2012 Hunting Pictures

[ROVERT]

He was a real chore getting him in the truck by myself..........hence the reason no kill pics on site!!!

Been there; done that. I'm totally sympathetic. We appreciate the picture after the fact, nevertheless.

I, too, feel your pain. My archery buck in 2010 dressed out at 165 lbs. I was using my dads pickup at the time which has an EZ Dumper dump bed in the back. That puts the tailgate up pretty high. I'm guessing somewhere between 3 and 4 feet. I found a tow chain behind the seat, wrapped it around the deer's chest and climbed up in the bed. Pulling that deer up into that bed was the hardest I've ever worked to load one.

I still find that a strap around the chest is easiest way to load them by myself. The Hitch and Haul I currently load into is considerably lower and isn't too bad. Two people makes a world of difference though. I didn't hesitate to call my dad to help load my doe last night.

 

[ROVERT]

Here's my last deer for the year:

The details, video and more photos are in the "The Whelen will have to wait..." thread.

 

[SJB358]

Cool picture Trevor!

 

[pre6422hornet]

He was a real chore getting him in the truck by myself..........hence the reason no kill pics on site!!!

Been there; done that. I'm totally sympathetic. We appreciate the picture after the fact, nevertheless.

I hear you on that as well. My buck from this year I girth measured at 45 inches, which comes out to 267lbs on the hoof and 205 dressed. I did something this year which helped getting him in. I packed a couple tow straps and held his head up close to my tailgate, wrapped a strap around and cinched it tight. His head was now laying on the tailgate.

I then wrapped the other strap around his body, just in front of the rear legs. Again I picked up the rear end as far as I could and cinched it tight. Jumped up in the bed and pulled the rear end in. Quite simple actually. Heck of a lot better than trying to horse in the front, then trying to pick up the rear.

Great buck by the way! Awesome looking animal.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Here are my two from this year so far. Both are Missouri Public land whitetails.

Doe from Archery.

Buck during rifle

next up is "Alternative Season" which means Muzzleloader, handgun, crossbow, hand held bow, and ATLATL. Plan on taking the 41 mag Smith.

 

[DrMike]

Very nice, Pat. I really like your idea for loading the deer. I always have tow straps in the truck. I'll have to remember this. Consequently, I'd think that using an atalatl would make for quite a hunt. Talk about primitive!

 

[SJB358]

Great pictures Pat! Way to go buddy!

 

[Ridge_Runner]

Here are my two from this year so far. Both are Missouri Public land whitetails.

Doe from Archery.

Buck during rifle

next up is "Alternative Season" which means Muzzleloader, handgun, crossbow, hand held bow, and ATLATL. Plan on taking the 41 mag Smith.

that one of them model 71 buckhammers I spy in that pic?
SCOTTY! did you see this?
RR

 

[SJB358]

Oh yeah buddy! I saw it. Between Pat and you, I regret peeking at your hunt pictures! Darned 71 laying on deer makes me nutty.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Here are my two from this year so far. Both are Missouri Public land whitetails.

Doe from Archery.

Buck during rifle

next up is "Alternative Season" which means Muzzleloader, handgun, crossbow, hand held bow, and ATLATL. Plan on taking the 41 mag Smith.

that one of them model 71 buckhammers I spy in that pic?
SCOTTY! did you see this?
RR

Yes it is. The results speak for themselves. And yes I made sure Scotty saw lots o pics.... :grin: :grin:

 

[Oldtrader3]

Pat that is one genetically weird buck. I have seen really old deer that are fork and one (really long and wide. However I have never seen I single pont on one side of a mature buck with a multi pointed normal horn on the other side. He is a real trophy in a way. Plus you are helping strengthen the breeding stock.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Charlie, I am no expert in telling if a pic from last years trail cam is the same deer or not. But here is a pic from last year that captured a buck with very similiar headgear. Buy his body and antlers I say he was 1.5 at the time. My Buck from this year I took out his jaw and compared to some pictures on the internet and he is either 2.5 or 3.5, with me leaning on 3.5.

