bears bears bears

[wijim]

bear season is now officially over since about 6:45 last night.

i hunted my butt off. no bear.

lots of deer though
this weekend i passed up a total of 27 smaller bucks the largest of which was a 14 1/2" 8pt.

last night at 6:30 i was on stand and a doe came into the beanfield behind me. i was using a friends stand and wasnt crazy about his positioning. he has two branches that block off alot of shooting into the field. only shots are 12 yards or so and over 30. well the doe got out into the clear beyond the grasp of those branches (i measured later at 35 yards)....so i had figured her at 30+ and gave myself a 3 yard cusion either way and thought it to be about 35. i held my 30 pin on her 7" high and let that big old 500 grain 2216 fly. i saw it stick.....and as she ran myt heart sunk at that arrow sticking a good distance from totally buried or through n through. i watch her hit the edge of the woods goin about 100 mph....listened and heard her crashing till i could hear no more. i decided to give her time to be down so i went home and tucked the kids in and went back to my buddies farm and started following blood. very little at first then i found my arrow with 15" stained red and fat all over my fixed blade busted arrow snapped n bent at about 16". my heart sank again with all that fat. the blood got better quickly though and in 50 yards of blood i found the pink bubbly stuff in big globs. then....it got smaller, and smaller and smaller....now its pin dots im following. i marked my last pin dot and called my buddy up to help me out with a fresher set of eyes as mine were going bonkers trying to find blood dots on shed red maple leaves.

as i waited for him...i walked around the bluff back to my stand area to grab my gear i had laying around. i found what looked like a hatchet murder scene...tons of blood and thought well she cut back n turned up wind and went right back to my stand area. so i figured she jumped into the thick stuff so i started to check every briar to the north for blood dots. i heard my buddy pull up and i was kind of bummed that i didnt have her. i had been on it for three hours now. he comes walking up the trail, and i said...well she went a long ways. he assumed i had gotten her already. so he shined his light to the south (remember i was trailing to the north). there she layed 20 feet behind me!...duuuuh....we laughed pretty hard at that.

and my shot was perfect at 35 yards except for one thing. between my shot and impact..she had stepped forward with her opposite leg and caused her shoulder that i was trying to slip in behind to slide back. i went right though the scapula and wrecked both lungs and she had traveled only 100 yards total.

we put her on the old scale hangin off the skid steer and she weighed 160#s...gutted....very nice fat doe.

so i found out one ugly thing about a deer layin 4 hours.

not for the squeemish.

her stomach had started bloating already. and i knicked her stomach gutting her...i got a shot of soybeans, alfalfa and digestive fluids right in the face as well as in my mouth. i almost puked...but i held it in.

[Redhawk1]

bear season is now officially over since about 6:45 last night.

i hunted my butt off. no bear.

lots of deer though
this weekend i passed up a total of 27 smaller bucks the largest of which was a 14 1/2" 8pt.

last night at 6:30 i was on stand and a doe came into the beanfield behind me. i was using a friends stand and wasnt crazy about his positioning. he has two branches that block off alot of shooting into the field. only shots are 12 yards or so and over 30. well the doe got out into the clear beyond the grasp of those branches (i measured later at 35 yards)....so i had figured her at 30+ and gave myself a 3 yard cusion either way and thought it to be about 35. i held my 30 pin on her 7" high and let that big old 500 grain 2216 fly. i saw it stick.....and as she ran myt heart sunk at that arrow sticking a good distance from totally buried or through n through. i watch her hit the edge of the woods goin about 100 mph....listened and heard her crashing till i could hear no more. i decided to give her time to be down so i went home and tucked the kids in and went back to my buddies farm and started following blood. very little at first then i found my arrow with 15" stained red and fat all over my fixed blade busted arrow snapped n bent at about 16". my heart sank again with all that fat. the blood got better quickly though and in 50 yards of blood i found the pink bubbly stuff in big globs. then....it got smaller, and smaller and smaller....now its pin dots im following. i marked my last pin dot and called my buddy up to help me out with a fresher set of eyes as mine were going bonkers trying to find blood dots on shed red maple leaves.

as i waited for him...i walked around the bluff back to my stand area to grab my gear i had laying around. i found what looked like a hatchet murder scene...tons of blood and thought well she cut back n turned up wind and went right back to my stand area. so i figured she jumped into the thick stuff so i started to check every briar to the north for blood dots. i heard my buddy pull up and i was kind of bummed that i didnt have her. i had been on it for three hours now. he comes walking up the trail, and i said...well she went a long ways. he assumed i had gotten her already. so he shined his light to the south (remember i was trailing to the north). there she layed 20 feet behind me!...duuuuh....we laughed pretty hard at that.

and my shot was perfect at 35 yards except for one thing. between my shot and impact..she had stepped forward with her opposite leg and caused her shoulder that i was trying to slip in behind to slide back. i went right though the scapula and wrecked both lungs and she had traveled only 100 yards total.

we put her on the old scale hangin off the skid steer and she weighed 160#s...gutted....very nice fat doe.

so i found out one ugly thing about a deer layin 4 hours.

not for the squeemish.

her stomach had started bloating already. and i knicked her stomach gutting her...i got a shot of soybeans, alfalfa and digestive fluids right in the face as well as in my mouth. i almost puked...but i held it in.

Congrats on the big doe.  :wink:

[NimrodRx]

True that.  It always amazes me how some are more impressed with a 1.5 you six point than a wise ole doe :cry: .

Congrats on your trophy.

[wijim]

True that.  It always amazes me how some are more impressed with a 1.5 you six point than a wise ole doe :cry: .

Congrats on your trophy.

im no trophy hunter.  but i do believe in qdm.  and shooting little bucks is just ludicris.

alot of guys stuck in the old mundset think its ok to shoot a doe if you are a kid or new hunter, but then after you shoot a doe or two on your first hunts you need to focus on bucks.

im of the mindset you shoot a little buck only if you are a newbie or youth hunter......then its does for meat and 3+ yo bucks....or of course culling bucks that have poor genetics.

the herds will only get better that way.

i guess some still believe if its got headgear no matter how young or how much growing it has left to do its fair game.  wish they could see the big picture.  i have eaten alot of buck tags and gone without big bucks for a long time in my belief of quality deer management.  but ive had an awful lot of fine table fare from all the does ive shot.

i agree its tough to pass up a 14" 8 pt...but really if it aint worthy of a wall mount...let em grow.  if we all stuck to shooting 16" minimums or 3 year old bucks...there'd be alot more of them to go around.