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Got him...fat freak down. Broke his G3 since Saturday!

Finally caught up with my big guy. Shot at 7:30am today with browning bolt action slug gun, lightfield slugs. Deer was shot at about 70 yards and went 30 before dropping. Now for some doe action.

Smokepole doe Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

we’re up and strapped in.

And she’s asleep

Been a rough year for me this year., took last week of crossbow off and 1st 3 days of gun with a total of 110 hours in treestand and no shot opportunities.Only saw deer in 2 of those days.Took my climber yesterday and went on the state land that borders my property and found a swamp with lots of sign and found a perfect tree to watch from.Got there today at 2:30 this afternoon and this buck came out at 3:45.

Have a friend that hasnt seen a deer on property they hunt just up the road, in almost 2 weeks so he asked if he could come and hunt this afternoon with his camp ( 6 guys i know them.all 3 sons 2 fathers and a grand father.) I let them keep a couple of trailer on my place all year but the hunt at friends up the road a bit . well the kids ( 20 year olds) all connected .a sub legal spike, a spike and a button. A very happy camp now. Brings my place running total to 9 buck and 3 doe so far.. need 6 or 8 more to hit yearly average.

Opening morning 10 ish my cousin more than likely pushed 2 doe to me. Marlin Slugmaster 12GA. Winchester BRI slug at 50-55 yds. State land in 8N. May be the biggest doe I have ever killed. My bow season doe was big,this one was bigger. Only saw one buck all bow season so full figured doe are cool too.

Kids, they have no filter. I wanted to hunt some new places this year and one of the places I had on my list was my cousin’s farm in 7M. She and her husband had purchased the old family homestead awhile back. I grew up hunting it when I was young so I wanted to get back there and hunt. They are devote Christian homesteaders who home school their seven children. Their farm is a menagerie of cows, goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, cats and dogs. All of the children understand where their food comes from because they tend to it daily. The two boys, “O” (12yo) and “R” (9yo) are very interested in hunting but their father’s time is limited working six days a week and he’s self-professed “not really a hunter.” Well don’t you worry boys, Uncle E’s gonna show you this fall how we gather up and cook some wild game! I started showing up at their place this summer and put up a pop up blind in a nice spot not far from the house. The place was thick with sign and I knew chances were good something would walk past the blind at some point. My plan was to get father and his sons in the blind for opening day so they could get some quality time together watching the sun come up, eating snacks and goofing around. Killing a deer was secondary really. Fast forward to Saturday morning, opening day. I was pumped! I get dad and the boys in the blind at first light, all set up ready to go. I left them and settled in not far away on a hedge row in the same field. Well I don’t have to tell you that we hunted most of the day Saturday and saw nothing! Not a tail, an ear or let alone a deer. Drats! We all talked on the walk back to the house that night that we all had a good time even though we didn’t shoot anything. Before I left I made sure it was ok with the father that I could come back the next day and hunt in the morning. I knew the family would be busy with church and didn’t expect them to hunt with me, just wanted to get his thoughts about hunting on Sundays. He told me I was welcome anytime. I told him I’d see him in the morning when I would need to grab the boys quick to have them help me track my deer. His eye roll spoke volumes lol. Sunday, 11.22.20. 7AM. I’m in the blind less than 20 min and out pops a doe, broadside at 50yds. After the shot she face plants and plows back into the brush where she came from. I was very confident she would not and could not have gone far. If you’ve read this far you know the feeling. We’re on the board now baby! Ain’t nobody goin’ hungry because we just put some jerky DOWN! Somewhat high on adreneline I text my cousin at 7:10AM. No response. 7:20AM I find myself knocking on her back door. I think it was about 7:22AM when the first of the family was up, and then very quickly EVERYONE was awake, including a not so happy father. Apparently not everyone gets as exited about killing deer as we do, especially very early Sunday mornings before church! Now the humor begins. I grab the boys and off we go in our orange vests, down the tractor path to where I thought we’d find the deer. I’ve got my rifle because you just never know. First thing young R decides he gonna take a header in the creek as we cross it looking for the trail. Soaked him head to toe lol but onward we go! I’m trying to coach them some telling them to go slow and look for blood, a white belly or a white tail. About 15 yards in I see the deer laying stone dead right off the tractor path. I asked the boys to stop and look real hard. “See anything?” I ask. “Nope” they say and off we go walking right past the dead deer! We get 20 yards further down the path and I tell them I KNOW she’s back there, we just need to look harder. Turn around, walk back and O see’s her and lets out a whoop. I don’t believe either one of them had seen a deer that close before. R walks up to the deer and says “Hmmm, it doesn’t look that big. Not much bigger than a goat really”. First time on a deer track courtesy of Uncle E and now he’s a hunting critic! I tried to tell him it was an adult deer but he wasn’t buying it. O asks “Where’s it’s horns?” “Antler’s you mean? This is a doe, a mother deer, not a buck or father deer.” I say. “Oh” he says, “I can see she’s got teats but that’s a small udder. She probably wouldn’t give much milk.” R starts in on me again about how small it is and how much meat is on it ‘cause they have “three freezers and one’s empty. Looks like all that would fit on one shelf in there” he says. At this point I’m starting to feel deficient lol. A quick picture and back to the house we went. Dropped off the two new hunters in time for breakfast and church. I was laughing to myself on my walk back to the woods to take care of the doe. Young kids are sooooo funny because they have no filter. They just tell it like it is. My last words to them was I’ll be back soon to kill a buck. And we’ll keep on putting them in the freezer until it’s full. All smiles when I left.

