Deer Season 2008

[Desert_Sky]

those of us who ride motorcycles every day salute and thank you good sir

 

[Evan!]

You know, I've never really been interested in doing any hunting (as my handle indicates, I've always been a fly-fisherman)- but the thought of having venison all year makes me reconsider. I wouldn't even know where to start.

I'd love to head out into the woods with an experienced hunter to learn the ropes.

Providing you learn how to use your weapon of choice, the actual basics of the hunting part are not that difficult. I got my first deer just sitting on a seatpad next to a tree. You should wear woods camo appropriate for the surroundings, but should have at least one patch of fluorescent orange on you somewhere in case other hunters are about. Deer are colorblind but notice large fields of solid color, hence the benefits of camo. If you're really into it, you can scout out the area and find a place where you think they're running, usually just a trail. Find a place that has a good wide line of sight. A tree stand is best, but I don't have one and I do alright. When it comes to what to shoot, as long as you're not into big-buck rack dickwaving contests, I'd go for doe's before bucks unless the Buck is mature. The best place to hit them is the vital organs, just behind the shoulder blade...or if you're confident enough, a headshot. Either way, you miss the backstraps and the front and hind quarter cuts.

I suppose the most difficult thing about the entire ordeal is learning how to field dress them. As soon as possible after shooting them, you need to get the guts out of it, preferably where they lie. You'll need someone to teach you how to do this---no book can adequately illustrate the process. It involves cutting open the belly, splitting the bones of the pelvis, cutting out the anus, and pulling everything out of the cavity. It's pretty much the nastiest thing I've ever done...so if you have a weak stomach, you might not be up for it. But aside from that, and knowing your weapon intimately, the process of just going out and taking a doe is not that difficult.

 

[flyangler18]

Thanks Evan. I haven't shouldered a rifle seriously in at least 5 years, save some plinking with a .22 on a friend's property. I could frankly care less about trophy bucks and all that rot- I just like the prospect of having wild game on hand.

Time to start looking at some hunter's education classes, methinks, and starting looking around for a decent rifle.

Anyway, sorry about the thread hijacking. Continue with the photos, all!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Evan. I haven't shouldered a rifle seriously in at least 5 years, save some plinking with a .22 on a friend's property. I could frankly care less about trophy bucks and all that rot- I just like the prospect of having wild game on hand.

Time to start looking at some hunter's education classes, methinks, and starting looking around for a decent rifle.

I wish you were closer- we'd love to show you some of the fun we have in hunting. Not only is it an enjoyable activity in itself (being outside and seeing all the wildlife) but we have the satisfaction of knowing we're eating great food. Talk about "organic"! We eat mostly venison and fish and veggies from our garden. It's greatly satisfying, not to mention healthy and great tasting!

 

[MNBugeater]

Shot a big doe, spike Buck, and a modest 8 point....then went home to SWMBO and got lucky.
I'm with Evan...filling the freezer has a much higher priority than a trophy. I wont pass on the big buck if its dumb enough to walk out, but when I have a freezer to fill, if it walks in front of me...its tagged.

 

[flyangler18]

I wish you were closer- we'd love to show you some of the fun we have in hunting. Not only is it an enjoyable activity in itself (being outside and seeing all the wildlife) but we have the satisfaction of knowing we're eating great food. Talk about "organic"! We eat mostly venison and fish and veggies from our garden. It's greatly satisfying, not to mention healthy and great tasting!

I am confident that we will meet one day, Lorena! I love being outdoors with a flyrod in my hand plying streams for wary trout, though I only harvest one or two a season. Big catch n' release proponent here.

For the occasional hunter, what's an appropriate rifle?

 

[Mutilated1]

heh, here's me and my cousin (and Sadie dog), trying to string that doe up:

Your Virginia deer must be a lot bigger than our Alabama deer.

 

[Evan!]

Your Virginia deer must be a lot bigger than our Alabama deer.

why do you say that?

 

[Mutilated1]

why do you say that?

