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Team 4 Campfire

BTaylor said:
We are actually only down three, I can upgrade 2 points if need be. ;)
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Need always be.

Bailed on VT, snow was receding rapidly, points are needed and I made the right call to stay home. Got to a fully prepped stand this am to discover the big boy I lost a prior chess match to has been here daily. Guess I’m staying all day - and maybe everyday till I get him.
 
Had a chance to get out this afternoon and of course it started raining like the ****ens….. I’m not going in that crud. Call me soft I guess. We’re supposed to be getting 7 inches plus Wednesday night into turkey day morning….. that’ll be a good time.
 
I had three deer come in at last light. I was wishing I had the trad bow and not the compound. The peep sight and pin concept is a very flawed system in grey light.

None of them were the giant. I’ll be back in that tree at o dark thirty.
 
I just had a 20 minute standoff at last light - pretty sure it was the big buck I’ve been hunting. It was the craziest interaction I’ve ever had with a deer. He was 50 yards away in thick cover. We ended up grunting and blowing at eachother for 10 minutes. He got frustrated because a bog was blocking him from getting into my wind. He eventually crashed through the bog, getting mired in the mud and breaking brush. He got to the other side and the wind had died completely. He got pissed and we ended up blowing at eachother for another 10 minutes till it was dark.

If he investigates tonight it’s game over in that spot. I’m not really sure how to play it from here, but I’ll figure something out.

Stayed tuned.
 
Jammintree said:
I just had a 20 minute standoff at last light - pretty sure it was the big buck I’ve been hunting. It was the craziest interaction I’ve ever had with a deer. He was 50 yards away in thick cover. We ended up grunting and blowing at eachother for 10 minutes. He got frustrated because a bog was blocking him from getting into my wind. He eventually crashed through the bog, getting mired in the mud and breaking brush. He got to the other side and the wind had died completely. He got pissed and we ended up blowing at eachother for another 10 minutes till it was dark.

If he investigates tonight it’s game over in that spot. I’m not really sure how to play it from here, but I’ll figure something out.

Stayed tuned.
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That had to be exhilarating!
 
dalton916 said:
That had to be exhilarating!
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Most definitely. I’m playing chess against a master. And that bugger couldn’t make me. He wanted so much to come in and challenge me, but without getting my wind he dare not. The morning will be interesting. I’m gonna have some quick decisions to make.

Shotgun season opens Monday and this location is flanked by two deer camps that put a lot of boots on the ground.

And this deer is the real deal.
 
I feel your pain on the shotgun season. The buck I killed last weekend was a crap show. It was firearms season…..

There’s a narrow beanfield between me and the public land and I watched him come off the public and down the hill across the field towards me. When he gets near the tree line he turns and goes up the tree line away from me. He’s at 200 yds when he turns. I look ahead of him and there’s 4 does in the field edge up that way.

He starts running one around a bit. They head back up the hill then turn and come back down and that’s when the shooting started. Three rapid shots followed by 9-10 more over about a 2 minute period. I can hear bullets hitting in the woods on my side of the line and a couple slam into wet ground. The shots are coming from up high along the public boundary. These jackasses are trying to turn the buck back to the public. He’s really not paying them any attention and finally I lose sight of him.

Several minutes later he’s crossed the line into the field I’m on the edge of. He walks the far end then for some reason turns and comes straight to me and I kill him.

I’m not going to lie and say the thoughts in my head were pure. I’ll leave it at that.
 
Well I wasnt feeling like I was going to be contributing to this team. Nothing with a bow, only saw 1 4 pnt with muzzleloader, and 4 does during scouting/ moving cameras.

Scouting around Sunday, I finally found an active area, sat and called in my hammock seat for a couple hours. I had something come in but hang up just out of sight then move off ignoring my call. Later stalked up there to find heavily fed acorns and couple scrapes where I guessed the deer had stopped- one scrape was freshend up.

