2020 Archery Harvest Thread ONLY !

[fasteddie]

Harvest Thread only . No chit-chat . No congrats . Just the harvest post . Any other posts will be deleted . 

For those unaware, we are not supposed to comment in the harvest thread.  Just post harvest pics and “likes” if you want.

[Zag]

Sons first deer, originally posted in the other thread that’s spiraling out of control. 

[silent death]

Posting this here incase the other thread gets locked up 

[Robhuntandfish]

osted October 3

Doe down to refill the freezer.  Crazy morn in the woods, it felt like mid season.  Got in the mosh pit stand in 6S before light.   A little before 8 I hear walking here come two does walking right at me. I draw on the first and bigger one and she comes to my stand straight in at like 4 yards. I have to let down and turn as she goes by and no she is walking straight away . Finally she turns at 25 and I send it.   Think it's a good hit as she takes off. Give it 15 minutes and get down.  Find arrow and blood on it up 12" about 10 yards away.  And a blood trail. Decide to get back in stand and give it a 1/2 hour.

Just get sat back down and three more doe come in they get to within 38 .  Thought about it but unless it's a layup better just worry out the one I got.  They walk away then come trotting back looking over their shoulders. I get ready and I hear grunt grunt grunt phhhh. There is buck behind them somewhere. They keep looking back in the woods then come out in the field. I have a perfect 30 yard on a big doe but I hold off cause of the buck. Well he never came out. 

10 minutes later 4 more different doe come thru and skirt me at 40 in the brush.  Finally after they are gone for 15 minutes. I have to go look for my deer.

Start following blood and can tell it's a definite lung hit cause it's spraying.  After a few find her laying in the middle of the horse field about 120 away.  Yes!!!!

Hit her double lung and then hit outside shoulder.  She had been laying there prob after 2 minutes.  Decent sized doe and it didn't have any fawns so it is a freezer filler. 

Earliest I've even filled a tag. Great start to the season.  And a great day in the woods.  Thank you everyone for all the rooting for me!  

And pic of bloodying up the new truck! Lol.  

[The_Real_TCIII]

Both deer were @24 yards and they piled up ten yards apart. Turns out the buck spent a lot of time in my neighborhood over the summer and I shot him 8/10 of a mile away. Included the tractor pic because I know@Belo will want to comment but can't here lol. I kid, because I know you can take a joke


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[chrisw]

It was a great opening day for me. I saw 5 does and fawns this AM. Decided to go out close to home tonight to a spot I haven't scouted or ran any cameras at all this year. I knew there is a lot of oaks in there and should be dropping. I went in and found a good tree and climbed up. It was slow except for raccoons eating acorns all afternoon. An hour before dark I had a small 5 point come in behind me, followed by a young 8 point. They feed around at 10-30yds for half an hour then they both go on alert and are looking to where they came from. 5 minutes later I see another buck coming, noticeably larger. He came up and stopped at 12yds and I sent a Spitfire through his lungs, he made it 50 yds. I'm happy to have him but hunting through November without a buck tag will feel odd!

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[chrisw]

Quick recap from this AM. Shortly after light I was sitting in my climber and a blonde coyote appeared at 25 yds coming right to me. I couldn't move quick enough and he got past me, I lip squeaked and he stopped but not long enough. He disappeared for 10 seconds and deer blew out everywhere. They worked behind me a few at a time. The first few sets of deer were does with fawns so I passed. Finally toward the back I saw a big lone doe walking out around 50 yds. She got in the open and just stood there. I ranged her at exactly 50 yds, then decided I didn't want to shoot that far. 3-4 minutes passed and she still hasn't moved but being behind me I couldn't angle around my tree enough. I decided to swivel my climber around the tree a few inches at a time. I did that and she still hasn't moved, perfectly broadside. I ranged her again, 50. I moved my sight pin and decided I'd draw back and settle the pin and if I didn't feel comfortable I'd let down. Well I settled good so I let it fly. Hit her a few inches high but it exited right behind her offside shoulder. She hit the ground, stood back up for 10 seconds and tipped over right there. Meanwhile I'm still surrounded by deer. As I'm waiting for the deer to work off I notice a 2 yr old buck coming in to 20 yds. I took a few pics as he went by and waited for him to leave and got down. All of this before 8AM! Crazy

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[dinorocks]

