2012 Deer Season Check Station

Status
Not open for further replies.
Took a Whitetail doe yesterday south of Kiowa in Colorado. Snuck up on her through about a mile long stand of cottonwood trees. Spotted about 200 yards out, walked very slowly up to about 100 yards away. Bang flop with a modern Steyr in 6.5X54 MS running hand loaded 140 grain partitions about 2500 fps. 8 power fixed scope. 55 degrees on the 4th of December and no snow anywhere!
 
Freezers are looking full, boys!

MuleDeer475.jpg
Here's my first mule deer. And first muzzleloader kill. 170 yards quartering away. Down like a sack 'o' potatoes. That .45 caliber bullet hits like a hammer.
photo2.jpg
I just got this doe yesterday with my faithful .270 win. She was walking away when I gave her the "baaahaa". She turned straight on to me and a 140 grain Nosler Partion went in her throat and out the back of her neck. Two leg kicks, and it was time to get to work. The season is over her now. Now its time to bag a couple of the 'yotes' I left in the fields I was hunting!
 
BIG (!!) southern New Mexico mule deer on the fourth day of the first rifle season. 4x4 with a small sticker on one side and some palmation on the brow tine on the other. Shot at around 25yds when he walked up the ridge while my hunting buddy and I were contouring along it.
Now with photo!

dsc000022u.jpg
 
Thanks guys. I was hootin and hollerin like a kid on Christmas. I was range finding a smaller buck about 50 yards away when a sentry doe caught my wind. She snorted an alert, but the wind was sever and I believe they were confused about my exact location. Right when I thought my luck was up, this big guy stands up in a brush patch at what I later range finded to be 170 yards. My started pounding but I was already nicely positioned with my Savage smokeless muzzloader resting on shooting sticks and resting on one knee. My muzzloader barked, and before I recovered from the recoil, my biggest deer ever was in a heap in the grass. Wahooooo!
I sure wish it had brow tines like IdriveB5's. Very nice, dude!
 
That's a beauty Helo. Can you guys wear camo there during rifle season? I wish! The reg's up here require us to wear blaze orange, red, or white on the top half. Btw, that's a real nice rifle setup you got there.
 
I hunt on my own land. Camo is standard wear. If I hunt on public, I wear the orange. Haven't hunted public in a long time, though.
Color me fortunate I guess....I've shot a buck every year since I was 13, some rutting, some not, some whitetails, some mule deer.... and have never had the displeasure of my deer smelling like urine (unless, of course, the bladder was punctured during field dressing or some such thing)....and that includes animals that were shot on a dead run, and animals that never knew a hunter was within miles.......when properly cared for, I don't think one should assume or presume a rutting buck will taste or smell like urine in the least......In 23 years of harvesting bucks, I've yet to see, smell, or otherwise experience such a thing

You can add my 49 years to that. Never heard of such. Killed game, including the buck I shot this year, on a dead run. I've had 'em smell gamey, just soaked it out of 'em. But, i wouldn't call it a urine smell. I'm thinkin' maybe THAT'S what he's talking about, a gamey smellin' animal. Process it properly, you can rid the meat of that. I've always kept it on ice to bleed out a few days. Some say hang it in a cool house, works I guess, never had one of those cool houses to know. The idea, though, is to get the blood out.

Let's not start another argument over processing, though. :D
 
First Buck.jpg
My first ever! 11/17 around 5pm. I was in the woods for about 20 minutes (out all morning and didn't see a thing) and he came down off a ridge, chasing three does. Approximately 60 yard shot. Mossberg 500, Winchester SuperX Sabot slug.
 
That's a beauty Helo. Can you guys wear camo there during rifle season? I wish! The reg's up here require us to wear blaze orange, red, or white on the top half. Btw, that's a real nice rifle setup you got there.
You can't see it in the photo but both my hunting buddy and I were wearing blaze orange hats. Not required by law or regulation unless you're on DoD land but a really good idea considering the number of yokels driving around the National Forest during the 5 days of deer season.
 
eight point 4 year-old taken at 50 yards right at dusk with Model 70 .270. 17" inside spread. Scored about 130. 150lbs on the hoof and about 125lbs field dressed.

