gbear
12-04-2010, 10:37 AM
Now that the season is over, and I don't really know what to do today because this is the first Saturday I could sleep in since my season began, I though I would post pictures of the whitetail I hunted and shot this year.
I had posted a few threads as the season went on showing some of the trail camera pictures I was getting of whitetails. By mid November, it was becoming obvious to me that I was getting trail camera pictures of several mature deer. There were at least 3 different bucks that I was willing to cut my tag on. Some may recall the drop tine buck I posted up earlier. When I thought of which buck I really wanted, his picture kept coming to my mind. He wasn't the biggest, but I have never seen a drop tine whitetail alive. Here is the first picture of him as a reminder
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/MDGC1616.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=20850&perpage=18&ppuser=9369)
This is the first daytime picture I got of him:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/MDGC0950.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21075&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=9369)
When I seen the day time picture of him, I knew he was a good mature deer. He looked more impressive to me in the day.
So, late November rolled around, and it was time to get serious and hunt whitetail. The rut was going full bore and deer were moving all over. Some -25 weather hit us, and i decided it was time to take a few days off work, and sit all day waiting for a buck.
The day came, and driving out to my spot, it was cold. One spot on the highway driving out was -30. As we started to gain elevation heading to my stand, it started to warm up. When I left the truck it was -21. My partner then drove the extra distance to his stand and it was -25 for him.
I walked in before legal time. I have about a 1 km hike in to my stand. When I got close, I put on all my extra clothes I packed in and then got seated in my blind that I had up in a tree. I built a platform up in the trees large enough so I could set up my ground blind on it to keep the wind off me.
Legal time came by, and had seen a couple small bucks, but nothing big. At this point it was good daylight, and I felt it was safe to light up the heater in my blind. (Don't like having it on to early because of the orange glow). About 9:30, I see a lone doe, and I wonder if anything will follow her. Just as I thought that, I spotted movement about 50 yards behind her. I looked with the binos and see a buck. Good body size, but can't make out the antlers clearly yet. He comes in, and I see he's a good 5x5 that should score around 140 or so. For some reason I grab my gun and look at him for a second and then remind myself that he is not one of my top 3, so the gun goes down. He chases the doe around a bit , but she doesn't want him. So, they both eat a bit, and I notice they both looked intently in the same direction, and I knew something else is about to come in. Way to my right, I see a very large bodied deer moving. It's a buck, but I can't make him out clearly through all the brush. He stopped under a spruce tree and made a scrape. At this point, I can see he's a 5 point, and I recognize him from trail cam pictures, but now he's only got one antler. The other side was snapped off near the base.
After he makes his scrape, he starts moving towards the other buck and doe, very aggressive. Probably the last 20 yards or so, he turns sideways and starts moving towards the other buck. That was enough to scare the other guy off. At that point, I knew there was a reason that other guy didn't make my top 3 list.
So then this one antler buck starts chasing the doe around and they disappear for a minute or so. He then comes back alone and eats a bit. As he's doing that, he keeps raising his head in one direction and stares off that way. I don't see anything, so I assume he's looking at the doe somewhere over to my right. He keeps doing this every 20 or 30 seconds, and then a couple minutes later, the doe comes back from a different angle, and now she too starts looking in that direction.
This goes on for another minute or so, and I finally spot a deer's body moving through the trees. All of a sudden the one antler buck takes off in the oppostite direction, and he is moving! At that point, I knew something big was coming. The doe even looked a bit worried. So, I decided to get my gun up and start to take aim. Then all of a sudden my buck appeared.
It was like an instant reaction. I didn't have to think about it. I knew the buck, and jsut knew that he was the one for this year. Bang, and he is down. He didn't even take a step. I remember radioing my partner saying I got a big buck down, and that it should be the drop tine, but at that point, I hadn't seen the drop tine. His other main beam had an unmistakeable end, and that's what I had seen. I don't even remember getting out of the tree to go see him.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0348a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21487&ppuser=9369)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0350a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21488&ppuser=9369)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0352a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21489&ppuser=9369)
Had him scored for our local big buck night, and he came out at 146 4/8. Because of the drop tine, he will be going on my wall.
