Live From The Woods 2022 - 2023 Edition!

[Five Seasons]

15 hours ago, suburbanfarmer said:

Coyotes got to eat as well. Sometimes it happens and nature takes it toll.

A hunter making a bad shot isn't really what I chalk up to nature taking its toll. But yes I guess she doesn't "go to waste".

14 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Brisket, low chest or that dreaded “no man’s land”??

It happens and it’ll make you a better Hunter.   

that's my thought as well. sucks. 

[chrisw]

One thing I see that may have made a difference. I know for the muzzleloaders I have owned, the first shot through a completely clean bore is always off by like 4-5". The next shot is right where it's supposed to be. If you didn't shoot your gun at least once before hunting for the season this could very well have contributed.

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk

[First-light]

17 hours ago, Five Seasons said:

Sharing a story that most wouldn't because writing it is therapeutic for me and there's always a lesson that can help others.

I don't really plan to hunt the holiday week which meant 1 or 2 more sits for me. I wanted to hunt Sunday morning and even set the alarm but it was midnight when the Bills game was over and it just wasn't worth it for me despite getting some decent bucks lately on camera.

Son had basketball practice from 2 to 3 (I coach) and I thought why not just slip out for the last hour or so in the blind. Low pressure hunt, redzone on and 1 earbud in. Neighbor is buzzing up and down on his UTV a few times. I actually watched on my cell cam as he bumped a doe group that was headed his way back to me. I also heard a shot around 4:30 that sounded like a rifle but then it was quiet. I didn't have high hopes but it beats sitting on the couch. 

I'm shooting my old CVA Optima. It's been good to me and killed 3 or so deer in the 10 or so years I've hunted with it. Last time I shot it at a deer was in Mississippi and last time I checked the zero was a few years ago. Shooting 100 grains (pellets) and TC shockwaves (sabots). 

Anyhow legal light ends a little after 5 and right about 5 a doe comes limping out at 50 yards and I mean hard limping. The kind where you know some guy took a pop at her and she will live but will have a tough winter. If I'm honest I'm taking a shot at her anyhow, but the limp made me not even second guess it.

I have mesh up in the blind and I'm all black inside, regardless as I turn with my shooting sticks she freezes. Thankfully she puts her head back down. Takes a few steps and turns some giving me a slight quartering towards shot with her right shoulder and vitals exposed, although the exit will be tough, I like this shot. I squeeze the trigger. There's a puff of smoke and as it clears I see her running off (tail up, not great). It's now about legal light and I don't want to wait long in the dark. I'm at the shot scene in about 5 minutes. I see decent blood, but it always looks like that in the snow. As I track I find more decent blood but the gush I wanted to see never comes. As I enter the woods where she dipped back in I hear crash crash up ahead. Dammit.

I decide I'm going to test my luck and keep on the track hoping it was her last push and even if I have to put her down, I'll be able to end it. I track another 5 minute or so and maybe 75 yards and hear crashing again. I back out. Now she is no 130 class buck, but I hate this shit. Waiting overnight for a deer I only shot for the meat is never great. Even if I get to her with the cold temps there's a chance she's yote food. I haven't lost a deer in over 4 years and the last doe I wounded during archery was a brisket non-fatal shot. This might be my first bad wound track job since I was a teen.

I can't get into the woods due to work obligations till 11 today. I proceed to track her for 3.5 hours and 2.5 miles. Losing and finding the track as it's just small drabs of blood and then every so often a decent blast (again maybe accentuated by the snow). This whole thing would have been impossible without the snow though.

Anyhow I finally end in the neighbors cut corn field and no body and just no more blood or energy to follow a track to see if it starts again as the tracks all intersect out there and what is her and what is another deer is no easy task. On the way out I find what I later realize was a part of her track that I missed (at one point I was tracking her backwards and later realize it was her doing a loop). I know the field is her last stop based on hoof direction but I follow this backwards anyhow to find some pretty good sprays and even 2 bed downs I had not seen before. This made me sick. I had some hope maybe I hit her in the leg too, but now I'm not sure.

I don't know how they do it, but they are freaking tough critters. I feel horrible that this doe has been shot twice now and is either dead or likely won't make it through the winter. I don't know if there's a lesson here or not as where I found those beds was nowhere near where I bumped her. So sure I should have probably waited and then probably backed out sooner, but IDK. I measured out what was at least 0.8 miles that she went plus the extra I didn't get to and some of the best blood was well past where I bumped her.

Tested my mz this afternoon as well and she's on. Hunting sucks sometimes.

sorry for the novel. 

Always good to vent. I would of taken the shot also. They are amazing animals and very tough

[suburbanfarmer]

1 hour ago, Five Seasons said:

A hunter making a bad shot isn't really what I chalk up to nature taking its toll. But yes I guess she doesn't "go to waste". 

