Deer Season

[SwampDog_13]

Tonight I took my first deer using the sbr and omega. What an awesome experience it was being able to hear the thump of the bullet hitting the deer and hearing the brass land in the bushes. The 200gn Maker Rex performed flawlessly. Clean double lung shot and pass through, lost a little bit of shoulder meat but the grinder won't know the difference. I wouldn't say Stevie Wonder could have tracked her but she left a pretty good blood trail non the less for the entirety of the 60-70yds she covered through the thick stuff.

No trophy but it's getting late in the season and my freezer was starting to look a little bare. She had more fat on her than any deer I can remember taking from down here in these wood, good to see all the corn I've fed them didn't go to waste.



Entrance


Exit

[SwampDog_13]

Thankful to get another doe with the sbr. This one definitely left a blood trail anyone could have followed, much easier than the last. These woods are thick, after about 5 steps she was out of my sight. The benefit of being able to track the deer by sound immediately after the shot is great. I don't think I could go back to unsupressed hunting now that I've gotten so spoiled.

[tallburnedmidget]

Congrats on the kills! Freezer is getting some love now

[gaijin]

My bud took a decent buck at the farm.

110 Black Tip handload from a 16" carbine I put together.
Shot was at near dark, 130 yds., deer running- took two shots (1st rd. clipped base of antler, 2nd was neck shot).
We had to wait 'til dawn to hike in and pack him out- can't get vehicles back there due to terrain.

[rebel]

Since I've been on this forum I have seen my deer herd reduced to next to nothing. After a five year study, the brilliant biologists with the NCWR have conceded that our bucks are being shot before they breed, so........they are reducing the ML season to one week from two.
Rifle is still 7 weeks - 2 bucks, 4 does and pay $$$ for more doe tags. I think I'll give it up and revisit my childhood and stick with squirrels and rabbits. Have had 2 bucks on camera for 1 night and a consistent old doe and a button buck every night from 7pm till 3am. What have I got? Food plots, 300 lbs of apples and a lot of corn. Oh well, it was a good 15 years before this but I knew the herd couldn't be sustained.
Feels like a commissioner has some Insurance execs on his ass, or so it seems Traffic collisions and all that.

[Jim Timber]

Since I've been on this forum I have seen my deer herd reduced to next to nothing. After a five year study, the brilliant biologists with the NCWR have conceded that our bucks are being shot before they breed, so........they are reducing the ML season to one week from two.
Rifle is still 7 weeks - 2 bucks, 4 does and pay $$$ for more doe tags. I think I'll give it up and revisit my childhood and stick with squirrels and rabbits. Have had 2 bucks on camera for 1 night and a consistent old doe and a button buck every night from 7pm till 3am. What have I got? Food plots, 300 lbs of apples and a lot of corn. Oh well, it was a good 15 years before this but I knew the herd couldn't be sustained.
Feels like a commissioner has some Insurance execs on his ass, or so it seems Traffic collisions and all that.

They must be following MN's new manual. We've only got 9 day's rifle season (the outdoor world pretty much stops when MN "jackpine savages" (aka: drunk a-holes with high power rifles) take to the woods in blaze orange, another 14 days muzzle loader, and 115 days or so for archery (because getting close enough to spear a deer is challenging after they've grown up seeing all their kin drop dead for rifle season). Everyone gets a buck tag, and they thin the herd with the available wombs. When you think about it; if a doe has one or two fawns typically, you're taking 2-3 deer out of the herd with every doe you shoot. If you shoot a button buck or a small spike (not legally a buck yet here until one antler is over 1"), you're killing the trophy potential of That deer, but you're replacing it by leaving a doe to reproduce and as such will either have the same 2 deer next year, or you'll be +1 or +2. We have lots of meat hunters (my neighbors are a prime example) who will shoot every deer they can acquire a tag for and have ZERO concern for the health of the herd or anyone else's goals or satisfaction. "There's tons of deer!" they'll proclaim when they've seen 25 in a neighbor's field. Ok, you take 7, then Montgomery and his family take 4, Litke's take 4, Allbee's take 4, and I take 1 (or 2 if I let anyone else hunt my place) - how many deer do we have left for next year?? Not all of them are does... Where do your deer for next year come from? All I get are blank stares.

I'm working on the final stages of pre-harvest on my timber stand. My goals are to turn 27+ acres into some form of grass/forbs in hopes to establish some ruffed grouse and cottontails. My Boone & Crocket chances on my block are 100% luck of finding a bruiser cruising through unless I can manage to get him to hole up on my place once the understory thickens up in a few more years. We've had some beasts in our swamps over the past several years, but without some serious drawing power, the doe or 2 I can keep as residents just aren't cutting it for shootable opportunities. I either change my game, change my goals, or change my eating habits (my whole family loves the deer I harvest, and we make it last because most years there's only one).

I'm changing my habitat, but I've also changed my expectations. If I was solely a trophy hunter, I'd sell the land and use the money to hunt some other state. We (the Mrs. and kiddo) all love seeing the critters all year long. Kinda need deer to see deer - hunting season or not. We had a lot more deer when I started hunting. Lately I wonder why I don't just bring a book and some headphones with to the stand.