Hunting picture thread--weak bellies beware!

[skywalkrNCSU]

Whitetail season opened yesterday here in Texas. Let's see some pics of the tasty venison you folks collected!

Well I went looking for whitetails and ended up with an axis, definitely not complaining about that. I’m really excited to see how this guy tastes, never got an axis before.



Going to try to add a whitetail or two to the freezer next week.

[Pappabear]

That’s a badass Axis. Well done , that a kill of a lifetime for many

[HeruMew]

Amazing Axis Deer kill.

Getting a stand up late this year. Will be the first time hunting from a stand instead of a blind.

Using the 7.62x39 this year. Hoping to fill my Rifle tag and Archery Tags.

We'll find out soon, I got all of Thanksgiving week off and a 5 day weekend starting this Thursday.

Will be putting up the stand after work, ironically the wife insisted I pick one up when we found one on clearance for $55 at the good 'ol Wallyworld. So, here's to hoping I don't fall 15 feet instead. Couldn't believe it was over 55% off when opener was on Saturday. I picked it up yesterday on Sunday.

[skywalkrNCSU]

Thanks guys, the crazy part is the day before I saw a whole herd of axis on the property next door, probably 30 or so. There were a couple bucks bigger than the one I got, they were absolute monsters. Once I saw that I decided to set up on the field adjoining that one the next morning since it was as close as I could get to where they were and I couldn’t believe it when he walked right out. Going to be hard for me to top this start.

[skywalkrNCSU]

It was a chilly afternoon as a cold front rolled into the Hill Country yesterday but it got the deer moving. Saw a lot that were out of reach and passed on some smaller/younger bucks and my patience was rewarded when this guy decided to make an appearance.

[longball]

That’s a great buck. Congratulations


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HeruMew]

She's a smaller one, but having passed up on 4 does last year, I took the shot.

Still have an archery tag I am going to save for a buck. Stand hunting was quite a bit different.

My guess is she is 1.5 years old. She had a similar sized doe with her, and a really small first year fawn. She was the biggest of the 3.

Clipped her in the heart and lung, and it passed through at an angle. It tore a hole in her belly, but no stomach or guts had been hit, so, I dunno if it was from expansion or what. She took 5 steps, laid down. Even with a clipped heart and bright red blood, she kept kicking. I waited 20 minutes, she was still as could be, and I spooked her.

I backed off and waited another 40 minutes or so before my wife and I went out to find her.

We found her pretty quickly, though flushed some great looking pheasants over to our neighbor's acreage on accident in the process of trying to find her, and dragged her on home.

I used my pregnant wife as size comparison, the deer is small compared to me, for sure. But, she'll give me the meat I was after, and it was a nice change in hunt success based on last year.

7.62x39 123gr Hornady SSTs

[Watrdawg]

Last year I booked a semi-guided bow hunt in Indiana. This past Friday I drove up to Salem IN which is about 50 miles north of Louisville Ky. The hunt started Saturday and was supposed to end Wednesday evening. Saturday I'm in my ladder stand before sun up. It snowed the night before and we had a nice dusting on the ground. Temp in the morning was 21 and the high was only 34. Deer activity was light and I only saw 4 deer the whole day. Sunday started out a bit slow also. Weather is the same for the day. I had a nice doe walk about 30 yards from my stand around 8 am and then nothing but squirrels until 1 pm. At 1 a spike buck came up from behind me and walked underneath my stand. At 1:45 or so to the right of me I hear a ton of noise and I see a doe coming down the ridge next to me and she's being chased by a 6 pointer. He chases her down the ridge and up the ridge I'm on and then about 20 yards to the left of me. Cool, activity is starting to pick up. 10 minutes later directly behind me another doe is coming towards me and she's being chased by a 6 pointer also. 2-3 minutes after that a yearling little 6 pointer is following them. I stand up in my stand and face the direction they came from and got my bow ready. I'm thinking if all of these deer came from behind me a bigger buck may be following them. As soon as I finish that thought I see a large body coming through the woods. I see the right side of his antlers and I see 3 long tines sticking up. Cool he's 10 pointer and coming towards me. As he's coming he veers to my right so I grunt at him twice. He changes direction and comes right up the trail of the other deer. When he does I see that he is outside his ears. I'm praying he stays on course and follows the same trail as the others. I'm in the middle of the woods and its fairly thick around me. There are only a few shooting lanes that I can put an arrow through. If he stays on course he will walk right in front of a stump I ranged at 21 yards from my stand. About 30 yards out he walks into some thick stuff and I draw my arrow back. He walks right in front of the stump and I grunt at him and he stops for an easy 20 yard broadside shot. I hit the release and put an arrow into him for a perfect double lung shot. It hit just above his heart. He takes off and I lose him about 40 yards down the trail he came from. After I stop shaking a bit I text my buddy, my wife, and my son about the deer. Then I start to worry that he wasn't as big as I thought. I only saw the 3 long tines on one side and also that he was outside his ears. Before I shot him I didn't even look at his antlers and didn't really know what he was like. I gathered my gear and lowered it from the stand. Taking my time to get it all together and also give him time to die. About an hour later I finally start tracking him. Good blood trail but not great. Decent sized splotches here and there and fine drops in between. Finally after about 100 yards I see him piled up against a long log. He was a whole lot bigger than what I thought. I texted the guide and told him where I was at with my deer. My stand was easily 600 yards in the woods and he had to bring his UTV in for us to haul the deer out.

