wolc123

Sometimes, it happen by accident. My scope was bad, back in 2018, when it happened to me. It definitely made it easy to find that buck though. Had he dropped dead, where he was standing when shot, it would have taken me a lot longer to locate him. But yes I agree, and would not intentionally aim for the spine but it did happen to me again last year on a doe, from the same stand. She was on the far side of the effective range of the gun I used then. This year's buck was shot from the same stand, right thru the boiler room, and was the toughest of the three to locate. Had I not got right after him and heard those last few splashes, he might still be there.

Thanks, I will miss him. The last time I saw him, was late ML season last year. He had already filled his tags, and he let me hunt out if his enclosed blind, down at his southern tier camp. I missed a doe that afternoon. He mentioned wanting to go out bass fishing with me last summer, but we were not able to make that happen. Dont take anything for granted, that's for sure.

It is most often the first shot that counts anyhow.

If you are by yourself in that situation, you can spine them on center. That will knock them over and temporarily stun them. By the time you climb down and get near them, they will be pulling themselves back up with their front legs. With a big buck, it is easy to spot those long times rising up above the reeds.

Bigger calibers are not necessary, but are very handy for the less than ideal shot angles which frequently occur in hunting situations. The .243 is best left to the extremely recoil shy folks. I think the deer search guy could verify that from at least one of his tracks this year.

Just heard the first shot of the morning.

No, but I clipped a back tag to my boxers.

Not looking too bad here, on the North west corner of wmu 9f. There is a chewed in half buck carcass on the left, turnip patch in middle, and standing corn to right. If an antlerless deer or a coyote stop by for breakfast, they will be in trouble.

Bedroom stand this morning. Widows open, with a pillow stuffed in it to keep out the cold. No coyotes on the carcass yet. I will use my .22 rimfire for the 80 yard shot if one shows up prior to 7:16 sunrise. After that, it will be the 06. That way, the kids won't need their alarm clock to wake up this morning. The problem I got is that my 06 and shotgun both have good low-light Redfield scopes, but my .22 has a not so hot, cheap Simmons. I just unloaded the 06 because this is shotgun only zone, and you are not allowed to hunt coyotes with a centerfire rifle during open deer seasons. If a coyote shows up after 7:16, It will get a 12 ga sabot. The new Redfield Revolution scope I put on that gun last year is great in these low light conditions.

Speaking of orientation, one thing that I have noticed, about deer that have been hit in the boiler room (heart lung area), is that they will usually travel straight, in the direction you last saw them, with very slight, if any left/right deviation from course.

That is almost where I hit my buck yesterday. You can see the entry hole in the photo, just above the leg, a little left of center. No exit from that one either. Oddly enough, my last 6-pointer (back in 16) was hit from the other end and had an exit hole in the same place, but no entry. That one will go down as the best shot that I ever made on a deer. He dropped in his tracks, as the bullet creased the top of his heart and severed the spinal column, at the base of the neck, before exiting the front. There was hardly any meat damage on that one. All I lost from bullet damage was a neck roast. It will be interesting to see how much meat is lost on yesterday's. I didn't notice anything when gutting it, but I be am guessing that the 50 cal SST slug is lodged on the inside of the opposite ham.

I don't mind eating them, but it takes me a lot longer to get them ready to eat than bucks do. Also, there is always a shortage of them around here by hunting season every year, thanks to the local farmers and their nuisance permits. I see an average of 4 antlered deer, per each antlerless one, from October 1 thru December 31 every year.

I am just loading up my 06, shotgun, and .22 rimfire, prior to opening up the bedroom window a crack. It is almost light enough now to distinguish "targets". I will be ready for a coyote, antlerless deer, or crow this morning. My daughter got a nice video of a reddish colored coyote feeding on the deer carcass out back at 8:15 am, the day before yesterday. A pack was sure howling on it last night. Hopefully, there is still enough meat on them bones to keep one or two out til the sun peaks out a little more today.

