Thanks for checking in hoosierHUNTER76

Keep plugging away, all it takes is 5min to turn your year around! Good luck to you as well and I hope you nail a slammer too!

Congratulations on a hard earned buck there Bry!
Istill have my PA buck tag and saw a shooter tending a doe while I was out lookin for a doe on Tuesday but it wont help us for the contest. (I also cant take a buck now till after Christmas...PA regs)

Arnie is right, you could still kill a buck outside of PA with a bow and enter it. (We get one buck tag here per year, period, Arnie)

The way I see it, we have 5 guys still out there and one "Beatty Buck" would put this thing away for us

Thought you guys might like to see one I had in after my Illinois tag was already filled. hewastaken in the second gun season.( not by me)

Hey guys, sorry i have been MIA for so long. I have been really busy finishing up school for the semester and spending as much time in the woods as possible. We started off December with a bang! I videoed Shawn and his dad both taking awesome bucks!

http://www.heartlandbowhunter.com/fieldjournal/index.html

I have been out hard ever since trying to fill my late season tag. I have a had several close enounters with shooter but have yet to close the deal. I have seen a bunch of nice bucks and they are starting to hammer the food plot. Ill be sitting in it tonight!

Ill keep you all posted.

Hey guys...

I contemplated posting this on the bow hunting forum but it's a pistol kill so I figured I just post it here for you all to see.

I took this buck on the second gun season here in Illinois with my Ruger Vaquero .44mag. This was one of the most exciting hunts I've had in a while!

I was pressed for time and decided to go down south for the last two days of the second gun season (missed the first two) on a whim. I grabbed my gear and decided on my Ruger revolver. It's a 5 1/2in barreled fixed open sighted pistol.

I got down to the land late (5hr drive) but hadenough time to get to one of my stands and hunt the rest of afternoon. I had planned on hunting a stand further in on the property but I didn't want to spook anything so I set up in one of my ladder stands that's right in the middle of afinger of trees between two smaller fields.It's very thick but it's rightoff of a dry creek bed and I figured the deer were moving along it to get through this stand of trees undetected.

I'm hurried so as to not spook anything that may be in there so I get to my stand as quickly and quietly as possible,I climb up, strap in, sit down and try to relax. I check the cylinder on the old Ruger...full.... good, I'm ready to hunt!

It's a nice afternoon for this time of year (Dec.1st) and I'm enjoying the scenery for aboutan hourwhen I hear something moving my direction down the dry creek bed. I strain to see through the thick woods but I can onlymake out that it's a deer about 75yds moving my direction, couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe. The stand is set up about 20 yds off of the creek bed andthe deer ismoving in from my right to left.

The closer the deer gets I can tell it's a nice buck. He moves into a small cleared area about 35yds away but because he'soff on my 2:00 and I have nothing to rest my pistol on....way to long a shot off hand for my comfort!

My only chance is that he will continue on down the creek bed and into the open spot directly in front of me (20yds). He's moving on a very slow pace stopping every once in a while to smell the wind and look around.

Remember when I said I was pressed for time and had another stand in mind? Well the reason was the wind was wrong for this stand and it was blowing right over my left shoulder directly into the creek bed!

Every time the buck would stop I thought "You're busted John!" only to have him move slowly again. By now I'm a wreck and I'm hoping for just a few more steps. The whole time I'm frozen in place afraid to move as to not let off any more scent than I have to.

Finally he moves into position, but I'm sitting there with my pistol in my lap! I painstakinglyraise the Ruger up and acquire a good sight picture.....I slowly ear back the hammer "Click.......Click". The buck looks my way and freezes! Bang! the shot rings out and the deer drops to the ground! I hit him a little high (spine) but he died instantly!

I have never been so nervous, it seemed like it took him forever to come in and I made a big mistake that could have cost me the shot by not cocking the pistol before he got so close.

In my hurry to get down to hunt I left my digital camera at home but I had a cheap35mm camera in the truck and snapped a few pictures. My pistol is back in my holster on my side you can just make out the outline of it on my right hip.

The photo quality is not the best because of the cheap camera but it's better than nothing.

Just thought I'd share.

Heck yea John, that is awsome. Congrats on a beautiful buck and what sounded like a great hunt! That would be a rush with a pistol, maybe next year I will take the S&W .357 out for a doe!

Hey Michael, how did the evening hunt go?

Awesome hunt!

I saw 25+ deer including 17 bucks. Unfortunately, the bucks were all 1.5 year olds. The big boys never showed up before dark. Ill give it a shot again tomorrow, then i might have to change my strategy a bit...

Nice buck and a great story there John!
Congrats!

I envy you guys in those multiple buck tag states!!!

hey guys we were pounded by snow on sat. night but it didn't seem to help the deer movement at all this season been a real bummer; but ui guess every year can be a great one but i am not given up yet one week left of smoke pole season and about three weeks of late archery so i guess well se what happens

You have to try it! That .357 while on the light side will still do the job, just make sure you keep your shots close (30yd and in)


Thanks guys, I had a great time!

Yep Bob the extra tag allows me to hunt bucks with different types of weapons, it's a rush no doubt.