Shot this guy at 430 tracked him 250 yards across every valley ..iam bushed nice 9 point down and iam one happy camper what a way to end my seaseon all tags are filled besides a doe tag

I sat in my tower blind over my winter wheat field this afternoon.... Not much happening until about 3:40, when Marvin, one of my pet spike bucks, came into the field...Marvin was followed by a small but lively 6 point... About that time some does showed on the far end of the plot and the 6 point trotted out toward them...There was some chasing and mingling, and then a bigger buck showed up.. I was just getting set up for about a 225 yard shot when the bigger buck took off for the other end of the field...I though he was chasing the 6 point off, but then he appeared on the far end of the field squaring off with another big buck, who appeared the same size.. They proceeded to go at it, and they were not just sparring..They were on the ground several times...They were 330 yards from me, which is a doable shot under ideal conditions, but they were moving constantly and light was fading quickly... One finally ran away..Not sure which one was the winner....First time I have ever witnessed a REAL buck fight..Pretty cool... I snuck out of my blind and hope I didn't alarm them....

I stayed dry in the tower and our daughter sat in our hidden field about 700 yds away. She’s an out of state hunter so she got her first doe tag in her hunting career this year. Filled it at about 4:00 pm. So happy for her. She took a New York 8 pointer and doe, and also got her first archery deer in NJ.

Had Oak in a deer blind by the bean field. Friday afternoon before the opener. Had a small buck come by and I took these picks. Probably not the smartest thing to do on my end but this blind is usually just used to take kids out in. I had a good time with him!

I enjoy the habitat manipulation, i have no restrictions persay , a couple of rules ,i try and keep it fun. Shot alot of deer myself well over 100 now and its kind of lost its appeal but watching others get excited excites me. If i didnt get that satisfaction from others id prolly hunt / work on property much less for sure.

G-man your generosity is matched by no other! You could seriously receive a sportsman of the year award for all you do with your land and the gift to allow others to hunt that heck of a property. Hats off to you my friend! Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Last nights sleep was a little better. Only woke up two or three times but no sweating. The aches are still there but Tylenol helped. I’m definitely bored being in this room and not being able to hug my wife and kids is hard. But they FaceTime me and I hear them laughing throughout the house so that’s a good feeling. Every time wife brings me something to eat I have a feeling Cooper rolls his eyes as if he’s thinking what a pussy lol.