Just because judging from what I see in that picture compared to the deer I see here. Ours aren't so big.

 

[Evan!]

oh, I thought you were commenting on our inability to string her any higher...

she was a good size, but I got a doe that was much bigger than her last year.

 

[zac]

Evan, not to intrude, but for a VA deer, thats not the biggest (Mutilated). Prolly good eating. But out here in the western part of the state a 200 lb doe is not completely out of the question.

Of course the does around here have plently of alfalfa & corn fields to munch on.

Mutilated, check out some of the kansas/nebraska bucks. Theyre huge even by our standards.

Evan, nice deer by the way. I'd come to C'ville if you had a homebrew & deer steak event!

 

[Mutilated1]

Yeah thats quite a bit bigger than our whitetails then. 200 pounds is large even for a buck here.

But we make up for it in quantity though. We can kill as many does as we like, 1 per day all season long.

 

[zac]

I know what you mean. Seems like AL & coastal NC are loaded with small dog sized deer!

 

[bmckee56]

Lucky? I dunno. I got a doe that I chased up the mountain. I don't give a rat's ass about prize buck rack dickwaving contests, I just want enough venison to last me till next season.

I can appreciate that. I am a meat hunter myself, but when the opportunity arises, I will take the horns too. Just didn't work out for me so far this year.

Still there is another week left and then Muzzle loader season.

Salute!

PS: Our normal harvest is 20 - 25 deer from a 67 acre plot of land between 5 people over a two week period of time. I ain't even close to the norm yet!

 

[fifelee]

I didn't get one this year as I was too busy playing guide on our land for family members. The bastards harvested two nice ones. I might have to kick them off next year so I can get one. This is one day with my brother-in-law and nephew.

 

[Mutilated1]

Well I tried to edit the topic title to take out the "2008" part since its now 2009, but I couldn't -- anyway... Deer Season is about to start again ! Yay!

Bow Season starts next Thursday here in Alabama. I've got a buck and some does walking within 15 feet of my trail camera near my tree stand every morning around 4:30am -- first morning that the wind is right, I'm going to kill one of those does or that buck if I can see him.

I've been shooting a bow for years, but this will be the first season I really hunted with it.

I've done my scouting and I know I can get within 20-30 yards of one. I've been practicing with my bow ( 2009 Martin Saber ) every morning and evening, and I'm putting every shot in the vitals from 40 yards now. Last night I had 8 out of 10 within an inch of the heart, I've seen plenty of people shoot better but I think thats probably good enough, I wouldn't want to shoot one from farthter away than that and I'm expecting to ambush the deer at more like 10-20 yards anyway.

Here's a few of the deer on my hunting land -- this was actually a couple years ago, but this is at the same place. This is a deer lick maybe 60 yards from where my stand is set.

 

[david_42]

I haven't see a single deer around my place this year. I think they've all moved into town as all of the roadkills have been within 1/2 mile or in the town.

 

[Mutilated1]

speaking of roadkills, I saw one near the house last week and he must have been pretty big because someone had cut his head off

also, I saw a doe and two spotted fawns yesterday evening on I459 right before Acton Road in Birmingham

 

[Joker]

My son had a decent day. This was his first season second day of hunting.
The taxidermist does boone and crocket measurements and said if it had not broken a point (broke long ago not during shot) he would have had the all time highest scoring deer in Oregon. As it is he will most likely be #6 for the state.

 

[BlackDogBrewing]

Archery started last week here- I was out last Monday, saw 14 deer, passed on a doe and a 6-pointer. I'm going to be a dad tomorrow, so I'll be off for two weeks, looking forward to time off. My wife suggested that if I'm up all night, i hunt in the morning wile I'm off.
I shot a doe at the end of last season with my Savage .308. Archery is really my thing, but rifle hunting is a blast, too.

 

[CodeRage]

Going out this Friday for muzzy season.

Best of luck to all of you.

