Contributors to this thread:
Sunday into next week holds some seriously promising weather in the whitetail woods. Who is going to be out? I know I am. Hunting scrapes could be the golden ticket... this time of year is when scrapes start to get great big buck daylight activity.
I'll be out. Only got out once so far. So I'm pretty fired up.
This front should be hunted.
Depends on the cameras. Really slowed down lately . Going to check a couple different spots looking for acorns.
Swamp donkey shot a beauty
congratulations! lets see it!
BOOM!!! I’ll post the story after I get home from the butcher. Have to rush with this heat. Michigan DIY buck fyi.
Wow! And you found his sheds from last year!! How cool.
LOL! Blood you beat me to that one. Congratulations nice buck.
Congrats, nice buck. Funny Blood, maybe his brother.
i think that was his brother shed .
That's a good'un!! Nice job
Heading to Maine after work for few days. Then hunt he rest of season.
HE'S A NICE ONE ! CONGRATS
Unbelievable. Went to a new state with zero prior knowledge (Michigan) and sealed the deal on the 4th day of the season. I've learned a lot from being out here. A few notable things are that for every 40 does, fawns, and immature bucks, there is just 1 mature buck. This makes for a LOT of eyes ears and noses in the woods to bust you before the action even happens. Big bucks know this out here. They rely on it. Another thing is I have never had deer actively looking up in trees. It's not like CT, these deer are scanning the trees and ground from 80 yards out. You get away with zero movement even in a fantastic set (lots of limb and leaf cover). One other thing to note is that I've hunted 4 times already this year and I have not hunted the same tree twice. Saddled up and moving depending on evening or morning and anticipated wind direction/ thermals.
So I got in the stand this morning hoping to catch deer heading back to bed on their way back from the bean fields. It funnels into a small strip of oak flats next to a tightly planted corn field (making deer movement in the corn limited; exactly what I want). I got set up around 5:45 am first light at 6:45 am and shooting light at 7:00 am. Around 6:15 I heard two deer in the dark and thought I heard some light sparing going on between the two unidentified deer (I now believe that one of these bucks is the one I got). Then no movement until 7:05 am when I spotted a doe and a fawn just behind me. Soon to follow here come two big deer skirting that cornfield edge at 80 yards. Initially, I thought they were huge does. It was too dark to see those dark antlers at that distance. I stayed still and let the deer work into the white oaks. At 30 yards I noticed... holy crap those are nice bucks! I picked up my bow and as the deer kept working in and thought the range was about 26 to 27 yards. Come to find out I was slightly off, the deer was at just 18. Luckily at 31-inch draw and 80lbs of draw a pin set to 27 shot at 18 will only be a few inches high. I took a hard quartering-away shot and the deer took off and I lost sight of him at 80 yards. Didn't hear a crash... I waited an hour before taking up the trail. At first notice, I didn't find my arrow. Good sign I thought to myself. Hopefully, it's logged up on that opposite shoulder, then blood started a few yards past the shot site. He only went 100 yards and piled up!! The shot hit the top of both lungs and lodged into the opposite shoulder, not a perfect shot, but the deer was dead within seconds.
I'm unbelievably thrilled about this deer. I'll hold out for a mega-giant in MI now for my second buck tag.
I don't own any land. No bait, no bullshit. Just heavy scouting and unbelievably hard work. I LOVE THIS SHIT!
Congrats man great hunt!!! And the season is just starting!
Congrats Swamp, nice buck.
Congrats! Hard work does pay off
Congrats! And nice story.
Not sure what is more impressive - the deer or the 80 lb draw weight. Lol. I am beginning to struggle at 62 on cold days…
Nice job man! Congrats on the harvest!