Well decided to take the day off today and get a bunch of small jobs done around the house and spend some family time together. Around 3:45 my boys started to get punchy so I asked them if they wanted to take the 20ga. for a walk in the vineyard we hunt. Deer can usually be found in the grape rows and the boys have wanted me to shoot the deer we have seen in there numerous times with the bow.....but I had to explain they were just out of range. Well today we hustled and got their before 4:30 so that gave us a solid 15 minute walk at a stiff pace to cover some ground. On the way down the access road we didn't see any deer in the grapes and made it to the end of the vineyard but kicked up two doe who were in the edge of the hardwoods and bolted off in a hurry. Well we kept walking and looking down the rows from the other side now and my boys made sure to keep checking the dips for deer. We passed my Dad's stand and my 4 year old wanted to sit and chat about it and I knew time was running out so I had to hurry him along. After walking another 30 rows we end up looking down a row and a deer was standing broadside. I alerted the boys, dropped to a knee and settled the Savage 220 on the shooting sticks and put the cross hairs on the vitals....she was around 50 yards out and after I told the boys to plug their ears I let the 220 bark. She took off like a bat out of hell and now being in a vineyard from the ground you can't see where she went to save your life. The boys and I got to point of impact pretty quick and only found a puff of white hair.....now I went into mini panic mode since the drizzle picked up and I knew letting her sit may wash away anything if there was blood. Since it was around 5 I called my buddy who was close, went home real quick to get some flashlights and met him there approximately 1 hour after the shot was taken. We got back to the puff of white hair and quickly got on blood the next row over. Well the blood was good to start and then got real real thin. She ended up doubling back and at one point we were only finding pin drops until it totally faded. We figured she was headed to the woods so we got off the track and made last ditch effort by searching the wood lot....well we came up empty and the boys who were completely bought in for the entire track were now starving, soaked and getting tired. We came up with one more game plan before leaving for the night.....my buddy would head down a grape row and make his way east to the road and hopefully stumble some sign and the boys and I would walk the road between the woods and grapes until we got to the end and eventually make our way back to the truck. So after walking another 12 rows shining the flashlight down each row we hit the jackpot. There she lay.....white belly facing us piled up under some grape vines. We shouted for my buddy Fish and my boys were screaming Uncle Fish we found her!! These boys were absolutely unreal tonight and totally bought in from start to finish. Some of you know and have seen I take them out anytime they wanna go. They eat a ton of snacks, talk loud and are using causing some type of ruckus! But in the end I would never trade any of that time for a deer. This time it all came together.....not a huge doe but this deer means to world to the boys and the I! With such a bummer of a year 2020 has been, this just turned it around in a blink of an eye....went from a zero seaon to being a hero Dad with the click of a trigger! Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Well, it happened. I harvested “the big one” (as per my youngest daughters orders, and the one that me and my oldest daughter came across once). Day two of rifle season 2020 is one to remember. Coming onto this handsome buck who was strutting his stuff as the king of the hill was an an amazing experience. I walked from my spot towards a path several deer crossed, and there he came down a hill. I stopped in my tracks as my heart began to pump harder and faster. He had three doe right behind me and one spotted me. I thought I was toast. Then another smaller buck pushed the three doe out and walked over to this big fella. The two bucks stayed in one spot over 40 minutes. I didn’t have a shot and there were deer all over. Moving at this point was not an option. Sure my legs went numb after watching them hang out over 53 minutes without presenting a shot, but I got him. The two bucks finally made their way down the hill towards the opening for a shot but my rifle misfired. I had to pump it the get the next shell, but they spotted me in doing so. I had to rush the 75-85 yard shot without a scope. My body went into shock mode. Did I get him? To top this crazy morning o ff the shot was a clean shot, and he didn’t travel far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Loo

i was gonna say you buy it and I will bring the beer for all the forum guys , but then i realized with this group it would prob be as much.

