The Buck I Missed Last Year

[SmallGameAddict]

I missed a nice buck last year, but not with my rifle. As is my habit, I hunt every day. Mostly all day.

We got a cold snap this past season, in the teens. That's cold in the morning. It snowed a good 10-12" overnight one night.. In the morning I went down to the property trail to blast a parking spot by the road. I didn't know this for awhile, til I went down and gathered up the trail cams one last time. Reviewing the SD cards footage, I saw this. At that exact moment in time, I was 500 yards away up the trail plowing snow with my tractor so that I could hunt that afternoon. This is about 50 yards from my blind. The roof is barely visible in the background as a horizontal line between the trees to the left. Oh well. Maybe this year.

 

[Blimey]

Been out with the bow again daily last week or so. Almost time!

 

[SmallGameAddict]

Been out with the bow again daily last week or so. Almost time!

Bastard was out in broad daylight late in the season too.

 

[1075tech]

Yep. Near end of season last year, a friend of mine went out to take his tree stand down. Last minute he grabbed his rifle. He leaned it against a tree and was about to climb up when he heard something behind him. Turned around and a 10 pt was watching him. It stood there long enough for him to shoot it.

 

[SmallGameAddict]

Yep. Near end of season last year, a friend of mine went out to take his tree stand down. Last minute he grabbed his rifle. He leaned it against a tree and was about to climb up when he heard something behind him. Turned around and a 10 pt was watching him. It stood there long enough for him to shoot it.

Sweet

 

[Blimey]

Bastard was out in broad daylight late in the season too.

I don't use cameras that much but the place I go to I've seen a very nice buck lying mid day on the ground basically in front of the stand I used--on the same day I used it.

Biggest buck I've seen came around me a couple years ago skirting around at 25 yards. Nicely in range as I had an xbow, but no tag for a buck. I did film it, though.

 

[S&W Fan]

Be ready. He’ll be bigger this year !

 

[BDinPutnam]

We saw several good sized bucks last year but they were always moving in directions that put them out of range or out of reach (bear in mind I hunt in what is basically a residential neighborhood surrounded by woods). Big, big 8 point but he was always either way too close to the neighbor's house or heading that way or the backdrop of my shot would have had me shooting toward the main road, etc.

Ah well. I did wind up with meat, anyway.

 

[SmallGameAddict]

We saw several good sized bucks last year but they were always moving in directions that put them out of range or out of reach (bear in mind I hunt in what is basically a residential neighborhood surrounded by woods). Big, big 8 point but he was always either way too close to the neighbor's house or heading that way or the backdrop of my shot would have had me shooting toward the main road, etc.

Ah well. I did wind up with meat, anyway.

You can only do what you can do. NO deer is worth taking the chance.

Double down and be in the woods as much as possible. Intercept him if possible by changing your stand location. Sooner or later he will make a mistake.

 

[BDinPutnam]

You can only do what you can do. NO deer is worth taking the chance.

Double down and be in the woods as much as possible. Intercept him if possible by changing your stand location. Sooner or later he will make a mistake.

Oh absolutely. I pass on a big doe year before last during crossbow because she was headed down the hill toward my other neighbor; I had a good shot but I figured if I didn't drop her where she was she'd wind up bleeding out on his front lawn. We're good with each other up here but nobody needs that if it can be avoided. Shotgun season I would've dropped her right then and there. So it goes...

I actually got my deer last year 100% by happenstance. We had hunted hard all morning and were taking a break. Was getting ready to go to the store and caught a small buck walking down the path behind the wood shed so I grabbed the 20 gauge I had in the garage.

 

[SmallGameAddict]

Be ready. He’ll be bigger this year !

Yep. Hopefully he's still around, but probably is.

How it goes with most here. Opening day- busy. Next day, little less busy. Thanksgiving morning is the last hurrah for most cuz "there's no more deer out there". Translation- they'd rather drink beer and watch tv. Good, woods to myself. I can truly enjoy the peace and undisturbed nature.

After thanksgiving, when it starts getting really cold here, teens or less before sun-up, is where you separate the men from the boys. The deer get more active and move more in the cold and cuz a lot less hunters in the woods. For me Regular season is a 23 day marathon.

You don't get deer sitting in your kitchen or LR thinking about it. You gotta be out there.

 

[SmallGameAddict]

Oh absolutely. I pass on a big doe year before last during crossbow because she was headed down the hill toward my other neighbor; I had a good shot but I figured if I didn't drop her where she was she'd wind up bleeding out on his front lawn. We're good with each other up here but nobody needs that if it can be avoided. Shotgun season I would've dropped her right then and there. So it goes...

I actually got my deer last year 100% by happenstance. We had hunted hard all morning and were taking a break. Was getting ready to go to the store and caught a small buck walking down the path behind the wood shed so I grabbed the 20 gauge I had in the garage.

The harder you hunt, the 'luckier' you get. All you're really doing is increasing your chances.

 

[1075tech]

I got my deer last year by my buddy calling me and asking how many doe tags I had. No sooner did I say "enough" and I heard a shot.

Then we drug it out, I tagged it and dressed it, took it to the butcher shop and it went in my freezer.