2009 FALL HARVEST Photo/Story Contest WINNERS

OK, i’m in for the drawing and to represent us “turkeys.”

Had the good fortune to bag a nice tom on the opening morning of the 2009 Illinois fall firearm turkey season today.

Headed for a ridge that usually holds birds, especially when there is a west wind. The breeze was out of the west at 10 mph and gusting to 15 to 20 when I slipped in and set up about 100 yards from the roost an hour before sunrise.

After watching the woods wake up, as luck would have it, the birds were on the next ridge to the south. Saw 2 birds drop down before sunrise and head away from me to the crest of the ridge. But soon more birds came over to my side of the ridge and began milling around and jostling about 150 yards away.

Hit a few soft gobbler yelps on a glass call with a hickory striker and it didn’t look like the flock was paying any attention to me. Could see about a dozen birds moseying toward a corn field that had the end rows picked a couple of days ago.

Decided to hold my position instead of circling and risking bumping them. Hit a couple more yelps and saw a tom start heading my way. When he dropped out of site at the bottom of the deep draw, I shifted my position at the base of the huge oak tree to the right to try and line up a shot.

Another cluck and I see a head pop up about 50 yards away, but there were a bunch of small sapplings in the way. He was coming up the hill on an angle, so when he went behind a big oak I shifted as much as I could to my right to hopefully get a shot when he stepped out.

But as I raised the ‘ol Mossberg 3-inch, 12-gauge, I heard a sharp putt behind me. More of the flock had circled and came in from my blind side. I was busted by his buddies.

But I held steady for what seemed like five minutes and the tom I had a bead on finally stepped out on the other side of the big oak and I folded him at 35 yards.

He had a 10-inch beard and nice 1 1/4 hooked spurs.

Everyone remember to enter your harvest stories and photo into this contest. There are a lot of great prizes being given away. Everyone that enters is automatically entered in for a bunch of prizes. The more times you enter the better chance to win.

Matt’s First Whitetail Bow Hunting Trip

The past few years I’ve gotten away from fishing tournaments and saved my time off for fishing and hunting adventures with family and friends. Enter nephew Matt age eleven. Matt and I spent a fair amount of time together this year fishing spring crappies, sunfish and walleyes as well. Watching him develop his skills as an angler and outdoors enthusiast has been the highlight of 2009 for me, but little did I know that the best was yet to come. Being that I have no children of my own, through Matt, I have a better understanding of how those of you feel when your child enjoys the outdoors and is a willing participant in the activities that we have enjoyed and loved since our own childhood. His enthusiasm is nothing short of contagious.

Matt has always wanted to bow hunt even at the age of eight when he got his first bow and arrow kit as a Christmas gift from Santa. He now has a compound bow that he shoots very competently and anytime I would call him this past summer to go fishing he was in the back yard shooting at his deer target practicing for that first opportunity. Earlier this fall he already spent some time in the stand bow hunting around his father’s farm with limited sightings of deer and no shots so I suggested that he come with me to deer camp over the MN Education Association (MEA) weekend where he could bow hunt in the mornings and evenings and we would grouse hunt during mid-day hours. Now I am not a bow hunter don’t even own a bow and haven’t shot one in years, so I figured that maybe the time sitting in the stand with Matt would give me the chance to scout for the firearms season.

The weekend started out windy and rainy but the first morning and evening we saw a doe and fawn and even a small spike buck on two different occasions, but nothing that was in range or presented a clear shot. Matt was excited about the prospect of shooting his first deer after several sightings each time we were out. On Saturday mid-day we went grouse hunting with my cousin Jeff and my British Yellow Lab Maddie. While walking an old logging road, to get to the area we had in mind to hunt, Maddie got birdie and flushed a grouse into an alder bush and subsequently flushed it again back across the trail where Matt shot twice with his 12 ga Browning and downed the bird. Matt’s first grouse on the fly, awesome! I shot one more that afternoon and then it was back to camp to clean up for the evening bow hunt.

Everything seemed just right for the evening hunt and I was hoping that Matt’s luck would not run out before nightfall. After getting to the stand, I realized that I didn’t bring any gloves but I did remember my video camera. The stand that we were using was comprised of an adequate but smaller permanent stand (to small for two people) and a portable stand that we placed slightly above the permanent stand facing the opposite direction. With this arrangement I figured that we would be able to see in all directions and I being in the portable would be out of Matt’s way if an opportunity presented itself. An hour after we reached the stand we watched a nice 6 point buck feed on the food plot trail that we had planted the spring before. The buck fed at 43 yards from our position but never offered a shot. We watched him walk away and Matt whispered to me that this was the largest deer that he had ever seen while in the stand. He said that he didn’t think he would have been able to draw his bow as his heart was racing so fast. I was videoing the deer and after he left my hands were cold so I placed my hands and the camera into my pockets, big mistake.

Just a few minutes after putting the video camera away a small buck with the start of little forks on the tops of his antlers walked directly across the food plot trail from the stand and proceeded on his way a mere 8 yards from us. I had no chance or opportunity to retrieve the camera so all I could do was watch and see what was going to happen. The buck slowly moved away from the stand unaware of our presence and at 18 yards Matt made a grunt sound with his mouth to stop the deer (how does an eleven year old instinctively know how to do this?) and when he did I watched an arrow penetrate the animal as it was quartering away from our position. The buck bolted through the woods and we both watched in amazement as the fletching of the arrow was still visible from its side. We waited in silence waiting to here if the deer would fall over and crash in the woods, but we only heard a few noises as the deer bounded away. Matt said “It’s a little far back” talking about the placement of his shot, but I reassured him that the arrow had found its mark and was quartering into the deer at the correct angle to hit its vitals. It was then that I realized that both stands were shaking and I have to admit my adrenaline was definitely flowing just maybe not as much as Matt’s. We waited for what seemed like an eternity but only 20 minutes had past. We then snuck our way back to the truck to meet up with my cousin Howie and get his assistance in retrieving the deer.

It’s been 45 minutes since the shot and it is now dark so we put on our headlamps and went to look for the blood trail and Matt’s first deer. After finding the blood trail and loosing the blood trail and finding it again we found the broad head end of the arrow on the ground with two-thirds of the shaft, the arrow had broken off inside the deer. The other third of the arrow with the fletching must still be in the deer’s side. Howie instructed Matt to smell the arrow where it had broken off and near the broad head end and to examine the blood on the arrow as well. Howie tells Matt that a lot of information can be obtained by observing the arrow and the smell of the blood on the arrow. This arrow told us the broad head end had a clean blood smell with some small bubbles on the shaft indicating the arrow probably went the through the lung. The opposite end smelled like guts, which makes sense as we could see where the arrow entered the animal a little behind the rib cage. After an hour of searching we realized that no one had a compass and although this is our property and the neighbors (who gave us permission to hunt during the bow season) we were a little turned around. After listening for the traffic on the nearest highway and seeing car headlights on the adjacent dirt road we new which direction to go to get back to the trucks. It never fails to amaze me how easy it is to get turned around, even in your own woods, especially when you are tracking a wounded deer and constantly looking at the ground. I reminded Matt that none of us should have gone into the woods without a compass. After getting to the trucks we decided that it would be best to not push the deer and come back in the morning to pick up where we left off. Now in hind site we should have gone back to camp, ate dinner, and then after a couple of hours started the search.