Finally broke the jinx ! He shoots - He scores ! I Was in a double stand where my oldest son shot 2 deer yesterday am . Nothing ! Wasn't hearing any shots except a couple that sounded like they were in Avon a ways away . It was cold and windy . I was ready to leave at noon but stuck it out . I asked my youngest son Nick if he wanted to leave at 4 and he said why not 4:30 . Okay .At 3:45 , I saw a doe at almost 100 yards North of me and then 3 more followed . The larger doe came to an opening in the brush . I shot and she took off like a rocket . The other 3 doe just stood there and when one hit the opening , I shot again with my NEF 25-06 . All 3 took off and I thought , oh crap . I got down and checked for blood . Didn't see any and walked in the direction of where the 1st deer ran . Saw her big white belly and called Nick . Then I walked in the direction that the 2nd deer ran and found her . Nick came over to field dress the 2 while I went to the ATV and up to where I parked the Subi to get the Jet Sled . It was now dark and hard to maneuver the ATV through the downed trees and limbs but got it done . Dropped the deer off at my oldest son's residence for him to process . What a day !

11/24-25 Luna and I tracked a big mature buck for 2.3 miles this afternoon. The buck was shot yesterday afternoon and the hunter and his buddy had tracked it, lost blood, then grid searched until midnight. His buddy went back this morning for another hour and a half grid search. They had gone 700 yards on blood. Luna made short work of the 700 yards, then went a different direction from where they had grid searched and showed us more blood. The blood was very heavy in multiple locations and steady in others, then we would go hundreds of yards with nothing. Toward the end of the track Luna went hot and we started seeing fresh blood. Due to the amount of blood we had seen and the amount of time since the shot, I decided to continue in hopes of getting a shot at him. We never saw him, but Luna was still on him and there was still some blood when I parked him for the night. We’re going back and hopefully we find him dead not too far away in the morning. We got 1”-2” of snow overnight so I figured we wouldn’t see much blood this morning. It took Luna about 5 minutes to pick up where we left off last night, and from there it didn’t take long until fresh blood showed us the buck was still alive and the snow would be our ally today. We observed the buck started off running, then eventually slowed down and we would periodically see a bed. Also, it became obvious that we were tracking a deer hit in the right front leg. At 1.7 miles in, we got our first look at him. He was about 75 yards in front of us, in brush too thick to get a shot off. He took off and doubled back on the same trail we had just walked in on. Between our boot prints, Luna’s tracks, the deer tracks and all the blood, it took me a little time to figure out that he had backtracked. It didn’t take Luna anytime at all to figure it out. We backtracked for 150 yards, and he then started in a different direction and we were right back on him. Despite having 3000 plus acres of state land, 500 the hunter owned, plus all the nearby neighbors giving us permission, we ended up on some property that the hunter didn’t know the owners. I called the track at that time and the hunters brother was contacted to pick us up. He met us on the road 650 yards away and immediately told us he had just seen the buck. It had been bedded in some tall grass right on the side of the road, and had then crossed the road and struggled to get over a fence before walking into the woods. He said the right front leg was almost completely severed. An inspection showed there were two beds close together next to the road. We made contact with the land owner and obtained permission to go after him. We were soaking wet and cold from walking through a swampy area, so we went to change clothes and boots and then get back on him. I decided to leave Luna in the truck (she was warm and dry by that time) and we would see if we could sneak in and catch him in a bed. We got on his tracks and bloodtrail and soon found an empty bed. When I saw the empty bed I went back to the truck and got Luna. We were 200 yards in when he was spotted about 150 yards away. The buck was moving, so a quick shot was taken but unfortunately a tree branch was hit. 250 yards later and Luna was standing on the bank of the Oswegatchie River, looking across and barking. If I’d given her the ok, she would have dove in. The current is strong there, so no doubt the buck was carried away downstream. We walked the bank looking in the water and using binoculars to scan the other side, but no luck. I’d be very surprised if this buck didn’t drown. Yesterday afternoon and today’s track combined for 7.58 miles. I really believe if it hadn’t been for the river we would have ended up getting him.

A little bit of grinding to do. Then it’s back in the woods to get more.

