2014 Hunting Thread

I was in North Carolina this past week with on a family vacation. You know...wife, kids, grandkids and even my son's dog joined us. While there a buddy sent me this pic from a camera he put out about 20 yards from one of our stands. It was so dark it was hard to see the deer so I messed with it and got it where you could see them a little better. That 8 point looks pretty good but I'd sure like to get a close up on that deer in the back. Right behind those deer is a 40 or 50 acre bean field. We have a few scattered stands out there so we'll see.
Only pics I've gotten on my camera was some does, some turkeys and a few coyotes. I haven't checked my camera in a few weeks so we'll see.

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps2ca488bd.jpg

I'll also mention this is the 1st year since 1975 that I've missed opening day of bow season. Oh well, I have a long season ahead and it was good having everyone together for the week.

BBD

Nice Trophy!!

Nice buck FITB, congrats. That's an interesting extra point down at the base.
I killed a doe with my ML last weekend.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps5e09d22c.jpg

When we were out last week we ran across a pretty impressive rub. I hope we get a shot at the guy who made this rub.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps65ab7e61.jpg

I think the rubs are getting bigger but the deer seemed to disappear for a few weeks. I think the super abundant acorn crop has them spread out in areas where we normally just don't get to.
I personally hadn't seen a deer in the last 3 times out.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps264f239e.jpg

Yesterday was different. I got in my stand just before day light and 10 minutes later I saw a small buck 60 yards off down by the creek. He was moving towards a ridge off to my right. He was out of sight for maybe 10 minutes and I heard a crash from up on that ridge. I looked and saw a decent buck running off. At 1st I thought he scented me until I saw another good buck moving up there and then another smaller buck joined them. I figured the only thing that could bring that many bucks to one spot was a hot doe. The problem was the seemed to be moving in the wrong direction. I think that crash was 2 buck banging heads.
5 minutes later I hear a noise and here comes a doe my way sort of prancing. I knew there had to be a buck behind her so I got ready. She passed at 15 yards and a few minutes later the buck on the right showed up. I made a good shot and he went down in 20 yards.
I sent my buddy a text letting him know I killed a deer and told him to keep hunting. 45 minutes later he bringing the quad over to help me get my deer out and I asked him why he didn't stay in his stand. He the told me to look at my phone. He sent me a text saying he rattled in a buck and just shot it. What actually got the buck in range was one of those "can calls". The 1st time he hit it the buck started towards him but hung. The 2nd bleat put the buck at less than 20 yards broad side.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa7be47f8.jpg

That buck I shot had a huge body so I want to thank the folks at Yamaha because if we didn't have that quad we would have never go that thing out of the woods.

You will remember that day forever. Congrats!

Way to go John. I'm glad you and Ken got one. When I got that text at 8:00 my wife asked who it was...I said "John must have gotten a good one!".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AEFISHING

You will remember that day forever. Congrats!

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Yes we will. It took 39 years of hunting together for us to both put a tag on a buck on the same day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EFslabs

Way to go John. I'm glad you and Ken got one. When I got that text at 8:00 my wife asked who it was...I said "John must have gotten a good one!".

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I was hoping I didn't wake you but hey I was excited....AEFishing, I hope I didn't wake you either.

Nope, I enjoy getting text like that. Those rubs are unreal.

Nice Trophy! wtg

Herb

Thanks Herb.

Here's a pic of a buck we caught on camera a few days before I shot that big 8. I've been trying to figure out if it's the same deer.

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps264b5fbc.jpg

This yearling doe was 10 ft outside my kitchen window....the previous day was a 10 pointer that saw me as I grabbed my camera. Last night I had 2 does eating my bird food when I pulled in from work at 2pm.
They are everywhere in my area....and safe, until the day that I can't afford my butcher's steaks any more!:)

Yearling doe = natures veal.
When I lived in Cincinnati, every year I would always see the biggest deer of the season in my driveway.
Now that I live in the country, I rarely see any deer in my yard.

I live out in the country and have a 2 mile by 2 mile woods across the road, there are corn and bean fields on each side, then intermingled woods and fields, and streams.
The best we can count, we figure we have 2 herds of about 20 deer each in the area...plus Bucks coming in and out.

Great looking bucks. Good story as well. Congrats.