I got lucky after yesterday’s afternoon hunt!   I was hunting behind my house from my ground blind I just fixed up located in the oak trees (and on the fringe of some wild apple trees). I was using my Bear Montana 45# longbow and one-piece three blade broadhead (I have been switching back and forth between my Bear longbow and my primitive self bow with stone points).  Around 6:00PM I saw a deer slowly feeding into the oaks toward me...I was able to take a couple dry (practice) draws getting comfortable with a potential shot as the deer had no clue I was sitting about 20 yards away.  The deer then started to slowly turn and walk away…as soon as the deer turned, I was ready and took a quartering away shot.  I was using an LED nock and I saw that my shot was right where I wanted it when the deer bolted out the oaks, the same way it came in.  After about 15 minutes (and hearing that the deer crashed off in the distance), I slowly got out of the blind to see what kind of blood trail I would be dealing with.  I noticed that the arrow did not completely pass through but did partially exit on the other side (the LED was not visible when the deer took off).  After walking about 10 yards down the trail the deer took, I found 80% of my arrow (with the broadhead) …covered in bright red blood, but no blood on the ground.  At this point I couldn’t tell if the deer either continued straight down the trail or made a sharp right turn off the trail and through some very thick brush.  I backed off, regrouped, and returned after about 30 minutes.  When I continued tracking where I left off, I started to take the easy route (straight down the trail) hoping to find some blood…nothing at all.  I was not yet discouraged as I knew I hit the deer good and it would eventually start to lose some blood.  Based on the crashing of branches I heard when the deer took off, I figured it must have headed into the thick brush to the right of the trail.  Knowing my hunting area very well, I decided I would take the easy trail and then cut to the right through the hard woods toward the creek in hopes I would find blood on one of the deer trails that I was going to cut across.  If I didn’t find any blood, my plan was to then head back up to where I found the arrow and start crawling through the thick brush in hopes I could pick up the trail (I really do enjoy tracking deer).  As I got about 50 yards down the trail, I just about stumbled on the deer.  The deer did make a hard right through the brush and then circled back around to the trail before it expired.  I was not expecting to see any “antlers” as I thought I was shooting a doe...but when I pulled him from the tall grass, I saw two very little spikes…after eyeballing the length and then taking an official measurement, I tagged him with my DMP.  While I field dressed the deer, I was thinking that the broadhead had broken off inside so I took my time…I felt part of the arrow and when I pulled out the arrow section, my blood-covered hand was glowing a very bright red…in all the excitement (and maybe the beer I had while I “regrouped”) it took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at...I realized that I was holding the glowing LED nock with blood-soaked fletching and then remembered that the broadhead was on the section of arrow I found previously.   I did a little inspection of the organs and saw that I hit at least one of the lungs...no other organs.  I dragged the deer home, quartered it, and put on ice…I’ll finish processing the deer in a couple days.  As much as I like to track deer, I was just as happy this time to have been lucky enough to have stumbled on my deer...it saved lots of time which was good because it was too warm to hang the deer over night.  Below are a few picts from the hunt.  Thanks for reading and good luck harvesting your deer(s)!

Dino

[Hock3y24]

Reposting in this thread. Sat about 4 PM, already had 2 doe and a fawn in the field but i made it up undetected. At about 5:45 a fawn cam running across the field by herself and not being followed about 150 yards out. At 6 PM i had 4-8 deer running full speed behind my stand by me, and they they all stopped directly down wind. 2 doe and 2 spikes walked out right under my stand and started browsing. I could see one more deer in the woods and confirmed it was a fawn. Picked the Doe at 8 yards and sent a Magnus black hornet through her shoulder and out her heart. She mule kicked, stomping and breaking my arrow, ran through the rock wall breaking her back leg, and crashed after 50 yards. Broadhead is unscathed and getting sharpened now!

[Arcade Hunter]

Repost

 

On the board!

Opening day I bumped this one out of his bed and found active scrapes in his area.  Sunday evening I caught him and another real big one entering a bean field and have a good idea what the travel route is from the bedding area to the feeding area... so last night I had a pretty good wind and I decided to set up on the travel route to the bean field... the route connects a crp field to the bean field through a narrow strip of hardwoods.  I set up about 10 yds inside the the field edge, well brushed in and facing the travel route.  About 6:15, I turn around to look out into the field and there he is!  He snuck in behind me!  I have no shot and he is too far away .  I know I have to move to the field edge and get in a spot where I can shoot without being seen, I found the spot I needed to move to then waited for him to put his head down into the beans.  Every time his head went down, I took a baby step towards the edge.  Eventually  I made it to where I had to be and as luck would have it, he is feeding toward my shooting opening and after what seemed like forever, he was there.  I drew and hit the release just as he started to walk again the the arrow hit him ... he turned away and took a few rapid steps then went down.  Im flipping out now cause I know it was a bad shot, but he is down and trying to get up but he cant,, so I watch him intently and within two minutes his head went down and he expired.   34 yd shot

Now I realize that I am not going to be able to  get him out of here myself.  I made a post in Live from the woods to see if anybody was nearby because I need some help!  

