Contributors to this thread:
Does anyone have any stories from their hunting season?
How about a mediocre story? Anybody?
Hunting a small WMA near my hometown, I had just set up in my stand and was scanning the area in front of me. There was a light SE wind, perfect, or so I thought. I was on the west end of a small open flat in the woods criss-crossed with deer trails. I noticed a deer in front of me to the south about 50 yards under some oaks feeding on acorns. Looked tiny, a smallish fawn. I watched her for probably 20 minutes to a half-hour. She would occasionally lift her head alertly and look to the west. Suddenly she bolted towards me and went by me about 10 yards upwind and past me. I figured there was either a guy coming or another deer so I stood up and got ready. Sure enough here comes a yearling buck.....and then another about 10 yards behind the first one. The second buck was a nice 2.5 or 3.5 year old. I of course focused on the bigger buck. They were moving at a fast walk and I thought for sure they would come perfect on the trail of the fawn they were looking for that went by me. Nope! The yearling buck came down the trail that went right to the base of my tree and, of course, the downwind side of my tree. So the yearling locks up after smelling me right next to my tree and the nice buck is right in front of me on high alert facing me at 10 yards. I can't draw my bow without being detected. They of course stomp off back into the woods. no shot! Close but no cigar! In hindsight, I should have drawn soon after I saw them. They moved so fast I might have been able to get a shot at the nicer buck. He was facing me, but at 10 yards I think I could have killed him.
Isn’t that the way it goes! The moment you have been waiting for for months comes and goes in a flash. I was hunting on the ground on public That was new to me and had a nice buck walk right at me from my off side( right side) he was at 25 yds and no clue I was there. I drew back but could not pivot enough on my stool so I turned and dropped to one knee, still couldn’t get a shot. I stood up and still couldn’t get a shot! At this point he still had no clue I was there! I took one step to open my stance and he busted me as my nose touched my string. So close but not close enough.
I hunt 2 small woods about 300 yards apart, one evening in Oct. I saw a nice 10 pt on the west edge of the east woods. The next night I'm sitting there hoping he'll come along and I see him on the east edge of the west woods. Oct left, come Nov during gun season I'm in east woods when he comes right by me at 10 yards only now he's one horned buck, his right main beam is busted off right above the brow tine. I don't shoot hoping next(if he makes through gun season) year I will get a shot at him. On Dec 14th on the same stand I see another nice 10(coulda been twins) coming, I had to turn 180 degrees and face the tree to shoot and when he got to 15 yards I released only to watch my arrow take a hunk off hair off his back. Oh well, there's always next year. I did manage to take a couple of antlerless deer out of the cwd area later in Dec so all is good.
I hunt 2 small woods about 300 yards apart, one evening in Oct. I saw a nice 10 pt on the west edge of the east woods. The next night I'm sitting there hoping he'll come along and I see him on the east edge of the west woods. Oct left, come Nov during gun season I'm in east woods when he comes right by me at 10 yards only now he's one horned buck, his right main beam is busted off right above the brow tine. I don't shoot hoping next(if he makes through gun season) year I will get a shot at him. On Dec 14th on the same stand I see another nice 10(coulda been twins) coming, I had to turn 180 degrees and face the tree to shoot and when he got to 15 yards I released only to watch my arrow take a hunk off hair off his back. Oh well, there's always next year. I did manage to take a couple of antlerless deer out of the cwd area later in Dec so all is good.
I hunt 2 small woods about 300 yards apart, one evening in Oct. I saw a nice 10 pt on the west edge of the east woods. The next night I'm sitting there hoping he'll come along and I see him on the east edge of the west woods. Oct left, come Nov during gun season I'm in east woods when he comes right by me at 10 yards only now he's one horned buck, his right main beam is busted off right above the brow tine. I don't shoot hoping next(if he makes through gun season) year I will get a shot at him. On Dec 14th on the same stand I see another nice 10(coulda been twins) coming, I had to turn 180 degrees and face the tree to shoot and when he got to 15 yards I released only to watch my arrow take a hunk off hair off his back. Oh well, there's always next year. I did manage to take a couple of antlerless deer out of the cwd area later in Dec so all is good.
Sorry for the triple post
Sorry for the triple post
My whole season was a great story and I didn't even know it, until it was over.... I'll make it brief:
I've always said, if I could hunt the entire season and shoot my pursued game on the very last hour of the last day, that's what I'd do. I love being out there and the pursuit, and anytime a hunt ends/tag out early it's bitter sweet for me.
