Deer Hunting Thread

Not back in the early 80s it wasn’t.

They came out with the hunter safety course in 83 I think it was

Before then pretty much anyone could hunt as long as you bought tags and we’re big enough to shoot a gun.

Now I think you have to be 16 to hunt by yourself?

Kids these days have no clue what growing up in a world back then was like.

People weren’t all politically correct and pussyfied back then and we spent most all our time outside playing hard without all the overly safety conscious shit we have today.

We all worked hard and played hard back in the day, but I wouldn’t expect some people these days to understand that.

Everything didn’t just fit in a tidy little box like people think it’s supposed to do these days.

 

For those who think a deer is just a defenseless, poor little innocent creature and you want to put "lasers on their freakin heads".

I challenge you to first get close enough to actually catch one, then to be able to hold on to something that's probably 10 times as strong as a human, and then if you actually live through all that, try to keep him from skewering you with a bunch of sharp horns while you strap your 'laser to it's head".

These things can run at least 45 MPH, jump a 10' fence with one bounce and throw a human around like a rag doll, if you were actually able to get your hands on one.

Also, deer do have plenty of natural predators in the wild...Cayotes, wild dogs and even a bobcat will catch and kill a small deer with no problem. And that's just Georgia...Other states have wolves, mountain lions and bears as well.

For those that think hunting is easy and hunters are just "pussies"...Try this, get yourself a chair and put it in the woods about a mile deep, get up at least an hour before daybreak on the coldest morning of the year, then walk in the dark through the woods to that chair, and then sit in that cold chair, completely still for the next 4-5 hours and then walk back out, then repeat that same thing the same afternoon for another 4-5 hours, and then repeat this same process every day for the next 2 or 3 days in a row...Then come back and tell us about how much you think hunters are "pussies". If you can't or won't do that, then who's the pussy here?

It's a complete challenge and a total commitment, that unless you've actually done it, you'll never know how much your body can actually take. You'll certainly never find that out by sitting around eating pizza and playing video games all day.

For me, it's about becoming one with nature and challenging myself and trying to outsmart something that's the smartest thing in those woods. I'll hunt day after day sometimes and never see a deer, especially the one I'm after, but when I finally do, it's an adrenalin rush like no other I've ever felt anywhere, so unless you've actually been there, I don't expect you to understand it.

Don't be misconceived and think that deer are the stupid defenseless animals some people think they are, they're very smart and can sneak within a few yards of you without you ever knowing they were there. Just because you see them beside the road doesn't mean their stupid animals either, they just don't understand man made objects like roads, all they know is theirs fresh grass growing along side the roads and they like to eat it. Does especially are the main ones you'll see roadside, because they are usually eating for two as they usually have babies they're either pregnant with or their nursing, so they have to eat constantly to stay healthy and keep their babes healthy as well.

For a real, seasoned deer hunter with years of experience, it's not about "blasting" up the woods, shooting up everything in site, it's about the challenge and the sense of accomplishment of bagging a huge buck that you may have been hunting for years without ever seeing in some cases. It's the one time you do that makes it all worth it.

 

That's beautiful bro, I love just watching them too.

We've got a big heard in my neighborhood and I've seen as many as 10 in my yard at one time. I like to sit on my back porch, smoke a doob and watch the deer walk around and eat.

I don't shoot the ones in my neighborhood, the only ones I hunt are on my hunting property and we only take about 5 or 6 a year between my parents and my family, just enough to fill our freezers and eat good for the year.

We let way more deer walk than we kill, and we're very selective about which ones we harvest for meat. Once we have our meat, we start hunting for trophy bucks, but our rule is only one buck per year, so once you've gotten him, your season is done, which adds even more challenge to it because your only after the biggest of the big bucks at that point.

We're all about game management and keeping them thriving and healthy. We have several fields planted with biologic and we supplement with corn and "buck muscle" (pelletized minerals and grain) along with mineral blocks that we put out all over the property...Are deer are spoiled rotten! lol

 

NICE BUCK!

They love golf courses and feel safe around them because they know that they're not being hunted around places like that.

Some of the biggest deer you'll ever see will live around suburbs and places where it's illegal to hunt. I've got a monster buck, a little bigger than that one living around my neighborhood and I've only seen him once about 11 PM one night after getting home from work.

He was chasing does around in my front yard...LOL

 

Yep, he's a good one!

That doe was probably exhausted after being chased by him all over the place?

 

LOL, yea that would be pretty cruel bro...

Real shit though, I once took a shot at a buck that was standing on it's back legs trying to mount a doe, back when I was in my early teens.

They were right directly behind me so I turned around quickly and took the shot, but I missed him and they all scattered. There were four or five standing around watching them about to get it on...LOL, Sometimes I was just a dumb kid trying to do something cool!

That was a stupid pot shot I took at him, but at least I missed and didn't wound him. I friggen hate tracking blood trails.

For those that have never heard this before...I've read somewhere that of all the different deer species, the whitetail is notorious for having the most will to live after being shot than any other deer species in the world. Or so I read anyway...? Some may argue differently? IDK?

