"OFFICIAL 2013 HUNTING THREAD"

[sig shooter]

Congrats on your buck. Nice one

 

[vwarren]

Great Deer M4!!! Congrats!!!

 

[rkesar]

Tonight I shot a coon at 38 yards but managed to miss a doe at 30 yards. She was looking at me when I released and ducked just under the arrow

 

[GMtoblat]

FIL got his first doe last night, sorry no pictures. We cleaned it when she was still warm, a small yearling. Sadly, I have to wait till gun season to get mine.

 

[baldguy637]

Pretty slow morning so far, had a small doe come through at 30 yards as I was uploading this pic but that's it other than tree rats.

Pic from this mornings stand

 

[bd1024]

Good # for IN. Deer Hunting Regulations--- 812-334-3795---- I called this # and the DNR man was very helpful. --- BTW, in case anyone is wondering, he said that putting out a tub of water is would be considered to be bait. ---

 

[Hookeye]

coon seasons doesn't start until 11/8 I think you must be a poacher

Landowner can take out of season if declared a nuisance.

Not enough info in the post you commented on to throw out the P word.

In my neck of the woods that kinda talk is worse than calling a guy's mom and the Pope every 4 letter word imaginable.

 

[rkesar]

The coon was shot before I was in the stand by the barn, they get in there and tear stuff up and it was a nuisance. I've been trying to get them out for awhile and live traps didn't work so it was shot when we saw it.

 

[trophy hunter]

great buck david, your already making me look bad this yr..lol congrats bud..

 

[M4Madness]

Very nice harvest M4Madness. Can we have some details of hunt?
Do you think trailcam ever spooked him in pic's?
Couple of trailcam pics from previous years to see how he growed?

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been terribly busy. Here's the story:

After getting rained out all day Saturday and Sunday morning, I was sitting in the recliner browsing the internet on my laptop. My hunting clothes were lying on the laundry room floor, still damp from the heavy rain I encountered early Saturday morning as I rushed from my stand to my Jeep waiting at least a quarter of a mile away. My wife kept asking me if I was going to go hunting. The SW wind isn't good for any of the spots I would have preferred to hunt, but I decided that I would hit one of only a couple of areas where that wind would truly work -- an area that I rarely hunt.

I was in my climber somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 PM, situated 20 feet up one trunk of a double oak. A few minutes before 6:30 PM, I spotted a buck coming up the hill. I thought that it was a smaller buck, so I retrieved my camcorder from my pocket (I'd forgotten my swingarm at home in my haste to leave). I filmed the buck as he angled up the hill, and as he started to pass behind me, I realized my huge error in underestimating the buck's size. I threw the camera back into my pocket while it was still running, and grabbed my bow. By the time I got my release clipped on my string loop, he was at a slight quartering angle around 25 yards behind me. I leaned around the tree and hit the release when the pin found his vitals.

Immediately, I heard the sound that every bowhunter dreads -- that hollow, "watermelon" thump of a gut shot. The buck trotted into a small overgrown field, and stood motionless with his head down. I was praying that he would immediately bed down and I'd be able to sneak out of there in an hour and a half and find him dead in his bed the next day. Suddenly, he started walking again, and I cussed myself for the poor shot, all the while trying to keep track of his exact location.

Luckily for me, he started angling back into the woods, and was going to pass in front of a tree that I'd ranged earlier at slightly over 35 yards. I adjusted my sight to 35 yards, and drew back just before he exited from behind some brush. I held the pin steady in the opening in front of him (my drawing elbow tight against the tree behind me), and I released my second shot. The buck lunged forward about 10 yards into thick paw paw trees, and I lost sight of him. I didn't hear him running or crashing, and wondered if perhaps my second shot had missed and he'd ran a short distance and was standing motionless looking around or something.

I waited an agonizing half hour, then slipped down quietly and made my way to the first arrow. Dark red blood! It was a liver hit! Still not perfect, but way better than a gut shot any day! I then crept over to the second arrow and found good heart/lung type blood. I knew then that he had to be dead already, so I started into the paw paws and found him dead just inside of them. Upon gutting him, I discovered that the first shot had center-punched the liver without hitting any guts. The second shot had went through the top chambers of the heart.

I gave him a quick rough scoring tonight and came up with an overall measurement of right at 165". Split brow tines (abnormal points) and a missing G4 are going to cost me considerably, to the point that he may just barely net over 140".

