Live From The Woods 2022 - 2023 Edition!

[Robhuntandfish]

Well my brother just shot a bear. Looking for a bear at night will be fun lol.
Update waiting on permission to track. Thos what the arrow looks like. Just started to rain.

Have always wanted to text my buddy. "just shot a bear". Good luck and that arrow looks like a good sign. Might want to wait til morn though. Not thinking you'd have to worry bout yotes with a bear.

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[BowmanMike]

21 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Pics of arrow?


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Sorry,no picture. A little bloody but almost brown. I gut shot a deer before.and it didn't really look like that. 

I wonder if it was forward and deflected of the lower neck in front of the leg bone v. There are some glands down in there too,aren't there?

[BowmanMike]

4 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Hard to tell much there Mike. Def check it out in the daylight. Might tell a whole different story. Good luck on either a dead deer or a non fatal and she lives for another day.

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I hate it when this happens. Maybe @heavuserand me can go to therapy together. I practice shooting a lot. 

The doe just made it past a full foliage maple when I shot her and she od course ran back behind so I couldn't see her. Tracking in grass is not as easy either...Hope the morning is good.

[wolc123]

44 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

Well,no clue what happened.  She was quartering to slightly and I aimed for the top of the heart. she was about 20 yds and I was 17 or so feet up. It looked good but she spun and when I went to my arrow it smelled like tallow and kind of rutty. If anything the shot was forward and not back. I couldn't find any hair or blood. Lost sight of her almost immediately, I don't like that either. 

I would have thought if it is brisket there should have been blood. I backed out and will look more in the a.m.,gotta find something.

Any ideas are appreciated...

Sounds like a gut hit, I would  call deer search and get a dog on it.  Gut hits give out a ton of scent and are the easiest type of hit for dogs to find.  

Edited October 2, 2022 by wolc123

[heavuser]

14 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

I hate it when this happens. Maybe @heavuserand me can go to therapy together. I practice shooting a lot. 

The doe just made it past a full foliage maple when I shot her and she od course ran back behind so I couldn't see her. Tracking in grass is not as easy either...Hope the morning is good.

I feel your pain.

My arrow was straight green goop, not a drop of blood. 

[UpStateRedNeck]

7 deer this evening,had to coyote howl to get out.  No big fellas came out to play.  Deer were really focused on the clover.

[cdbing]

Did not see any deer this evening. Lots of squirrels. Still was good to get out in the woods.

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[UpStateRedNeck]

29 minutes ago, UpStateRedNeck said:

7 deer this evening,had to coyote howl to get out.  No big fellas came out to play.  Deer were really focused on the clover.

I think this is a really small 2 year old.  Still bigger than the little forky that was sparring with him, but not by much.  No brow tines five point, somebody is going to kill him this year unless he smartens up.  Need an arrow that won't permanently hurt him, just give a shock to the ass or something.

[mlammerhirt]

Had a good evening.
Tall 6pt. Inside his ears at 33yards....would of had to get on him quick but we decided to let him walk. Kicked up 2 young deer up on the way to check the neighbors field thay we border. We think the 6 that walked past us was out there with seven other deer. After watching them for 5 minutes or so a nice big bodied buck walked out of the neighboring woods....really didn't look to have a great rack but he sure did have a sway belly. Great eveneing....and worked put some kinks in the new Millennium Buck Blind.

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[corydd7]

Went to help track straight from work just got home. He went 100 yards no blood but we found him in thick mountain laurel. 

That's an elk and bear in back to back years for my little bro. 

[doebuck1234]

29 minutes ago, corydd7 said:

Went to help track straight from work just got home. He went 100 yards no blood but we found him in thick mountain laurel. 

That's an elk and bear in back to back years for my little bro. 

Out of likes for the day,congrats!

[Splitear]

3 hours ago, heavuser said:

Story Time!

 

Man of man, what a rush. This is not only my first bow buck but my first bow deer and first buck ever since I started hunting about 2 seasons ago now. Here's exactly how it all went down.

 

It started yesterday, for a few hours I was debating not going hunting today due to the weather forecast. I decided that since I had been prepping for this very day, for months, I wasn't going to miss it. This would be my first time hunting before the start of regular season.