But for those that don't know, If you are going to hunt them, you've got to learn to be calm and make really good clean kill shots on them to take them straight down, If not, they can have you trailing blood all over hells creation for miles, through some of the thickest shit you can imagine, which totally sucks balls!!! They usually run towards water after they're hit, so a favorite place for them to run is deep into a swamp to lay down and die, so when that happens, they're almost impossible to find and you've most likely lost your deer.

I've had deer run for well over 200 yards after shooting them straight through the heart, so sometimes it's just what it is, but if you do shoot them bad, it's almost a guarantee that you'll be in for a hard days work. So heads up if your a noob hunter...

I know some people that say to shoot a deer in the base of the neck, and some say to shoot them behind the shoulder, but I personally shoot mine directly square in the shoulder, because if you break the bones in those shoulders, it's pretty much impossible for them to run and it usually takes out their heart at the same time as well.

The only reason I bring all this up, is the fact that when I was much younger, I would get way too excited and had a hard time being calm and taking good shots, because I was jerking the trigger and not slowly squeezing it, so I was shooting them bad a lot, and we were having to track blood trails way more than any of us wanted to. Needless to say, everyone involved would get pissed every time I did that. Not fun!

I've since learned to be calm and make good clean kill shots. I've learned to focus more on the gun, and what I'm going to do with it, and less on the deer I'm about to shoot. There's a little bit of discipline involved to put all that adrenalin out of your mind and focus on the task at hand. If you can't do that then don't take the shot and let him walk.

That's just a little piece of free advice for anyone reading this that's new to hunting or thinking about trying it.

 

That's exactly right brother, always have your gun dialed in and have your muscle memory with your weapon completely fluid and ready to go when it really counts.

Any mistake you might possibly make better be put in check and sorted out on the range, because if and when that monster buck does show up, that ain't the time to be finger fucking your gun, or any equipment you have for that matter. In most cases, that buck won't usually just stand around waiting on you to situate your shit, all you'll see is a white flag running through the woods, leaving you frustrated and pissed at yourself!

@KillaNuggetsWF a shotgun is a great thing to hunt with my friend, and my favorite type of gun for hunting in really tight/thick areas like swamp bottoms. I like a shotgun when we drive them with dogs too.

I have a Benelli super black eagle 3 1/2" mag. and I use nothing but 00 buck shot in it, but slugs are devastating as well and their both great for still hunting.

I would hunt more with it but that thing kicks like a friggen mule, it's almost not even fun to shoot...OUCH!!! It's a beast!

Shotguns are cool, you can even shoot a deer through bushes with a shotgun and still take him down, they're awesome for hunting at short range!

I always tell new/novice hunters to probably start out with a shotgun first, until they've killed a few deer with it, so those getters that you get when you first start out won't effect your aim as much as it does with a rifle. A shotgun is way more forgiving than a rifle, as far as not having to be quite as accurate with it.

Some people don't realize that there's an actual thing called "Buck Fever" and it's an honest to God phenomenon that can actually happen when you first start out hunting, to where you will start shaking uncontrollably at the very sight of the deer you are wanting to shoot, to where you can't maintain your composure enough to take a good shot, so the deer usually get's away.

If this ever happens to you, I strongly advise not to take the shot for rear of wounding it and possibly loosing your deer completely....It does happen...

I've lost a lot of deer when I was a kid because of buck fever, but eventually, after getting older and gaining more experience, I learned to put the deer out of my mind and stay focused on my rifle and my movements to slowly and quietly take my safety off and only lift my gun when the deer's head is down and he's eating.

A deer can't see movement around them as good when their nose is to the ground, so any movement you make needs to be at that time, never move a muscle as long as his head's up and he's alert and looking around...More free advice.

Another trick an old veteran hunter taught me is to never look a deer straight in the eyes and always keep your eyes looking at his feet. For some reason a deer can pick up on eyes looking straight at his and they will bolt sure as shit.

All this stuff I've talked about is all just part of the challenge and what keeps hunters like myself coming back for more. It's when that moment finally comes and all the conditions are right for you to take that massive buck that makes it all worth while and gives you that sense of pride and accomplishment.

It really is a spiritual and almost religious experience for those who know what I'm talking about, and for those who don't, sorry but I can't fully describe it in words, you'll just have to go find out for yourself.

 

Yes sir it is certainly a classroom, and nature will always prove you dead wrong if you try to predict it.

You certainly can't predict the deer's movements and when their laying down bedding. They're so unpredictable as to their movements, eating and sleeping habits and it's always a crap shoot every time you go hunting.

Here for the past several years, our deer seem to be super active around early October till around mid November, then they seem to just vanish until towards the end of season in early January, when they start moving a little bit more again.

I'm pretty convinced it's more based on the acorn crop every year, so as long as the acorns are still on the ground in abundance, the deer are moving more, eating acorns and fattening up for the impending cold weather. That acorn crop also coincides with rut/breeding season as well.

Once they've pretty much eaten all the acorns, the deer just seem to vanish until hunger takes back over again around January and then they become active again.

That's just my theory, from my personal observation anyway...?