longhunter records

[Mr Hawken]

is there anyone that made the longhunter book? it would be nice to see some pictures.i dont consider myself a trophy hunter but it would be nice to give shockey a run for his money with a real gun rather than that thing he calls a muzzleloader.to date i have 1 wt doe that i have taken with my 50 hawken but a buck i shot a few years ago went 150 and not wanting to cross over yet borrowed my wife's 270 and the range was only 75 yrds.i practiced all summer and was hitting 3" groups off hand with my hawken at that range :cursing: im much wiser now black bear season starts in a month guess what im using

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have two Mulies that would go in the book but I have not entered them. At one time I would have done it in a heart beat. Now I can see the only thing that the books do is make money for the guys that write them. Here are the two I have. Ron

 

[BrownBear]

"The book" is also going to put your favorite hunting spots on the map.

 

[tg]

This Blacktail scored 120 which is enough for the book, I was going to enter it utill i did some research on what is going on with the "record book" and the type of gear allowed, modern guns, modern bullets and sights..what is the point?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Considering how much territory that a buck covers during a given year, that " location " is meaningless. Here, almost all hunting ground is privately owned land, where you have to have permission to hunt. We may see large bucks coming out of the same counties, but that is more an indication of low hunting pressure, and good food sources, than it is some special genes, or the continued existence of lots of big bucks.

The reasons for low hunting pressure are as many as the stars in the skies. Often, you are finding very difficult terrain to get into, and get the deer out of. That, alone, discourages most hunters from even attempting to hunt there.

I understand that this same problem also affects hunting in the Mountain states, and Alaska, but in those states, you usually have longer seasons, and guided hunts are the norm, not the exception. Just the distances to be traveled keep the number of hunters down in these states. Whitetails, even in moutain states, tend to live on the flats, and along the brushy edges of fields that are plowed and planted annually. They are not Elk, or Mule Deer, which can do fine living right up to the Tree line.

 

[Runner]

158, 136, 104, and a little one in this stack. Largest inside spread, a touch over 20 inches. The bases on the biggest one are over 7 inches. I look for eating deer these days more than horns, but I used to hunt horns seriously. I shoot the best balance between chewing and weight these days! About a 100 pound doe looks like a real trophy to me!
Got piles of antlers, but I only have one full grown mature doe! They are tough in close range hunting!

 

[paulvallandigham]

We had a huge buck that lived north of the Village of Villa Grove, Illinois, in the far SE end of Champaign County. I got a glimpse of him when I first hunted there in 1985. He was already the goal of many archery hunters, and had been missed by several local hunters. One of the MLers hunting with my group took a shot at him, and shot off the end of his tail. From then on, he was called " Stumpy". He developed an almost white blaze between his eyes as he aged, and you could recognize him from both ends, so to speak!

Years, later( 1991), after hearing annual stories from the guys that hunted that area about seeing him, but not getting a shot, I found his tracks along the river, at the back of the property. I was so close to him that water was just beginning to seep into his tracks when I found them. I did not see him that day. But, on the off chance that he might be back, I put my wife in a dead fall tree about 70 yards from his nearest track the next morning. About 15 minutes after legal daylight hit, I heard her shoot. Then nothing. I quietly moved down a deer run to get a look to make sure she was OK, and when she came into view, there was old Stumpy, standing between us, just as she fired a second shot that went under his low belly between his legs. He began running, then, and quickly put a huge oak tree between me and him, I had my gun up, and moved to my right hoping to get a shot, but he kept moving to put trees between us. Finally he went down over the otherside of the small hill, and other than seeing his huge rack bounce up and down, I had no shot at all. My Wife fired her last round over his back as he was heading up the hill. Boy, did she have a case of buck fever. She could hardly speak.

I can tell you that including his main beam, and a long brow tine, I counted 6 points on just the one antler I could see on the Right side of his head. None of the tines off the main beam were less than 10 inches long! As he ran from me I could clearly see that his rack extended will beyond the ears, and were at least 20 inches apart. I could not count the tines as he was moving too fast, and there were too many trees and brush in the way. Oh, his footprints were 4 1/4" long, and almost as wide. He easily weighed over 350 lbs. Someone finally got him in his old age, and I heard that his rack at death was not as grand as it had been. By that time he had long passed on his genes, and was dying of old age. We figure he lived to be at least 13 years old, which is phenomenal for In-the- wild Deer.

MY wife had mixed feelings about missing him, at about 20 feet. It was her first deer hunt, and to be confronted with the biggest buck in the woods, simply unnerved her. She accepted that fact. She sorta wished she had taken him, so she could embarrass two of her brothers who laughed when they heard she was going to deer hunt in their home county. Both guys live in the NW, one in Washington, and the other up in Alberta, where they hunt both Mule Deer and Elk. When they were kids there were almost NO deer to be found in the county, and they kept telling her any deer she might see would be no bigger than a dog, and a small one at that.

On the other hand, she was glad she missed him because he was so magnificent. But more than once after that she told me she really wished she had killed that huge buck just to shut up her brothers when they visited.

I hunt meat, not antlers. My first deer was an old doe, and I damn near killed myself dragging her out of that ravine, and up over a 20 story hill. That is when I learned the most important lesson of deer hunting: Either shoot the little ones, or shoot them close to camp! :rotf: :hatsoff: :rotf:

I know many hunters who have huge racks, but never submit them for measurements, or the record books. They don't want to be pestered about the buck, or where they got him, because they know that its a function of luck that a buck or any animal can live that long in the wild. Between automobiles, predators, hunters and poachers, disease, fences, and holes in the ground that can break a neck, or leg, and other natural hazards, Most deer do not live to be 4 years old.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

Not the biggest but it was my first big buck and my first ever deer with a flintlock.

