Made a great find

I went hunting on Saturday the 4th of December at my moms. Well the wind was out of the North so I decided to try a spot I was looking at putting a stand at next year. I decided for now to just build a ground blind and give it a go that way. There are a bunch of small pines around there so I was using branches from thos for cover. I was cutting some branches off of them and I looked down at the ground and I saw antlers sticking up out of the snow. I grabbed them and pulled them up and they were attached to a perfect skull. I was really excited as some of you already know. Its one thing to find a shed but to find an intact skull with the antlers is unreal. There is not a chew mark on them either. There was a little skin on it just under the antler bases so best we can figure is sometime early fall. Maybe a bowhunter but its impossible to tell. We did go back the next day and dug in the snow and the rest of the skeleton was there. You can see from the pics he is for sure a 9 point with a little 1/2 inch tine that could make him a 10 point. His spread is 15 inches. Thats compared to 13 inches on the one that I shot. I think that this one was also a 2.5 year old. It sucks in a way because this is one less that made it but at least I found it and it didn't go to a complete waste. Anyway it was a once in a lifetime find and I thought I'd share.

Crazy Saturday for Julie and I

Well most of the people that see this already know what happened yesterday but I wanted to post it anyway. So I can look back at this in the future and hopefully laugh it off.
Since our family got back from Disney World on Thurs the 18th Julie and my gun season's started yesterday(Saturday). We spent the night down at the farm and got out in the morning. Julie sat in the tri-pod and I sat on the other side of the property against a cut corn field. It was a great morning I had seen 7 deer by 8 am. I was watching a small spike or fork in the corn field about 50 yards behind me when someone blasted 5 shots at this deer. The shots sounded like they were 50 yards behind me. Turns out they were. I didn't realize that there were 3 other hunters, a guy, his wife and daughter's boyfriend all within 150 yards of me. (I love gun season) So after watching the wife climb down from a tree stand that was about 40 yards from me I decided my morning was ruined so I might as well help them look for that deer. We looked a little bit couldn't find any blood and they weren't listening to any advice from me so I let them look for themselves. So I called Julie and she said she wasn't seeing anything so by now it was about 8:45. So I made the call to bag the morning and build a ground blind in an area where I knew a 6 point was hanging out and we had seen him on the driveway the night before when we drove in and watched him go back to this area.
Side story here--about a week after I killed my 10 point I went down here and hunted this area because I had a hunch it would hold a good buck because of its seclusion from everything and it is just a perfect area. So my first sit at about 10 minutes before dark I saw a really big 3.5 year old 8 or 10 come out. Probably 120 inches. I watched him go from the corn field to some apple trees right where I though one would bed. I was geeked!! I had found a deer bigger than the one I just shot. I was very careful with him and waited for the perfect wind to go back in and try again. It was 3 days later I tried in the morning which I was so nervous about because his night-time bed was only 40 yards from my treestand so I had to be dead quiet getting in but I risked it. I got into my stand and settled in. 10 minutes after that I looked and saw him going along the hill up from the appletrees. It was still pitch dark and I saw him only because of the lights from the grocery store nearby. Fast forward 4 more days it was a nightime hunt this time and he came out 5 minutes before dark and followed some does up the hill away from me. So I kept seeing him but really early or really late. Then 3 or 4 days later the neighbors to the north say they shot "nice" 8 and my heart sank. Where they shot was a ways away from his core area but with does coming into esterus you never know what they will do. So I sat there that night and saw nothing but a small 4 point. So I didn't know what happened and we had to leave for vacation.
Fast forward to Saturday--Julie and I snuck down to within 75 yards of this "sanctuary" area. I was making the ground blind in a small 8 foot white pine. Which work perfect for grounds blinds fyi. I kept looking down into the sanctuary and sure enough there were 4 doe, so that go me excited for Julie for that evening. I was putting the last branch in place when I looked down there again and saw that buck coming up out of the sanctuary into the cut corn field. I told Julie to get down and get me my gun. I was able to get into position and he came out. It was my first really good look at him. He fed for about 5 minutes and started to turn to go back in. I had one shot and he turned a little bit quartering away and I shot. He bounded into the sanctuary and then walked away up the hill low to the ground looking injured. We waited 30 minutes then went to look for blood. Nothing!!. My friend Ross was kind enough to drive down and help we came up with a plan. With Barry my brother in law, Julie, Ross and his son Isaac and my self we scowered the sancuary and found nothing. We are calling it a clean miss and that he was spooked by my shot and sneaking back into safety. I told Julie after I shot that even if we didn't get him I have had an amazing season and I stand by that. Just to see the deer I have seen this season is a unreal. So hopefully he comes back and we get another crack at him in a week or two. Sorry for the long story but I needed to post this.

Oh so close

Well I sat in the same stand that I killed my 10 pointer out of early this season for the first time since. Its been my plan to apply very little pressure to this spot. It started off cool and quiet. Not a lot of movement until about 9:15 am. I had a mom and twin button bucks come down right under my stand. Hung around a little mom was nervous the whole time. Then I noticed the buttons looking behind me and sure enough here comes another deer. It was a lone doe so I decided if she gave me a shot I was gonna take it. The mom and the buttons trotted off so it was just me and the other doe. She finally started to come in at about 25 yards. She came out and I shot. My string hit my sleeve and she jumped really bad at the shot my arrow went right over her. Probably missed by an inch. It was a great morning hunt though and I came so close to going 2 for 2 out of that stand. That would have been really cool.

