RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Greg, you had better take her out to a nice dinner or buy her a good present for being such a good sport. Sounds like she went far and above the call of duty for a wife. Im glad all turned out ok and hope yall all get over what ever yall have going around over there. Good luck hunting!!!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Greg,

Just an observation,

I thought you recently praised the Muzzy Zero effect on your set up? It looks like in this pic you are not using it?

Regardless, you put the meat on the table and will have a great hunting partner in the near future.

Do you think your wife could call my wife and give her some lessons? :D

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

That is a big doe. Congrats!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Alison,, that a girl, keep him straight.;)

loanstarhunter, since Greg is down and out, lol he'll be back. I believe the Muzzy Zero is on his Allegiance and that's his Tribute in the picture.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Thats a really nice doe and im glad u were able toshare it with ur family. Congrats!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Thanks, guys! I really appreciate all the comments... and I see the missus snuck down here and commandeered my computer while I was curled up in the fetal position! ;)Amazing... she's out walking through the woods with me, carrying my bow back while I'm hauling the deer out... and it hits me and I'm OUT... [8D]('Course, I gotta say that I never saw her throw up every thirty minutes ALL night long... had to be one of the longest nights of my life last night [:'(]) Still... I've got an awesome wife.

gzg38b... that's the entrance hole; I really would have liked to have been a bittighter to her shoulder, but the oak tree shestepped behind and hid herfrom me drawing covered where I'd really liked to have placed my shot after she took a step. I aimed a couple inches off the tree and buried the arrow about eight inches into the ground after passing through her. As Alison mentioned, she didn't travel far... though it was more like 60 yards as opposed to 30... ;)

Pretty neat story from my perspective; after hunting Illinois the last 10 years or so (and I'll be hunting it again come Oct. 1; in fact the landowner called me this morning while I was in bed to let me know he saw the three big wallhangers again this morning running in a bachelor group... You know you're taking care of your landowner when he calls YOU to tell you about deer he's seeing! :))... anyway, after hunting Illinois so long, I admit I can get pretty pessimistic about hunting Missouri -- at least where I'm from in Missouri. Up north, above the I-70 beltline, it's great. Down in Southeast Missouri, not so much -- especially when hunting public land.

I walked in yesterday afternoon, and walked about two miles of field edges and fire lanes cut through the woods, and cut ONE set of tracks leading from a bean field to the other side of a brushy, overgrown hillside. I stepped back and took stock of the situation... The hillside would make a perfect bedding area, as it would afford a view of anything approaching from below, while the wind was blowing from over the top of the hill and allow them to smell anything coming. If I wasn't so religious about scent control, they really should have already smelled me.

I also recalled reading in Don Higgins' recent book how he thinks summer-pattern deer don't bed far from a food source; this hillside was probably 100 yards or less from this bean field. I backtracked and found a good tree to scoot up about 20 yards off the field (I really wanted to be able to glass the field later that evening with my Nikons), and positioned my climber on the opposite side of the tree from which I expected the deer to come. I was interrupted fifteen minutes later as I was reading my owner's manual for my GPS unit as I caught movement coming from that direction. I turned to watch a fawn sneak down the fire lane separating the hill from the bean field. Searching with my binoculars quickly allowed me to pick up another fawn, followed by their mother.

These two stayed on the trail, and eventually ended up coming straight in at me; I was worried I wasn't going to have a shot until the mother finally turned behind the tree and took a step forward at 17 yards. To have a mature doe, with at least two more sets of eyeballs that close (I say at least two, because I'm still not really sure if there were triplets, as I picked up another fawn below me as I was drawing... though it could have been the earlier one I had spotted) and trying to get to full draw without being picked off was more than a little challenge.

To top if off, it was 4:10... At least three if not three and a half hours of daylight left. I still had my long-sleeve camp shirt tucked between my feet and the tree, while my headnet and gloves were still in one of my cargo pockets... The way you see me in that first pic? That's how I was holding my bow out with release clipped on and trying to get drawn! [8D]

As far as the Muzzy question, Rob almost had it right... This was my Allegiance, which sports an APA Twister Safari fallaway... the Muzzy is on my Tribute. My plan is to hunt with my Allegiance with speed mods until the weather starts gettting colder and makes the old shoulders stiffer and harder to work (right, Quiksilver? [8D])... then switch to the Tribute with smooth mods which will hopefully allow an easier draw cycle when the muscles aren't as loose.

Anyway... Thanks guys.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

This was one of last year's does Matthew helped me recover when he was two years old. I plan on having him help me recover at least one of my deer every year until he gets old enough to start going with me... And then we'll be goind shed hunting as a family come next spring as well.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

... and of course the pic in my avatar from later that same year... Think he's excited about deer? ;)



I couldn't find it just then, but I've got a picture of him with me behind a big nine-pointer out in a bean field when he was six months old too. Alison put him in one of those pappoose-style carriers you see people wearing in your local malls and helped me walk grids for an hour at 10 p.m. because I hit the buck square in the shoulder and saw him snowplow into a standing field of armpit-high beans. He didn't leave one track, one drop of blood or one hair behind on his 75-yard death run.

