Well, the opening weekend is now gone, How'd you all do?

We had a fair hunt, I spooked deer going to my stand before light both Saturday and Sunday which, I think greatly affected my morning hunts (snorting as they left). Saturday evening I watched a spike for about 45 min but, I was waiting for somthing alittle bigger. By sunday evening it was meat time and I had a lone doe came in at 7 (Once again, on the same trail I walked in on, she never even got a trace of where the Lacrosse knee boots came through). She walked around for a while and finally busted me, she didn't spook but, she was sure eyeing me down. She began to feed around again but, kept facing dead towards me. Finally she quartered and I was going to go for the lung/liver shot. Well as luck would have it she busted me again at full draw, faced straight towards me and would not move. I held on her for a little bit and knew that the straight on inbetween the shoulder blades shot was a low percentage shot but, I tried anyway. The arrow went through the side of her head, through the dead center of her spine inbetween the shoulder blades and into the lungs. It didn't exit but, I thought I got extremely good penetration for an expandable, the spine is a tough thing to shoot through. She sat down, pulled her head off of the arrow and flopped alittle, end of story.

My hunting buddy shot a 4pt and a Bobcat about 200 yards from me. He also saw sevral doe. I had another friend go w/ us yesterday evening and he drew on a sixpoint but his arrow snapped off the string at full draw and the deer spooked.

So, how'd ya'll do?

Reloader

I had a 50 pound button buck in front of me Saturday afternoon. I went to a different stand yesterday and was very pleased at the amount of obvious activity. I was busted outta the stand after sitting there only 20 minutes. My job paged me. A hunter in another location found a dead guy in the woods scouting while for a stand location.

So I had to go review the scene. Guy was dead many months and there was lots of deer sign in the vicinity.

Had I not been called into work I was sure I would have been dragging at least a doe out of the woods last night. Will try again tonight but it is near 90 degrees here. Not sure it is worth hunting.

I got busted by does every time in my tree stand. The wind was very fickle, taking my scent to them every which-a-way.

I did have a little orphan button buck actually nibble on the brush I was hiding in for a ground blind Sunday night. It would have been a straight-on shot at 3 yards through the bush, but I didn't try it.
He spooked and ran when a doe with twin fawns trotted by. She must have had an appointment elsewhere, as she never saw me.

It's going to be about 86 degrees here tonight. Don't think I will go...

Well....

One of these days I'll find the nerve to tell y'all about that buck....

Last week I had some funs with two bucks and two does.

See https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7621043/m/653100043

I'll tell you, I've never spent this long in the close proximity of deer before. If anything, this bowhunting is teaching me patience, patience, patience. With a rifle I usually behave more aggressive, because I know I can deal with whatever evolves at larger distances (except for my sheep adventure last year, but that's a different story). With the bow it's a different story. I hope I can take some of these lessons into my rifle hunting.

This Saturday I woke up to pooring rain. I decided to skip a weekend. Work is interfering too. So the deer/elk/bear are still very much on top.

Frans

Nice write-up Frans!

Just a friendly warning -- mule deer are the blind, deaf and DUMB cousins of the whitetail.

I got up to within a few (as in 5-6) yards of several mule deer on my recent trip to Colorado. None were big bucks - and in any case were not on my license!





My camera has a 10x optical zoom, and the little doe stood still while I fugured out how to use it.



But I can rather routinely get up to within 30 yards of mule deer, and very, very rarely can do it with whitetail.

Chalk one up for the Gipper.

I was in my ground blind again this evening when I heard a dog baying hot pursuit and here he came right down middle of the paddock pushing a button buck. I timed the running shot perfectly...

...and liver shot that stinking dog with a Grizzly broadhead.


I like dogs better than most, but they shouldn't be loose if they run deer. My yellow Lab sniffed me a couple times and wagged her tail when I got home. I think she approves.

So sue me if you are missing a shepherd cross tonight.

Don, last year the neighbours dogs came and attacked my decoy 3 days and F***ed me up every time. I considered shooting the damned dogs as they are showing pack mentality but I don't want them running home with an arrow through their lungs. How far did yours run??

the chef

He ran down to the creek bottom (about 60 yards) and thrashed about in the creek for a few seconds, then died. I dragged him out of the water on the back side and left him for the coyotes.

This ground blind is on the back end of a "spagheti farm" it is 10 acres with 250 ft of road frontage and something like 600 yards deep, with 2-3 acres of cover near the creek in the back. The neighbor's places are roughly the same. The dog had run the deer from up near the house/road.

The landowner loves cats, but hates feral dogs and coyotes. The feral dogs chase his horses and the coyotes eat his cats. (He must have 10 cats on the place - many are three-legged and/or one-eyed.) Because of the coyotes all the pet dogs are kept inside the house or chain-link runs.

I have seen the coyotes twice, but can never seem to call them in.

Don, You got the deer and the dog? That's one of those multi species hunts there , one more and it would have been a grand slam .

