Passed On A Wallhanger This Afternoon
 

Late this afternoon i was hog hunting on a one mile long 160 acre strip that runs on both sides of a creek for about one-half mile. It is located between two huge run down pastures. The place is isolated and is over-run with wild hogs.

Have also seen a few nice bucks on that place. A bowhunter friend killed a 12 point buck with 9" drop tines there 2004. That deer scored 168 points as a typical and 186 points as a non-typical.

This afternoon i was sitting in my tree stand overlooking the
feeder when a very nice 10 point came in. That deer would score 160 points. His inside spread is easily 23" and his brow tines are 6" long. He has a very symmetrical rack with no nubs.

i have this thing about shooting deer at a feeder; i just won't do it. Hogs yes; deer no. Today was the last day of OK deer gun season and the old boy will live another year.

Falcon your a Much Better Man than I......If you can use a Feeder and Harvest Deer from one, than I understand how you feel about taking a Deer of that Class from it. I also have My Do's and Dont's when it comes to Deer. BUT, I'd be Fighting Awful Hard to NOT Pull the Trigger on that One. I Respect your Decision and Im sure so does the Buck.
It's the HUNT that makes a Lasting memory and not always the Deer.
(BP)

While I commend you for sticking to your guidelines of a fair hunt, if it was legal I would have blasted that big buck. Large bucks are hard to come by where I live and I take every LEGAL opportunity to harvest one.

okay this deserves a smack up side the head LOL

Couldn't have said it better. Where I hunt, you just don't get chances at big bucks often. I might would have to take the primer out and throw it on the ground to control myself. :s2:

Just out of curiosity, If you wont shoot a deer at a feeder and you know that there is a possibility of seeing a nice buck walk up and start feeding at it, then why do you hunt close eough to see one walk up to the feeder? I believe this is a logical question. God bless you and your patience, I would have atleast shot him before he got to the feeder if I didn't like shooting a buck while it was at a feeder.

OK - I won't say that I don't believe you but the question I have to ask is "If you don't plan on shooting a deer under a feeder, why are you hunting there overlooking one?" If you are indeed abiding by this self imposed rule the you were just sitting there watching and not hunting.
I'm with Cayugad, if it was legal, I would have dropped the hammer.

Could someone please direct me to Falcons feeder in OK? Before its dark tonight? Wait...I still have to fly there and get a license and buck tag.

Hmmmm. I don't think I can make it in time.



D

He said he was hog hunting and doesn't mind taking them from a feeder. So I'm guessing he was hoping for hogs to come in, yet a deer did instead.

i understand you were hunting hogs at a feeder and a deer came by...but the deer had to walk to, and away from the feeder...why not shoot it then? it is the same as if you were 400 yards from the feeder....the deer is going to a food source, ig the feeder, and no matter where you are, weather the deer is walkin 1 mile to the feeder, or 10 yards..its still the same, he is going for the feeder?

So the consensus is that old falcon is dumb. :D

i'll be pig hunting down there a couple days each week. OK bow season closes on 15 January. If i get eat up with remorse for not zapping that buck or if he flaunts it too much; i'll dust off the old crossbow, go to that feeder and stick a bolt in the old boys butt. :s2:

Naw Falcon, you ain't dumb. But you sho` nuff is weird. :happy0157:

I would have busted that sucker in a heart beat. I have only two "no shoot" rules. I won't shoot at a running deer, and won't shoot a deer in the arse. But if one walks into my kitchen and eats some Cheerios he's fair game.

If you were me and spent day's on stand freezing your butt off with numb fingers and frozen buggers on your mustache waiting for that Buck to show, then yea you were just a tad bit off on your decision. How could you possibly take a Fatty Artery Clogging Pig over a Healthy Eatin Venesion Chop.
I better hit the Sack, Snow's a Piling up, If Im going to go Hunting in the Morning I better make damn sure the Wife can get to work befor I leave. If that same Buck show's tomorrow ol Breechplug's gonna XTP his %$@, Snow's comming down at 1" a hour now........want some?
(BP)

In a word, yes!!!!! Wish that we got a good snow here once in awhile. i grew up in WV and we nad a lot of snow there. Last tracking snow we had here was early in 04. A neighbor and i killed seven hogs that day.

LOL, damn straight!!

pretty obvious you never gutted or processed a wild hog...aint that much fat on an editable wild hog. these hogs dont sit in a pin in their own feces, waiting for a human to bring them slop..they are out traveling all day long....searching for food...very lean compared to what you buy at the store.

