# Anyone taking any nice bucks?



## AJ35 (May 15, 2012)

I haven't hunted for about 6 years now, but I always like to see the pics of nice bucks rolling in around this time of year. I know the action has to be heating up in the woods right now. Sometimes I miss being out in the mountains here chasing deer. Nothing beats the smell of autumn leaves, soil, and ferns all mixed together. It almost becomes part of your DNA. So, have any of you put a tag on any yet this year? Pics?


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

nothing big but I shot a 6 pt. this morning in western MD in the early Muzzleloader season ... gonna smoke and chip the hid quarters ... his neck was swelled up and stunk of rut and was trailing a doe ... still kinda early but ...


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

Then seen this at the Butchers


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## landlocked (Jun 10, 2001)

Got this this evening 15 minutes after getting in my stand.
http://www.pierandsurf.com/fishing-forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8258&d=1350777206


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## Dewy (Jan 9, 2005)

Nice Buck Landlocked!

I popped my 3rd doe this morning, all with my Excalibur Crossbow. One more for my freezer and then a few for some property owners. My hunting buddy and I have been straying away from some of our places that have the big bucks we really want on them until the rut begins. Judging by the way things are going it won't be too much longer before we go after them full bore. I'm really looking forward to some exciting action doing some urban big buck hunting this year!


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## landlocked (Jun 10, 2001)

thanks Dewy. We need the temperature to drop for the rut to really start. Have seen a few scrapes. The amount of acorns around here will keep them spread out. good luck.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

I missed a big cow horn, he was old. Hit a fricken tree branch


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## chriscustom (Jun 17, 2006)

Landlocked!Dude! You need to clean out that truck Yo! Oh yeah nice buck too.


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

After some a$$ wipes swiped my tackle boxes and stuff, I'm open to taking all the bucks people can give me.....what, we're not talking about those kinds of bucks? Crap, I'll still take them! Pm. me for address to send all the benjamins you can let go my way!


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## OBX Jay (Sep 3, 2007)

Not huge bucks but I was happy.


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## dialout (Feb 5, 2011)

Finally had a day off, and got out for early muzzel loader doe season...usually use it for late scouting. Hit a spot that is kinda big woods, but normally holds deer.....and nothing. I mean no tracks, trails, rubs, scrapes, droppings...nothing. , and acorns all over the place. It was really weird, i honestly think there wasnt a single deer around, and i covered alot of area.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

dialout said:


> Finally had a day off, and got out for early muzzel loader doe season...usually use it for late scouting. Hit a spot that is kinda big woods, but normally holds deer.....and nothing. I mean no tracks, trails, rubs, scrapes, droppings...nothing. , and acorns all over the place. It was really weird, i honestly think there wasnt a single deer around, and i covered alot of area.


I'd keep an eye on it then cause they will sooner or later show up


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## AJ35 (May 15, 2012)

dialout said:


> Finally had a day off, and got out for early muzzel loader doe season...usually use it for late scouting. Hit a spot that is kinda big woods, but normally holds deer.....and nothing. I mean no tracks, trails, rubs, scrapes, droppings...nothing. , and acorns all over the place. It was really weird, i honestly think there wasnt a single deer around, and i covered alot of area.


Keep on looking, they are there. If the woods are full of acorns right now, they aren't having to move nearly as much. I remember a few "bumper crop" years where it was like walking on marbles, and the deer seemed to be nowhere to be found. What I always called the chase phase of the rut should be just around the corner here in PA. I always used to remember the last week of October and the first week of November being the highest activity weeks. I sure do miss hunting seeing those pictures. The only buck I killed in the AM just so happened to be the biggest I've ever taken, a 140" 12pt, and that was during rifle season. I had to walk way back in the mountains to get that dude. Drug it 1 3/4 miles according to the topo map, but just as you were, I was using bear season as a sort of scouting trip when I found that location. Worked out great a few years later. Every other buck I killed was from 1PM on. Always remember to give mid-day a chance, if you are hunting the evening, try to be in your spot by noon. 

