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For years I have had this fascination with big 6-points... not the no brow tine kind of six, but the typical 3x3 with brow tines and G2's only... if I have one dream in hunting it would be to kill one... not sure why I'm so drawn to them, maybe because they are so rare. I have two buddies that have taken a big six... but I have never even seen a live one in the woods... does anyone else have the same fascination? My buddies with their six points

Me left moog5050 right.

Because my wife doesn't .....

My son took his 9 year old with him to camp and shot an 8 point . My grandson claimed it as "his" deer . His younger 6 year old brother wanted to go out with dad and my son shot a doe with the muzzle loader making another grandson happy . Now the 6 year old twin sister wants to go out with dad because it's her turn . I called up my 6 year old grandson to congratulate him ( even though his dad shot the deer ) and he told me about seeing the deer's heart , his dad removing the guts and stuff and draining the blood . He was quite excited .

Hell, with all the stuff I've done over the years, if it was up to the man upstairs I would probably never have gotten a deer.......I'll stick with preseason scouting to up my odds......

12-9-14 Late season success on the timbered edge of a goldenrod field. I sat on my stump daydreaming about shed season and all the antlers I'd be scooping up from the field behind me in the coming months. I had a sudden snap back to reality at 3pm when all of a sudden out of nowhere movement woke me up 25yds in front of me. This guy was casually following behind a young doe fawn and she led him right by me at 15yds before the ML swept him off his feet. He piled up about 40yds away, and when I arrived at his carcass I discovered he knocked an antler off when he crashed. I grabbed a few quick picures, and with sunset fast approaching I made a quick run home to grab a sled to make the drag out a little easier and protect his antler that was still attached. At home I realized I had this bucks antlers from last season which I included in these pics, and that I killed him just over 100yds away from where I had found those antlers last spring. This was the kind of hunt that made me thankful I could appreciate some of the finer points of the hunt without the size of the antlers clouding my excitement over him!

I always believed there was no such animal as a truly "BIG 6pt" until I found these on my hunting grounds. I got a little more interested in 6pts after this. Never set eyes on him before or after this find. 8" gnarly bases, and some of the deepest vein canals I've ever seen on an antler around here.

Lol! I can't shoot a cap gun in my neighborhood without one of the many liberal neighbors I have going ape$hit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great stories .... keep them coming !

My 14 yr old nephew and my brother in law teaching him on the left with his first deer. On the right my 12 year old helping me with mine. And my younger brother in the background. Family and the young ones is what it's about! I remember how excited I got when I was there age! Still do!

And the survey says!

He was next door eating my neighbors bushes last night. Too bad I'm in Amherst..... No action this morning so far Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

luck on the last afternoon! I've been reading on here for quite a while thought it was about time to join and start posting. Good info here - thanks to all

I was leaning against a tree this morning in north central PA, hoping a buck would walk by...I saw a bird flutter down to the snow near me and then fly back up to a nearby tree..It was an eastern bluebird..Then I saw another, and another...Soon I was in the middle of a whole flock of bluebirds.. 30 degrees F and 8 inches of snow on the ground and I was surrounded by what was certainly a migrating flock of bluebirds. This is latest I have ever seen them this far north. I have no idea what they were eating, but they were flying down to the snow covered forest floor and getting SOMETHING, and then flying back up in the trees..They stayed around me for about an hour..It gave me something to watch, because the deer weren't moving much. Saw a big momma doe and two fawns, but she was safe from me since I already filled my PA antlerless tags.

My son took his 6 year old daughter out back yesterday and he shot "her deer" . She was so excited !

This is the way new recruits are formed. My kids always got involved in tracking and hunting at very early ages. It works!

Looks GOOOOD ! Here in Little Apallachia, all a feller needs is a nice hot bowl of Sheperd's Pie and a nice hot EWE to snuggle up to...<<sigh>>...

don't laugh, they said a man would never walk on the moon and look what happened............

Good stuff. I had my 4 and 6 yr old girls on there first blood trail a few weeks ago. Huge smile when we found him. 6 yr old helped me butcher as well. Definitely have to start them young.

Awsome....my 11 year old nephew helped me track and gut a doe I shot durring bow season....i always call for second eyes as I am color blind and tracking in leaves is really tough....altho I'm getting pretty good at it... first one he's helped find and gut and he was thrilled

I am all for full inclusion. I am not ever for taking a shot at an animal that I have not practiced for and would know - not guess the trajectory.

