2022 Deer hunt

[gim]

I know there's a fair amount of deer hunters on this forum.  Post your stories, success, failure, and photos right here.

 

I'm heading out in the morning for the 9-day firearms season here in MN.

[Way north bass guy]

Our rifle season starts Monday. I’ll be heading to the camp Sunday afternoon to spend a few days in the bush with friends and family. Gonna be great weather here for it, can’t wait!

[bigbassin']

 Not a successful hunt, but my favorite one yet:

 

Started hunting last year, and never got in range. Finally got close a few weekends back with the bow but missed!

Tried out a small management area close to where I’m currently working Saturday afternoon. Property is a couple hundred acres, swamp on the SE corner, large creek runs the northern property line. Middle of the area is a mixture of fields and woods.

Place was packed and I didn’t see any deer, but it was also covered up with deer sign so I figured it was worth trying again.

Got off work Tuesday, and figured it would be a good day to try again. Got to the parking lot around 6:00, 5 other vehicles in the parking lot. Grabbed the bow, and decided to still hunt/scout along the property line with the bow in hand. With only an hour and a half of shooting light, didn’t feel like messing with the climber, plus I felt the other folks were likely hunting the field edges already.

Jumped one doe 100 yards from the parking lot laying in a field. Figured that was a good sign.

Tucked into the woods along a field edge and followed a trail paralleling the northern property line (adjacent to a creek).

Made it about 100 yards down the trail and start seeing tracks, very heavily used area. 

Moving slowly, I creep along a little further. Find some acorns on the ground and what I believe was a scrape? Low hanging branch broken and missing it’s leaves at chest height, ground was scratched below it. Tracks all around as well.

Go just a little bit further, and movement catches my eyes.
It’s a deer! 

Head down so I can’t ID it. Bucks and does are both good to go, but I still wanted to know what it was before flinging an arrow.

Finally looks up after going from broadside to facing away, it’s a doe. Very slowly feeding away from me, I cautiously took a step or two to keep it at 35 yards. 

Turns back to broadside. I draw back…and a tree is blocking it’s vitals. I let down, it turns away and I’m staring at it’s tail.

Turns back to broadside, I draw back and take the shot…missed low! Arrow went right under. Luckily no branches were hit so it was pretty quiet.

Doe seemed to know something was up at this point, but it wasn’t fully ready to leave the area. It moved about 15 yards back to where it came from and looked around for a minute. I stayed as still as possible.

It put it’s head down again and I drew back to take the shot. Arrow hit a vine, deflected, and I missed again!

Sound of the arrow hitting the vine sent the doe hauling back into cover. Game was over with that one.

In about 20 hunts, I’ve never had a deer in range before. Real bummer to miss not once but twice once I finally had the opportunity. Not sure what else to say other than target panic took over there. Thought I was comfortable with the bow on the range but drawing back on the doe made it clear it’s not at muscle memory for me or even close to it.

On the flip side, it was still an exciting hunt even if I clearly need to spend some more time on the range. And if I’m going to miss I’d rather just downright miss than get a non lethal shot. I’m starting to see more sign when picking spots so I’m at least making progress. Just need to keep at it and eventually should get it done.

[gim]

16 minutes ago, bigbassin' said:

Not a successful hunt

It's all good.  We enjoy the stories too, even if they end in failure.  Archery hunting is tough.  Probably why the season is so much longer than it is for firearms.  I'm not an archery hunter myself but I know plenty who are.  Keep practicing and one day it will pay off.

[bigbassin']

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

It's all good.  We enjoy the stories too, even if they end in failure.  Archery hunting is tough.  Probably why the season is so much longer than it is for firearms.  I'm not an archery hunter myself but I know plenty who are.  Keep practicing and one day it will pay off.

Definitely looking at it in a positive light.
 

Taking steps in a positive direction, and I’ve already seen 3 deer in range this season (2 were at the last 5 minutes of legal light and I couldn’t see my sights) and had a shot on one, so definitely an improvement over seeing zero legal deer last year.

 

Having taken up hunting on my own without any friends or family to teach me, it’s good to have these encounters and know the sign I’m seeing is actually corresponding with deer.

 

I’ll probably hunt about 3 more times with the bow this season, then rifle season will open up near the end of the month in my area of Florida and remain open through January. I’ll for sure hunt one rifle weekend in December for a good quota I have drawn, but after that duck season overlaps and I’m up in the air on which to spend my time on.

[Ski]

Saw this buck along a pasture edge about 300 yds. away in Kentucky last year.

Not wanting to risk that shot I watched him slowly make his way along the fence, then it dawned on me to pick up my rattle bag and go to work, after about 15 seconds of  it I looked out the window of the blind and he was bounding across the pasture coming straight to the blind. He locked up @ about 35 yds. Not knowing where the fight was or if he smelled me he just stood looking giving me time to make a clean kill.

[12poundbass]

Our rifle season doesn’t start until the 15th. My friend who’s the property owner where I’m going to hunt has been sending me pictures of a few shooters one of which is a 10pt that’s just outside his ears. 

[TOXIC]

I’m not a hunter.  If I was I could probably harvest some freezer size deer.  Nothing for the bone hunters but these 2 watched me pour my coffee.?

