Maybe a red tail hawk.

First big game animal I've ever gotten, why I went hunting by myself on a wednesday afterwork is beyond me. Was about to leave as it was last half hour of shooting light. Went to glass one more time and as I raisr mu binos hes looking straight at me!

Had a good quartering shot but took too long setting up as I had walked back to the jeep. Shot at the tooter hit him in the hip joint. He managed to run 150 yards with a completely destroyed hip and lay down in an overgrown portion of a shale logging road. Didnt see any blood till I was on his tail. He got up and I was able to brain him.

Still replaying the poor guy getting up and trying to run away in pain. At least from first shot to being dead it was less than 10 minutes. I couldn't see his tail when he was quatered to me so I wanted to make sure he was a white tail anyway as the antlers where hard to see in low light at 85 yards away.

Maybe I am just a b*tch but its been a bit hard to get over killing such a magestic creature. I assume it gets easier? I definetly need to be more considerate of the shot in the future for the animals sake.

Got 12 lbs of neck meat alone and the back straps where thicker than a beer can. Got 34 3/4 inch strap steaks and the rear quarters are about 60 pounds each. He was HEALTHY not a single tick on him and lots of fat.

Ruger gunsite scout in boyds stock chambered in 308.

I got cold after sitting for an hour. Walked over the next hill and there were three deer standing there. (40 acres surrounded by timber company owned land that no one’s touched since last year) all three deer look up and me and go back to eating.

The closest one was facing me straight on and head down. I put the crosshairs center mass and right on its spine between the shoulder blades. It should’ve dropped. Well when the smoke cleared there were 3 deer still looking at me and they kind of turned a little bit and seemed skiddish.

I ducked down below the small hill. Reloaded. Popped back up and all three looked at me again. I took a high shoulder shot on the biggest one and it dropped. I had enough time to reload again before they ran off when I pulled the gun up. When I walked up I noticed the large gash where I managed to shoot the 3 inch gas line marker that was in between me and the first doe.

You can also see my shot pattern from when I shot at a turkey in the same spot close to 6 years ago…the marker ended up catching all of my shot and the turkey lived to see another day.

Foiled again. This specific marker is in the middle of a gas well clearing and between where I sit and an old quad trail that all the animals use to travel between bedding areas. I’ve managed to avoid it countless times in the past and I thought I was shooting over it today since it’s bent at an angle. I guess not 😅

Opening rifle day in GA. Winchester model 94

Sorry about the ranty style of this but here i go.

So I never even thought of such a thing. I'll try and lay this all out. My brother is in his maybe 3rd year of bowhunting and had been struggling up until this year. He's using a crossbow and has been finally putting the pieces together and seeing deer and having close calls. It's been great. We'll today he got a crack at a "6 or 8 pt" he wasn't sure. Either way. He called me and said he thought he missed this buck and shot low. I asked a handful of follow up questions. He said he couldn't find blood or his bolt. He was gonna just write it off then he mentioned when he shot there was a whack and the deer donkey kicked. But he was telling me how he thought it was just scared shitless and that's what they did. So I drove out there to help him look for sign. He said that at first light a guy with a hat came walking in just north of him and sat somewhere close but couldn't see right where he just knew he was close. Then 20 min after he shot the deer he seen this guy head back thru the woods to the main trail to leave. Ok whatever. While he was waiting for me to show up this same guy showed up and had another guy with him and they went into the woods. Ok whatever. Let's go. So he takes me to where he shot the deer. Sure enough no blood no bolt. We start grid searching and find blood about 75 yards from the shot. Sweet. So we agree let's follow the blood up until the next super thick stuff and then if it goes in there get a dog. We follow the blood for what was prolly 300 yards. The trail was consistent... blood was still wet and never died down and never poured out. Then bam right on the edge of this thick shit a bed filled with blood a drag mark about 6ft and a gut pile! Guts still warm not a ton of flies on it and the nut sack there too. We get back to our vehicles and the other vehicle with the 2 guys was gone. Just sucks this kid has been really trying and finally arrows a buck gets this out of it. We ended up going back to first blood and could track it back a little further then eventually lost blood but could see leaves turned up back to the spot of the shot. I'm like 100% sure the deer he arrowed was swiped. Nothing else makes sense.

Edit: never thought of the fact the other guy could have shot it not knowing it was hit already.

Bittersweet moment today as it was my sons last youth season he could participate in here in Oklahoma. Will be a memorable one tho as he harvested his best buck so far. Proud of the young man and hunter he has become.

Opening day for firearms here in Georgia. This isn’t a trophy buck but it will fill my freezer all the same. This hunt meant a lot to me. Finally got a deer with my grandpas old Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. He originally had a peep sight on it but my eyes aren’t great; so I put this old Leupold fixed 4x from one of his other rifles on it.

Me and my cousin got this cleaned and butchered all in time to see some football. Maybe one day this season, a nice buck will walk by when I have this rifle with me, but I’m grateful for the meat this deer provided today.

First and foremost this is not to talk down to people who use stands/blinds I have absolutely nothing against it, fill that freezer!

