2012 Hunting Pictures

hardcorehunter5,

That is a very nice Blacktail. I hope you don't mind that I posted it from your link.

destrysbuck.jpg


You have every reason to be pleased with that buck. Congratulations! And congratulations to your wife.
 
Guy- Finally caught your pictures.... I bet the Proonghorn went over 13 and he is nice and heavy with good cutters. Pretty shape too. NICE BUCK! I would be pretty thrilled with that Mulie. He is really pretty too. You also conected with a coyote....Ive been trying for years. :) CL Looks like you had a good time. Sure hope so. CL
 
Thanks, Dr. Mike. Here are the details. I wrote this yesterday:

I'd been holding off on going out this week. Work has been busy, but in addition to that, the high temps didn't give me much incentive to get out. At the beginning of the week, the forecast for next week was a cold front with a little bit of rain. As most are probably well aware, that forecast has changed to a lot of rain for the Mid-Atlantic. I thought I'd better get out today and tomorrow as at least half of next week looks as though it will be a wash.

When I arrived at the property, I stopped to check the wind before committing to stand location. A somewhat unusual wind from the East/Southeast, made my decision easy. I was headed to a stand that I haven't hunted yet this season. I walked in to my stand just a little after 2:00. By the time I got into the stand I realized that I hadn't had enough to drink today. I was feeling very thirsty and the early start to the afternoon hunt meant it was going to be a long four and a half hours until quitting time. The intermittent breeze offered me some relief, but over all the warm temps made me think nearly as much about my thirst as looking for deer.

Apart from few squirrels and a young groundhog, the first 45 minutes was uneventful. I tried to keep my mind off of my thirst by concentrating on the most likely route from which deer would approach. The stand is located on an old fence line with a few hickory and oak trees growing along it perpendicular to the adjacent corn field. In the field, stand an additional two hickory trees that continue on from the fence line in the old pasture. To my left, thick brush has grown up. To my right, which is the way I walked in, is a sliver of the old pasture that is still mowed for hay. Straight ahead is the creek bottom and the cornfield is behind me. The deer often approach from the creek bottom to my right, but today's wind made that route less likely. I decided that the most likely scenario in which I would see a buck would be if he was cruising the edge of the cornfield, most likely coming from my left. This was problematic in that by the time I could see the deer, it would be in the shooting lane on the edge of the field and would give me little chance to draw undetected.

As I was working things through in my head, trying to decide how things would play out if a buck showed up in the shooting lane, I heard a rustle directly behind me in the corn. I slowly turned and immediately saw antlers, followed by the brown body. He was coming straight out of the corn right down the fence line I was sitting on. I slowly reached for my bow when his head went behind a tree and repositioned myself for a shot if he continued on his current course.

I knew from the first glance that I would take this buck given the opportunity. As I waited for him to continue into an opening, I was able to access his head gear... 4 x 3 and a roughly 15 or 16 inch spread, pretty much all you can expect where I hunt. I've seen significantly larger deer on a couple of occasions, but not many.

As he made his way down the fence line, his nose glued to the ground where I had crossed his path walking in. I thought for sure that was it. I fully expected to see his tail flash as he disappeared back into the corn despite my efforts to stay as scent free as possible. He showed no concern though and carried on, almost directly in front of me. He seemed fairly determined to continue on course and was getting dangerously close to being downwind from me, so I picked a small opening in the branches below me and let the arrow fly when he entered my sight picture. The location of the branches meant I had to hold a little higher than I would have liked, but ended up meaning a very short recovery... 0 yards. He dropped at the shot. The broadhead found the spine just above and behind the front shoulder. I nocked another arrow and put one behind the front shoulder to end things quickly. This arrow went through both lungs and lodged in the opposite shoulder blade. Foamy blood wasted no time in coming from the entrance wound but the buck continued to try to move his paralyzed body.

I climbed down from my stand and sent a third arrow up through the chest cavity and out the neck, finally ending things. It is amazing how long a deer can stay alive when shot through the lungs if they don't run. I've seen this once before. It is frustrating to have this happen, but the outcome was still a reasonably quick kill. I checked the time... 3:40. After barely an hour in the stand, my tag was filled. It was a good thing I got out a little earlier today. I was able to get back to the truck, and my water bottle, much sooner than expected. Somehow my thirst, or at least my knowledge of it, had greatly diminished over the course of events. It's funny how that works.

This deer fell right at the end of the old pasture that is now mowed for hay. There is not a single place on the property that makes for an easier recovery... given you don't get stuck driving down there. I didn't and was home in time for dinner. The deer is now quartered and in the fridge waiting to be butchered. It's been a good day.

DSC02096.JPG
 
That was a great account of a good hunt. When pursuing the girls, those bucks can get goofy. I've seen them walk right up to me, and that when I was in plain sight! It was as if they didn't care a whit that I was there. While that may be the exception, it has happened. I've seen on several occasions bucks cut my trail, just as yours cut your trail, and continue on as if I had never walked there. Again, it is the exception, but the exception makes the rule. Congratulations on a fine buck.
 
hardcore, I haven't seen a Blacktail that large in many years, a great buck, congratulations.
 
S7302210.jpg


Here is my granddaughter with her first bull this year. The date on the picture is wrong because the old camera date is off a few years, but so am I!
 
And a fine bull it is. Unfortunately, she'll have to send it back because her grandfather dated her picture wrong. :mrgreen: I suspect there are a number of us who are dating our pictures wrong because we haven't kept up with the changing technology, and eventually, we just say, "So what!" :grin:
 
This is 'youth' weekend for my unit here in TN......my daughter has never been interested in hunting with dad until this year.

This was her first time hunting, and I hope not her last



I am not sure who was happier.
 
WOW, congrats to your daughter! Great shooting on her behalf. Give us some details.
 
Congratulations to your daughter; and congratulations to her dad for so living that she wants to hunt with him. :grin: As is so often stated on this forum, her smile says it all.
 
Nice to see the girls hunting, a very nice elk and whitetailed doe. Congratulations to both.
 
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