Then TF calls me and is on the way... Tacks is looking for help for me, Larry is giving high fives,  Moho is pumped, Zeke is offering help, Andrew is all in for a drag... Ill tell you that we have the finest group of like minded people on here and that makes this the very best part of the hunt!

Andrew took the pictures... great job and he is a dragging machine along with Jay... I just cannot give enough thanks  to this group for support and help!  And, This is a certified GTG!

On the public from the ground to boot

 

[FullDraw_9x]

10/11/2020 - 25 yard double lung

[crappyice]

 

10/17 - Doubled down on does.

 

1st one came in at 5:10 - made a clean shot and she looped in front of me to expire.

2nd one- Wasn’t sure if I was going to take the second one but she just hung around too long. She was a bit leery after being in the area for 15 minutes after she came in. Hit was a bit high and back- clipped lead lung and guts (bad). Let her sit and long recovery ensued.

After lowering my bow to get to work a pretty good buck came in - would love for my hunting partner to get him or for him to to get another year on him!

Love making meat!

 

 

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[Hock3y24]

Figured I’d throw this up, even though I was just over the PA border, that’s my exit hole, and she still went 250 yards or so with a high double lung that hit the bottom of the spine. As least I found out there’s no such thing as a “no mans zone” below the spine. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by Hock3y24

[Trial153]

I Killed him this morning trailing a doe. My son did a good job blood trailing him

[NYBowhunter]

First sit of the season, 3 does came into the foodplot, took the largest one.

[doebuck1234]

Wow what a morning,not even sure where to start.got settled in right around 630 and waited for day break.around 730 i had a buck sneak in behind me and make a scrape 20yrds from stand.decided to pass as he looked smaller,watched him wonder onto neighbors property around 80 yards away.a few mins later i see another figure then heard antlers smashing,sure enough it was bucks fighting!!!!gave em a few grunts,got their attention but wouldnt commit.a few mins later 2 doe pop out and i saw a dark figure around 120yards away.let out a few grunts and it slowly worked my way.got within 50 and knew it was him!!!worked his way right to me at 30,drew and bow hit limbs on pine tree!!!!had to draw down,by then he's walking away from me.give em 2 more grunts and he turns right back to me beating up saplings on his way.draw and the rest is history at about 17 yards!cousin also took a shot today but at a 6pter,right under him at 35 yards.felt my phone going off as i had this buck coming in.answered n told em to hold on,all this happened with him on the phone in coat pocket!!!!.target buck and couldnt be more happy!!!!!by far my biggest buck aswell!sorry for long story,have plenty more i could say but you guys get it.

[BowmanMike]

Got my 2nd bow buck in my fairly short bow hunting adventure yesterday. The longer version of the story is in the live from the woods thread. 

This was the first case of ground shrinkage for me,but only when it comes to antlers. I thought he had more points. The antlers are well past his ears though and not too skinny. His body is big,i hope to get a scale to check. Not sure if he is just a big 1.5 year old or maybe a small racked 2.5 year old. His body was a lot bigger than the two does that came through before him.

[G-Man]

Well I didnt get chance to post this yesterday so , had a spike come by at 8 am and this doe came out about 9 am gave me a 20 yards shot ran 20 yard bed down and died in sight of the stand , nice doe dressed 110. 

 

So went out this am to back of property took an hours walk to get there. Was just settled in and was going to read a few pages of online novel I've been reading when I heard walking ,watched this guy come across neighbors woods and as it got closer I decided I'd better shoot it though it is not biggest I have on cam at 20 yards it went behind I tree I drew and it froze. Thought about liver shot but it was only a second and it stepped out other side of tree and gave me perfect heart/lung shot at 22 yards , ran about 45 and collapsed . 1st time i broke a blade on broadhead shooting a deer.  Dressed 150 or so ( notches on my 120 year old hog scale are pretty wore between 140 and 160 so I cannot get closer than 2 lbs or so. )

[G-Man]

Well I didnt get chance to post this yesterday so , had a spike come by at 8 am and this doe came out about 9 am gave me a 20 yards shot ran 20 yard bed down and died in sight of the stand , nice doe dressed 110. 