At around 4pm I walked into my "spot" to setup my stand, prep work before Saturday's hunt. On the way in I bumped what I thought was a solid 4 point buck. I setup my stand then left. The next day I woke up around 3am, showered, headed out the door by 3:30am. I arrived at my spot around 4am, climbed up my stand and waited.

There was rain, on and off, not as bad as I thought it would be. While I was in my stand, cold and wet, I decided to try and pull back my bow, practice run. I couldn't do it..... my muscles were cold, I was tired. It took me 3-4 tries before I could pull it back. At that point I was extremely nervous. And in that nervousness I realized I am 100% overbowed, 70lbs is not for me. Not only am I overbowed but I increased my draw length by half an inch and ever since the bow randomly jumps forward if I let up on it even just a tad at full draw. No bueno. 

7:20am rolls by, I have to go to the bathroom... hell of a chore when you have to get past 3 layers of tight clothing. As I'm about to open the flood pipe I see my shooter buck 15 yrds from me ... Looking back on this, this was a moment I will remember for the rest of my life for so many reasons. My johnson in my hand, buck 15 yrds away from, and my body instantly flooding with adrenaline.

I scramble to get myself decent. After I position my feet, I grab my bow SLOWLY, then freeze. It's crazy how you can be 15yrds away from an animal that is hyper aware of it surroundings and it not see you. I purposely would not look it in the eyes, for some reason I thought this would help me to remain undetected.

His head is down, he's eating acorns in the exact spot I thought he would be. A twig snaps, he turns away from me, ears at the alert in the wrong direction. I pull back my bow, go to aim and the ^&%$ing bow jumps forward.... Thank GOD it was silent. I look at the buck and he goes back to his acorns..... For whatever reason he picks up his head and looks back in the same direction. I pull back once again, all crazy like, full left, because I am clearly overbowed. I put my pin on him. He is hard quartering to me. Only now do I realize this was a stupid, horrible, shot to make. I release my arrow.

I can see the arrow hit him, it looks like it enters high. He does a jump, back legs kick out, he runs about 45yards and then I heard two crashes. I know this sound, I've heard it plenty of times on youtube videos. A crash is almost certainly going to be a death. I pat myself on the back. Within 5 minutes I'm on the ground, I go to retrieve my arrow ..... What I saw next horrified me. The arrows is green, the ground is green, everything smells like stinky a$$. I gut shot the deer.

Now some of you members see me post on here. I have issues with shot placement for some reason. I guess this is the learning curve. All my shots, rifle, shotgun, and bow are always high. Even though my shot placement sucks, I have dropped every deer dead, over the last 2 seasons, with no tracking involved. Pure, dumb, blind, luck. 

I pull out my phone, google "gut shot deer with bow". Of course all the results mortify me. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to do I fall back on my initial observations. I heard this the drop. With this in mind I decided to at least walk to where I heard the crash and go from there.

I start to creep forward, very very slowly. I attempt to try to swing hard right and approach the spot instead of walking straight to it. After about 2 minutes I can see him. Belly first, no movement, head next, eyes open ... no movement. I get up to him and poke him, nothing.

Despite all my f-ups and just plain amateur decisions lady luck is STILL with me. At this point I was happy but equally upset with myself. Again, for the third time I messed up a shot. Why oh why oh WHY can I not get this right.

I roll him over, entrance wound is by the spine towards the upper half of the torso. Exit wound is on the lower belly. Keep in mind, no blood this entire time, no blood anywhere. I'm almost as excited to gut him as I was to shoot him. I needed to know how a shot this crappy could kill him in less than a minute. 

As soon as I punctured the chest cavity ALL excitement left me. This thing exploded, blood and bile came pouring out of the chest cavity, and I mean POURING out, it defied logic. The smell, THE SMELL. Even breathing through my mouth couldn't stop it, the air tasted like some kind of sweet sour rotting death. 

I quickly came to put the organ puzzle pieces together. When I hit the spine I must have hit a major artery, I clipped part of the back end of a lung and then flew right through the stomach. I'm assuming he died from the shear shock of the wound, possibly even suffocating as his chest cavity was insanely bloated before I started working on him. All the blood and the bile pooled inside of that cavity.