Sunday morning could not have come any sooner for any of us, but especially Matt. Matt later admitted that he didn’t sleep very well and was up at 2am to check his watch and see if it was time to go retrieve his first deer. The search party consisted of Matt, cousins Howie and Dave, and myself. It was almost surreal walking through the woods in the daylight, examining the stand from a distance and then walking down a trail to get to the point where we had left off the night before. As we walked I wondered if we would find his deer or just a blood trail that vanished, but luck was on our side and as Howie and Dave led the way Dave could see the deer ahead of us and immediately told Matt to take the lead and look ahead on the trail. Matt literally flew to the downed deer, his first a whitetail buck. The deer appeared to have died peacefully as his rear legs were tucked under his body and his front legs stretched out in front of him as though he had just lay down to take a nap. I don’t think that anyone there was less excited than Matt, but I’ll let the few pictures tell that story. Without a doubt this was the most gratifying deer hunt that I have ever been involved with and a memory that will last both my lifetime and Matt’s. The only regret that I have is putting the video camera away moments before the buck appeared and the fatal shot left Matt’ bow string.

The MN gun opener didn’t start out that great for me. I hit a doe on the highway heading to the farm at 4:45 sat morning. Busted up the front of my car pretty good but it was still driveable and the lights worked so I continued on to get to my stand on time. The only reason I was driving separate from my buddy with the truck is because my wife is about 2 weeks from being due so I’m on high alert. I saw a couple decent bucks sat morning but couldn’t get a shot at either of them. My buddy shot and thought he missed but wanted me to come over and help make sure. About 11:30 I went to help him look for any sign of a hit. No luck. I decided to go to the truck for a quick lunch and head back to the stand. Well, I got comfortable in the truck and Bucky was in a close game so I relaxed and napped as much as I could while fighting off the asian beetles in the abnormal Nov heat. The badgers sealed the deal on a close one and it was a little after 2 so I headed to the stand. I got set up about 2:30. I called the wife quick to see how she was doing and as soon as I got off the phone I heard something coming off the hill – I knew it wasn’t a squirrel. It’s nice to see a deer and never have this thought cross your mind – “Is he big enough”. He trotted toward me to about 50 yards and turned broadside. I put the 12 gauge on his shoulder and let him have it. He buckled and snow plowed down the hill a short ways. My best buck ever. Not sure of the score yet. Thinking 150s?? His right G4 and the tip of his right main beam have a little busted off – not that I care! He’s got a pt coming off his rt base that is about an inch but I’ll call him a 10 pt. We weighed him last night and he was 205 lbs.

Dave

Sunday morning started very slow. Not seeing my first deer til 9am, then I seen a nice buck chasing a doe past me about 80 yards another hour goes by with no other deer seen and my phone was blowing up all morning from guy’s shooting bucks left and right. I decided to get out of my ground blind and head for the top of the hill to see if I could see if that buck chasing the doe bedded in the crp grass. Sure enough there he was tending the doe at 200 yards!! The wind was right and it didn’t take me long to find myself closing the distance on this deer. I took off my pack and boots and slid into the standing corn leading to the last place I saw him. I stood at the spot looking into the grass trying to see where he had gone when I heard a grunt very,very close!! And in the cornfield with me now! I stood motionless until I seen a glimpse of him running and knocking down corn like a dump truck running back and forth and letting out the deepest grunts and growls I ever heard and then he turned and found himself at only 6 feet!Yes 6 feet!!! from the end of my Mathews, With the touch of my release the arrow went through the bucks heart and the beautiful mule kick was the last thing I seen

I had 13 days off for the rut this year starting on the 31st of October. I hunted from sun up to sun down through November 5th and seen a good share of bucks every day without any mature bucks coming into range.

On the 6th the weatherman was calling for strong winds from the SE. Without having any good morning stands for that wind I felt like the 6th would be a good day to sleep in ….well long story short the weatherman was wrong and I woke to light winds and a beautiful morning

So I’m eating breakfast thinking about what I should do and I see a 140 class buck cross my field with his nose to the ground. Now I’m antsy and grab my bow and head to the woods. No luck with my late start, but I figured that the evening may be a great time to hunt my 20 acres as I’d been seeing a good share of does on my field every night after dark.

With three hours of light left I grabbed the deke and scooted across the alfalfa field to a stand that I have in a white pine about 100 yards from my front deck. It’s kind of an unlikely spot being close to a fair amount of human activity, but it also has alot going for it. It is situated 30 yards from an open gate that the resident does funnel through regularly. There is also a small saddle in the thick cover directly behind and to the right of the stand, and just through observation I’ve noticed that the bucks tend to slide through that saddle during the rut in their daily search of does. I set my deke so any buck that runs that saddle would see the plastic intruder and with a little luck step into shooting distance for me.

I hadn’t sat long when a button buck come into the field and he milled around the decoy for nearly 45 minutes giving me some good entertainment. Then I had a vehicle slam on it’s brakes on the county road, they threw it in reverse and checked out my decoy through their binocs. That gave me a good laugh, but I was thinking that my decoy may only attract passerby’s in vehicles . With about an hour of light left I heard a grunt behind me and within minutes I seen a mature doe sliding into the field through the open gate. It was easy to see that she was on edge and I figured there was a buck nearby that she had given the slip to. A stick cracking behind me brought me to attention and I stood while grabbing my bow. A young six point popped out about 5 yards from my stand and immediately dogged the doe out of the field. As soon as they cleared the field I heard another deer coming to the field from behind me. He paused before entering the field which gave me a chance to turn around and ready myself for a shot. He stepped out to the decoy with ears pinned and hair bristled. I seen tall tines and could tell that he was at least 3 1/2 years old and that was all I needed to see. At thirty yards he gave me a quartering away shot and I put my arrow into the pumpstation. He wheeled and headed out of the field and I heard him crash a short ways up the ridgeline.

He’s my best buck to date at a 137 inches and to take him from my 20 acre slice of heaven makes more of a trophy to me than the inches of bone on his head ever could.

Turkey guy gets his buck on turkey day!

My Thanksgiving Day Buck!The author of this report is Pat Howard (gutone4me).

Ever since my early days on iDohunting I’ve been dubbed a turkey guy but to be honest I love deer hunting just as much. With my 09 archery season being a success early, I’ve been waiting patiently for gun season to get here to “horn” hunt again. Well as usual, opening weekend didn’t live up to the hype with only 1 doe seen. Monday was a wash but I did end up with many walleyes and saugers coming to the boat on pool 4. Tuesday morning I only saw a doe fawn so I decided to head north to hunt with fellow IDO Brad Juaire. We saw a few deer Tuesday afternoon but not shooters. Wednesday was a very long and wet day with only a doe and a small buck spotted.

Which brings us to Thanksgiving – the crew was to meet at the farm about 6:15am but I was all alone (just the way I like it). When I got to my stand, I was greeted with a rather stout northwest wind. It seemed to take forever for daylight to come but eventually it did.