I’ve got him patterned

Where’s your boyfriend

And here I thought I was being considerate since I know she wants those pests removed from the property and you are not capable of the task (pre or post-Rona!). My plan was to slip in (with my climber of course), kill the 10 and one of the 8’s, bring them by Hank’s place where he would just adopt me as his own and take me on a moose hunt. She shared that wine with me you sent. Thanks again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In for the afternoon sit. This is the back of the field that my tower is in. Saw a real nice buck back here from the tower at last light yesterday. He was 400 yds away. Thought I’d get a bit closer tonight. Got a favorable wind for it.

Harvested a nice doe Sunday PM in 4A hunting from a ground blind. 50yd broadside shot with the .308. Nice shot placement through the heart and lungs. Ran out of sight but I heard the crash - found her within 30yds just before she got into some thick cover. No blood trail that I noticed - was lucky to find her with just the flashlight. Had tenderloins for dinner last night - she's tasty!

It’s been a long agonizing year since archery opener October 1. I’ve quit and bitched too many x to count. 90 minute drive each way to Gman’s and my local spot 20 minutes. Not seeing anything and got deflated fast as burnt out and simply not having fun like it should be. Supposed to be my happy place and that happy was diminishing. Hunted til 10:15 yesterday on gun opener seeing a doe and 2 fawn. No shot on doe. Turned off alarm at 4 am this morning as forecast called for freezing rain and that doesn’t sound fun to sit in and adding to my aggravation. Car has bad ball joints and tires just so so. Making it not great to drive in predicted icy roads. Well I can hang outside Christmas lights but no the $300 in led lights we bought last year to last year’s barely light. Gman texts me roads ok and snow starting to cover the ground late morning. Snow ?! Quickly jump in car and on my way. Arrive by 10:15 and in stand by 10:57 am. Fairly long trek to old wooden platform stand I wasn’t sure I knew how to get to. Followed Greg’s directions and took a long walk. Cutting fresh tracks all the way in the new snow. Kicked up 2 tails on way. Found stand , climb up wooden ladder and quick to screw in bow hanger to hang gun. Put seat cushion down , plunk my fat ass down and hear crunch crunch. I look to my left shoulder and see horns at 30-35 yards. Quick grab the savage axis 7mm08 off hook and it’s still wobbling as only just put on hook. Quick on him . Bwaaa I let out a bleat to slow his slow bound uphill. Crap, quick snap up scope caps . He’s locked up and I’m on him. I squeeze trigger and sob I forget this ain’t my turkey gun with a trigger safety. Now thumb the safety off the top and give him another bwaaaa but he hasn’t moved. Squeeze and he bucks. Runs about 10 yards with two back leg kicks and expires. Holy crap! That really just happened?! I was in stand 90 seconds tops. From zero to hero literally in seconds. Got video of a spike trot by seconds later too. Call Gman and in a holy my voice in excitement said big buck down. He later said I could tell in your voice he’s nice. I honestly had no idea if big 6 or 10. Saw bone and went into the zone of he’s a keeper with no pass. Greg drives back with atv for the Uber. Thank goodness no drag back ! Quick measure and he may hit 125-130 gross. Broke the news to my wife he’s going on the wall. My best buck ever. Prior maybe 90” 8 point few years ago with daughters youth 20 gauge. Sam comes home Tuesday for full remote rest of semester until February. She’s got her buck tag and a doe tag. Now the pressure is off me lol. Again , sorry to be such an azz hat giving up but been rough past couple years losing my folks , brother and SIL plus this covid crap. I give up trying to post pics. Been having troubles for months. Have a bunch of him and a few trail cam pics too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Staying dry in the pouring rain.

Cutting up the last quarter of my buck. Aged 11 days, meat is beautiful. And drinking an appropriate beer too!

She’s clearly tiring of this...no note already!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t know man, shoot the thing. Get it mounted. Bleach the hide and tell people you shot a Unicorn Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hit the snooze button and slept in to 8:30 and I don’t regret it!

Update: he tipped the scales at 246 live weight and 195 dressed. Not a speck of fat on him so I'm certain he lost a good 25lbs over the past month. He also managed to break off his G3 since Saturday night! His right brow was 8.5".