For one major reason my ability to hunt out of state in Sept and/or October was not happening in 2018. I wasn't totally depressed as it had been a long time since I was able to really focus on whitetails in Sept and Oct so even though I would have loved to have been @ 9000 ft chasing elk, I welcomed the new opportunity. I got my points for another year and focused on MN.
All of Sept and October I had fantastic sits. I had one beautiful buck I was chasing and passed several small ones. Lots of does and fawns and overall just enjoyed the weather. In sept I had my target buck walk under my stand (per tc pics) on a evening I couldn't hunt, an hour before sundown. No big deal, I had plenty of time....
That was the last time (to my knowledge) he appeared in day light. I had camera pics of him all through Oct and Nov (still don't believe he's dead) but it was always dark. Often starting about mid-October on this farm I'll start getting transplant deer that I never knew about. So even though my one deer had seemingly cancelled all of his daylight plans, I was still optimisitic.
As October wore on, I didn't have the normal "activity" that I've grown accustomed to. Still tons of 1yo and 2yo bucks out sparring and fighting every night but just not the deer showing up that I hoped for. Even nighttime pics weren't yielding anything promising for the upcoming Nov.
Nov (and almost immediately gun season) hit and the little bit of activity I had been experiencing dramitcally dropped off. It was almost the exact opposite of a rut. Even small bucks weren't anywhere to be found. In my area (I believe) the deer herd is so unbalanced that even spikes/forks don't have to fight or search for estrous does. Because we have so many does, once those first ones come into estrous all the bucks pretty much lockdown and really don't have to compete with each other. Paired with gun season and increased pressure it seemed like my area didn't produce like it has in years past. Just my theory though.
I passed a fairly decent buck opening morning of gun that by the end of firearms wish I had shot. He was outside the ears but by no means big. I hunted the rest of gun season, almost every day and had nothing to show for it, not even encounters or close calls.... nothing.
Muzzleloader season rolled around and I"ve almost come to prefer it over firearms as there's less people, conditions (other than it being postrut) are generally more favorable, etc.. By this point I'm kicking rocks and wishing I had shot some of the other deer I had let pass. I'm greedy, selfish and self loathing, not recoginizing that right infront of me I'm still getting to hunt almost the entire season with great encounters (early on) and still have some good hunting to come.
The 2nd weekend of ML I had a beautiful heavy, dark 8 pt step out at 80yds that I had never seen and no pics of. There was 4 inch of new snow on the ground and some falling as this unfolded. He stepped out, looked directyly at me for 2 mins and went back to browsing. As he disappeared behind a oak tree I took my ML off my ezhang and got ready for him to step out. When he did, I double checked everything (form-wise) and squezzed off. I could barely see the mulekick through the smoke but already knew the answer. Since scopes have been made legal, my ML is as accurate, if not more than some of my rifles. As he disappeared over a small hill he was knocking new snow off brush and trees, the whole scene happened better than I could have ever imagined.
A short blood trail and my 2nd biggest ML buck Ive ever shot capped it off. I was grateful (but more importantly) humbled for being my impatient self and wanting to get it over with. After November/Gun season turned out so poor I desperately wanted to be done. How dare I. I spend all year thinking about and preparing for those precious 4 months.... The fact that I had the opportunity (being a 1 buck state) to hunt into December was a blessing and one I won't take for granted again.
I also managed a couple of does for the freezer. Now it's mid January and I have came off of maybe my favorite season I've ever had. I didn't know it was happening at the time, and it didn't involve and elk or mule deer but goodnight it was fun.
RD how was the cwd hunt? Was it busy?
mallard_maniac, your season sounded very much like mine, deer activity especially, except I did it all with a bow. I never shot a deer before gun season and then shot two after. Never did that before.
The farm where I hunted wasn't, I was the only hunter. Every day I hunted I heard shooting from neighboring farms and by the end the deer had gone nocturnal. The land owners weren't even seeing any deer so there must have been a lot of pressure. Haven't heard how many deer were shot, I took one for testing.
The farm where I hunted wasn't, I was the only hunter. Every day I hunted I heard shooting from neighboring farms and by the end the deer had gone nocturnal. The land owners weren't even seeing any deer so there must have been a lot of pressure. Haven't heard how many deer were shot, I took one for testing.