About 45 minutes into my sit I was interrupted from my Texas hold em’ game by a set of antlers on the far end of the set aside field. Knowing if I can see antlers with the naked eye at almost 200 yards, he’s probably big enough to shoot. I stood up and turned around bracing myself against the tree for the shot . As quickly as I could, I settled the cross hairs on his front shoulders and squeezed the trigger. He folded like a napkin. To be honest I was a little surprised as I am what a few of you call a “pie plater” with my rifle meaning if I can hit a pie plate at 100 yards I’m good to go. Well after a self high 5 and a few text messages (it was more like 25), I was on my way over to get a look at him and I was not disappointed. He is a beautiful symmetrical 8-point with a 17 inch inside spread.

One thing I did notice right before I shot was he was limping badly, after some inspection this guy had a tough week. He had been clipped in the leg and also shot next to the spine with a entry and exit hole parallel to his spine. I like to think I did him a favor because it was doubtful he would have made it through the winter. After a quick call to LadyLuck (my wife) she was more than happy to drive down to the property to take some pictures. In the middle of the photo session I could see her frown growing then the truth came out – this was the same buck she had missed late October with her bow . Trying to ease the pain I said don’t worry honey it is still going on the wall at our house. I don’t think that helped. Big thanks to those who answered my texts and shared in the celebration – it felt like you guys were there with me and after all that’s what makes this site so great.

This year’s firearm deer season will be a tough one to beat for our crew. We’re a small camp – just three buddies who have been spending time on the water and in the woods together since grade school. We hunt public land exclusively in the big woods of northern Minnesota.

We each entered this season with some meat already in the freezer – myself and one of the guys (Chris) had each taken a doe earlier in the archery season, I had also taken a bear, and the other guy (Justin) returned from Idaho in September with a significant portion of elk meat. We rolled out of the fart-sacks on opening morning with intent of shooting either a braggin’ size buck or nothing at all.

Who knew that we would be tagged out three days later…My wide 8 pointer was the first to fall (I’m the guy in the middle) – he came through a funnel about 8:30AM on Sunday morning. Not just any funnel – this was the stand location of my late Uncle Art. Art Senior. He started hunting this spot in the late 1940’s. After decades of shooting deer from this spot, his son, Art Junior, inherited the location. Junior was subsequently replaced by Art III. Art III and a few others after him eventually decided it was just too darn far to walk in (and drag a deer out) of this location. 3 miles is a long way, I’ll grant you that. But on Sunday morning, as I sat on my folding stool – nestled against an enormous Norway Pine – I grew nostalgic thinking about my late Uncle Art. He hunted here. He leaned against this tree. My late grandfather (whom I never met as he passed away before I was born) would have came through here and had coffee with him, leaning his trusty 35 Remington against one of these mighty pines. This is a reverent place. A holy place. The boys may have been looking down upon me that morning. I dunno. In any event – at 8:30, I hear the rustling of leaves…and the crack of a stick…A wide 8 pointer came through and offered me a chip shot.

The following morning, Chris came in with me and we sat on the funnel for the first hour or so of daylight. He then helped me drag my buck out to the nearest trail (I’d hung it high to avoid any problems with wolves. For those of you who have ever undertaking the task of hanging a decent-sized deer alone – you can appreciate the sense of accomplishment that comes with finally getting that critter high enough off the ground.) Once Chris and I got it to the trail and loaded onto the deer cart, he returned to the funnel while I proceeded to push, pull and drag my deer back to the truck. An hour after Chris returned to the spot, a heavy 10 pointer strolled through. He shot it as it stood just a couple of yards from where my buck fell.

Meanwhile, Justin was slinging lead out of his 300 Win. Mag at a magnificant and wide 10 pointer. (He’s the guy on the left.) It was skirting around the edge of a beaver swamp when it finally stopped and offered a standing shot (a mere 260 yards away). I’ll spare him the embarassment of sharing with you how he first missed a much closer shot on the buck as doing so would be in poor form. In any event, he hit the buck a bit high and he had a pretty long and drawn out blood trail – resulting in him jumping the buck and finally getting a kill shot.

It will be a season that each of us will remember for the rest of our lives. And then there will be next year…When I’ll be shoulder to shoulder with my 10 year-old son with our backs against that Norway Pine. He’ll have grandpa’s 35 Remington resting on his knees. And maybe, just maybe – we’ll hear that rustle of leaves, and the crack of a stick…

Don’t forget to keep submitting those Harvest Stories and pics! Enter as many hunts as you like! There are a ton of great prizes that will be given away. Anyone that enters has a chance to be drawn. Long story or short story, it don’t matter just post yours today along with a picture to be entered and a chance to WIN some great prizes!

My first round in Iowa ended with the score being: deer 1 and myself coming home with a big fat zero. I did see some deer, but never did see a big buck on his feet which is very odd for the land I was hunting. With tons of corn still out in the field, I knew it was not going to be a easy year for me in Iowa. So my plan was to head home and hunt the MN gun season then head back to Iowa for a 7 day hunt with high hopes that the corn would be out and the rut would be on. As the MN gun season was coming to an end I was getting the same reports from two of my buds that live in Iowa and the word was SLOW and no corn was coming out.

It was very hard to keep the chin up after the worst MN gun season I had seen and to get a report like that from the Iowa boys. But with 7 days and a picture of a monster Iowa buck stuck in my head I was off and running.

November 16th I was on stand all day and seen about 15 deer, most of them being small bucks and does with fawns (even some nub bucks with). Very odd seeing nubbins with does this time of year. With that said the next 3 days I had the same results – does and a small bucks. Everything was great about this spot but the big boys just didn’t show up. Check out the view. Geese landing on the pond every morning, turkeys flying down strutting like crazy and little guys like this greeting me every day.
After the night sit, I stopped and talked with my good bud and farmer of the land that I was hunting to see what he was seeing and asked if he would show me how to run his combine so I could get some of his corn out for him. After a good laugh about me being a farmer, :rotlmao: he stated that he would be taking out the back field tomorrow. This really got me pumped up because I do have a stand in that area. Big thick bedding area that was full of deer sign. Yes – full of deer sign but I had only seen one doe from this stand and the trail cameras didn’t show any deer movement until well after dark and ALL heading to the corn that was 100 yards from my stand.

