON THE BOARD! well not yet, because I have not had the chance to get the pictures onto my computer, but the buck is hanging in my yard.

It's by far not a monster, and I have actually passed some bigger deer (but younger) deer this year. The history and story behind me and this buck though made it hard to pass up and I stuck it to him.

Woke up early this morning with the intent of going and hunting a stand and taking it down after the hunt since I had seen little activity on this property and did not have much confidence in this new stand.Once I got to the field before my stand I could see some deer moving through the darkness, so the usual 10 minute walk turned into a 30 minute walk as I moved around the deer without spooking them. I climbed into my stand and got settled 10 minutes before first light feeling pretty good about the day ahead.

Right at dawn I decided to pick up the rattle bag and just click them together very lightly. 1 minute later I looked up and a small 6 pointer was coming across a cut bean field, where I had seen the deer earlier. He came within 40 yards and crossed over into the next hollow. Shortly after a little forkhorn came across the creek to the east of me and walked directly under me. Wow this rattling stuff really works. Well I grunted a few times and here came another buck.Yet another 6 pointer coming out of the same woods as the earlier 6 point. This time it walked down 20 yards in front of me and out an old farm road. All of this is within the first 20 minutes of first light. At 6:40 I decided to smash the rattle bag as loud as I could to try and draw something out of the neighbors thicket about 70 yards to the east of me.

While doing that and grunting with my backup call (my true talker broke again[:@]) I caught movement in the thicket. I kept rattling and the deer started heading downwind of me. I grabbed my grunt/snort wheeze and did 3 grunts followed by 2 wheezes and 2 more grunts and the deer stopped in its tracks and turned around. He was still about 100 yards away and all I knew was he was a buck with some points coming up. When he turned around I thought "great I blew it" but 2 mintues later I looked to my right and 30 yards away coming in stiff legged with neck puffed out was the buck that I instantly recognized. I had 3 run ins with this deer last year, and 1 this year already. I had passed on him everytime last year as a 2 1/2 year old, and he had not grown much coming into this year for some reason.

I ranged him on the old road at 28 yards and when I started to draw he caught me. I was stuck in mid draw not daring to move for about 10 seconds when he moved on. He caught whiff of my estrous scent bombs and started working in. He turned broadside and I drew my bow. Yet again he caught me and turned to run but wasnt sure if he should or not. By this time he moved in a little and was quartering towards me. After the standoff, I figured this was my best shot I would have before he busted out of there. I put my 20 yard pin low in front of his leg and released the arrow. THUMP! greeted my ears as the buck took off withblood showing highin his shoulder and the end of the arrow low on the other side.

I was pretty confident that I caught one lung, but I figured that was all since I was so high up and he was only 17 yards away. And also with the quartering towards me shot I was worried about the shoulder blade. I sat in the stand and called my dad and told him what happened. While waiting for him I looked around a little bit and found some pretty good blood and my arrow.

I backed out and me and my old man picked the trail up about 2 hours after the shot. After trailing the blood trail for 100 yards on the old road, the blood started getting worse. I was getting worried by this point when my dad yelled to me if he looked like this while pointing to the bottom of the hollow. He had broke off the trail trying to get to a bedding area before falling. He's not huge, but he is 3 1/2 years old despite his lack in antler size.He's the biggest body deer I have shot with my bow, and I had a pretty nice history with him. Also the first deer I have ever rattled into range and shot, and the first time I had went into a new part of the property with no previous knowledge about the area or what was around it and hung a setup. When I gutted him, I realized that my Montec completly smashed through the shoulder blade and out the rib cage and looks brand new still.

I will get pics as soon as I can, and get it onto the score sheet. I thought he would go around 110, my dad and brother in law said he would may go into the 120's, which is very small for a 3 1/2 yr. old buck on our land.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Way to go IBH!!!!!! Congrats!!!! Don't forget to have the bow in the pic!!!!!!!!!

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Dont worry, I had to run back to my truck on the 4 wheeler and grab my bow before I let my bro in law start taking pics.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Nice buck your dad got there Talondale, now steal some of his good luck so we can make a run at this thing. I will be out later this week, even though it won't count towards the contest. I still have at least 3 bucks that I know are running around that will grace the tape measure well over 150.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

LOL, IBH that's me and my deer. His was somewhat smaller. I posted the story on the BP forum.http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1782885 Hope you connect on those bigger deer. I've still got two buck tags and hope to fill one with my bow soon.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

haha my bad, I didn't see the I got one of both part lol. Oh well, even better, congrats on the buck.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

That's because I edited my post after I saw your confusion. LOL. When are we going to get an official score for your buck?

Raining today so I can't hunt during lunch behind work.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Congratulations IBH! Nice buck and turkey.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Well I went out today and just looked at everything real close on him and I am going to be suprised if he hits 110 like I previously thought. He is lacking a lot of width, but I am getting ready to go measure him right now.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I just got done scoring him and I came out with 126 and some change. I don't know if I messed something up, but I did not think he would score close to that.

I am going to have my dad score him again when the next time I see him before I put a final decision. But if I did this right then he went about 20 inches more than I thought he would.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Way to put us on the Board IBH!!!Let'ssee a Pic.Nice Deer and turkey Talondale!

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I am going to go see my bro in law in the next few days and get the pics and they will be up here as soon as I figure out how to put them up.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I found my mistake and the final score is 117. Still trying to get the pics.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I am heading down to our farm tomorrow for a all-day Friday hunt, which is the last day of Missouri archery until it closes for gun season. I can still bow hunt in gun season but I just have to buy a gun tag. It is really heating up from what I heard, my dads buddy missed a 190" on Tuesday and ended up shooting a nice 8pt. later that day. Ive got a good feeling about this weekend.

