WNYBuckHunter's Outdoor Journal

[pewlodar]

Nice buck. Was gonna say looks like he was beating up on a tree not to long ago.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys!

Lol DTG, thats my project for tomorrow. Gonna get my Clark Griswold on!

[GreeneHunter]

Great Looking Buck ... Congrats

[Lawdwaz]

Great buck! As already mentioned, nice regroup after the dud. I'd be SOL with my ML'er.

That's a good poke for any ML gun, well done.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Lawdwaz. I know right where she is at 200, just shot it out there at the range Sunday. Shes dialed in for sure.

[Kot2B]

Nice buck! Bright white antlers and tall tines. Gotta love the distance from a ML, seems like even with the smokeless powder there is always that couple second delay for the smoke to clear and see the shot. At least this guy fell over and you got to see where he headed. Great job!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks!

[First-light]

Very nice, love the rack on him! Enjoy Turkey day with the family!

Edited November 22, 2012 by First-light

[tughillhunter]

Awesome buck! Great story, glad you got the hog! Happy t-day!

[Zem18]

Great story and a beautiful buck. That grin on your face tells the entire story though. Congrats.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys!

First light, I hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving as well.

Zemmer, its still there.

[Geno C]

Congrats! Good job

[Elmo]

Congratulations!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yesterday I got out with the guys and girls for some drives of different spots. There were 10 of us, so we got to do some of the bigger spots. On the first drive, I had a doe and two yearlings come by my stand at about 60 yards, and I missed the doe. I was using my 20 ga Mossy 500 with just the iron sights. Its been a while since I have hunted with irons, and I shot right under her. The second drive I saw zip, and the third one, I was posted at the bottom of a large gully that runs down a hill side, and had a deer come up behind me from the bottom while I was watching in the direction of the drivers. She was waving the white flag, running away by the time I got turned and had my gun up. Had fun with the group.

Today we did family stuff, didnt get out but I spent time cutting up deer after dinner.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Last night I headed over to a buddys to finish cutting up deer. I was able to inspect the shoulder of the buck I shot. Now someone on here mentioned that they did not think Hornady SSTs expanded very well. I really should have taken pictures of the buck's shoulder, because it was just plain mangled from the shot. The near side wound was just at the front of the shoulder, and nicked the bone, destroying part of the meat up in the front of that shoulder, and the bullet exited directly through the offside shoulder. I got zero meat from that shoulder, as the SST turned it to mush. When I trimmed the meat and removed the deer's left front leg, I held it up by the bottom of the leg and shook it, the whole upper section of the shoulder jiggled like a bag of jelly. I would have to say that the expansion of the SST was more than adequate, even at long range.

I just about have all of my meat done, just one last front quarter left in the fridge to debone and trim, then Im going to start making sausage. Hopefully I can put 1 or 2 more good does in the freezer this year.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just finished grinding 13lbs of venison and 13lbs of pork roast and mixing into sausage. I made Bratwurst, a beer and cheddar Bratwurst, sweet garlic Italian, hot Italian, and some Andouille. Gonna let them all sit tonight and start stuffing tomorrow.

[erussell]

Ah man I just got seriously hungry!!

[Zem18]

Mmmm sounds delicious. I made medallions out of part of the backstrap and marinated them in Salamidas State Fair spiedie sauce. Damn they were good. Grilled them for about 4 minutes on each side. My son who is 6, woofed down 11 pieces on his own. My daughter actually ate 5 pieces too. Now I only have 5 pieces for lunch tomorrow

[WNYBuckHunter]

Spiedie sauce is great stuff. I do a similar thing with backstraps from time to time, leave it whole though and marinate in Spiedie, then grill and cut into medallions when its done. Delicious!

[WNYBuckHunter]

I went over to a buddys place yesterday, and we got into the woods early. He was setup a few hundred yards south of me, and his dad was a few hundred yards west. On the way in, we saw a ton of coyote tracks, all fresh in the snow. I have never seen so much coyote sign in one place before. He has told me the place is overrun, but I guess I never got how bad it was until yesterday. Gonna make a big push to take some of them out for him after deer season is done. Daylight comes, and the fresh snow on the ground makes it a beautiful hunt.

Just a few minutes after legal light, I hear my buddys 308 Encore handgun go off. I waited, and didnt hear a follow up shot and texted to see what he got. He had a nice doe down. I sat and watched the squirrels running around, but didnt see any deer. After a couple of hours my feet were frozen, and we decided to get down and make a small push toward his fathers stand. As I was walking down the side of a cut corn field, I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and heard my buddy yell "Look to your right!" from the next hilltop over. I looked and saw just the tops of 3 does heads bounding along in a draw about 100 yards to my right. I couldnt see their bodies and tried to get into a position where I could, but by the time I had a clear shot, they were at about 150 yards, and I would have to make the shot offhand. I passed on that and they disappeared into the hardwoods. We finished the push and went and loaded up his doe. I headed home for a bite and a quick nap before the afternoon hunt.

Later on, I got back to his place and we headed out for the afternoon. I decided I would head to the same stand, as it sat between some thick cover, with a big goldenrod field behind that, the open hardwoods out front and a big rye field off to my left. Should be a great set for the afternoon to catch the deer headed out to feed. It was a nice quiet sit with squirrels running around, and even a Peregrine Falcon making an appearance on the branch above me. Right about 3:20, my buddy texted that he saw a couple of doe headed toward the goldenrods. Shortly after that I heard something tromping around through the tick stuff behind me, but I couldnt see what it was. At 4:10, I looked toward the field edge, and there was 6 deer headed up the edge, toward 2 shooting lanes I had. I got my gun up and found a good opening, the shot would be @ 90 yards and I had an ok rest for my elbows, so I figured it would be a good opportunity. I waited for the biggest doe in the group, which looked like a horse, to step into the lane. As soon as she got in there, I took aim on her shoulder and started to squeeze the trigger. Just as I did, she took another step and quartered to me. Boom! Through the cloud of smoke I saw 4 deer head back the way they came, and 2 ran straight toward me. The doe I had shot ended up stopping 20 yards behind me, laid down and never got back up. My buddy came over and we checked the doe, I hit her through the lung and liver, she ran less than 100 yards. The first thing we noticed was her size, she was a very big doe, and her head was huge. We guessed her age at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2, but I didnt have time to mess with pulling a jaw bone. My buddy was almost sure that this doe had been giving him fits, busting him for the last couple of years. We spent the night getting our two deer cut up, it was a great day.

The picture really doesnt do this doe justice. This doe makes deer #4 for me this season, which puts me at a new high for deer in one season. I have had a kill on every property I have hunted this year as well. Still a couple of weeks left to hunt too! What a season its been so far!

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Congrats on the deer, especially the buck! Took me long enough to get around to it!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Elmer! Hows your season been going? Havent seen you around the forums much.

[fasteddie]

Congrats on another deer . I am still waiting for my 1st deer of the season . This has been my worst year so far .

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Eddie. Sorry to hear that.