I decided not to sit in this spot the next morning because the farmer would be picking it and I really didn’t want to hear and see the combine for hours on end that morning, so I picked another spot and did end up seeing a 130 inch class buck that was going from corn field to corn field. So around noon I got down and headed back to the farm with high hopes that he kicked a pot full of deer out of the corn! I was very happy to hear that he had seen around 50 deer run out of the corn and into the woods. By morning he would have all the corn out so I decided I had better jump in that stand right away in the morning.
Got up at my normal time with only a 15 minute drive to my spot and when I went out to start my truck, I found out I could only see 10 yards with the heavy fog! I ran in, got all my stuff and took off in a hurry. The15 min drive turned into a 40 min drive and I was late getting on stand. However, with the fog it didn’t really matter because I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me walking in. I settled in my stand and slowly waited for the fog to lift. Well as 7 a.m. came, I could still only see around 15 yards and nothing was moving yet. As we all know things can change quickly and happen FAST. I could hear a deer coming but I could not see it with the thick fog. At 7:10, a doe ran by me with a small buck on her tail. I thought WOW – this could this be the morning it happens (my last morning sit of the hunt).
Bang – 10 minutes later, here comes a bigger buck on the same trail. Unreal, I have only been in my stand for around 45 minutes. The fog is so thick I lose sight of him and I rely on my hearing. I try hard but I still can’t see him. Then I hear a grunt, so I grab my bow and my grunt call. I then give him a soft grunt and I could tell he was coming fast and straight from at the back of my stand. I quickly got turned around and within seconds he was on top of me! I had no time to count points but I could tell he was a tall shooter in my book especially for the last sit in Iowa! As he came by me, I pulled back my bow and let him walk into my shooting lane. I then let the Rage 2 blade rip! As he ran off, I could see I had drilled him as the blood was just pumping out of him. He only went about 40 yards and was down on the Iowa ground. I didn’t see him go down but could hear him fall and the leaves moving around then nothing. I really wanted to get down and find him but knew I had to wait an hour or so. With a doe tag in my pocket I had no problem waiting. At 9:30 I finally got down. I went to the spot and found blood, my arrow and a wide blood trail that left my buck on empty !!! At the end of the trail I found this great Iowa buck!!!

No matter what, never give up you just don’t know when it’s going to all fall in your lap!!!

Well October 14th finally came, truck packed and 3 hunters ready to hit the road for our 11 hour drive to Buffalo Wyoming.

Once we got to Buffalo we knew we had our hands full with a foot of wet snow on the ground, not much time on our hands to get a camp set up and go look for some animals before dark. But it all came together and we found a nice spot and found time to hit one of our best spots.

We all decided that we are going with plan A and that was one of our walk-in ONLY spots. We all love this spot because it really hold the goats and we don’t see many hunters because no one really wants to walk in and hunt them. So with this said we only had to walk in about 2 1/2 miles the first night, find a nice high point so we could just see down into the low land and see the ponds. With good binoculars in hand we could see about 100 or so goats down in the low lands, 20 of them being bucks but only 2 bucks that we would call good shooters.

I’m thinking we kind of looked like 3 kids at a candy store as we walked back to the truck talking about all the goats, hunting these goats in the snow and watching the sun go down as we walked out, what a great first day in Wyoming.
It was time for some food and then plan was to hit the pillow early so we could be on that high point early morning watching these same Antelope again. Woke up in the morning and it was about 31 degrees out, WOW now that is cold goat hunting if you ask me. We headed down to our spot, drove in and no other trucks to be seen. GAME ON MEN, we got it all to ourselves today. With our happy game faces on we hike them 2 1/2 miles that morning like nothing. Get to our high point and as the sun comes up we got goat all over the place and yes we do see one of the big boys down on the lower half of this BLM land. This BLM land is at the base of the Big Horn mountains so we are not in just flat land areas and this makes it a blast for spot and stalk on these animals. We are about 3 more miles from these goats and need to set up a game plan and get after them. At this point we have about 100 or so Antelope on the lower right corner and about 10 on the lower left corner by the big pond. So we split up with me taking the lower left and the other two taking the lower right. Our game plan is to walk down these deep ditches very slow, like I said these goats are at least 3 miles from us and we will not see them for at least the first 2 miles of this stalk. So you need to walk slow, take your time and glass often (they move around a lot). For one you don’t want to jump mule deer or other goats and send them running all over and scare your goats off.
After a good hour, I popped up about a mile from the goats and see the other guys are about ready to pop up and see if the goats have moved on them or not. Well, I told myself I needed to get up to this fence and just sit and wait till I find these goats I was watching from up high. When I got there, I found them about 300 yards off walking right at me but the buck was not the big one. By this time I could see the other 2 guys moving low and fast behind a good size hill about a minute later BANG a shot fired off and 3 more shots followed. No matter what, you need to hold tight after someone shoots these goats will make big circles or push other goats around.
After about 20 minutes of seeing goats way off in the distance, I wanted to get about 50 yards further so I could see the next gully. As I moved up closer, I had 2 doe’s walk out of the gully at about 200 yards in my direction. I got my shooting sticks up and ready with my gun sitting at my side. I caught some movement off to my right, crap it’s a big buck running down into the gully. He must see these doe’s in front of me. So I get everything ready when he suddenly pops out at about 250 yards. He just slowly walked in looking at the doe’s. I was wishing in my head, come on keep coming, keep coming. Luckily, he did just that by walking another 50 yards and stopping at some sagebrush to rub is horns on. He gave me a real good look. I knew he was real tall, had big cutters and great hooks on him, so I better take him. He picked his head up and walked about 2 steps towards the does and I put him in my scope and pulled the trigger. BANG, a 200 yard shot and I had dropped a BIG Wyoming Antelope buck on opening day! Man I was pumped up. I walked out to see him and I was wishing I had someone to give a high-five or something to, but instead I got on my phone to some great buds back home and told them I had a big speed goat down on the Wyoming ground !

We could have shot 5 doe’s and 2 bucks per guy this year but we decided 8 was a good number for all 3 of us so we ended the trip with 3 bucks and 5 doe. Great time and can’t wait for next year!

