Snake's 2012 Season in Review

[PoisonSnake]

Well, it pretty much sucked. I began hunting on the morning of October 28th. I saw 19 deer that morning. Not sure how many that afternoon. I had a mature 7 pointer at 15 yards. One side of his rack was a perfect 4 but the other side only had 3 with about a 9" brow tine. I let that deer walk a couple of times. During the following days up and until rifle season, I spent 5 days on the stand never leaving the woods. The other days, I was off stand about 1.5 hours at the most. I saw 31 different bucks during this time period. I'd say only 7 or 8 of those really got my attetion, but most of them were 2.5 year old deer or better. I had 2 bucks in particular that once I had an encounter with, I decided I would devote the entire bow season to only one of either of those deer. Friday November 1 I had my first encounter with a deer that I believe will gross low 160s and net in the high 150s. I had him at 30 yards and had a spot to shoot through that was about 12" by 12". I have never passed a shot like that. But, the way this deer was coming, I thought he was going to walk on up and give me a wide open 15 yards shot. Big mistake. He made a quick 90 degree turn for some reason. I was already on the string and tried to groove a shot into about a 3" window into his guts. I missed to the right and grazed his front shoulder. It looked as if the air was filled with snow I took so much hair off. Anyway, I should have gone for the Texas heart shot. Truthfully though, I should never have drawn the bow. The following afternoon, I decided to hunt my winter wheat plot as it was a nice afternoon just for sitting if nothing else. Didn't expect to see a "big" deer. About 5:00, however, I had a doe sneak in and I knew something was up and grabbed the bow. One of the biggest 8s that I have ever seen on the hoof (have only seen 3 really big ones ever) was coming in behind her. I think he too would net 150". High 140s for sure. Well, for some foolish reason I decided to wear Crocs to the stand and not my boots. The doe came in right under me in the wheat. I was praying she would pass and then I would draw and kill the big deer. He was at 20 yards in the brush. Things didn't work out and she either smelled where I walked in or spotted me in the tree. I don't know what happened, but she spooked and so did the big deer. I could have threaded the needle on him as well, but I elected to wait again. I'll look at this season as one of hind-sight being 20-20. I truly thought that doe would might pass on through. I didn't even think about the Croc issue until later that night. That was foolish. But, how often do they come in to the base of your tree like that? The following day, Sunday afternoon, I had the big 10 pointer at 40 yards and was unable to get anything done. He charged a doe from behind an osage orange tree and scared the piss out of me and her. That was the only damn tree with full foliage and there was no seeing him until he charged her from behind it. I instinctively grabbed for the bow and he caught me. He spooked then, but I believe I blew him out of the area the following Tuesday morning in the dark. Luckily, I have him on game camera on December 1. So, unless he fell to a ML, he should still be alive. I have another big deer on camera on the 28th of November as well. Might be the 8. I passed shots on a couple of good deer the week prior to rifle season. I did actually grab the bow twice, but I never drew the string. I knew I would regret it in the end.

As late season goes, I had one good 3.5 year old 8 that I could have taken a shot at. I had 3 or 4 other smallish 8 pointers that gave me shot opportunities as well. But, I only saw 1 big deer and I'm not sure what he was. He was about 80 yards away. As a disclaimer, I did shoot a deer with a gun this year. It was an 11-pointer with broken brows. Grosses in the mid 130s and nets in the high 120s. Probably would have grossed 140" with the brows. Story of my life with a gun. Always a broken tine here or there. Shot him about 6:30 a.m. the first day of rifle season. Oh, and the sad part is that he was only a 3.5 year old deer. FD 175#s. So, there you have it. The season of what could have been.

[PoisonSnake]

One last thing...., I know there are two fawns that more than likely lost their momma to EHD that I could have killed with a knife. They truly had never seen a human and allowed me to walk up on them. One was a button buck and the other was a doe. The button buck, I could have touched him. But, I was a little scared. He was a regular in my clover prior to rifle season. I sure hope he lived.

[RB]

PS, good read. You sure had a lot of encounters and opportunities this past season. Sounds like you had a good time in the woods. If all these were on the HFA then you are over run with deer. Some problem to have.

[PoisonSnake]

Yes, all of this was on the HFA. I had a great time watching deer this year. What was really cool was to watch a buck act more like a herding dog in terms of the way they would approach a doe. Staying behind downwind and kind of "cutting them off at the pass" so to speak. Saw this a handful of times. Had a doe and a fawn right underneath me grooming one another. This lasted for 15 minutes. It made me question the relationship between a mother and the fawn being a bit deeper than simple grooming.

I never hunted anywhere else other than the HFA (not even behind the house). I was a bit perplexed at the small numbers of 1.5 year old deer I was seeing as this generally makes up the bulk of the bucks that I see. EHD tends to effect the older age classes. I was beginning to wonder if EHD had gotten a large portion of our 1.5 year old deer. But, the game camera suggests I have a healty supply of them that I never laid eyes on.

I hunted for the last time Saturday evening. I saw 21 does and fawns from the stand. They were hammering the clover patch even up into mid January. I know soybeans are the ticket. But, that clover will flat draw deer even on the small foodplots I have in.

One last thing. I need to place 2 more stands and move another to be ready for next fall. Will do that this weekend.

[Warmouth]

Good read PS, lots of action even if you didn't connect.

I'm not sure you should have TX heart shot one, but wtf, it's your tag. I've heard guys say it is effective, I've just never done it myself.

You've got a lot to look forward to next year.

[PoisonSnake]

Dave, you are right. I should have shot that deer the first chance I got. Anything after, the way it went down, I was a fool to even draw the bow.

Really and truly it was a great season for me. It only sucked because I overthought the situation, passing on a good shot thinking I was going to get a great shot. I cannot recall ever doing that before. On big deer, I have always taken the first shot that I have gotten. Not this time, and it cost me with the biggest deer of my life.

[Triton X2]

At least you didnt have to track him for a week

[Warmouth]

Yeah, passing on a good shot and waiting on the best shot doesn't work out a lot of the time.

[lonepine]

and also you did not cut yourself in gutting him out. all these positive vibes.