LIVE! From the Stand, Season 3!!!

[Wyoredman]

Don't feel alone, Peetza!

Yesterday was the last day for cow elk in Wyoming Elk Unit 25! Area 25 is wide open sage/high desert country. I spent 12 hours, 49 miles and a tank of fuel yesterday trying to locate my cow!

There were no combines, vocal humans (female or otherwise), or anything else out and about.

The only living things I saw were a coyote, some crows, some antelope, some wild horses and two wolves that were way too fast for me to get a shot at!

No deer and especially NO ELK! My extra tag goes un-filled this year!

[stu925]

Another drizzley morning on the stand. Haven't seen a live deer in the woods since the season opened. Maybe my luck will change today

Stu

[stu925]

Sun has been ip about an hour and haven't seen anything except 3 black bears (momma & 2 cubs). Too far away to get a picture though , sorry.

Stu

[Husqvarna]

went out for a quick one this morning, let the dog loose and start walking

within minutes he starts barking, he is in some thick brush barking up a storm

so I let him work a while.

we have a couple of tags left for moose calves and one bull, no cows

he is barking up a storm so I am thinking it is a bull, cows and calves most often run so...

if it is boar I'll bag that to

I move into an opening and the damn dog has cornered a badger

[stu925]

Same hill different stand. Wind quieted down a little. Saw the tail end of a deer earlier while my buddy was making his way through the blow downs. No idea if it was a buck or doe but looked like a big bodied deer. Here's hoping my luck changes this afternoon

Stu

[Brian Pfleuger]

Here I am again. Same spot, corn gone now.

25F and 36mph.

Yeah. I could win a stupid contest.

[stu925]

Here I am live from the stand again. Clear, calm & cold this morning. Hopefully it'll get the deer moving. Wish me luck

Stu

[stu925]

Hunting partner shot a doe that I pushed to him. Back out in the woods now. 2hrs until dark.

Stu

[stu925]

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Back in my usual spot and the wind is howling. Don't think I'll see much today but it's a tradition to hunt thanksgiving in my family. Wish my father was still around to hunt with

Stu

[globemaster3]

I'm glad someone's out there since I cannot be this year! Go get 'em Stu!

[Brian Pfleuger]

Glad someone got out today. We've got 20mph gusts and single digit wind chill. No thank you.

It's our tradition to hunt today too but we've got limits.

[globemaster3]

Aww come on Brian! I thought that was a standard winter day for a "New Yawkah"!!!

[8MM Mauser]

Last day of rifle/shotgun season here in MI. I'm giving it a final go in a brand new spot. Sun is just coming up and it's about twenty with little wind. My view isn't great today honestly, but I'm along a known deer path so I have a like 30 SQ ft area I'm expecting a deer to show about 40 yards north. Long odds this year gentlemen; wish me luck!

[.284]

Good luck from a fellow Southern Michigan guy. I'm sitting the last day out............the worst four letter word of all WORK.

Hey no worries, we have 17 days of muzzle stuffing starting on the 6th.

[SteelChickenShooter]

And late antlerless in December as well.
I'll be sitting out then.
Never got into a muzzle blaster.
Shotgun, rifle, handgun and let it go at that.
No bow, no crossbow.

[8MM Mauser]

.284:
Unfortunately I do not own a muzzleloader: which is a fact I bemoan every December... But for some reason I just can't commit the money to it. This year was a failure; but I only made three day trips plus one scouting excursions back in august, so I didn't have that much invested which probably helps explain my failure. Sucks to not get anything, but the pickings were slim this year, I saw one doe all year! She was too far away to shoot and I don't have a tag for antlerless anyway this year.

Maybe next year...

Steelchickenshooter:

Same here, I always think I will bowhunt but never end up practicing enough to feel like I should go. Next summer I'm going to buy a decent target and concentrate on the bow more. My chances on state land will increase if I beat the rifle guys (like myself) to the punch.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I'll write this as if it's LIVE!

It's about 315. Here I am on our small lease. I'm sitting at the edge of the field with my 15" Encore Pro Hunter in7mm-08.

[Brian Pfleuger]

It's about 345.

Large deer just spooked about 75 yards to my ENE. I don't know why. Wind is SSE but swirls a bit in the field. Maybe winded me, maybe so my head move. Given this season, just seeing one is a victory.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Sundown...

I see deer across the field. Coming in from the east, like deer always do here.

Too far for off-hand. I just taught myself a new trick. I've got the bipod mounted on the Encore. With it at it's shortest height I can lean back in my chair and rest the bipod on my knees. It's surprisingly steady.

I'm estimating the deer are between 100 and 125 yards. I should be 1.5-2.0 high. So I aim ever so slightly low.

At the shot, the three deer scatter. One stops within 20 yards right in front of me. Would be cake with a semi-auto but it's a baby. Mostly I'm hoping that wasn't the one I shot at since it's small. Pretty sure I shot an adult.

They were here.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I wait a few minutes and go looking for blood.

Took a few minutes because I wasn't totally sure as they scattered which deer was the one I shot at.

Ah... There's a drop. It went due east.

Pretty lousy blood trail considering the snow. Easy enough to follow though.

There she is.... made it 75 yards or so. Nice, big adult doe. You can almost see where she died in the pic. Two trees just east of the marker, bare spot low and right of the tree, that's where she was.

[.284]

Wow........nice job Brian. It's been a great thread with great ending. Get it tagged, gutted, and hung. Pics please.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Didn't get any shots of the entrance and exit, I'll get them when we cut her up. Shot placement was perfect, just behind the leg, ~1/2 way up. I know why the blood was sparse though.... her heart wasn't working anymore.

This is from a 110gr Barnes TTSX, MV around 2650. Near side lung.

[Brian Pfleuger]

The thread ain't over yet. We've still got two weeks of the season.

[shortwave]

Hmmm...there goes most of that heart for eaten.

Oh well...deer heart is probably not good on pizza anyways.

Great shot and congrats.

Hoping to be looking at a similar gut pile come Monday morning.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Ha!

We don't eat the heart anyway. (It violates one of my cardinal rules)