 

So went out this am to back of property took an hours walk to get there. Was just settled in and was going to read a few pages of online novel I've been reading when I heard walking ,watched this guy come across neighbors woods and as it got closer I decided I'd better shoot it though it is not biggest I have on cam at 20 yards it went behind I tree I drew and it froze. Thought about liver shot but it was only a second and it stepped out other side of tree and gave me perfect heart/lung shot at 22 yards , ran about 45 and collapsed . 1st time i broke a blade on broadhead shooting a deer.  Dressed 150 or so ( notches on my 120 year old hog scale are pretty wore between 140 and 160 so I cannot get closer than 2 lbs or so. )

 

Update, Was 149 on butcher's scale at processor, guess the old hog scale still works!

[2012_taco]

Last night in 9F, I posted this in the live from the woods thread so I'm not going to write it all over but, I got lucky! As others have said many times it can change in a minute! From the time this guy walked out into the clover patch until I shot was honestly < 15 seconds. 

[dinorocks]

 

This morning I headed out to my ground blind located in the oaks behind the house this for a quick hunt before work.  As I was getting ready to head back home after a brief sit, and without any deer sightings, I saw a doe approaching my blind from behind me.  She was walking straight for the blind and I figured she would see me and bolt as she was approaching the open entrance to my blind, so I just stood very still to watch everything play out.  She fed, eating acorns, as she walked right in front of my blind entrance, and just before I thought she was going to lift her head, see me, and take off, she kept grazing and moved out of sight.  Now with a tree between me and the deer, I prepared myself to make a shot as she walked in front of one of my shooting openings.  After a minute or so, I thought she picked up on what was going on and disappeared at an angle out of my sight.  Well, much to my surprise, she turned and started to walk into my blind.  At this point I was fully ready albeit in awe that the deer was so close, and literally in my blind.  As soon as the shot presented itself, I released the arrow and it sailed straight through her boiler room.   I jumped up on my sitting log and watched her make a semicircle and drop in front of my sugar shack about 40 yards from where I shot her. I’m extremely excited that I made a good shot and she expired very fast.  My only regret is that I didn’t have my selfbow and my newly made stone point arrows.  Something to look forward to…stay tuned!  Good luck!

[Swamp_bucks]

what a shit show this morning.

made my way 1.5 miles to the area i wanted to hunt.  well I've only been in there 3 times now in the dark so i missed my tree and had to walk back across the ridge to get to my stand.  once i finally found it i was frustrated with myself for putting down so much ground scent and got my stuff ready and went up the pre hung stand.  got onto the platform(i know I should've been tied off going up) went to put on my safety strap and it wasn't around my chest it was back at my truck.  At this point i was pretty upset with myself so i collected myself went back down the tree and made my way 30 yards down the ridge to where there was a blow down and got myself ready.  At this point its almost 710 I'm pissed that I left my safety strap, soaked from the snow and sweat and felt that the day was a bust.  

730 i decided to do a grunting sequence to maybe draw something in before I froze.  Within 5 minutes i look up and see a big 8 walking across the top of the ridge.  Ears pinned back looking for a fight.  I new the path he was on so i found a hole at 20 yards he had to get to.  As he approaches  I draw my bow he is 3 steps from the hole when he stops.  His nose and tips of his tines are in my shooting lane and then the wind shifts right at him and off he goes. 

Realizing he didn't completely freak I waited 20 minutes and decided to rattle and grunt to see  if I could draw him back.  Within 3 minutes I look up and see the buck i shot coming my way fast with his nose to the ground.  He made it past my shooting lane and continued feeding and moving quick along the ridge.  He was cutting all the doe trails.  He made his way out to about 80 yards and turned it was coming back on the same exact trail.  at one point i thought he had me pinned but he licked his nose and through his head back down.  i went to full draw right before he hit the opening.  I stopped him with a whistle settled the pin and spined him.   I thought he was pushing 25-30 yards so i held like i practiced and he was more like 15 so i hit a little high.  So I rushed up to him and put a second arrow in him.  From first shot to his last breath was under 2 minutes which made me feel better.