I will let all you guys see what you think.

 

[DrMike]

It could certainly be the same buck. Just a strange anomaly seated on his head.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Surely looks to be the same deer and the teeth are close. I woild call him the same deer because he is enough different where I doubt there are two like in that locality.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Well in my haste to not freeze I didn't get any pictures of the cow elk I shot on Friday but I can give a little recount of it. We left for our hunting area on Thursday night and got in about 11pm. By the time we got to bed it was past midnight. We were up at 5:30am and out at our spot waiting for it to get light at 6:30am. Around 7:20 it got light enough to see a bit so we ran a road on the ATV's (my dad and I) doing a lot of glassing. It snowed a little bit over night and was still cloudy so it stayed dark until fairly late in the morning. We were down in the sage brush below timber line. We saw a bunch of deer and as we got closer to the timber we jumped a single cow elk. I got on her just as she crested the hill and stopped. I had a Texas heart shot or a head shot. I tried to move over to a fence post that was a few feet away and she didn't like it and boogied over the hill. So I took off after her and couldn't find her. I have no idea where she went. There wasn't enough snow to track her and there weren't any trees. I was stumped. So we decided to ride on a bit and see if we could spot her. We heard several shots up near the timber line through out the morning so we turned around and headed back towards the truck. My dad decided he was going to go first this time. We came over the hill we jumped the lone cow on originally and we jumped her again. My dad yells at me but doesn't stop and shoot her. He said he couldn't get the atv to stop. She paused right in the road for a shot too. We spotted several elk across the valley and private ground and watched some people make a sneak on them. After getting back to the truck we headed south to check out another spot. We saw a big bunch of elk on a mountain you wouldn't want to pack one out of. There were 2-300 head in that group.

Friday afternoon we went back to where we jumped the lone cow. This time we worked our way up towards the timber. Closer to the timber there was about 3-4" of snow. As we got close to the timber I saw a group of elk spook and run into the timber down below us. So I jumped off the atv and went down to cut their tracks and follow them. I followed them into the timber for 100yds or so and then they turned and head straight down the hill. I think they might have heard my dad on the road above us. So I followed them another 100yds or so spotted a cow through the trees. She didn't present a shot so I looked around a bit more and another cow walked into a clearing. I shot that cow with my .30-8mm and she dropped at the shot. She was flailing around a bit so I tried to shoot her again. After that I couldn't see her any longer. The rest of the elk scattered. BTW the night before I realized I forgot my knife. I had my dull azz Leatherman though. Since it was getting dark fast I gutted her with my Leatherman and started hiking my way back up to the atv's.

The next morning was COLD. It was 17* and the wind was blowing 20+mph. We rode around looking for another elk for my dad until we were too cold to stand it (about an hour) and then headed up to my elk. We ended up finding a road about 300 yards above her. So we hiked down to her and proceeded to quarter the frozen stiff carcass. My fingers were biting cold through the whole thing so I did it as fast as I could. Luckily I had my dads knife this time. We each made two trips up to the atv's and we were done.

We hunted and saw elk both Saturday night and Sunday morning but none of them gave us a chance to put the sneak on them. My dad and I can usually get by on 1/2 an elk each so not all is lost. We were hoping to get another to give some to our friends but it will have to wait until next year I guess.

 

[DrMike]

Yeah, that is elk hunting. Congratulations on getting your cow. She'll present fine table fare this coming year.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Congratulations on shooting the cow. The freezer will be full of wonderful elk meat!

 

[pre6422hornet]

Man you guys arent kidding. That will be some of the best meat ever. Congrats.

 

[buckgitter]

Just wanted to show this ...Nosler AccuBond 160 grain from my 280 Rem.

also 8 point I took in Indiana with my muzzy

 

[JD338]

Nice trophies fellas.

JD338