My comment was in respect to you doing everything possible and not making a bad shot on purpose. But it happens, if we didnt miss then we havent hunted long enough or we are lying. All have been there

There are also plenty who dont even sight in their rifles and show up on opening day .. stories for a different thread.

[Five Seasons]

1 hour ago, chrisw said:

One thing I see that may have made a difference. I know for the muzzleloaders I have owned, the first shot through a completely clean bore is always off by like 4-5". The next shot is right where it's supposed to be. If you didn't shoot your gun at least once before hunting for the season this could very well have contributed.

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk
 

interesting I never keep my bore dirty on my mz as I always understood that was a real bad practice but I'm no expert. I will say that my shot I took yesterday to check my zero was with a dirty bore.

 

[Five Seasons]

2 minutes ago, suburbanfarmer said:

My comment was in respect to you doing everything possible and not making a bad shot on purpose. But it happens, if we didnt miss then we havent hunted long enough or we are lying. All have been there

There are also plenty who dont even sight in their rifles and show up on opening day .. stories for a different thread.

I know. Just saying that it doesn't lesson the shitty feeling. I pride myself in the time and attention to detail I put into hunting and would like to think i'm a much better and more ethical hunter than the opening weekend orange army guy.

None the less, it happens. But for me it's been about 20 years since it has. Clean misses a plenty over that span, but none like this.

[Five Seasons]

went out tonight. so quiet and still but nothing seen. bucks are all back around but at night. That's probably it for me for the year but I wont pack everything up in case I get an itch next week.

[Larry]

Just to let you know there is no, no man's land in the chest cavity.

[WNYBuckHunter]

On 12/19/2022 at 3:24 PM, CharlieNY said:

I think it's great that he will be getting his grandfather's rifle. I gave my son my dad's shotgun. Just be aware that the rifle may not cycle with reduced recoil loads as they were not designed to be used in semi rifles. The cerakote process will make the gun look new and will prevent future pitting. Best of luck to him.        valoroutdoors.com

Yeah I figured I’d test it with the loads and see how it does. If they don’t work very well, he will just get used to regular loads lol. He’s shot my 308 bolt gun before and was fine with it, but it has a brake and weighs more than this rifle. I’m sure he will do fine, he spends a lot of time laying other kids out and taking hits on the ice during hockey games. A little recoil shouldn’t scare him. 

[DoubleDose]

5 hours ago, Larry said:

Just to let you know there is no, no man's land in the chest cavity.

Correct.  If you puncture the chest cavity (thorax) you will get air in (pneumothorax) and the lung(s) will collapse.  

[DoubleDose]

On 12/16/2022 at 5:45 PM, DG3N said:

Biggest 4pt I've ever seen. Might of had 1 small kicker. 

3S while I was working.

He was tending a doe when she left he was right behind her. Definitely 2nd rut in Westchester. 

Used to hunt 3S.  Only place I've ever seen 4 pointers like that (big 6 without brow tines).  Suspect that it is some genetic trait being passed.

[New York Hillbilly]

What is wrong with my head? I'm sitting here fighting the urge to toss my clothes on, get on my wheeler and drive over to my box blind and sit until dark. Looking out the window; it's near white out conditions with the wind blowing, and everything including common sense and the warmth of my pellet stove is telling me to stay in, but still I'm being nagged by my head to get out there. Urghh!

[Merlot]

1 hour ago, New York Hillbilly said:

What is wrong with my head? I'm sitting here fighting the urge to toss my clothes on, get on my wheeler and drive over to my box blind and sit until dark. Looking out the window; it's near white out conditions with the wind blowing, and everything including common sense and the warmth of my pellet stove is telling me to stay in, but still I'm being nagged by my head to get out there. Urghh!

Have a shot and a beer and forget about it.

[New York Hillbilly]

2 hours ago, Merlot said:

Have a shot and a beer and forget about it.

lol.   I stopped looking out the window. I put on my ugly Christmas sweater, grabbed 4 freshly homemade oatmeal cookies, made a cup of coffee, and sat down to watch for the bizzlionth time (and loved it as much as the first) Ralphie get his Red Ryder carbine! 

Every time I watch that movie; a flood of how I felt as a kid comes over me. Remembering hours of laying on my grandparents floor with my feet under the end table next to the heat duct, as I scoured threw my uncles pile of Outdoor Life and Field and Stream, dreaming about owning my own gun so I could hunt everything I was reading about. 

And, when I got my first firearm, a .22 that my Uncle Pete bought and then let me work on weekends with him to pay it off, it started a lifetime of my own Field and Stream experiences and memories.  

My guess is there are a few of us here who can identify with Ralphie. :  )

I don't regret staying in this afternoon! 

