Pucky Freak
Well-known member
EF2’s 2020 Fall Hunt
- Thread starter Pucky Freak
- Start date
Gellar
Well-known member
No need to be a tease.
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Show us the rest,please
mdeerjunkie
Well-known member
I’m waiting...
teej89
Well-known member
View attachment 159261
Ah come on!
Ah come on!
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
TLDR: All signs point to a non-fatal hit on a doe. Returning in the AM to grid.
3PM headed out to an area with open terrain where I have valid tags for 2 turkeys, and doe, and a buck. On the way in spotted 3 hens with 12 polts, plus a doe. I posted on the periphery of a high animal traffic area with good glassing. Deer were active early. I saw about 35 total including 5 forkies, two 2.5-year-old bucks, and one “maybe talk yourself into” buck. I spent most of the time trying to spy a whopper and not so much hunting my immediate surroundings.
In the distance got to watch 2 bucks spar. Another buck was walking up the hill towards me then launched into a sprint. Lots of fun watching him grow really big in my 10x, and at the last second a doe popped into view and they were in my lap at 8 yards. No time to position myself on the doe and he chased her off shortly. Also had a doe and a fawn bust me from above through scent or sight, but they later looped around below at 48 yards broadside and I passed. I heard something else in the timber but couldn’t spot it - a deer later bounded off when I moved - I think it was a buck.
About 10 mins after sunset I gave up on glassing through my $90 optics, and picked up my bow in case any more deer came in close. I spotted a bald head above me on the hill and I got in position. The thermals had changed by now to downhill. It was a doe walking directly at me in minimal cover. I’m crouched statue still, squinting to hide the whites of my eyes, all the while coming unglued as she closes the distance to less than 15 yards. Once her head turned past 150 degrees away I drew back, but I rushed the shot and missed! She bounded off, but inched her way back cautiously. When I got a 25 yard broadside (I guessed, but ranged afterwards at 25 exactly), I drew and more patiently released an arrow.
Upon impact she crumpled to the ground with a loud croak. I nocked another arrow and stood up to see over the grass to send a second one, but she was violently flopping around. After about 15 seconds she stood and took off running.
Searched 2 hours. Blood trail was profuse in a few spots, she fell down a total of 3 times, but in other places it’s just a tiny drop every 40 feet or so. Arrow is covered in rich red blood, no off odor, looks like muscle blood rather than liver or lung. Also, no sound of coughing, falling over, alarm snort, or kicking her out of a bed. There is a smear of blood on a tree with hair mixed in I will inspect more closely tomorrow. Blood trail ended after just 120 yards.
In for a long sleepless night and do my best tomorrow to turn something up.
3PM headed out to an area with open terrain where I have valid tags for 2 turkeys, and doe, and a buck. On the way in spotted 3 hens with 12 polts, plus a doe. I posted on the periphery of a high animal traffic area with good glassing. Deer were active early. I saw about 35 total including 5 forkies, two 2.5-year-old bucks, and one “maybe talk yourself into” buck. I spent most of the time trying to spy a whopper and not so much hunting my immediate surroundings.
In the distance got to watch 2 bucks spar. Another buck was walking up the hill towards me then launched into a sprint. Lots of fun watching him grow really big in my 10x, and at the last second a doe popped into view and they were in my lap at 8 yards. No time to position myself on the doe and he chased her off shortly. Also had a doe and a fawn bust me from above through scent or sight, but they later looped around below at 48 yards broadside and I passed. I heard something else in the timber but couldn’t spot it - a deer later bounded off when I moved - I think it was a buck.
About 10 mins after sunset I gave up on glassing through my $90 optics, and picked up my bow in case any more deer came in close. I spotted a bald head above me on the hill and I got in position. The thermals had changed by now to downhill. It was a doe walking directly at me in minimal cover. I’m crouched statue still, squinting to hide the whites of my eyes, all the while coming unglued as she closes the distance to less than 15 yards. Once her head turned past 150 degrees away I drew back, but I rushed the shot and missed! She bounded off, but inched her way back cautiously. When I got a 25 yard broadside (I guessed, but ranged afterwards at 25 exactly), I drew and more patiently released an arrow.
Upon impact she crumpled to the ground with a loud croak. I nocked another arrow and stood up to see over the grass to send a second one, but she was violently flopping around. After about 15 seconds she stood and took off running.
Searched 2 hours. Blood trail was profuse in a few spots, she fell down a total of 3 times, but in other places it’s just a tiny drop every 40 feet or so. Arrow is covered in rich red blood, no off odor, looks like muscle blood rather than liver or lung. Also, no sound of coughing, falling over, alarm snort, or kicking her out of a bed. There is a smear of blood on a tree with hair mixed in I will inspect more closely tomorrow. Blood trail ended after just 120 yards.