Lucky Last Day I had a little extra luck on Sunday. I was hoping to get up to the Adirondacks for the last day of gun season but personnel circumstances prevented me from getting away. So I thought I would hunt locally although I hadn't seen a deer in the last two weeks. I wasn't able to get to my stand until 8:30, climbed the tree and pulled up my shotgun. Within 30 seconds of untying my shotgun from the haul line I heard something then saw a deer creeping through the brush about 80 or 90 yards away. The deer's track would result in a CPA of about 40 or 45 yards directly upwind of me if. I took the shot as soon as he walked into an opening. Photo below. Just lucky, pure luck. Not a huge rack but he had some heft. Right beam was partially broken off due to fighting. The phrase "timing is everything" comes to mind.

My second weekend doe

I shot this buck on 11/30/14 in the Adirondacks (Hamilton County) after tracking him for 4 hours 23 minutes (I originally claimed 5.5 hours in a FB post, I was incorrect according to my GPS) and covering 5.2 miles. I missed (deflected bullet) him once about halfway through the journey, but was able to connect when he got distracted by a doe and followed her across an opening in front of me. After shooting him I realized I had trail cam pictures of him last year over 2 miles from where I took up his track this year. These big woods bucks have large ranges! This was probably the most memorable hunt I've ever had, and boy did I have to work for it! Based on last year's trail cam pics and his tooth wear, which was at least as much as the 5 year-old 8pt (cementum annuli aged) I shot about a mile from there in 2012, I estimate this buck to be at least that old as well, perhaps even one year older. I will send his teeth in too to confirm. Gross green score of 131 and change. Brows are over 5 and 7" and bases are just shy of 5". The picture(s) I posted on FB last week generated a lot of comical comments about practicing shooting more, aiming better, and only taking ethical shots. Those folks don't realize that tracking is not blood trailing. They don't go 5.2 miles after a heart shot either. With tracking, you follow the buck BEFORE you shoot it... P.S. I wrote a much more detailed story of this hunt but I am going to see if I can get a magazine to buy it. They require it be unpublished material, which unfortunately includes posting it on an internet forum. If things go well, hopefully I will be able to post the story at a later date. (Sorry NYantler) Not something I normally look at, I thought this graph of my walking speed was interesting. (From GPS) Trail cam pics from 2013: Making a mock scrape:

I will try to make this short. It's not a simple question. My mother and Aunt were hunters and I thought that was so cool. Of course there were plenty of guys in the family who hunted but what is cool about that? I never really hunted until I had too. I was only successful at getting deer when I hunted with someone. Now that I hunt alone I am not so lucky at it. I say I squirrel and rabbit hunt but seem to just walk and sit around. I learn something every time I go out. I am also a calmer person. A few years ago I noticed earth waking up and the sunrises, both are worth getting out of bed for.

Sorry but this statement is far from true in all cases. I tell ya what. Buy yourself a 760 acre farm across from 106,000 acres of military base that has no hunting of coyotes. We have had the same property for over 10 years and went from having deer and no yote problems to having 3 packs a night yipping on 3 sides of the property and having no deer. When the 365 season and poison control came on it turned 360 and now we have deer again and a population of yotes that can be handled. As oer tracks in snow anyhow. Yotes in numbers have a huge impact on deer, be it killing the fawns or just the chasing of deer. We wont even talk about what a yarding area looks like after the pack plays with them all winter.

Going to the Jefferson Co. fur auction this morning. I do not sell there, going to have my fisher sealed. Be interesting what the prices are like.

I don't know, I had a banner year. I counted up my sightings on my DEC Bowhunter log and ended up with 57 deer total including 5 bucks. Granted some of them were probably the same deer but still. I hunted a lot this year (I used all four weeks vacation and four of my personal days during deer season) from opening day bow and am still going and so far I have only had two outings where I didn't see at least one deer. That's even counting my trips up into 5H. I even ended up with two bucks.

They leave a lot of ribbons in the woods. Leading to spots best avoided.

That's for climbing hills. Puts you up on your toes and in a more upright position when on a steep incline.

First of all congratz on your accomplishment! That is a nice deer but even more impressive is the hunt itself. I do have to ask what did you do once you got him though to get him out? How far from a road were you or do you backtrack out?? I sure as heck would not want to drag a buck back on the hike you made to get him!! Do you B line to the closest road and call a friend and would you be lucky to have cell coverage.....Or do cut it up and pack it out, even boned that would be 100 pounds plus with head and cape.

