2014 rifle season pics, keep the pics from your stand and trail cam pics coming too!

[rugerla1]

I peeled a 10lb bag of potatoes, I feel pretty good about that ;)

:lol:

I ended up lettin a spike walk as I was getting ready to leave. Momma was already mad because I wasn't back home and ready to go to her parents. Figured I might be mounted on the wall if I didn't let him walk. Headed back out in the morning.

[DaveS]

What's your method of choice for removing the brain? I assume you want to get as much as you can out before boiling.

A butter knife through the opening at the base of the skull. Yes, every bit has to come out.

 

Dave

[Luke E.]

A butter knife through the opening at the base of the skull. Yes, every bit has to come out.

Dave

You say every bit has to come out with the butter knife? Will the boiling not remove small hard to get to scraps? I've never even skinned a deer all the way to the base of the skull before buch less sling the skull and picking brains out. I've got the majority of the outer flesh as well as the tongue and jaw meat, etc. I've got a good bit more tedious work to do on it. Of course at this point I may have to wear a mask so that I can take the stench. As of this morning it didn't smell at all really but it has been in the shade and not gotten to warm since I shot it. I'm planning to work on it se between hunting tomorrow so I think I'll start taking pictures and maybe some video and post them to a thread here. I'm sure I won't go about it the best way but even if I have to make it a "how NOT to do a Europeon mount" post, it should still be helpful.

[rugerla1]

Lol Luke. Anytime I do something for the first time, it's probably a how not to event :lol:

[Hozzie]

Took this small 9 pointer this afternoon.  He never turned to me so I could see how wide he was.  I knew he was at least an 8, so I took him.  He has 1 small point by the left base as well.  He isn't bad, but I would have let him go another year had I seen that he wasn't that wide.  I think this one is going to Hunters for the Hungry.

[rugerla1]

Congrats Hozzie! I can't wait to get out in the morning. I'm gonna hunt the ground for a change like when I was a kid.

[Hozzie]

I took this one from a stand, but I also do quite a bit of ground hunting.  It's fun just to pick a tree and sit.

[Luke E.]

Took this small 9 pointer this afternoon.  He never turned to me so I could see how wide he was.  I knew he was at least an 8, so I took him.  He has 1 small point by the left base as well.  He isn't bad, but I would have let him go another year had I seen that he wasn't that wide.  I think this one is going to Hunters for the Hungry.

 Hozzie, he's not a bad deer at all by most folks standards but I'm like you, I think he'd have made one heck of a deer next year if he had plenty of nutrients available! Congrats on meat in the freezer! that's never a bad thing.

[TNMTBik3r]

Put one down this morning, eating and fixing to head back out. I need 3 more for the freezer.

[maroonandwhite]

I shot a doe this morning but haven't been able to find it. Must just be a magic deer. I got what looked like a solid hit but just couldn't find blood.  :down:

[Luke E.]

I shot a doe this morning but haven't been able to find it. Must just be a magic deer. I got what looked like a solid hit but just couldn't find blood. :down:

Gotta trail the dirt when there's no blood. Was she quartering towards you when you took the shot? Edited November 29, 2014 by Luke E.

[maroonandwhite]

Gotta trail the dirt when there's no blood. Was she quartering towards you when you took the shot?

Nope she was broadsided. We had three people out there combing the woods. With all the leaves and scrapes it was tough to find a trail.


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[Luke E.]

Nope she was broadsided. We had three people out there combing the woods. With all the leaves and scrapes it was tough to find a trail.


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Man I hate to hear that! The reason I asked if she was quartering towards you is because I've seen a bunch of times where the bullet would deflect and end up burning up the rest of its energy running around within the rib cage. Usually if there's no blood there was no exit wound. Sorry you weren't able to find her. I know that's a sickening feeling.

[maroonandwhite]

Man I hate to hear that! The reason I asked if she was quartering towards you is because I've seen a bunch of times where the bullet would deflect and end up burning up the rest of its energy running around within the rib cage. Usually if there's no blood there was no exit wound. Sorry you weren't able to find her. I know that's a sickening feeling.