Congrats

I hate wild dogs w/ a passion . We had a Pack 3-4 years back that killed all kinds of deer and the authorities wouldn't look into it until the dang things killed 3 or 4 high dollar hunting dogs. Them SOBs killed one of the Best tracking dogs I've ever had. Ole "Tracker" was a good ole' Beagle and he never hurt a flea, he lived and breathed smelling up wounded deer and man, he was darn good at it.

Those wild dogs would hear a domestic dog barking and go to him, surround him, and kill him. They killed our poor ole' weanie dog "Rudy" too(Porch Pup or Lap dog).

Once they killed a couple of more high $ hunting Hounds. The WFD finally decided to look into it. They baited them w/ dead ckickens for a while and one day they got together w/ the Sheriff's department and ambushed them w/ shotguns on a bait sight. I believe they ended up taking out over 20 dogs.

I can't stress how important it is to take out dogs that are uncollared and running loose in the wild. They will reproduce and become like a pack of rabid wolves.

When the authorities found out how that particular pack got started, it turned out that one of the local loonies had been picking up every stray he came across at dumpsters and whatnot then, bring them to his little house out in the woods and turning them out. Well he couldn't possibly feed them and they continually reproduced causing them to become wild and feed off the land. It was a terrible problem and I'm so glad we finally got it under control. Sorry for the long wind but, alot pf folks just are not aware of these type of problems.

Reloader

When I was a kid in Texas a local rancher's wife killed 17 dogs in a single pack. She used a 30-30 saddle gun.

My Pa used my 220 Swift to whack a dog a little while ago, on his ranch. Two of the neighbors dogs were dumb enough to chase a moose through my Dad's buffalo herd, right in front of the house. He went out on the deck and crumpled one of the dogs in full chase on the moose. The other dog immediately turned and ran for home and Dad chased it with another shot.

When he dumped the first dog at the neighbors to let them know that thier dog's aren't welcome in his buffalo pasture, he saw that the other dog had a neat .22 calibre piercing of one of its ears! How's that for lucky?

Cheers,
Canuck

I've got a story that ends with "here's you cat, lady", but it takes too long to tell!

Sounds like the dog was awfully lucky - I'd hate to have your dad mad at me!

I must be from Europe...

Strangly enough "cats" can be shot legally (in the netherlands) when they are about 300 yards or so from any dwelling, dogs cannot. I seem to remember that in Germany a licensed hunter can shoot a dog that he catches in the act of chasing game. The only opportunity I ever had was in Belgium, when I saw a deer run by, and hear something heavily breathing coming through the bush behind it. It was a huge black dog, hot on the trail of the deer. I was carrying a .22 WMR at the time, and unsure about the legal issues. That combined with the limited knock-down power on the .22 made me let it be.

Frans

quote:

I've got a story that ends with "here's you cat, lady", but it takes too long to tell!

Actually, I think that one is my favorite hunting camp stories that you tell! It involved a .308, right?

Re: my Dad, well, he's not known for a long fuse.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:

quote:

I've got a story that ends with "here's your cat, lady", but it takes too long to tell!

Actually, I think that one is my favorite hunting camp stories that you tell! It involved a .308, right?

Re: my Dad, well, he's not known for a long fuse.

Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck, if you remember that story you simply don't drink enough!

You are right, the cat was terminated with extreme prejudice with a .308.

We have a serious shortage of feral dogs and krats around here. I once saw a combine chase down a poodle!!

Don_G congrats on the wild/stray dog shot. I have been told that a wild/stray dog can chase a deer so much that he will starve during the winter.

quote:

Swede44mag

You cannot be more right. In France we have the example of the wolf the peta-like people want to preserve. During winter in the mountains the wolves are harassing the moufflon and hundreds of them starve.
The gov decided 5 wolves (among 30-50) have to be sorted out.

OOOOOOOOPSSSSSS the score,


NADA!

I saw does and fawns. I decided to shoot a lonely doe facing me and eatin acorns. At the latest moment, she saw me and she is still running.
Please don't talk me about bucks, stags and boars.

Put another on the board for me.

Last evening the Mosquitoes were just about to pull my last string but, I decided to hang in there and ended up seeing five does/fawns. I had a young yearling doe come in at 25 yards and I stuck her w/ the ole' sitting down bow cocked to the side shot. She walked about 30 yards and fell over. Ought ta be some mighty tender eatin'. I'm already thinking about marninating one of the hams and smoking it this weekend.

Now that I got a couple of slicks out of the way, I can focus on Ole' Mossy. A front is supposed to hit today and I've got 4 full days to hunt. I'm hoping this cool spell will have them stirring. Usually the first cool front in Oct is dynamite for Bow hunting.

Good Luck to all

Reloader

Reloader, I popped a Doe last night myself.

Don, shooting a dog is something I never thought I'd do, until I started hunting. In fact, when we were on our trek back from WY, Les explained that we needed to get out to his place in Vinton Co. and "thin the canines." I thought he was referring to yotes. I was wrong.

Turns out, he AGAIN has a dog problem running the deer off of his property. The neighbors have all been asked politely to keep their dogs off the property and most have complied. However, there are some strays, mixed muts.

So, when I go over there in Nov. We've been instructed to shoot any dog on the property.

