From a tree blind

[glockmail]

Record is around a thousand pounds but they will average around 150 to 200 around here. A miracle shot with a .22mag might do it but I would bet a dime on it. They use deer rifles for em here.

Holy shit! I best get out the 30.06. Free meat!

 

[Care4all]

young deer-- maybe only a year old and they don't need to bulk up near as much to survive our winters. They need the speed and there are so many here that the competition for food is high. Acorns and grasses mostly.

Old Man Winter, kills off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the deer up here, every year...i guess that keeps the deer population in check!

In the summer here, food is plentiful, like a garden of eden...

But in the winter, I have no idea what the deer eat or survive on? Especially if there is deep snow all winter???

At least with the wild turkeys, they build a HUT to survive the cold...it looks like an igloo only made out of brush and sticks and mud, with a one hole opening to get in that can fit maybe two or three of them at once...you can see maybe 10-20 of these nests together, in the woods....so the flock must stay together during the winter...

Yesterday, matt and I took a walk down to the brook on the other side of the meadow in front of my house and we saw BEAR TRACKS in the snow, one of a smaller cub and one of an adult, about 10 feet apart from each other...

I THOUGHT BEARS hibernate for the winter? Don't they hibernate? Needless to say we could not walk fast enough across the meadow to get back home!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, we were armed with my hubby's work cell phone, that's it!!!!

care

 

[dilloduck]

Holy shit! I best get out the 30.06. Free meat!

NOW your thinking along my lines---it's damn good too and pretty lean unless you get yourself a musky old boar. But that's what the trophy hunters want--those 5 or 6 + hundred pounders with big ass tusks.

 

[glockmail]

NOW your thinking along my lines---it's damn good too and pretty lean unless you get yourself a musky old boar. But that's what the trophy hunters want--those 5 or 6 + hundred pounders with big ass tusks.

We know how to grow hogs here in NC. You don't let them grow too big if you want good meat on the table. The fact that yours are free range and free makes me want to spend more time in Texas then just passing through an airport.

 

[sealybobo]

Bambi's mother killer!

This year was my first year hunting. 3 babies ran in front of me at the crack of dawn and my heart started pounding, but I let them pass. Then at 9a.m a nice size doe came in at about 50 yards. I was borrowing someone's gun and it didn't have a scope. I missed. Actually I clipped it because we found some fur, but I was PISSED! For one, I don't want to hurt an animal for nothing, and 2nd, who knows if I'd see another one the rest of the weekend. After mid day lunch, we went back out and all of the sudden bambi and his mother come walking out in front of me, only this time 80 yards away. So clearly I shouldn't take the shot because I missed earlier from 50, right? But it was my first time and I was eager to get something. So I take aim and POW, my first shot missed, but the mother didn't run, only looked up startled, wondering what that noise was. So I rack my 12 gague and take my time, aim, POW, missed again, but still the doe stayed still. I reach in my pocket for my last shot gun shell. I call it my Barney Fife bullet. I load the shell and tell myself, Sealybobo, this is your last shot. I make sure I'm aiming for the heart. I take the shot, and KABLAMO, the deer falls right to the ground. Perfect shot, right? Not exactly. I was aiming for the heart and it turned out I hit it right in the brain/head. Lucky shot too because I didn't mess up any of the meat, and most likely the poor thing didn't feel a thing.

But then the baby kept sniffing around the mother. It was so sad. All the other hunters said the baby would be fine because this time of year the mother usually abandons them anyways, but it was hard to accept. Why did I shoot a deer who was with her baby? What the **** is wrong with me? To make it worse, when I gutted her, milk poured out! She was still feeding the baby milk? OMG!!! Then the baby actually comes up to about 30 yards away from me. I'm wispering to it, GO AWAY, beat it! But it won't. Its looking at me like, "why did you just shoot my mom". I wanted to cry. If I had another shell, I would have killed the baby too because I felt sorry for it. Plus they are good eating. But instead I shined my flashlight on it and that made it run off.

Then I sat down and just thought about what had happened, and I started laughing uncontrolably. I can't explain why. It must have been my adrenaline. Anyways, I'm hooked. But next year I'll have a scope, be more selective/patient and practice with the gun before I go out.

The other hunters all of the sudden treat me a lot differently. They talked to me more. For years I would go with them, but I was only camp *****. I cooked, kept the fire going back at the cabin and helped anyone who shot a deer gut it and bring it back.

Anyways, the meat I got is unbelievably good. Not gamey at all. Lean, tender, etc. I can't wait to get another one next year. Hopefully a buck. 8 points or better is the rule on my buddies property. He has 350 acres. He leaves 50 acres of it to the deer. You can't hunt on it. That way the deer have a sactuary where they feel safe year round. Good times!

 

[Care4all]

OH MY GOD! WHAT A HORRIBLE STORY SEALY...i got midway thru and had to STOP.... oh my...how sad....how could you aim for this mother? her fawn were still with her so she was still teaching them how to survive, no?

NEVER MIND.....do not answer, i don't want to know...do what you think is right, but PLEASE, NEXT TIME, do not share such detail....pretty please, so i don't have to get tears all over my computer....

Care

 

[glockmail]

It must have been a late birth for the mother still lactating. Odd as well that it let you take four shots at it. Very strange story indeed.

 

[sealybobo]

OH MY GOD! WHAT A HORRIBLE STORY SEALY...i got midway thru and had to STOP.... oh my...how sad....how could you aim for this mother? her fawn were still with her so she was still teaching them how to survive, no?

NEVER MIND.....do not answer, i don't want to know...do what you think is right, but PLEASE, NEXT TIME, do not share such detail....pretty please, so i don't have to get tears all over my computer....

Care

I'll be more selective next time. It was my first time. I REALLY wanted a deer.

And all the guys said that this is the time of year she starts to reject the baby. That's why it's opening day of deer season. If it were cruel/wrong to shoot them, they would only give Buck permits. Right?

But I kept asking questions all night. I said, "does the baby sleep curled up with the mother for warmth?" And all the hunters were ******* with me.

I promise to be more selective next year.

 

[sealybobo]

It must have been a late birth for the mother still lactating. Odd as well that it let you take four shots at it. Very strange story indeed.

This was back in November.

And it took 3 shots, not 4. I'm bad but don't want you adding on shots. LOL.

The first shots I was talking about was the deer I missed in the morning.

Yea, it was VERY strange that the shots didn't make it run. But it was 80 yards away down wind so that deer didn't know where it was coming from. I guess if a bullet landed near her and scared her, but I must have REALLY missed.

Based on where I hit her, I was missing high left. I'm left handed, so I was probably jerking when I shot. Her head was to my left and I was aiming for her chest and hit her in the temple. I got very lucky.

 

[007]

Yup---yesterday---and it wasn't easy with those 3 buggers peeking up at me every 2 seconds to see if I moved. ( While freezing my ass off )

Freezing your ass off in Texas? C'mon up here to Wisconsin Bud. It'll make Texas feel like a heat wave...

And I've got a nice little lever action Browning .243 that will do a splendid job on one of those wild pigs you've got down there. I love pork, and hunting one of those sure sounds fun. At night with a spot light? When and where brother?