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Old November 27, 2005, 05:15 PM   #1
dmon
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My First Rack Buck...

I live and hunt in the Adirondacks of New York. I belong to a club which has access to 9k acres of land. I have been hunting for the past 4 years and constantly wonder why I hadn't started sooner. What I love most about where I live is we have one week of early muzzleloader from about Oct 15 - 21 (give or take a day here & there) and then Rifle season opens from Oct 22 until the first full weekend in December. Thats right... six weeks of being in the woods. While my wife hates it I love it and slowly she's getting used to it.

Anyway Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) I went down to go out, planning on doing some drives with my buddy and his brother and sister. His sister calls about 6:30 am and says the weather is too nasty and she'll wait an hour to see if it subsides (it was, I drove through it - nasty band of snow - I made through but going was real slow). My buddy is not too happy in this kink in his plans and tells me "Don't let us hold you up. Go out where you wanted to go." At this point I was planning on spending the most of the day doing drives across the club. I was dressed and ready to go out so feeling the end of the season coming and not wanting to waste anymore time I decided to go out. I told him I had my radio and to call me when they finally got into the woods. I told him where I was going and the only thing he told me was to focus on the spruces as most of the sign he was seeing was in and around spruce thickets.

I got into the woods after daylight and decided to see if I could track something due to the new snow.Having a GPS I turned it on and decided to go for a walk. I wasn't having much luck coming across a track here and there. I walked about 2/3 to 3/4 mile over land I had never seen, sitting here and there. Anyway I came across a little knob that was surrounded by spruces and other conifers. I figured this is good a spot as any and I set up shop. I looked at my watch and it was 9 am. I got out my Primos "Can Call" and let it go 15 - 20 times, waited ten or so minutes and hit it again. At about 9:20 I heard something to my right and looked over to see 4 does moving towards me about 20 yards out. Two had their tails up and the other two didn't. They moved across never picking up on my presence. I waited anoter 15 minutes and hit the call again. I no sooner put it down and noticed movement from where the does cames from and see a deer's back. I look over and it moves and it is another doe. I sit tight and this on comes within 15 yards of me and decides to come directly up on the knob not 20 feet from me. With the wind blowing in my face I figure I've been made but she never gives any indication that she knows I'm there.

I let another 15 or so minutes go by and hit the call again. At this point the cold is getting to me and my foot is aspleep but I say I've got to stick it out another 15 minutes. I lean back to zip my coat up, scan the woods, and as I come across I see deer, then horns - broadside facing my left about 35 yards out. I raise my gun for the moment of truth. I put the cross hairs on the shoulder and touch one off. He turned away from me and took off. My first thought was I missed but I sat tight until I could no longer. I went to where he was standing and didn't immediately see any blood. I started getting discouraged when I saw a tiny pice of tissue and a real fine spray pattern of blood. Then my day got much brighter. I wasn't sure where I hit him as I had doubt about my rifle sighting due to slipping and banging the butt of the gun. I starting tracking the blood which was here and there, but not much of it. I told myself to relax and wait a half hour, he was wounded but you know the excitement. I saw a large log he went over and decided to sit tight and mark the blood trail on the GPS. As I waited for the GPS to lock in I looked to my left into the spuce thicket and there he lay - 9 points and about 160 lbs (two scales, two different weights & we'll save that for another day). Remington 740 Woodsmaster in 30-06, 150 grain Core-Lockt

Sorry for the long post but two days later and I'm still pumped. The only greater high was when my daughter was born.
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Old November 27, 2005, 05:44 PM   #2
Iowa Cornfed
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Congratulations on a successful hunt!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing the pix of your fine looking Buck.
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Old November 27, 2005, 09:05 PM   #3
No4Mk1
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Great tale and a nice looking buck! Congratulations!
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Old November 28, 2005, 12:51 PM   #4
Ian2005
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Your Hunt

Awesome story, even better ending

Congratualtions. I hope the same for myself next season.
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Old November 28, 2005, 01:01 PM   #5
springmom
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gorgeous

Great story, terrific buck. I would SO love to get to hunt up north in snow. Come to think of it, I'd like to see snow period....