The broadhead I used was a Grim Reaper White Tail Special. It punched through spine material and shattered 2 ribs. I'm convinced that the huge 3" cut is the ONLY reason I was able to recover this deer. 

And well, ya'll know the rest of what happens. Fun quarter mile drag out and off to Quaker Creek, lol.

Since this is my first buck I decided to do a full shoulder mount. I'll be dropping him off on Monday with True-Life Taxidermy. I hear they do some of the best work in NY, hopefully as they charge 850$.

Welp, if you stuck around for that entire story then props to you because you basically when hunting with me this morning

Happy Shooting ya'll, and I can't wait to post again!

 

Congratulations, and I’m really happy you found him. With a shot like that, the guts plug up the exit hole and the entrance hole is high, so blood pools in the body rather than exiting. Still, an awesome looking buck, and one to remember.  Congrats. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Splitear

[corydd7]

4 hours ago, phade said:

Partner sends me this lol

Such a cool picture. Food plot looks amazing I'm very jealous. 

[corydd7]

3 hours ago, heavuser said:

Story Time!

 

Man of man, what a rush. This is not only my first bow buck but my first bow deer and first buck ever since I started hunting about 2 seasons ago now. Here's exactly how it all went down.

 

It started yesterday, for a few hours I was debating not going hunting today due to the weather forecast. I decided that since I had been prepping for this very day, for months, I wasn't going to miss it. This would be my first time hunting before the start of regular season.

At around 4pm I walked into my "spot" to setup my stand, prep work before Saturday's hunt. On the way in I bumped what I thought was a solid 4 point buck. I setup my stand then left. The next day I woke up around 3am, showered, headed out the door by 3:30am. I arrived at my spot around 4am, climbed up my stand and waited.

There was rain, on and off, not as bad as I thought it would be. While I was in my stand, cold and wet, I decided to try and pull back my bow, practice run. I couldn't do it..... my muscles were cold, I was tired. It took me 3-4 tries before I could pull it back. At that point I was extremely nervous. And in that nervousness I realized I am 100% overbowed, 70lbs is not for me. Not only am I overbowed but I increased my draw length by half an inch and ever since the bow randomly jumps forward if I let up on it even just a tad at full draw. No bueno. 

7:20am rolls by, I have to go to the bathroom... hell of a chore when you have to get past 3 layers of tight clothing. As I'm about to open the flood pipe I see my shooter buck 15 yrds from me ... Looking back on this, this was a moment I will remember for the rest of my life for so many reasons. My johnson in my hand, buck 15 yrds away from, and my body instantly flooding with adrenaline.

I scramble to get myself decent. After I position my feet, I grab my bow SLOWLY, then freeze. It's crazy how you can be 15yrds away from an animal that is hyper aware of it surroundings and it not see you. I purposely would not look it in the eyes, for some reason I thought this would help me to remain undetected.

His head is down, he's eating acorns in the exact spot I thought he would be. A twig snaps, he turns away from me, ears at the alert in the wrong direction. I pull back my bow, go to aim and the ^&%$ing bow jumps forward.... Thank GOD it was silent. I look at the buck and he goes back to his acorns..... For whatever reason he picks up his head and looks back in the same direction. I pull back once again, all crazy like, full left, because I am clearly overbowed. I put my pin on him. He is hard quartering to me. Only now do I realize this was a stupid, horrible, shot to make. I release my arrow.

I can see the arrow hit him, it looks like it enters high. He does a jump, back legs kick out, he runs about 45yards and then I heard two crashes. I know this sound, I've heard it plenty of times on youtube videos. A crash is almost certainly going to be a death. I pat myself on the back. Within 5 minutes I'm on the ground, I go to retrieve my arrow ..... What I saw next horrified me. The arrows is green, the ground is green, everything smells like stinky a$$. I gut shot the deer.

Now some of you members see me post on here. I have issues with shot placement for some reason. I guess this is the learning curve. All my shots, rifle, shotgun, and bow are always high. Even though my shot placement sucks, I have dropped every deer dead, over the last 2 seasons, with no tracking involved. Pure, dumb, blind, luck. 

