Today is the end of the ML season here in Indiana, or, as I like to call it, the worst day of the year.

I have 4 deer already, including a nice fat doe with the Remington Genesis, so I really did not need more venison. But, I could not let the season close without going out this AM. It was about as perfect a hunting morning as we have had all year. About 2" of snow on the ground from yesterday, and around 25 degrees. I was in a favorite spot before shooting light. At about 8 AM I see a deer moving through the brush about 50 yards away. A couple more steps and it will be in open woods. The deer stayed motionless for about 5 minutes, then proceeded. Up came the scope on a really nice buck. Big body, wide rack, tall tines. Well, in Indiana we can shoot one buck per season and I already have mine. So I watch the buck go about his business. Truly awesome to see a buck like that on snow.

About 2 hrs later, more deer are coming on the same trail the buck was on. A nice doe with 2 fawns. Clicked the hammer back and put the crosshairs on the shoulder of the biggest deer, and then I just watched them walk off. I guess I wasn't out there for a deer, but the hunt ranks up there with the best of the year.

Well it is obvious that your a true hunter. Taking what you need from the woods and not more then you need because you can. While I admit it is nice to score a nice deer, hunting and watching them can be just as rewarding. Congratulations on a very successful deer season.

X2 What Dave said.

I too have sat in the woods and sighted deer and not pulled the trigger. In my mind I count them as my trophies. And by my count I have killed more then I can count.

I sat in my stand one morning and had a great show of a very large doe and her two kids. They ran here and there and at one point she stopped short and the kids slammed into her rear end. I couldn't help it and laughed out loud. Suprisingly it didn't spook them. I really enjoyed the show.

This is what it is all about. The hunt and not the killing for killing s sake!!!

Until next year!

Almost forgot to mention, the turkeys put on a show this AM. I kicked a bunch off their roost when I walked in. It was fun to see them coming back from all directions to regroup. All toms that I saw, yelping like crazy, a few Kee-Kees. A great AM.

I also seemed to be tripping over turkeys this year. I was out last Tuesday and had five go by my stand. Only problem was I coldn't remember if they were in or out of season.

My bad, they were. Oh well, there is always next year.

I held off as long as possible and filled my buck tag yesterday on a large framed 1/2 rack. I do miss the days of taking 2 bucks a year here in Indiana.

Well sir at about 4.15 the old antique A&H went boom and I got my last and nicest doe of the season I loaded it the day before season and still use the good old # 11 caps there was no hesitation as usual but I could of done a better job of shot placement a long track but all is well.

Interesting, what is your state deer population? How many tags come with each license?

Here in Va. we get six, three does and three any sex. This is however, east of the Blue Ridge Mtns. We can also purchase additional tags, but I have never done this so I don't know how this is done.

But we still have bow until Jan 3. I have had a great year to. 4 does with the bow and one with ML and buck with ML. I have been able to hunt everyday and will be around 600 hours for the year when it goes out. Tom. is last day of school so I will spend from the 23 until Jan 3 in the woods hunting everyday all day. I will be able to get myself around another 140ish hours in the woods.

The population is managed at the county level primarily through county-level allocations of doe tags. Theoretically, you could shoot a couple hundred deer if you had permission on land in every county and drove between them fast enough!

You only get one buck each year, all seasons. Having moved down from Michigan I approve of this even if I too had to pass on a nice buck after having shot a smaller one this year. In Michigan, where populations were similar or higher, it was unusual to shoot anything bigger than a six-pt or basket rack 8 at the best. A buck with antlers to the outside of the ears was unusual, as most bucks were killed by 2.5 yrs of age and a 3.5yr buck was very rare. People's behavior was to shoot the first legal buck (3" spikes) they saw "because if I didn't the neighbor would", then wait for "Mr. Big." The result was a lot of small bucks being shot.

Indiana will let you shoot any size buck YOU feel is a trophy, but you only get one. The result has been that in each of the 3 years I have lived here, despite very limited time in the field, I have either shot or had a legit opportunity to shoot a buck rivaling the biggest I ever took in Michigan. It is the exception, rather than the rule, to see a dead buck in a truck smaller than an 8pt to the outside of the ears.

However, I've never had problems getting tags to take the does needed for meat and to manage the population. In Michigan we had deer eating us out of house and home because they started limiting hunters to 3 does statewide because it "wasn't fair" for a hunter to take more than 3 does.