Team 6 Thread
#141
hey thanks guy, when out last thursday, when i arived there were 5 deer in the feild. i tried to sneak in, but i have no idea how they new i was there...
#142
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 157
So the big buck that I have seen a few times? I got 25 yards from him. He was bedded but I had a pretty good view of his vital area. I shot and missed. I was pretty mad at myself. I think I rushed the shot too much. Really didn't see much all weekend except for that one on friday and two really, really nice bucks this morning. We were driving back to the house to get ready to go pheasant hunting and we saw them a couple hundred yards off the road in a brush patch on a side hill. I snuck in but I knew it was going to be tough. The wind was at my back the whole way and it was blowing hard. I ended up getting fairly close to one but I couldn't see it until he ran. He was probably 4 inches wider than his ears on each side. He was huge. I talked to someone who watched me stalk them and they said one buck got up and ran right when I started walking in. They said the closer I got to the other one, the more he started looking around trying to figure out what I was. I guess I was about right on top of him when he took off.
If I had more time to hunt them this weekend, I would have spent more time trying to get a better plan or waiting for the wind to go down. Knowing how habitual a mule deer is, odds are they will both be back.
We ended up getting 60 pheasants this weekend. We had 42 yesterday and just 18 today. We were all a little disappointed in how today went. We got permission to hunt an area that hasn't been hunted more than once or twice a year in the last 20 years. It is a perfect pheasant and deer area and we always see tons of birds around. We walked about 3 miles and only got 6 birds so it was pretty disappointing. Oh well I guess. Overall it was a pretty good weekend.
If I had more time to hunt them this weekend, I would have spent more time trying to get a better plan or waiting for the wind to go down. Knowing how habitual a mule deer is, odds are they will both be back.
We ended up getting 60 pheasants this weekend. We had 42 yesterday and just 18 today. We were all a little disappointed in how today went. We got permission to hunt an area that hasn't been hunted more than once or twice a year in the last 20 years. It is a perfect pheasant and deer area and we always see tons of birds around. We walked about 3 miles and only got 6 birds so it was pretty disappointing. Oh well I guess. Overall it was a pretty good weekend.
#143
Another close call Schu! One of these times you'll connect. Slow weekend here for me. Had a small 8 under me on Sat night, just not a shooter, maybe 100" max. Fun to have one that close though. He spent a good ten minutes milling around under 5 yards. I think if he doddles that long in two weeks, when its my brother and not me in the tree, I think his fate will be sealed! Couple new scrapes showed up, but nothing good on camera, lots of does a couple dinks. Supposed to get some rain here coming up, which will be nice, sounds like herds of elephants out there walking around on the dry leaves.
#145
Schu sounds like you had a fun deer hunt and anyone that is not from the mother land of pheasants pheasant hunt. Reading that makes me anxious for my trip up there. Not sure what we are going to do yet but if you know of any good public spots around mitchell you could hook me up with it would be greatly appreciated. Yooper way to show some patience with stories like that sounds like you will be putting up some great numbers for the team this year.
I went out Monday morning had a small buck come in to about 80yds he stopped for a second and then took off like a bullet! No more than 10seconds later another two smaller bucks came hauling over the hill same path that he was on and tailing them was a definet shooter, couldn't see for sure if he was the one I have on camera but he was definetly a shooter. I grunted at him and he locked up for a few seconds and then went back to chasing those other 3 bucks off of the alfalfa field. Hopefully that is a good sign that the pre-rut is going to start kicking in here soon. The weather has been a little screwy around here about 38 degrees in the morning and low 70's in the afternoon.
I went out Monday morning had a small buck come in to about 80yds he stopped for a second and then took off like a bullet! No more than 10seconds later another two smaller bucks came hauling over the hill same path that he was on and tailing them was a definet shooter, couldn't see for sure if he was the one I have on camera but he was definetly a shooter. I grunted at him and he locked up for a few seconds and then went back to chasing those other 3 bucks off of the alfalfa field. Hopefully that is a good sign that the pre-rut is going to start kicking in here soon. The weather has been a little screwy around here about 38 degrees in the morning and low 70's in the afternoon.
#146
The bucks still aren't moving here. Hopefully they should start any day. Taking my son out this weekend for the Junior season.
#148
Guys.. Tonight I saw the biggest buck of my life!
I went out after school today and I was sittin their in my stand just thinking of big bucks and at 6 pm I look into this field and see the body of a buck. Instantly I knew it was a buck and my eyes went from that big body straight to his BIG rack!! I got my binos on him and the only view I had was at his side and I had my 10-22x60 nikon binulars so I zoomed way in on him and I counted 14 points from the side view and then he turned his head straight to me while eating some and I counted 4 more points. This guy was HUGE! He had the points, the mass, the length, the character, and width. He had everything I could ever dream of! Well except a droptine but still... HE WAS HUGE! And there he stood broadside 100 yards away.. my bow in my hand... wishing I had brought my muzzleloader since its early muzzleloader season and my youth tag is good for alteast one gun season.
He walked into the big thicket patch in front of me and 5 minutes after seeing him I hear the scraping of antlers on a big solid tree and bark flying off. He started a rub half way through the thicket and then 15 minutes later I hear him make another rub just 50 or 60 yards to the east! He never came back out sadly but with him making several rubs he should be coming back to that same area wont he? Since rubs are a sign of territory..I saw also saw a small 8 pointer when sun started to go down. My brother was hunting a differant spot and he came back to the cabin with a small 4 pointer skull that he had found in a crick in our pasture.
I went out after school today and I was sittin their in my stand just thinking of big bucks and at 6 pm I look into this field and see the body of a buck. Instantly I knew it was a buck and my eyes went from that big body straight to his BIG rack!! I got my binos on him and the only view I had was at his side and I had my 10-22x60 nikon binulars so I zoomed way in on him and I counted 14 points from the side view and then he turned his head straight to me while eating some and I counted 4 more points. This guy was HUGE! He had the points, the mass, the length, the character, and width. He had everything I could ever dream of! Well except a droptine but still... HE WAS HUGE! And there he stood broadside 100 yards away.. my bow in my hand... wishing I had brought my muzzleloader since its early muzzleloader season and my youth tag is good for alteast one gun season.
He walked into the big thicket patch in front of me and 5 minutes after seeing him I hear the scraping of antlers on a big solid tree and bark flying off. He started a rub half way through the thicket and then 15 minutes later I hear him make another rub just 50 or 60 yards to the east! He never came back out sadly but with him making several rubs he should be coming back to that same area wont he? Since rubs are a sign of territory..I saw also saw a small 8 pointer when sun started to go down. My brother was hunting a differant spot and he came back to the cabin with a small 4 pointer skull that he had found in a crick in our pasture.
#149
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 157
Schu sounds like you had a fun deer hunt and anyone that is not from the mother land of pheasants pheasant hunt. Reading that makes me anxious for my trip up there. Not sure what we are going to do yet but if you know of any good public spots around mitchell you could hook me up with it would be greatly appreciated.
I am actually headed back out in the morning. Hopefully do a little more pheasant hunting and try to get on a nice buck. We will see what happens.
#150
Awesome encounter Pope! With the rubs and sign making, he'll likely frequent that area for another week to 10 days before he starts expanding his range somewhat. This is definitely going to be the time to kill him though before the chase phase gets cranked up. Seeking is my personal favorite phase to hunt bucks like this because they are up and around, but not running wild yet. If he's aggressively making sign, he may be susceptible to some calling/decoying in the next few days. Good luck on him! I'm heading out after work today, looks like rain tomorrow and Sunday, so depending on the ferocity of the storms coming, I may or may get out much more.