Joe's house was just a short walk away from mine when we were kids. We fished the little creek that ran out back, and the neighbor's pond together since we were in grade school. The fishing, hunting, and snowmobiling times that I shared with him might exceed that with any other. The strangest thing about that small buck that I killed yesterday, was that it might have entered the pearly gates at exactly the same time that Joe did. Ordinarily, I would use a finisher to the neck, when I come up on a deer that is not quite done for like that. I even had an "oddball" slug in my chamber, just for that purpose, at the time. He just looked so peaceful, laying there in the water with his head alternatingly lifting, and then resting on the branch. You can see it in the photo that I posted on the last page. That is why I held my fire (plus I wanted a neck roast). I'll be remembering Joe a lot, when I eat the tenderloins for lunch today. I had a couple of the mixed drinks last night, of the kind that he and I had invented out of necessity, on snowmobile trip down to Allegheny state park about 35 years ago. We didn't have any other mixers, on the last day, so vodka and milk it was. There was no snow around last night, so I had to substitute crushed ice.

So it had to be an old Corvette or a new F-150 that tagged her last year.

I was thankful for my third consecutive southern zone opener swamp edge deer today. Dragging them bastards out of the swamp is no picnic though. At least the water was lower this year, after the drought thru the summer. I did not see any today until 10:00.

I am very thankful that the late ML season starts a week earlier in the northern zone, than the southern zone. I punched my regular season buck tag today on a mediocre buck in the southern zone. I would love to get another crack at a monster Adirondack buck that I was too slow for, on opening day up there in the northern zone, a month ago. Since I still have my archery/ML either sex tag, December 13 might be the day. I also have an antletless tag that I can use up there then. Wr always have free food and lodging up there at the in-laws retirement home. It don't look like there will be any snow up there when we go up for Thanksgiving weekend, so I won't be missing out on much then (deer are about 10X harder to kill up there without snow). If I don't have any luck on a big one up there on December 13th weekend, I will still have another crack at getting one at home with the ML on the following weekend. I think my odds of that are good, based on the good turnip plots and standing corn that should still be available here at that time. I haven't punched both of my buck tags since 2016, but I feel good about my chances this year. Does don't do much for me. I don't care for doe fat sticking to the roof of my mouth and they take a lot longer for me to process, trying to trim it all away.

I will know right mortis is past when those front legs hang down. I am hoping that will be by Wed, because I am going away for a few days after that and got to get him in the freezer by then. He will get ground anyhow, except for the tenderloins (tomorrow's lunch), and the back straps. Tuesday will be skinning night. It looks like we got plenty of zip lock bags, and my nearly 100 year old grinder is ready to go:

Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good. I shot one on the edge of a swamp this morning. I tried to hit the shoulder blade, so I would not have to get wet. The buck was quartering hard to me, and my slug struck a bit to the inside, completely missing bone, but driving thru the the lungs and diaphragm. He spun around and disapeared towards the middle of the swamp. I went right in after him, heading straight in the direction he ran. He made it over a hundred yards. I dont know if I would have been able to locate him, had I not heard the splashing of his last few death twitches. There was no blood trail to follow in that black water.

This little guy (36.5" chest girth) might not have made the cut today, but it seemed a shame not to take advantage of such ideal temperatures over the next few days. Also, it was the first time I ever had a buck come in to a grunt call during gun season. The only downside, is that I will miss deer hunting up in the dacks over Thanksgiving weekend, having no tag. I will have to concentrate on the grouse and bear up there, and maybe some late season bass fishing.

Not as "good" because they don't come with the two appetizers, and also usually run considerably smaller. I have never personally killed one, but I did eat one that a neighbor gave me a few years ago. I will agree with you that they taste the same.

My folks place. They are on one corner of 9f and I am on the opposite diagonal. Too many coyotes on my corner. Now that my buck tag is punched in a coyote free zone, I am going to hunt from my bedroom window tomorrow morning. My 30/06 will be ready for the coyotes that want a bite out of a road kill deer carcass, and my 12 gauge for any antlerless deer that care to sample my turnip patch. My daughter took some nice video of a big reddish colored coyote feeding on the carcass at 8:15 yesterday morning. If it shows up tommorow, it will be in for a surprise.

I heard the most shots before sunrise ( about 20), and only 10 since. I was # 31 at about 10:15 am, and have heard none since on the south east corner of wmu 9f.

It is all about the memories. Every time I look at "Jake", on the wall of my in-laws retirement home, I think of the kind, young real estate agent who sold them their land and showed me the hot spots up there. I know that "Joe" will have that same effect:

He is like an iceberg, the part below the water line is a lot bigger. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, dragging him out of the swamp.