The outfitter that we used on a Spring Bear Hunt, this past June, was emailing us pictures of Bears he had, for the last month. Our tags were still valid and he wanted us to come back up. Fresh off 10 days in Montana Elk Hunting…. the scheming began After securing the time off at work and from the wife, we headed up on our 17 hour drive after work last wednesday night. We arrived at the Wolverine Lodge, near Lynn Lake MB, at 2:00 PM the following afternoon. We were tired, but the outfitter told us to grab our rifles to make sure they were still sighted in, and then him and our Guide Craig, would run us to our stands. After an 11 mile ride by a 16′ Aluminum boat, in 3 foot chop , by 3:00 PM, I was in a ladder stand, sitting over a bait, about 30 yards off the water, that was hit sometime during the day, as it was “freshened” that morning at 9:00 AM. The first pic is my view from the stand of the bait and the second is through the woods to the lake. I did not see any Bears this night. When we got back to the lodge, we had a late supper with a few and I don’t think my head hit the pillow and I was The following morning, friday by now, we headed back to the stands. Good news, mine was hit AGAIN I sat from 6:30AM until the guide picked me up at 11:00AM. I should mention, in the spring (June) the sun is up around 3:00AM and sets about 11:00 PM. This time of year, it comes up about 7:00AM and sets about 7:30PM. Your daylight window is much shorter in the fall. Anyways, I seen no Bear again… We headed back to the Lodge for a little dinner and a quick nap. At 2:30, we got the wake-up call to head down the lake again… the ride would take about 35 minutes, depending on the chop. This ride was much better than the day before as the wind had died down quite a bit. I was back in my stand by 3:30PM… it wasn’t hit between 11:00 and 3:30 My guide Craig said, your gonna shoot your Bear tonight…. I asked him why he says that…. he said, this bait typically gets hit every 8 hours on average… it’s due. I settled in and watched the squirrels and the Canada Jays, come and carry off bait… at break neck speed. Around 5:30… I noticed the squirrel quit coming…. and the Jays would always land in the tree, before going down to the bait ??? I figured something was different….. I started glassing around me, as well as I could and to the southwest, up the hill, I seen a Black Blob, coming down the hill slowly. I picked up my rifle and guesstimated, where the Bear would make its entrance…. I was pretty close He came down about 20 yards behind my bait, in the clearing. I had a perfect lane for a 50 yard shot… a chipshot for the 30-06 I waited as I figured he would come to the bait… the wind was good, out of the West, blowing it out over the lake. He milled around in the clearing, behind my bait, where I didn’t have a shot, because of the trees and brush. Then the bear started walking towards the way he came from.. it was then I decided, when he hit the shooting lane, I would take him. He walked broadside into the clearing and I squeezed off…. right behind the shoulder, center of the body. The bear bolted, straight up the hill and made a hard left. He disappeared in about 5 seconds I immediately got down from my stand and hung the pail in the tree on shore…. this is the signal for the Guide, that a bear was shot. Before I had the pail in the tree, I could hear the hum of the Mercury, coming to my site When Craig got there, I was back in my stand. He asked me what happened. I took him to where I shot the bear and immediately, he found the spray of blood He said, Looks like a good hit He then started looking for more blood…. we didn’t find any I said “what the ???” and he said, sometimes a bear will not externally bleed at all or very little. I told him the last spot I seen the bear and we went over there….. He found (don’t ask me how) one tiny spot of blood on a piece of wood. He then turned to go up the hill…. we looked for maybe 15 minutes, just moving slowly and stooping down to see the ground around us. We spread out a little….let me stress the word little, I didn’t let him out of my sight He called me over to another spot of blood that he found (don’t ask me how again) & asked what time it was…it was 20 minutes to 7:00. He said, lets look for another 5 minutes, if we don’t find anything, I have marked the blood spots and we will come back in the morning… I was at an all time low at this point…. I thought I put a good shot on this bear We no sooner came up with that plan when Craig said…”THERE HE IS AND HES STILL ALIVE !!!” the bear was laying less than 20 yards from us, over in the area where I was looking… He told me to put another one in him, but not in the head. I picked out a spot and squeezed the trigger….. at that moment is when mayhem took place…. the bear got up and began charging right for me… Craig yells..”PUT ANOTHER ONE IN HIM !!!” Don’t ask me how, but somehow my bolt flew open, closed.. I aimed and shot The bear landed 10 feet from my feet Soon there was 20 yards between us again About 10 seconds later.. we heard the moan…. he was done. I can’t even describe the adrenaline that was going through me We high fived about 10 times…. Craig said, I sure am glad you know how to shoot that thing…. After a few minutes to calm down, we decided to go get the cradle from the boat to carry the bear down to the lake. It was at that time, I realized, my bear had gotten a little ground shrinkage… I figured it for around 400 lbs on the hoof Craig said it was around 200-250…. I said “I thought I shot a bigger bear” and he said, don’t be talking about how small it is , until were done carrying it to the boat We had to carry it about 120 yards, through a nice tightly packed pine forest Suddenly, my bear grew again We finally got him in the boat and then it was We headed in and made it back just before dark. The bear ended up going 220 lbs & was a boar. Right now I am wrestling with how I want to preserve the memories… a full body mount(the guide and outfitter said it has one of the nicest coats they have seen on a bear) or a rug or a head mount. I am leaning towards a head and shoulder mount as my trophy room is getting a little cramped (good problem by the way) The last picture is myself with my Guide Craig and my Bear. My partner did not have the kind of luck I did, as he didn’t see any bears. His baits would get hit, but we suspect, they were night owls…. I will say, the 17 hour ride home last night, was alot better, than the ride was when your going home empty I drove the whole way… so when I got home again, it was the same thing… I don’t know the next opportunity I will have to have a year like this again… a nice 9pt Montana Whitetail one week and a nice Manitoba Bear 2 weeks later 2009 is shaping up to be pretty good for me Who knows what will happen next Good luck to everyone in their pursuits this season

I’m not even sure how to start this off as it has been a tough and enduring season for me to say the least.

It all began at the end of summer when archery season was drawing near and a few good bucks showed up on my cams on a mineral site. I had high hopes of shooting a quality buck off of a newly planted foodplot near one of my stands. Season started with a bang with lots of deer and plenty young bucks around on both of my properties. Little did I know it would take until mid Oct to see a decent buck. Big bucks in my areas are few and far between and lots of pressure to boot but I knew there were a couple around but always during nightime hours. Prior to gun season I had an encounter with a 10pt at 25 yrds and even drew on him but let him walk as he just wasn’t what I hoped for and didn’t want to start gun season off without a buck tag.
That brings me to gun season on my third property. Our family is fortunate enough to have friends in NW MN who are big farmers and between what they own and rent equals 1200 acres and they give my brother, father and I a whole farm to ourselves which historically always has some good bucks. After 22 deer and 6 bucks passed I headed back home to my ground where my I was sure I could get it done with shotgun. I couldn’t get it done and was in dissbelief this was the same property I had been bow hunting on. Only 3 younger buck sightings for a 7 day morning/evening hunt and some all day sits. I took a day off from hunting after gun season and jumped back in with bow in hand the following day. After all the men in orange left the neighboring properties things started to pick up again. Plenty of deer still around and finally saw a shooter on Thanksgiving evening.

That brings me to ML season and again my hopes where high but only for awhile after news of a neighbor taking a quality 8pt sometime recent was leaked. On the first Tue of ML season I had an encounter w/ a beautiful chocolate 5×6 who never came closer than 120-130yrds and failed to follow his does a mere 30ft from my stand. As the days wore on the cold set in and it was taking it’s toll on me but the deer movement was one for the books. Lots of does, fawns and an occasional young buck. On the last Sat on ML season I decided to head deeper into the tammarac and sit on my one and only permanent stand. I literally crawled up the tree, hung my pack up and the deer world went crazy. Exactly 20 deer moving in the swamp from all directions kept me entertained until dark. On Sun morning I crept in before daylight and again it started before I could see well enough. There had been a small 8pt I witnessed earlier in the week chasing does with a fairly good limp who showed up and I was going to do my good deed for the year use my tag on him. Before I could get a positive confirmation on him he was off again chasing this morning and I couldn’t get a clean shot. In all I saw 15 deer that morning. It was a no-brainer where my last ML sit for the evening would be. This time it was different, an hour into my hunt and not as much as a twig snap. From my stand I could see 3 people in orange across the crp in the neighbors property and then a bang. My heart sank as it always does hearing that noise, “Was that one I was after?” A short time from then I heard a grunt to my right, I slowly turned my head only to see a furry faced fawn about 65yrds down my shooting lane looking my direction. Hmmm…. “I know that wasn’t was you.” A minute or 2 later I notice movement to my right so I threw up my binocs to look at it’s head, “Nope, just another swamp donkey” but in tow was a bigger deer so again the binocs. I saw one great tine and grabbed for my gun. The doe crossed my shooting lane and as soon as he hit it I let out a “mmmbbbaaaaahhhh.” There he was, 78 days in the stand through the rain, hot muggy, freezing cold, snot producing, ups and downs, bang my head against the wall, all for this moment buck. I took a good aim and squeezed the trigger. The smoke seemed to linger forever as I watched him tear off head down blazing a trail through whatever was in the way. After waiting 5 min I climbed down, reloaded and went to try to find where he was standing. I was having a heck of a time due to all the tracks in the snow but figured the blood would be evident. I found a bit bit of hair amongst the weeds and brush. Huh? no blood? just then I noticed 3 tiny specs. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, or not seeing. 3 little specs of blood at point of impact. Then I started to fall apart, “Was it a bad shot, graze????” It all went through my head. I blew my chance and wounded a great deer was all I could think. I tried to find where he jumped to but all the tracks and weeds made it tough but I was able to follow him for about 30 feet which is about 2 leaps for a deer. Looking up ahead I saw a little better sign but not the kind you would expect for a shot through the boiler room. I marked my spot and quietly left the area.

