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Opening deer season fun!!

JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

Joined
Apr 20, 2001
Messages
18,423
First hunt in about 15 years, but I had a blast!

Our blind faces East, so we got the rising sun through the trees with morning mist still in the air. The trees just to the right of the center, are where my deer came out from. (this shot is now my desktop wall paper) :D

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The front of our blind.
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The inside of the blind, with our custom high tech shooting platform!!! :)
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Me enjoying the view...it's unbelievable how good it felt to be back "out there"!!!
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After setting from 5:45am to 11:30am and not seeing a single deer, we left for lunch and returned about 1:30pm and right off the bat saw a small buck, out of range, cross the clearing and within a few minutes, a doe came out into the clear area in front of our blind, with the same buck in pursuit of her. She saw us and froze, and stood there for the longest 3 minutes of my life, "head checking" and trying to figure out what we were. I wanted the buck, but he would not leave the tree line and move into the clear, so when she started to spook and run, I shot her at about 22 yards as she was picking up speed. We found her about 200 yards away, my shot had got her right on the back of her shoulder, broke the shoulder and punched her right lung. She came in at around 130lbs after field dressing.

.20 gauge New England Firearms Pardner Pump.
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Good job!

One things I've found during 22 years of deer hunting is that deer don't stop moving because the time of day!! I've killed all but 2 or 3 of my deer between the hours of 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM!!! They may bed down for a short time in early morning and again in late afternoon, but they like to move a bit and feed at midday! And if the rut is on, there's no timetable! ;)
 
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That's awesome. :thumbup: Good for you for getting back out there. Deer hunting gets in your blood. I can't live without it.
Scott
 
Nice doe! I have no problem shooting does, they taste better anyway! Much prefer getting a nice doe than a small buck.

Beautiful spot, too. I'd sit there for a morning even if I knew I wouldn't see any deer! Your blind isn't bad either. I usually just sit on a log or against a fencepost.

Where I hunted this year, I didn't see a single deer outside of the first our of legal shooting time or the last hour of legal shooting time. Most places aren't like that, though, and sitting during the middle of the day can be very productive.
 
I can't believe you were at Crab Orchard and didn't see any deer for six hours. :eek: I've never been anywhere that has as many deer per acre as there...

Congrats on the doe.
 
BlackHills said:
I can't believe you were at Crab Orchard and didn't see any deer for six hours. :eek: I've never been anywhere that has as many deer per acre as there...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was bizarre. All around us, it sounded like a combat zone, but we saw nothing except one squirrel.

We went back Sat. morning about the same time, and by 8:30 my Nephew had a similar doe harvested, out of a herd of four that just walked out about 40 yards from the blind.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Yeah, it was bizarre. All around us, it sounded like a combat zone, but we saw nothing except one squirrel.

We went back Sat. morning about the same time, and by 8:30 my Nephew had a similar doe harvested, out of a herd of four that just walked out about 40 yards from the blind.
Click to expand...

That's definitely strange. I grew up going to Field Trials down there and it was nothing to see 100+ herds two or three times a day. I recall one time a friend counted 93 deer one evening on the drive from the highway to the clubhouse....which is maybe 5 miles tops.

What part were you hunting? Up on the northern end near the old ammo bunkers?
 
I didn't see a damn thing in the stand this year worth shooting. I did, however, get to test some blades out on the other guys stuff. You should have saw the look on their face, in reaction to the excitement of me wanting to skin their deer.
 
Nice blind and great job! Back straps and bacon! :)Hunting is in my blood. Our opening day in Maryland for firearms season is this Saturday, can't wait.
 
That's great dude. Good shooting connecting on a running deer. I would just as soon get a doe, when legal, as a buck. Our season is out for a few weeks starting this Monday, then comes back in for a while. I have been twice this week, didn't see anything.
 
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Nice doe. Our opening day of gun is Monday. I am not able to make it to my cabin in southern Ohio this year, due to a death in the family, but I will be able to hunt in my back yard.
 
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