How about just putting them in a brass case and press the projectile on top. Could even put the primer in the base of the case.

there are some urbanites i would take over sloppy white trash any day. They tend to be educated and thoughtful. If you're a foody you're less likely to leave your bud light can in the woods. Seems to be a mindset of doing things right and with care. So less likely to lie, cheat, steal and bait. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.

Yes! The dogs returned after five days in the woods. They were skinny and one had porcupine quills in his face and contracted lymes disease, but they're home and healthy (after a trip to the vet). Thank you for your concerns and thank you to anyone who called for the dogs in sterling forest. I hiked more miles in those five days than I have all year.

So because your freezer was empty you were or are more than willing to take a bigger chance then you are when its full? Are you saying you have more respect for filling the freezer than the game animal you are pursuing? This statement just confuses and baffles the hell out of me. Your shot taking chance standards should be just as high full freezer or not.

I could reload real black powder with a patched RB & prime a flintlock in about 20 seconds. I could get off 2 aimed shots at a 50yd pie plate sized target in a minute with some time to spare & hit it every time. They "made something better" as far as getting reloaded quickly over 100 years ago. I used a 120gr charge thrower on a flask, the patched/greased RBs in a wood loading block tied to my short starter & my priming horn around my neck. It takes a few seconds longer to use a round leather/brass capper to load a cap gun. I used to shoot 100rds at skeet including the doubles every Sunday with a percussion dbl bbl 12 ga ML. I would get filthy & in the Southern Indiana August heat & humidity, the sweat would mix with the sulfer & salt peter residue on my forehead & sting my eyes. The fulminate particles from the cap exploding on the left nipple would embed into my left forarm until I learned to wear a sock on that arm. It was heavenly. I enjoyed the hell out of it & had to take a shower when i got home..

No offense taken. If I can get a hunting story published I could join both my Uncle, Granddad, and Great-Granddad as members of my family that have hunting stories published and that would be pretty cool. Financially, I probably wouldn't quit my day job to become a freelance writer, but I'll admit; I have spent a LOT of money on hunting one way or another. If there was a way to get a little kick back now and again, I wouldn't be ashamed to take it. I certainly won't sell my sheds and don't aspire to be a TV star either.

Lol- you have no idea how much it pains me to put those sloppy pics up. I forgot my little camera remote for field photos and it was dark by the time I got home with him so I didn't get a chance to clean him up first. Just dug through the horn pile and pulled out his antlers from last year. I knew they looked familiar. I killed him about 100yds away from where this set layed. Not intentionally after him there, but pretty darn cool it worked out like that if you ask me!

I have had a good season. Have some venison in the freezer, spent time with some friends, enjoyed some beautiful forests and came home safely every time.

Nothing . We need them we should embrace and encourage them . The average joe who gets out a few times and is happy to kill any deer. We need there numbers and we need them to pass it on to generations to come .

Shot this big mama on Saturday at 12:50 pm in 4G. I was on stand for 45 min and didn't even get to eat my lunch before she came through with 3 other does. She was the biggest by far. This is the fourth deer taken off my property this season: 3 does and a 7 pointer.

Took dad's 270 out on state land in 8n was there literally 25 min when a group Walked out and took this one at 50 yards ran 20 yards and done....put in truck went back out didn't see anything else

Actually shot this guy the saturday prior to gun opener with the bow but couldnt find him. Was really bummed. Opening morning 10 min in he walked right up to me. 25 yrd shot only ran 40 yrd.

Two doe tags filled! Passed many 2.5 y/o and younger bucks, still waiting for the big guy!

9 pt, 19 inch inside spread, dressed at 162. shot while still hunting, catt county.

Shot this buck this morning with my Dad's .300 Win Mag. First deer I've killed with it since he passed away. Figured I'd blow the dust out of it for him...

1st handgun deer....70yds...Smith & Wesson 29 44mag 240gr hollow point

Day two at 7:45 nice 10 . I was 3 miles on top of a mt.

After watching this buck for over 20 minutes on opening morning at 120 yds on state land, he finally gave me a 100 yd shot at 7:30 am. He was taken using Federal Copper slugs.