Once we got him back to the camp we hung him up and weighed him. He came in at 227lbs and he was a 155 7/8" 11 pointer

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[Pappabear]

Last year I booked a semi-guided bow hunt in Indiana. This past Friday I drove up to Salem IN which is about 50 miles north of Louisville Ky. The hunt started Saturday and was supposed to end Wednesday evening. Saturday I'm in my ladder stand before sun up. It snowed the night before and we had a nice dusting on the ground. Temp in the morning was 21 and the high was only 34. Deer activity was light and I only saw 4 deer the whole day. Sunday started out a bit slow also. I had a nice doe walk about 30 yards from my stand around 8 am and then nothing but squirrels until 1 pm. At 1 a spike buck came up from behind me and walked underneath my stand. At 1:45 or so to the right of me I hear a ton of noise and I see a doe coming down the ridge next next to me and she's being chased by a 6 pointer. He chases her down the ridge and up the ridge I'm on and then about 20 yards to the left of me. Cool, activity is starting to pick up. 10 minutes later directly behind me another doe is coming towards me and she's being chased by a 6 pointer also. 2-3 minutes after that a yearling little 6 pointer is following them. I stand up in my stand and face the direction they came and got my bow ready. I'm thinking if all of these deer came from behind me a bigger buck may be following them. As soon as i finish that thought I see a large body coming through the woods. I see the right side of his antlers and I see 3 long tines sticking up and I have a 10 pointer coming towards me. As he's coming he veers to my right and I grunt at him twice. He changes direction and come right up the trail of the other deer. When he does I see that he is outside his ears. Now I start praying he stays on course and follows the same trail. I'm in the middle of the woods and its fairly thick around me. There are only a few shooting lanes that I can put an arrow through. If he stays on course he will walk right in front of a stump I ranged at 21 yards from my stand. About 30 yards out he walks into some thick stuff and I draw my arrow back. He walks right in front of the stump and I grunt at him and he stops for an easy 20 yard broadside shot. I hit the release and put an arrow into him for a perfect double lung shot. It hit just above his heart. He takes off and I lose him about 40 yards down the trail he came from. After I stop shaking a bit I text my buddy, my wife, and my son about the deer. Then I start to worry that he wasn't as big as I thought. I only saw the 3 long tines on one side and also that he was outside his ears. Before I shot him I didn't even look at his antlers and didn't really know what he was like. I gathered my gear and lowered it from the stand. Taking my time to get it all together and also give him time to die. About an hour later I finally start tracking him. Good blood trail but not great. Decent sized splotches here and there and fine drops in between. Finally after about 100 yards I see him piled up against a long log. He was a whole lot bigger than what I thought. I texted the guide and told him where I was at with my deer. My stand was easily 600 yards in the woods and he had to bring his UTV in for us to haul the deer out.

Once we got him back to the camp we hung him up and weighed him. He came in at 227lbs and he was a 155 7/8" 11 pointer

IMG_1608.jpg

IMG_1610.jpg

One hell of a story, well told. And what an awesome deer. Congrats.

PB

[Watrdawg]

I wish I could figure out how to rotate and enlarge those pics.