2019-2020 hunting picture thread

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I'd boast about the shot placement but it was at 36 yards. Using the peep sight it was a very easy shot.

In Arizona, we don't have tons of deer. Each hunter is allowed 1 deer per calendar year. Same for Elk. This state does a real good job of managing the wildlife. Now there was a lot of help from the RMEF, but they worked with the state to bring Elk back to Arizona and it has been a complete success. They were hunted out in the days some people call 'commercial hunting days' and in fact the exact species of elk that were native to Arizona are extinct. Every elk in Arizona is a descendent from elk brought from other states. I 'think' they all came from Colorado but I could be wrong on that one.

To give you an idea of how much the Arizona Game and Fish is on the hunter's side, for years there were problems with towns/cities annexing extensive tracts of raw land for future expansion. That took large blocks of very huntable land out of the picture because the land was 'within the city limit and prohibited'. AZ G&F tried for years to make it so that land was still huntable while it was safe (not built out) to no avail. The municipalities just ignored the problem. So, AZ G&F got a state law passed that no municipality could prevent hunting inside city limits. All of the other rules for no hunting would still apply like no discharge of a firearm within 1/4 mile of a structure, no shooting across a road and the like. So even though the annexed areas were within the city limits, as long as it was safe it could still be hunted. You still can't discharge a firearm within city limits unless your hunting, so no target shooting. FYI, you still need to be in a hunt zone and heavily populated areas like Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff have never been included in a hunting zone for safety reasons. And there are some localized areas in a hunt zone that are just too populated to safely hunt, so those areas are specifically restricted in the hunting rules and regulations. So, it really only opened up areas that were safe to hunt even though it was within a city's limit. Oh, and AZ G&F does not take any money from the Arizona general fund. Licenses, tags, Pittman-Robertson tax dollars are the sources for funding. A government entity that actually works. Imagine that.
 
I posted this in its own thread, but this thread is slowing down and if you like me you are missing the updates. I managed this one just after sunrise on opening day (11/1/19). 4 Showed up at the water I was hunting and I had to wait for them to arrange themselves so I wouldn't shoot more than 1. This one wasn't the largest of the group, but they were all about the same size and rack. In the desert where I hunt you take the best shot available/ethical when it arises. Or you may not see another for the rest of the week long season. 36 yards.


View attachment 883518

This was the entry
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This was the exit

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Glancing shot on the heart and opposite side lung

View attachment 883523

It was a fun hunt. Over too quick. Like normal, I was alone and had to load it in the truck by myself. I skinned it in the back of my truck and had it at the processors hanging in the cool room in 5 hours.

This one turned out to be a 'Dark Cutter' as they say in the meat cutting business. It must have had some stress in the 48 hours prior to my encounter with him. A little dry, but other than the darker red he tastes just fine.
Great rifle!
 
Great rifle!

Yeah, I got lucky on that rifle. Right place right time. Bought it as you see it peep sight and all. The peep was worth 2/3 the price I paid for the rifle. There are some more pictures in post 9 in this thread.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/desert-mule-deer.858522/

I did put a second shot into that deer. I never get bang flops. Put the second through both shoulders. It looks like that second shot hit the heart as well. Hadn't noticed that before.
 