If you are looking to take a doe for the freezer, I've always found one thing to be particularly lethal in getting them to come out if they are being lazy. I used to set up, downwind of the thickest cover around, and use a grunt tube to do what was explained to me as a "feeding grunt". It was sort of like a light "grunt, tick, tick, tick" on the grunt call. I would blow out of the grunt tube and my nose at the same time to keep it as soft as possible, yet loud enough for them to hear. It relaxes the deer and lets them know it is ok to come out and feed if they are around. Give it half an hour, and move to the next spot. I've brought them out of their hiding places plenty of times by doing that. Best of luck dialout. Nice bucks Landlocked and ChesBay Jay, congratulations.


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## N topsail fisher (Feb 13, 2005)

This guy came out about 5 minutes after I got in the stand. Not saying he was following a doe, but one came out in the field before him about 75 yds down the wood line. The best part it's my first good buck (only does and a cow horn before) and I got the shot on an action cam. It's an 8 pointer measuring 14 1/2 inside and it's thick.


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## chriscustom (Jun 17, 2006)

Nice deer guys. hopefully I'll be out there sometime this week.


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## AJ35 (May 15, 2012)

Niiiiice deer topsail. Congratulations! Feels good to take your first mature buck doesn't it?


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## N topsail fisher (Feb 13, 2005)

AJ, yes it does! This is the Autumn of Elliott. Biggest buck, biggest drum, What's next?


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## 10NKO (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks for the pics/stories guys - I am eagerly awaiting opening day of black powder on Nov. 3rd - I have been out and hung a couple stands and seen old rubs and fresh scrapes.


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## AJ35 (May 15, 2012)

N topsail fisher said:


> AJ, yes it does! This is the Autumn of Elliott. Biggest buck, biggest drum, What's next?


Funny how things work isn't it? The year I got my biggest buck, several things happened that were strange, and frustrating. First, I made a drive about 10 miles to a spot in the mountains I'd always wanted to hunt, and forgot my release. The next time I hunted it, I made a perfect stalk on a doe, and shot over her back. She ran about 50 yards, and I was able to sneak up on her again. She was quartering away, I pulled back, released, and my arrow deflected off of her and into the dirt. Come to find out, this happens in rare instances with open on impact broadheads shot at an angle. Strangely, she stuck around and I could have stalked her again, but by now realizing the gods were teasing me, I simply retrieved my arrows and walked to my car. Then, a few weeks later, I was up in a tree and shot low, barely grazing a small buck. It sucked, but, not as much as the bottom half of my climbing stand falling out from underneath me on the way down and wedging on the tree to where I couldn't pull it back up. I had to be "rescued" from my climber, 15 feet up in a tree, with an aluminum ladder. That was the first time I ever carried a cell phone with me in the woods..... 

I went into rifle season with my brand new 12ga slug gun. I woke up on the first morning to another "first". It was the first opening day of rifle season I had ever hunted where there was snow on the ground. Felt great. I made my way to my spot, an hour walk in the dark, and got set up. I had to resist the urge to break in my new slug gun on a doe that walked out, but I figured I didn't walk that far to shoot a doe. At about 9am, I noticed the buck that ended up being my biggest deer to date, 140" 12pt, walking down the steep hill from behind me. He got on me fast, and at a whopping 10 yards, I squeezed the trigger and he dropped. I was so happy and excited that I actually slapped the tree beside me and laughed out loud. I was shaking too bad to even field dress it. I had to call my dad and talk to him for about 10 minutes just to calm down. It took me three tries just to dial the number right. It was great because he was scheduled to leave for Kuwait just a couple of days later, so he was happy to see me take that buck. Funny that I didn't have the same luck during archery season, I could have killed that thing with a rock at that yardage. On the way out, while dragging my buck, I found "extra" luck on my side as a nice, wide 6 pointer ran right up to me at only about 20 yards and stared at me. He would go 20 yards, stop, turn and look at me, then start moving again. He stayed in range for 5 minutes fully knowing I was there the whole time. I could have taken him a million different times. It was a neat experience to say the least, and it was "the season of firsts" for me. First mature buck, first time I had an arrow deflect off of a deer, first time I snuck up on the same deer twice, first time I shot at the same deer twice, first time I shot a deer at 10 yards with a firearm, first deer with my brand new slug gun, first time I had to be rescued out of a tree, luckily the first time I took a cell phone into the woods with me, first time I missed that many deer with a bow, first time I ever forgot my release, and the first time I ever had a buck hang around looking at me for 5 minutes when I had a rifle in my hands. It's funny how often times, when things seem to be at their worst, they can suddenly turn for the best. Did I mention how much I miss being in the woods?


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