The Real Trip Report

Well.............not long ago, this report would have been really boring. And then upon the last day..........

But let me back up.

First, for you non-Arkie heathens (QA, et al excepted), our season is 9 days of M/L in late October.......then Modern Gun (MG) runs for 5 weeks in most of the state, starting the Saturday after National Voting Day in November. It ended December 16th. Then we have that goofy 6 day season Dec 26-31 where 3 days are M/L and 3 days are MG, but I can't make that one......kids are coming in.

Well, for the purists...........those are our GUN seasons....our archery season runs contiguously----even through all gun seasons if you want----from October 1 till February 28.

I started at the Farm in M/L season, and didn't really see much. I saw a few Mama's with little ones. After a few days I went to camp, and saw dang near nothing the rest of that week.

I did the same when MG season opened. I saw one buck at the farm, a healthy six pointer with no brow tines (a mainframe 8 with no brow tines). I let him walk, though later I regretted that somewhat, thinking it might have helped to take that no-brow-tine gene out of the gene pool. I've been told by my biologist buddy that this gene is the most prevalent undesirable deer gene, and hard to get rid of. But I was holding out for The Yardmaster, and didn't shoot.

Then I went to camp. I spent about 10 days seeing absolutely nothing. Air. Birds. More air. However, I did get word that a fellow in camp had used my absence from camp, when I was at the farm, to hunt my favorite stand. That's fine, we all move anywhere. No problems. But he apparently saw a very nice deer, antlers outside the ears, but didn't shoot. It was 5:21 p.m., right at dark, and it was 200 yards away (I know exactly where he was standing). So that gave me hope. I have killed a buck in this location every year since 1995.

I went back to the farm, but we had terrible weather. I thought the cold would make the deer move, but I think Southern deer are more like us than we realize.......they don't like frost and ice and cold and wind and such. Anyway, I didn't see anything on that trip. So I headed back to camp till Thanksgiving, when I came home for 2 days for festivities at Mother's house. At that point I had seen one button buck and one spike!!!

Still, other guys were seeing a few deer. I figured it was just my year to be snakebit, and we certainly have way fewer than 10 years ago, but everyone in S. Arkansas says that.

Went back after Thanksgiving, when our traditional "full rut" (defined as does standing for bucks) occurs in a 12 minute window on Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. :) I saw nothing.

In the two weeks that followed, we had some interesting events at camp, but I saw nothing more than another button and two more spikes. One guy missed a 10 pointer and we looked for hours.......only to have that same deer killed by his son in law a week later.....with a 'crease' in his left front leg. Good to know he didn't cripple it and it died in the woods. It was walking fine when shot.

This same guy had a weird happening, again. He is the camp's deer slayer, and seldom misses. I guess everything changes. He was in a boring stand (2 lanes is all we can see) for hunting, but one that produces a very high disproportionate percentage of our deer kills. It's a 'house' that some guy built so his wife could hunt in comfort, and it's on the land that these guys abandoned that I found and leased personally 3 years ago. We call it the "Doo Doo" stand cause he nailed a commode seat to the wall so that when the seat is down, it fits on a 5 gallon bucket. We don't use it, but we're sure it was for her. There is some pencil writing on the walls about who built it and why.....that it was for "Uncle A and Aunt B" to hunt together. It's a neat idea if you don't need to get high in the air, and you don't in that location. Anyway, this guy had corn out in several piles down both lanes, and the last pile was 295 yards from the stand. I had hunted it and noticed that the crows were devouring this corn. He said he saw movement down this lane and put his gun up to look through scope, and it was crows flying in and out. BUT, while he was looking, a huge buck, bigger than any he's seen in 26 years down there, literally walks into his scope. He said it was walking across the lane and didn't really stop, and he fired. He drew blood, and I helped him track and I found a small bone fragment........but we concluded it was a leg shot, and not rib bone. So another "shoot low" shot on a big buck for him. He actually saw another nice buck at another stand, but couldn't get a shot.

This same guy was seeing some smaller bucks and does. I never once saw a doe during the entire hunt........I take that back, I probably saw a doe out of my best stand right after dark (after shooting hours) one afternoon in M/L season. Hard to see that far away, but moon was full and I think it was a doe. Anyway, that's the only legal shooting deer I saw all season almost.

Time went on and with about a week to go, I saw another couple of spikes and another button. I think I had seen 5 total, but I may be off one. I was so bored, it didn't matter. Then with a week to go in the season, this toothache hit and I was trying everything.....sometimes it'd be sorta ok during the day, and I'd think "I'm gonna stay these last few days and tough it out" and then at night, or the next day, I'd be hurting. So I limped through the last week.

