TheHornHunter

She must have been huge! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s a big doe! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m going to start keeping track of it. I do it for bucks but have never weighed a doe before Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Holy smokes! This deer had about an inch of fat and I was impressed with that. That’s a freaking monster Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I processed the bigger doe I shot saturday and she weighed in at 140 field dressed. I was thinking she was going to be at least 150 but I’ve never weighed a doe before. Does anyone else weigh their does? If so, what’s an average doe weigh? I shot a big one last year that I got 60 pounds of meat off but I didn’t get a dressed weight on her. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like it was a good end of gun season for a lot of you - way to go! I had a contact fall out about 345 and had to hunt the last hour with a make shaft eye patch lol. Fortunately not my primary eye, but definitely not the best combination with my choice to sit on a real thick creek bed. This week looks really good with a cold front coming in late Tuesday night. One of the farmers I deal with opened up ~1k additional acres to me to hunt for black powder so I have some serious speed scouting to do over the next few days. I don’t think it’s been hunted much if at all so really hoping to find some good sign and get on some new bucks. Most of it is a ways off the road and pretty well hidden so going to call in some favors and get a quad since I sold mine Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tried doing a hang and hunt in a creek bed tonight. I got two sticks up and got surrounded by deer... two small bucks pushing around about a dozen does at 1:45ish. Don’t think anything winded me but had to throw in the towel on the hang and hunt and am sitting against a tree. Didn’t bring a seat or anything for a ground hunt but hopefully they come back and bring a big boy with them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Killed two does last night in 8H with the muzzleloader. I had my dad with me who hasn’t killed a deer since the 80s and was trying to get him on one but he seemed a bit reluctant to pull the trigger, probably due to lack of range time. We saw no less than 40 deer, including a nice 3 year old I’ve seen before who was all over a doe and ended up pushing her past my buddy a half mile to the north. I could have shot some more, but two is enough work for one night haha. I think the one does is the biggest I’ve ever killed and the other is just normal sized despite looking like a fawn compared to the slob lol. Back out tonight looking for antlers. Good luck to all those looking to punch a last minute tag! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the thoughts! Good point about checking in the rain - I hadn't considered that at all. If I go with the Cuddelink I will probably get their cell version. How good is the range on their mesh network? The vast majority of the properties I hunt are in a 1 mile by 2 mile block of pretty wide open farm land so if they can reach 1/2 mile I think I could get the whole block covered by daisy chaining.

Congrats! I ate tag soup my first year as I'm sure many others on here have. Like others have said, any deer is a trophy and I'd strongly encourage you to focus on having fun, learning how the deer behave and shooting whatever gives you a good opportunity as you start down the wormhole that is deer hunting. Don't worry about what anyone else does or shoots and don't ever let anyone try to make your kill feel any less special because it wasn't a certain age or size.

Thanks! I will check that one out. Maybe it's better because it's the actual Apple brand. I've always got them off Amazon and for some reason never seen an Apple one there before.

Interesting thread. My lease partner and I are having an ongoing debate about cameras. We each have about 20 cameras so 40 total for the ~1K acres we hunt... and we have 4 currently deployed LOL. I'm more of a trail cam fan than my partner who is convinced they spook mature bucks. The most useful part to me is trying to age deer and figure out what's a shooter which is really useful when it comes to quick decision making when I see one on the hoof. I will admit I think there is some truth to what my partner says... our properties that we run no cameras on consistently hunt better and hold more big bucks than the ones with cameras. I don't think it has to do with checking the cams either, because we both do it in the rain, on good winds and only every 2-3 weeks unless we are hunting nearby. Next year I am thinking of trying the cuddeback system and putting my cameras up in a tree 10-15' high to try and mitigate the risk of deer seeing them (they are about 6-7' high right now). Does anyone here run the Cuddebacks or have thoughts about them?

What adapter do you use? I've gone through at least five different SD adapter for my iPhone and every single one as crapped out after a couple months and won't read the SD cards.

Out in 8H on the brassica field i missed a nick buck at last week. My muzzleloader ended up being about 2 feet off at 100 yards so I feel a little better about the miss. I’m guessing it got banged going up a tree or walking around. Anyways, back dialed in and ready to send it! Good luck to all those out. Feels like a good afternoon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was my logic too, but I’m in Monroe. Did you get one of the CVAs? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CVA 45/70 I had converted to a .45 smokeless. Jeff Hankins at Hankins Custom Rifles did the work. It’s a tack driver and does sub 1” groups at 100. It also wrecks absolute havoc on anything it touches. Here’s a shoulder shot from last year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m pretty confident he will be. I hadn’t hunted here in a while and had written it off for big bucks. We pushed it out for doe popping thanksgiving and it’s tore up with fresh rugs and scrapes so I had a feeling something big moved in. Hopefully will get another crack at him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s a smokeless muzzleloader so probably closer to a rifle than a regular muzzleloader. Ballistics say it’s good to 400 but 300 is my limit and it’d have to be perfect conditions to take that shot. I dropped a doe at 260 last year with it and this is the first time I’ve missed with it I think. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Missed a good buck last night and spent this morning double checking for blood to make sure I didn’t hit it. Was planning on shooting a doe and had her in my crosshairs after belly crawling through some tall grass but I caught a glimpse of antler at the last second and quickly decided he was a good buck. About 225 yards with my muzzie. I think I just rushed the shot but heading to the range to make sure my zero is intact. Good luck to all those out, shaping up to be a good afternoon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same... always a little bit of waste despite my farmers best efforts to minimize. Not a ton but enough to keep deer coming for a couple weeks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Get a metal detector. I’ve found arrows that way before Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve heard one shot and seen no deer this morning in 8H. Weather has them hunkered down Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sat this morning and this afternoon, ground hunted both times. Pretty good AM. Saw a bunch of deer and one of what I thought was a shooter. I’ve seen him a half dozen other times and thought he was mature but those were all 100+ yards away and I had second thoughts with him broadside at 20 yards. Everything about him looks mature but his neck just doesn’t have the swell I’d expect for a 4+ year old. Still an awesome experience to have this critter sneaking around for a half hour within fifty yards of me on the ground! The PM hunt sucked. I wore my light camo since it was 55, got soaked on the way in and then froze to death in the wind. I had two young bucks spar five yards in front of me which was super cool. They both stared straight at me and and I thought I was for sure busted but then they went at it for a minute or two and wondered off. Doing doe patrol tomorrow with a decent crowd, hoping we can stack em up! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jeff Sturgis at Whitetail Habitat Solutions has probably been the most useful I’ve come across. He has a good YouTube page and a few good books. He can be a bit long winded sometimes but he knows his stuff. Bill Winke has some good stuff too, but it’s not as easy to find as Jeff’s stuff. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

“Every year off Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk