07-08 Whitetail season success thread

C

Clayfish

New member
Let's use this thread to post our kills this season. Post up the pics and stories of any trophys small and large here.

I'll Start

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I killed this guy Saturday morning 10/27/07. I was walking a trail and I heard him grunt directly ahead. I forgot my grunt tube so I took a gamble and let out the best deer grunt I could muster. Well, it actually worked because he grunted back. I let out another grunt and he had me pinned. He walked within 10 yards through the thick stuff as I was on my knees in a bush. He gave me a shot so I took it. I thought he was going to run me over but his antlers got caught in the thick brush and that pulled him to the right of me. One more .308 win slug put him right down. I was so pumped because I had never imagined I could grunt a deer in with just my mouth.

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Then there was this guy I shot last Thursday 10/25/07. He just needed to be shot and taken out of the gene pool. We estimate he was 5.5 to 6.5 years old. I walked up on him within 30 yards on the edge of a cotton field.

So far it has been a great season. I got skunked with a bow but 2 bucks in 3 days with a gun is awesome. I get 10 does and I think I will just carry a bow after them. I am going to a quota hunt next weekend where I get another buck and a doe. I LOVE DEER HUNTING.

Now it's your turn.
 
No success yet, this morning I didn't see anything until about 8:30 when a group of 5 or 6 does were clambering around behind me, I had perfect opprotunites to take 2 different does, but I felt they were too small. I'm going out this evening and tomorrow morning and I'm sure I'll have a success to post. I'm so spoiled with internet connection at the ranch house! I even got a text message this morning while I was in the stand, man this is roughing it :cool:
 
I got out early this morning before what's left of a tropical storm hit Maine. I saw all kinds of sign. The guy who owns the land behind my house was out too, we walked a parallel track on different snowmobile trails. I heard him fire a shot, and waited to see if he needed help dragging. He didn't show.

I got back home at about nine, put my gear away, and got out of my hunting clothes. SWMBO took off for the day, so I started on the chores. I'm in the basement working on laundry when my big dog barked, she's not a barker, so I came upstairs.

We've got a sun room with knee high windows on all four walls and my dog is standing in the middle of the room on high alert. I look out by my shed and there's a big fat doe out by the shed. By the time I got my gun reloaded she was long gone.
 
Yesterday, I shot a doe from the blind we built on an overgrown town road in Maine. It was the first deer I’ve seen this season and crossed the road from left to right, more than 200 yards North of the blind. I only had about 4 seconds to: 1. Tell my Grandson looking the other direction "Deer"; 2. Decide whether I wanted to shoot it; 3. Raise the rifle to the shoulder, (resting my forearm on a horizontal 2/X4"), and 4. Place the crosshair well into the kill zone; 6. Hold breath and be as steady as possible; and 5. Quickly squeeze the trigger. (The grandson had a 20 gauge shotgun, and didn't want to shoot the rifle, so this was clearly not his deer.)

Actual sight picture time was maybe one second, since the deer was walking and the the trail width was only a little more than a deer length at that range. The head was already disappearing into the fir trees on the right when the crosshairs steadied briefly on the chest cavity and the Remington Stainless .270 Win went off.

The deer disappeared at the shot, but I had it marked just beyond the "200 yard log" in the snowmobile trail. I heard the classic "thump" as the Ballistic Tip slammed into her.

A couple of minutes after the shot, another deer crossed behind the first. It was a bit larger than the first, but there was no "Reset" button on this hunting game!

My son-in-law Tom came down the trail as we prepared to go down to look, so the three of us walked down the road to find it. When we got to the log, we were careful to stay on the left side of the old road, so we wouldn’t disturb any signs of a hit, etc.

I found some wet leaves flipped over recently and we marked that spot. There was no blood or hair on the road, so I left Tom to look for blood and went down the road slowly to see if I could find anything else.

Tom called that he found some blood and it was fairly dark, like a heart shot. There was quite a bit for the first few feet, indicating a pretty good hit. I followed the blood about 50 yards and found the dead deer, shot in the heart, but the exit hole was back in the abdominal cavity a bit. The bullet may have fragmented a bit on hitting a rib, but the damage was excellent for that distance.

Cleaning the deer, the lungs, heart and top of the stomach were pretty well shot up from the 130 grain Ballistic Tip. It wasn’t the easiest deer to clean, but far from the worst. It had a lot of body fat and appeared very healthy (prior to the shot anyway). I didn't do a complete inventory of damage, since I was pretty messy from gutting and wanted to wash up in the road puddles.

I’m most pleased that I was able to pull off a difficult shot quickly and in relatively poor light. Making a good, killing shot under difficult conditions means much more to me at this time in my life than the size of deer.