I made a call as I always do to Gobbler to tell him the news and invite him to help but he had to work. I made my second call to my father who 27yrs ago took me on my first deer hunt on this very family friends property. Well I gave the deer 3 hours and we headed in not knowing what to expect. Needless to say after we got on the trail it was looking much better and I was sure it was a good hit. This deer went a mere 50yrds from point of impact and was dead I’m sure within 2 minutes. My dad grabbed him first and picked up the head, I about fell over because I was sure he was a shooter but not as impressive as he really was. He started counting 1,2,3,4 and so on up to 11. Turns out he is a mainframe 10pt with a sticker on one of his brows. His G-4s and brows are weak but makes up for it with beam length, G-3’s and good mass and an inside spread of 17.5″s.

I had never seen this deer before nor have pics of him from my cams but I’ll never forget my 09 season as long as I live.

I have lived and breathed deer hunting since the opening day of archery season and have gone in the woods with bow, rifle, shotgun, back to bow, and then to muzzleloader and came to the realization that it was just not meant to be for me this year as it has been for awhile and had just become OK with that. Just then I was blessed with an awesome buck and couldn’t be happier.

78 days in a tree, hundreds of scent-free showers, packing and repacking my backpack for the hunt, washing clothes, hanging clothes, passing 100’s of deer and all that goes with trying to beat the odds and I have to say it was all worth it. If you ask my gf, she’ll say different but now I’m going to give her all the TLC for putting up with my quest the the “ONE” Thanks for letting me share my story and best of luck to all who are still on their quest. Trust me, just when you are about to throw in the towel, think back to all the experiences and sights you have witnessed in the stand what could happen on your next outting and it will keep you going! Also a big thank-you to Gobbler who is always willing to come and freeze his fingers off taking pics as it seems my bucks always come during the coldest weather and to the landowner, I wouldn’t be who I am today without deer hunting in my life and I could never repay her in a million years.

Don’t forget to keep submitting those Harvest Stories and pics! Enter as many hunts as you like! There are a ton of great prizes that will be given away. Anyone that enters has a chance to be drawn. Long story or short story, it don’t matter just post yours today along with a picture to be entered and a chance to WIN some great prizes!

Ever since the end of the 2008 season, I had been second guessing myself for passing on deer that would have easily been my biggest deer but was looking for something that didn’t leave me wondering about a shoot/no shoot decision.

As we began setting trail cam pics in 2009, we immediately began to see some nice deer. I truly believed that at least one of the two big 8’s I had passed on in 2008 had made it through the year.

My stands from 08 were still in the same trees. I was not able to get down to the land to move them and help clear trails on Labor Day weekend as my family and I took a trip. I was able to get down there in mid October. I have two stands on this land that are both what we call “over the edge” as we hunt the backside of the steep MI river bluffs in WI’s Buffalo County. From our parking spot at the top of the hill we have @ 100 yards of forest before “the edge”. I do not attempt to get to either stand in the dark, it is far too treacherous. I am also the only person in our group who will hunt on the hillsides. All others hunt the top or bottoms.

I took the stand I simply refer to as stand 1 down and repositioned it in another tree close by with a better view and also with the help of a pulley system I found at Gander, was able to get it much higher up in the tree. I shoot lefty so I made sure the majority of the likely deer paths were accessible to a left handed shooter. I found stand 2 and mounted a camera arm to the tree so I could film from this stand. It was at this stand I saw the bigger of the two 8’s in 08.

Now the wait was on, gun week finally came and I was ready to go. Thursday night, an open seat was posted for P4 so I got in some eye fishing on my way down to Cochrane. Got down to the cabin @3:30, made sure the gun was still sighted in, entered the big buck contest at the Waumandee House, had a great meal with good friends, and the 2009 season was a short nights sleep away.

I remember driving down to Cochrane after fishing and thinking, no two seasons are the same, the chances of you seeing those two big bucks again are slim, this season will bring a new surprise, a new story. I enjoy that drive from Hudson to Cochrane every year. I love the drive along the MI river bluffs and my tradition is to listen to Kenny Chesney’s “When the Sun goes down” CD. Back to the real story.

Fog is forecasted for the opening morning. With our cabin being at the bottom of the hill, it was very foggy at the cabin. My hope was that up higher it would be less. Initially this was the case but by 7:45, the fog moved up the hill and I was completely socked in. I stayed in this stand until 9:30, 2 hours longer than I wanted to. I wanted to be in stand one, 1/2 hour after sunrise. I saw the hunters from the neighboring property return to their truck right by mine so I returned to the truck and have a chat. Nothing moving by them either, too foggy, when will this fog move out. I had heard by 11:00. In talking, I found out that last year they had bagged a big 8 pointer. Very symmetrical was how they described it. Based on where their stands were and likely routes, I felt heavy hearted that they had bagged the bigger of the two I had passed on. Oh well, there’s two big ones I’m after this year, both 10’s, one that was very symmetrical and the other I called twister as his right front antler twisted down and toward the middle of his rack.

I took a nap in the truck for 30 minutes and headed for stand 1 about 10:15. I had not been to this stand since October, so I had some tinkering to do. Got the padded seat put on, the arm rests, tied up a rope to get my gun up and down, etc. About 15-20 minutes worth of tinkering. The fog was lifting.

I got up in my stand, strapped in, binocs on their rung, pulled up my gun, snapped in the clip, chambered a shell and I was finally hunting again. 10:40 am or so. Now that the fog was lifting, it was turning into a beautiful day. Squirrels started playing near my stand, which is both good and bad.

About 20 minutes later, I heard a sound behind my stand, expecting another squirrel I turned, I’m sure about this time I looked like the fisherman in Caddyshack as Rodney Dangerfield’s boat was barreling down on him eyes bulging out of his head. Thankfully I didn’t do anything rash. All I could see were antler’s, great big antler’s reaching for the sky!!! In all my time hunting, fishing, this was THE most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen in nature.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last long, he had me as well in my turn. He quickly jumped off and I began to think about cracking off a quick shot. He was behind me but to my right, if on the other side, shooting lefty would not have been possible. He looked back to check me out, then he jumped a downed tree in his path, keeping me in sight all the time, coming slighly down hill but angling away from me. He did not run. I noticed his hair was ruffed up on the side facing me.