I pull out my phone, google "gut shot deer with bow". Of course all the results mortify me. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to do I fall back on my initial observations. I heard this the drop. With this in mind I decided to at least walk to where I heard the crash and go from there.

I start to creep forward, very very slowly. I attempt to try to swing hard right and approach the spot instead of walking straight to it. After about 2 minutes I can see him. Belly first, no movement, head next, eyes open ... no movement. I get up to him and poke him, nothing.

Despite all my f-ups and just plain amateur decisions lady luck is STILL with me. At this point I was happy but equally upset with myself. Again, for the third time I messed up a shot. Why oh why oh WHY can I not get this right.

I roll him over, entrance wound is by the spine towards the upper half of the torso. Exit wound is on the lower belly. Keep in mind, no blood this entire time, no blood anywhere. I'm almost as excited to gut him as I was to shoot him. I needed to know how a shot this crappy could kill him in less than a minute. 

As soon as I punctured the chest cavity ALL excitement left me. This thing exploded, blood and bile came pouring out of the chest cavity, and I mean POURING out, it defied logic. The smell, THE SMELL. Even breathing through my mouth couldn't stop it, the air tasted like some kind of sweet sour rotting death. 

I quickly came to put the organ puzzle pieces together. When I hit the spine I must have hit a major artery, I clipped part of the back end of a lung and then flew right through the stomach. I'm assuming he died from the shear shock of the wound, possibly even suffocating as his chest cavity was insanely bloated before I started working on him. All the blood and the bile pooled inside of that cavity.

The broadhead I used was a Grim Reaper White Tail Special. It punched through spine material and shattered 2 ribs. I'm convinced that the huge 3" cut is the ONLY reason I was able to recover this deer. 

And well, ya'll know the rest of what happens. Fun quarter mile drag out and off to Quaker Creek, lol.

Since this is my first buck I decided to do a full shoulder mount. I'll be dropping him off on Monday with True-Life Taxidermy. I hear they do some of the best work in NY, hopefully as they charge 850$.

Welp, if you stuck around for that entire story then props to you because you basically when hunting with me this morning

Happy Shooting ya'll, and I can't wait to post again!

 

You did a great job telling the story, almost better then the result of the hunt. Lol I do the same thing not looking the deer in the eyes I swear it works.

Congratulations on your first bow buck it happened for you much quicker then lots of hunters, your doing a lot right.

My first bow buck was September 29th, early season pays off with cool temperatures. 

I live literally 2 minutes from true life, had work done there. Expensive but good work, quick turnaround. 

 

[mattypotpie8S]

Gonna head in soon to a spot I'm not running a camera. Don't know what's living in there. At the very least it will be nice to knock some rust off

[DirtTime]

Wanted to hunt a field edge, wind and feeling like crap so back in the blind I was in yesterday. 

[crappyice]

I'm in 3S management program- kicked a bunch from the parking lot- here's to hoping


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[Fletch]

Up and in 48 degrees light breeze. Was a good start for the forum yesterday! Keep it going.


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[All4thebucks]

Good luck everybody.


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[heavuser]

I must have found some kind of buck honey hole.... Here is an 8 pointer from last night .....

[WWJD_Hunter]

Set up 2 of the year  Congrats to those how got it done yesterday  

[WNY Bowhunter]

12 hours ago, moog5050 said:

 Congrats ms Wny.  Happy for her Bro.  She puts her time in

Thanks. She was pumped, especially after a couple of close calls on big bucks last year. That was the buck I had in mind when I told her to sit there last night.

It's too bad that I will have to be the designated hunter for the rest of the season now LOL!

[Cabin Fever]

Not digging the swirling winds. Had a doe and fawn pass by, shortly after daylight.

Cell cams were pretty quiet last night. Just 2 small bucks and a doe. The one buck was a new one to the area. Never seen it before.


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[Moho81]

Back in again. Feels like one of those pointless mornings for some reason. I’ll stick it out just in case it’s not.


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[DirtTime]

Congrats to those who got it done.

 

A fox, a raccoon, and a few squirrels so far. Buddy found his release on the way out yesterday, 20 yards from his blind.