09 gun week

[swantucky]

Gun week started with Hunter and I perched 40 yards apart behind the house. We walked in as dawn was starting to break and got settled in. I really did not have much hope of seeing anything but we were out and you never know what might happen. About 7:30 or so I could see a doe coming in. My stand is a solid 10' higher than Hunter's so he did not see it until it was 20 yards from him. I was watching the deer through my scope waiting for him to shoot. He finally touched off his muzzy and the deer dropped only to jump up and head for the neighbor's who are NOT into hunting. I decided I would rather loose some meat than deal with crossing their land and put two more slugs into the deer to keep it on our "side" of the property line.

When we collected the deer I am not sure how it got up Hunter made a perfect shot.





Nice young doe to start the gun season

 

[swantucky]

After a stop at the house to hang Hunter's doe we headed to my buddy Scott's farm. He had a bunch a corn that needed cut and deer that needed thinned We sat most of the day with no action. Towards the end of legal time an 8 headed for the woods and a "buddy" killed it at 40 yards. With a few minutes of time the same "buddy" had a 150 class run by him and although he had already punched his buck tag he felt the need to be greedy and shot at that buck. He missed but it was enough to turn the buck away from any of the "legal" hunters He is lucky he did not get his ass beat.

That ended opening day.

Hunter was up late talking about his kill so I let him sleep in Tuesday. We headed to Scott's midmorning. Scott was pulling corn off another field and I was able to bring Haleybrock along. There were only 5 of us hunting so there was really no way to cover the area effectively. When Scott had most of the field picked I began walking pace with the combine, my fat ass needed the exercise

My efforts paid off when a yote came out headed my way...I was in the corn stubble and he did not see me and was trotting my way. I took a knee and followed him in my scope. He saw me and locked up. That is when I dumped him, 105 yards with muh Remington At the other end of the field farmer Scott was able to to also liqudate one off the combine with his muzzy

 

[swantucky]

We got the invite to come back on Weds but Hunter was supposed to go back to school. HB talked me into letting Hunter join us for one more day. By the time we arrived at the farm Scott had pushed 2 does and 2 bucks out of the field Shortly after we arrived a doe busted out and Hb and I both missed her At the end of that field what we thought was a doe skettered out and i shot her. It turned out to be a button, meat is meat

 

[swantucky]

Edit postDelete postReport this postInformationReply with quoteRe: Killing Ohio deerz .....
by swantucky » Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:26 pm

So HB, Myself, and Hunter head to the last field. By this point I am down to one slug so Scott gives me 3 boxes and HB gives me a box of his. On the way over to the other field our buddy Nick calls to take our snack order as he is on his way out. We meet on the far side of a field that is 1/2 mile long and 200 yards wide. Nick breaks out the pops and cupcakes and we are all standing around stuffing our faces. Scott is making the first pass with the combine and we are paying little attention as the deer generally hold to the corn until he makes quite a few passes. He is 3/4s of the way to us and a doe goes bounding out....she is about past us before we see her. We stumble for our guns and fire, never even touched her. Scott and his brother in law pulling the wagon both had to stop they were laughing so hard. They saw the deer and were just watching us pull our comedy routine trying to get a shot at her

Maybe an hour goes uneventfully. I am b.s.ing with Nick, HB is at one end of the field and Hunter at the other. I see a deer poking his head out and all of the sudden he makes a break for it heading right at Hunter. Hunter fires once, twice, three times. Steve yells "he got him, I could see at least two of the slugs hit the buck"!!! I am not so sure. I head over to Hunter and can see blood sprayed everywhere. After a track job of maybe 30 yards down an overgrown ditch we find the deer. Hunter had put all three slugs right in the boiler room!!






We were all more than excited, Hunter had killed his first buck!! After a brief celebration we all got back into position. I kept looking down at Hunter and he was was almost floating. Everytime I looked at him he seemed like he was going to start dancing.

 

[swantucky]

So after everyone checks out Hunter's deer we get back after them. After maybe a half hour Hunter motions me to come down to where he is. He says there is a doe on the edge of the corn ready to come out. Sure enough she pops out and Hunter shoots and misses. I shoot three times hitting her twice from what I could see. She makes it across the overgrown ditch and I hear another shot. I am like WTF?? I cross the ditch and reload to see one of the neighbors has snuck down the fenceline right on top of us. It pissed me off that not only was he weaseling in on our deal but he did not let us know he was there. I shot right in his direction prior to seeing him. He was back in the weeds on the ditchline. I jumped his ass a bit thats for sure. Anyway the doe is still on her feet and I dispatch her. By then the neighbor has walked up and says "well I think we both hit her, what do we do now??" I had some choice things I probably should have said but told him if you want a deer bad enough to risk your life over it take the fucker!! Hunter and I already had 3 deer that week so I could care less.

