Leaderboard

Hey great news!!!! So we backed out tracking that doe for the second time. Thought was let her lay and die and we would go back to last spot and start again. We called up an overhead shot online and made a plan upon the last blood. We did sleep in and got out there at 8am. Don't you know our cameras blew up with two chases and that same food plot had 8 doe in it at 7:45! Hunt the storms! So we started at a point that would lead us to last blood. We were 30 yards apart and after 5 minutes my brother whistles I found her. She was about 40 yards bedded under a tree. The shot entered her mid section quartering to and exited out the the back leg. Caught the guts. Shot was high my Brother was lucky to get her. I'm glad we didn't push her last night. Learn from this but it was a gut shot but the shot was high and drove through and exited the backside. We didn't know she was gut shot even at that first blood bed. No evidence of stomach waste in blood. I say she is 140-150 mature doe. A Thanksgiving blessing for sure!

4:52

I like it. I would back up to it and use it as a back scratcher if it wouldn’t tip over. Better than the doorway!

Don't get any more live than this! Reveal camera caught the Doe my brother shot at 4:58. She came into the food plot with two fawns. Found blood and hair. Tracked across the field into thick pines. Heard her trying to move breaking branches so we backed out. Going back in an hour or so. Shot was in the shoulder but could of been a little low.

Have a box of old Deer antlers laying around and came up with a half assed idea to use some of them, a creepy Tikki Totem Pole hat rack LOL!

I simply don’t go out in the crap weather anymore. My entire way of hunting has changed since purchasing my own land. I have 200 acres in the northern zone surrounded by big woods and Ag that does not get hunted. My wife loves to accompany me…so we go out on dryer days and sit together in one of our several box blinds and enjoy our purchase and immense amount of hard work we put in all spring and summer maintaining the woods…fields…plots…and planning our next project. It’s less and less about killing a deer, though I am blessed to connect with a good buck every year. We sat last evening and had 17 deer feeding in our plots, not a shooter among them. It’s a pleasure to watch them interacting. Had about 20 bluebirds feeding around us as well. Once the southern season ends I will focus on crows and pigeons. I won’t shoot up the farms while guys are still out trying to fill a tag. If I get decent snow next weekend I will still hunt a bit if I haven’t killed one yet.

Them days are gone for me, I have done just about everything I wanted when it comes to hunting and fishing. I do take a few game animals to eat but nothing like I did in my younger days. From here on out I just want to enjoy myself being in the woods and give a lot of free passes when it comes to taking game. Most hunting now is more about using and testing new rifles and ammo to see exactly how they perform or training a young hunting dog. Al

You got that right Doc! Al

Well, the feast has not begun yet, and I know that when it is all done, I will be sitting there with my eyelids half closed. I will be holding my big fat belly with both hands with an occasional moan. But I will be so happy and contented......lol. I hope you all enjoy this holiday as much as I will.

I remember when I was a kid waiting for the school bus and hearing what sounded like a war down through the valley. I remember sitting on stand 3/4 of the way up the hill watching the highway down below. It looked like a snake of headlights going south on opening morning. I remember the orange suits seemingly everywhere. I remember being able to track the progress of the deer groups just by the shots across the hill. I remember areas of the hunting spots where there were several hunters visible all at once. I remember some of those big drives that neighbors would put on that kept deer moving all day long. I remember knowing deer were coming just by the advancing pattern of shots. I remember having opening days off from school as an excused absence. I remember my hunter safety course being held in the school bus garage. (imagine that!) I remember State parking lots being filled up with cars lining the sides of the road because there was no room to park. I remember our driveway being full of hunters cars. I remember the large groups of us hunters gathered every Monday morning at work talking about the deer we saw or got. I remember seeing all the deer hanging from trees in the yards. I remember the deer that were proudly strapped on the cars instead of hidden in the beds of pick-up trucks. I remember when posted signs were a rare sighting. All the land was open and farmers were damned glad to see you. I remember when during Thanksgiving get-togethers the primary discussion was all about hunting adventures. I remember when hunting leases that locked up huge areas were unheard of. I remember when so many of my hunting spots didn't have houses on them like they do now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh gosh, these memories just keep flooding back into my 80 year old brain. They are remembrances of times when hunting reigned supreme in the rural areas. Times change, and not all changes are for the better.

Just don't know where she is hit. A lot of blood in bed but when she moves just a spot hear and there. I was on my hands and knees looking.

I’d give it two hours and go back, that deers not going far.

Hey gang we went back and found her bed. Thoughts? Plenty of dark blood. Tracked for another 50 yards just a spot here and there nothing great. We decided to stop and pick it up in the am. Now I know we are expecting snow but these are giant pines she is in and the snow wont make it to the pine floor.

Looks pretty dumb to me.

I have noticed big changes in hunter participation. It seems that opening day is the whole season for many hunters. Even opening day seems to be a 1/2 day event. If this trend continues, we may see gun season resembling bow season conditions as far as un-spooked deer. Right now we have enough people to send the deer into a survival mode, but not enough people to keep them on their feet. The other change in hunter activity is the popularity of tree stands and the high-tech winter clothing. Guys hunker down in their stands and never move. Meanwhile the deer hunker down in their safe spots and they don't move either. Nobody is walking and forcing deer to move. That will make good hunting days sound real quiet too.

Happy Birthday