The distance from the stand to the deer, according to my new GPS unit, was 234 yards. The accuracy was 5 feet, taken at each point. Because of the other stuff we had to carry in, (including a Black and Decker Black Cat heater to keep the grandson warm) I'd left the lazer rangefinder in the truck.

The rifle was loaded with four 130 Grain Nosler BTs ahead of 60+ grains of Reloder 22, (chrono'd at 3,260). The barrelled action is in an HS Precision Sendero take-off. The combo and load shoots 3 1/2" groups at 450 yards.

The Balvar 8B scope power was set at 6x, to handle anything within 350 yards. I’d already determined that I wouldn’t shoot at any deer beyond that. It’s not worth the tracking, and Hurricane Noel was due to strike within hours, so I wanted to get any deer out of there and to the processor before the rain got too bad.

We called my son on the cell phone and he came the ATV in the truck to help get the deer out. It was about half a mile back in the woods. We’d dragged it about 150 yards over the wet road area to a higher place...and away from the main deer crossing, prior to gutting it out.

This deer was within the size range I like. When I took it to be processed, it weighed in 94 lbs.

Picher

P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures, but it was just a normal-sized doe and she wasn't very photogenic after the drag, etc.
 
I've taken two. One was a mature doe on the opening day of muzzle loader season. She developed a routine of stepping out into the edge of my pasture at dusk. I sat on the edge under a tree in a lawn chair and took her at 53 yds.

The second one was this morning. I was watching the same pasture and first saw two does at 400+ yds. A few minutes later, a big-bodied 5 point came out at 150. Before I could line him up, he trotted directly away, through a tree-lined draw and up the other side. Three does (or two button bucks and a doe) came running out from the right side at 200 yds. They all ran around chasing each other and butting heads (which is why I think they were button bucks). The 5-point tried to play along and they chased him back toward me.

He ran to within 75 yds but was under the crest of a small rise and I couldn't see him. He trotted back out, through the draw and up the other side again. At 200 yds, he finally stopped and turned broadside, offering a perfect shot. My 7mm-08 Rem. Mountain Rifle barked and I saw the result through the Leupold VX-II scope. The 120 gr ballistic tip hit higher than I would have liked but angled down and took out the lungs. He dropped in his tracks, so he must not have realized he was hit too high. :D

I was able to finish my coffee and then drive my truck right up to him. I didn't bother field-dressing him since I would have him at the processor's in less than 30 min. The hardest part was dragging him up into the truck bed.
 
You guys are making me cry:( because here in AZ we have to be drawn for deer-we don't have nearly as many as some states. Anyway, I did not even get a tag this year! But it's nicew to read success stories. Well, I guess I'm going after prairie dogs this weekend-can't eat them, but it sure is fun with the .204 Ruger.:D

Keep grunting!
 
Wow, what a start to the season. Black Powder started last Saturday and I saw a 3 point right off the bat, 25 feet in front of my ladder stand ( did not shoot him). Later that morning I see 7 more deer, mostly yearlings and does. I could have shot a pile of them but I am waiting on Mr Big Buck. Saturday evening I see five more does. The locals say the rut has not started so what do they know. Monday morning I see four does, but things heated up on the evening hunt. One doe comes within 20 feet of my stand but she gets nervous and runs off. About 45 minutes later another doe comes up the ridge in a cautious manner. I am watching her when I hear another deer coming around the hill. I look and see big horns. The buck is rubbing trees with his horns and I am trying to get my gun ready without the doe seeing me. The buck gets within 15 yards in front of me and I squeeze off a shot. He stumbles and runs down the hill about 50 yards and crashes onto the ground. I could see him from my stand and could tell he was dead in less than a minute (295 grain HP powerbelt was deadly). Not knowing how big his rack was, I couldn't wait to go see, but I waited about 20 minutes. He was 9 point with a pretty set of antlers. While draging the buck out I saw a fresh scrape he had just made before his life ended. The rut has begun and here I am at home. Oh I am going back, I only came home today to take the deer head to the taxidermist. Its the best one I have shot with the muzzleloader yet. Sorry no pictures yet, my camera guy has not emailed them yet. Going back to find the 9 points daddy or grandpa. Doe meat will come later after the rut.
 
Great post....I love reading others hunting stories (not those in magazines).

I shot my first buck this year at the beginning of the second weekend of bow season. I had been up in the climber for about 10 minutes when an 8 point and a 7 point walked out together. I shot the 8 at 12 yards. Public land on a local lake. It was a miserable evening - hot and a ton of mosquitoes. I still had a great time.

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I shot my second deer the last week of bow season it was a doe at 22 yards. I shot once and she ducked the arrow, but turned and looked back. I aimed at the lower edge of her body and sent another arrow at her. She ducked into the second one. (I got lucky).