He mumblefucks around a bit and says we should flip a coin. I agian tell him take it we are burning daylight douchebag. He then says he has no coin and I need to pick a number between 1 and 10. I pick 5 and his number was 6 so he says congrats on the deer and wanders off. I get it tagged and head back across the ditch.

About then my buddy "big Fred" shows up. No blaze orange and no gun. I am like where in the hell is you gear?? He says he was not going to hunt, he just got a call from Scott that Hunter had got one and he wanted to check out his "little buddies" deer. Which I thought was pretty cool, Hunter and Fred have gotten pretty tight over the years. Fred looks forward to taking Hunter out at least once during you season more than I think Hunter looks forward to
going

So now Hunter is out of slugs so he and Fred jump on the combine with Scott. By now it is getting to be around 4 or so. Nick motions me down and asks me to look to the far end of the field because he thinks he sees a deer down there. It is pouring down rain at this point and visabilty is pretty shitty. I tell him yep its a deer but I can't tell if its a buck or doe. He says he is going to put a stalk on it. He no sooner starts in the deer's direction when Fred starts waving him back like a madman. Fred is making all kind of gestures that there is a big buck in the corn. Nick and I get back to the ditchline in a hurry.

We we get to the ditchline here comes the neighbor to tell us he is soaked and going home. Nick for whatever reason tells him he should stay there is a good buck in the corn. For the life of me I don't know why Nick did not let the guy leave. The guy says well I'll go back and sit down then and heads maybe 75 yards down the ditch from us.

Since Nick is shooting a muzzy I tell him if a buck busts out he needs to take the first shot. Sure enough a good buck comes roaring out of the corn!! His rack is full of cornstalks and he looks like a fugging MONSTER!! Nick shoots and the buck keeps going. I empty my three shots and am pretty confident we got him. The buck looks hit but like the doe gets across the ditch and we hear a shot. We cross the ditch and the buck is down. The neighbor I believe walked up after the buck fell and shot it in the neck. Three of the four shots Nick and I took hit the deer in the chest. The neighbor is like "well I dropped it". I did not want to claim the buck under those circumstances. By then Fred, Hunter, Scott, and HB , made it to the scene.

 

[swantucky]

As I said I did not feel like the deer was "mine". I asked Nick what he wanted to do.....if Nick would have said he wanted the deer Fred and I would have left the neighbor in a bloody heap if that is what it took. Nick did not seem to care either way. So we let the neighbor claim it. On the walk back across the ditch Nick said that was a bunch of shit the other guy took it. I said if you wanted it you should have spoke up. He said I'm pissed but every time I would look at the mount I would have doubt if I did the right thing taking the deer. The wind was out of Nick's sail for sure and I was half tempted to go back and get the deer for him. Here is the buck in question.




While Nick kicked dirt clods HB said he had to go as it was Brock's birthday. I said well give Fred your gun and orange then. Fred said no that would not be right, I said take the fucken gun and shut up

 

[swantucky]

So we settle the gun issue and Fred grabs HB's blaze orange vest. About then we look down the center of the cornfield where Scott had cut a pass and see a doe. We ask Nick if he wants to try and get after it, he says no. Like I said he was pretty upset. So I tell Fred to get after it He says the only way he will is if I go with him. We just kinda walk down the cut path and the deer just stands there watching us, it was really weird. Fred says how far are we? I tell him 80 yards, he says I wanna get closer. We creep up some more and I tell him we are 60 yards and you better shoot or I will. I also tell him HB and I sighted in that gun and it is dead nuts from 60 yards. Fred pulls up, fires and the doe drops We walk up and she is down for good. fred says well we have 10 minutes of legal time left are you going to try and stalk up on the deer that Nick was going to go after?? I look back and Nick is still hanging his head and say what the heck I'll see if it is still there. Mind you probably 15 minutes or more have gone by since we last saw the deer.

I cut through the unpicked corn with Fred on my heels until I reach the end of it. I peek my head out and the deer is still hanging on the edge of the uncut corn. We both agree it is a buck based on the body size but we are too far to see how big he is. Fred says I'll get my doe gutted so I don't dick you up. I stay like 4 rows in on the edge of the corn and head toward the deer. I am trying to cover 2-300 yards as quietly as I can but I know time is running out.