My biggest bow buck to date and I couldn't be happier with him.  It took 4 hours to get him out and to the truck and total miles walked was about 5 miles.  I am very glad I made that deer cart because it was a life savor and I would probably still be dragging.  I've hunted this spot 3 times 2 bucks down 6 or 7 6points or bigger spotted.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Swamp_bucks

[Robhuntandfish]

No eating the bow tag this season. 6 pointer. Not a monster but happy for sure. Came out about 15 min before sundown about 40 yards in the woods from the cow field behind me. Seen him step in woods and knew it was a buck. He went thru the woods at 40 and no shot I would take. He started to the treeline along the field and was not gonna give me a chance so I grabbed the grunt call and he stopped dead in his tracks 

He started coming back towards me and then came out on a deer trail out into the field. He was sniffing the ground hard and was standing perfect broadside. I thought at first it was a four point and was gonna pass but he just stood there perfect and for too long and after last season, well I sent it. 

He went right down to the ground in a pile.  I spined him and he was down but not out.  So grabbed another arrow to send and just when I did he flopped and I just caught the leg sending it into the beans. So grabbed another arrow and hit by shoulder. Knew he was done then.

Sat in the stand for a few til it got dark and the field looked like Xmas since I shoot lighted knocks and had two Ted and one green out there.lol

Coyotes started yipping about 500 yards away so I rushed back to the farm to borrow the gator and got him out. 

Not great pics as a night extraction is always a mess but happy to have a buck down. But it will be weird to be tagless and the rut coming. 

[moog5050]

So the story.   Hunting with Culver Creek and our friend Terry on Halloween.  Great morning and lots of activity.  Sat an area that is typically good last weekend of Oct - wall hanger shot 3 years in a row there-  now 4.  

10:30 I text Culver saying that everything seemed to be going quiet.   All of a sudden I see a doe to my left running straight at me.  Behind her in full stride are several bucks one of which looked huge.   I didn’t think I would even get the bow off the hanger let alone a shot before they ran by.   But the cooperative doe she was (we make quite a team) she stopped and started circling through the brush 15yds to my left.   I draw and one buck steps out and it was a shooter but not the bigger one so I start scrambling trying to find the bigger one as they keep chasing around.  I see tall tines running out to my left at 20yds but he was through the lane before I could get on him.  He starts heading up a hill behind me so I find a small opening and bleat when he hits it and let the arrow fly.    Still pretty brushy but I thought a good shot until he runs 50 yds away, stops and watches the chasing still going on.   Then the doe takes off away from me with the other buck in tow.  I am expecting my buck to tip over but nope, he runs full speed after the doe.   Well that ain’t good.  

Check arrow and sure enough, green and brown.  No blood.   Sneak over to where he stood and find some blood.   So I decided to back out and go home.  After consulting with my trusted member friends - thanks guys- we decided it was best to let him lay overnight.   Culver thought he saw him the buck head over a hill in the direction of the chase.   Tough 24hrs for sure   

Treeguy offered/stated he would be there this morning for the track.   He is 100% on recoveries on his Bday, this being his third.  Long story somewhat shorter, we had little blood but with Culver’s intel and a photo I had on a trail camera we were able to search the right area.  Took a while grid searching and I was thinking we were done when Drew calls me over.   Sure enough, that buck laid down with his back to yesterday’s wind in brush looking down the hill on the trail he took when injured.   Textbook.  

Got stomach and some liver.   Not sure if I just made a bad shot or there was a deflection. Regardless the good Lord showed us favor.  

I think he will break 140 based on a quick tape.  Jason will confirm but that would make him my highest scoring buck to date.   Very very happy.   Little time to hunt over the next few weeks with things taking precedent at home.  Thank you God and my friends.  

Some pics as he laid.  

Edited November 1, 2020 by moog5050

[E J]

This morning I went out to a stand that has always been good to see cruising bucks from this time of year. About 7 I heard something so I turned and looked and saw a decent looking buck about 20 yards away. I was able to stand up and get my bow off the hook relatively quickly.  When he was 15 yards away in a shooting lane I let it rip. I hit just a little further back than I liked but knew I had complete pass through. I wanted to wait until lunch time but with the rain coming in a friend and I headed out about 11. I found him shortly after we started looking for him. I had hit him a bit back but he was quartering at a favorable angle for the shot. It's been 8 years since my last deer with a bow so I was pretty happy to get him.