So far it has been a great season.

I hunted really hard this last weekend (our rifle opener) and did not see a deer. I did not feel too bad though it was hot and we only killed three deer total on the lease for the whole weekend.

It cool off and the hunting will get better. I do love to deer hunt!
 
I took this doe opening morning of muzzleloader season. We estimated she was about 4 1/2 years old and weighed about 175lbs. Good size doe, and great eatin! I actually had a good time processing this deer myself, which I have never done before. I always thought it would be so hard, but it was actually quite simple.

Good luck to everyone this season!

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First thing, congrats on all your deer!

Here's mine, while it's not a Whitetail, he is a 4x5 Columbian Blacktail. Taken opening day 10/29/2007 here in Southern Oregon. By the way, this was my first buck so I'm sure I've burned up all my luck ...for the next two lifetimes!:p

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I got this 4x5 buck on opening evening with about 4 minutes of legal shooting time left.



I also took a medium sized doe opening morning. Both with my .270 Mossberg ATR-100 and fixed 4.75x Weaver Grand Slam scope, both one shot kills with Fusion 130 grain ammo.
 
Here's mine:

Details first. Last of bow season, almost didn't go because I was up late. I heard something behind me around 6:00 and checked it out. A small doe. I drew back and saw spots on its butt. No go on that.

40 minutes later I hear a squirrel....or so I thought.... 20 yds away a 4 point comes out. It is walking towards me. I watch it, not wanting to scare it. It gets about 10 yds away and starts ripping into a sapling. I draw...

Now, what is going through my mind is this: Hmm... what about all of those articles that say "don't shoot a deer from nearly vertical" or "Don't shoot a deer that is facing you head on" (with a bow). I go figurin: Last day of bow season, a buck, I can get help tracking, 10yds away I should get good penetration.....

THWACK!!!! Just to the left of the spine and just behind the shoulder. The deer bolts like greased lightning. I watch it run away and circle with the arrow sticking out its' back.

I start questioning my shot.....good? bad? to far back?..... I call my wife and tell her the good news. Since I think it may have been too far back, and I didn't see the arrow poking though the bottom, I go back to the truck. Funny thing, I could have shot a doe at 35yds quartering away if I had an arrow ready.....Oh well.

This is what I found after tracking him:
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First kill with a bow, 7 point, first kill in too many years (only started again recently)
 
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Ahhh Opening Day Finally Here

And not a day too soon. Started Saturday morning of with a cool 42 degree Florida General Gun Season opener. I was up by 3:00 to pickup a friend and be in the woods by first light. There were four of us on our 480 acre plot. At 7:00 I hear my friend who was using my wifes (shhh!!) .243 fire the first shot of the season. It turned out he killed a nice fat spike. At 8:15 another friend gets a 145lb 7 point. We all reported in at the farmhouse at 9:00 to swap stories, give congrats and to start getting them on ice. Later that day we were all on the front porch of the old house talking and such when I looked down the power line that runs north thru the property and saw a spike standing there looking at us. I had my .223 FV handy so I opened the bipod lay prone on the porch and touched of a shot. He folded and ran into the woodline. I stepped it off at 207 steps. Were he ran into the woods it left a blood trail so big Ray Charles could track him. He ran maybe 50 yards. When we cleaned him his heart was GONE. I mean really gone. Nice day and plenty more to come. Not to mention that I have blown that .223 not enough gun thing to pieces:D
 
I posted a number of pics in another thread here, but here we are again.
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Taking the kids out again soon so hopefully I'll have more pics to show off.
 
No luck on opening day of Missouri rifle season, I did see one running away from me. Tried again the next morning, but with 25 mph winds they just weren't moving around. Combination of late spring freeze and summer drought killed about all natural feed in our area. I'll try again this weekend. Mike
 
Gedenke - That is a BEAST of a blacktail!!! I knew you guys grew 'em big in S. Oregon, but dang!!! I might have to try your neck-o-the-woods someday (when I ain't going to E. Oregon for muley).
 
I killed this little guy within the first week of the season. Since then I have passed on several other young deer, and still haven't shot a doe. I have been seeing tons of young bucks, but nothing old and mature. Not a lot of does either. This weekend I'll pick up the .308 and start helping some friends with management.

This cull actually scored 106 3/4 by the BTR and is eligible for their bow records. Their cut off is 105 with a bow.

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Dave, thanks! He weighed a little over 200lbs when I dropped him and hung out at the butcher at 124. My taxidermist scored him at 123 5/8", missed record book by 2". Dang!

Pierch, I must say, that is the strangest spread I've ever seen... 4x1.5?! Still a nice buck though! Congrats. And that goes to everyone!
 
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