On Friday before it closed, I was in the same "outhouse" that Joe missed the 'big buck' out of, and saw a deer up close, but not for long, at about 8:10. I never saw anything else until right before 10:00 and a deer walked out at that same corn pile 295 yards away (ranged distance), and commenced eating. At this point, I was about to bust a gusset wanting to pop something A) to get my grandson some deer meat, and B) to break in the new gun. I don't subscribe to Gus' silly idea that you can't name a gun till it loses its virginity.......I mean, you don't do that to your kids, do you? That's goof. So I was hunting with Delilah. Thanks Posthole. And itching to shoot. This deer raised its head up and munched, and I could see it easily in the Leupold. I saw a long skinny neck, a broadside deer, and nothing on its head. So.......

KABOOM.

Deer dropped DRT.

I had gone to this area with another guy, so I texted him and told him to keep hunting, that we'd get it later. But I kept seeing these same dang crows flying down to it, so I went to get it. Well, man, I was ticked off. A dang button buck.

Sidebar: At this point, Cappy is fuming. Cause later (it'll all come out shortly here) I had him on the phone and told him I had killed a doe. I did not mean to lie, and planned on giving him the details later. I just simply was standing..........well.........let's say I was 'otherwise engaged' (you'll see in a minute), waiting on someone to come pick me up, and he was on the phone, and I was trying to.........well, I was busy......(no not that....) and I did NOT want to get into a long story about shooting a button. So I said "doe" with the intention of straightening him out later. Well there wasn't a later, and when there was, this tooth kept me from thinking about it again. So forgive me, Cappy. I never would mislead you without straightening it out later, and I meant to.......it's just that I'm doing it now. So yeah, my first deer was a blasted button. Now, I weighed him, and he went over 80 lbs. Woulda been a good one probably. Our does don't weigh much more than that. I had seen him earlier, and called him "Bubba, the Bruiser Button Buck".

That was the 6th deer I saw at camp all year. Meanwhile, Joe saw (he records every one in a book) over 60. Go figure. For the record, it dropped, and the shot was double lung, blammo. DRT. 110g Accubonds in a .257 Wby are devastating.

So while I was hurting, I spent most of Saturday, after the hunt, cutting him up and grinding him, shrink wrapping, and freezing. That left one last day to hunt.

I felt so bad that I didn't care whether I went or not. But I was going to go for a little while, even if it killed me. I got up, and everyone was gone by the time I finished dressing. I went out the door not even knowing which stand I was going to. I finally decided on my favorite stand.........it's comfortable (only 4X6 stand we have), it's close, it's easy to get to, and so that's what I did. Now as I said before, I've also killed a buck there every year for last 18, but I'd given up on this year.

I got there late, the sun was up, and I was simply waiting out my time. Oh, the night before a younger guy had shot a deer and I knew when this morning hunt was over, that all four of us would have to go meet at that stand and track this deer. They tracked it the night before but heard it get up in the brush and backed out. So I knew that was coming in a few hours.

It's a bad 'sun' stand, and I have sun screens facing east and south. But once sun comes up a bit, it's not too bad. I also can see 360 degrees since they cut 111 acres behind me!! It used to be a 180 stand, but then they eradicated the woods behind me! There is one long bushhogged lane next to the remaining tree lane, hugging the edge of the new cutover. About 8:20, I look to my left and I see DEER walking away from me down that lane, parallel to the tree line. First thought is 'BIG' deer, cause he was. Second thought is "BUCK". His behind looked like a big black woman walking away from me. Huge butt. He was just sauntering away, slowly.

Those two thoughts went through my head as my gun went up. By the time I got it up, I realized there wasn't anywhere to put that red dot except on his butthole. Now that's a killing shot. And I had decided that if he continued walking dead straight away, that was where I was going to put it. He was going to hit a woodline straight in front of him at 235 yards, so I had no reason to NEED to fire before that. So I just put it on him best I could and watched him walk. I thought "If he makes any turns at all, so that he exposes a rib, I'm going to pop it in that rib". That's how I killed the muley. Entered right rib, quartering away from me, and exited left shoulder. DRT shot. So I was going to do that here if he turned.

Well he turned. Slightly. I do not know if he was going to turn or not. What I really think happened was that he was simply walking on uneven ground and his body canted a tiny bit to the left. At the same time, his head dropped and turned right. It was as if he stepped in a small hole and was just adjusting his gait.

But that's what I thought I needed. So I squeezed one off, trying to get in left rib cage between back left leg and front left leg. He was about 12 yards from getting into the woodsline ahead of him.

DRT. He dropped, twitched his tail, and expired. I could see full body of deer.

Whew.

Two for two with Delilah. I'm sitting up there all cocky and proud and figured there was no way I could lift him onto my wheely, so I waited till morning hunt was over, for help. Well, by 10:00 I couldn't take it any more and started down to go look at him. BAM, Joe shot again. OK, good. I'll have help at the skinning pole later, and maybe 3 of us if we find the deer from last night.

So I get down there and as I approached, I liked to have fainted.

Dagnabit!! I apparently missed slightly right and slightly high. But it was a killing shot all right. Not only did it break his backbone but......