So this morning I saddled up near there, hoping to just see something. Felt pretty positive about the sit, comfortable morning, and I had a gobbling turkey nearby to listen to. I bleated and tending grunted occasionally but was only there for 1 1/2 hours before I tbought I heard walking, coming, in from behind me. By the time I pulled my rifle, swung to the off side of the tree, and shouldered the '06, I could just see some brown off and on, then parts of antlers, but the thing just kept the larger trees and brush between us until about 50yrds we he stuck out just his head and stopped. Looked around for a few minutes, then he started bobbing his head, and sniffing, then, while continuing, seemed to look straight at me. I was probably pretty well skylighted but then I noticed the breeze was drifting his way and I had to make a decision quick. I aimed just above his near eye and squeezed. No lost meat, no tracking, but sorry to damage the skull. I buried my buck head last year and it came out awesone. I'll still bury this one and hope I can do some magic piecing it together.

Thats one NE buck @Jammintree. You're next. Hurry back.
 

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Antirain said:
Well I wasnt feeling like I was going to be contributing to this team. Nothing with a bow, only saw 1 4 pnt with muzzleloader, and 4 does during scouting/ moving cameras.

Scouting around Sunday, I finally found an active area, sat and called in my hammock seat for a couple hours. I had something come in but hang up just out of sight then move off ignoring my call. Later stalked up there to find heavily fed acorns and couple scrapes where I guessed the deer had stopped- one scrape was freshend up.

So this morning I saddled up near there, hoping to just see something. Felt pretty positive about the sit, comfortable morning, and I had a gobbling turkey nearby to listen to. I bleated and tending grunted occasionally but was only there for 1 1/2 hours before I tbought I heard walking, coming, in from behind me. By the time I pulled my rifle, swung to the off side of the tree, and shouldered the '06, I could just see some brown off and on, then parts of antlers, but the thing just kept the larger trees and brush between us until about 50yrds we he stuck out just his head and stopped. Looked around for a few minutes, then he started bobbing his head, and sniffing, then, while continuing, seemed to look straight at me. I was probably pretty well skylighted but then I noticed the breeze was drifting his way and I had to make a decision quick. I aimed just above his near eye and squeezed. No lost meat, no tracking, but sorry to damage the skull. I buried my buck head last year and it came out awesone. I'll still bury this one and hope I can do some magic piecing it together.

Thats one NE buck @Jammintree. You're next. Hurry back.
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Hey hey! Nice work!

This am I I decided to get after a different buck and let things cool down.

Went in quiet and set up 3’ off the ground in thick cover. As the sun rose I made one gentle doe bleat. I heard a deer get up out of bed and tiptoe up to me. Of course he came through the super thick trash behind me. He got to less than 10 yards. The brush was so thick I could barely see where he was. He got nervous and quietly hopped off… i listened to him pace around for an hour. Wind started to get unstable so I backed out. Gonna slip back in there for the last hour of day and see if I can salvage a poor decision.
 
Well fellas it wpuldnt have counted for the contest but we got a nice snow storm hitting us off and on it started early this morning. Wind is heavy some gusts up to 40mph and I haven’t snow tracked a buck in along time. So I went out light today, no saddle no pac seat just stitching through thick leeward side cover looking for tracks or a deer. Took me all morning to feather through likely cover. Cut some tracks about 3-4 hours before and found nothing exciting. Eventually got to a brush choked powerline ROW. I glassed it and then grunted with the wind in my face. Waited about 10 minutes and kept moving. I glassed as I thought I saw a flash but couldn’t make anything out. The grunt didn’t do anything so I started to move again. About 5 minutes later after going by a brush clump where I thought I saw the flash, a buck kicked out not even 15 yards to my left. His horns were hitting every branch and twig on the old brushy fence row he busted through. I stsrted to get the gun up and he sure was blocky but I couldn’t get a great sense of his rack size. It was closing in on 11am and I had to be back for thanksgiving dinner by 12 so I gave up the track.!grr. He did have a nice heifer footed track. Here’s his bed I spooked him from.
 

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Antirain said:
Well I wasnt feeling like I was going to be contributing to this team. Nothing with a bow, only saw 1 4 pnt with muzzleloader, and 4 does during scouting/ moving cameras.

Scouting around Sunday, I finally found an active area, sat and called in my hammock seat for a couple hours. I had something come in but hang up just out of sight then move off ignoring my call. Later stalked up there to find heavily fed acorns and couple scrapes where I guessed the deer had stopped- one scrape was freshend up.

