MN/Kyle

I really wish I could hunt tonight, always been my second favorite day in the woods.

Always wanted a birthday buck, it has never happened. Someone else shoot on for me tonight!

KCMO Cityboy

Kyle, sounds like you'll be partying instead of hunting. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN! Yeah, a birthday buck would be great. They don't allow those in March.

MN/Kyle

Leaving college to meet up with my parents and sisters at a restaraunt about 30 min away, and then we'll see what my 7 roomates have up their sleeves. It's only my 20th though[8D]

Thanks for the birthday wishes

How goes the hunting?

Sport4

Ughhhhhhh! Is all I can muster up about this season so far. After a very successful season last year, I knew I shouldn't expect anything great for this season. After harvesting both of my bucks last year, I thought I had a real good idea about how to hunt these good bucks. This year so far is not an exception. I have passed up more good bucks this year than I saw last year (A little exaggeration, but not by much). Well Sunday I decided to sit all day because I really wanted to tag a buck before all the shotgunners ran them out of the state. I ended up getting out at 10:45 to run home and grab something to eat. I get back to my parking spot and talk to my cousin for awhile who is also hunting the nearby woods. I end up getting back in stand and settled in at 1:30. I start rattling pretty hardcore, and I did this every 30 minutes or so. So I rattled at 1:30, 2, 2:30 and again at 3. At 3:15 I look to my left and there is a real good 8 a mere 20 yds away. He gets behind a tree and I stand up. He walks to about 5 yds from my tree and he kicks in his 6th sense. He stopped acted nervous and looked straight up at me(super smart animals). I close my eyes and think no not this time. He bolts and stops at 20 yds. I was already pulling back, but when I got my bow back my arrow fell off my arrow rest. I bite the vane with my mouth and set the arrow back on while still pulled back. I rest the pin behind the shoulder and let her rip. I hit up and down about right in the middle, but just a little far back. With me being about 25 ft in the tree I know it hit one lung but probably went under the second. I watch him run off and call my cousin. I sit there for 30 minutes and climb down. I walk up to where we parked and waited for him. It is now about an hour and 15 minutes since I hit him. We make our way to where I shot and right away started finding blood. We drop down in the creek, no deer but still really good bright red blood with tiny little bubbles. He makes it to the CRP and we are still finding awesome blood, and I am only thinking it is only a matter of time now. He hits another woods and we mark last blood and back out because we do not have permission to hunt these woods. We come back about 3 hours later and tell the guy who owned the bordering property about the situation and ask if it was alright to look for the deer on his property and he says no problem. Phewww I really appreciate it I tell him and we start looking again. Easy blood trail. We had flashlights, but were still able to just walk at a fast pace on the blood trail. It was just like somebody was throwing blood everywhere from a 5 gallon bucket. Well he makes it through that woods and makes it to another field. He starts going along the woodline, and we lose blood, OH NOOOO!! Well we end up walking everywhere looking for any sign. We don't find any and we back out again. My cousin and I came back early this morning before school and we do not find him, let alone make any more progress. I went back out after school today with a buddy and we look everywhere we could. NO DEER!! I get home and I call all of the hunters from the surrounding properties and tell them about it, and I asked if they could keep an eye out for him. I did not want to tromp through their woods that they hunt pretty heavily and kick everything out of there. So now I will be looking for 'yotes and buzzards to see if they found the deer I couldn't. I am not giving up on the deer and believe me it kills me to have to quit searching, I just don't want to ruin other peoples hunting. Sorry guys I couldn't pull through on this guy but with the blood just stopping and having no idea where he went from there it is just hard. This whole season is just panning out badly so far. And again I am sorry for letting you guys down, but trust me I believe I am letting myself down even more. This is a horrible feeling and I hate it. Sorry for the long read also, but thats the jist of everything.

KCMO Cityboy

Sport, that guy is there. Sounds like a 1 lunger, andthat is leathal, no doubt. He's crawled under a log or something. Let those buzzards help, but he can't be far away. I don't know anything about the terrain, but the only thing I can say is to look for a downwardelevation path (or just downward)that might lead to a creek or water. It seems that most of the time they travel downhill. He's probably under a fallen log, looking for protection. Hope you have a chance to check again.

I spent Wednesday and Friday last week hunting all day and hardly saw a thing. I was hoping to see the monster that hid in the thicket in the middle of an open field, but he didn't make an appearance. He's probably still there but he is real difficult and smart. There's no way to go into that stuff and ambush him. He will have to come out first. My next try will probably be the weekend of Dec 6.

KCMO Cityboy

One more thing....while I'm thinking about it.
Sport, you shouldn't be apologizing to your team members for not being able to locate that buck. This sport is for fun, at least it is for me, and we can't beat ourselves up because we are trying to win a contest. I'm still betting you recover that guy and I can't wait to see the photo's.
Schultzy that goes for you too. I saw your thread a while back where you were unsure whether to hunt doe or buck because of your bow delamination.I hope your bow holds out this year butIwould want youto hunt based on your own needs and not that of this contest or any other comment from this forum (including mine!). I would agree that getting some meat for the table is pretty important right now. This economy is making us all look at things a bit differently now.
Good luck guys!

KCMO Cityboy

Who's still hunting???? Is anyone here going out this weekend or anytime soon? I plan to go out Saturday morning then need to get back to watch my son in a late afternoon basketball game. Will try to get out on Sunday too.
-cp

NY/Al

They've all given up.....Cant blame em![8D]

Sport4

I am still going at it KCMO!! Didn't buckmaster score on a buck? I will have my muzzleloader in hand though this weekend. Good luck!!!

Schultzy

Excellent post Cityboy!! Like you said, this contest Is for fun but sometimes a guy needs to be reminded that!

Sport, I'm guessing you didn't have any luck finding your buck otherwise I'm sure you would of posted It. Bow hunting can be hard on a guy young or old, hang In there bud!

Buckmaster, whats up wild man?? You going to put one down or what??

As for myself, my season has been a toughy. One decent/ok buck I passed on earlier this year and another buck I wasn't sure on his size, close to dark, had him at 8 yards a couple weeks or so ago. Other then them 2 encounters my mature buck sightings have sucked!!! Hardly any rubs, scrapes, In the area. Tough to hunt what might not be there. They were here last year but sure don't seem to be many around this year. The guys that hunt across the road from me have taken three 130"+ bucks, all were gun kills. They also saw 3 other ones that were pushing anywhere from 140's to 160's. I believe that's where all my bucks are spending there time at, It's about 400 acres of thick low river bottom. That's bow hunting for ya though, and man can It be frustrating at times! 4 weeks to go and my season Is over, come on 2nd rut!

Good luck all! Shoot straight!!