TOPIC: DeerHunting 2012

Got some camp meat this morning.

Just A Senging and Whitjr...Thanks for the hoping! However, I missed a nice 8 or 10 point Buck this morning which appeared from my vantage point to be 200 pounds or better. I got up late this morning and into the woods late and left my' treestand at home. It was just as well, as there were deer moving through the area and a few others had settled in. Three deer saw me coming around the old logging road, started blowing and ran like they were going to go up the left side of the next hollow. I went up the hollow before that one and kept the finger ridge beteen me and them. (The finger ridge had one heck of a rub trail as far up as I could see.) When I got to a fairly high vantage point with two big oaks, I eased up to the lower one. However, the Buck which was already alerted by the other deer, apparently spotted me briefly and came up out of his' bed and began a low blowing. I am almost certain he was doing the low blowing since he couldn't wind me and wasn't sure what I was! He was fairly high up on the other side of the hollow and it took me about 20 minutes to finally spot him. He was about 150 yards away at a 55 to 60 degree angle from my position and was standing with his' head behind a tree but his' whole body from the front shoulder back was exposed. I surveyed the limbs between us to insure a clear shot and although I sighted my' muzzleloader in at 2 1/2\" high at 100 yards, I felt that the angle and distance would cause a significant drop in the bullet. I held about 6 inches over his' back at his' shoulder but the bullet did not drop as much as I thought it would and apparently just slightly missed clipping his' back. I waited 30 minutes then crossed the hollow and climbed to where he was standing but no blood. I even searched the whole area where he ran but no blood, so I followed his' tracks for about another 1/2 mile and then gave up as he had met up with several more deer and their' tracks were headed into a big Laurel patch. I will let them settle down tonight and tomorrow but will be back up there on Monday in hopes of a better and closer shot. My plans are to get there an hour before daylight, lug my' treestand to an area below where he was bedded and wait for him or another Buck to come in. Oh yea, while I was tracking him, I crossed the tracks of at least two more Bucks and several more rub trails.

Whitjr...I am currently hunting in the National Forest and permanent stands are forbidden and a ladder stand is too heavy and hard to get up there. Besides, even if I could haul it up there and get it attached to a tree, it would probably get stolen within a week! Yea, it is that bad around there!

5prong...Congrats on getting a young Doe for camp meat. On the drive back out of the National Forest, I could have taken a young Blacktail Doe but decided she was too young, so I left her to grow up and hopefully have a few male offsprings.


Frank

Frank, sorry things didn't work out for you today. Hopefully things will go as planned for you monday Muzzle loaders are my second favorite way to hunt. I wouldn't give up bowhunting for anything (although I have switched to a crossbow because I just cant find the time to practice with the compound any more). Our smoke pole season isn't until January. Usually we have a little snow on the ground which is probably why I like it so much. Our firearms season is the week after Thanksgiving, and I primarily use my smokepole for that. I actually have 2. A 50 cal CVA Optima and a 45 cal CVA Firebolt. Both of them are very accurate.

Today was an awesome day in the woods. It started out with the thunder chickens waking everything up in the hollow. They carried on for an hour and a half or better. The first does must have been coming in heat as a young buck was chasing everything around in there this morning. After I got that young doe I shot hung up and skinned out and doing a few other things around the house I went back out this afternoon to the other side of the hill from where I was at this morning. I was about half way up the tree in my climber when two does came running past. It was that same little 4 point I saw this morning dogging them. I finished climbing the tree and got everything situated and then a small 8 point came along following the same trail. About 45 minutes after that an even bigger eight came along. They all passed about 35 yards from me and I could have taken either one of those 8 points, but with all of this coming week to hunt and the rut heating up I'm hoping for something a little better. I'm by no means what you'd call a trophy hunter, but I am pickier than what I used to be and I'm trying to get a new personal best.... at least for now. My standards tend to lower after the peak of the rut and when we get later into the season. I've got a lot of things I need to get done so I'd really like to get a good buck down sooner than later...

Good Luck to all you guys!

5prong...Thanks for the kind words and encouragement! A friend stopped by Saturday afternoon and once he heard my story, he wants to go with me Monday. I always like having a hunting partner but it could complicate matters but then again, could make them better, you just never know!

Muzzleloaders are my least favorite way to hunt due to the smell left behind on everything, your' clothes, your hands and even the muzzleloader itself! I always found it harder to get a shot at another deer with a big toxic fart smell clinging to everything and permeating the woods. I must say that I am impressed by the performance of my' new T/C Triumph Bone Collector. After having some difficulty dialing the scope in due to wind and so many other shooters, I finally put two shots, one slightly left but directly in the Bullseye and the other one directly above and still touching the Bullseye. Just two clicks to the right on the scope, had her dialed in at 2 1/2\" high at 100 yards. My only complaint is that everything works great until you put in the 209 primer! Once in, the breech lock is hard to engage, so it must have something to do with primer clearance. I plan to take this up with the Thompson Center Arms Company next week. I thought about trying the breach plug from the other new T/C Triumph Bone Collector I have but don't like canibalizing new guns. However, if the problem gets worse before a solution comes from Thompson Center, I may not have a choice!