He's come a long way in two years' time. Below are three videos of the same buck in 2011, 2012, and 2013. He the buck in the foreground of all three videos.

2011:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vPcwFiLZBw


2012:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpcTQu-cMrk

2013:

Split Brow Hard Antler - YouTube

 

[42769vette]

11-pointer shot tonight (October 6, 2013) at 6:30 PM with bow. Buck was killed 1 and 1/10 miles from where I get pics of him every year. Field dressed at 210 pounds.

Four Bucks - YouTube

You know by now Im checking these threads often just to see what you kill for the year. congrats again.

 

[whitetailbowhunter]

my brother shot a doe yesterday morning. He said there was a lot of action all morning with the colder temps. It's my turn to get out in the woods this weekend! i'll be out Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so i hope to at least get some meat.

 

[Hookeye]

o so you can shoot whatever you from a tree stand and call it a nuisance ,If you are shooting racoons out of season you are a poacher poacher poacher

That kind of emphasis sounds like I've tuned into CNN.
Better have your dogs post next time, we're trying to project a bit more of a cerebral image.

 

[RGriff69]

Seen a lot of activity yesterday including a big 8 I have pictures of. Nothing came within range though.

Shot a doe this morning. I hit her far back but the Swhacker did its job! She ran about 50-60 yards and died in the green way we drive down to get to the woods.

 

[buckhunterbb]

M4Madness, nice deer story. Glad you got a second follow up shoot to make finding buck easier. 1st shoot(liver) would have did him in but heart shot sure did help make recovery easier. Thanks for posting again.

Last year while on stand during firearm or muzzle loader season(old timer disease,can't remember which 1 for sure) I had a trailcam 20 yds from tree. Had a small 6pt come around & when trailcam snapped a pic near end of shooting time in woods the 6 pt jumped about 10yrds. sideways. He circled around & in a couple of minutes came by trailcam again & snapped another pic & he didn't like it. Move on out of area then. Trailcam does have white flash at night. No ir or black flash.

 

[baldguy637]

Doe down this morning, and it turned out to be an experience.

I settled into the stand this morning around 7:00, had a couple of small forks come through right at first light and nothing for about 30 minutes. At about 8:00 I noticed a few small does feeding on some acorns with another deer in the brush about 35 yards out. Hoping it was a buck, I grabbed the bow from its hanger and stood up. I saw a nice fat doe come out into the opening and I was debating on taking her since our freezer is getting pretty low on venison.

That's when I noticed an orange tag on the does right ear, I had remembered reading somewhere about dnr has had some study's using ear tags and decided to harvest her. I drew back and landed a perfect heart shot at 35 yards, she ran about 120 yards before going down in the beans. Once I got up to her, I noticed there weren't any markings on the tag, just a number 12 on one side and reflector on the other.

I called the DNR and was told someone would be contacting me shortly, about 30 minutes later a Mr. Zimmerman from the Dept. of fish and wildlife called and asked if he could come collect the head to take to Purdue University for testing. I agreed and we met at the local check in station. Mr. Zimmerman showed up and was very informative, he informed me about some deer from Pennsylvania that a rancher had bought and brought back to Indiana had escaped years ago. As it turns out, those deer had been in contact with deer infected with CWD. But this was not any the deer they had been looking for, and he didn't know where it had came from.

It was not a DNR tag, and neither he nor I knew of anyone local raising deer. He took the head and told me he would contact me if he found out anything more. I also had a conversation with our local C.O. that had to make a report as well. Anyway, on to the pics....

 

[rkesar]

Baldguy that's a nice doe and a great story, Its odd that nobody knows where the tag came from. Also a great shot!

 

[ar1973]

shot a doe this evening dirrectly under my stand double lung clean pass thrue she ran about 40 yards and turned to look back and fell over dead . the other 2 does with her kept walking in and stoped rite under me too i had to wistle and blow at them to get them to move . should of shot all of them but have to work tomorrow and prossesing 1 was enough for tonight.

 

[M4Madness]

Congrats to everyone who has scored in this thread. That's a cool story about the tagged doe. Hopefully the story of that deer's history will surface one day.

 

[Grogmister]

Baldguy, Any chance you have anyone "farming/raising" deer in the area? It could possible be a farm raised deer that got out also. Lots of Amish raise deer up here in the north. Just an idea.