 

[capcrnch]

I took an 8 point yesterday. 5 minutes before packing it up to sit on the couch to watch football. I set my shut down time for noon. I drew back at about 11:55 and found him within a minute!

 

[CodeRage]

I took an 8 point yesterday. 5 minutes before packing it up to sit on the couch to watch football. I set my shut down time for noon. I drew back at about 11:55 and found him within a minute!

Have you ever used that game movement calculator on some GPSs? I thought it was kind of gimmicky but if I see any game that day, its in the windows that thing specifies. My hunting buddy swears by it up and down and plans when he goes in and out around it.

 

[capcrnch]

Have you ever used that game movement calculator on some GPSs? I thought it was kind of gimmicky but if I see any game that day, its in the windows that thing specifies. My hunting buddy swears by it up and down and plans when he goes in and out around it.

Actually yes!
I work for a company that's in bed with Bass Pro Shop, so I get to try a lot of stuff at no cost. I was able to try the movement calculator last year.
It was "ok", nothing amazing. I felt the same way you did and that was "gimmicky". I wish i could have played with it longer to be fair, but I won't rush out and get it or download it.

 

[Mutilated1]

Have you ever used that game movement calculator on some GPSs? I thought it was kind of gimmicky but if I see any game that day, its in the windows that thing specifies. My hunting buddy swears by it up and down and plans when he goes in and out around it.

All it does is give you the time for the major and minor solunar peaks. Its pretty pointless because you can get the same information from the weather channel or from a farmer's almanac. Its nice information to have no doubt, but I wouldn't buy a GPS or not based on that.

Having said that, you can definitely use that information because the deer will be up and moving to feed when the sun and moon is right.

I've hunted on the solunar tables for years and without a doubt they work, and not to get all gross on you or anything but this is another funny observation about the solunar peaks -- totally serious here - when the time gets near the solunar peaks animals ( people inculded ) have to move their bowels.

So if you're planning on being on your stand between bedding areas and feeding areas at the solunar peaks - make sure you've visited the restroom before hand - lol

 

[Mutilated1]

I took an 8 point yesterday. 5 minutes before packing it up to sit on the couch to watch football. I set my shut down time for noon. I drew back at about 11:55 and found him within a minute!

nice

opening day was this morning, I didn't hunt as much as I would have liked because I had to go to work. All I saw was a coyote, if it was rifle season I would have shot his ass.

 

[Mutilated1]

Had to drive to Arkansas and back this weekend, so I didn't get to hunt until Sunday morning.

Was planning to be on my stand before the Astronomical Twilight, but I overslept after a long drive and didn't make it to the woods till just before sunrise.

There a light north wind, and since I was already running late I decided to walk straight to my deer stand instead of taking the covert route I had planned ahead of time. So I'm walking in to my stand on this logging road that I seeded over with Alfalfa during the summer and I was looking for a downed tree that was my landmark for where I needed to turn into the woods to get to my stand.

Since it was dark and since I was coming to the stand from a different direction than I had planned on, I accidentally turned at the wrong tree and ended up about 200 yards south of where I was going and jumped a little buck under the oak trees eating acorns. So I followed him north and kept looking to my east and west knowing he'd try and cutback and get down wind of me as soon as he could.

It was then that I noticed the row of Red Yucca that I planted in the woods to mark the southern boundary of my property the year before and realized where I was. So I kept tracking the little buck and followed him right to my tree stand. He walked within 5 feet of the metal ladder, if I had been on the stand instead of stumbling around in the dark I would have shot him.

So then I was kind of pist, but I decided to go ahead and make the best of things and get up in my stand. I banged around and made a whole hell of a lot of noise getting up the tree, broke the quiver off my bow, and probably alerted every deer within a mile of my presence before I got to the top.

Just as I got to the top I dropped my GPS unit down the stand, it crashed down 25 feet onto the ground and make a hell of a racket. I decided to just go down and pick up the pieces later that day. So I manage to get myself sat down and strapped in and sort of comfortable and then I realized that I in my excitement of seeing the little buck and losing my way, that I had forgotten to set my scent wicks out.