In for a long sleepless night and do my best tomorrow to turn something up.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
This is probably the closest I’ve come to crying on a hunt - I am so grateful to have made a recovery. It’s a button buck, not a doe, but regardless I am relieved and thankful.
I found one more drop of blood 50 feet from the last, then followed a dry trail for another 40 yards that I suspected he walked down, and spotted a white belly in the distance
I found one more drop of blood 50 feet from the last, then followed a dry trail for another 40 yards that I suspected he walked down, and spotted a white belly in the distance
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Way to stick with it and make your recovery. Great job
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
3 hrs field dressed to finished cuts. Clockwise right to left: blackstrap, roasts, steaks, doboned rear hocks, grind pile, bone-in fore hocks, shoulders, tenderloin, neck/brisket.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Time to find turkey tracks in fresh snow!
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Long hike. I saw a tom hurry through a gap at 40 yards and another follow right behind him into some thick stuff. Spot marked on OnX for another day. Later on I busted a flock near a clover food plot.
Some flew on each side of a ridge. I’m in for my evening sit a ways up the ridge in some deadfalls that make a nice natural blind. There’s also a parallel scrape line where a buck might cruise along.
Some flew on each side of a ridge. I’m in for my evening sit a ways up the ridge in some deadfalls that make a nice natural blind. There’s also a parallel scrape line where a buck might cruise along.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Yearling buck working the scrape line
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
5 minutes after sunset had a jake pass 25 yards behind my right shoulder (red circle, not pictured). For bow he was too far away and weak side anyways, so he got to live.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Quest to locate a nice buck has finally paid off. I hunted an area tonight that I’ve been to several times recently, but glassed from a different approach. The first animal on its feet was a buck with 140” rack, 10 thick tines about 12” tall, but narrow 15” inside spread. Just after 5 pm. He was under 250 yards and I tried to coax him my direction with calling, but he just glanced briefly, then continued on his way. A younger 8-pt and him bristled at one another in the presence of a doe they both showed interest in. Close by I had many does and fawns, plus 3 forkies.
Based on the forecast winds, Thursday I can get on the hill above him and try to lure him across a creek and up (low probability), but Friday I can get pretty close to the route he walked and if I can get him to cross a tree line I could get a shot. Saturday is ditch-chicken opener and public gets hammered, which reshuffles the deck on these public lands, so who knows if I can still find him after that.
Based on the forecast winds, Thursday I can get on the hill above him and try to lure him across a creek and up (low probability), but Friday I can get pretty close to the route he walked and if I can get him to cross a tree line I could get a shot. Saturday is ditch-chicken opener and public gets hammered, which reshuffles the deck on these public lands, so who knows if I can still find him after that.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I creeped in as close as I dared to where the nice buck stood up from his bed yesterday. I tried a calling and rattle sequence, but I never saw him.
Lots of does and fawns seen (one at 37 yards) and one muddy yearly buck working a creek bottom. I also saw a turkey flock at 200 with 1 tom present, but I had no approach. I kept tabs on them for about a half hour but eventually they vanished when I was glassing deer, possibly into tall grass.
Tomorrow I’ll try yet another angle on this buck.
Lots of does and fawns seen (one at 37 yards) and one muddy yearly buck working a creek bottom. I also saw a turkey flock at 200 with 1 tom present, but I had no approach. I kept tabs on them for about a half hour but eventually they vanished when I was glassing deer, possibly into tall grass.
Tomorrow I’ll try yet another angle on this buck.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Tonight I set up just downwind of a well-worn path between bedding and feeding areas. I was standing in open timber, but by not moving no deer saw me. 5 does and fawns within 30 yards, but no bucks seen.
D
Deleted member 28227
Guest
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Fawn goes pretty quick because there is very little tallow to remove (calories go to body growth rather than fat reserves), the hide is easy to pull off, and meat between the ribs is so thin you can see thru it, and it’s not worth bothering with. The doe took quite a bit longer.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Enjoyed the last 1.5 hours of early AM glassing before pheasant hunters appeared in droves. Two does and a fawn in the distance, a turkey at 600 yards, and two forkies in close.
Last edited:
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Early AM hunt was a bust. Thought I’d set up for ambush on a field corner, but it’s so windy deer were not feeding in the fields, but rather in the timber downwind of me. I moved to one of my tree stands on public for an all-day sit. The first visitor.
And the second one.
A second doe followed the first. The dark spot in the lower right of frame is a large fresh scrape. Maybe a buck will come trail those does later...
And the second one.