So this morning I saddled up near there, hoping to just see something. Felt pretty positive about the sit, comfortable morning, and I had a gobbling turkey nearby to listen to. I bleated and tending grunted occasionally but was only there for 1 1/2 hours before I tbought I heard walking, coming, in from behind me. By the time I pulled my rifle, swung to the off side of the tree, and shouldered the '06, I could just see some brown off and on, then parts of antlers, but the thing just kept the larger trees and brush between us until about 50yrds we he stuck out just his head and stopped. Looked around for a few minutes, then he started bobbing his head, and sniffing, then, while continuing, seemed to look straight at me. I was probably pretty well skylighted but then I noticed the breeze was drifting his way and I had to make a decision quick. I aimed just above his near eye and squeezed. No lost meat, no tracking, but sorry to damage the skull. I buried my buck head last year and it came out awesone. I'll still bury this one and hope I can do some magic piecing it together.

Thats one NE buck @Jammintree. You're next. Hurry back.
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Congrats on a nice Thanksgiving Day buck @Antirain ! Happy Thanksgiving!
 
woodsdog2 said:
Well fellas it wpuldnt have counted for the contest but we got a nice snow storm hitting us off and on it started early this morning. Wind is heavy some gusts up to 40mph and I haven’t snow tracked a buck in along time. So I went out light today, no saddle no pac seat just stitching through thick leeward side cover oking for tracks or a deer. Took me all morning to feather through likely cover. Cut some tracks about 3-4 hours before old nit nothing exciting. Eventually got to a brush choked powerline ROW. I glassed it and then grunted with the wind in my face. Waited about 10 minutes and kept moving. I leased as I thought I saw a flash but couldn’t make anything out. The grunt didn’t do anything so I started to move again. About 5 minutes later after going by a brush clump where I thought I saw the flash, a bucked kicked out even 15 yards to my left. His horns were hitting every branch and twig on the old brushy fence row he busted through. I stsrted to get the gun up and he sure was blocky but I couldn’t get a great sense of his rack size. It was closing in on 11am and I had to be back for thanksgiving dinner byb12 so I gave up the track.!grr. He did have a nice horffernfootnof a track. Here’s his bed I spooked him from.
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Forecast is calling for all kinds of snow over the next week. So you’re gonna get more chances. It’s not great for the team though, as lots of us northeasterners cant resist getting on a track!
 
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Antirain said:
Well I wasnt feeling like I was going to be contributing to this team. Nothing with a bow, only saw 1 4 pnt with muzzleloader, and 4 does during scouting/ moving cameras.

Scouting around Sunday, I finally found an active area, sat and called in my hammock seat for a couple hours. I had something come in but hang up just out of sight then move off ignoring my call. Later stalked up there to find heavily fed acorns and couple scrapes where I guessed the deer had stopped- one scrape was freshend up.

So this morning I saddled up near there, hoping to just see something. Felt pretty positive about the sit, comfortable morning, and I had a gobbling turkey nearby to listen to. I bleated and tending grunted occasionally but was only there for 1 1/2 hours before I tbought I heard walking, coming, in from behind me. By the time I pulled my rifle, swung to the off side of the tree, and shouldered the '06, I could just see some brown off and on, then parts of antlers, but the thing just kept the larger trees and brush between us until about 50yrds we he stuck out just his head and stopped. Looked around for a few minutes, then he started bobbing his head, and sniffing, then, while continuing, seemed to look straight at me. I was probably pretty well skylighted but then I noticed the breeze was drifting his way and I had to make a decision quick. I aimed just above his near eye and squeezed. No lost meat, no tracking, but sorry to damage the skull. I buried my buck head last year and it came out awesone. I'll still bury this one and hope I can do some magic piecing it together.

Thats one NE buck @Jammintree. You're next. Hurry back.
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Congrats! I love a good story especially when adjustments make all the difference. Also, I admire you sniper like shooting and I'm very jealous of your turkey day buck. Good work!
 
Today’s the last day of hunting in my home state before the beginning of gun season.

I called in a nice buck this morning. He circled downwind and busted me a 50 yards.

Heading back out for an evening sit.
 
I got skunked again here.. don’t seem to be making the most of the time I do get to get out LOL.

Still plenty of season left here in NJ
 
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