craitchky

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was fun, much more so than 20 hours I loged in stand over the long weekend. I saw a total of 3 deer, 1 buck, who was to far to gauge or shoot, and 2 does, who never gave me a shot. I even sat out in the snowstorm yesterday for 4 hours without seeing anything.

I hope you guys did better than I.

Rick

wallhangr

Rick,

I was thrilled to see the snow on SundayI sat out in it all day and was rewarded by seeing a grand total of 4 does, 2 @ 300 yards that I watched get up from a fence line and feed for 15 minutes and bed back down and the other 2 were running from a guy in orange[:@]

5575gb

Things are getting really good, I can't believe how many deer made it through the rifle season. I haven't found the big guy since rifle but there are quite a few in that 140-160 class. The other morning I sat in a lone bush along a trail in the middle of the prairie. Just after I sat that morning in the dark a big framed deer came in but it was to early to shoot UUGH!
He walked by me at 12 yds, and after that I ahd about 35 deer go past that morning but nothing real big. Can't wait for days off!
Helped my buddy find his muley buck this morning. He got terrible penetration but he didn't go far. good luck you guys!

Brett/IL

That's a nice muley! I love the picture too. Tell your buddy congrats!

BOW HNT

Jenna - congrats!! I love the pic! - best of luck out with the rifle and chasing the bears.

Chad- those were some tremendous bucks! tell your buddy cograts nice muley and great pic!

Did not do much hunting over the weekend - was painting. Did sit out in the snow Sat afternoon (was supposed to stop so thought there would be a lot of deer movement)- saw two does, a smiley and a couple dozen turkeys... had we known it was going to continue throughout the night and quit early Sunday morning - would have been out then instead!

I did finally get an update as promised and will post it next.

Best of luck to all out there still chasing!

Mike

BOW HNT

Hey everyone – no antlers on the ground for the team yet, but here is an update that I have promised for quite some time, but had not taken the time to get it down!

Luckily I have been hunting quite a bit this past month. J and I have had three bucks targeted, two big non-typicals (Old Timer and an un-named one) and a big clean 6X6. We have had all three of them at 20yards broadside during the season, but in typical big whitetail fashion, was usually after shooting light. On Sunday morning Nov 9th J had Old Timer on video at 20 yards and appeared to make a great hit on him. (That is another story all together).

Since we were looking for these specific bucks, have let a bunch of nice bucks walk along with two tremendous bucks that I refuse to shoot this year.

Shot-gun season starts this coming weekend, and will run for three weeks. The difficulty factor of me shooting one of the two remaining targeted bucks will grow exponentially! We discussed what bucks we would shoot this past week, and I told J that I would most likely shoot either double wide, or triple wide this week.

Both Double and Triple wide are main fame 8 points, double is 22 wide with 8 inch G-2’s and good mass (3.5 YO buck) Triple is 24 wide with 10 inch G-2’s and heavier (possibly a 4.5 YO buck). Both are magnificent animals, and would be an honor to take either one.

Unfortunately, Double Wide came by my stand last Tuesday evening. Most all his tines on the right side were busted down short. He kept switching trails that he was walking on as he approached from my left side and arced quite a bit farther to the north than I had realized and I made a huge miscalculation on the trail he was on, and the distance from the stand. I drew on him while he was straight west of the stand and held on him while he walked settled in when he stopped straight north of the stand and squeezed the release and watched the arrow as it sailed to its target…then disappear! – I did not see or hear it impact, which I have never shot a deer without both seeing and hearing the arrow impact. He ran 20 or so yards to the east and curved to the north. When he ran off, I did not see an arrow sticking out, or any markings/sign of a hit. Ten minutes after I shot, a small 9 point came in and dinked around for a while, then a big 9 point came in with a smaller 8 followed by a nice 8 point. These 4 bucks remained fairly close to the stand for the remainder of the evening. The smaller 9 stayed within 60 yards of the stand and did not leave until long after dark!

We broke out the lights but found no arrow, no hair, no blood and no deer. After about 2 ½ hours of searching, we pulled out till morning for a fresh look in the light. Wed morning we were out after first light and after three hours, found no arrow, no hair, no blood and no deer. We searched the area he was standing when I shot, the path he ran after I shot, and where we thought he would have went, but turned up absolutely nothing. In going through where he was standing and the yardage I for which I had settled in, it appears the arrow went low and into a tangle of downed branches and crap and deflected somewhere??

Had I not released the arrow at him, I would have most likely shot the big 9 point that was broad side at 15 yards for at least 10 minutes, sorry about that!!

I will try, and should be able to make it back out after shotgun season a couple times, so don’t completely count me out yet!!

5575gb

Man I hate that when you can't find your arrow or the game, it's a tough deal! Hope things work out for you down there, sounds like your on to some nice ones.
Myself I've passed on so many bucks this season, and to tell you the truth I need to put my hands on some antler pretty darn soon!
It's getting cold with lows in the single digits this week and the herds of deer are really hitting the food sources. I have some buddies coming over from Manitoba next week to bow hunt so it's going to be a good time!
Lots of nice up and comers, glassed a nice mature 24" or so wide 4x4 that should go 155-160. If he comes by my blind he's gonna get it!
If I get a buck from where I'm sitting I'll take some pics. It's barren ground with just one small bush for a long long ways, so the snow is blown up deep all around it on a section line trail. I dug a hole in the snow bankand sit on a folding chair beside it and the deer trail is just 20 yds away, they haven't a clue I'm there when the winds right!

good luck guys!

TexasBowHunter

Congratulations to everyone one your kills, I was able to get out for 5 days during the Thanksgiving holidays but took my wife and daughter with a rifle for most of those days, then I was going to get on the bowstand once they had both killed their deer. Our hunt was cut shrt when I got some bad news that my little brother had been in a bad car wreck early Sunday morning, we proceeded to pack up andstart heading home to get to the hospital. Before we could meke it home I got the call that he didn't make it....I have been making arrangements for that since Sunday, the funeral will be this Thursday. Ifyou guys would say a prayer for my family it would be greatly appreciated!!!!
On a better note, my wife her first time out hunting was able to harvest a good doe (witha rifle) and made a crack shot to boot....She was very excited about her first deer, however we had to leave early and my oldest didn't get to get her deer. I plan on heading out Friday with my oldest daughter to see if we cant get her a deer too......Here's a couple pic's of the wife and her deer..

Brett/IL

TBH-My sincerest condolences on the loss of your brother. We will keep your family in our prayers.

Congrats to your wife on a fine doe and a good shot! Good luck getting your oldest a deer.

BOW HNT

TBH - I am terribly sorry to hear of your loss, my heart goes out to you and your family and youwill allbe in my thoughts and prayers! - Let us know if there is anything that you need - or someone to talk to. Sometimes it helps to have someone that you "know" - but is still a little removed.

Hang in there - Mike