2024 Deer hunting thread

[MediumMouthBass]

4 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I’ve hunted deer almost 30 years now and I’ve never heard of there being an issue regarding ticks or Lyme disease. I don’t recall reading anything about it either.

Years ago i dont think it would be an issue, but today ticks are spreading like fire. Along with the diseases they carry. I have several family members who recently were diagnosed with tick borne illnesses....

In PA and ME the ticks are awful, its like an alien invasion. Heard from several people that when they take the dog walking in the city they come back and find several of them. The hunters i talked to a few weeks ago that are family friends say in the woods its even worse now. I never even heard or saw a tick when i was younger. And i spent most my life in the woods building trails and forts.

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, MediumMouthBass said:

Never went hunting for deer, but know alot of people that do.

Only thought of this the past week, are any of you concerned to eat deer meat since more than likely they have been bit by several ticks throughout their life? And if they have lymes disease? (Sorry if this is common knowledge)

Lyme is transmitted via ticks, not through the blood of the animal to other animals. Let alone cooked meat from a deer that’s had its blood drained out anyway. 

[gim]

Chronic Wasting Disease is a real transmissible disease in deer. Certain parts of the country has more of it than others.

 

Its essentially mad cow disease in deer. I would advise not consuming a deer that visually appears to be affected by it. Classic obvious signs include stumbling, drool, loss of hair, and erratic behavior.

 

Some states also have carcass movement restrictions in CWD zones.

 

As for the ticks, they thrive when temps stay warmer. Much of the country did not experience a “real” winter last year and tick populations did not take much of a hit during the winter months, even in the north. That will probably only continue to get worse as our winters become more mild overall.

[casts_by_fly]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

Chronic Wasting Disease is a real transmissible disease in deer. Certain parts of the country has more of it than others.

 

Its essentially mad cow disease in deer. I would advice not consuming a deer that visually appears to be affected by it. Classic obvious signs include stumbling, drool, loss of hair, and erratic behavior.

 

Some states also have carcass movement restrictions in CWD zones.

fully agreed there. West Nile is the other one. 
 

we had a bad outbreak of ehd 2 or 3 summers ago.  The fall before it you could ride down my street and across the next one over and count 40-50 deer every evening. We lost about over 50% of the population that summer and maybe more. The local biologists noted it. 

[gim]

T-minus 1.5 days until opener here.  I'll be rotting away in various tree stands for about 8 days straight - quite often all day, 11+ hours nonstop, weather permitting.

 

I've got 2 tags - my primary one which is choice (antlered buck or antlerless), and a bonus antlerless tag.  I will be filling the bonus tag as soon as possible when the first young tender corn fed antlerless deer appears.  Beyond that, I hope to wait for Mr Big.

 

A lot of people think I'm nuts for spending 11 hours a day just sitting there waiting.  It certainly takes a significant amount of mental fortitude.  I use it as time away from the daily rigors of every day life.  There's no work, no kids, no chores, no traffic, no people, etc.  Its just me and the rifle sitting in nature.  Certainly the time passes quicker when there's deer and other wildlife to observe too.

[casts_by_fly]

Fun morning in the blind but an odd one. Seven deer in all, all at 15-20 yards and could have shot all but the first (too dark). One button buck and six bucks. No does. That’s really weird here. 

the biggest is the 8 in the dark cell cam picture. The rack is high off his head and decent, but one more year…. There’s a wide 8 there with short tines that I passed previously. He was with a really

tall 6 where the rack is almost straight up in the air. Take the best of both of those two and you’d have a shooter. Then a couple forks and a 5. I’m going to give it as long as I can since I hear more down in the woods. 

[gim]

I spent nearly 11 hours in my stand today for the gun opener.  Easily the best opener I've had in years.  I saw 12 deer, including 6 small bucks.  Took one of the antlerless deer and filled my bonus tag with a plump corn fed doe.

 

I also saw 8 wild turkeys and about two dozen pheasants.  Nearly constant action and a stunning day in the stand.  Now I just wait for Mr Big the next 7 days.

 

 

[gim]

I saw 17 more deer today, 3 wild turkeys, and about 40 pheasants.  Still no sign of mr big though.

 

I had a 6 point buck walk nearly directly underneath my stand at 6:50am.  It was so close I could hear it breathing.

 

Pretty apparent to me that the wildlife is thriving after our fake winter last year lol

[12poundbass]

Pretty sure we haven’t seen this big guy yet this year.

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Pretty sure we haven’t seen this big guy yet this year.

Sheesh! Thick antlers on that one 

[casts_by_fly]

I took a morning off because my back has been sore…
 

[Bird]

80 degrees and 12:34 in the afternoon while battling mosquitoes.

[casts_by_fly]

4 hours ago, Bird said:

80 degrees and 12:34 in the afternoon while battling mosquitoes.

congrats!  That’s awesome 

[casts_by_fly]

I zig, he zags. Went to another spot to shoot a doe.  At the exact moment he was in front of my blind, I’m 20 yards from a small 8 and two puppy dog does (this years fawns) while mom watches from 60 yards away. She caught me scent but she was the only one who cared. Saw 5 bucks, 2 fawns, and a doe out of range. 
 

while he was out back at my blind. 
 

[A-Jay]

Rarely see them during the day (plenty on the game cams at night)

but a huge Buck just ran through my front yard.

Scare the heck out of my wife and the dogs lost it of course. 