I called Alison at 9:00 that night and she got him up and drove over to the Illinois farm I was hunting. What a trooper! :)

The boy ain't gotta chance! :D

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

way to go greg!!!!!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

CONGRATS!!!!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Hey guys, it is Alison again. I am starting to see why Greg is so addicted to this forum. I just had to see what you all said to my reply. Thanks Rob/Pa. In response to LaHoytguy and loanstarhunter don't feel too sorry for me. I really went out in the woods yesterday to find the doe more for Matthew than Greg. Not that it wasn't a sacrafice but if you can tell in the pictures just a little bit about how cute he is in, real life he is even more heartbreakingly adorable! And if possible, more devoted to hunting and deer and really all animals than you can believe possible. He loves his daddy tremendously and Greg passed on some kind of bowhunting gene in his DNA that it is imbedded in this little boy beyond belief.The pictures from last year with Matthew with the big buck it was probablyabout 40 degrees that night (pretty chilly) and getting late and Matthew's look of awe as he stares at those antlers tells the story to some degree. But he planned on sleeping outside with that deer all night. He was ready to lay down next to it and use its neck as his pillow and would have beenperfectly content to do so.We had to literally tear him away from that deer and draghim kicking and screaming inside to bed. And the first thing the next morning atabout 6:30 a.m. he was tearing back outside again to check on "his" buck.

So guys, I say all that to say this, once Matthew knew Greg had a deer I hadno choice but to take him out there and help his daddy bring it in. I would havepreferred to stay in the car and rest while they did that but Matthew isjust too young to have Greg have tohaul the deer, bow, camera and keep track of a very active little boyasking a million and one questions all the time by himself.
Plus Greg treats me VERY well as I have mentioned on here before. I love my husband and I really enjoy deer meat and I loveseeing him have so much fun atsomething he is so good at. So my adivce to all of you that want yourwives to be more supportive is to check yourselves and make sure you are being supportive and lovingto her. If I even casually mention that I want something Greggoes out to get it, ususally immediatley!!! I cant tell you the number of times he hasgone out at night in his pj's to get me a diet cherry limeade from Sonic at 10 p.m. or rent me a movie I want towatch!! He is wondefully thoughtful and sweet and he "cherishes" me very well just like he promised he would 10 years ago when we got married. So that helps me not mind so much when he is gone hunting a lot or spending hours on the computer with you all cause I know that he loves me and if I want something, if it is within his power to grant it to me, I usually get it so I am more than grateful and thankful for such a wonderful husband and a special little boy that I am proud to be a bowhunter's wife! And that means going out in the woods to bring them in!! :) See you!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Awesome!!! Congrats Greg!!!

PS...the doe is a nice one too!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

great pics great doe

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

nice doe congrats

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

not to hijack the thread, but did you use those slick tricks????

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Greg, you're a lucky guy to have found a wife like yours.

Congrats once again, and way to go at keeping your son involved. I can't wait until we see the post about his first deer.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Hey Pukeys, you think you have it bad now?.........wait til' you give that kid the bug. [:'(];)

Congrats on the doe, and the great memories! Can't wait to meet the family in person. (Just make sure you sanitize first[X(])
Alison it's a good thing you are completely supportive of Greg's habit because it's only going to get worse in the next few years...hehehehe. Oh you're gonna hate me.:D

You will have some pretty new animals for the collection though!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Greg congrats in so many ways. I hope someday i can get my kid into deer hunting like that!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Ite... my equipment used was a BowTech Allegiance with a 29" draw set at 65 lbs, shooting 29" ACCs capped and custom-crested and fletched with matching feathers. The head of choice for this hunt was a Cabela's 100-grain Lazer Strike mech, as I had one left in a pack I bought last year and knew I'd be taking a doe for my first animal this year. I also had a Spot-Hogg Hunter Hoggit sight, an APA Twister Safari rest, and an 8" Stealth stabilizer.

The head is basically Rocket Aerohead's Sidewinder 3, and I took nearly 30 straight deer with Rockets before beginning to experiment with all the other offerings on the market. However, this Cabela's version doesn't seem to have the quality I've come to expect from Rocket, and I won't be using them again. I just don't think the ferrule is as strong, though the head held up fine on last night's shot.

I will say that it was amazing how deep the arrow was buried in the dirt upon retrieval; there's nothing like shooting tons of KE from a finely tuned bow that's shooting darts!

Illinoisbow, just expose him to it from the very start, and often. My son couldn't begin to tell you who Barney is, but before he could talk he could act like he was drawing a bow! He's seen more deer hunting videos than the average kid has seen Wiggles andDora the Explorer cartoonscombined. Most importantly though, I just think he senses my passion for the sport and is drawn to it solely because of that.

Forgot to add, ite... unfortunately, I'm still waiting on my Slick Tricks. I hope they arrive by Oct. 1, when Illinois opens up and my real deer season begins! ;)

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Greg i also waited about 1 mon for delivery and they are definetly worth the wait!!!!! I hopefully be posting some pics next weekend hopefully

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Those are absolutely beautiful pics, and congrats on the the slick head by the way...:)

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Great job Greg! Thanks for bring your son into hunting. I'm excited for the both of you!

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Congrats Greg! That sure is meat in the freezer. Up here it's another twelve days to go and I haven't slept for the last three nights. Looks like it'll be a long wait.
Tomorrow I leave for moose (archery), it's been raining here for days, but cool enough to get them moving.
Best of luck for the rest of the season--BOW TECH-nician.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Great job! One day your son will be calling you to tell you he got a BDD. I know I did it with my dad. he kept smileing the whole day.

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Great story, great photo's and an even greater family.
What an inspiration!

The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree...

RE: BDD - Big Doe Down!
 

Good deal Greg.....doin your part for herd management........I love the pics with the kids.....congrats!!