starting to grow the horns.

Survivors

It's time for a late season update. I was able to get my cameras back out in the woods a couple of weeks ago. I placed one about a mile out (near where I killed my deer this year). The other was placed in a small saddle where I located two large runs where the deer are crossing a brook. This area is nice because the brook runs off the mountain in a fairly deep ravine, which I can use to access the saddle without spooking deer. Today I checked this camera. There were deer tracks everywhere and I had 78 pictures on the camera in just 2 weeks. A few bucks, one of which was a 5 pointer that I had pics of during the season checking a scrape. A 4 point that I have never seen or had any pictures of. The last appears to be a small racked 6 or 8 point. He has already lost his antler on the right side. I had lots of doe pictures, the does appear to be grouped up (one pic showing 4 in a group). The bucks still seem to be running solo. I still haven't been able to get out to the other camera, maybe next week.

still carrying horns

NH deer that made it

This small spike was under my tree stand while I was sitting a stand in MA. The other photo is two does that walked by the stand about 45 minutes before my son went to sit it.

STILL HANGING ON

Here are a few more...the time and date are correct on these!

THIS BUCK MADE IT THROUGH THE SEASON

this buck made it through the season with his horns still intact. picture was taken this past week the date is wrong but the time is right. i had 21 pictures on one camera and 19 on another, this was the only buck. i never saw this one during the season or even had his picture. i did have his picture last year though.

Made it Through

I had a camera out in the spot I saw the nine does from Dec 24-28. I sat it Christmas eve but saw nothing. I pulled it on Dec. 28 about noon. There were almost 100 pictures. These are pictures of two bucks and a button buck that were in the area on Sunday between 1125 and 1140 AM. One of the bucks has already lost an antler. He has one horn with 4 PTs on it. The other buck has two antlers but one appears to be broke off on the left side. The button buck is next years keeper assuming he survives. I never saw any of these bucks during the season and I don't have any pictures of these either. I saw 4 different bucks in this area but I don't have any of them on camera late in the year.

First deer

It was Christmas eve 2009 primitive firearms season and the first chance I've had to get out and hunt. I used a Thompson Center Renegade that has a Green Mountain .50caliber rifled barrel. Ammo was T/C 372gr. maxiball with 90 gr. of Pyrodex Select fired by CCI #11 caps.

There was a small group of us and I was unfamiliar with the area I was directed up a steep slope to the top of a ridge. I found an intersecting North South/East West trail with fresh scat on one corner. I set up in the crook of two trees some 15 yards away and settled into a padded seat after clearing away leaves and twigs (noisemakers).

The plan was to sit until around 11:30am and then slowly work our way back to a meeting point. After about two hours into it the constant mild breeze and frigid temperatures had me standing and wiggling my toes to get wam. The long climb to the ridge had made me sweat a little and I was paying the price for that. I was just noting how I had seen nothing. Usually I see squirrels, birds other critters when still hunting and I had seen nothing at all. Just as that thought crossed my mind I caught a slight movement on my peripheral vision.

I slowly turned my head and was startled by two deer 12 to 15 yards away. They had appeared like ghosts despite the crunchy ice layer on the snow, OK I admit I am hard of hearing also. The lead deer had a compact six point rack and the other deer had two oddball spikes, both were the same body size. One spike, on the second deer, was about 12" and the other about 8". I later learned the name he was given from the trail cam pictures was "Crazy Horn". I cocked the hammer back on the renegade. The six pointer lowered his head and stared hard at me. I do not believe he actually heard it, the wind was too brisk and it was moving from him toward me. I believe the movement caught his eye and he was trying to interpret it.

The six pointer turned and walked away slowly with the spike following behind. They picked up speed as they neared a drop off that ended in a flat landing about five feet down. By this time I had the rifle shouldered and the front sight firmly fixed just behind the left rib cage of the rear deer (the spike). I shoot with both eyes open and saw the lead deer drop to it's belly and slide over the edge, the second deer lept forward off the ground. I assume he did not want to land on his buddy but I am not sure how deer think. I kept the front sight behind his ribcage as he quartered away and even as he lept but as I pulled the trigger I saw a round white target. I was a little confused as to wether it was the cloud of smoke from the rifle or the deers white hindquarters. I felt pretty confident about the shot only because I do a fair amount of waterfowl and trap shooting so I walked a short distance toward where they went over the ledge in order to see if I could spot in what direction they headed. I know that waiting a few minutes is best but the drop off is so steep I could get a really wide view of the area and thought it would help.

As I approached the drop off point I observed the back of a deer rise and wobble back and forth a bit, right where I saw him leap. He had landed on the small flat below the drop off. I immediately stopped, took a breath and reloaded. I took my time deliberately to slow things up. A short time later, ? two minutes, I could see the deer in a clearing below about 75-80 yards away in some thin laurels. He lay down, then almost immediately got up, sat down and then stood weaving from side to side. He walked around the laurels and dissapeared. I knew he had fallen as the laurels were pretty open.

I had kept my sights on him after I reloaded until he disappeared using a tree as a rest but a second shot was not neccesary. I walked back to my sitting spot, strapped on my small pack and walked slowly down the hill after the deer and after calling my companions to assist me. I found the deer about 10-15 feet from where he disappeared, he had fallen and slid down a slight decline to his final resting spot. On examination I found the bullet entered the left side of the belly between the penis and belly button and went upward and destroyed the left lung and must have severed several arteries as bright red blood came out in large amounts when he was field dressed.