Moose River: 10 days of pure fun!!! 11/6714 Thursday: I get up late and make it to the camping area and find some other hunters setting up camp in the spot we wanted. I found another spot right across the dirt road that was a little smaller but fit the tent just fine. So with little time before dark I raced to set up the main base camp site alone. Just before dark I finished staking down the tent when the other hunters from across the dirt road came to say HI. Matt, Rob, and a few other guys they said where coming later. I talked with them for about 10 minutes, young guys in their early 20's and a both seemed pretty enthusiastic about hunting. I was excited! I eat some food, finished setting up the cots when I heard a truck and meet my old friend Murry from Oneida lake, he was proud to show off his new truck and camper when another old hunter (71) I met back at Indian Lake showed up and we all knew each other and chewed the fat for a bit. Bed came early that night at 8pm. 11/7/14 I get out early and head up. I cut across 4 sets of tracks but nothing worth tracking. I hit the ridge where my 2010 buck fell and said a prayer. I hunted down the valley to the road and came out about 400 yards from the camp site just after dark. Cold conditions with snow, nice day out. Saturday I finished setting up the cook shake and was out by 10. I posted most of the day as we lost snow and I wanted to check this funnel area. No sighting. I still hunted down the mountain the last hour with no luck. Nice day out but a bit warm. I meet my friends Greg and Shawn back at base camp and celebrated their arrival. Sunday I pushed up from the road to about a half mile then skirted across the ridges on some old logging trails. I crossed the river then circled back after 3 and was on the road just at dark about 700 yards from camp. I cut a few tracks on the ridges and spotted a tail flag from what appeared to be a doe. Monday was warm and I went on a hike for a few miles looking for sign with no success, nice day to just enjoy the woods but warm for deer movement. Tuesday was hot and I needed a brake. I cleaned the camp, said good by to Greg and took a nice hot shower! Boy did I need that! I ate like a king and prepped for the next day. I was in NO shirt it was so hot. Wednesday I was out early and headed for a swamp I wanted to check since two years ago. After crossing a beaver dam I explored the area and headed into the swap and was stuck for about a hour in it. Shawn called on the radio and said he was leaving early. I finally got back up on the ridges and crossed the beaver dam to the other side of the swamp then crossed another river to check the other side. I found a rub and some scrapes so I relieved myself in one and headed up the ridge with about 20 minutes till dark. 10 minutes later a doe came in and freshened the scrape for me and head up the ridge behind me. 2 minutes later a small buck with split spikes came in. Having my buddy Chris's gun which had sentimental valued I wanted to get any buck with it and shot when he was broadside quartering away. I waited a few minutes then checked for blood and found nothing. I pulled out and made the hike out 900 yards uphill it was like rock climbing it was so steep. Mark a tracker I meet in 2010 came back to the campsite and we feed him as our food supply was excessive and explained the story. He offered to check for blood the next morning as snow was predicted for late morning. Thursday we drive out and head to area and Mark, Mike and myself check for blood and find nothing for a 200 yard radius not even hair. 600 yards away on the road Mike finds 3 drops of blood. I check for any other signs for blood and find nothing as the snow comes down an hour later. I run the ridges above as he headed up from the original spot but find nothing. I hunt the area for the rest of the day with no luck, cover many miles hoping he is close, I saw one doe around 10:30. I concluded I shot high and hit no vitals. To say I was disappointed in myself in more ways than one would be an understatement. That night Mark has dinner with us again and tells us the many stories of his tracking adventures, he is a true wilderness hunter and I can tell he is a great tracker. Friday we had snow and again I hunted the area with the small buck really hard. I cut across 2 sets of tracks early and saw no other tracks or deer the entire day. With snow I tried covering some ground looking for any lame deer to no avail. Again that night Mark came and had dinner with us but he came out 2 hours after dark and I could see he had a long day. (We meet him at a trail head concerned he was so late.) His story telling and good spirits kept my disappointment at bay thankfully. I made Mike promise that if Mark shot a buck we would help him drag it but it did not happen. Saturday we said goodbye to Mark and wished him good luck as we packed up to go home. He was heading back 7 miles again to look for his buck! Can't wait for next year! Today Mark sent me a picture of his buck. Mark Albin you are one determined hunter and a hell of a tracker! I look forward to more of your epic stories about tracking in deep woods. We always have a plate ready for you at camp NFA! You are the Man!!! Today I was sent this picture from a buck he tracked for six miles Saturday, and he goes back at least 3.5-10 miles! He is 9 years my elder and puts me to shame. His story telling, great spirit and love for deep woods hunting was the highlight of this trip and I look forward to spending time with him at camp NFA next year. Congratulations Mark on another deep woods buck! Your drive, determination and tenacity is astounding! Hope our friendship only grows stronger as time goes by you are amazing!