 

[tg]

"Not the biggest but it was my first big buck and my first ever deer with a flintlock"

That buck would be a trophy to anyone hunting with a flinter.

 

[Runner]

Paul, there was a nice buck on the Brumley farm. He seemed to take great delight in standing at about 100 yards and laughing at me when I had my bow.
One Sunday during gun season, I dressed deer for hours because a bunch of folks were going home. I took off for the woods with about an hour of daylight left. I stalked up to his core area into the wind, hidden behind a dozer pile. I swung my leg over the log at the end of the pile and almost stepped on him as I watched the hillside I normally spotted him on. Off he went. Hammer back, sights on deer, wait for him to pause in the brush. At fifty yards he turned broadside and stopped to look back. My CVA Hawken that had been loaded several days did not go off! I had a speed loader clipped on my pocket, so I quickly put a second cap on the gun and he stood there and let me pop a second cap at him! I dove over the brushpile out of his sight, and laying in water, I removed the screw and worked some powder in under the nipple. I had only brought the one reload, so this was the last cap. I had to climb back over the log to see him. He was at about 70 yards, broadside, eating something believe it or not! As I settled the sights on his ribcage, it looked like he suddenly realized he was in trouble. He went from standing and munching to zoom in an instant.
I never did fire a shot at him in about 10 encounters, and he made a fool of so many guys that people sat out on the road in trucks where he crossed trying to get him at night. As far as I know, he was never taken. Last good sighting was my father and a friend. They sat in the truck and argued over whether or not that was a deer laying over there on the hillside. Dad's buddy said that it was way too big to be a deer. Then he opened the door on the truck to get out for a closer look! That thing that was too big to be a deer trotted over the hill out of sight!
Funny, I still remember that short hour long hunt as clearly as if it was yesterday, and I never fired a shot! Most of the real trophies don't end up on the wall! I once slipped deep into a cedar tangle where it was hard to see 30 feet most of the time. I popped a stick under some leaves, and a 200 pound class doe was startled by the sound. She leaped over a little cedar at the sound. When we both got our wits back, we were looking eye to eye at about 2 feet! She was faster than me when time unfroze! Such memories make me a rich man!

 

[longcruise]

Considering how much territory that a buck covers during a given year, that " location " is meaningless.

There are of course some variables for various animals and locations. For example, in CO all rifle and ML antelope permits are by draw and within a specified hunt unit. Hunt units are defined by the relation ship of the game and geography of the unit. IOW, a good antelope taken in unit xx has definetly left his genes in the pool. A scanning of the book showing a high percentage of book animals from certian units will increase pressure on the unit. Now, since permits are limited in number, it will never result in overhunting of the unit but it will attract more applicants for the unit thus decreasing the odds of drawing. So, entering your animal in any book will increase applicant pressure and decrease your odds of drawing.

This holds true for any big game license in CO when talking about draw units (of which there are many for all species of big game).

I have a measured book antelope in my office that I have never entered and never will. Even at that, I've been trying for five years to draw another buck antelope tag in that unit!

 

[John Wasmuth]

Sorry but if I ever get to the point where I start hunting for calcium deposits instead of meat, I'll stop hunting. I guide hunters that want nothing less than a 150 or better every season, and we get them, but thats for them. I hunt for food and skins, been that way for 50 years, and if that ever changes, I'll hang it up.

 

[tg]

I like the taste of venison over beef and have taken more does/spikes than big bucks but there is a certain sense of accomplishment when you go one on one up close and personal with one of those old boys who have dodged hunters for many seasons and come out on top.

 

[tg]

"There are of course some variables for various animals and locations.'

Very true, I know of some large bucks that were born, lived several years and shot on a 400 acre farm, that is not uncommon with Blacktails

 

[John Wasmuth]

I agree on that, my hunters get the best that can be gotten here in the hill country, we've killed some dandy bucks over the years. But for me I'll stick with older doe, culls, and spikes. We havent bought meat from the store since 1997 and plan to keep it that way. I don't begrudge anyone that wants to shoot big, heavey antlerd deer, I'll help you do it, but for me it's meat and hides, antlers don't mean anything to me, except buttons and things to make that are useful to me, or to sell. Just me.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Kinda the same with some whitetail. Some of em out here will live and die within a mile from where they were born.

 

[playfarmers]

I too prefer the taste of venison over beef. I have taken 2 very large bucks over the years, but mostly shoot large does. I will take a big buck befor the rut starts, but after that, I want a big juicy doe.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Great story about the one that got away. For years, I have taught students that using restraint on the shots you choose to take allows you to join in the fun of telling true stories about the "one that got away." Stories about successful hunts are always interesting, but the better stories are the very human ones about how you missed an opportunity, like nearly stepping on a huge buck when you least expected it to be there. In my classes, I ask the adult hunters there if they ever missed a deer, or lost a chance to take one, and we listen to the stories. Everyone always enjoys the one, like my buddy whose only sighting of a deer was when he was sitting on a tree branch taking a dump, with his pants down, and his gun more than 10 feet away, leaning aganst another tree. Or the time I finally had to climb down out of a tree stand to relieve my bladder, and two does came walking up along the fenceline that I had been watching for days right when I had my hands occupied!

Thanks for the laughs. If it was only about success, we would call it " Getting ", not " hunting ".

 

[jethro224]

This one went well over 200 lbs, 22 1/2" spread, scores 160. Had him officially measured but still have not entered him in the book. I planned to, just don't know if I really want to...

 

[hawk]

there's an old saying at the hunt camp..."they're real pretty but... you can't eat the horns!"