crenth

Yeah my doe weighed 104.4 lbs. Good size. After I shot her I had another doe come in with a 6 pointer pushing her around with his nose to the ground. He was on a mission!! Hopefully this next week I'll be able to get a few days off in a row and go out and stay in the camper so I can hunt morning and night and save a little gas. It's almost an hour drive to our property. Supposed to be down below freezing this next weekend. I'm ready to start seeing some larger bucks. I'm gonna have my wife go along a couple times also.

dmounts

Starting at 2 pm today I'll be hunting every day through next Saturday. Been pretty slow here in PA. I think the heat has kept the deer activity to a minimum, or atleast restricted it to after dark. We finally have some cool weather moving through (chance of snow flurries Friday night into Saturday), so maybe these Buck will get their rut on!

Good job on the slicks fellas! You can't beat the experience of putting meat in the freezer, while gaining confidence in yourself and your equipment for when that big buck comes through.

Good luck all, and I'll check back with any updates.

Don

Bible_Man

Good luck, Don! Hope you nail a monster.

John Deer

Should've killed last night. Yesterday afternoon I decided to head out and sit on an oak flat that I had some sightings on earlier this season. The wind was blowing hard gusts between 30 and 40 but I thought it would lay before dark. After getting in the stand I realized I might have a long sit ahead of me. This tree was swaying 2 feet or more in either direction and I felt a little motion sick! Well I stuck it out and about 5 minutes before I ran out of shooting light I see a deer to my West about 40 yards. I can tell he's a buck but I can't tell how big he is. He's on a mission and he's not stopping to give me a shot opportunity. He must have been bedded off of the flat or ridge that I was on. He skirted me at 40+ yards heading down the opposite side of the ridge behind me. The wind was still howling but I got out my Tru Talker and gave a few loud agressive grunts. I couldn't hear over the wind and I had lost sight of him by this point. Finally the wind calmed and I could hear him circling downwind of me off the ridge behind me. I then got really aggressive with the grunt and gave a couple of long deep grunts and several short tending grunts. Just after I stopped I could hear him coming straigh in. He RAN straight to the base of my tree just behind me! There was one limb that I didn't trim to give me some back cover and wouldn't you know it he stops right below it. I couldn't get low enough to get the shot off under the limb so there I stand with my bow drawn waiting for him to take 2 steps. He's 3 steps from my tree and I'm running out of enough light to see my pins through my peep! After what I would guess to be 2-3 minutes he turned and started back the way he came. I let down the bow and swung around the opposite side of the tree. I drew and once he cleared I stopped him with a bleat at 18 yards. I began to try to find him in the peep but it was just too dark. I struggled but to no avail. 3 minutes earlier and I could have seen my pin. As I stood there he walked back over the ridge and out of sight. So discusted but happy to have had the experience. I love when you call at em and they nearly break the door down coming in! While he was right under me I got a good look at his headgear. He's a real good 8 probably 125". Not wide but has good tine length. Anyway, I'm going back out this evening to give it another chance. He wasn't spooked and with the way he reacted to the grunt I may take the rattling horns and give them a try. Use your grunt call cause I think it'll bring em in on a string right now.

mbmrang

Good luck John with that deer. I just hope I get a chance to actually be in the woods this weekend, not just looking from distance.

mbmrang

Had just about as good of hunt this morning as I could without putting an arrow through a deer. I got to the stand right at legal light because I misjudged the sunrise this morning. I was there less than 10 minutes when a doe crosses the creek and is coming up the hill. She kept looking behind her so of course you know what I was thinking. Well, I was wrong. It was her yearling but this young doe was definatly wanting some action. Had her tail to the side the whole time. It was a neat experience to see. It almost looked like she was shaking her but for all too see. Reminded me of some of my better high school days.

They finally left after a 20 minute show and then I started a few calling sequences. After the second one I notice a deer across the field up in some prarie grass. Then it disappeared. Thought it was sneaking around the pond toward me but again I was wrong. 20 minutes later it stood back up. It was bedded down up there. After a few stretches it bedded back down. I tried every call I had including a very rough rattling sequence. The wind was just a bit to strong and the buck was just over 300 yrds away.

It was one our 8 pointers but he did not make the hit list this year so I didn't try to do much else. I could still see his rack if I really looked with the binos and after about an hour I decided to just try a little stalk to get a closer look. I made it to within 20 yards before stepping on a small limb under a tree and he bolted. I don't think he ever knew I was there. The grass up there is over waist high and I had a hard time even seeing the horns in the grass when he was bedded.

Even though I knew I wasn't going to send an arrow his way, I had the increased heart rate and that buck feeling once I got within 100 yards. It was pretty awesome.

Now, back out tomorrow morning to see if I can find big brother.

Enjoy all.

crenth

Well Saturday afternoon I went out to a spot that we haven't hunted all year. Since it is dry this year the woods are really thick there and the deer are loving it. I looked around, found a trail, found a tree and trimmed a couple limbs for a shooting lane. Climbed up a really crooked tree and tried to get situated. Sat down, got up adjusted my seat, sat down, got up adjusted my seat, did this about 4 times. Thought I had it good. Then a couple minutes later got back up to adjust it again and heard something behind me. BIG BUCK coming through a group of sapplings. maybe 30 yards away. I grabbed my bow and got turned around. He stopped and made a scrape and then pissed on it. Took a couple steps forward right into the only hole I could shoot through. I let my arrow fly and watched it go right through him right behind his shoulder maybe an inch or 2 low. Let him sit for almost 2 hours. Found very little blood and then kicked him up. Went back yesterday and could not find any more blood and never found the deer. He was a nice symmetrical 10 pointer. Probably 140-150". I can't believe my shot didn't kill him but we looked everywhere. I moved my camera down over a nice scrape so hopefully he shows back up on my camera.

dmounts

Good luck finding the deer man...and don't give up. One year I found my deer 3 days later about 300 yards from where I lost the trail. It was a liver shot an apparantly I bumbed him too soon. I only found him because I entered by area from a different direction due to the wind and guestimated locations of the deer in our area.

Were you hunting from a stand or the ground? Was he broadside or quartering? A few more details and maybe we can help talk you through this man.

Another option is the free dog service thats available to hunters to blood trail and find their deer. There should be a dog available in your area. Most people just tip the guy if he finds their deer. Might be something to consider if you've already given it all you can.

I haven't seen a shooter yet myself. Will be hunting hard all week. Good luck all!

Don

crenth

The deer was pretty much broadside at about 22 yards or less. I was hunting from my climber. We tried bringing my dads untrained beagle in but he didn't do any good. The big deal is the undergrowth is so tall (waist high) so we are thinking he is laying in there somewhere we've just overlooked him. I'm going to go sit down in the area tonight and listen for coyotes possible howling or fighting each other which may indicate where my deer is.

John Deer

Sorry to hear that you lost him Clayton. Maybe you'll hear those yotes or catch a smell of him in the next week or so. With a hit like that even a low hit it should be fatal. And by jumping him up it sounds like he was hurt pretty bad. How far away from where you originaly shot him did you jump him? Did you see him or just hear him run off? I'd be willing to bet that he's dead if he bedded in a close area to where you shot him. I lost a deer that I hit a little low about 5 years ago. I found decent blood for about 60-75 yards then it dried up. I looked for 5 straight days without any luck then later on in December when the leaves were off and the grass had stopped growing and had been kinda tamped down I found him in an overgrown dried up creek branch. If you keep looking I bet you find him. Good luck.