wooly

Hey, thanks for the HB's everyone- I almost missed this post. Had a great day from what they tell me,lol

Thanks! I kind of wish I went with the 70-300 instead. It's really no big deal, but my 55-300 is F/4.5 wide open, and that 70-300 is an F4. In the timber that little extra light gathering ability would have been nice to have, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $200 difference. I can shoot a pretty high ISO to make up for it and this camera handles the "noise" really well. All these were shot at ISO 1600 except for the dead one.

This season has got off to a slow start, but I've been content keeping my hikes short and close to home this early in the season. I know of one nice buck that had broke off an antler before regular season ended, so that's the one I've been focusing on for now until a few start falling naturally. I'm still seeing a ton of deer hanging out on this little piece of land which is encouraging as shed season progresses. I ran into a group of doe with fawns last week and managed to get a shot off that I really liked before the lead doe realized I was there. I had to get a hike in today with the weather so nice, so I shot up to my favorite goldenrod field. One edge is an old un-harvested Christmas tree farm that has grown over thick with briars. The deer literally have tunnels through this thicket that make it virtually impossible to walk through in an upright position. As I forced my way through I was noticing a pretty solid hair trail that meant there was a dead deer in the area. I secretly hoped to myself it had antlers for me, but when I finally followed it to the source it turned out to be a young doe and my first dead deer find of the season. I hiked around some open green fields for a while and made a note of the incredible amount of sign on the ground. As long as this weather pattern holds for a while longer, I'm expecting to find a few antlers in that area. I made my way to another goldenrod field when I spotted a couple bucks running off with exactly what I was looking for. I watched them closely hoping to see one of those antlers fly off as they made their escape, but that never happened. It's always good to see so many antlers still safe when I'm not finding anything. I decided to go out of my way and take the long way home around the other side of the fields about 3/4 mile out of my way. When I got into the timber I spotted a young fork horn watching me so I kept up the same pace and pretended not to see him. A flash of white off to my left caught my attention and I noticed two more bucks standing there watching me. When I spotted a nice rack, I stopped to grab a few shots. These were the same deer from the goldenrod field earlier in the day. I'm looking forward to putting on some mileage in the morning! Antlers- 1 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 0 Dead doe/fawns- 1

How 'bout an old fashion sun dial!

I think I must have typed out about 30 replies (mostly in bad taste) to this thread so far before returning to the main page without posting them,lol I've been trying to stay away from this one since the topic got slightly off track, but it's oh so tempting!

Cool- sounds like he put a good shot on it during legal shooting hours..... not everyone here can say THAT looking back on their seasons.

115- 3.5 Looks great!

Happy B-day bubba! Fast fact- Also on this day in history in 2001, Richard Reid, "The shoe bomber", tried to blow up American Airlines Flight 63. I'm sure it's just coincidence and had nothing to do with your birthday though,lol

My favorite since I was a little boy has always been Granny's home made Pollock pierogi's. I remember her making them up in everyones favorite fillings by the dozens, days ahead of time, then storing them on racks in her pantry until everyone showed up for Christmas, when she'd put the finishing touches on them. How that old lady got all those groceries home on the bus from the Broadway Market by herself is beyond me, but somehow she always managed to conquer the crowds and the weather. Gram's been dead a bunch of years now, and her recipe box was inherited by my sister so now she has taken over the chore of preparing the pierogis. She does a good job, but I think Gram knew that one day her box of secrets would be handed down, so she purposely left out a few key steps and ingredients that no one has been able to figure out yet.

Where the hell are you bowhunting........Afghanistan? LMAO- I hope you took an extended lunch break after all that. I'll quit bowhunting the very same day it ever sounds like that around here!

They don't get any better than that! There's not a typical on this planet that compares to this in my mind!

You could do that "random act of kindness" with her. Give her a couple $20 gift cards to Walmart or something, then take her there. She's not allowed to spend them, but she can't leave the store with them either. She has to give them away to whatever random strangers she chooses, for whatever reasons she chooses. It makes her feel good about HERSELF..., it makes her(and you) feel good about YOU..., and it makes those you touch with your unexpected generosity feel good about MAN KIND! Make sure you grab a lottery ticket on your way out the door...., because I guarantee you you're gonna get lucky,lol!

I'd be happy with a re-gifted fruitcake. Seriously......... I like them! Maybe something to wash it down with would be nice too... Other than that, I could use a few hours to myself on Christmas day to sneak off and find an antler or two!

Happy 50'th Birthday Lou! Thanks for all the great youth turkey contests over the years on this site!

Hey stoneam2006, you forgot your Squatch shot man,lol

NOT that kind of experienced you dirty ol' man!

I'd like to find a newbie or two to introduce to the sport..., or take a really crappy experienced hunter under my wing,lol. I probably wont even do any hunting/killing myself, but I would miss the preparation, scouting, seat time, and encounters, so I could never give up hunting without still being involved in those aspects of it.

Great hike for you today! Awesome that you were finally able to catch up to that bucks remains. You can learn so much by where those old bone piles turn up especially in this case where you know what lead up to his demise, and him going unrecovered for so long. Looks like he's still in great shape. Nice score on the first antler of the year as well! Definitely a super "opening day" haul- congrats!

It looks like the same buck that's in phades new avatar so now I'm real curious what the story is with this fella. Is that the same one?

27 degrees..? I was probably still drooling on my pillow at that hour!

I like to give guys the benefit of the doubt, so I'll just add that maybe this deer was already wounded and suffering from an encounter with someone else earlier in the season. The "accused" hunter may have just killed this one and left it lay due to no antlerless tag. I wouldn't leave my boot prints near the deer after having to do that either. I got no problem with someone assuming a "clean miss" in that situation.

Good for you man! That would be more rewarding to me than just killing any other ol' buck. Glad you decided to target him and finish what someone else couldn't. THAT has got to make you feel pretty damn good at the end of the day...., but doubling my load and charge recipe may have been a little overkill,lol Display those antlers proud bud!

I sat here wrecking my brain trying to figure out how to put it to words and I couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound too damn corny. Then I was at a loss when I looked through all my pictures as well and still couldn't find the words, but I knew the simple answer was right in front of me. I don't think you could have said it any better than you did right there! Perfect!

Long-tine no see fellers! Hopefully everyone is ready for another exciting SHED SEASON!!! Normally I like to think that when I find an antler it means that the buck survived another season and I have something to look forward to the following year. That ain't gonna happen with this guy,lol. On 12-9-14 this buck gave the ultimate sacrifice. He gave me his fresh flesh to chew on, and as if that wasn't enough, he "threw me a bone" in the form of an antler! I got caught up in the excitement of the kill and never snapped an ATL of the antler alone so I had to crop one of the field photos it was in where he dumped it. I started getting this skull cleaned up today and I have plans to incorporate my opening day 8pt skull with this one in a different kind of euro..... we'll see how that works out. I should probably wait until ML wraps up before I start hiking, but I'm gonna have a hard time not getting out there tomorrow to see what's laying around. Well, here is horn #1 for 2015 for me! Good luck to all the shed hunters this season, and keep those cameras handy for those unexpected encounters! Antlers- 1 Sets- 0 Dead doe/fawns- 0 Dead bucks- 0