Hesitated to post this one as it was kind of a bittersweet sort of deal but she was part of my season so here she is. This doe started showing up around our barn lot at the end of Ohio's week long gun season. She was dragging herself around on 3 legs, never putting the front right leg on the ground. I didn't know for sure what happened, or when, I wasn't able to see any blood or obvious wound with a field glass. I was kind of working on the assumption that she'd been shot due to the timing.
Well I watched her continue to drag herself around and decline, showing up every other day or so for a month. She appeared to be maintaining her weight fairly well but wasn't moving any better and just didn't seem right. January 7th was the last day of our muzzle loader season and when I got up that morning just before sunrise I looked out the window and she was grazing around my neighbors pond. I watched for awhile, and she browsed right into my pasture fence, and then appeared to be "stuck" like she didn't know what to do with herself. One minute she would rear back like she wanted to jump the fence, then she'd give up and put her head down to eat. This would repeat a couple times and finally she would try to turn around, and practically fall over. Once she was pointed away from the fence she was off and browsing again, but as she ambled around she'd inevitably end up with her forehead against the fence again and then go through the awkward process of getting turned around.
Finally she got herself parallel to the pasture fence and it looked like there was a good chance when she got to the corner she would cut right across our back yard. I made my mind up I didn't want to watch her decline and die slowly over the rest of the course of winter, so I pulled my lyman great plains rifle out and loaded it and one speed loader. I went downstairs and when she had made it across the line, I put on an orange vest and put a cap on the lock of the rifle. When she was well into the yard and standing in the middle of the garden I stepped out the back door and shot her. 70yds with a .530 patched ball over 75 grains of pyrodex select. Took out both lungs and she went about 40 yds and laid down, and I finished her off with a shot in the neck.
Upon recovering her I found that she had a dry wound in her shoulder that was all scabbed over, about the diameter of my thumb and half an inch deep. Behind her ribs was a larger hole, and this one was seeping yellow puss. I peeled the hide back and the pocket of puss was very large and the meat was all a dark color. What little fat she has was very yellow colored. I didn't find any bullets or fragments but I didn't look very hard. I deemed her unsafe to eat and took her out and buried her. Cost me $32 for a tag, but I am glad not to watch her suffer all winter. wounded005-DSCF1984.JPG
 
I have a few pics of our mid December duck hunt on reelfoot lake, union city, Tennessee.
View attachment 883594 View attachment 883596 View attachment 883597 View attachment 883598 View attachment 883599 View attachment 883600
Bluebird skies and warm temps didnt help.
5 guys, 10 ducks

I'd love to duck hunt. And despite living in a desert there are plenty of places to go in Arizona. I've got no one to teach me and no dogs. It just looks like so much fun. Cold, but fun.
 
Hesitated to post this one as it was kind of a bittersweet sort of deal but she was part of my season so here she is. This doe started showing up around our barn lot at the end of Ohio's week long gun season. She was dragging herself around on 3 legs, never putting the front right leg on the ground. I didn't know for sure what happened, or when, I wasn't able to see any blood or obvious wound with a field glass. I was kind of working on the assumption that she'd been shot due to the timing.
Well I watched her continue to drag herself around and decline, showing up every other day or so for a month. She appeared to be maintaining her weight fairly well but wasn't moving any better and just didn't seem right. January 7th was the last day of our muzzle loader season and when I got up that morning just before sunrise I looked out the window and she was grazing around my neighbors pond. I watched for awhile, and she browsed right into my pasture fence, and then appeared to be "stuck" like she didn't know what to do with herself. One minute she would rear back like she wanted to jump the fence, then she'd give up and put her head down to eat. This would repeat a couple times and finally she would try to turn around, and practically fall over. Once she was pointed away from the fence she was off and browsing again, but as she ambled around she'd inevitably end up with her forehead against the fence again and then go through the awkward process of getting turned around.
Finally she got herself parallel to the pasture fence and it looked like there was a good chance when she got to the corner she would cut right across our back yard. I made my mind up I didn't want to watch her decline and die slowly over the rest of the course of winter, so I pulled my lyman great plains rifle out and loaded it and one speed loader. I went downstairs and when she had made it across the line, I put on an orange vest and put a cap on the lock of the rifle. When she was well into the yard and standing in the middle of the garden I stepped out the back door and shot her. 70yds with a .530 patched ball over 75 grains of pyrodex select. Took out both lungs and she went about 40 yds and laid down, and I finished her off with a shot in the neck.
Upon recovering her I found that she had a dry wound in her shoulder that was all scabbed over, about the diameter of my thumb and half an inch deep. Behind her ribs was a larger hole, and this one was seeping yellow puss. I peeled the hide back and the pocket of puss was very large and the meat was all a dark color. What little fat she has was very yellow colored. I didn't find any bullets or fragments but I didn't look very hard. I deemed her unsafe to eat and took her out and buried her. Cost me $32 for a tag, but I am glad not to watch her suffer all winter. View attachment 883650

Hunting can be like life at it's most basic level. Sometimes doing the right thing has no joy. It is bittersweet because you are human. But we know you did the right thing.
 