DeerHuntMO

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I got the pics back, but I am doing something wrong trying to get it loaded onto the score thread.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Alright well Rob talked me through getting the pic on, so we are officially on the board.

I will be re-posting the story and some more pics in the bowhunting forum.

Now we just need 9 more bucks on that page :DGood hunting to all

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

That is a beautiful buck IBH, I wouldn't hesitate a shot on an animal that size. Very nice!

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Thanks bow man. I think he will look very nice on the wall whenI get him back

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Great buck, sorry for the delay, I don't know how I over looked it. Way to go, congratulations. Your on the board.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

hey i came back to missouri for the last two days of rifle season and killed roughly a 170" buck 25" inside spread . i am in kansas now and have been seeing some great deer just have to get one in bow range

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Great looking buck bowhuntt, now stick one like that with a bow.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Now that thing has some spread to it!! Wow!!

Congrats on an awesome buck!! And I agree, stick one with your bow to make up for my lack of being able to hunt!!

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I came close guys, I was doing a stalk during lunch last Friday at a friend's grandad's old farm. This is a 30 acre farm that's going to pines and has about 80 acres of timbered land on the north side and housing and a golf course on the other sides. It'smore isolated than it sounds. Anyway, no ones been hunting it (with permission) for years and I was in the area and decide to spend my lunch doing something better than stuffing my face. I suited up and started sneaking around keeping the wind in my face to the best of my ability. Lots of sign and I skirted around a field that was mostly young pines and dropped down to a creek bottom. There was a distinct deer path and some big rubs. I moved just off the creek bottom because that was mostly hardwood saplings and bathed in light and entered the darker hardwood/pines 40 yards away paralleling the creek. I was looking at trees trying to decide where I'd set a stand for this weekend and 10 yards ahead I saw the dark form of the backside of a deer raise from his bed. He was on the other side of a pine blowdown and his front half was obscured by a latice-work of limbs and trunk. I froze. I could see his main beams as he moved his head and they were wide and thick,holding close to 5" or better diameter throughout the whole length of the beams. I couldn't make out tines but I was concentrating on finding an opening to thread an arrow through. I knew it was hopeless. I would have to move 20' to my right to get on the same side of the log as he was in order to clearly shoot at his vitals. The wind was in my favor and I don't think he knew what disturbed him. I saw him look around and turn his head away from me and I had a fleeting hope he may turn around offering a broadside shot at his vitals. After about 30 sec. he remembered he had an important appointment somewhere else and he was late! I tried to bleat him to a stop and draw but he kept going through the thick stuff. It was close and a blast! Maybe I'll get a rematch this weekend.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

No rematch. I did see a cowhorn spike and a nice sized 4 pointer but no shooters. Was busted in theAM by a deer I never saw even though the wind was in my favor and I wasn't moving. Guess I didn't blend well with my surroundings. I remembered why I hate climber stands though. Noisiest hunt I've had in a long time.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I know there is a little over a month left of season, but I am putting my chances of getting any deer at all very low. I have hunted hard for the last month, almost 2 1/2 weeks off on vacation and hunting almost everyday of it. To say I am getting burned out is an understatement. I can count on both hands the number of deer in shooting distance and I don't even need any fingers to count the number of shooter bucks in range. The last 2 seasons have been very hard for some reason. The deer in my area have deffinatly changed there patterns in the last few years for some reason and I just can't figure out why. They are hardly even using my patch of woods in the daylight hours at all. Even during the early season.

I am now going to take a 2 week vacation from hunting maybe even 3 and try to regroup my energy for hunting. I am thinking of not going out until after ML season. Next weekend I have some minor surgery scheduled, but since it is slug season it doesn't really matter anyway. I have to go in and get the big V to avoid any more unplanned mishaps with the misses.

Hope I didn't let you guys down too much. But I do look forward to the late season if it gets down right cold. The deer usually group up and they travel to the same feeding area right at dark. Maybe I can make a opportunity arise then.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Don't get down on yourself yet IL BOW MAN, I have the same problem where old productive stands and properties have completly dried up.

A lot of my stands now are on trails coming off the neighbors and into our fields. Where I have killed all 3 of my deer this year.

Good luck to you

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

My season is pretty much done for the year now.A doe and buck with my bow and 2 more does with the shotgun.

I still have 2 more bow tags, but I am only going to be out there buck hunting late season, which should be interesting. Good Luck to the rest of you.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Anyone still hunting? I may do an AM hunt this weekend if it isn't raining. If it rains I'm taking out the smokepole. Late season is tough.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

Im still hunting hard i had 5 buck's under me last week at the same time but they were just not Big enough.Next year is looking good im not going to give up till the season ends or there horns fall OFF!I have been seeing some nice ones sticking there heads out of a thick bedding area.I dont like hunting right in there bedroom but this late in the season i thought why not.So i set up on them yesterday hope to get a shot over x-mas break.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I'm still hunting as hard as my work schedule will allow me, although I can't enter another buck. I had a 140 inch 9 pointer at 40 yards a week ago, but there was a small limb in between me and him.

Best part about it was I spotted the buck at over 100 yards and was able to stalk within the 40 yards to it. Almost worked but couldn't quite finish it off.

My dad was able to sit back and look at him through binoculars the whole time and he said he was about 22 inches wide with some nice mass, and about 10 inch G2's...the rest of the tines were fairly short.

RE: 1-Team "Rack Rangers" Official Thread
 

I am still hunting when I get the time. Only a couple times a weekend now though.

Hey guys, I know I didn't speak for the entire team, but check out my posts on the threads talking about MIA team members. If you feel I am out of line, please let me know.