Deer Season #55 in the Books
 

Well another has come and gone!

This one was marked by a record breaking drought and some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the months of November, December and January down here in Alabama. To make maters worse, the drought allowed loggers thinning the 1000 +/- acres of pines on the property that I hunt to go full speed ahead into mid December. Then the rains finally came and did they come! The whole place seemed to turn into a muddy quagmire. Woods roads were heavily rutted by the skidders, cutters and dozers and became almost impossible to use, even using high clearance UTV's.

Overall this was the lowest number of deer taken by our group ever going back over 15 years. Personally I filled my freezer with no problem. I saw a lot of deer, including 3 stud bucks .... a terrific 10 point, a massive wide but low racked 4x4 that has to go well over 200# and one of the best 4x4's that I have ever seen alive or dead. He came by me very early the morning of the last day. Dead duck, 60 yard broadside shot and i decided to pass. I had enough meat in the freezer and a buck on the wall that eclipsed what he would score. Maybe next year I'll see him again if the good Lord is willing.

Among the fun parts was that my "new" tracker, Boo Boo, found every deer (5) that he was asked to track for us. And my "old" tracker, Ellie Mae, had recovered enough from back surgery to track 2 others , including one real tuffy. And best of all, I "guided" a 10 year old to a 120# doe. Dang good shot ... about 125 yards with my 308 Win. That was a thrill for us both. More importantly, the season went by with none of us getting hurt.

Now to get ready to chase gobblers come March 15!

Sounds like a fun season to me!
-Jake

Odd year for us here as well. Ended up with 4 in the freezer. It seemed like we didn't even have a rut with the weather like was. 70 degrees for a week then it would drop in the 30s for a couple of days. Can't complain though, God has blessed me with opportunities and the ability to hunt!

# 58 for me minus one when I was over seas in the Navy and could not be home for deer season.

Sounds like you had a pretty good season. With the logging, the place should be great in a few years with all the new growth.

I just finished season #10. As far as total deer sightings went, it was about average for us. However, I only saw one mature buck, and only had two on trail camera. I got a doe for the freezer with my Encore pistol, but still haven't bloodied my 460 or 41. Neither of the two younger hunters I've been mentoring connected.

All said, it was fairly uneventful.