Zem18

Mmmm sounds delicious. I made medallions out of part of the backstrap and marinated them in Salamidas State Fair spiedie sauce. Damn they were good. Grilled them for about 4 minutes on each side. My son who is 6, woofed down 11 pieces on his own. My daughter actually ate 5 pieces too. Now I only have 5 pieces for lunch tomorrow

Thank you. 2 kids, 2 cats, a dog, and my wife is about all I take right now, let alone 5 dogs. I can say that I didn't miss getting up in the middle of the night to take her out to pee. Man it was cold out there last night. Next time I will put on pants, lol.

Keep at em Larry - You never know when it is going to happen. Plenty of time left.

11.23.12 - Friday I picked up my Dad at around 8am Friday morning. We got a new puppy ( pictures below) on Wednesday and I did not sleep very well Thanksgiving night. Had to drop off my kids at my brother in laws too. We made it to the cabin by 9:10am. Got a fire started and headed out the door. I sat in my spot from 9:30 until 11am. The wind was picking up so I decided to walk a little. I got to a neat spot where there was a slight ridge that dropped down from the trail I was on and I could see a long way. I had stopped to look and was looking wayyy far ahead but I could hear footsteps in the leaves. I look closer to me (about 35 yards) and there is a deer walking towards me. I get the scope up and it is a buck - a spike. He was in no hurry at all. I stood there and scoped him several times He walked past me and the turned back towards me, feeding the entire time. I sat and watched him for about 25 minutes until he walked off, headed right to my spot I just left. I continued to walk and found a few nice spots to stop and sit for about 30 minutes each. It started to rain at 4pm so I sat still until about 430 and headed back towards the cabin. When I got back my Dad and Father in law were already back and they did not see anything. 11.24.12 Saturday it was windy and blowing snow but not sticking like I had hoped. I sat for 45 minutes and then walked to try and get some deer moving. By the time I reached the spot my Dad was going to be at, he was gone. Figured he got cold so I headed to the cabin to check on him. He wasnt there so I went up behind the cabin and he was sitting there. No deer sighted by the three of us on Saturday either. Headed home that evening. 11.25.12 My buddy called last night and they were headed to his lease to do some drives. I went with him and we got set up for the first drive. My buddy had a nice 6pt come running right into him so he dropped him. We helped him get his deer to base camp in the woods and then set up for more drives. We did 3 more and on the final one, 2 brothers both got a doe. 3 deer in 4 hours. Not too bad. It was snowing like crazy by the time we finished. I think I am going to head down to the cabin Friday night and work on filling the doe tag Saturday. There is a Turkey party at the local firestation as well so that should be fun - All you can eat and drink - $1 hands of poker for Turkeys and another bird ( It is killing me that I cant remember the name of it right now) Ok now for pics of the new puppy Ciara ( Siberian Husky) The first picture they sent us before we went to look at her At the house where we picked her up First picture we took of her in our house

Yes those are some nice sized deer. Congrats.

One big doe is better than no doe. Congrats and keep at em, You never know when they will come running by.

Got the image code to work

Had a busy week off thus far. Monday morning I went up to butcher my BIL's doe and my buck. BIL called and he went to walk-in and has bronchitis. So I skinned and quartered his doe and then got my buck hung. Went home and spent a few hours with the wife in the afternoon. Tuesday morning I went hunting with a buddy of mine. We tried to get to a 30 acre piece of private land but there were two cars already there so we opted for State Lands. I haven't hunted State Lands in over 14 years but there were no cars parked out there so we gave it a shot. I found a great spot on top of a ridge so I sat tight until 11am. Saw 2 squirrels. I decided to head towards where my buddy was and 5 minutes into the walk I hear "BOOM". About 30 seconds later I hear "BOOM". I was sitting still waiting for deer to come running but my phone rang instead. My buddy was working his way towards me and had stopped to catch his breath when a healthy spike came running into to him nose to the ground at 15 yards. He put it down with the first shot but had hit a limb and spined the buck. The second shot was the finish off. I was excited for him and he was glad to get some meat in the freezer. We headed to my in laws and we skinned and quartered my buck and his. Finished up the deboning and packaging Wednesday morning. I'll be headed back to camp tomorrow morning and taking my father with me. My FIL and a few other members should be down there as well so we can get some deer moving. With all the doe we have seen down there this year, I have a feeling my Dad will finally fill his doe tag. After his miss last year I think he is ready this year. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and be safe out the there this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving

Great story and a beautiful buck. That grin on your face tells the entire story though. Congrats.

That is awesome you have taken her since she was 4. My wife doesn't mind me hunting but she is an animal lover. My daughter is just like her in a sense but she has gone squirrel hunting and did not mind it at all when I shot one. She actually watched the landowner clean it and was not squimish at all. I will definately give it a shot. Thanks.

That buck in the middle is a slob and the last one is no slouch. Congrats to the successful hunters.

Yes we should all get together sometime, shoot some clays or something at a range for the day and then drink a few cold ones and share some lies, umm I mean success stories. And you are lucky you didn't txt me at 5am Burt cuz my wife would've killed you first and then me second.

Sounds like a great Opening day with your daughter. How old is she? I am still debating on taking my daughter who is 10. She says she would go but isn't 100% sure she wants to. I am leaving the decision up to her but I know if I asked her to go sometime, I believe she would say yes.

