For a new fairly new hunter this year wasn't bad...for me anyway.
At the first camp, which for me is non-resident I got my first buck of the season on the 2nd day.
Sitting in my tree stand, I heard something in the far bushes to my right, and leaned forward to get a better look at the area. Then I saw him, slinking along, when all of a sudden while I was setting the scope on him, he stands up on his hind legs to rub a tree branch. At this point he was about 100 yards from me. When he dropped down, he darted to my left then curled in front of me, and stopped behind a couple of 4 foot saplings and put his head down. Nailed him with the .308 BLR, and then he took off the way he had just come from and curled back in front of me at about 70 yards and again dropped his head down, like he was hiding, I took the second shot to finish him. When I got to him, both shots had hit him within an inch of each other. I decided at that point while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive, that I would check out where the deer had come from. As I was walking towards the scraping tree - I jumped, as there was a DOE standing about 30 feet from me. ( NO DOE tags for non residents. )
Anyway here is buck no#1, and my party from that camp.
This little buck beleive it or not was 144 lbs dressed.
The Second camp I hunted with was in Ontario, this day it was -24 with the windchill and we sat for about the first 2.5 hours. We all decided that it was time to try something other than sitting, so to make a long story short, Chris and I split up and were supposed to arrive at either ends of a marshy area, and our "dogger" was going to push to us. When we got to where we thought we should be, I called Clint on the radio. I was talking to him pretty loud on the radio, and had to call him twice since he didn't hear the first one. Then I put my radio away, and started checking out the area. About a minute later I looked down at where I was standing and started scraping the ground a bit with my boots to make it quieter for later in case I had to move, then I kicked my boots together to get the snow off, about 10 - 20 seconds later, I saw a movement ahead and to my right. When I turned my head to see what it was, I saw him landing, after jumping over a fallen tree. He must have saw the movement of the shotgun coming to my shoulder, because he stopped and hid behind some small hardwood trees, and a bunch of evergreen yearlings. I did not have a clear shot at anything from the shoulders back, as I stood there waiting for the shot, I could see him poking his head to try to look around the small evergreens. I could clearly see the ends of the rack. After missing a large back early in the week, I wasn't about to let this one back away and run. I backed my sights into the evergreen yearling and fired.
Here is Buck no# 2. He dressed 190 lbs, and we had to drag him approx 600 yards through the thick stuff, fallen trees, etc.
Sorry for the long story, thanks for reading.
lildave
At the first camp, which for me is non-resident I got my first buck of the season on the 2nd day.
Sitting in my tree stand, I heard something in the far bushes to my right, and leaned forward to get a better look at the area. Then I saw him, slinking along, when all of a sudden while I was setting the scope on him, he stands up on his hind legs to rub a tree branch. At this point he was about 100 yards from me. When he dropped down, he darted to my left then curled in front of me, and stopped behind a couple of 4 foot saplings and put his head down. Nailed him with the .308 BLR, and then he took off the way he had just come from and curled back in front of me at about 70 yards and again dropped his head down, like he was hiding, I took the second shot to finish him. When I got to him, both shots had hit him within an inch of each other. I decided at that point while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive, that I would check out where the deer had come from. As I was walking towards the scraping tree - I jumped, as there was a DOE standing about 30 feet from me. ( NO DOE tags for non residents. )
Anyway here is buck no#1, and my party from that camp.
This little buck beleive it or not was 144 lbs dressed.

The Second camp I hunted with was in Ontario, this day it was -24 with the windchill and we sat for about the first 2.5 hours. We all decided that it was time to try something other than sitting, so to make a long story short, Chris and I split up and were supposed to arrive at either ends of a marshy area, and our "dogger" was going to push to us. When we got to where we thought we should be, I called Clint on the radio. I was talking to him pretty loud on the radio, and had to call him twice since he didn't hear the first one. Then I put my radio away, and started checking out the area. About a minute later I looked down at where I was standing and started scraping the ground a bit with my boots to make it quieter for later in case I had to move, then I kicked my boots together to get the snow off, about 10 - 20 seconds later, I saw a movement ahead and to my right. When I turned my head to see what it was, I saw him landing, after jumping over a fallen tree. He must have saw the movement of the shotgun coming to my shoulder, because he stopped and hid behind some small hardwood trees, and a bunch of evergreen yearlings. I did not have a clear shot at anything from the shoulders back, as I stood there waiting for the shot, I could see him poking his head to try to look around the small evergreens. I could clearly see the ends of the rack. After missing a large back early in the week, I wasn't about to let this one back away and run. I backed my sights into the evergreen yearling and fired.
Here is Buck no# 2. He dressed 190 lbs, and we had to drag him approx 600 yards through the thick stuff, fallen trees, etc.

Sorry for the long story, thanks for reading.
lildave
Last edited: