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2016 deer contest submission thread

bowhunterchuck said:
Team 3 has a nice South Carolina 8 point down!

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Awesome Chuck. Congrats man. I heard they've put a few big ones down over there in Spartanburg so far this season
 
Essdub, you are about 45 minutes away from me....this week and next week is when I see the Big Boys durring daylight checking the edges of their territory and hitting the scrapes! We need to be in our stands all day. Good luck!

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bowhunterchuck said:
Essdub, you are about 45 minutes away from me....this week and next week is when I see the Big Boys durring daylight checking the edges of their territory and hitting the scrapes! We need to be in our stands all day. Good luck!

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Really? Our rut peaks Nov 15 and we don't get good movement like that till 3wks prior to the peak. Go get em boys!
 
Same here kenn!! Essdub and chuck you guys have early prerut/rut action go at it and get those big guys.
 
bowhunterchuck said:
Essdub, you are about 45 minutes away from me....this week and next week is when I see the Big Boys durring daylight checking the edges of their territory and hitting the scrapes! We need to be in our stands all day. Good luck!

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Yeah no doubt. I've been seeing them for several days now on my way to and fRom prison, ... err I mean work. May as well be prison. Feels like it. Plus our cool snap has helped with movement too I think. I saw my primary target (a high ten point) run across my dRiveway this morning as I was leaving for priSon. I mean work. Why do I keep mistaking work for priSon?
My buddy's dad shot two bucks this morning back to back from tge same stand within minutes of each other. Those guys are telling me they're seeing bucks following closer behind does too. I have another friend in lower state days he witnessed a breeding this week. Ready or not, here comes the rut acTivity.
I need to take a few days off
 
From what I've noticed over the years, some years I see more rut acTivity in OcTober, some times later in November. And I sometimes have seen rut acTivity into January and February . I think they come into estrous as often as it takes as long as there is food, water, security, and willing partners
. At the very least, the 28 day cycle may trigger responses in males for several consecutive months
 
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Dang, that seems early. You can almost set your calendar to Halloween when you see the heavy territorial action and the transition to when they aren't chasing but keeping does in their site...
The cold weather is moving in and the crops are getting cut now. So that will require more movement. Last week I hung a killer stand right along a creek. I can jump out of my tree and wrestle them if they decide to move anywhere near me. They HAVE to and from the tracks LOVE to move thru this spot. I think it will be one of those places where I will see a bunch of does every hunt, get discouraged, hunt another stand and have someone see the monster go by my stand. Gotta remember to stay patient. But I don't have enough patience to remember to stay patient.

Good luck to those who have them moving now. Hope your freezers are full so you can sit back and wait
 
Team 4 has an eight point buck down. My third. buck ever Yeah. First saddle hunting deer. First public land deer. First swamp transition deer. I usually hunt farm land. My private land has been too dry no water too hot so the deer have moved elsewhere.
Started last winter when I snow shoed into this public land spot with my wife. Good date exercise... and of course a scouting trip with my GPS. MY wife loves snow shoeing I love my wife and like scouting
Last night I . Rode into the site on my electric fat bike... quiet. Passed several scrapes coming in. Set up montana. Got in late. Got set up at 5 pm. Shot him at 5:45. Was too noisy but wind was my friend. Saw the deer first.
Shot yesterday at 10 yards. Passed on a young doe first. I have never done that. I always shoot everything. Buck came in to look at my Montana doe decoy. Got close stopped at my tracks, sniffed around at my tracks, maybe ozone, and scent lok helped to give me time and I shot him through a five inch hole in my cover.
Hid behind my tree when he came in like Boswell talks about.
He ran about 50 yards and dropped from a double lung shot.

Dragged him out with my newly constructed puck board deer drag.
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Thanks to the guys on this forum - saddle hunters rock.
The hunting beast forum , and my friend Ron for all I have learned in 4 years of hunting.
Thanks for my friend Dan's help in dragging him out.
Thanks to my wife for allowing the excessive deer hunting expenses. Two crossbows, hunting gear, bike, scent lok, saddle, guidos, two guns,snow shoeing or scouting etc.
Thanks to the Good Lord who controls all things for His glory for allowing the harvest.
 
This morning in Baltimore the wind was blowing around 20 mph gusts. I wasn't sure about going with such strong winds, but I left the house and went on my way. At about 2 minutes on the road, I pulled over to google "deer movements and strong winds". The top post suggested that I NOT hunt from a tree, but instead stalk deer from the ground. I almost went home as the permission I had, does not permit me to walk further into the woods than the first 80 yards of a limited area bordering a field. I went anyway, because I know I will not see any deer from my bed, should I turn and go back. When I got to the farm property, the wind pick up even more. I walked the field to the back (800 yards), where I entered the woods and snuck in to my tree. I busted a few as I saw a few flags bound off in the 7:00 am light. I climbed my ladder sticks that I keep on the tree for the season. I had only been in this tree once before (last week), and I had not installed my hook that I would hang my gear from, so that was the first thing I did after I tied in after reaching my platform. Got everything situated, the way that I wanted it positioned: gear bag to my right, with rangefinder and grunt tube tied to it, hanging for easy grasp; my ML on my left, hanging from the shoulder strap; but then I decided to install another hook above my tree strap,(should I decide to move something(I like options)). I just moved my ML to the hook above my strap, when I looked left, in the space that my ML had just occupied. In the distance I saw something move, but I was sure it was the wind. I grabbed my rangefinder, which I had not powered up, but used in place of a bino set. To my surprise, it was a buck. Not huge, but it had some points. I figured when I grabbed for my ML and took aim, he would be gone. But my movements where behind the tree anyway. When I looked through the scope, he was standing at about 70 yards (a guess), looking all around. I am not hunting for a trophy. I am hunting for meat. I squeezed the trigger. He dropped where he last stood. On one hand I was glad to know I had one for the freezer. On the other hand, I was disappointed. I had just got settled in the tree. was barely there for 5 minutes. I wanted more saddle time.large.png 70%.png
 
Got my first saddle bow kill this evening - a nice little 6pt buck! First saddle bow kill! First bow kill! First bow buck!

Here's the story!

Saw a mess of deer tonight - bumped a couple coming in, a few does right after I got on stand, and 4 different yearling bucks came in right around 6pm. Since i've been super busy working at the new house we're building I decided that I was going to take the biggest yearling of the group - a nice healthy 6pt.

I was sitting a stand I hung in mid summer based on what I observed from a nearby stand I hung the previous year and it paid off! Sometimes all that's needed are simple adjustments - like putting a second stand 50 yards on the opposite side of a bedding funnel!

It was windy, but I was confident in my scent routine. Had 3 yearling bucks literally underneath my stand and within 10-15 yards for easily 15-20 minutes. When one finally came around to my 9 oclock the 6pt came trailing after him. He stopped at 10 yards quartering away. I hit the release and saw both my lighted nock blink out of existence for a brief moment and the deer mule kick and run off. I am pretty sure I heard him crash just a handful of seconds later.

I had to wait to get down and inspect my arrow another 20 or so minutes as the other yearling bucks came back and were hanging out under my tree again. At one point they even went to the arrow and were licking the end of it.

I got down and it was almost 7pm with barely any light left but I easily found my arrow covered in blood. Not phenomenal blood at the scene but had decent enough blood to trial - bright red drops and more than a few that were bubbly. A few short minutes later I had covered about 50-60 yards and found my first bow deer and my first bow buck!

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