WNYBuckHunter

Its not the point of caring whats on its head, its the target identification part that bothers me. If a deer is obstructed enough to not know what it is before pulling the trigger, do you really know whats behind it, etc? I dunno, maybe I am just more careful than I need to be.

Could be low, could be a gut shot. Hang tight and dont go after her too soon. Better to give her time than to bump her.

I didnt end up getting out yesterday. Looks like the season is probably done for me, as I have kid stuff going on after work today and tomorrow. I cant complain though, it turned out to be a pretty darn good season for me. Good luck to those of you hunting these last 2 days of ML!

Absolutely

Dude, you just dont get it. You are lucky to have grown up hunting private land where everyone agrees to not shoot bucks until they are a certain size. By all accounts, the land you hunt is not heavily pressured as well. The vast majority of hunters do not have the luxuries that you do. When I cut my teeth hunting, I didnt have private land to hunt with the exception of my fathers 5 acres where I had room for one treestand. I hunted state land almost exclusively. I didnt grow up with a father or brother or cousins to teach me how to hunt. I had a few friends that hunted, that was about it. I voluntarily limited myself to 8 point or better when it came to bucks, and it took a long time for me to finally put one on the ground. I actually quit hunting for a season two different times because it was so frustrating. Luckily I had one friend that kept dragging me back into the sport when that happened. Once I finally put that buck on the ground, and then really started learning and being successful at getting myself into positions to encounter more, and more mature bucks, then the interest really took off for me and hasnt stopped since. Most people would not keep coming back for more frustration, as I did. Theres no better way to kill someones enthusiasm for something than to force them into limited success right off the bat. Still to this day, I do not have low pressure, managed land to hunt. All of the private stuff I hunt gets as much, if not more pressure than any of the state land in the area. If you are killing 3 1/2 year old bucks consistently on our farms, you are doing very well. Hell, if you kill 2 1/2s every year you are doing pretty darn good. We have no ARs, we dont tell people what they can or cant shoot, and we still have truly mature bucks (5 years old or more) roaming all 3 farms every single year. Whether someone has a chance to take them or not is a whole different thing.

I couldnt agree more

What about people that dont start hunting until they are over the age of 18? Should they be forced to wait for a more mature buck? Not everyone has low pressure land to hunt. Those that do are the exception, not the rule.

Holy crap, did you just admit to not clearly identifying your target before pulling the trigger? So lets add that to the already long list of deplorable actions in the field that you have admitted to. You are the biggest slob hunter on this site, and exactly the type that gives the rest of us a bad name. Shame on you.

I guess that statement would depend on where you are from. In this area, most non hunters see hunting as being done on private and public land, with stands, blinds, drives, etc because that is the norm here.

Hey now, lay off on the Rams lol

It all has to do with where you go I guess. Not all hunting ranches are the same. My girlfriend uncle owns one. The pen is hundreds of acres and most of the deer in there are born in it. They are not hand fed, and they have the same fear of humans as any wild deer. When you book a hunt, you book for a certain class of deer and a certain number of days. They guide you, but there are no guarantees that you will see an animal in the class you are there to shoot. They run doe hunts also, as their herd needs to be managed. They also do hunts for specific deer that they get on trail cams, again, no guarantee that you will see that buck. This past year they started introducing red stag onto the property. None of them have seen any of the stags since September, even though they know they are in there. I don’t think it would be something that I would Enjoy anywhere near as much as I do Hunting normally, as I always Have, but I wont Knock anyone for doing it. As long as they are honest about how they killed the deer, I have No issues with it.

There’s nothing crappy about the lower end Vortex scopes. Nicer glass than any other scope in their price range and a no questions lifetime warranty. I’ve had and have quite a few of the Crossfire and Crossfire II line. I would reccomend a Vortex in the Viper line for your purposes. Awesome scopes, and more features than any Leupold I have ever Looked through.

Yesterday I went Out for the evening sit, as our closing on the new house had been postponed. I walked in and found an ungodly amount of tracks in the thickets behind the standing corn field, so I decided To sit a stand between the thickets and swamp, where I’m sure they are bedding up most of the day. I was In the stand for about 30 mins when I saw A group of 4 does come out of the swamp heading right for me. They cut across my boot tracks in the snow and the 2 older ones hung up while the younger 2 came right in to 10 yards. I got My muzzleloader off the hook and waited to see what the older does we’re going to do. Eventually one gave me a nice broadside shot at 65 yards, so I pulled The trigger and down she went. I reloaded And waited, as I still Had quite a bit of daylight left. After 15 mins or so I loomed Behind me to my left to see a big doe coming out of the swamp. She walked right through my wind and started trotting. I got My muzzleloader ready and grunted to try and stop her. She must have been grunted at before because as soon as I did It, she took off at full speed. 10 mi s later I saw Another deer exiting the swamp. Got my Bono’s up and it was a good 2 1/2 year old 8 with a small drop tine that I have Plenty of pictures of. I gave Him a pass, hoping that he makes it through the last few days of the season, as I really Want to see what he becomes next year. I stayed In the stand till dark to see what else was going to pass through but I didnt See anything so I hopped Down to retrieve my doe. She’s a big old nanny with a massive noggin. Biggest doe I’ve shot in the last few seasons. She also makes my goal for this year complete. 1 doe with my bow, a buck with my crossbow, a doe with my rifle and a doe with my muzzleloader. I may Go out tonight to see if I cant find a nice buck to fill my last tag with.

Correct

Im not sure what about the deer makes it look "old" from that one picture. If it was a free range deer, with the rack, one would assume its at least 5 years old, probably more. Just do a simple google search on ranch deer and you will see that they develop large racks like that at young ages.

Huge? Yes. Old? Probably not. Ive seen 2 year olds that big on deer farms.

Thanks for sharing that site! All kinds of good stuff on there!

Yes it does! Hopefully I have a new, similar photo to post this weekend!

The Browning Maxus would be a good choice as well. I believe Doewacker bought one for his wife.

The Leupold is just a rebranded Seek with additional dollars attached to it. Ive been thinking about getting one to try out for scanning. They say they are good to 1000ft but Id like to try one before I buy it. They actually have one that you plug right into your phone that has an 1800ft capability. https://www.thermal.com/hunting-outdoors.html

I havent had any experience with it, but you can get an ATN night vision scope that will do just as much, if not more for less money. https://www.atncorp.com/x-sight2-hd-day-night-rifle-scope-5-20x

I used to scan with a hand held spotlight, it worked ok. The headlamp is great though, keeps my hands freed up to get on the gun faster and run the call. I used to need someone to go with me, but now I do all of it myself if I feel like hunting and noone is around to go.

Right now Im running a setup from Wicked Lights. I have a scan light that goes on my head and a kill light mounted to my gun. It works very well. I have the head light set to a wide focus, so that I can catch their eyes, and the kill light is set to a tight beam that fills my scope at about 100 yards. I would love to get one of the ATN scopes, and probably will when I put together a dedicated predator rig again. That way I can do without the kill light. I cant see replacing the scope on my deer gun for one of those. What Id really like to get is a thermal scope for a predator rig, but now you are talking thousands of dollars. They are the cats ass though. Here is the light setup I use https://www.wickedhuntinglights.com/w403ic-scanpro-ic-night-hunting-red

Like you, have issues trying to keep my form correct with all of the heavy clothes on. This weekend Ill be out a little bit, but Ill have my muzzleloader with me.