Yep it sucks.


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[rugerla1]

Nope she was broadsided. We had three people out there combing the woods. With all the leaves and scrapes it was tough to find a trail.
Sorry to hear that, it really is a sickening feeling, been there, done that!
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[Howler]

Got lucky today and took this eight point. I've hunted a little spot a few times the last couple weeks and haven't had any luck. I went in mainly to call and kill coyote. I've soft called a couple times but haven't had any takers. A few grey fox showed up but season wasn't open yet. I decided to take the muzzleloader in after noticing that a rub line had been hit in the last couple days. The woman that owns the property asked that I kill coyote first, don't shoot mom or baby deer, and only take big bucks. Since Sept. I've seen zero coyote, 12 or 13 doe and this buck.  

 

 

 

 

[rugerla1]

Got lucky today and took this eight point. I've hunted a little spot a few times the last couple weeks and haven't had any luck. I went in mainly to call and kill coyote. I've soft called a couple times but haven't had any takers. A few grey fox showed up but season wasn't open yet. I decided to take the muzzleloader in after noticing that a rub line had been hit in the last couple days. The woman that owns the property asked that I kill coyote first, don't shoot mom or baby deer, and only take big bucks. Since Sept. I've seen zero coyote, 12 or 13 doe and this buck.  

 

 

Wow! He's a nice one! Congrats  :up:

[Omega]

I had been out 4 days, and only seen a coyote, a bunch of squirrels and chipmunks and one fat little woodchuck. I had finally decided to come out of my stand about 5 minutes before I couldn't see and there they came, by the sound of them there had to be at least 5 or six of them. I kneeled down to get one in the scope hoping it could gather more light but nope, only managed to see a tail before I lost all the light. Still, snuck away with a smile since just earlier I didn't think mother nature would share her bounty with me.

Went back out again today, perfect temp, a bit breezy but not bad. I usually stay in my stand till noon before I break for a bite, today I had decided I was going down at 11, but just as I was getting ready I glimpsed a doe going down the hill into an area I could not see into. I decided to use a bleat to see if she would reappeared, took about 5 or 10 minutes till two reappeared. I put the scope on the closest one but she had her vitals behind a tree so I used the extra time to slow my breathing and waited for her to present me a shot. Seemed like forever but she finally gave me a quartering shot. I dropped her with what turned out to be a lung shot, cocked for a followup (reflex, never used one) and seen the second had gone 10 yards and stopped with the opposite quartering shot so I dropped her too with a heart shot. Both were DRT though the second flinched a couple times. I guess mother nature is generous after all. [emoji7]

[Luke E.]

Got lucky today and took this eight point. I've hunted a little spot a few times the last couple weeks and haven't had any luck. I went in mainly to call and kill coyote. I've soft called a couple times but haven't had any takers. A few grey fox showed up but season wasn't open yet. I decided to take the muzzleloader in after noticing that a rub line had been hit in the last couple days. The woman that owns the property asked that I kill coyote first, don't shoot mom or baby deer, and only take big bucks. Since Sept. I've seen zero coyote, 12 or 13 doe and this buck.  

 

 

 

 

Nice mature buck you got there, Howler!! He's definitely not lacking in antler mass! Congrats

[10-Ring]

Between idiots on the WMAs and strong winds this weekend has been a wash do far for me. I sat out yesterday because it was so windy. Plus between all of the deer I killed last weekend I was up early and going to bed late all week working them up. I am fortunate to not have to hunt the WMA but it has proven to be successful in the past, especially on week days. I've had a great season and can't complain, if I get one or two more deer I'll have enough to get my family through until next season, but even with what I have now we won't have to buy much meat this year.

[Luke E.]

Between idiots on the WMAs and strong winds this weekend has been a wash do far for me. I sat out yesterday because it was so windy. Plus between all of the deer I killed last weekend I was up early and going to bed late all week working them up. I am fortunate to not have to hunt the WMA but it has proven to be successful in the past, especially on week days. I've had a great season and can't complain, if I get one or two more deer I'll have enough to get my family through until next season, but even with what I have now we won't have to buy much meat this year.