So I opened my pack up as quietly as I could and got my scents out and setup my scent wicks and gave them a toss in the direction of where I was planning on setting them up. And I pumped a few sprays of acorn scent on my boots and jacket -- I love the smell of acorn scent -- to me it smells like a delicious stack of pancakes. Anyway deer love that smell too, and less than an hour later I saw two does, but they were about 60 yards away through the canopy and I'm only confident to shoot one with my bow to 35-40 yards, so I watched them for a bit and sat.

A couple hours later the sun was up over the hill behind me and the wind really picked up and started whipping around in the trees. So I climbed down and set my scent wicks up correctly like I had meant to in the first place and retrieved my GPS unit, fortunately it was intact and working.

Then I stalked down to the other end of my property and turned around and came back, when I got nearly back to my stand I have to cross the power line right of way so I stopped and looked both ways to make sure nothing would see me out in the open when I walked across. I looked south and saw a white ear twitch and it was those two does bedded down in the sunshine 160 yards away, one was looking my direction so I waited till she wasn't looking then ducked under some brush and scrambeled across.

Ordinarily with my rifle I would have shot one of them, but with a bow I would have to get closer so I decided to go about a quarter mile south and then see if I could sneak up on them from the downwind side but when I got there no luck they were gone.

So I sat down and had some lunch then decided to go back to the stand for the afternoon. I sat in the stand for 4 more hours will the sun started going down then I climbed down and went to the hill side the other side of the draw where I'd be in the shaddows and not standout against the sky.

Couple more hours and my wife called on the radio and said she was there to pick me up, so I walked out of the woods tired and hungry with no deer.

But I had a good time.

 

[CodeRage]

Heh, sounds like my hunt last Thursday! I went to bed early Wednesday night but tossed and turned all night long, think I got one or 2 hours of sleep. Met up with my buddy and headed out to the WMA with our lottery permits. He dropped me off at a spot a scouted earlier, on my way in my pouch holding my license and permit fell off so I spent 20 minutes looking for it in the dark. Then I had a bear of a time picking a tree in the dark. Finally climbed my way up to the top, go to sit down and I cant find my jacket. Shone my flash light down and there it is piled up on the ground. Jerry rigged a safety pin to my tow line and spend the next 15 minutes trying to fish it up.

Light just starts to break and I hear an estrus doe bleating her head off. Maybe the bad start was just that.
Saw 2 pigs poke out real quick and then disappeared. 20 minutes later BLAM, text message from my buddy "Fat black sow!", an hour later, BLAM, new text message "Got a Doe!" He had everything gutted, skinned, and quartered by lunch.

I didn't see crap all day. Oh well, a bad day hunting sure as hell beats a good day at the desk.

 

[capcrnch]

nice

opening day was this morning, I didn't hunt as much as I would have liked because I had to go to work. All I saw was a coyote, if it was rifle season I would have shot his ass.

I went out again this weekend for a bit.
I knew I was pushing my luck (2 in one bow season? What?!) and saw NO deer.

I counted.. Here is what I did see though..
2 dogs.
5-6 turkeys
Eleventy billion squirrels.

One of my friends grabbed his first deer in 3 years. (bad luck/no skill)..
This idiot took out a baby fawn. I'd be amazed if he gets more than 5-10lbs of meat off of it.
I dont think it was a "kill just to kill" type of thing.
I think he was so excited to see a deer that he didn't pay attention to size and just drew back and released.

60 degree temps for a couple of days will keep me at home for a bit.

Firearm is opening soon and im friggin' ready!

 

[david_42]

We're half way through the season and all I hear is people complaining that they only see deer in town. I hear one guy at the market talking about the three bucks that are hanging out in his neighborhood. He can't shoot them because of all the houses, but he hasn't seen any bucks out where he can hunt. Another guy down in Corvallis says the deer are stripping the school yard across his street. He sees 3-8 deer there every evening.