BuzzH
Well-known member
Spent the last several days with my 2 nephews, Dad, and Brother chasing whitetails in our family hunting spot. We've been hunting these public land whitetails for a long time, next year will be my 40th year hunting this same place.
Pretty good hunting this year compared to the last several years, but nothing like it was in the mid 90's to about 2005, but SLOWLY the deer are somewhat recovering.
My oldest nephew started things out shooting a "unicorn" buck. I glassed this buck the evening before he killed it and I could see it wasn't broken, just had one antler. The next afternoon it made another appearance and Aiden decided he wanted to take it. One shot from about 100 yards with his 7-08 and 120 ballistic tips, a quick 40 yard run, and his deer was down. This buck was not broken, just grew one antler his entire life, first time I've ever seen a buck like that. Lots of broken ones, ones with a deformed antler on one side, etc.
Another look:
My brother Matt and I had a great day hunting in the rain, deer movement was off the charts good. We saw over 30 in about the last hour of hunting and Matt decided this buck was good enough. Shot with a 7-08 and 140 AB's deer ran maybe 60 yards and piled up. Not his biggest whitetail from the area, but a solid buck.
I was up next and we found deer on a familiar ridge where we've hunted many times in the past. This buck was working his way through the does and chasing smaller bucks at 783 yards. Wayyy too far for any shooting opportunity so we slipped in to about 200 yards and watched the openings. It really limited any opportunity for a shot due to losing some elevation. We watched the limited opening for about 20 minutes and then I figured with nothing to lose I'd try a grunt call. About 5 minutes after a single call, the buck walked through a small opening about 80 yards above me with his ears back. I got my rifle on him and when he walked through the next opening, I shot him behind the shoulder with my 7-08. He ran over the small ridge in front of him and we found him about 30 yards on the other side. Nice buck for the area, again, not my biggest buck from this country, but a good buck all the same.
Another look:
Last up was my youngest nephew Logan. He has shot a couple whitetail does, but wanted to hold out for a buck this year. Matt, Logan, and I decided to hunt another familiar spot and we found 3 bucks right off the bat, but they were too far away for any shooting. We saw 3 bucks and 2 does on a sidehill at 300 yards, but again, too far for Logan to shoot so decided to get closer. We got to about 200 yards and all of a sudden at about 60 yards a doe comes running right for us, right behind her a nice 5x5 buck that stopped too briefly for Logan to get set up. I again tried the deer call and we saw another buck walking in the trees right toward us. Logan got set up and it stopped behind some trees. Logan said he could see it fine and took the shot. Again the 7-08 and 120 BT's worked perfectly, deer ran about 50 yards and done. Logan was VERY happy with his first buck.
All things considered, relatively tough conditions, public land, and skittish whitetails, did pretty well I think.
Pretty good hunting this year compared to the last several years, but nothing like it was in the mid 90's to about 2005, but SLOWLY the deer are somewhat recovering.
My oldest nephew started things out shooting a "unicorn" buck. I glassed this buck the evening before he killed it and I could see it wasn't broken, just had one antler. The next afternoon it made another appearance and Aiden decided he wanted to take it. One shot from about 100 yards with his 7-08 and 120 ballistic tips, a quick 40 yard run, and his deer was down. This buck was not broken, just grew one antler his entire life, first time I've ever seen a buck like that. Lots of broken ones, ones with a deformed antler on one side, etc.
Another look:
My brother Matt and I had a great day hunting in the rain, deer movement was off the charts good. We saw over 30 in about the last hour of hunting and Matt decided this buck was good enough. Shot with a 7-08 and 140 AB's deer ran maybe 60 yards and piled up. Not his biggest whitetail from the area, but a solid buck.
I was up next and we found deer on a familiar ridge where we've hunted many times in the past. This buck was working his way through the does and chasing smaller bucks at 783 yards. Wayyy too far for any shooting opportunity so we slipped in to about 200 yards and watched the openings. It really limited any opportunity for a shot due to losing some elevation. We watched the limited opening for about 20 minutes and then I figured with nothing to lose I'd try a grunt call. About 5 minutes after a single call, the buck walked through a small opening about 80 yards above me with his ears back. I got my rifle on him and when he walked through the next opening, I shot him behind the shoulder with my 7-08. He ran over the small ridge in front of him and we found him about 30 yards on the other side. Nice buck for the area, again, not my biggest buck from this country, but a good buck all the same.
Another look:
Last up was my youngest nephew Logan. He has shot a couple whitetail does, but wanted to hold out for a buck this year. Matt, Logan, and I decided to hunt another familiar spot and we found 3 bucks right off the bat, but they were too far away for any shooting. We saw 3 bucks and 2 does on a sidehill at 300 yards, but again, too far for Logan to shoot so decided to get closer. We got to about 200 yards and all of a sudden at about 60 yards a doe comes running right for us, right behind her a nice 5x5 buck that stopped too briefly for Logan to get set up. I again tried the deer call and we saw another buck walking in the trees right toward us. Logan got set up and it stopped behind some trees. Logan said he could see it fine and took the shot. Again the 7-08 and 120 BT's worked perfectly, deer ran about 50 yards and done. Logan was VERY happy with his first buck.
All things considered, relatively tough conditions, public land, and skittish whitetails, did pretty well I think.
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