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After refining stand locations this year, I've had a lot of deer on my cameras and good options for hunting most winds. I'm on vacation this week (and next week).
I hunt cautiously as 30 acres isn't a lot and it wouldn't take much to blow the whole thing out if I'm too aggressive or intrusive.
I went out a few times in October, didn't see anything. But this past weekend and the first few days of this week, I've seen a decent number of deer and have had a couple shots. Small bucks and a doe. I'm not hard up enough for meat to shoot a little buck just yet. And I'll shoot a doe during late muzzleloader, no need to do it right now when she might be bringing a big buck along with her.
In any event, last night I was sitting in my stand right behind our house. A pretty good buck crossed between me and the house, which was downwind. He didn't totally spook, but he knew something was up. Kinda stinks, I hate spooking deer.
The wind shifted and temps dropped a bunch overnight. So, I snuck in this morning shortly after shooting light (making sure the wind was steady instead of swirling or shifting).
It was a beautiful sunrise.
I saw a doe about 80 or 90 yards off this morning as she slipped into some cover. Then at about 645 or so, I saw a nice buck. He seemed to catch wind of where the doe was and jumped the fence going away. I gave him a couple grunt calls even though I haven't had much luck grunting at a buck in YEARS. He turned and came back a bit up the fence and seemed kind of interested, so I gave him two more little short grunts (like a buck tending a doe make...). He was out of my sight at that point, but I heard him crash back over the fence and because it was nice and frosty this morning, I could hear him coming up behind the tree. He came RIGHT to the tree, which is almost never ideal. I drew when he was behind all the leaves in the tree (an oak... selected specifically because they keep their leaves so well). He never saw me, but he was tight enough that he might have smelled something. Seemed like he knew something was up, but not enough to scare. He simply turned and walked away. I took a hard quartering away shot that passed through one lung and exited right above his heart, likely cutting some major blood passageways. He made it about 40 yards or so before he went down. The neighbor was great, offering to help us lift him over the fence with his tractor which was greatly appreciated!
I believe this is actually the same buck from last night. But I can't guarantee it.
I am not a "grip and grin" kind of guy, really. So I just have a couple pictures of him as he laid. I take the act of taking a life pretty seriously and usually just take a picture of the deer the way it lay "as found".
*warning that the picture of the deer is pretty bloody/graphic*
Small, you can click it if you want to see it.
Here he is being hoisted. Certainly a welcome help from the neighbor!
I hunt cautiously as 30 acres isn't a lot and it wouldn't take much to blow the whole thing out if I'm too aggressive or intrusive.
I went out a few times in October, didn't see anything. But this past weekend and the first few days of this week, I've seen a decent number of deer and have had a couple shots. Small bucks and a doe. I'm not hard up enough for meat to shoot a little buck just yet. And I'll shoot a doe during late muzzleloader, no need to do it right now when she might be bringing a big buck along with her.
In any event, last night I was sitting in my stand right behind our house. A pretty good buck crossed between me and the house, which was downwind. He didn't totally spook, but he knew something was up. Kinda stinks, I hate spooking deer.
The wind shifted and temps dropped a bunch overnight. So, I snuck in this morning shortly after shooting light (making sure the wind was steady instead of swirling or shifting).
It was a beautiful sunrise.
I saw a doe about 80 or 90 yards off this morning as she slipped into some cover. Then at about 645 or so, I saw a nice buck. He seemed to catch wind of where the doe was and jumped the fence going away. I gave him a couple grunt calls even though I haven't had much luck grunting at a buck in YEARS. He turned and came back a bit up the fence and seemed kind of interested, so I gave him two more little short grunts (like a buck tending a doe make...). He was out of my sight at that point, but I heard him crash back over the fence and because it was nice and frosty this morning, I could hear him coming up behind the tree. He came RIGHT to the tree, which is almost never ideal. I drew when he was behind all the leaves in the tree (an oak... selected specifically because they keep their leaves so well). He never saw me, but he was tight enough that he might have smelled something. Seemed like he knew something was up, but not enough to scare. He simply turned and walked away. I took a hard quartering away shot that passed through one lung and exited right above his heart, likely cutting some major blood passageways. He made it about 40 yards or so before he went down. The neighbor was great, offering to help us lift him over the fence with his tractor which was greatly appreciated!
I believe this is actually the same buck from last night. But I can't guarantee it.
I am not a "grip and grin" kind of guy, really. So I just have a couple pictures of him as he laid. I take the act of taking a life pretty seriously and usually just take a picture of the deer the way it lay "as found".
*warning that the picture of the deer is pretty bloody/graphic*
Small, you can click it if you want to see it.
Here he is being hoisted. Certainly a welcome help from the neighbor!
I also tried jerky made from ground w a jerky gun but didn’t like the texture.
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