Thanks guys. He is a respectable deer for the mountains where I hunt. The wire has been a mystery but we have had some thoughts on it. What I found unusual (not really) is that the deer was full of corn. We have shot bucks in years past that always seem to be full of corn, and not corn from a farmers field either because we are out in the middle of the mountains with no fields around for miles. We believe there may be a feeder or two somewhere on adjacent properties. This wire could be from a feeder, either to open it up and dispense or to hold a lid on so critters cannot get into it. It had a small mechanical stop on it and that is how it acted like a noose. The wire was around his neck, behind an ear and then in front of the other ear and around the antler. The mechanical stop was tight and it was like a snare or noose tight around his neck. Had the 3 foot long piece that was dangling off to the side had caught on something, he would have choked to death or cut his own head off trying to get free.

Nice job Fletch - Congrats on nice doe. That spot looks sweet too.

Haha I just posted the link 2 seconds ago.

Ok lets try this for the pictures - Shutterfly sucks just so you know but I didn't take the pictures and they were emailed to me. http://2012deerpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures

11-17-12 Opening Day rifle (Southern Zone) WMU 4W My expectations were low going into this gun season as the Mandatory AR's were put ito effect in 4W where we have our camp. We saw plenty of deer between the 5 of us that were hunting this year, but they were all doe except for one spike. We had an owl, a porcupine, a black bear, bobcat, and a coyote spotted as well, all on opening day. Personally speaking, I saw a group of 4 doe at 8:30am and then 2 more doe at 2pm. The porcupine climbed down a tree 30 yards from me at about 4:30pm. It was a nice day to be out in the woods for sure. 11-18-12 All the fresh air made me pretty tired so I was no ball of fire come Sunday morning. I didn't leave the cabin until 7am. The nice thing is that as soon as you walk out the door, you are hunting as it is nestled in the woods 1/4 mile from the nearest road. I decided to hunt my usual spot again today as I was at least seeing deer moving. I made it up the mountain and to my spot by 7:15am. I settled in on the ground and starting scanning the woods. At 8:20am I could hear the leaves rustling so I knelt down and saw a doe come running in about 40 yards away. I scoped her when she stopped and she looked over her shoulder and then proceeded to turn and run directly at me. I could hear more leaves behind her so I lowered my gun and looked with just my eyes and I saw a large deer coming. I put the scope up again and all I saw was a rack, 1, 2, 3 on this side so it's a shooter I said. The buck was hot on her trail but off to the right side of the doe and when I raised my gun to scope the buck, the doe was now under 20 yards away and she had seen me move. The buck was still coming and he stopped less than 10 yards away from me quartering towards me and the doe was still not moving. I put the crosshairs on him and squeezed. He did a mule kick and proceeded to run by my at less than 5 feet at mach1. It happened so fast but I worked the bolt to chamber another round and I watched him running off. He got to about45 yards out and stumbled and then got his footing and stopped. I thought he may bolt so I tried to settle the crosshairs again but it was a losing battle. I was shaking so bad but I saw brown in the scope so I squeezed again. 5 seconds later, he tipped over and was dead less than 50 yards away. This is my largest bodied buck and largest mass and spread wise buck to date. His neck was huge and he had a wire of some sort that had become entangled around his neck, head and antlers. I couldn't get the smile off of my face for the rest of the day. Well it seems I cannot post my pictures from shutterfly because the site does not like the extension on the URL. I'll figure it out and get them posted later today.

Thanks Fletch - I'm going to give em heck or die trying.

I hear ya on being frustrated with bowhunting but look at it this way, at least you are seeing deer which is half the fun. All the oddball things that happen when hunting are also memories of the hunt. Good luck out there slinging some lead this weekend.

Exciting hunt and doing it the hard way, on the ground with a recurve. Kudos to you. Good luck chasing the big boy.

Nice job Burt and tell Zach congrats as well. Great to see the student succeed and shoot a bigger deer than the teacher.

Hope you connected this weekend Burt - I sure didn't Man what a lousy weekend. I am so disappointed. I sat for 7 hours on Saturday and Sunday combined and didn't even see a deer while on stand. NOTHING AT ALL. Grrrrrr. I would see them driving to and from the hunting spots moving before light and after dark. My neighbor saw a 7pt and an 8pt on Saturday after he got out of the stand and drove 100 yards down the road. Both were the largest racked deer he has seen and he has hunted over 30 years. Saw a nice 6pt at 745am this morning going to work in someones front yard. Had a driver tell me he had a 10pt run across in front of his truck today at 3pm by work too. They are all over the place except where I have been. Frustrating for sure. Time to break out the firepower for this weekend. I'm geting things packed slowly and will go grocery shopping Thursday night and then off to camp on Friday night. If I don't update before then, good luck to everyone this weekend and be safe. Zem

11-3-12 Got out for the afternoon hunt with my neighbor. The wind was relentless and it was chilly. My neighbor put out a scent wick with some doe in estrous on it so it was blowing around the woods. At about 5:45pm I turned around to see a large bodied scrub racked spike only 10 yards from me headed towards the scent wick. He went crazy once he smelled that doe scent. Was fun to watch him for sure. Only deer I saw that night. Took a drive to my cabin on Sunday morning. Got out to open the gate and looked in the creek and saw a spike staring back at me at 10:30am. Drove in and had 2 doe run across in front of me as well. Got everything cleaned up and ready to go for next weekend. Set up the mousetrap to catch any critters and cut plenty of firewood. 1 week of work left and then 9 days off. I should get out Saturday morning for a few hours before my daughters 2 soccer games and then after the games I will be out the rest of the day in the stand. Good luck to you guys going out this weekend.