Hunting the edge of woods near a frozen creek in Dec season. Listened to the ice crack and flow all day. About 4Pm here come a group of 5 deer being led by the matriarch doe who has been busting me all season. She was on the other side of the creek. Walked up and down the creek testing the ice thickness. Seemed frustrated as she was looking for a place to cross, on the trail that went by me at 15 yards. She finally gave up in frustration, while I am thinking to myself how sometimes bad things turn into a good decision. Yeah, I would have shot her instead of having tag soup. On the way out during lunch earlier in the day got a lot of pics of a young buck along the same creek. Let me get really close. See you both next season...
Here's a mediocre story and a bad story. The mediocre: I passed on a small doe the second day of the firearms season. She was at 22 yards and I could have picked the chamber of her heart to put a round in while she stood there studying me. Last shot opportunity I had in 2018, but I don't regret the choice. The bad: Opening day of the firearms season, I had the very distinct impression from the pattern of nearby gunshots that people were shooting at baited deer all around me. Yep:
"Here are excerpts from several conservation officer's weekly reports, in their own words: Duke Broughten, Cook: "Multiple violations of hunting deer over bait were investigated. In one instance of an individual hunting over bait, the person stated he 'watched those game warden TV shows' and he should have known it was a matter of time before he was caught." Marc Hopkins, Tower: "...found numerous hunters in violation of the baiting laws and seized many firearms." Don Bozovsky, Hibbing: "Baiting was on the forefront again, with five hunters cited and rifles seized on opening day... all had bait present when caught hunting. One individual had a pile of carrots in front of him.... Of the five people caught baiting, three had either no blaze orange on, or too little of it." Matt Frericks, Virginia and his officer-in-training Jacob Swedberg "teamed up with area officers to check a deer camp where a majority of the stands were baited. From that hunting camp alone, four hunters were cited for hunting over bait." Mark Fredin, Aurora: Reports "checking previously located baited deer stands on opening morning and many hunters' hunt was stopped when they received a citation and had their firearms seized." Sean Williams, Ely: "Deer baiting again was the most common violation found and several citations were issued." Anthony Bermel, Babbitt and an officer in training "spent the week leading up to the opener documenting baited deer stands. Seven deer baiters were cited and their rifles were seized on opening weekend... The main excuse for deer baiters this year is they didn't know the product they were using was illegal. The regulations booklet is very clear that hunters need to check the ingredient labels on the product."
I don’t understand the mentality of these egotistical jerks. They need a deer so bad they will do anything necessary to fill their tag by the end of the one weekend they “hunt”. It’s very frustrating that those type of guys are even labeled as hunters. It’s lazy and disgusting! I understand that it is still legal In other states and I am not referring to them as they are law abiding hunters
Btw good stories guys! December hunting this year never even felt like late season hunts with the weather we had.
They are not hunters , they broke the law thus are poachers, just like the guy who shot Bambi's Mom.
This Dec. I had the most fun in a long time, saw deer just about every time out.
Guided archery elk hunters in Colorado for month of September this year. Had Tuesdays off. So went out bright and early on public land on my day off content to shoot a cow or bull for meat since I had so few days to hunt. Right at daybreak I got a bull to respond maybe over 150 yds up the ridge but couldn't see him. talked to him for a half hour with no movement. Realized there were two bulls up there. Was all open between where I was hiding and where they were up in the trees. They were pretty responsive though to my coaxing but didn't start to come down for almost an hour. As one bull kept working my way to about 60 yds the call of nature began. For me! He cautiously kept coming as the call of nature required me not to be totally focused on the bull! I thought no way can this be happening. Couldn't wait. Moved up the hill about ten yds to an appropriate leaner and took care of business. Grabbed my bow and slipped down to my hiding spot and the bull was still standing there waiting. A couple more calls and he moved to 25 yds. Shot and he took off. Leaned forward to see where he would run and he had only gone 20 yds and was standing stiff legged with his nose in the air. He fell over dead without a kick. I was relieved.....! That made 6 years in a row taking a bull. This was the smallest. All with my Hoyt shooting G5 100 gr Strikers. 5 pass throughs, except for last years 6x6 that was a quartering away shot that went through everything and was poking out the neck in front of the opposite shoulder. By the way, archery elk is my passion!
The relief bull of this year!
The relief bull of this year!
Oops. That last year's bull, the quarteing away shot. Here's another pic of him. Did a Euro mount.
Here's that guy as a euro mount. Had it dipped.
And here is this year's relief bull!
Nice bulls, if I might ask who do you guide for?
Nice bulls, if I might ask who do you guide for?
Bear Mtn Outfitters. In Colorado. Want info or details? Lots of elk. Very good place.
Wow! Great story! That’s what I call multi tasking! Congrats on your success. Delicious eats for the freezer