He stopped again and it was now or never. He was within 20 yards of the property line, boom! I knew I hit him, the shot was only 30-40 yards. He ran straight downhill, never crossing the line, very fast, and tumbled after 40 yards, came to rest next to a tree, within my plain view and less than 40 yards from the stand. I started breathing again but it was in short, I’m almost out of breath, my heart is going to come out of my chest breaths!

When I regained composure, I first called in the shot to the others in the woods who assumed it was me. I could barely form sentences. I started texting, my wife, a few friends from Hudson who were in the big buck contest with me, Suzuki – who had sent me a text on Friday while we were preparing for the hunt.

As I got down out of the stand, I grabbed the video camera I had planned to use in stand 2, video’d the route the deer took, and video’d my approach to the deer and several first looks at the biggest buck of my life.

We got the 4-wheeler amazingly close and up the hill toward this deer and I was able to drive him out of the woods.

After getting that deer out of the woods so everyone else could continue to hunt, I got him over to a corner of the farm and started to field dress him. As I was clearing out the chest cavity, I saw something sticking through his ribcage, it was a broadhead!

I had read earlier in the week to be careful when field dressing a deer in case you ran into a broken off broadhead, what are the chances. So I knew now why his hair was ruffed on the one side. The rage 3 was sticking through the rib cage @ 1″ into the vitals, but no further. It had about 2 inches of arrow attached to it.

I grabbed a pliers off the 4-wheeler and pulled the broadhead through. More on this later.

I got him into Waumandee to get registered and weighed at the Waumandee House for the contest. Just shy of 160 lbs. field dressed. They took my picture and off I went. I was on for cooking that night since I was largely done hunting.

When the rest of the hunting crew came back in it was high fives and many pats on the back. One member of our party is local to the area and when I showed him the broadhead, he knew who likely had taken the shot. He left with the broadhead and went to find this hunter. About an hour later, we got a call in the cabin from the hunter and his group who had shot a 10 pointer on Nov. 1, and never found a trace of blood. They wanted to come and see it.

This group hunts the property immediately to our east and when they arrived he was amazed at the deer and took several pics. He was very glad it had been harvested and had not died in the woods. He had looked for a blood trail for hours and never found a single drop. He was truly bummed that he had hit such a beautiful deer and did not kill it.

We also pulled a trail cam that we had not checked since late October and found over 50 pictures of this deer and you can see now that we knew where to look, that he had been arrowed. The pictures were all from November 5th, 6th, and 7th.

This deer’s rack was measured and scored @ 145″ He had very good mass which really helped him score. I am doing a horn mount on a stand normally used for a european mount. I will include a photo album on the mount with all the trail cam pics and post harvest pics along with my spent shell casing. If I can get the broadhead back, I’d like to include it as well.

Now I can sleep easy, knowing I did not have to second guess the shot, that I was fortunate to harvest such a beautiful deer. I truly believe this was the 1st deer I passed on in 2008. It was on the same route, showed up at the same time (first light in 08, just when the fog lifted in 09).

I believe there to be some fate involved as well. I passed on this deer, it survived a winter, summer, and fall, was arrowed and survived to allow me the chance to see him again! I consider myself very fortunate for this opportunity and will have this memory for the rest of my life!

Thanks for reading and I hope the WI deer situation improves quickly, despite my recent success with this deer, it was the ONLY deer I saw in 2009!!

Here’s looking forward to 2010!!!

Eric

Only a few more days to get your Fall Harvest 2009 Photos & Stories submitted. Don’t miss out on your chance to enter and everyone that enters is thrown into the hat for some random drawn prizes.

Only a few days left!

Any story, with any harvest pic. Short, Tall, Long, it don’t matter just get entered at your chance to win some great prizes.

This past hunting season probably means as much to me as any I can recall as an adult. Back track 10 years. I move to Minneapolis from South Dakota(a hunting mecca). I basically quit hunting and fished more. Not a bad thing, but weird for someone who had a weapon in his hands Sept – Jan every year for 16 years straight. Hunting wasn’t completely voided in my life, did an elk hunt in 04, moose in 07. However, they didn’t have the affect on me that 4 days in South Dakota did, carrying my old bow around.

Fast forward, Nov 6th – 9th, 2009. On the night of the 5th, I’m headed for SD with my two oldest daughters strapped in the back seat for our 6 hour trip “home”. DVD’s and lots of snacks of course. A short while into the trip, we had to make our first potty break. Dad was thinking, we’ll never get there at this pace. We arrive at my parents at 1AM. We sneak into the house and find beds. The girls won’t go to sleep in the next room and Dad is starting to get crabby. He needs his sleep for the next 4 days of hunting. 3AM rolls around, I think the monsters are sleeping and I drift off.

Friday -7AM, I’m up getting my gear sorted. Grandma is surprised they never heard us come in. I help get the girls fed and let them acclimate to staying at Grandma’s by themselves for the next few days. I would be popping in and out, but not really be accountable. 10AM – some guys show up for a pheasant hunt. I help them do a couple drives, with one confirmed solo kill. I’m off to a good start. Cleaned up some birds and I’m headed for my cousin’s place to do an evening sit for mule deer. Unfortunately upon arrival, I learned of a new monster buck had arrived and we didn’t want to pressure him before the lucky hunter arrived the following day. No big deal, I hadn’t seen my cousins in far to long. I watched them finish their soy bean harvest and sort some cow/calf pairs. Always good to be back “home” and remember what life was like growing up. They were also kind enough to throw a mini welcome home celebration that night. Needless to say, my plans for Saturday morning were delayed.

Saturday 9AM – Up at the crack of… Well, it was worth it seeing everyone that night and enjoying many great conversations. I’m sure it was many of the same stories we had told 100’s of times over, but they never seem to get old, just better. I polish off a couple bottles of water, shake some hands and thank them for their hospitality. I’ve got a tree stand 45 miles north of there calling my name. About noon I arrive at a place I was lucky enough to hunt many times growing up. A person doesn’t realize some things when he is young and dumb. I don’t think I ever thanked Dean enough for the place to hunt. His son and I graduated together a short 19 years ago. As we stood in the driveway, Jeff pointed out my stand for the evening. It was about 500 yards to the tree belt that provided a western border to the cattle yard and house. Given the rut was happening we decided to get in the stands right away. Geared up I walked to my stand, it was warm out. I had a sweat going. Thankfully I had a nice 5-8mph wind directly in my face and about 75 head of freshly weaned calves to my back. In case you didn’t know, they miss their mommas and are very loud. Great cover for a “rookie” hunter.

