Who's still going?

[DonBo]

Nice going NTW! Just curious how you know the blades did not deploy? Can you tell by the wound? I've seen when the arrow is still in the deer and when pulled out the blades go back to their original closed position. Just curious.....

I'll be back in a tree this afternoon, first time in a while for me.

[NTW]

Thanks DonBo!

My first curiousity was when I pulled the arrow from the ground. 2 blades looked like they hadn't moved and the 3rd was just about 1/2 way. I figured that hitting the ground could result in them closing completely so I wasn't too alarmed.

However, when inspecting the damage done I found the lung had an exact shape of the broadhead with only one blade deployed...same on the exit through the hide. I told myself to take a picture but by the time I got around to cleaning up I had forgotten. I will try and remember to take a pic of the hide when I debone it next week (it's hangin in my dad's shed now).

[DonBo]

Thanks for the response. I've always been leary of mechanicals. I've givin up shooting them for deer and just use them now for turkeys because of the larger cutting diameter. Moving parts and broadheads just never made sense to me.

Glad the issue didn't result in an unrecovered animal. Must have been a good shot.

[mainbutter]

Well the last few days of the season are here! I haven't been out in snow ONCE yet, due to work and other things getting in the way.

However, I've got new year's eve off of work, we're headed up to our land, and I'll get probably 120 minutes of hunting time to top off the season. I'm pretty confident at the least I'll be in the woods for the last hour of legal shooting!

I'm not betting on it happening, but if there is a buck with a nice pair of antlers in the woods and it happens to stroll by, I might just have the coolest story ever to tell

There's gotta be someone on the forums here who has stuck a deer on new year's eve. You guys ever see antlers that late in the season? I know there are some reports of them dropping already.

[Scoot]

WTG NTW! I'm surprised about the Spitfires- as far as mechanicals go, they've got an excellent reputation for being reliable. I've shot the Maxx's for the past many years and they've been flawless for me.

mainbutter, I've shot a few deer on New Year's Eve. One year my brother shot two deer and I shot one that night (we had five tags, so we were perfectly legal), so it can definitely happen! Good luck!!! I've got an ND tag, so I've got a few more days after New Year's Eve. I hope I can get out another time or two...

[NTW]

Thanks Scoot!

Not sure what to say about the spitfire mishap. Guess it is a testament to their killing power if an incomplete deployment brings'em down.

Good luck to everyone these last couple days!

[DonBo]

I shot one on NYE several years ago. It was a big deer, limping badly. I took a longer shot than I normally would because of the limp. Luckily the shot was true. Turned out to be a buck that had already lost his antlers.

Sat last night and had one approaching that could be seen from a long way away because of the snow. It was coming right up the trail that crosses 10 yds from my tree. I was SO excited! I was certain he/she could hear my uncontrolled breathing. Turned out to be a tiny doe fawn that I'd seen here a few times already. She's probably the only antlerless deer in my woods that is safe.

Lot's of tracks in the fresh snow, I'm still pretty hopefull. Maybe tonight....

[Scoot]

Go get 'em, fellas! Good luck!

I'm at home enjoying my time with my inlaws. I'd much rather be in my livingroom than sitting 16' up in a tree. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I'll eventually believe it...

[DonBo]

Scoot, at least you'll get to watch the football game today. That's something, right?

[Scoot]

Yes, I get the cheer the Vikings on today- that's a good thing for sure! I'd much rather be in the woods, but at least there's a big game on today to watch. I really fear how this could play out with the Vikings game- the Bears are winning and if the Vikings lose, I'll be getting a heck of a lot of guff from buddies who are Bears and Packers fans. ...and I use the term "buddies" very loosly- how buddy-buddy can a guy really be with a person who cheers for the Packers or Bears?

Skol Vikings!

[paceman]

Made it out one last time saturday afternoon. Fun to put on the snow camo. Nice quiet afternoon. Lots of tracks but only saw two good looking fawns that walked to me and milled around for about 10 minutes. Teased me with many easy shots One was a button buck so we scheduled a date for 2016. Always a bit sad climbing down for the last time of the year but it was a fun year.

[huntnfish]

Went out for the last time tonight in MN. Had a decent sized deer come by at 15 yards but saw the nubs as I was about to draw. Saw a couple others but nothing that would let me fling an arrow at them. It was amazingly quiet in the woods today. Even eating a tag I'm very satisfied with my year. I passed up 20-25 bucks this year(I'm sure some were seen more than once) and countless does and fawns. With a winter like last year we'll be in good shape for next year.

[Scoot]

Sounds like a fun night to end the year, Nate. It also sounds like you saw a whole lot more headgear than I did this year- I saw very few bucks and none that were very big.

Tonight, however, it turned out for me to be a good thing to stay home and watch the game (and I almost never miss time in the woods for any event that requires me to sit and watch). Some great family time and a great game to watch. I can't imagine they'll go very far in the playoffs (one and done I'd guess), but tonight was sure fun to watch.

[DonBo]

For as cold as it's supposed to be tomorrow, I'm probably done. Had an eventfull night with three deer seen, including the same fawn from last night at 10 yds again, another that stuck around about 60 yards away for most of the night. Also had a turkey roost not too far away. Fun night.

No complaints from my season.

[1eyeReD]

Was out Sat night. Deer came out 'almost' just as I predicted. Too bad, they busted me from 50+ yds away!! Wind direction was slightly blowing their way, but I don't think they got downwind enough to catch my scent. I think they certainly caught me turning (they came from left and I'm a lefty) and that's when the lead doe freaked out and trotted off taking the other 3. Can't get away with much movement at all this time of season. Dangit! They were angling towards me too.. I think I would've had them within 30 yds at best. That was my last sit. Overall, it was a good season. Killed my 1st whitetail buck by bow this year followed by filling two antlerless tags to make up for the previous seasons of eating tag soup. Made some of the best venison chili I've ever tasted thanks to random online recipes. Best of luck to those of you still going and have a happy new year!

