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I hope the deer remembered to turn back the clocks...

my 10 year old stepson got out this morning, in stand at 545 am. About 650, a lil button came out, then a doe chased by a decent 4 point. about 730, the lil guy was was ready to go, I made him wait. So, he caught a glimpse of a deer wanxdering into the woods off behind us to our right. I blew off a grunt, and saw another button and doe behind me, then 2 nice bucks came in with a doe. In that same time he saw what he claims a huge buck chase another doe in front of us, but had no realistic shot. So i toyed with the other 2 bucks, grunting, and they were trying to find me. One was a four, other a 5. I took the 5 at 30 yards with my 7mm 08, ran about 20 feet and dropped. Hanging and tagged from the kubota. Having good luck with that new rifle, and good end to a painful week.

I have no idea where the concept of culling bucks because of antler size has anything to do with deer management. The fact that you have bucks with smaller or bigger racks has nothing to do with culling or not culling deer.. because you are NOT a scientist or biologist you should be spending more time concerning yourself with the basics like food sources, doe harvest, and yearling buck protection before thinking about taking particular bucks out of the gene pool. What culling really is in my opinion... is an excuse for hunters, that claim they pass on younger bucks, to justify killing a young buck by calling it a mature, genetically inferior buck... when in fact it is just a young buck with a common youngster rack that the hunter can't resist pulling the trigger on.

I survived another trip to Southern Arizona in search of a Tom Mountain Lion. Rattlesnakes, killer bees, wasps, scorpions, scaling rocks/cliffs, etc. I flew into Arizona late Friday night, 10/26. Was hunting with Wade Eckel, the owner of http://killerlionhunts.com/ The trip went as follows in as short of a version as possible: Day 1 – 10/27: We did 77 miles on quad. Saw lots of lion and bear tracks. No Tom lion tracks were fresh enough to let the dogs loose on. Also saw a few Coues Deer does and 1 coyote. Day 2 – 10/28: Found fresh Tom track of an estimated 80-90lb lion at 840am. Went with dogs for 2 hours in the morning with no luck. Tried to cut the lion off in the afternoon. After walking many canyons with the dogs, we ran out of daylight. Day 3, 10/29: We chased the same 80-90lb Tom for about 5 miles on foot with the dogs from 8am-1pm. Then did a bunch more miles on foot from 4pm-dark. Dogs got a little crossed up with multiple fresh lion tracks. There were actually too many lions in the area. There were fresh lion tracks from the Tom we were after, a bugger tom, and a female. Walked through a few big swarms of wasps. I was advised to hold my breath and I wouldn’t get stung. It worked, thankfully. Found a horseshoe, maybe my luck would change? Day 4, 10/30: Found the tracks of the 80-90lb Tom about 12 miles away. We seemed to be just 1 day behind. Didn’t let the dogs out this day. Wade told me that tomorrow we will leave at 4am instead of 6am, to start looking for tracks in the dark. Day 5, 10/31 (Halloween): Out we went out at 4am to look for tracks in the dark. At 6am we found fresh tracks from that bigger Tom. Wade estimated this Tom to be 3-4 years old and 110-120lbs. We got the dogs and got back to the fresh track to start tracking at 7am. We did about 3 miles on foot, up and down canyons. This lion was obviously hunting deer as his routes were very erratic. At 855am we caught a glimpse of the lion running back down towards we left the canyon 3 miles away. The dogs were in chase, and we moved as quickly as possible back down towards the quads. On the way back, I found another horseshoe. My luck had to be changing? At 945am we found fresh track a mere 20-30 yards from the quad where the lion ran right by. The dogs treed the lion at 1020am. After a few quick pics and video, I shot the lion out of a tree about 35 feet up at 1030am. I used Wade’s 44mag trapper. Wade estimated this Tom at 3 ½ years old. This lion was 110lbs with an empty. With a fuller stomach this lion could have been close to 120lbs. I was ecstatic. Finally, I had gotten a great tom mountain lion. Day 6, 11/1: Was the last day of the Coues Deer season for the tag I drew. We glassed and walked all day looking for deer. At 325pm we jumped a small 2x1 Coues Deer buck. I took a quick offhand shot at about 130 yards and missed just under him. Oh well. It was the only deer we saw all day. Day 7, 11/2: Wade took me out varmint calling. He didn’t expect much with the full moon, but we gave it a shot. We did 3 sets and I shot a big female gray fox on the 1st set and a big male gray fox on the 3rd set. We were done in under an hour. I shot both with Wade’s 20ga. Remington youth model pump shotgun. I decided to end the day so Wade could skin the 2 foxes and get them in the freezer. It was a great trip and I will be getting full body mounts of all 3 animals. I will have the 2 fox done together.