Hesitated to post this one as it was kind of a bittersweet sort of deal but she was part of my season so here she is. This doe started showing up around our barn lot at the end of Ohio's week long gun season. She was dragging herself around on 3 legs, never putting the front right leg on the ground. I didn't know for sure what happened, or when, I wasn't able to see any blood or obvious wound with a field glass. I was kind of working on the assumption that she'd been shot due to the timing.
Well I watched her continue to drag herself around and decline, showing up every other day or so for a month. She appeared to be maintaining her weight fairly well but wasn't moving any better and just didn't seem right. January 7th was the last day of our muzzle loader season and when I got up that morning just before sunrise I looked out the window and she was grazing around my neighbors pond. I watched for awhile, and she browsed right into my pasture fence, and then appeared to be "stuck" like she didn't know what to do with herself. One minute she would rear back like she wanted to jump the fence, then she'd give up and put her head down to eat. This would repeat a couple times and finally she would try to turn around, and practically fall over. Once she was pointed away from the fence she was off and browsing again, but as she ambled around she'd inevitably end up with her forehead against the fence again and then go through the awkward process of getting turned around.
Finally she got herself parallel to the pasture fence and it looked like there was a good chance when she got to the corner she would cut right across our back yard. I made my mind up I didn't want to watch her decline and die slowly over the rest of the course of winter, so I pulled my lyman great plains rifle out and loaded it and one speed loader. I went downstairs and when she had made it across the line, I put on an orange vest and put a cap on the lock of the rifle. When she was well into the yard and standing in the middle of the garden I stepped out the back door and shot her. 70yds with a .530 patched ball over 75 grains of pyrodex select. Took out both lungs and she went about 40 yds and laid down, and I finished her off with a shot in the neck.
Upon recovering her I found that she had a dry wound in her shoulder that was all scabbed over, about the diameter of my thumb and half an inch deep. Behind her ribs was a larger hole, and this one was seeping yellow puss. I peeled the hide back and the pocket of puss was very large and the meat was all a dark color. What little fat she has was very yellow colored. I didn't find any bullets or fragments but I didn't look very hard. I deemed her unsafe to eat and took her out and buried her. Cost me $32 for a tag, but I am glad not to watch her suffer all winter. View attachment 883650

You did the right thing. I've had to as well.
 
Has anyone else ever shot a deer and had it tun towards you?

Yep! Hunting Green River State park here in IL about 20 years ago. Was leaning against a pine tree in a pine thicket about 30 yards off a game trail. Big bodied 4 pointer peels off the main trail and moseys toward me. I put a 1oz foster 12 ga slug through his chest with my old Mossy 500 at about 20 yards. Damn thing jumps upon the hit takes two big leaps and piled up literally at my feet. I was stunned! Could not believe it covered that much ground, so quickly being hit that hard. Craziest hunt I've ever had.
 
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Nice saturday, an uncommonly urban driven hunt some 10 miles from downtown Helsinki. Perfect weather too, calm winds and temperature hovering around 30°F. This young (but fat) buck popped out of thicket in front of me. Great start for 2020, five more weeks of whitetail season left so I'll probably spend a couple of days in a treestand during following weekends and see what happens.

buck2020.jpg
 
Sunday afternoon I collected my trail cam cards and my climber that I had left on a tree.

20200107_155453.jpg
A card shows this guy prowling at night.
IMG_3480.jpg

Then I stopped by a good overlook where I sometimes catch a coyote out mousing, and I noticed this on the riverbank.
I think this beaver bit off more than he could chew.
20200107_164200.jpg
I might be stretching it to put this in the hunting thread, but I figured you guys would like it.
 
Sunday afternoon I collected my trail cam cards and my climber that I had left on a tree.

View attachment 884770
A card shows this guy prowling at night.
View attachment 884772

Then I stopped by a good overlook where I sometimes catch a coyote out mousing, and I noticed this on the riverbank.
I think this beaver bit off more than he could chew.
View attachment 884769
I might be stretching it to put this in the hunting thread, but I figured you guys would like it.
What is the rifle in the pic?
 
This buck had a compound fracture of his lower jaw,apparently from fighting.
Battle scars all over his body.
Didnt k kw about his jaw until after I shot him. Glad I did or he would've starved.
Hoping he makes P&Y,but not for sure
 

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