The 2015/2016 Deer Season

[jakec]

Good news!! I've been waiting on them to turn on. Our lease is in Canoe and last weekend there was fresh scrapes everywhere you went but no chasing. I'm off all next week. So far I've got a doe and a 4 point. Hopefully that'll change this week.

 

[Brandon_SPC]

Shot this guy in Blackwater on Tuesday with a .243 pushing a 95gr SST, only ran about 40 yards. He came out rubbing trees, pissing on himself, all rutted up. His neck was thick and stunk to high heaven.

 

[SAWMAN]

Congratz to all you guys killin' them deer and hogs. Especially in places like Eglin and the WMA's where you really gotta know where to go and how to hunt the areas. PLUS .... you gotta compete with all that other orange in the woods.

I went to my club in Molino just after breakfast with some corn to replenish my feeders and some bread from the "day old" store. Finished up with that ,parked my truck and walked back to my #1 plot and house. Great temp in there even with not sun,at least no wind and the army blankets to keep me warm.

About 1100 a doe trotted out on the plot. With a doe tag in hand my decission was ---> do I kill her or was a buck not far behind. I did not shoot. She continued to look and not eat. She ended up walking off the plot. I sat there for the next 20 minutes with my gun(RARR,300BLK,110gr Barnes TAC-X)on the bags ,scope caps off,and ready to shoot. No buck.

About 1400 a good sized (body weight) buck walked onto the plot. This antlers was not 11 inches inside so he was not "club legal". He fed around the plot for awhile on the bread and corn,then after about 10 minutes he ran off the plot like he had somewhere to go.

I kept watching the WX radar on my phone and the rain was coming out of the SW and approaching fast. At my club we cannot drive the roads within two hours of legal shooting time so I ended up leaving about 1500. I hit rain on the way home.

Will be out again for the PM hunt then this weekend with my wife. Best of luck to -------------------------> ME. --- SAWMAN

 

[bobinbusan]

Thanks SAWMAN ,good information, maybe on the, He fed around the plot for awhile on the bread and corn, have you ever thought about using any cornbread:thumb:

 

[SAWMAN]

About 6 years ago I knew one of the managers of the Cock O The Walk off of 9 Mile Rd. He used to save me all the corn bread that hit the floor. I picked up a large black trash bag of it every week.

The deer absolutely loved it. Hogs love it also. So do turkey. --- SAWMAN

 

[SAWMAN]

Last Nights Hog Hunt -->

Another forum member and myself went out to the cotton fields to see if a hog or three would show up. I was sitting at the top of a farm field watching down thru the adjoining fields for some 600+ yds. About 10:30PM some targets came into view. They were too far off to be able to tell the difference between a deer and hog. So I got my gun,shooting stick,and strobe light and headed down to try to close the distance enough to be able to tell.

At about 300yds I could start to tell that they(all 13 of them) were deer. There were two fawns among them that were no taller than the cotton stems that were left in the field. I mean ...... these little guys were tiny. The larger deer were feeding along and the two fawns were jumping and running around.

THEN ...... the coyotes started up. At first the yotes were probably a half mile away. But as the coyotes got closer the deer heard seemed to take more notice. More head up than head down at this point. When the coyotes were several hundred yards away the deer started to bunch up and NO heads went down. Every time the yotes would let out some howls and barks the two fawns would lay down in the cotton stalks and were hard to see. As soon as the coyotes would stop,they would stand back up. This happened 4 or 5 times or so. Funny to watch. Although somewhat bright moonlight,the deer still didn't have a clue that I was there and I could see their every movement thru my thermal.

We left about midnight. No hogs but tons of fun and more training with the thermal. I have found out in my years of experience using thermal the ID of an animal is more about the movement of the animal than how they look. This,at the longer ranges,saaaaay 300yds+. --- SAWMAN

 

[Daezee]

My sister-in-law just called from Georgia. She picked up my European mount for me. I'll bring it home on my next Georgia trip. If you look through the window behind her and several hundred yards away, that's where I got the buck.

 

[SAWMAN]

Great set of antlers Bruce. What is the inside spread ?? Looks to be about 17 inches or so. Great trip ... great expierance. But ... don't understand how you managed to kill that deer with a 300WTF. I figured that the bullet would simply bounce off. --- SAWMAN

 

[Daezee]

It might have bounced off and the deer had been shot earlier and died where I was.

 

[Brandon_SPC]

Got another one with the .243. Saw this guy 250 yards away down in a creek bed, I was in the same tree as the 6pt I shot in post #22. I hit the grunt tube about 6 times and then the can 3 times and he closed that distance in about 30 seconds came out and smelt the doe in estrous nose right to it turned around and shot.. Ran about 40 yards. I was out at Blackwater.

 

[Famine]

Last week of general gun for Fl, headed up to my camp tomorrow and will hunt thru Sunday - then back again for bow and ML the following week - then some R &R from hunting for a while. Not sure about turkey but will sure be hunting some coons and coyotes for fun.