He was moving pretty fast so it was hard to tell,

but looked like an 8 maybe even a 10 pt.

Very odd.

Tomorrow is open day here rifle season.  

That one would be a shooter I'm pretty sure.

🦌

A-Jay

 

 

[JHoss]

Just realizing we have a hunting page on here.

 

It's muzzleloader season in VA right now. I've been out for 5 sits so far and have passed on 30-40 bucks that were in range and maybe another 10-20 does. The bucks have been chasing pretty good lately, but the only one close to a shooter never got within 225 yards- about 25 yards further than I'm comfortable with that gun. My phone is getting quite full of videos of small 8s walking under the stand. But the rut is wrapping up, so I reckon the buck sightings will start dwindling.

 

My last sit was this past Saturday afternoon and gun comes in this Saturday. Knowing I wouldn't shoot the muzzleloader again this year, I decided to whack a doe at last light if I had one in range.  Wouldn't you know it, I had a few to pick from and wound up settling on a nice eater doe at 103 yards. She may have gone two steps. 

 

We moved to 4.5 mostly wooded acres last December. I've got a stand in the back I sat in a few times late last season without seeing a deer. I need to get my cams back up this weekend to see if they've already gone nocturnal this year or if it's worth getting some sits in before work. They run dogs in this county and that seems to drive them nocturnal as soon as gun comes in. 

[gim]

Day 6 is in the books.  I'm up to 51 deer sightings from a stand now, 15 of which have been bucks.

 

I'm planning to go one more day tomorrow and then hang it up.  My previous record during a season is 23 so I blew right past that in 2+ days.

 

My only gripe is that none of the 15 bucks have been sizable.  They are all 6 pointers or less.

[12poundbass]

@gimruis are you an 8 or better guy or do you factor in age, spread, mass in your decision?

[gim]

Just now, 12poundbass said:

@gimruis are you an 8 or better guy or do you factor in age, spread, mass in your decision?

 

It generally needs to be at least 8 points.  But it needs to be a respectable 8 pointer.  Not just a little basket rack.

 

I've harvested so many small bucks in my 30 years of deer hunting that I have no interest in taking any more at this point.

 

I've got three 130 class typical 8 point bucks under my belt.  Any buck taken now would have to be at least that big.

 

I filled a bonus antler less tag on opening day pretty easily so there will be some tender corn fed venison to eat.  I know that sizable, mature bucks are out there.  I just haven't seen any.

[casts_by_fly]

15 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

It generally needs to be at least 8 points.  But it needs to be a respectable 8 pointer.  Not just a little basket rack.

 

I've harvested so many small bucks in my 30 years of deer hunting that I have no interest in taking any more at this point.

 

I've got three 130 class typical 8 point bucks under my belt.  Any buck taken now would have to be at least that big.

 

I filled a bonus antler less tag on opening day pretty easily so there will be some tender corn fed venison to eat.  I know that sizable, mature bucks are out there.  I just haven't seen any.

 

That's pretty much where I am also.  I've passed a couple 8's this year now.  I shot two like them last year and I've decided to let that size walk.  The bigger guy running around is about a 130 if he didn't have a broken/missing G3.  He'd be 5.5 or so around here with that much antler (poor diet and nutrition I think).  There is another 7 that isn't as wide, but is a good bit thicker and taller.  I've only seen him once while driving, but if he comes through he gets shot.

 

Saw two new bucks last night.  A doe and her two button bucks were out front and she started staring down the powerline.  Out popped a buck I'll call 'field goal' now.  His rack comes up and out to the G2 point and there is nominally a 5" G2.  But no brown tines and no main beam beyond the G2.  So he's basically a big spike that looks like a field goal post.  When he walked past the doe she didn't put her head down so I knew there was another.  I saw the rack from 40 yards and said it was a shooter- past his ears, decent height, good body size.  When it came out at 20 yards though, he turned his head and his right main beam is bare- no brow, no points, nothing.  I thought about shooting him for the novelty of the rack, but I'm holding off.

 

 

[gim]

I did finally see a sizable buck today.  We had some really dense fog (photo below) that didn't burn off until 9:30am.  Around 10:15, I just happened to look behind me and saw a deer bounding through the brush/timer about 100 yards away.  It got to a partial opening and I could see a big set of antlers.  Then it was gone to the neighbors land to the east.  Looked like at least an 8 pointer, maybe bigger.  About 15 seconds later I heard someone shoot on the neighbor's land, one shot.

 

I think I'm gonna hang it up.  I could hunt tomorrow but I've been gone for a week now and I've got stuff to do at home.  I sat for 6.5 days and saw 52 deer, which included 16 bucks.  I also saw about 40 wild turkeys and way too many pheasants to count.

 

It was a tremendous deer season.  I'll be pheasant hunting starting next week until that season ends on Jan 1.  Good luck to anyone still hunting deer.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Bro in laws neighborhood in Toledo 😂 

 

 

 

 

[12poundbass]

That’s one heck of a neck! He’s been chasing the ladies.

[gim]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Bro in laws neighborhood in Toledo 😂 

 

Ridiculous!  Literally laying on the front lawn waiting for that doe. No hunters or natural predators there.

[TnRiver46]

I bout hit a large doe with a Honda today 

3 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

That’s one heck of a neck! He’s been chasing the ladies.

Probably resting after a night of promiscuity