Rockspek

The last couple weeks my father in law started getting a buck on cam regularly. He offered for me to hunt there. Nobody hunts his property. He has a tree stand just so he can go sit in it and read and watch wildlife. He's not a hunter either. I take him up on his offer and here's a copy of what I posted in the harvest thread: First appointment with this buck I was snort wheezed at. Second appointment I had a doe and fawn under my stand on my way to it and had to wait till they left. I felt regret that I should have taken the doe for the meat. I was 5 minutes into the hunt and would have been home early. Saw nothing else that day. However this afternoons appointment he showed up on time, actually a little earlier than I thought. As I walked to the stand I smelled him. I knew he was there somewhere. I even asked live from the woods what to do. grunt bleat etc. I grunted three times then bleated once. Nothing. A little while later a doe ran along the road to the right of my stand. I'm in a small hunting area surrounded by farm fields a few houses and roads. A small buck followed. I'm not shooting at the road but they went into the thick where the buck smell was coming from. Hour later about 12 doe and fawns came out and the doe were grazing and the fawns were goofing off. At one point a fawn chased another fawn right at me but a little down wind. The fawn sniffed me out and alerted others and half of them left. I decided to take my farthest shot yet at the largest doe left. Probably a little less than 100 yards. She's in the sight. Safety off. Finger to the trigger and SNAP. I heard a twig under my stand snap. I look down to the left and through the mesh of my seat I see this buck. I take my finger off the trigger. Swing the gun towards him smoothly and let him walk 5 then 10 yards and all I have is the texas heart shot but I'm not going there. He turns right to the remaining doe who surprisingly didn't see me move to him and finger on the trigger , shoot. He ran in the direction he was headed and tripped, flipped and ended up facing me. My light field found it's way through a lung, his heart and the other lung. Happy to be able to share this with you all and overwhelmed by all the likes and kind congrats.

During the summer of 2016 I bought a bow and practiced so much my arms hurt and had to switch to practicing every other day. I got to the point of shooting groups within 4" at 40 yards and decided to bow hunt. I took the bow safety class. I bought a lifetime license for me and my four year old. Bow hunting I saw a lot but it was frustrating to say the least. Barely grazed a doe which showed up on trail cam a few days later she was fine but I was a little shaken up. I also missed my target buck at around 30 yards broadside. I used deer search once. I haven't gotten a deer with the bow yet but spent twice as much time in the stand 2016 compared to 2015. My son drew me a picture as some may recall of my missed buck.

I spent all the rest of the winter setting up trail cams and looking for sheds and looking for more hunting property. This pic was taken the night after I shot my 2015 buck over the gut pile This is one of my favorites

This all started last year during the 2015 hunting season Decided to start a backlog journal to catch my hunting experiences up to now 33 years old and never hunted until this season. No one in my family has ever been into hunting so it never really appealed to me. in the last 10 years I've always thought I may enjoy hunting but never had time to take the safety course. Recently my 5 year old has been so interested in hunting that I decided I needed to learn so he could have his dad be his mentor even though one of my closest friends is an avid hunter. My friend weather he knew it or not was going to mentor me. I managed to get a safety course finished the day before opening of gun and bought a crossbow so I could practice quietly for a few days. I got accurate enough that I decided to go out sunday am of opening weekend. Spent every morning and afternoon I could sitting quietly after that. Saw lots of doe. 11 walked through one day but I didn't have the range. Even had a small doe walk almost right up to me on two separate occasions but didn't feel right about shooting such small deer. Finally my friend tells me I have to sight in the shotgun I bought, practice and get up off the ground in a stand. Okay so he sights the 12 gauge in for me. I take a shot at a target at 50yards and hit close enough that I'm comfortable. I don't really like firing the gun so I leave it at that. One practice shot. Please don't judge me or my friend for the lack of practice. I get in a stand on my property with only a small area that I can hunt legally but I feel comfortable with. I begin using a new trick of rattling fake antlers and using calls. 10 minutes before sunset I wipe my nose and sniffle from the sinus infection and bronchitis I happened to get and decide to climb down when I realized my calling was working because all I saw were white tails running. I stop, call a doe noise and they all stop. I waited 5 minutes and did it again and they started back. One nice doe makes it on my property. She looks up at me, kicks her front hooves at the ground a few time. I stayed very still at the ready. She put her head down and turned. I shoot. I do all the safe things you're supposed to do next and go to the spot where she was. No blood, no fur and dark now. I call my friend and get a flashlight. Found tiny bit of blood 25 or so ft away and start tracking. not much blood but I did find a little frag of bone so I knew I must of hit her somewhere decent. Finally found her with the help of my friend and come to find out it was a high hit through the lung so she had to fill with blood before letting much out. 2nd bullet ever shot besides a .22. My 5 year old came out to the barn while it was hanging and saw it after warning him it was bloody and dead. His reaction surprised me. "awww cool....This is a nice deer daddy. Nice size. good job." what 5 year old is so calm and collected like this. Family liked how it taste so I went back out for Sunday the last day for gun. No rattling but just calling because I figure with all this talk about no deer around I would just try for another doe. As I'm about to leave my stand and call it a morning I hear something in the woods so I hang out and call like a doe. I see antlers for the first time in my life as a hunter. Heart pumps very differently than when I shot the doe and this thing is still deep in the woods I can barely even see him. He heads away so I call the best I can. He turns and I finally get to hear how a buck really grunts. He cautiously heads towards me. Shots go off way in the distance. A large doe comes booking across the field from where the shots fired and right at me in my stand. I call again to stop her. She stands 5 yards from the tree I'm in and the buck now sees her. All of a sudden my sounds were very real to him. He head straight at me and I have to shoot before he gets too too close. He jumps into the brush and only makes it maybe 20 yards away. Shot through the shoulder a little and got a lung. Third bullet ever shot. My friend and his dad come over to help me out. This time my 5 year old comes out to see the entire gutting process. Again very calm and a little excited he said because this one had horns and again was a good size. I gutted both deer myself due to the responsibility I felt in killing these two animals. With the coaching of my friend of course. Apparently this is a big buck. They told me I need to mount it so I guess I will even though that is not really what I did this for. That is also why you won't see me in a picture with the animal. I did it for my son who has such an interest in hunting and to have good quality meat for my family. Wegmans is right down the street but this meet came from our backyard. How's that for a carbon footprint. Thanks for reading

