Phil's 2019 season

[hickslawns]

Zonked out this morning. Woke up. Crashed again. Guess I needed some sleep more than I needed to hunt. Got to refuel the body sometimes.

Evening hunt at east property. Land owner drove me back to where I used the climber. It was perfect. I didn't get all sweaty. I didn't alert any deer. Ideal. Got up 25' or more. I was running out of bow rope to pull my shotgun up and I think it is a 30' rope. Didn't see anything for awhile. Hour and 10 min to go and I see 3 doe come out. Oh yeah. It is early. This is good. They milled around 10-20yds onto the property eating. Then went back onto the neighboring property. Ugh. Plenty of time to go. So with 35-45min to go I see two does pop out of the same spot. Kept expecting the third. Nothing. Then I saw another one. . and two come out a different area to meet up with them. Shortly after I see the third come out from original spot. 5 does. I'm liking this. Nothing for a few minutes but those 5 mingling. Then I see a couple more pop out. And another. Started pouring out the same opening. 1-3 at a time until there were 12-14 deer out there. ALL DOES! (And yearlings.) Nothing for a bit. Then I see a lone body in the opening. Then I see antlers. Let's do this fellas! He came out and I was pretty sure immediately he was NOT a shooter. That is okay. Still time left and around 14-15 deer on the field. Then I see a solo body show up in the opening. I start feeling pretty good until the deer steps out and it is another doe. Then another does the same thing.

SHORT VERSION HERE: I saw 18 deer. One was a 110-120" buck. They all offered 80-110yd shots. They all lived. I didn't take the safety off.

Hunted: 3 hours
Deer seen: 18
Does: 17
Bucks: 1
Bow range: 0

Season totals
Hunts: 31
Hours hunted: 98.75
Deer seen: 159
Deer in bow range: 51
Does: 130
Bucks: 39
Deer tagged: 1

 

[hickslawns]

I continue to amaze myself in my lack of Grace using a climber. One time I look like an old pro. Next time like a complete newbie. 6 deer seen this far. One young buck. Just heard first gunshot close.

 

[giles]

Last time I used mine I almost got stuck up in the tree. I couldn’t get my ankles to release the bottom to come down. I was freaking out and had to actually stop for a while to calm myself down. That was 3-4 years ago. Possibly the last time I’ve been in a stand at all actually.

 

[hickslawns]

Had young buck and what I assume was a button early. Later had 4 go thru. Not out of shotgun range at 80yds but there was brush between us. Later had what I assume were the same four come back thru at 30-40yds. They had picked up 2 more does. Then I had a big momma and button come by at 15yds. Fantastic hunt.

10 deer seen. 1 buck. 9 skinheads. 3 hr hunt. Eating. Cleaning up. Heading back out. I am optimistic for this evening. But in Ric @finelyshedded fashion I'll say this: optimistic I'll be eating a tag.

 

[hickslawns]

Hunted this evening at property east. Was again covered in deer. Honestly lost count. I know I had 10 in close. In the field 150-175yds away I could see deer going in and out so it was tough to keep count. I saw 6 at one time in the field. Had the shotgun shouldered and safety was off one time. Elected to pass. It was too young a deer. I didn't need the meat. I wasn't going to mount it. So. . . I just enjoyed watching it spar with a first year buck.

Hours hunted: 3.75
Deer seen: 16
Bucks: 3
Does: 13
In bow range: 7

Season totals
Hunts: 33
Hours hunted: 105.5
Deer seen: 185
Deer in bow range: 62
Does: 152
Bucks: 43
Deer tagged: 1

 

[hickslawns]

So my foreman and I pulled a crap ton of firewood off my property. 7.6 acres. Roughly half woods. Narrow and deep property. I've never had a deer on camera older than 3. Maybe not older than 2. I don't doubt they roam thru. Just never caught on camera. Added one new camera to see what has been shredding my pine trees. Been the typical 1-2yr old bucks on camera until today's camera cards were pulled. I've got a legit shooter. Only at night. Not a surprise. Talked to my foreman. Showed him aerials. He is the main person who hunts it. I told him I know how to kill that buck. There is only one possibility. Even this would be a long shot. It would require a stand to be hunt and a feeder implemented with a timer. I'm not a bait hunter. I don't care if you are. I am simply too cheap and it doesn't interest me. I may try it just out of curiosity. See if we can get him coming in on the regular. Watch the cameras. Maybe hunt him over corn. Maybe not. Foreman said he would rather hunt over natural movements. I laughed and said he would have to sit sundown to sunup daily to kill him and I DIDN'T want to know about it. lol

Not sure what I'll do. I've never killed a buck off the property. Truthfully only killed a button buck there and this was prior to my ownership. Bash away if you'd like. Encourage baiting. Discourage it. I'm all ears. If I kill him over bait it would only be as an experiment AND to finally kill a buck on my own land.

