RedAllison
Well-Known Member
Our gun season opened Saturday and it was actually frosty and "right". I wasn't in the stand 15 minutes when a big cull six showed up. He is the same buck that has been running lead for the upper 140class 24" 8ptr that I had been watching since bowseason. But after my son missed the big 8ptr during juvie season a few weeks ago, the big 8 has gone "solo".
Plenty of bucks were seen over the weekend and I "thinned" the herd Sunday at darkthirty by taking a 18" 2.5yr old 7ptr that pushed the scales near 200#s. LOL I must admit to "makin some racket" while taking him. The wind was out of the south and I didn't have a northern stand on my clover plot so I had to sit on the ground across another field overlooking the cloverplot. I had seen this buck earlier and knew him to be a "culler" so I settled into position shooting from a seated position. My Leica told me the buck was 360yds which I think is rather "short" for my Lazzeroni. I touched her off and the buck just stood there, actually looking in the opposite direction (I suppose he heard the noise bouncing off the hillside and treeline behind him). I laughed at myself and jacked another round into the chamber. Again I touched her off and again the buck just stood there looking in the direction opposite myself. That is one benefit of shooting long range, they aren't sure what is going on and don't just pack it up and haul at the shot unless you connect. By now everyone else on the farm was listening too my vollies and started ribbing me via our 2way radios. I was mad at myself by now, so I took a deep breath, really snugged everything up and touched off one more round.
By the time the rifle settled again on the target all I could see was a white belly laying in the clover!
It might not have been pretty but at least I connected and that's one more "gene of ill repute" that is gone from the herd. Yesterday afternoon I hunted the same general area and the first deer I saw was a VERY nice upper 130inch 8ptr that I had not seen before. He was really a nice deer and only a 3.5yr old by my best guestitmates. Despite a constant west wind at 15-20mph with gusts over 30, the deer moved pretty well from 4 til dark. I saw a few other bucks and plenty of does (we will begin dropping the hammers on them this weekend, so they will thin quickly! :twisted: )
The little bucks are really on the move and trying to chase unreceptive does while the bigger bucks aren't really showing signs yet of getting ready for the rut. Our rut typically doesn't get under fullswing until the 2nd week of Dec (our second muzzleloader season).
What is everyone else seeing out there this season?
RA
Plenty of bucks were seen over the weekend and I "thinned" the herd Sunday at darkthirty by taking a 18" 2.5yr old 7ptr that pushed the scales near 200#s. LOL I must admit to "makin some racket" while taking him. The wind was out of the south and I didn't have a northern stand on my clover plot so I had to sit on the ground across another field overlooking the cloverplot. I had seen this buck earlier and knew him to be a "culler" so I settled into position shooting from a seated position. My Leica told me the buck was 360yds which I think is rather "short" for my Lazzeroni. I touched her off and the buck just stood there, actually looking in the opposite direction (I suppose he heard the noise bouncing off the hillside and treeline behind him). I laughed at myself and jacked another round into the chamber. Again I touched her off and again the buck just stood there looking in the direction opposite myself. That is one benefit of shooting long range, they aren't sure what is going on and don't just pack it up and haul at the shot unless you connect. By now everyone else on the farm was listening too my vollies and started ribbing me via our 2way radios. I was mad at myself by now, so I took a deep breath, really snugged everything up and touched off one more round.
By the time the rifle settled again on the target all I could see was a white belly laying in the clover!
It might not have been pretty but at least I connected and that's one more "gene of ill repute" that is gone from the herd. Yesterday afternoon I hunted the same general area and the first deer I saw was a VERY nice upper 130inch 8ptr that I had not seen before. He was really a nice deer and only a 3.5yr old by my best guestitmates. Despite a constant west wind at 15-20mph with gusts over 30, the deer moved pretty well from 4 til dark. I saw a few other bucks and plenty of does (we will begin dropping the hammers on them this weekend, so they will thin quickly! :twisted: ) The little bucks are really on the move and trying to chase unreceptive does while the bigger bucks aren't really showing signs yet of getting ready for the rut. Our rut typically doesn't get under fullswing until the 2nd week of Dec (our second muzzleloader season).
What is everyone else seeing out there this season?
RA