Scott smoked a doe

Scott shot this doe this morning. Double lunged her at 8 yards she didn't go far. Some good eating for sure. Nice shooting Scott.

Close!!

Well Julie gave a doe a haircut tonight. She shot and the doe jumped at the sound of her shot and she just missed. We found a bunch of dark hair on the ground but no blood. I told her better to miss like that than to hit the doe high. We will keep trying. Its a never ending learning process.

FINALLY!!!

Well a lot of you might know but I finally got a buck today. I shot him on Weds evening Scott and I tracked him for an hour and a half, lost the blood trail and decided to give him the night. The next morning myself, Julie and Jacob went out and Julie and Jacob found some blood about 50 yards from where Scott and I lost the trail. So I am pretty sure I would not have found this deer if it werent for them. Well we looked until about 11 and called it quits for the morning. I got back out there at 3:30 and this time Ross and Eric helped me and after some great advice from Ross we found him laying about 30 yards from where Julie, Jacob and myself quit in the morning. So I just want to say thank you to all of you guys for helping couldn't of found him with out you.
He is a 10pt and i measured his inside spread at 13 1/2 inches his g2's are both 5 1/2 inches not to shabby for a 2 1/2 year old deer. I wonder what his dad looks like. Thanks again everyone!!!

Some Bucks without velvet and Jakes first doe hunt

Well below are some pictures of bucks with their velvet off. I got two of the tall 8 I have been posting on here for 3 months now. He is looking pretty good. Also got a new six pointer that I have not gotten any pictures of before. His rack looks really nice. Hope he makes it to next year.

Also, I took Jacob out tonight for the early doe season and his first deer hunt. Well we got skunked but he did great sat nearly 2 hours and complained very little. Of course when we left there were three doe in the hay field which was where I originally was going to sit. Oh well thats the game we play.

Still Growing and some other cool pictures

Here are some new pictures. My batteries ran out last week so I didn't get a ton of pictrues but here are some of the better ones.

Now the next picture is the tall 8 I have been watching grow all summer. The top picture is the latest and the bottom is from about 2 weeks ago. You can see he is turning into a good little buck. Its just really cool to watch them grow.

Fixed Pictures

Well I did some playing around with that picture of the bigger buck and got it where you can see his antlers a little better. Hopefully I get a better picture this week and then there won't be any guess work but I think I can count 5 on each side. Either way I am excited now for this coming season and he is on top of the list.

New side of property new set off bucks

Well like I said I moved my camera to the other side of the property to catch some different deer. I was really happy with what I found. From what I can see I have 1 new 1.5 year old, a nice looking 2.5 year old 8 point, and a really big deer that looks to be 3.5 for sure. Take a look.

This looks like to me to be a possible 6 point, although its hard to tell with one side missing.

This is a nice looking 8 point.

Now the picture above and the one below I think are the same deer. You can see he's got a really big body. In the picture below if you click on it and look at the picture from a different angle when its bigger, you can see he has a really nice rack. This is the deer I am thinking to be 3.5 for sure.

No big boys, but i got one that is looking pretty good and a lot of small 1.5's

This is the 6 point that I passed last gun season. He is looking like an 8 for sure maybe a nine if he grows another g3 on his right side. It looks like he has a kicker on his right side so that would make him a nine point.

I moved the camera to the other side of the property so hopefully I can get a couple other bigger guys on camera. Its looking like a lot of 1.5's this year so might be a lot of dummys chasing does this year. Lets hope one of the older boys makes an appearance also. I am going to also go out for the early doe season with Jacob this year. He is really excited because he wants to go out with me in a tree stand. He wasn't to happy about only hunting does. I have a feeling we will see a buck when we go out and I am going to have to explain why we can't shoot it.

Their getting bigger.

Some great July Velvet Pictures

These pictures are from the last week and a half. I picked out the best ones I had 34 pictures in a pretty short amount of time so that was pretty cool. Jake and I also spent the day today moving and setting up tree stands. It was hot!!! I got two no spots all ready and I am pretty excited about hunting them.

Well I promised Jacob we would make it out turkey hunting. So tonight (monday) i got off of work at a resonable time and I called Julie to bring him to the greenhouse and we would give it a shot. My boss was kind enough to let me hunt his property behind where I work. We sat on an edge of a corn field and I had only been calling for a half hour. Jacob was a real trooper keeping quiet and stil even with the bugs and thorns. Then I saw a turkey coming from our right and I could tell it was a male just couldn't see how big. As it turned out he followed the edge of the field to within 10 yards. Jacob was rock solid even when the bird stopped and I thought for sure it was going to bust us. But it took a couple more steps and I had an opening. Well the rest is in the pictures above. Turned out to be a young Jake 4" beard but that really didn't matter to me. This was by far the best time I have ever had in the woods. Jacob was really excited as you can see in the pictures. He is already talking about next year and getting a bigger one. Sounds like a hunter to me. I think he's hooked. I told him he was goning to have to sit in my treestand this fall now.