[Loomis13]

 

 

 

 

I was able to harvest this buck with my bow on 11/6 evening in western Iowa. Not a great story, the deer slowly angled towards me getting to 39 yards in my shooting lane. I shot him walking which I dont like to do, but he was almost out of my lane and there no more opportunities after that lane. Deer ran 10-15 yards and expired. Ended up with a double lung. Very thankful! Now what to do with all the PTO I saved for the rut...

[GaryH]

3 hours ago, Loomis13 said:

 

 

 

 

I was able to harvest this buck with my bow on 11/6 evening in western Iowa. Not a great story, the deer slowly angled towards me getting to 39 yards in my shooting lane. I shot him walking which I dont like to do, but he was almost out of my lane and there no more opportunities after that lane. Deer ran 10-15 yards and expired. Ended up with a double lung. Very thankful! Now what to do with all the PTO I saved for the rut...

Congrats. He’s a good looking buck.. ?

[gim]

That thing has really tall antlers @Loomis13!  Dandy for sure.

[TnRiver46]

21 hours ago, Loomis13 said:

 

 

 

 

I was able to harvest this buck with my bow on 11/6 evening in western Iowa. Not a great story, the deer slowly angled towards me getting to 39 yards in my shooting lane. I shot him walking which I dont like to do, but he was almost out of my lane and there no more opportunities after that lane. Deer ran 10-15 yards and expired. Ended up with a double lung. Very thankful! Now what to do with all the PTO I saved for the rut...

Monster!

[12poundbass]

On 11/8/2022 at 10:11 AM, Loomis13 said:

 

 

 

 

I was able to harvest this buck with my bow on 11/6 evening in western Iowa. Not a great story, the deer slowly angled towards me getting to 39 yards in my shooting lane. I shot him walking which I dont like to do, but he was almost out of my lane and there no more opportunities after that lane. Deer ran 10-15 yards and expired. Ended up with a double lung. Very thankful! Now what to do with all the PTO I saved for the rut...

Monster G2-G3’s. How long are they? 

[gim]

My Father filled a bonus antler less tag on Sunday morning with a young corn fed doe.  We usually share a deer, so some venison will be on the menu this winter.  Nothing special, just your run of the mill whitetail doe.

 

I have sat in my stand for several days since opener on Saturday off an on and have seen a good number of deer.  Monday was by far the best day for deer activity.  I saw 13 deer including three small bucks.  The last couple days have not been as good with warmer temps and rain.  I am going to try one more time tomorrow but the NW wind may finish my hunt a little early.

 

I have seen a crapload of wild turkeys and pheasants every time I'm out there.  I will be hunting pheasants once deer season is over and I expect it to be nothing short of spectacular.

[gim]

I forgot about this.  On Tuesday when I was in the stand, around 7:15am I saw a big black stray cat walking across and open bean field about 150 yards away.  As it was just walking along, here comes a coyote from the opposite direction.  That coyote caught up to that cat, the cat jumped in the air, and when the cat came down, the yote latched on to the back of the neck.  Dead.  Done deal.  Definitely the highlight of my day.  That cat was living dangerously walking in the open without any trees nearby and the coyote had a big breakfast of kitty lol. ?‍⬛

[Loomis13]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:17 AM, 12poundbass said:

Monster G2-G3’s. How long are they? 

I am unsure. Off getting euro mounted now. I’ll let you know when I get him back.

[Woody B]

I haven't hunted since my Grandsons lost interest in deer hunting and got interested in teenage girls.   Both of my Grandsons killed their first deer laying on top of my shop building in my back yard.   I used to hunt deer occasionally, as well as bear, hogs, rabbit, quail and grouse.   

 

40 to 50 years ago we had to go up into the NC mountains to find deer.  Now they're everywhere around here.   

[gim]

My friend Derek arrowed this buck during a special lottery drawn archery city hunt in Shorewood, MN last Friday night.  He is required to pass an annual archery marksmanship certification to participate in these special urban/city hunts and it paid off for him.

[GaryH]

33 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My friend Derek arrowed this buck during a special lottery drawn archery city hunt in Shorewood, MN last Friday night.  He is required to pass an annual archery marksmanship certification to participate in these special urban/city hunts and it paid off for him.

That’s a cannon…

[roadwarrior]

Wow!

[TnRiver46]

17 hours ago, gimruis said:

My friend Derek arrowed this buck during a special lottery drawn archery city hunt in Shorewood, MN last Friday night.  He is required to pass an annual archery marksmanship certification to participate in these special urban/city hunts and it paid off for him.

Pretty cool! Those urban bucks can sneak around and get massive. Even cities have plenty of acorns! 

[Smells like fish]

Bagged my 2022 buck a week ago today. 10 packs of backstrap, several packs of heart and liver and 32 packs of burger to enjoy 

 

[gim]

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Even cities have plenty of acorns! 

No predators and lots of bird feeders to eat out of too.

 

The one disadvantage is more cars to avoid getting hit by.

[Functional]

after all them bucks i dont even want to post my little doe! Only got into hunting this year and after 3 sits in a tree stand I had a shot at this doe 20 yards away. Double lunged her and she ran towards where our truck was so overall I've had it very easy. I've shot competitive long range rifle (PRS) for about a decade before the PRS was even an organization so felt like a gun was cheating and took a bow. I'm now fairly addicted and having some pretty big internal struggles if I'm hitting fall fishing or hunting now on the weekends now.

 

 

[GaryH]

Are you all ready. It’s time

The last one was a pic taking by someone up at the camping area