I get to 100 yards and peek out agian and see the deer is still there. I duck back into the corn and try to close the gap. I get to within about 60 yards and the corn is blown down and I have no cover left. As I said it is pouring down rain, I get my binos on him and cannot tell for sure how good a buck he is. With the corn as a backdrop his rack really blended in. I can tell he is outside of his ears for sure but not much more detail than that. Mind you he has snapped his head up and is eyeballing me. My goal every season is to kill a buck bigger than I have on the wall.......I debate and decide I am going to hope nothing is busted on him I can't see. He is facing me at 60 yards and I put the Simmons crosshairs the center of his chest...BOOM!! He turns and runs out into the plowed field hauling balls. I shoot agian with a 6' lead on him and see my slug splash mud and water 6' behind him. I adjust my lead on the third shot to 12' and let it fly.

Nothing, no sign of a hit and I am beginning to think I have somehow missed him. I watch him run wide open like nothing is wrong across the plowed field, 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards, 400 yards. By now I am really discusted with myself. Then at 450 yards I see him tumble!!!

About this time Hunter comes running up to me and right behind him is HB in his truck. We convene and I ask what HB is still doing here?? He said he was taking off his wet clothes. He said for Hunter and I to jump in the bed of his truck and direct him to when the deer was. I had lined up where he dropped with some irrigation equipment. Off we went.

 

[swantucky]

Just a few more details...My first shot on my buck was dead on, missed my second and third shot. Hard to believe a slug passed almost end for end through the deer and he still ran that far. If it would have been a wooded area I am not sure with the rain I would have found him. Kinda scary to think I could have lost this buck given different circumstances. Not that it matters much but he grossed 137 after a quick tape job. When I get to Fred's to pick out how I want him mounted we will take a little more time and score him agian.

I am sure some will question our methods, hunting while the farmer is picking the corn. As I have said the fields are sometimes covering many acres and his picker is only 6 rows wide. Most of the time the deer escape where there are no standers. We only have a few guys hunting for safety reasons. The day Hunter and I got our bucks was the exception, not the rule. In 10 years or more and dozens of hunts on that farm that was my first buck. I think in 10 years I have killed maybe 6 deer out there. I follow the and if I felt that the deer were at more of a disadvantage than they already are with guns in our hands I would not do it.

In addition the farm suffered more than $25,000 in crop damage this year so it was time for a decent kill. Scott being the only partner in the farm he is in charge of the wildlife management. His partners ever few years put him on notice the herd is getting to large and if they are not delt with they will be killed on damage permits come spring.

 

[Hoytmania]

Insert - TO BE CONTINUED!

 

[swantucky]

to be continued...

 

[swantucky]

fugg dude i was happy I was able to transfer all of this. I ain't no 1023 when it comes to story telling.

 

[Hoytmania]

You made me belly laugh right there.

 

[swantucky]

Edit postDelete postReport this postInformationReply with quoteRe: Killing Ohio deerz .....
by swantucky » Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:26 pm

I direct Hb to where I last saw the deer. He stops the truck and we all jump out looking. I knew we had to be close. All of the sudden HB starts yelling "Holy funk looks at the antlers" and takes off tunning like Carl Lewis I get to the deer and I have to admit he was bigger than I first thought. Nice to have ground swell rather than ground shrink

By then Fred had his doe loaded and pulled up in his truck. I called Scott to let him know what was going on. He said he wondered what the hell all of us were doing way over there in the pouring rain. I could see the tractor lurch into high gear as he headed our way. He must have passed word to the farm because the rest of the farmers came rolling out in short order. I have to admit we are a tight group and have hunted together for a decade or more. But the manlove that went on in that muddy field was off the hook. Hugs and high fives went on for what seemed like an hour.

It was then one of the farmhands said we best get your van and the other deer out of the field while we still could. They helped me load the deer and ended up having to tow the van all the way out to the road. While I collected the deer Fred gutted mine for me He always said when I get a big one he was gonna gut it for me

 

[swantucky]

Sorry, I thought you were fucking with me....I tried....shit I left out the best part. I guess my wife is right, sometimes I drink too much. Fugg me!!

 

[swantucky]

For fugging that up here is a pic of big Fred with one of his bucks:smiley_confused_sch

 

[Dannmann801]

Swannie this is good stuff you should start a blog and transfer it in

 

[finelyshedded]

Good read and thanks for sharing.

 

[rgecko23]

good read buddy...Sounds like you guys had a blast. gun week for me is pretty lame compared to yours..

 

[formerbowhunter1023]

Good read bud. It was fun to live that week with you throw the forums and the phone calls!!!

 

[Buckmaster]

Wow, a long one, but a good one.

I never heard of that hunting technique but I've never had corn either. Seems like it works well and all the hunters came out with deer and the farmer with his corn. A win-win for sure with memories to last.