http://www.grandpasg...-toy-p-288.html same thing $ 3.99. Slap a deer on it charge hunters $10 more. used to get them at the Craker Barrel. have a listen

Congrats on the deer

Congrats...dead is dead ...nice buck

Back at it, day three on the weekend... Light wind , 34 degrees, light snow every now n then, something's gotta go down tonight!!!

Was wondering the same thing...His wife/girfriend/dad/uncle/grandpa/cousin/sister/brother probably shot the 2nd one.

Did it on my own. Im to stubborn. Its hanging in the garage now.

I hunt and live in 9Y. I pass alot of little deer during the archery and earlyt GUN season but if my freezer still has space at the end of the season anything is fair game as far as i am concerned. Shoot what makes you happy. I am not about to go without venison so some one can wrap there hands around a nice set of antlers.

Weather seems perfect, but it looks like I'm getting skunked 2 mornings in a row for the first time all season... I hate sandy...although it was awful bright out this morning, maybe they are all out with the night moon. Heading in to play with my 8 month old son...beats this!

Haha cull bucks. So you would prefer a 160 pound buck with bone than a 190 pound buck with scrub antlers. Genetics mean more than antlers. Body size is as important. But if you prefer non edible antlers and as it seems to me to be a lot of boasting go ahead.

You cannot change the genetics in a wild herd. Its been proven. It only works in a fenced in herd, and even then, they introduce better genetics (deer with better genetic lines are released into the pen) at the same time as they cull, and it still takes a long time.

I used the can last night and he came in on a string unfortunately at full draw my coat fell off the stand. Gotta love it!

CT, dont take that the wrong way, i just meant i expect this guy to make things right first, before i explore other options

Best night in the stand all year...hoping tom. a.m. them bigguns get within range

Honestly, i feel better now. I knew u would understand i dont push my ethics.... and x2 on the big fatty swamp cow for the both of us!

you are cutting those the exact right length for your draw right? Nota good idea to be using cracked arrows.

(Live from yesterday). Watched a 6 or 8 fifty yds away at 9:00 a.m freshen his scrape,thrash the branches and then stand on his back legs and rub higher branches. Tried using a bleat in heat but no luck.Then at 10 a.m. yesterday I heard a noise ,looked over my shoulder and here comes an old buck with a high upswept spike type rack with some kickers near the base-heading right toward me. I stood,knocked an arrow,attached the release and by this time I was looking at the top of the buck through the base of my treestand. He walked out in front of me and when he was about 15 yds. I made a noise with my voice and he stopped quarting away. I was at full draw and put the pin on the sweet spot and let the arrow fly.... Whack right in to a tree over his back. I put my 30 yard pin on him instead of my 20 yard pin. The buck took a couple of quick steps forward and looked around. I had no second chance as I watched him walk away. Yup, I suck.

Just throw it out. Dig into your pocket and buy another dozen. Saving money is not worth a very bad injury.

I get no response for a while then two in two days... I ended up getting a trade just before you offered. Sorry

Experienced hunters know that.

I do not want to get into a debate about letting the X-bow in bow season but they should have the option of any disabled person with a doctors note and DEC approval to have a X-bow during any season... Come on DEC if they still want to hunt let them, it's our passion!!! Plus it will add up to more money for the state... Plus plus!!! Politics suck and are probably keep this at bay. The DEC will make it a legal impliment in bow season, it's just a matter of time I think...

Lockdown is overblown. Almost as bad as the October Lull. The lull is a myth, lockdown is blown out of proportion. I think many people misinterpret seeking behavior and estrous chasing many times. Sure, one may have come in early, too. That's not necessearily meaning the part of the cycle that hunters really enjoy seeing has happened.

Love it when persistence pays off. Elmo always says to me, why do you spend so much time on the one that ran up a tree? I told him I got a personal vendetta against him trying to out smart me, lol. I end up with a sore neck the next day.

Not that it will help you now, but for the future if you will. I like to get into my areas in the winter every once in a while after the season and just start pushing the deer around and follow thier tracks. That way when I run into some pressure in one spot I know right where to head to next. Just something to think about.