I just re read my posts from yesterday before I shot the buck. The smell of him was so powerful. I kinda wonder just where he was for the first few hours of that hunt. He had to of been close. Crazy that he decided to come out and walk right under me. This stand was placed where it is for my father in law to go out and read in, not hunt from. Now that he is down I can go over and check the property for scrapes and rubs. He was definitely rubbing on something cause he has bark on his antlers.

I started this thread to shed some light on the importance of wearing orange and being visible. People are getting killed in the woods right now. This is not something to argue about. Let's be as safe as we can out there

Thanks everybody. I'm taking this morning off I think.

First appointment with this buck I was snort wheezed at. Second appointment I had a doe and fawn under my stand on my way to it and had to wait till they left. I felt regret that I should have taken the doe for the meat. I was 5 minutes into the hunt and would have been home early. Saw nothing else that day. However this afternoons appointment he showed up on time, actually a little earlier than I thought. As I walked to the stand I smelled him. I knew he was there somewhere. I even asked live from the woods what to do. grunt bleat etc. I grunted three times then bleated once. Nothing. A little while later a doe ran along the road to the right of my stand. I'm in a small hunting area surrounded by farm fields a few houses and roads. A small buck followed. I'm not shooting at the road but they went into the thick where the buck smell was coming from. Hour later about 12 doe and fawns came out and the doe were grazing and the fawns were goofing off. At one point a fawn chased another fawn right at me but a little down wind. The fawn sniffed me out and alerted others and half of them left. I decided to take my farthest shot yet at the largest doe left. Probably a little less than 100 yards. She's in the sight. Safety off. Finger to the trigger and SNAP. I heard a twig under my stand snap. I look down to the left and through the mesh of my seat I see this buck. I take my finger off the trigger. Swing the gun towards him smoothly and let him walk 5 then 10 yards and all I have is the texas heart shot but I'm not going there. He turns right to the remaining doe who surprisingly didn't see me move to him and finger on the trigger , shoot. He ran in the direction he was headed and tripped, flipped and ended up facing me. My light field found it's way through a lung, his heart and the other lung. Happy to be able to share this with you all and overwhelmed by all the likes and kind congrats. dressed

DFH 120

I'll post details and more pics when I calm down a bit and take care of a few things but...yes I shot him. Both lungs and heart

Big buck doen

So the area I can smell buck from is bushy brush that transition to a small stand of pine. Just a little bit ago a doe ran from behind me along the side and into the pines followed by a small buck. No shot op and not sure what the buck was cause they were cruzin. When the wind is strong I smell nothing. When it dies down I smell buck. Not sure exactly waney to do here. Still over an hour to dark.

And you said you actually decided to keep some meat. How is it?

Ok I'm back from a warm up walk on a diff property and in a fresh stand. I was overwhelmed with the smell of a buck while on the ground. Now that I'm up here not so much. Anyways this is the third appointment I've set with this buck I have on cam. Kinda rude he failed to show up for the first two but I figured I'd give him another chance.

Climbed out to warm up on way to another property to stalk a little and grab cam cards then I'll be back to the property that I posted buck pics of the other day and should have shot a doe but didn't. If same opportunity arises I'm taking the doe this time.

Looks like it. I'm not getting any weather like that out where I am. Just cold

Thanks guys. I've been so close so many times. I'm glad I haven't kept track of my hours. I've had some experiences along the way too which has been fun.

Just hopped in stand. Nice little breeze. Cool temp. Little damp but mostly clear skies. I expect to see deer soon.

Yeah for some reason the deer just love wrecking new apple plantings. Maybe chicken wire around the trunk. Just remember to loosen it as the tree grows. And like I said we lost 3 out of twelve. we planted some pear and peach too but they didn't seem to do anything to them although something ate the pears.

I have a ton of blackberry and blueberry plants where I'm at in 8p. We also get lots of pictures of bears on our cameras. I planted 12 apple trees about 3 years ago in 8n. They were 5' at the time. We started getting some fruit this year but even being in my backyard we lost 3 to buck rubs and the fruit was eaten before we could get to it. Good for the raccoons too. They ate the fruit. I will plant more apple trees for sure and I'm also going to look into planting hazel nut trees. They can start producing in 2-3 years depending on how big when you plant them and conditions.

I just said to Larry 302 last night that now is the time of year to be optimistic. Last year I saw some doe throughout the regular season and not one buck until the last week of it. And that buck I shot, it was on the last day of regular. The deer are out there. If you stay optimistic you will probably be more alert. The other day I hadn't seen anything and I said to myself there are deer out here. Almost the next minute a doe got up from her bed in the bushes in front of me and teased me walking through the bushes for the next hour or so. She was right in front of me the whole time. I'll be out there before sunup. Wonder what the weather is doing here?

If we all shoot where we are maybe the deer will all show up at your place tomorrow

I'm in my stand but my neighbors around the corner have been bulldozing all day. I'm not sure to stay here or venture deeper in the woods this late in the afternoon.

alright getting a bit nasty here where I am but I'll be in the woods in a few to join ya