Don, I have 2 yellow labs.

I remember in Alabama in 1990 I found an unhunted honey hole. And for 3 straight weeks I watched a black dog and a brown dog run deer. (illegal in north alabama). There were no hunters, just the dogs.

They ran 4 trophy whitetails out of my shooting area (bow only). And I would bet the largest was a 140 class deer, and that is big in Alabama.

One morning at about 930am, I here leaves and twigs snapping at an accelerated rate. Then I here some faint yipping, then barking.

I see a nice 125 class buck run by me at about 18 yards top speed. About 30 seconds later, here comes "blackie and brownie." I started meowing like a kitten but loud enough to stop the rear dog, the brown one. He stopped in some bush looking for the sound never giving me a shot. Then it ran off to catch up.

There's still something about shooting a dog that bothers me, but if the opportunity presented itself, old brownie would have been dead. I hate putting forth the effort to make a hunt right just to have a dog screw it up.

Oh, I'll arrow a stray cat any day, and have.

Dogs don't just chase deer, they will kill them if they get the chance and often then go back home for a nice meal. Four dogs killed seven deer in one afternoon, where I used to hunt in Michigan, fortunatly the game biologist was a witness and he eliminated the problem, but I wonder how many deer did they kill before that?
It wasn't an isolated incident either. I asked the biologist what we should do if we saw dogs running deer(it was legal for him to kill them, but not for us). He said "off the record, follow the three s's, shoot, shovel and shut up". Cats are just as bad and deserve the same treatment.

Went out tonight in another honey hole. 2 bucks came in, a couple of young 8 pointers. I let them go.

If they live another 3 years, they'll be very nice trophies.

I'm heading out in the morning.

The score???????? that's getting to be a touchy subject. No deer- no chances at deer. Went moose hunting today and tons of sign, really good sign but no moose not even an answer to our calls. We got set up and some moron decides to target practice with his rifle in the middle of a hunting zone, that's what ranges are for. I did find some nice muley sign while I was out and saw a lot of mulie does....where there are does there's gotta be bucks. Seems hunters and particularily bowhunters are a positive thinking lot.

I know I'm going to connect I'm just getting a little antsy at not seeing game close.

the chef

As I said before, I hunt on 10 acre spaghetti farms. Last night the neighbor to the South was hauling wood - 50 yards away.

This morning the neighbor to the North was taking the grandkids for a pony ride. They saw me the third time they came by, and we had a long talk about why it's a good thing to hunt deer - but they still looked sceptical when they left. I'll bet my hunting days are numbered on that creek crossing!

The score, eh....?

Saw three wolves yesterday!

Frans (still meatless)

New place tonight. Didn't see anything till about 710pm. 2 HUGE Does. Coming my way but never made it to my area before dark. They turned and headed north into the corn field.

Hey guys, if you are busting deer as you approach your stand, try this. Make a lot of noise going in. Flash the flashlight all around and bang on stuff. I used to bang the chain on my home made tree stand as I walked in and as I put it up I banged all the time. As soon as the stand was up and I had my headnet on and the bow in my hand, I got dead quiet. Never more then 15 minutes before a buck came to see what the noise was. Make a LOT of noise but do not use your voice.
The idea was to run the deer off before they seen or smelled me. Since they are curious, they always came back to check things out. I killed a lot of deer that way.
Deer are not afraid of you in the dark and will watch you from close range. If you run them off sneaking in, they won't go far and will watch you, even coming back right next to your tree as you climb. That will be the end of your hunt because they will not come back when it breaks day. It also ruins your stand location and it is best to move to another tree. The idea of the noise was to make sure they went far enough away so they could not see me.
I also heard of a guy that came right between a bunch of other hunters in stands and with the help of his father, built a stand right before prime hunting time. Lots of hammering and sawing. The hunter handed his father the tools, his father left and the hunter got quiet. Guess what? He is the only one that got a deer because the deer came to see what was going on.
I had trouble with a large doe a long time ago. She must have seen me get in my stand. She would come down the trail and before she got to me, she would turn right, go to the next trail until she was past me, then come back to the first trail. I never seen her look up at me. I put a dummy in my stand and put another stand on the other trail. I got her the next day.

My brother got a Doe yesterday with his 270 and 110 TSX at 90 yards. Dumped her. Good birthday present to himself. He let a small buck walk about 20 minutes prior.

Speaking of Dogs!! I got in my stand early last evening and wouldn't ya know about an hour before dark when everything quietened down two dang muts came running through my set-up at about 40 yards and jumped a deer right close by. They barked and barked . If they'd been just alittle closer I'd have flung an arrow. That just burns my rear end! I hate mutts in the woods w/ a passion. A drive over w/ high priced gas and tons of scentfree prep all out the window . I'd really liked to have had my 22 Mag w/ me.


Anyway, Hunted hard this weekend and just couldn't get on one. Saw a spike but, he Saw me too, snorted and ran. That little dude will probably make it a while as witty as he is. I may make three or four more hunts w/ a bow but, I'm ready for Mler and rifle to open so I can move into some better areas I've been staying away from.

Good Luck

Reloader