My first deer and on Christmas Eve. Wow what a gift. I have to thank my companions who assited me in the field dressing and dragging part of the hunt.

DECEMBER 18, 2009 BLACK POWDER SEASON

This morning i went out, it was by far the coldest morning I've been out this year. It was very noisy, and crunchy snow. I Sat in the spot i sat in during bow season just 30 yards lower from where i got my 10 pointer. At about 8:15 I heard this loud noise to my left and it was coming closer and closer. I Heard the noise from a long ways away. Crunch, Crunch, i looked to my left and there's one deer...two deer...three deer... four deer...five deer...six deer...seven deer...eight deer, i lost track, there were between 8- 12 deer all together they sounded like a heard of elephants coming. They were forty yards from me, but not a single horn, all baldies. They had no clue i was there. I think they ended up bedding on a side hill near me. Then at about 8:40 I heard another noise to my left, and it was one single deer all by itself. She came near me and started stomping her feet, then she takes off blowing at me. It was another baldy by the way, no horns. NO DOE PERMIT. So I sat there wondering, did these deer already start losing there horns. I really think the second deer that came to me (the one by itself) was a buck but with no horns. In this spot I have seen so many deer this year. A honey hole and a natural travel corridor. Guess where I'll be tomorrow, this same spot. But let me tell it was one cold sit I was chattering like a chipmunk. But it was worth it.

The Simpler Days

Do you remember the simpler days and alot of you won't because you were just pups. The ones I’m thinking about were in the late 70’s and early 80’s. They were the days when the only thing you carried into the woods for an afternoon hunt were the clothes you drove to your hunting spot in and the bow you grabbed off the backseat just before heading into the woods. You might stick a bottle of soda or water in your pocket along with a handful of candy bars but that was about it.

There were no modern treestands to pack in and many afternoons I would construct some type of ground blind or sit next to some stone wall or up against a large tree near some well worn deer trail. Of course this was all last minute and there was no such thing as scent blocker to keep your odor under control. You broke branches with your bare hands and scratched the leaves where you would sit away with your leather boots. About the only thing you were worried about was the wind direction.

I remember one such hunt in southern Vermont in the 1982 when I was in college. It was Columbus Day weekend and it was a beautiful early October day. The leaves were changing color, the afternoon was mild and I knew you would feel the temperature drop as the sun dipped behind the mountain in the evening. It was about 3:00 PM and I decided I would finish studying in the woods. I dressed, grabbed my bow and my backpack with some boring economic book and drove to Vermont.

Deer were plentiful then and it was common to see 10-15 deer in a field just before dark. I decided to try an area I had recently found that bordered the edge of a small swamp. A large stone wall that stood at least four feet tall ran along the edge of the swamp and a cluster of huge oak trees were scattered along the stone wall. An old wood road ran along one side of the wall and the deer traveled this section feasting on the acorns that littered the area. The oak trees were enormous and I could spread my arms as wide as possible and still not even get half way around the tree. It was this particular spot that I decided I would wait in ambush for a whitetail deer.

I cleared the leaves away between two large oak trees that were tucked right up against the stone wall and sat down. I moved a couple of small stones so I could peak out and see if there was any activity in the grown up road. The trees were so big I figured if I saw a deer I could easily stand and draw my bow undetected.

I threw my backpack on the ground, grabbed my economic book and proceeded to bore myself to death. As the afternoon wore on my eyes grew heavy and I closed them for a few minutes. I was quickly jarred back to reality when I heard the unmistakable crunching of acorns. I didn’t dare move as the sound was coming from the other side of the stone wall and it sounded like it was right next to me. I remained motionless and listened. The crunching continued uninterrupted so I leaned forward and glanced through one of my peak holes in the stone wall. As I glanced out into the grown up road way a deer on the other side of the wall caught my movement through the peak hole and ran back a short distance.

I knew it couldn’t see me as I was hidden behind the huge oak tree. I waited to see if I could hear where the deer was. A few seconds passed and I could hear the deer stomping its front hoof into the ground. From the sound of it I knew it was only a few yards away on the other side of the stone wall. I felt the deer had no idea I was a human or it would be in the next county by now.

I decided I would stand up behind the enormous oak tree and draw my bow as quietly as possible. I slowly stood up and drew. I didn’t hear the deer run off so I assumed it must still be there. The stomping had stopped and I wasn’t sure if the deer had walked away or if it was back to feeding. I decided I would lean out from behind the big oak while I was at full draw to see if I could locate the whitetail.

As I leaned out with the nock of the arrow tucked in to the corner of my mouth I saw her. A fat doe stood less than ten yards away stareing at this foreign object that appeared to be sticking out of the side of the tree. Before she could react I picked a spot behind her front shoulder and left the aluminum arrow fly at about 190 feet per second. The arrow struck right where I was aiming and as the doe bolted out of sight I could see close to half of my arrow protruding from her rib cage. She ran into the swamp and I heard her crash about 75 yards away.

Today, looking back I wonder how that was even possible. I hadn’t washed my clothes and left them hanging on the clothes line for days to rid them of human scent. I hadn’t stored them in an air tight container to keep them scent free nor had I backpacked my clothes in and dressed when I was close to my hunting spot. I wasn’t wearing knee high rubber boots. I didn’t have everything but the kitchen sink in my backpack. I wasn’t perched over a deer trail 20 feet up in the air in a modern tree stand. I hadn’t hung a stand weeks before I hunted the spot. Were the deer just stupid back then, I don’t think so. So how did any of us ever manage to be successful back then? It’s simple really; the only thing that matters is being in the right place at the right time.