This guy was in full rut. Check out his swollen neck. Shot him as he was running a doe. Caught him with his pants down so to speak!
 

Attachments

  • 8-point Buck 2.jpg
    8-point Buck 2.jpg
    107.9 KB · Views: 31
  • 8-point Buck 5.jpg
    8-point Buck 5.jpg
    136.7 KB · Views: 28
Just a nice but unremarkable young 4x4 for the freezer. Didn't get to hunt as much this year as I wanted, but made some time to get this guy in a creek bottom. Hit him across the neck under the chin with my 7 mag.

Heard the BANG, saw the hooves. Hunt over.
 

Attachments

  • 11-25-12.jpg
    11-25-12.jpg
    77.3 KB · Views: 30
NorCal Blacktail

Out in CA our deer season is long over! Most of the state opens in late August when it's hot as the blazes, then closes near the end of September. Success rates run about 20%. I got this nice buck in mid-Sept as he was trailing a doe and fawn on top of a ridge on my ranch.
 

Attachments

  • Buck 9-16-12.jpg
    Buck 9-16-12.jpg
    168.4 KB · Views: 37
Some beautiful bucks in this thread - thought I'd add another. Got him Saturday morning south of Seguin Tx on my parents place, 92 ac low fence. It was a good day. Hopefully the image upload works ImageUploadedByTapatalk1355200538.556794.jpg
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1355200400.364576.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1355200400.364576.jpg
    172.2 KB · Views: 18
Thanks! Hiis left g2 was forked and the front fork is broken off, an his right g4 is broken off a few inches down from where it would have been. The bucks have really been fighting this week. He is a very special deer for our little place - seven years hunting here and never seen a buck even close to his equal.
 
The curse is over: Buck down! My first one, shot yesterday evening. Not trophy material, definitely young, but at this point I don't couldn't care less. I'm grinning from ear to ear. :D

buck1.jpg
 
My first deer on my first deer hunt.

.243 take down during the morning on 11-29-2012
 

Attachments

  • 2012-11-29_08-59-54_485.jpg
    2012-11-29_08-59-54_485.jpg
    189.9 KB · Views: 20
Some beautiful bucks in this thread - thought I'd add another. Got him Saturday morning south of Seguin Tx on my parents place, 92 ac low fence.

Nice buck. First read it, had to make sure you weren't my wife's cousin's boy, but thair place is east of Sequin off 90A. :D I know Andy got one this year. He's have been REALLY braggin' if it was THAT big. :D

That dear has some shoulders on him, looks heavy.
 
well our season has come to a close today here in Iowa (2nd shotgun) and our group took a total of 14 deer (a pretty low number compared to years past). five of them i was lucky enough to shoot (one was an assist for my FIL). two does, one button buck, one large bodied 6-point and one for the wall! this is my second buck ever (first was a heavy 8-point). 11 points total (including the two little stickers), and a split main beam; scored out to 133 1/4. i have only seen a split main beam in a picture one other time, so this guy will be on my wall soon. gun used was a mossberg maverick with a fully rifled barrel, bushnell 1.75-4x32 scope, firing federal power shok sabot slugs.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • 20121215_090516.jpg
    20121215_090516.jpg
    254.2 KB · Views: 35
Last edited:
Two doe in about 20 seconds with a single shot .45-70 at 55 yards and 40 yards respectively. I hung them for a week in the walk-in cooler then processed them. They were the most wonderfully tasty backstraps I've had in ages.

I've been out with my 12 year old several times but we haven't gotten lucky yet. He's seen 4 or 5 small bucks but nothing shootable. Hopefully will get a chance to go again this week and put some more meat in the freezer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top