Springmom, who's excited because it may actually get down into the high 30's tonight...and I am going hunting in the morning as a result!
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Old November 28, 2005, 03:28 PM   #6
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Nice deer and a good story. Way to be patient and let them come to you.
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Old November 28, 2005, 04:10 PM   #7
Foxman
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Way to go , nice buck and a real good account of your hunt, I'm sure most like to read a good step by step hunt story like this. Great place to hunt up there too, I was in that part of the country about 4 yrs ago and cant wait to get back again soon.
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Old November 28, 2005, 05:22 PM   #8
FirstFreedom
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Beauteous - and I think your dog is as happy as you are about the whole thing!
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Old November 28, 2005, 08:07 PM   #9
dmon
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FirstFreedom Beauteous - and I think your dog is as happy as you are about the whole thing!

You can say that again. When I first came in with the deer I put Maddie (a beagle / australian shepherd mix, 7 months old) up on the tailgate and the hair from the top of her head straight down her back stood on end barking at the deer. Then she got a little brave and started sniffing. After that every time I put her out she'd run to the back of the truck or to the garage door, where the deer was hanging inside, whining and trying to get another sniff.
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Old November 28, 2005, 08:28 PM   #10
Iowa Cornfed
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Yeah, I had an old dog (Part Wiemer - part Shorthair) that'd more or less claim the deer as his own. He'd seen pleanty of 'em hanging year in and year out, and never once had an occasion to have a taste..., but he DARN sure wasn't about to let any of them yard cats get too close!!! He was a house dog, but anytime there was deer hanging, he was way to nervous to stay inside very long..., just had to get back out there and protect HIS deer!
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Old November 29, 2005, 08:48 AM   #11
VirgilCaine
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Great deer!!! Congrats. I hope there are many more for ya!

Are you going to make some kind of a mount? How old do you figure he was? Looks about 2 1/2.

Wow!
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Old November 29, 2005, 01:22 PM   #12
FrontSight
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Beautiful deer! I'm in NY, too, but hunt down in Westchester/Putnam...

Congrats!!
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Old November 30, 2005, 01:51 AM   #13
MrGee
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Dmon,...great story .. good deer too i took a 10pt'er 173 dressed out was in Wells, Hope Falls in Bennett lake trails back in 73', people don't know the hard work ya put in up there in the mountains. was living in Yorktown Hgts at the time Scrap, also hunted Wilks apple farm across from Mohegon st. park
an the Croton off rt 100 & 35 w/ the bow ...Westchester has some very big deer... haven't been out on a hunt in two years because of the move down here in NC.... so i guess in way i've been really skunked......
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Old November 30, 2005, 09:31 AM   #14
Fremmer
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Sounds like that can call works pretty well. I've been thinking about buying one for hunting in the timber.
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Old November 30, 2005, 07:52 PM   #15
dmon
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MrGee: Wells, NY?? I have friends who have property in Wells - it has been in their family for 170 yrs. Great area. They grow HUGE Bucks in Hamilton county.

Fremmer: I'm convinced with this call. Not only did it help with deer but my buddy used one to lure a good size spike horn back after jumping it Monday aftternoon. My thought is you have to be willingto try different approaches when the norm isn't working. I grunted out a couple does this year as well. All I know is to be sitting out there and use a call and have even a doe (ie nonshootable) respond is worth the experience of seeing these Monarch respond is indescribable.

VirgilCaine: Yes I am going to mount it. The guy who is butchering guesses the age to be about 2 1/2, this is with out looking at the teeth. His method tis to meaasure the length of the muzzle - 5 inches = 2 1/2 & 9 inches = 3 1/2 and older
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Old December 1, 2005, 12:24 AM   #16
MrGee
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Dmon it was long ago but it was a club, i went as a guest, the property was at the bottom or the begining an ajoined Bennett lake trail, there was only a trailer on the property at the time an the only name i can mention is Dave Howell from Yorktown Hgts. he move to new port Richie Fla. in maybe 78 or so... an we lost touch with them. man what a place big buck up there you really find out where heart is ...... pump pump
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Old December 2, 2005, 09:10 PM   #17
AdamGrier_atc
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That's a great deer and a great story. It shows that patience really pays off!!!

Well done!
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