[MNpurple]

With one tag left, sits for me hadn't been very productive as of late. My dad's tags were full so we gave it a last ditch effort and made a push, just the two of us. For those of you who haven't driven deer with archery...pushing a deer and hoping to get it to stop exactly in your shooting lane is tough but well worth the effort.

Not 5 minutes after he started the push, a big doe comes over a narrow ridge coming perfectly on the trail I hoped it would. I timed my draw when a tree hid me from her view. Just before she entered my shooting lane I started mouth bleating, but she paid no attention, running through my shooting lane without stopping. She was gone but I was upbeat that we had come that close to making it happen. Not a minute later, here comes another one, a lone fawn. THis itme I started mouth bleating sooner, but to no avail. The nubber blasted right through my shooting lane despite my frantic bleats (almost hollers at this point) but made a mistake and stopped at exactly 30 yards, facing directly away from me. I remained at full draw with no shot. For some reason, he pivoted and turned to his left giving me a small but clear opening to his vitals. I released the arrow and watched it bury into his heart and take out his offside leg. He dropped and started snoplowing downhill coming to and end 30 yards later. Through all our years hunting, this is only the second time my dad and I were together when one of us took an archery deer. What a fantastic end to the year.

[Rippinlip]

Thats fantastic!

Great way to end the year.

[pascooter94]

great job.

[PropsterII]

This is the story of my daughter Shelby's first deer, her first bow kill. Not as good as many of the stories we read hear such as Scoot's, and there's only one pic, but it will do. I had her shooting a bow when she was 4. She shot for a few years but really didn't have any desire to hunt, as she was a pretty passionate animal lover. Plus she played a lot of sports in school and never had time even if she was so inclined. It was okay though, because my son Hunter came along a couple years later and I had a hunting buddy for life.

Two years ago she came to me out of the blue in the fall and said I want to go hunting with you! I said great, but what brought that on? She wasn't sure, she just wanted to give it a try. I told her we probably didn't have time to get her set up and proficient with a bow that fall but I would take her to my friend Doc's place in Indiana to shotgun hunt while the rest of us bowhunted. I never wound up even taking my bow out, as I got such a kick out of just sitting with her. Our first hour in the tree she passed a decent 8 pt. She passed a couple other small bucks that trip and didn't get a chance at a doe toward the end when she was willing to settle for one. At the end of the trip she told me she had a great time, but said it was too easy, she wanted to bowhunt.

So the next spring I got her a Mathews Passion from my friend Ron Cormier. She was working and going to school in St Cloud so I arranged for her to stop in at Archery Country whenever she could to practice. But when we were about to go to Indiana later that fall, she couldn't go due to work. So she didn't hunt at all last year. Well she continued to practice this year and we scheduled a 3 day hunt during the rut in Wisconsin. The rut just was not happening in our area this year and we got rained out the last day, with her having seen one small buck at a distance, and no opportunity. We then tried to find a time during late season where she could get a day or two off to come down and hunt. That wound up being these last few days, Dec 29-31.

Saturday eve we went out and sat in a pop up blind. Had a young 8 pt come by about 45 yds away but even though I'm not sure I could have convinced her to shoot it, she never got the chance. Sunday evening she wasn't feeling very well so we didn't go. Well Monday (today) I had to work, but Hunter offered to take her. They went to a different farm where our friend Gary had a blind set up where deer had been hitting the small standing corn field quite heavily, though he had nothing on camera during daylight hours the last few evenings. However it was supposed to get pretty cold today and I was convinced they would move.

She and Hunter texted me at work saying they were all set by 2:30. At 4:30 after the temperature had dropped to a mere 6 degrees, a mature doe came out of the woods. She fed out in front of them and Hunter said get ready, this is the one we want. He ranged her at 24 yards and told her to draw. She whistled the 42 lb bow back pretty easily from a seated position he said. When the doe stopped, she sent the NAP Hell Razor right thru the chest. A perfect double lung shot! The deer ran off, then Shelby started to shake a little with excitement. Hunter knew from the shot it was a dead deer running and the blood trail should be easy to follow in the snow. They sat for a bit and enjoyed the moment, letting her calm down a bit.

After awhile they went out and trailed it to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The deer went 80 yds, the last 30 of it rolling downhill. Couldn't be more proud of her, and Hunter for taking her out when I couldn't. Wish I could have shared that experience with her, but I have a feeling there will be more. Now she really wants to shoot a big buck. I've created a monster!

I'll see if I can get the photo to post, I've had trouble in the past! Great way to end the season. Happy New year all.

[Boar]

Congratulations to her! an to you! thats awsome, just really awsome!

[Boar]

Oh yeah you should enter that in the photo contest.

[MNpurple]

Congrats to your daughter, I can almost see you smiling!

[DonBo]

That's great! Congrats to her, and MNpurple too! Love the last minute successes.

Too cold for me last night.

[Scoot]

AWESOME! WTG MNPurple and Propster/Shelby! Very cool!

I hoped/planned to sit this evening- it'd be a perfect night in the woods. Light and steady breeze and cold- exactly what I like! However, my wife threw her back out and is in tough shape, so I didn't want to leave her with the kids given that she can't even really take care of herself right now. I'm hoping I'll be able to sit on Sat for one last hoorah, but we'll see if I can make that happen or not.

[Boar]

Thats a drag scoot i hope she get better soon, no fun throwin the back out.