There you have it, meat damage is largely due to exactly where the bullet impacts the body, most high powered rifles sending a bullet through the shoulder shattering all that bone is going to cause massive damage, no getting around it. A shot through the ribs in the heart-lung area is the best to take for minimizing damage to the best cuts of meat. Most of the big game I have taken has been with the heart-lung shot and for me it is effective causing the least amount of meat damage with the animal usually dropping in it's tracks or going down within a short time. The high shoulder shot is one of the best to drop an animal in it's tracks if one can live with the damage consequences. As for your 117 Sierra bullet and load I think it is a good one. Al

Reckon since I'm already awake, I may as well go freeze my balls off hoping for a shot.

11/24 #1 Luna and I tracked a big mature buck for 2.3 miles this afternoon. The buck was shot yesterday afternoon and the hunter and his buddy had tracked it, lost blood, then grid searched until midnight. His buddy went back this morning for another hour and a half grid search. They had gone 700 yards on blood. Luna made short work of the 700 yards, then went a different direction from where they had grid searched and showed us more blood. The blood was very heavy in multiple locations and steady in others, then we would go hundreds of yards with nothing. Toward the end of the track Luna went hot and we started seeing fresh blood. Due to the amount of blood we had seen and the amount of time since the shot, I decided to continue in hopes of getting a shot at him. We never saw him, but Luna was still on him and there was still some blood when I parked him for the night. We’re going back and hopefully we find him dead not too far away in the morning. #2 Kunox and I looked for a buck this evening for a young hunter. He shot the 4 or 6 pointer at 1:30 this afternoon. There was very little blood, and what was there appeared to be muscle blood. We did our due diligence, but I believe this buck will be seen again.

... Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Long story short I finally have my first archery deer and first deer with my daughter back from the beetle guy. I was getting pretty nervous for a while but they are home. Now I just have to get them up on the wall. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Engraver99 congrats, very nice. I ended up seeing 5-7 doe at 4:15, the usuals.

TurkerFeathers can't find the Turkey

A video I made about a recent deer hunt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytEwWbCv750

Nephew knocked down a nice doe this morning as well on state in Tully.

A man could get use to having all his meals brought to him . The only problem is I probably won’t get conjugal visit sex .

Mexico, Theresa, Brownsville - if your a fisherman these are some of the Best towns to live in! Theresa has all these little lakes there with every type of fish you can think of and is right by Black lake and The St. Lawrence. This cracks me up cause i used to vacation there! lol. Me and some buddies yearly fishing trip was there 5-6 times. course im also the guy that if I won the lottery would just fish and hunt everyday and have breakfast at the local diner. (Flo's - home of the $25 coffee)

Well it was long over do but my archery deer from 2019 finally found a home on my wall. As I’ve stated I’m not Huge euro mount guy but the significance of this deer was worth having it done. After this weekends hunt and coming home from work Monday evening the fact that he was not displayed as intended was weighing heavily on me. Before Monday he was just sitting on a shelf in the garage amongst the clutter. Sometime ago I decided I’d put him over my dresser in what is essentially an oversized walk in closet with a bathroom but I never took the time to put him up. Monday I got home from work and before doing anything else I took the time to give him a proper resting place. Now every time I walk in that room I get a little smile on my face. My wife even complimented on how nice it looked in the spot. Maybe this weekend I’ll clean up my dresser and take a better picture of him but for now this will have to do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well nothing Again but I did fine deer poop today . Thats a start lolololol

Sittin about 100 yards apart, basically being a second set of eyes for dad. Text message says it all lol. After he dumped his (I watched it through binoculars) the second one came right too me at 15 yards 15 mins later. Outa doe tags in 7s, got one more for 7p. the photo makes the top one look small, there nearly the same weight. Must be the angle.

First year hunter at 16, first shot and first deer! She passed on 3 other bucks one was a nice 8 pt. She thought shots were not great. I applaud her. Nothing my girl can't do!!! FYI we are on the George Washington bridge and she says U-turn I need to back it was so great!!! I have two girls and just love how they are so cool with Dad! Congrats Teddi!!!!!