We had HORRIBLE wind last night! It was still blowing good this morning but has died down a lot I the last hour. Between the wind and warm weather I'm not sure what's going to happen but I've got a feeling that my time would have been better spent in bed. I have hunted a lot this year so far (probably 20 or more times since muzzle loader opened) and I think I've seen deer all but 1 of those times. I've usually seen two groups of doe come and go by now but guess the weather has them being lazy.

[Luke E.]

My accommodations for the day,





Good luck to everyone out this morning!

[Slappy]

Got a trophy today!  Biggest buck so far for me.  We have worked really hard on our property, taking off tons of does and letting nice, but younger, bucks walk to help raise our age structure.  This bruiser was 4.5 maybe 5.5 years old.  The processor was shocked how big his body was, hard to tell from the pics, but he has had quite good nutrition since we took the property over.  Anyways, I am super excited and getting him mounted! Made a perfect double lung shot at ~100 yards.   He is a 10pt.   I thought he would hit 200lbs, but he weighed in at 180.   

 

 

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Edited December 2, 2014 by Slappy

[rugerla1]

Got a trophy today!  Biggest buck so far for me.  We have worked really hard on our property, taking off tons of does and letting nice, but younger, bucks walk to help raise our age structure.  This bruiser was 4.5 maybe 5.5 years old.  The processor was shocked how big his body was, hard to tell from the pics, but he has had quite good nutrition since we took the property over.  Anyways, I am super excited and getting him mounted! Made a perfect double lung shot at ~100 yards.   He is a 10pt.   I thought he would hit 200lbs, but he weighed in at 180.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW! Congrats, he's a hoss!

[Luke E.]

Got a trophy today!  Biggest buck so far for me.  We have worked really hard on our property, taking off tons of does and letting nice, but younger, bucks walk to help raise our age structure.  This bruiser was 4.5 maybe 5.5 years old.  The processor was shocked how big his body was, hard to tell from the pics, but he has had quite good nutrition since we took the property over.  Anyways, I am super excited and getting him mounted! Made a perfect double lung shot at ~100 yards.   He is a 10pt.   I thought he would hit 200lbs, but he weighed in at 180.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Nice buck Slappy! I'm glad to hear your management is paying off for you. A lot of times folks make an attempt to stick to a management program but don't have enough patience to see it through. I guess they don't realize that it's not just a 1-2 year process, sure after a year or 2 you will have a good chance at seeing larger bucks but to get the ratio right and get a good number of large bucks in the area takes years of effort. Of course the biggest thorn in the side of any management program is piss poor neighbors that aren't even close to being on the same page with you. I'm pretty fortunate to have mostly good hunting neighbors when it comes to this. The three properties combined add up to around 1,200 acres solidly connected and then a couple others that are connected by the property's corner so we have a heck of a lot more control over what gets shot than most folks do. The only drawback is that the properties have a LOT of road frontage meaning that they aren't very deep and we are "lucky" enough to be bordered along the back by some "if it's brown, it's down" type of hunters. The shoot a LOT of doe and young bucks making which makes letting people take doe on my side a worrisome thing. I've had fewer doe this year and last year than ever but we're also seeing far more bucks and more importantly mature bucks because they seem to be figuring out that that property is a war zone and staying away from it. It's still irritating when every time I go out to hunt, I hear at least 2-3 shots come from that property and I hunt a lot (prolly average 6 mornings or evenings per week) and since I work on the property I some times hear shots even when I'm not hunting depending on where they are hunting. I think we're going to try to lease the hunting rights to that property next year to try to put an end to all this non sense. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I was skinning a doe a couple days ago and found an old bullet wound just in front of the deer's hips. While that unto itself isn't the end of the world, when you factor in the age of the deer it tells me that she was a fawn last year so not only did they make a piss poor shot, they also made the poor shot on a deer that was fresh out of spots. I've heard stories of them sending bullets into moving brush if they had even spotted a deer in the area. 

 Well I got way off in the weeds on that one lol, Was your buck chasing doe or any other rutting behavior?