Edited December 23, 2022 by New York Hillbilly
spelling to fix auto correct, more auto correct fixes

[ANTLERS]

Ok I’m giving it another 30 minutes and if I don’t see anything I’m heading home.

[New York Hillbilly]

0730 this morning, from living room window, I watched 5 deer cross in front of the house. It looks like they are following the narrow hedgerow towards the only cut over cornfield we have in the area this year. My guess is they holed up during the worst of the weather and are now making towards a source of calories to deal with this frigid cold and wind. 

[wolc123]

42 minutes ago, New York Hillbilly said:

0730 this morning, from living room window, I watched 5 deer cross in front of the house. It looks like they are following the narrow hedgerow towards the only cut over cornfield we have in the area this year. My guess is they holed up during the worst of the weather and are now making towards a source of calories to deal with this frigid cold and wind. 

I’m hoping to catch some out in my turnip, wheat, or clover plots on Monday.  The ground did not freeze, before all this snow, so that stuff should still  be very easy for them to get at.   They had all of my corn eaten up by October 1 of this year. They started hitting it in August.  I think that was the easiest place for them to get moisture, due to the summer drought, so they started on it early. 
 

I also cut my corn acreage in half, due to high fertilizer and fuel costs, this spring.    Last year, they hit the wheat and turnips real hard, after all the corn was gone, but some of that corn lasted until February.  

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, blackbeltbill said:

Monday is your Day. Go get em!

Thanks Bill.  My daughter just went out and broke a path to the front clover plot for me, thru the drift out back, so I could get at them:

 

 

It still looks like I’ll be needing the snow-shoes on Monday.  

[wolc123]

I missed (I think) a doe a few hundred yards to my right at 5:00 pm last night.  I got up into the upper deck of my two-story blind 15 minutes before sunrise this morning.  I can see several spots where they were feeding in the adjacent clover plot last night.  Hopefully, a deer stops by for a bite before noon today.

The wind is from the sw about 8 mph and the temp is about 15 degrees.  Conditions are better this morning than they were yesterday for sure.  

[First-light]

I'll go out this afternoon. I'll hunt the corn lickers!

[wolc123]

I stayed in the stand over (2) hours this morning but nothing was moving.  It seems that all the action is in the pm back there.  I will try again this evening.  
 

Walking long distances thru 3 feet of snow with snow shoes and heavy Mickey Mouse boots is a pretty good workout.   I am only going back as far as my front tree stand this afternoon. 

 

[Larry]

I'm down in Henderson NC till tomorrow sometime them will be home on Thursday. Don't know if I will deer hunt behind the house or go grouse or duck hunting. I don't need another deer but there are a couple of nice bucks behind the house 

[wolc123]

I am out for hunt #4 of the Holiday ML season.  I’m up in my front poplar tree stand for the last 2 hours today.  No fresh tracks on the way back and not expecting much but slightly better chances out here than from in the house 200 yards away.  
 

The conditions are the best they have been so far: 24 degrees and 8 mph sw wind. I’ve got a fairly fresh powder charge in my gun and I am hoping to get a chance to use it.  
 

I don’t want to deal with a long track in this deep snow, so I’ll be aiming for a shoulder blade if I get a chance.

 It definitely feels weird to be deer hunting when the daylight hours are increasing by a minute or two each day.  I’m legal until 5:16 at this wmu 9F location. You don’t get much clearer proof than that, that Christ really is the light of the world.  

Now, if He’d just set me up with a fat tasty deer, to top off our freezer, all would be well.  
 

Edited December 27, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

As expected, nothing seen tonight.  Too much pressure on this spot, over the last (2) days, has the deer full nocturnal again.  Hopefully, there will be little more daytime action on some fresh ground over at my parents place, on the opposite corner of wmu 9F, tomorrow.  
 

It looks like that should be the last day that I need the snowshoes.  I’ll hit the upper deck of my 2-story blind over there in the morning, and my cherry-tree blind on the edge of the clover plot, in the evening. 

[wolc123]

I am up and getting ready for the 20 minute road trip to my parents this morning.   My wife just confirmed the full nocturnal activities of the home deer herd.  
 

Our daughters got home from a party after midnight last night, and there were (3) deer, (1) of which had horns for sure  (they didn’t say how big) in our yard, when they got home.

My plan is to give that group the next (3) days off and get back after them after Friday.  We are hosting a New Year’s Eve party for our friends, so I have to stay home and help get ready for that, meaning no road-trip hunts for me that day.  
 

I think there is a pretty good chance that the antlered buck they saw was the wide 8-point, that came and licked my ground blind while I was in it, during the early September antlerless season.

He hung out with (2) smaller bucks out back thru August and September.  Their little fork and spike horns (one had broken one side off the last time I saw him) were probably not visible in the dark to our girls last night.