As I’m getting settled into my ladder stand, I’m practicing where I can draw, feet placement, figuring out distances etc….I wasn’t in my stand for 15 minutes when I see a deer with head gear headed my way across the open pastured. I pull up my binocs, WOW. He’s a shooter for sure. I’m not sure why he was in such a hurry, but he covered that half mile of open terrain in no time. Just about 100 yards out, he puts on the breaks and sees the decoy set out in front of me at 19 yards. She was sure perty or so he thought. He slowly circled downwind of her, entering the tree belt only 14 yards from my stand. At this point, he’s broadside and my heart is about to jump out of my chest. I was really kicking myself for not buying a buck tag. After a bit he moved off to the north, headed in my buddies direction. I sat down and sent him a text about the deer. He somehow disappeared between us. No arrows fired that evening. We were both pretty shot from acting like teenagers the night before and falling a sleep wasn’t a challenge that night.

Sunday 6AM – I’m sitting in the dark in my stand after putting my decoy back together. I will be able to see Jeff in his ground blind across the open pasture where the shooter came from the day before. I’ve got deer under me right away. I can make out one really nice white rack on the black blobs as they move through. Unfortunately I’ve got 45 mins til shooting time. The blobs move off only to be followed by another set of not so dark blobs. I only need 15 more minutes. I can see a mature doe really checking over the decoy. I just need her to stick around a bit longer. No such luck. The majority of the deer head north again. Luckily, I still have one yearling doe milling around me. I decide if a shot presents itself, I’m gonna take it. I’ve got two doe tags. I’m shaking like a leaf again. Gosh, WHAT A RUSH having deer around me!! The young doe is broadside at 17 yards sniffing an old skull from years past. I draw, settle my pin behind her shoulder. Let’r buck! The arrow nearly takes her off her feet. She bolts to the south. I lose site of her about 30 yards away. I sit down, pull out my phone and can hardly type. Told Jeff we have some tracking to do, but I’d wait til 9AM before getting down. He replied back a short time after, that he also had shot a nice doe at 40 yards and he was also going to finish his sit. AWESOME. Two best buds, two deer down.

I got down at 9AM, found the blood trail and backed out knowing I wanted to share this with Jeff. I hustled back to the place and got the old farm vehicle and headed to pick him up. He had already field dressed his doe. A quick drag and we were headed back to my stand. I grabbed my bow and we went to tracking. Easy for the first 75 yards, then she started to dry up a bit. Then we found a spot where she had stood and blood out good. This deer was surely to be a few yards ahead. I kept looking ahead, Jeff circled for blood. 300 yards later and several massive blood spots, we were starting to question what was going on. This little deer couldn’t have anything left in her. She had gotten into a new tree belt that had been plowed, so tracking blood in black dirt was a challenge. We simply kept marking our last spot and slowly move ahead. At one point, she didn’t bleed for a good 20 yards and we were getting nervous. No sooner than we though we lost her, we spot a deer ahead of us. She crossed the road and in the binocs, we could easily see it’s my deer. We backed out to let her lay in the trees she entered. We went back, got the truck, then hung and skinned Jeff’s deer. A little over an hour later, our plan was for him to circle to the end of the trees and I’d still hunt my way through. About 100 yards into the hunt, I caught the deer out of the corner of my eye. She was bedded and not going anywhere. I quickly got a lane and put the second arrow in her. Finally, my first bow kill in far to long!!! I called Jeff he was there quickly to celebrate. We both agreed, no way this deer should have made it this far. My initial shot must have missed the vitals by an inch as the arrow passed through the rib and opposite shoulder.

Sunday PM – Found out this would be my last afternoon to hunt as my dad needed help at home the next morning. I decided that evening I was gonna hold out for a mature deer until the last minute. Well, as luck would have it, the mature deer never showed. However, I was lucky to be tormented by two yearlings for the better part of the afternoon. Fun to watch and believe how much I missed sitting in a tree stand with just my thoughts and mother nature. With about 10 minutes left in my hunt, I decided to take the deer. I drew back, found the 20 yard pin and settled it behind the shoulder of the broadside doe. She caught my move apparently and zoned in on me. I held for a bit longer and decided to release. The arrow was head on course, but the deer jumped the string. Unfortunately for her she guessed wrong. The arrow made fatal penetration in the juggler and she died a short 40 yards from my stand. I got darn lucky, but I’ll take it. I sent Jeff a message that I was on my way to pick him up. After a few more high fives and smiles were back at the shop. Deer hung and skinned and it was time for a cold one.

While the hunter was far from perfect on this hunt, it was the perfect hunt for me. That tiny flame that was almost extinguished was now raging again. The bond between my best friend and I grew stronger. The most important thing to me was seeing my daughters spend time on my parents farm and getting them exposed to hunting. I can’t wait for some warm weather to get out shooting my bow more. I’ve already got the 2010 SD hunt booked. Yeeehaaaa!!!

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

I had not hunted this area in 15 yrs but I knew ” others” who had taken nice deer. So here is the story so grab a glass and sit back. I climb into stand at 5:15 and am very hesitant about the hunt. 5:30 and I see a deer and only because the moon lite could I see it and start to feel more confident. 6:30 I spot a few deer on top of the hill about 200 yrds out through the woods. I sit till 6:45 and say heck I will be legal by the time they strol in so I began grunting and holly grease stripe if a shooter 6 doesnt come flying down the hill right at me. I look up the hill and see a buck tearing up a doe and decide to pass on the 6 and wait. As I waited and watched this buck have his way with the other 2 doe, I grunt in a dink 4 pointer. 7:00 Im waiting and they all come into the woods about 100 yrds out and hang out in heavy brush. 7:25 2 doe roll out of the brush and come out at 60 yrds then a dink with the big boy snorting him off as the big boy walks in, let the shaking begin thank god for shooting rails. I drop him at 60 yrds never to stand again. pic. 1 The big boy and his 280 pound assasin ( ME ). pic 2 Trail cam from neighbor east of us about 1/2 mile. pic 3 first pic I took still tweeking. pic 4 The guest of honor attending deer camp with a shed of his from 2 yrs ago ( thanks Hovey ). pic 5 The redneck tailgate photo that realy ticks GMAN off. HAHAHA bud
168 inch 214 pounds what a hunt, but as we sit in our stands and hunt this year just remember those guys fighting for our freedoms and rights across the big pond who cant be in the woods this year to enjoy taking a great buck or sleeping at home in his bed.

Had to wake the little guy up for his story….Moms not to pleased about that I asked him the questions his answers follow.

WHERE? Kansas hunting with Mark.

WHEN? Right after Christmas. Santa brought me a new DSI for the trip.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN? You (dad) called two turkeys in and I shot and you shot the other.

HOW MANY DID YOU GET ON THAT TRIP? Three, one long beard, and two Jakes.

DID YOU HAVE FUN? Yep.

The contest has officially ended and we would like to thank everyone for their wonderful stories and pictures!

Our judges (iDohunting Pro Staffers and Reporters) are in the process of going through them all and picking the finalists. Due to so many entries, it will take them little while so please be patient. We will announce the winners as soon as possible.

So who won???

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So who won???

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Oh man , if they have Pearson reading these it could be months before we find out

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So who won???

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Just for that comment – you certainly don’t have to worry anymore about winning…

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Oh man , if they have Pearson reading these it could be months before we find out

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And we have another one I don’t have to bother looking at!

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Oh man , if they have Pearson reading these it could be months before we find out

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I bet they have someone read them to Mike

Make it three who won

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Make it three who won

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I can tell you who didn’t!