 

[Bowkills]

So my foreman and I pulled a crap ton of firewood off my property. 7.6 acres. Roughly half woods. Narrow and deep property. I've never had a deer on camera older than 3. Maybe not older than 2. I don't doubt they roam thru. Just never caught on camera. Added one new camera to see what has been shredding my pine trees. Been the typical 1-2yr old bucks on camera until today's camera cards were pulled. I've got a legit shooter. Only at night. Not a surprise. Talked to my foreman. Showed him aerials. He is the main person who hunts it. I told him I know how to kill that buck. There is only one possibility. Even this would be a long shot. It would require a stand to be hunt and a feeder implemented with a timer. I'm not a bait hunter. I don't care if you are. I am simply too cheap and it doesn't interest me. I may try it just out of curiosity. See if we can get him coming in on the regular. Watch the cameras. Maybe hunt him over corn. Maybe not. Foreman said he would rather hunt over natural movements. I laughed and said he would have to sit sundown to sunup daily to kill him and I DIDN'T want to know about it. lol

Not sure what I'll do. I've never killed a buck off the property. Truthfully only killed a button buck there and this was prior to my ownership. Bash away if you'd like. Encourage baiting. Discourage it. I'm all ears. If I kill him over bait it would only be as an experiment AND to finally kill a buck on my own land.

Good luck with him. Im interested. My guess is u won't see him until after dark even with a timer unless it gets brutal out. Hope u try it though!

 

[giles]

I’ve got a feeder with timer sitting here that I’m not using. You’re more than welcome to try it. If you like it, you can buy your own. Just needs a battery.

 

[Gern186]

Nice one Phil. No shame in putting out some corn and hunting him on your own property in late season. Kill that fugger

 

[hickslawns]

I’ve got a feeder with timer sitting here that I’m not using. You’re more than welcome to try it. If you like it, you can buy your own. Just needs a battery.

I have one. Wife bought it for me years ago for Christmas based on a suggestion from a salesman. She wanted to surprise me and said "No. I don't think he has one! I'll buy it." I used it when my son was little in attempts to help him to see deer. It didn't help much. Probably just need a new battery. Been sitting unused for quite a number of years, but probably only saw 2-3 bags of corn total. Appreciate the offer though. Mighty kind of you Dave. Thanks!

 

[giles]

No deer left at my place and I don’t like feeding the local Coons. So it’s just sitting here.

 

[hickslawns]

Made it out this morning. Used the climber. Got up around 25'. 30-45min before legal shooting light. Was all settled in. Good thing too as I had deer blowing from 3 directions as I was walking in. Stupid snow helps see deer but I must have looked like a neon sign or something. They saw me too. Dannman text me some good luck. Then he text me to stop screwing around on my phone. lol. Right on the minute of legal light I saw three does. 1-2 minutes later I saw 4 deer busting out of some CRP to the west and 200yards south of me. Then I saw Eenie, Meenie and Minie come briskly walking from the west. First little buck saw the does and headed straight to them. I needed that interference of the does to slow them down because it wasn't bright enough to make out great details on their racks. I could see well enough to shoot. I could see frames. I couldn't tell you if they had sticker points or much detail. Meenie was smaller than the first one. He also checked out the does. Minie looked okay. I could see his left side. It was plenty respectable. Not "monster" caliber, but "Whoa. He's a good'un" caliber. Couldn't tell much about the right side in the low light and brush.

I'm going to go take a drive and road scout. I'll finish up in a bit.

 

[hickslawns]

Okay. My son wanted to practice driving. He has never driven my truck. He was my chauffeur for deer road scouting. Nearly killed us by not braking before a turn. Never knew the Tacoma would do so well in autocross. I know. I know. "But did you die?" No. We did not. Might have soiled myself though.

So there were three bucks. Saw left side of biggest. Right nice. I knew he was one of three similar 10pts on camera on this property. One is 130ish. The other is 140ish. The big boy is 150ish. I squeezed the trigger when he hit the opening thinking he was the 140ish. . .hoping it was the 150ish. . . Praying it wasn't the 130ish. Don't get me wrong. Nothing wrong with 130ish. But in terms of age class, I didn't want to shoot the 130ish.

Long story short, I shot him. Ran 30-40yds. Stopped. I had chambered another round already. Drew a bead. Squeezed off another round. Lost sight of him. Waited 30-45min. Took my time climbing down. Re-hung a camera I pulled last time because batteries were dead. Cinched up the climber. Crossed the creek. Dropped climber and back pack. Slowly eased my way in looking for blood. The results. . . .

Morning hunt property east: 5 min but sat an hour
Deer seen: 10
Does: 7
Bucks: 3
Bow range: 6
Deer tagged: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 34
Hours hunted: 106.5
Deer seen: 195
Deer in bow range: 71
Does: 159
Bucks: 46
Deer tagged: 2

 

[Jackalope]

Damn good looking buck there Phil! Congrats!

 

[Dannmann801]

Toad!

 

[brock ratcliff]

He’s a good one! Congratulations again Phil!

 

[cotty16]

Hell yeah!!

 

[xbowguy]

Congrats Phil that is a hell of a nice deer!
And I am man enough to admit I lost the bet and I will gladly mail your $0.25 promptly. Again congrats on a Dandy Buck!

 

[Dustinb80]

Well done sir!!!

 

[MoonLab]

Congrats phil. Hell of a buck.