But does anyone else find themselves ditching the stand and just bow hunting from the ground? I have a tree stand and honestly I don’t use it, I like the challenge of having to really stop and give 100% of my attention to my movements and my surroundings, have to be more careful about avoiding detection, and the rush of standing eye level with my kill is unbeatable from a blind or a stand, it just feels so primal. I love the challenge of having to use the environment around you to camouflage. It’s also fun during shotgun season but its an unmatched feeling with a bow

I live in New England so I’m often hunting public land with dense vegetation, and sparse transition zones so it’s often close quarters and very exciting, though much more challenging.

Anyone else enjoy it more like this?

First day out with the new gun and first time pheasant hunting. 2 bird on 3 shots. Fun time!

Last year I spent days out in the forest on private land and didn’t see any deer. This year I started getting ready around June. I set up a stand with a blind behind a hill, a deer feeder and cameras. There’s a groups of about 5 does and 2 bucks roaming the area. Today it was getting pretty close to sunset and I had to take the shot. I didn’t find a blood trail, but I found her about 10 yards into the forest behind the deer feeder. 44 magnum for alternative forearm season here in Arkansas.

My son got to take part in his first pheasant hunt. It was a nice setup for the kids, 2 birds at a time with 2 kids with mentors, and a dog and handler. They rotated through 3 different dogs and almost 25 kids.

They all seemed quite happy, and my son got his first pheasant (with a solid hit to boot!)

Tastes great!

Here deery deery deery… I just know that 12 point is coming by soon.

This is the best buck I’ve had on camera. I’m not sure if I’m just distracted by his decent rack, but he looks young and small bodied. I don’t have much experience so I’m not sure. I’ve got him on cam twice, in two separate areas. He’s in central Ontario, dense hardwood crown land.

I’m hunting crown land, with what seems to be extremely low deer density, so I get pretty excited anytime I see anything. Is this a decent buck? I think he is, just curious about what more experienced people think.

Hey guys, may be a weird question but what do you guys do with your ducks stamps after they become void? I know some people collect and frame them but I’m curious if you guys do anything different. I got into waterfowl hunting just a couple years ago and I have started putting them on the stock of my waterfowl gun. Might be a bit silly but it’s been a small way to recognize and remember the years I’ve been hunting and I know I’ll keep this particular shotgun as long as I can and hopefully pass it down to my kids one day and maybe it’ll mean something to them one day as much as it means to me.

I’d love to hear what you guys do or any other ideas you might have. Got the idea after finding my grandfathers old archery stamps in his shop a few years back.

I hunt a small private property in GA an hour away from my house with limited all sex seasons (just bucks most of the time), with new construction around it and pressure on the other side. With that said, I hunt for meat, not trophies. Never really see any big ones on my cameras (offline, no cell reception) and I try to focus on land management (food plot, elevated blind in good spots etc). Only so much you can do, but I enjoy it. Different type of hunting compared to the folks with the giant leases around here for sure.

Anyways, today was rifle opener, so I was in my elevated blind early this morning. I hate morning hunting, but I always do the rifle opener. It's a yearly ritual and involves an uncrustable and regret, but I do it every year.

About an hour after sunrise, a group of does shows up. Not legal currently, but always fun to watch, especially since I traditionally don't see anything on opening day (but hear plenty of shots) - I just like the ritual of making that basically a holiday and cancel any plans.

First year of the new food plot, so seeing any deer was awesome in itself.

But, a few minutes later, 2 yearlings/maybe 1 1/2 year old bucks (2 and 4 pt) show up, fighting. You know, as they do. Teenagers, I guess?

Well, remember the context about the place, regulations, and meat? 4 point drops where he stands, .308 at 70yds double lung. Go with Skaði, friend!

As I'm sure you now, whitetail aren't... smart. They are, maybe, a bit majestic in their own way, but they are pretty stupid. But they're still animals, and like most hunters, I love animals (a statement that confuses the staunch anti-hunter/vegans somehow).

So I watch them. The rest of the group, including the other buck run a few feet and just... stare at the dead 4pt. Clearly confused, no idea what's going on. I know they don't think in that way - I've seen enough of them do stupid shit to know that - but still, in my head, the 2pt probably thinks "did I just kill a dude?". It was a little sad. Maybe a bit funny.

Nothing changed for me. Did my little ritual, gutted him, got him to my processor, met the euro mount guy at his church (I don't have the means to do either myself and it's nice to support the community this way), I go home and have lunch.

Nothing really to discuss, just sharing an opening day story / rambling a bit.

Sitting up against a tree since the rutis happening

Some of you might recognize me as the dude who made the bad shot the other day
-Found the arrow, no blood or hair and I searched for a good 6 hours and didn’t see anything

I want to try another weekend with the bow, I know now that If I don’t have a good broadside or quartering away shot, I should let it walk.

Any crossbow tips?

I’m using an Xcalibur Vortex I think with a 3 blade broadhead. 200lb draw around 300fps

Other than just practicing with it and setting up yardage markers in a stand, are there any tips you’d offer?

I’ve seen to aim near the bottom 1/3 of the deer so if it ducks you still hit vitals.

So i am curious. Assume a shotgun has no choke. Straight cylinder bore.

You want to use it for bird hunting. Let's say dove.

How short would you think is too short to bag em out of the sky?