It blew his left antler right off!!!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...s26207346.jpeg

This picture is after I found that left antler about 20 yards away. Notice the scab on his back. I originally thought "Well, I must have grazed hair and then hit him in the head, missing too high". But that's not what that scab is. More on that later. Here's a better look at that scab:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...sb16476e0.jpeg

Here's what he looked like on the pole:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...s545fa2aa.jpeg

So he was a 4 X 3, good mass, huge body. And I still had 3 left to put a tag on, so he was legal either way!!! I don't know the technicalities of legality here, and don't really care.......but he was a legal 3 on one side......either way.

As for the scab...............amazing.

When we hung him up, we found the bullet hole in his back. It was inches from this scab. The scab had no holes in it. My bullet didn't do that. So we skinned him and guess what? He had a huge infection from two LARGE HOLES that were in his back, right behind his head, and also that skinless scab. Some BIG OLD BOY had whipped his butt! So we DO have very large deer. Man, I'd love to see the Bad Boy that whipped this one's butt. Two strong guys could barely load this one. Don't know what he weighed. But I didn't get any meat 'above' that infection.......no upper shoulder nor neck meat. Ugly infection. Rest of meat was fine, I think. I lost about 3 inches of both tenderloins, too.

I sawed off the other antler and I'll put both on a board. I measured the existing antler to the middle of his skull, and it was over 9.5 inches inside measurement. The blown off antler was bigger. So I don't know. It is clearly the biggest bodied buck, and biggest mass rack, I've killed in many years.

And as to the above.........when I was standing out there waiting on help to get him......I texted Cappy and he called, and that's when I told him that my first deer on Friday was a doe. I was in a huge hurry, the guys were almost there, and I had another deer to go track, plus whatever Joe shot. I was out of 'chit chat time'. But that was stupid, I should have just said "First deer was a button, more later". But I don't think well when I think fast. So, sorry again, Cappy. I meant to call you that night. But it was 11:00 pm before I got this big boy cut up and ground and shrink wrapped, and I had to leave next day for Dentist. So it sounded like a better 'excuse' at the time than it does now.

Oh, after we hung up my guy, we went and tracked the deer shot the night before. Odd, odd, odd. We kept finding blood trail through a briar thicket, and then we'd find actual guts!!! Then piles. Then more. Then it'd peter out and we'd find it again. Hundreds and Hundreds of yards (and 4 hours later) we found it. A doe, but the coyotes had gotten to it the night before, right after it was shot. They must have been close by and got lucky. There was very little left of that animal. Sick.

And since I won't get to go back after Christmas, that's my 2013 Deer Hunting Story.

The End.

Damn good report there Buckster! Congrats on the buck!
I still think that rifle has got to tote the handle of horny. :D
And I've NEVER , ever seen a deer with that kinda infection that ANY of the meat would be fit to eat. I cannot imagine trying to eat that. The infection goes over the whole body.
Without question that deer would have gone in the gut pile.
Congrats again, looks like you and Horny are gonna make a good pair :D

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Nice report Rub, nice buck also.
Don't know how you and the Captain do it, I was out opening day, and out till noon on day two, then out for 3 hours on day 12. That's it, I love it when I'm out there, but it's becoming to hard getting up early and getting all the gear together. Must be getting old.
Saw 3 bucks but none meeting the 3 on a side rule, #3 had a doe permit, passed on about 4 of them figuring we'd get out again but never happened. We ate 4 tags between us.

Congrats Buckrub. As for the scabs and infection I've seen that a number of times here. Most of the time it's from fighting with other bucks as you already surmised. My only concern for the meat is if the deer was running a fever due to excessive injuries. If that's the case I would have tossed it just like Cappy suggested. Tough call. That a side, nice buck!

I ate 4.

There's no where I'd rather be. What I get to see is better than cartoons. I admit, past years were more filled with action and sights.........but each day has a new possibility of seeing things.

There is no trait that makes a successful deer hunt like persistence.

I don't know how you DON'T do it.....

Nice buck.....will make nice antlers mounted on a board.....meat should go in a ditch.....I wouldn't even THINK of trying to salvage that fevered meat.....and, I KNOW you ain't that hungry and needy to risk someone getting sick....jmho.

Save your breath. Can't tell that Arkie dufus anything.

He eats infected dear, he names rifles before they draw blood.

I'm beginning to think there aren't not no hope for the boy.

I killed a nice deer once that was covered with (dry) scabs of some sort. I didn't know if it was a result of fighting or some sort of disease. IF it was from fighting, he REALLY got his ass handed to him! He was nasty looking ... but watching him in the woods before I shot him, he gave no indication of illness or injury. I simply gutted him and drove by to see the butcher. He cut the rack off for me but said he wouldn't even use his equipment on him and told me the carcass should go into the dumpster. That said, if he just had a couple of puncture wounds that were scabbed over ... I'm not sure that would be a problem unless they "looked" all infected with drainage and such. Tough call .... but prolly not worth the gamble.

Great report BTW ... and nice buck! Congrats!

Thanks for the report Bucky and congrats on breaking in that fancy new rifle on such a fine buck.