Got him from the same stand I got my buck from last year.
I had posted a few threads as the season went on showing some of the trail camera pictures I was getting of whitetails. By mid November, it was becoming obvious to me that I was getting trail camera pictures of several mature deer. There were at least 3 different bucks that I was willing to cut my tag on. Some may recall the drop tine buck I posted up earlier. When I thought of which buck I really wanted, his picture kept coming to my mind. He wasn't the biggest, but I have never seen a drop tine whitetail alive. Here is the first picture of him as a reminder
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/MDGC1616.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=20850&perpage=18&ppuser=9369)
This is the first daytime picture I got of him:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/MDGC0950.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21075&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=9369)
When I seen the day time picture of him, I knew he was a good mature deer. He looked more impressive to me in the day.
So, late November rolled around, and it was time to get serious and hunt whitetail. The rut was going full bore and deer were moving all over. Some -25 weather hit us, and i decided it was time to take a few days off work, and sit all day waiting for a buck.
The day came, and driving out to my spot, it was cold. One spot on the highway driving out was -30. As we started to gain elevation heading to my stand, it started to warm up. When I left the truck it was -21. My partner then drove the extra distance to his stand and it was -25 for him.
I walked in before legal time. I have about a 1 km hike in to my stand. When I got close, I put on all my extra clothes I packed in and then got seated in my blind that I had up in a tree. I built a platform up in the trees large enough so I could set up my ground blind on it to keep the wind off me.
Legal time came by, and had seen a couple small bucks, but nothing big. At this point it was good daylight, and I felt it was safe to light up the heater in my blind. (Don't like having it on to early because of the orange glow). About 9:30, I see a lone doe, and I wonder if anything will follow her. Just as I thought that, I spotted movement about 50 yards behind her. I looked with the binos and see a buck. Good body size, but can't make out the antlers clearly yet. He comes in, and I see he's a good 5x5 that should score around 140 or so. For some reason I grab my gun and look at him for a second and then remind myself that he is not one of my top 3, so the gun goes down. He chases the doe around a bit , but she doesn't want him. So, they both eat a bit, and I notice they both looked intently in the same direction, and I knew something else is about to come in. Way to my right, I see a very large bodied deer moving. It's a buck, but I can't make him out clearly through all the brush. He stopped under a spruce tree and made a scrape. At this point, I can see he's a 5 point, and I recognize him from trail cam pictures, but now he's only got one antler. The other side was snapped off near the base.
After he makes his scrape, he starts moving towards the other buck and doe, very aggressive. Probably the last 20 yards or so, he turns sideways and starts moving towards the other buck. That was enough to scare the other guy off. At that point, I knew there was a reason that other guy didn't make my top 3 list.
So then this one antler buck starts chasing the doe around and they disappear for a minute or so. He then comes back alone and eats a bit. As he's doing that, he keeps raising his head in one direction and stares off that way. I don't see anything, so I assume he's looking at the doe somewhere over to my right. He keeps doing this every 20 or 30 seconds, and then a couple minutes later, the doe comes back from a different angle, and now she too starts looking in that direction.
This goes on for another minute or so, and I finally spot a deer's body moving through the trees. All of a sudden the one antler buck takes off in the oppostite direction, and he is moving! At that point, I knew something big was coming. The doe even looked a bit worried. So, I decided to get my gun up and start to take aim. Then all of a sudden my buck appeared.
It was like an instant reaction. I didn't have to think about it. I knew the buck, and jsut knew that he was the one for this year. Bang, and he is down. He didn't even take a step. I remember radioing my partner saying I got a big buck down, and that it should be the drop tine, but at that point, I hadn't seen the drop tine. His other main beam had an unmistakeable end, and that's what I had seen. I don't even remember getting out of the tree to go see him.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0348a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21487&ppuser=9369)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0350a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21488&ppuser=9369)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0352a.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21489&ppuser=9369)
Had him scored for our local big buck night, and he came out at 146 4/8. Because of the drop tine, he will be going on my wall.
Got him from the same stand I got my buck from last year.