Cabin Fever

Congrats on the first buck!! What a cool looking rack!!

Nice buck! Those look like gray fox.

Nice buck!! Glad he is still able to get out get after them!

Another 8F'er here!

Very nice!! I bet he's thrilled! This might help him extend the years that he'll be able to hunt, as he'll be more comfortable and warmer. Those Buddy heaters are sweet on a cold snowy day!

I've only seen 1 day of any bucks showing interest in does so far. Usually, they are scattered all along the road this time of year, but I only know of a couple. Maybe it will be a late rut this year...

That field is only ~3 miles from my house!! I've heard about this buck!

WOWSAAAAA!!

Too funny! I remember those days! Spring of '09 was my son's first year that he could turkey hunt. My daughter (9) wanted to go with us. I told her I would take her later with me after my son got one. I needed to devote my focus to him, since it was his first time out with a gun, and the pop-up blind was too small for all three of us to fit in. She was mad and wrote me a note that said, "She was NOT going to talk to me until I took her hunting!!" ;D I still have that note!!

That is cool!!

Congrats! Sure is nice to have a little hunting buddy!!

Sorry to hear. Keep the faith...

Finally got lucky. Worst season I've had, as far as sightings go. Been out 26 times (69hrs in the stand) and only seen 13 deer! I hunted Monday morning and saw nothing. This made exactly 2 weeks since I had even ‘seen’ a deer during shooting light! Talk about frustrating... Planned on taking the rest of the day off to "recharge". On my way out of camp, I pulled SD cards from my trailcams to check. When I got home, I noticed there was a good amount of daytime activity in the previous couple of days along the edge of this one thicket, as recently as 45min before I checked the cams! I wondered if there may have been a hot doe in the thicket. Due to a series of events that happened that day, I decided to head back to camp to hunt that afternoon. Just had that feeling... I went to a stand along the edge of a thicket. I've never bowhunted this stand before. If you saw it, you would understand why! The tree is only 4-5" in diameter up where my back is when I stand up in it! Hard to hide 240lbs of "red-hot-lovin" in a tree that small! ;D Anyway, I thought I'd roll the dice and hope that a buck would come out of the thicket and be so focused on the scent trail that I laid out along the thicket that he wouldn't see me in the tree. I got into the stand 3hrs before dark. Within 10 minutes, I heard a couple of sticks crack in the thicket. I thought/hoped it might be a buck chasing a doe. I grunted 3-4 times. A buck grunted back ~6 times and began making more noise. Then, all hell broke loose crashing!! They were so close, I could see the brush shaking ~50 yards away in the thicket, but I couldn't see the deer. They took off running towards the other end of the thicket. I've played this game before in previous years and knew that they would probably be back. To make a long story short, over the next 90 minutes, they crashed back and forth 4 times! Each time, so close that I could see the brush shaking. Man my heart was pounding and the adreneline rushing!! I grunted to the buck every time they came back my way. I even heard the buck snort-wheeze, that I've never heard before! The first few times, I thought it was just a snort, like they had smelled me. I thought there was NO way with the way wind direction was. Then it dawned on me, that it was the snort-wheeze that I had heard them use on several hunting shows. I knew I was in the money and just needed the doe to bring the buck out to the edge of the thicket. Finally,I saw brush shaking ~60 yards to my right. The doe stepped out of the thicket and into the mowed path along the edge, then continued walking across. Then, what looked like a big 10pt stepped out. I grunted to him and he stopped and looked back over his shoulder at me very majestically looking. He put his head down and trotted after the doe. I hoped that she may eventually circle back to the thicket and lead the chase back by me. Then, seconds later, a spike stepped out following the 10pt. I again grunted to get his reaction. He continued the pursuit. I got a glimpse of something else behind the previous deer that appeared to be coming my way. I then saw a rack come out of the brush and look like it was looking for the source of the grunting (me!). He angled right up to me looking for the other 'buck'. Shooting opportunities were very limited, as I never trimmed into the thicket, nor did I ever plan on bowhunting this spot. My only clear shooting lane was up and down the edge where I keep mowed. I scanned ahead of him on the path he was taking and found a clear spot on his way to the mowed path. Figured if I couldn't get him stopped there, I'd have to wait AND hope he continued to the mowed path. As soon as he entered the clear spot, I stopped him broadside at 15 yards with a grunt and settled the pin behind his shoulder. I shot and saw the arrow pass through right where I was aiming! He crashed into the thicket for ~70 yards, then everything went silent. THEN the shaking started!!! LOL I waited ~30 minutes and texted a few people to let them know. After a short tracking job, I found the buck and recognized him from trailcam pics that I had gotten 3-4 weeks prior on the other side of my property. He was a nice 8pt.Unfortunately, he had broken off 8" or so of his right main beam! That sucked, but I was still very happy with him. Ever since I saw him on the trailcam, I really wanted this buck. Considering how hard I hunted this season, makes me appreciate him even more!

It's pretty easy to tell if the deer are hitting the turnips and radishes. Big leaves, so they will either be eaten to the ground or there will just be stems sticking up.

OUCH!! Rest and heal up.

Sounds like the buck was mortally wounded and would have died soon anyway if it couldn't even get up out of it's bed. I would think that the guy that shot it first would be greatful that I put it down for him, ending his stressful search and he would tag "his" buck. If he for some reason refused to tag it, since I put it down, then I would have to.

Very pretty red! I was watching a red fox last week while bowhunting coming through the woods. When it got to the path that I walked in on, it damn near jumped out of it's skin and ran off! Those things have such a great nose on them, it amazes me how they can be trapped. I am a freak about scent control and I walk through ankle deep mud on my way to my stand to kill any scent on my boots, but he still smelled something he didn't like! Yet a deer will walk across or follow my path and not be phased!?!?

I haven't been as tired recently, as I feel like I've been able to sleep in, since it hasn't been getting daylight until ~7:15. It'll be nice now, since it'll be getting dark earlier, that I can just about be home in time to have dinner with the family.

Yeah, I don't think that would have been a tough decision at all. Why would you want to claim that buck? That rack might have looked nice, but you wouldn't have gotten that warm fuzzy feeling when you looked at it on the wall... I bet you sure made the other guys day though!

Nov. 7th and still NO usage... WTH?!?!?

Congratulations!

Congrats! Brings back memories of hunts with my daughter! She's 11 and likes to hunt as much as (and if not more than) my son does!

Congrats! Nice hunt shared with family!

What a great buck!! Very unique looking rack too!

Congratulations!! How odd the way everything worked out, them standing so close at the shot, then laying down so near also! No tracking involved! NICE!!