WNYBuckHunter's Outdoor Journal

[WNYBuckHunter]

Went put this morning a bit late. Met up with my hunting partner Mark and I decided we should stalk a creek bed that the deer typically lay up in on windy days. Mark was skeptical but went along anyhow. He told me how much he doesn't like to still hunt as we went along. Right off the bat we bumped 4 does, which took off out of range. We figured they were gone so we continued on, despite thinking the place we were stalking on was now ruined. Half way up, the 4 does were doubling back and we almost had shots at them. We got back to the spot we were stalking on and stood there making a game plan to do a small drive. I saw some funny looking brush and after looking at it 5 or 6 times I grabbed my binos and took a peek. I said to Mark "hey there's a shooter buck right there" and proceeded to get down and move to the fence where I could get a good rest. I got the buck in my scope and held just over the top of his back, as he was bedded down, and squeezed the trigger. I saw the dirt flu right behind him and he looked right at us. I had misjudged the distance and blew it. Mark took the shot, dropping the buck immediately. After high fives and a hug we headed over to see his deer. It turned out to be a deer I had named Yardstick. We got up to him and noticed he wasn't an 8, as we thought, but a 10 with triple brows on one side and a 20" inside spread. Big congrats to Mark on his biggest deer of his life and his first deer on a still hunt.

This buck had an arrow hanging out of his rear quarter and had gotten clipped in the rear leg during a drive last evening. We were glad to put him down.

We both agreed that this was the most fun hunt of our lives and would be one that we would both remember forever. This is why I hunt!

Off to the afternoon hunt!

[Lawdwaz]

You sent me that second picture in a text today?  Hah, I had no idea who sent it!

 

Congrats to your buddy Mark.

 

Good luck tonight!

[moog5050]

Congrats - Phade mentioned you guys shot a wide one.  Well done.

[BizCT]

Awesome buck!

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[Deerthug]

Great buck and story. Congrats to you both.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys, it was a great hunt. I green scored the buck at 109 3/4. I thought he would go higher than that, but knew the short tines would keep the score down. Inside spread is 19 1/2.

[Five Seasons]

This buck had an arrow hanging out of his rear quarter and had gotten clipped in the rear leg during a drive last evening. We were glad to put him down.

We both agreed that this was the most fun hunt of our lives and would be one that we would both remember forever. This is why I hunt!

Off to the afternoon hunt!

 

wow, that guy was tough but his luck ran out. great rack.

[Fletch]

Nice buck, way to get it done!

[WNYBuckHunter]

So I have had the whole week of Thanksgiving off, and my kids werent around alot, so I spent almost all of it in the woods. Ill start at the beginning of my vacation...

 

Saturday, Nov 23rd...

After missing the buck and a doe on the previous Monday with my Encore, I took my old Mossberg 500 20ga out for the morning sit. It was a cold morning, and I didnt see much at all. After the morning sit, the guys wanted to get together to do a few drives, so we headed to my buddys place to grab a bite to eat and get the plan together. We headed out after making plans and started our drives. In the afternoon, it was very windy and started snowing. It was great hunting weather, especially for the areas we were working. We ended up with 1 doe down, but a few more had slipped by in the blowing snow.

 

 

After doing our drive, I headed back to my buddys and we sighted in my muzzle loader. It turned out that the scope was off, it was shooting 6 inches high due to being knocked over and having another gun fall on it. No wonder I had shot over the back of the buck the previous week!

 

Sunday, Nov 24th...

The morning hunt was cold, and snowy, with about two inches or so of snow on the ground from the night before. It was a very pretty sit. I sat on our food plots, hoping for a doe to stroll by. No such luck, but it was a great sit.

 

 

The afternoon was spent on the property of a person that we know. We did two drives, with the first one producing a great 2 1/2 year old 8 point to a girl that had never shot a buck before. I was very happy to be a part of her getting her first buck!

 

Monday, Nov 25th...

My morning hunt on Monday was a sit in a stand that had produced good sightings all during bow season, and I was very hopeful. Nothing showed that morning, but it was still a nice sit.

 

 

I still hunted part of the swamp for the rest of that morning, then went to my buddys for lunch and we made plans for the afternoon. I headed back to the food plots to sit in my new gun stand there. No sightings that day.

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Tuesday, Nov 26th...

All I had on Tuesday was the morning hunt, as I had to pick my kids up in the afternoon. It was a chilly, windy sit with no sightings. I left mid morning and took the day off to relax and spend time with the kids.

