Another for the freezer

[jethro224]

Hunted hard all 3 days of MLer season and finally got a shot at 20 minutes til quittin' time. First and 2nd days were windy and crummy. Only saw 5 deer the first day, and that is RARE where I hunt. All too far away to shoot. Only saw one the second day right at the end of the day.

Today was a bit warmer and way less windy. Mid 30's all day, cloudy, wet, and quiet. I was tired of sitting and decided to still hunt from place to place. Took all day to work my way half way around the farm. Saw about a gazillion squirrels. Thought I shoulda brung the .36 instead 'cause there sure weren't any deer in sight.

20 minutes before legal quitting time I had worked my way back up to a field edge and stepped up behind a tree to peek out. There were two deer coming my way out in the picked corn. I rested my GPR against the tree and tracked the front deer waiting for a good angle. It didn't come and the deer stopped right behind some tall stubble. The other one was a little farther out but in the clear so I switched targets.

About then that deer turned straight toward me. I don't like that angle either so I just waited and watched over my sights until he turned away a little. Then I touched the trigger. WHAM! I thought I saw hooves in the air just before the cloud of smoke blocked the view. I heard a bleat, the smoke thinned a little, and I saw one white tail running across the field.

The deer I shot turned out to be a button buck. I thought they were both does. Usually I'm pretty good at telling the difference but still shoot the occasional button buck. I'd rather let 'em grow up first if I can help it tho.
.490 PRB 75g 2F The ball went thru the very front top of the lungs and out the other side at @ 40 yards. The way he dropped I thought I had hit the spine.

No big horns for me this year. I done blew my chances too many times. The rest of the gun seasons are for antlerless only.
I'll still get out after the does tho. :thumbsup:
I think I'll put away the GPR now and break out the Bess for doe only season. Maybe the pistol too. :hmm: Gotta get close... :grin:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Good hunting, Jethro! Nice story and pic. Iffin there's no room in yer freezer, well uh, you got my address. :wink: GW

 

[rabjr]

Having a pretty good year Jethro, filing that freezer with grade A meat for sure. Grats! :thumbsup:

 

[RC]

Attaboy Jethro! :thumbsup: Congrats! meat bein a prime issue here,ya dun good! now Smoothie time!!!







an yes I still hate ya! you seen 5 in a day, I seen 5 all year,,,,so far! :wink: nary a horn either.. yet! :wink:

 

[dbutch]

Jethro- Nice shooting-Thanks for posting your hunts,Good luck with the Bess and pistol.

 

[chance]

Congrats on the meat!

 

[buttonbuck]

Good Hunting I had that happen on opening day I saw a little Doe come out first then the larger deer this was at 60 yards I figured the bigger one to be the momma doe I seen the buttons and well anyway I Hear button bucks will breed does I know my goats are able to reproduce at as early as 3-6 months. Good Hunting I want to try with my plains pistol.

 

[Tim Ott]

Congrats on some fine shootin and good meat,(no stress). We open here in Mo next sat,I have an any deer tag and as many doe tags as I care to buy, so hopefully something is going down? :thumbsup:

 

[DrLaw]

Tsk, tsk. You know the rules for Illinois. No squirrel during firearms seasons! :shake: :nono:

As for me, I didn't see one of them around, either. No deer, no squirrels, nuttin but boids chirpin all around me.

The Doc is out now. :v

 

[lonehunter]

Grats, Jethro, Keep it up and you will need a bigger freezer! :hatsoff:

 

[roundball]

:hatsoff: Good photo...looks like he's bedded down...congratulations!

 

[PreglerD]

Hi Jethro!

Waidmanns Heil from Germany to another button buck. :thumbsup: Don't worry, the game is the trophy and here in Germany we say that killing button bucks help the rest of the buck herd to grow well. Normally a button buck never gets a real good buck anymore.

Regards
:hatsoff:
Kirrmeister

 

[jethro224]

Tsk, tsk. You know the rules for Illinois. No squirrel during firearms seasons! :shake: :nono:

As for me, I didn't see one of them around, either. No deer, no squirrels, nuttin but boids chirpin all around me.

The Doc is out now. :v

Doc, it wasn't firearm season. It was MLer season. :wink:
They only shut down squirrel during general firearm. Technically I coulda blasted a few, but a .50 with 75 grains is a mighty stout load for a squirrel and I figgered, as sure as I shot at one, a big buck would suddenly appear outta nowhere and run off while I reloaded. :haha:

 

[jethro224]

Hi Jethro!

Waidmanns Heil from Germany to another button buck. :thumbsup: Don't worry, the game is the trophy and here in Germany we say that killing button bucks help the rest of the buck herd to grow well. Normally a button buck never gets a real good buck anymore.

Regards
:hatsoff:
Kirrmeister

Kirrmeister,
I know that taking the young deer is considered good management practice as they are the least likely to survive a harsh winter anyway. (They're also tender and tasty. :thumbsup: ) Here the winter usually doesn't get all that bad for very long, and there is plenty of spilled grain in the fields, so there is not much chance of any deer starving to death.
Also, ALL of our fawn bucks have buttons. Well, there may be a rare exception...
I like to let them grow to see what they might turn out to be. Sometimes it is really hard to tell tho.

I read a study once that said even a 1.5 year old spike buck may eventually grow a large set of antlers. It usually means they were born late and never got a good start in life. Might take them until 3.5 years of age to show their full potential. Fawns here are born any time from early April in some case to late June in others. The eary born fawns get the best and longest feed while the late-born fawns get rough dry summer feed and a shorter time to build their bones. Makes sense to me.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

nice job,
the way you have her posed it looks like she is bedded up.
:grin:

 

[Roy]

:thumbsup:

 

[agill]

Congratulations! :thumbsup:

 

[PGTMG]

Well done.

 

[jethro224]

Thanks to everybody for all the replies. And good luck to everybody that still has tags and season left. :hatsoff:

 

[PreglerD]

Hi Jethro!

Waidmanns Heil from Germany to another button buck. :thumbsup: Don't worry, the game is the trophy and here in Germany we say that killing button bucks help the rest of the buck herd to grow well. Normally a button buck never gets a real good buck anymore.

Regards
:hatsoff:
Kirrmeister

Kirrmeister,
I know that taking the young deer is considered good management practice as they are the least likely to survive a harsh winter anyway. (They're also tender and tasty. :thumbsup: ) Here the winter usually doesn't get all that bad for very long, and there is plenty of spilled grain in the fields, so there is not much chance of any deer starving to death.
Also, ALL of our fawn bucks have buttons. Well, there may be a rare exception...
I like to let them grow to see what they might turn out to be. Sometimes it is really hard to tell tho.

I read a study once that said even a 1.5 year old spike buck may eventually grow a large set of antlers. It usually means they were born late and never got a good start in life. Might take them until 3.5 years of age to show their full potential. Fawns here are born any time from early April in some case to late June in others. The eary born fawns get the best and longest feed while the late-born fawns get rough dry summer feed and a shorter time to build their bones. Makes sense to me.

Considering with roedeer the expirience is that button bucks never become good bucks with nice antlers. They will always stay underdeveloped. The other thing is with spikes. They can be a real good 6 pointer in the following season.
I see that these whitetails have many similarities in biology compared with roedeer.

Regards

Kirrmeister