It was a personal choice and Falcon made the right one for himself.

Your neighbor thanks you.

I've shot deer over bait before. I've also shot deer while stalking them. Funny they both tasted exactly the same.

Well I apologize for misreading the post. But to be sure, if it were legal, Iwould have shot him.

Im from TN and thats why I go to Ohio.

I for one commend your self control and ethics!! I 100% agree with your reasoning. Shooting any animal off of a timed feeder is not fair chase as far as I'm concerned. Food plots and other man made food sources are there all the time where as with the feeder you can control when it drops. Where's the sport in that?? Don't get me wrong that is surely one heck of a buck and way bigger than anything that i've harvested, but I would have done exactly the same as you did, and done it with pride. Shooting that buck from under a feeder is some **** that Ted Nuggent would do...

Falcon, the next time you see that Buck give him direction's to My House so I can hang him on the Wall and eat some Tasty Tenderloin's. After all the Snow we've had in the last 48 hours Im not gonna pass on one like that, if I do I'll bend over and you all can kick me in the AS%, LOL
(BP)

Hey now Ted's Cool...Wack em Pack em and Stack em. But in all Seriousness a Good Buck Seldome and vary rarely approache's a Feeder in the Daylight, there just too smart for that. Doe's, Fawn's and Yearling Bucks will, but the Older Smarter Bucks almost Never do.
I've been on a few Hunts to Michigan years back when all they did there (then) was Hunt over Bait Piles. While I was there you'd see everything but a good Buck show up during light. If that Buck showed up at Falcon's Feeder he MUST be Removed from the Gene Pool, you cant have a Buck that stupid pass his gene's on.
Again and in all seriousness, you did good Falcon, I appalud you. But Im still waiting for you to give him directions to My House.
(BP)

That deer would have been shot weather ur aloud or not or Bait. IMO.

That's about the way it goes Breechplug. If I set a climbing stand fifty yards back in the woods next to a foodplot I can watch bucks cruise the perimeter of the plot ten yards back in the woods sniffing out the does that are on the plot. They seldom enter the plot unless there's a hot doe out there. They don't go to the feeder.

Cabage, I don't know if you have any personal experience using timed feeders. I do. I have three small foodplots and have operated them without feeders and with feeders that throw a pound of corn one half hour after first light and one hour before dark. I have cameras on all three plots that tell the tale.

The normal pattern is that does and yearlings enter the plot about the same in the morning and evening regardless of whether there is a feeder on the plot or not. Sometimes they don't enter the plot for several days. When it's like that they don't seem to be going to any of the plots in the area. When they are using the plots I get pictures of deer on every plot during the same time frame. They are either moving and feeding at a certain time, or they are not.

If there's a feeder, the yearlings will go to the corn almost immediately. The mature does sometimes eat the corn, but usually stick with the wheat and clover. Over the last dozen years I can count the times on one hand that a mature buck went to a feeder during shooting hours. But if one does you can bet I'm going to take the shot.

When the freezer is empty, I don't cut the deer much slack. When the pressure is off, I can enjoy the hunting more and am more likely to pass certain situations. I've never lived where baiting was legal, so I'll admit it turns me off.

Couple of weeks ago I had the biggest deer ever offer a shot. I'd strained a back muscle earlier that week and the old body groaned too hard when I tryed to pull the bow back. Rather than risk tearing something, I just enjoyed seeing a really big one up close. Beautiful sight and I had no regrets other than I'd wished I'd followed my intuition and taken the lighter pulling recurve hunting that weekend instead of the compound. I think I could have pulled that sweet old 40# er that
Dad owned back in the 60's. But I'm glad I was able to enjoy the moment rather than be filled with negative regrets.

I'll bet you enjoyed seeing that buck too.

If the feeder was loaded and in the woods, it must be legal there. Here in Virginia, it is illegal to use any type of feed or food atractants in the woods during hunting season. We can have food plots only.

In all truth I have zero experience with timed feeders. It just seems wrong to me. I do use food plots, but not for hunting over like a bait pile or feeder. They just don't work like that around here. Where I have hunted with food plots here in Wisconsin the hunting pressure far outweighs the attraction of the food. The deer simply readjust their patterns and visit the food plot after dark.

I would kinda think that I would like a buck that stupid to pass his genes on!