 

Wednesday, Nov 27th...

I got down to the farm and started with still hunting, as we ha the snow storm with about 6 or 8 inches of snow over night. I tried my hand at tracking a deer by its fresh tracks, and ended up bumping it before I could get a shot. I continued to still hunt, and ended up taking an off hand shot at a doe at 60 or 70 yards, and I clipped a branch, sending her running with 3 others that were in the thicket with her. 10 minutes later, I botched the shot on another doe, about 125 yards out. For the evening, my buddy offered for me to use his Remington 870 12 ga. I accepted and we headed out to do a ground sit. We sat about 400 yards apart, on either side of a standing corn field. Right before sunset, I had 2 does come across the field edge. Both met their fate before they could reach the corn. 2 does down, and 2 DMAPs filled for the farmer! A great evening!

 

Thanksgiving Day...

Thanksgiving is a day that we start out with drives and keep going with them until everyone has to head to dinner. We ran drives on 3 different properties and ended up with 2 does down, and a few misses at the end of the day. 2 more DMAPs filled. I left at 2 and headed home to dinner and stuffed myself. Fell asleep on the couch.

 

Friday, Nov 29th...

Let me back track. Earlier this year at work, I met a girl, Sara, that is from Cypress and goes to one of the local colleges. She was doing an internship at one of my client's offices. We developed a good friendship, and in talking, I mentioned to her that I hunt. She told me she has always wanted to go hunting, and that she was thinking of getting her safety course done and buying her license this year. I helped her with all of the info she needed, but she never had a chance to take the course, with her busy schedule. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to her and asked if she would like to come along with me on a hunt this week, since I was on vacation, and she had Thanksgiving break from school. She said yes, and we planned it for this morning. She got to my place at 5:30 this morning, and I got the truck loaded up and we headed out. We were in my newly placed double ladder stand before daylight and sat there talking a bit and enjoying the woods, and great scenery. Around 9:30, my hunting partner, Mark, gave me a call and told me he was going to do a still hunt, and asked where Id like him to go, so if he bumped anything out, it might head toward us. I told him where I thought would work well and he said he would see us soon. I explained to Sara what was going to happen, and told her that if Mark disturbed any deer, they would either go one of two ways. One way would put them right in our laps. Less than 10 minutes later, I see a deer heading across the field, right toward us, so I nudged Sara to show her the deer. I decided that unless it was a small buck, I would take the deer if given the chance. As it crossed the field, I noticed it had a very nice, big body, so we watched as it approached the edge of the woods. It stopped before entering the woods, and stood there, looking around. As it entered the wood line, I noticed it had a rack, so I put my scope on him and saw he was outside the ears. That was the last I looked at his rack, and I looked his body over. He was a tank, so I started concentrating on a shot. He got onto a horse trail that goes by my stand at 30 yards and started trotting toward us. I got my gun ready, and accidentally made a noise on the blind material. He stood there looking at us, with his vitals behind a tree. After 30 seconds or so, he continued down the trail and I got my muzzle loader in position for a shot in the first shooting lane. As he stepped into the lane, I gave him a quick "mehhh" and he stopped, slightly quartering to us. I put my crosshair right on the front of his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. I heard the impact and he dropped his tail and head and started on a dead run. After giving him 2 hours, and a 100 - 125 yard track, we found him piled up in the old apple orchard. Hes a great 2 1/2 year old with 8 scorable points, but he has a 9h small point and you can see where a 10th small one had broken off.

 

Pics from todays hunt...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Next, here are some trail cam pics I have of my buck scraping not too long ago...

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Heres a series of my buck fighting with a smaller buck just last week...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lawdwaz]

More pics of Ms Cypress please.............................

Edited November 30, 2013 by Lawdwaz

[WNYBuckHunter]

LOL Larry, she is a looker. Trust me.

[fasteddie]

Looks like you are having a great season . Congrats ! 

[Geno C]

nice pics! is that the new honey? 

[BizCT]

Congrats on the 8. Only bad thing is your girl thinks this is easy. Now when u don't get one, shes going to think you don't know what your doing lol.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Eddie. It has been a fantastic season so far.

Geno, no shes not. Shes a great friend.

[josephmrtn]

 

 

 

 

do yourself a favor and ask mark to sling his gun opposite shoulder next time sorry im picky about stuff like that lol

[WNYBuckHunter]

There were no rounds in the gun Joe. We keep it safe bud.

[Lawdwaz]

Interesting dates on the trail cam pics.