Deer hunting BS thread

so...when is the divorce finalized...

 

After I showed it to her, I didn't see her for two days...




...The swelling has started to go down now and I can see her a little bit out of the corner of my left eye.

 

Cole and I were talking yesterday about deer that I have killed. He ask me what my first one was, I told him a 4 pt when I was 15 years old with one of dads pump 12 gauge shotguns loaded with buckshot in 1990. I remember every detail about that morning like it was yesterday, shooting him out of my dads treestand about 20' high at 11:15 in the morning. It was the third stand I had moved to that morning because my feet kept getting cold. My dad was one stand below it and I was out of options. I shot the deer, he laid down almost in slow motion and died. I hung the gun by the strap across the platform of that small stand and ran to tell dad what I had done. Back then we only had 2 days we could shoot does and didn't see many bucks. My dad ask me "where's your gun?" I said hanging from the stand, I remember him laughing with excitement. We got to the deer and my dad handing me his knife and telling me "you won't learn unless you do it" and he and I dragging it about 1/2 a mile out of the deep woods we were in.

Cole then ask me what my second deer was, I thought for a second and said "I have no idea". It's odd how some things we remember, and some we don't. I think he will remember yesterdays hunt for a very long time, I know I will

Last night I remembered we needed to tag Cole's deer, I got my knife, my pen, and my phone and told Cole to come to the kitchen. I let him do all that. I'm not quite ready to turn him lose on skinning and gutting a deer yet, especially one he wants to get mounted.

Happy hunting everyone, I hope y'alls season is as blessed as mine has been

 

great story sir, i remember the 1st deer, that i couldnt shoot, as i was cold AF and shaking like a dog shittin razor blades, my dad was sound asleep next to me, and by the time i awoke him, the deer had took off, i do however, remember my 1st deer.

 

I probably shot at 5-8 before I ever killed one

 

Awesome man, that's what it's all about

 

yes, yes it is

 

Well either rut was 2 weeks late or 2 weeks early this year. Have seen some mid day action this week... While driving. Either just starting or its the does that didn't get bread the first time around. Either way hopefully tomorrow will yield some results

 

That deer yesterday was rank. I also think he was checking a scrape before coming into the food plot is why he went out of sight for a minute.

 

Rutty bucks stink...chili or jerky in your future.

 

Ahh just get em out of the skin in a hurt lol. If I shoot one I try and have it on ice no more than 4 hours after boom boom (not cold enough to skin and hang here so cooler and ice and salt)

 

depending on who you talk to around here, first rut has already happened or hasn’t happened at all yet. The spots I hunt, the woods are torn up from bucks laying down sign, but I’ve only seen 1 buck chasing does. My big 8 has disappeared for the last 6 days so I assume he’s out cruising now. There are 7 or 8 does on camera consistently, but he hasn’t been interested in any of them. Season ends dec 26 on public land but can hunt private til like Jan 15 or something like that. I’m hoping I can catch one slipping between now and then. At this point I’ll shoot about anything with horns to have something in the freezer. No more doe days here so I’m SOL there. 2 years ago I killed a decent public land deer on Christmas Day chasing a doe...maybe i can get lucky again this year. They’re also calling for snow (probably the first white Christmas in 10 years here), so hopefully theyre right for once.

 

good luck to ya sir

 

So where I hunt we are pretty fortunate; decades ago Michigan deer were brought down and released in bankhead forest. For a very long time (all before I was born) those were the only deer around, but because they thrived and gained population (helped, I'm sure, by the fact that doe season used to not be a thing) they slowly attracted south Alabama deer up north... Typically the Michigan deer will rut action peak right around the first week of December, the Alabama deer are usually about a month behind. But I would say Michigan deer still out number bama deer 2:1

 

Made to my lease at 1:30am. Slept for a bit and in the blind by 6am. Tons of hogs everywhere so I decided to pop one. Nice little sow. After that i had a two does and two yearling bucks eating corn for a bit. But nothing else ever came out.

In my 20 years of hunting I’ve never tried the gutless method of skinning and quartering. Gave it a try and I love it. So easy.

Ps. The guts in the photo are from after I finished skinning and quartering. I wanted to get the heart out.

 

I typically take the week before or the week of thanksgiving off, because in years past that’s usually the peak of the rut here. The last 2-3 years, those weeks have been SOOOOO slow. It seems to push back later and later every year. Ive heard some folks around the areas I hunt say they’ve seen a few chasing this week...I was off until Thursday but I didn’t see any. Unless those that ran by me Tuesday evening were being chased, but I never saw what they were so I have no idea. I know there’s 2nd rut and all that, I just feel like the peak of the rut is later than it’s been. I had a fawn with spots and still nursing as late as last week, which tells me she was born WAY late in the year.

 

congradulations Cole !!!

 

My first deer (and the first deer I had ever seen)....
We were in the Mark Twain National Forest and had overslept (because my dad got a little drunker than usual the night before). He walked me to this sketchy ass stand which consisted of a couple of boards half ass connected to a couple of skinny pine trees. As he was walked off he said, "don't shoot a doe". So he walked about 40 yards away, lit a cig, dug a beer out of his coat pocket and started his smoker's cough/hack. So I hollered at him, "hey, get the f#ck outta here with all that noise". About 10 minutes after he walked off I had two does walk in. I picked out the biggest one and busted her ass (.243 which I still own). There were no doe tags back then so we threw her in the truck, piled some junk on her and made the 90 mile drive home.

Side note:
Illegal? Damn right it was. Do I really care 40 years later? Not at all. But that was the first deer I had ever seen and I kinda freaked and went all Gunsmoke on her.