My favorite hunting after Wild Turkey hunting is with the bow but due to my health issues I can no longer shoot a traditional or even hybrid compound bow. I have a Horton Crossbow but find it very tolling to lug the heavy thing into the woods. I do keep an Oneida Eagle Screaming Eagle in hopes that someday, I might be able to shoot it without creating more issues with my health but have been thinking that is for naught and may sell it.

What do you mean when you say Thunder Chickens? I have heard the name (term) used before (I mean the fields-wise and woods-wise uses not the other uses) but am unfamiliar with it! It sounds like you have a pretty good chance of scoring a decent Buck with all of the activity you are seeing. Have you tried using rattling horns to bring in a bigger Buck? I have had mixed results using them and a grunt tube! I once took the heavy sheds from a big 8 point to try to coax in a big 12 pointer but the 12 pointer would come up out of his' bed and run the other direction. He had apparently had enough of fighting other heavy racked Bucks! Like you, I am primarily a meat hunter but if a 4 pointer and a 12 pointer stroll in together, guess which one is going to get ground checked? LOL!!!

Good luck and above all take care and be safe!


Frank

Was going to go out this morning, but overslept and decided to just stay at home and get a few things done around here.

Frank - I was referring to the American wild turkeys. They were really carrying on yesterday. started out with yelps and clucks and went on to fighting purrs and quite a few gobbles. I've never hunted them in the fall, but have seen them really carry on and fight while deer hunting. I have taken my share of longbeards in the spring though.

Nice shot there 5Prong. Congrats!

I went out yesterday, got into position about 0745. I didn't get out as early as I wanted to as was pretty tired from last week. Sat and drank coffee until 0700. Anyway, when walking in, I saw a huge buck nosing around the stubble in a cornfield... however no shot as he bolted as soon as he saw me... seconds after i saw him. He was at least 300 yards away anyway.

Had no shot the rest of the day, however it's the right weather for good hunting here in NC.

5prong...I kinda slept in myself. I only slept about an hour Saturday morning before the hunt due to having too much to do to get ready, so I crashed and burned at 5:30 PM and woke up a 2:30 AM this morning. I made a cup of coffee, got online for about 3 hours and thought about trying another location this morning. However, I decided to stay home today and try to get my' back to mend a little before the Monday hunt.

I had a feeling you were talking about Wild Turkeys! It is funny how that a change in the weather (a drop in temperatures, drop in pressure due to a cold front moving through or and the best Thunderstorms) can set them off. I have hunted them a few times in the fall but I am not that good in making the Kee Kee call of a lost young Turkey, so I usually try to get close to a talkative bunch and use the old hen call back yelp and clucks. Although I have taken a few in the fall, I don't really care for the taste of the meat then. Without a good crop of Beech nuts and no fresh shoots or root growth, they feast on available acorns. This gives them a little more wilder taste and the meat becomes really dry and bland. I like the sweet taste of the meat when they have been eating all of the fresh shoots and fresh root growth!

Whitjr...I will bet that huge Buck will be back sometime when you are out and hopefully give you a clear and close shot. This is a good time for Deer hunting in Tennessee as well. It appears that the rut is coming in strong and from all of the tracks, rubs and scrapes that I saw yesterday, I could tell that the Bucks are really getting in the mood and are dogging some Does. It is time to get the rattling horns and grunt tube out for battle tomorrow! LOL!!!!

Good luck...take care and be safe!


Frank

During the rut using grunts and rattler works well but i have found that when these dont seem to get the big bucks to come close enough there is this call called \"LITTLE WEEZY\"I have called in some big bucks with this call.I do mean they come in full blast ready to fight..I myself have been hnting a buck for 5 yrs now i get him on trail cam but i have never seen him in person.hopefully this will be the year.He rubs trees as big as power poles..

During the rut using grunts and rattler works well but i have found that when these dont seem to get the big bucks to come close enough there is this call called \"LITTLE WEEZY\"I have called in some big bucks with this call.I do mean they come in full blast ready to fight..I myself have been hnting a buck for 5 yrs now i get him on trail cam but i have never seen him in person.hopefully this will be the year.He rubs trees as big as power poles..

Just A Senging,

I hunted a bruiser 8 point Buck at the Airport I worked at in West Virginia that was nocturnal and spent many, many days and hours watching for him. One day, I set out scent pads using Tinks #69 Doe in Rut every 30 to 40 yards around me in a big circle in hopes of drawing him out but again to no avail. The next day I had to work and could not hunt but as fate would have it, the Buck was all over the area where I had set up the day before and spent several hours there. The scent that I had put out the day before apparently hung in the air there all night into the next day and the Buck was hell bent on finding that Doe. Just my luck that I had to work!


Frank