First hunt of fall

[Rick P]

You might want to have that Lefever apraised before you do anything with it! Demacus barrels are OLD and a ithica made "Lefever nitro" will fetch around $1,500 in fare condition!


Get out and hunt this fall guys! You might not ever get the chance again and we need hunters in the field! To many horn porn addicted sport killers out there!

 

[Florida Marine]

White tail opened today... Nothing until around 0845, I have my pack in my lap and am stuffing my face with a piece of pork jerky. I see legs in the underbrush and am like GREAT TIMING. I slowly lower my pack to the side of my stand, grab my bow and promptly get snorted at, it stood there snorting, so it didn't totally bust me. Later on a pair of what looked like does, but one could have been a button buck came in, no shot opportunities...

Snorty came back again for some reason and snorted at me...that always makes me laugh that a deer will come back and check you out. No shot.

Had to break down early to see some of my Marines off to a short Afghanistan deployment, headed back into another training area on base but the wind was picking up and I lost interest for the day (as well as fell asleep in my stand for a spell).


So day one - zero meat in the freezer. Weren't many coming into the game check today, so think it was a slow opening day.

 

[Rick P]

At least you had game to keep ya on your toes, good start to the season!

Tracy is always amazed how aggressive a white tail can be, stomping snorting and checking to see if your still around is par for the course. Moose and caribou just move on or run away, but in Michigan at least the deer will stalk you! Cant tell you how many times I have ended a stalk on a big buck only to damn near walk into him when I doubled back, seems them old swamp bucks like to keep an eye on there predators.

 

[Florida Marine]

Well today was a low point... Gut shot and had no recovery on a doe.

I have re-run the scenario in my head a million times - had perfect anchor points, I use a hind sight on my bow, so torque is usually not an issue. I picked a spot behind her left leg, aim small, miss small - usually.

She double jumped, and ran off left leg lifted. Waited a half hour, climbed down and found no blood, white hair and brow what has to be intestinal/stomach fluid. Got a clean pass thru and the arrow was covered in blood.

No blood trail - none, zero. Even had a guy that does dog tracking help me. Spent about 2 hours, nothing. He said chances of finding her are nil.

I feel so terrible.

 

[Monolith]

Ick...

I dunno how you guys do it. I just don't have the heart to kill an animal for fun.

I'm not judging; I love a good steak... but hell, I feel bad for killing a spider, let alone something the size of a deer!

 

[Florida Marine]

Ick...

I dunno how you guys do it. I just don't have the heart to kill an animal for fun.

I'm not judging; I love a good steak... but hell, I feel bad for killing a spider, let alone something the size of a deer!

I don't consider it fun...its more instinctual. Hunting touches parts of me that nothing else can.

I have great respect for what I kill.

(spiders being an exception - heck insects period- I could be the Pol Pot of insects and still not kill enough!)

 

[ohiococonut]

Ken before you shoot that old LeFever again you might want to have it checked out by a competent gunsmith. Low brass and high brass mean nothing as far as todays modern firearms are concerned. Even in old firearms what is considered low brass, by todays standards, may exceed that weapons designed chamber pressures. There are several grades of LeFever shotguns depneding on how ornate the stock and engraving is and as they were getting away from damascus barrels, LeFever as well as some other manufacturers decided to make what was called damascus decal. It's not a true damascus twist but rather an overlay on the barrel since they were so fond of the design. As always, with any old firearm it's wise to consult a "competent" gunsmith before firing the weapon.

Don't know that I've ever killed an animal for fun. Man has been a hunter/gatherer since the begining of time and that's unlikely to change.

 

[Displaced Canadian]

Hunting, it's just walking around enjoying the view right up until the moment you shoot something. Then it's just work. In south east Alaska the first question you would ask yourself was, can I get this thing back to the boat? As for the buying a bigger gun to compensate for shooting ability I have seen that. I have seen people take 300 yard shots because their rifle could shoot that far. Problem was the shooter was doing good to hit a target off hand at 100 yards. Hunting in Alaska was great you would go on a mountain and the only people you would see were the people you went with and then only if you wanted to. In Manitoba you would go into the bush 1/2 mile square and there was a good possibility you would get yelled at by another person to get out of his area. They didn't like it when you pointed out to them that because of their yelling you might as well both go home because they just told every deer in the area that you were their. Our property was on the south border of Bird's Hill Park and at the first crack of a rifle the deer would cross the road into bow hunting area only. As their crossing the road that white tail sure looks a lot like a middle finger.

 

[Rick P]

Ick...

I dunno how you guys do it. I just don't have the heart to kill an animal for fun.

I'm not judging; I love a good steak... but hell, I feel bad for killing a spider, let alone something the size of a deer!

No rational human being likes to kill! Read Florida Marines post again, you'll see sorrow for causing suffering.

I hunt for many reasons, none of them include blood lust. I hunt for health, enviromental and spiritual reasons. I hunt to comune with who I am as a human being, like it or not we are predators. I hunt to obtain true organic meat for my family. I hunt becuase the meat I get is in my belief more spiritually clean. I hunt becuase wild game has little impact on the enviroment while farm rasied protiens are almost always a detriment too it. I hunt because taking a life eye to eye then processing it with reverance for the gift of life my family has recieved is more respectful to the animal than buying a hunk of it's flesh in plastic. I hunt to live within nature as a part of it instead of an exploiter of it.........life feeds on life, I chose to be an active participant rather than a by stander.

I have many friends who are very left leaning, several who are vegans. Many others who will eat some meat........if I harvested it! Why? Because they have no doubt that it was harvested as humanely as possible, treaded with respect and valued for the individual it once was. True hunting is not about dominating nature, it's about living within it.

 

[Rick P]

Displaced Canadian

Alaska is full of folks who can't hit the broad side of a barn because of "get a bigger gun" syndrome! Drives me nuts that so many have gotten away form the traditional values of hunting and expect technology to make up for lack of discipline! Personally I blame the hunting media and it's horn porn approach. Hunting has nothing to do with rock music, fast cut editing and product placement!


PS Anyone who thinks moose hunting is fun is welcome to come help me pack out!

 

[Rick P]

Well today was a low point... Gut shot and had no recovery on a doe.

I have re-run the scenario in my head a million times - had perfect anchor points, I use a hind sight on my bow, so torque is usually not an issue. I picked a spot behind her left leg, aim small, miss small - usually.

She double jumped, and ran off left leg lifted. Waited a half hour, climbed down and found no blood, white hair and brow what has to be intestinal/stomach fluid. Got a clean pass thru and the arrow was covered in blood.

No blood trail - none, zero. Even had a guy that does dog tracking help me. Spent about 2 hours, nothing. He said chances of finding her are nil.

I feel so terrible.

Hit a 3D range to verify your effective range, make sure one of the targets is set up like your blind. Slow down a bit in the field and "feel the shot" before you take it. It happens once or twice in ever hunters life......now we both share something with Fred bear. He said his greatest personal failure in the field was not recovering a bear he KNEW he had arrowed. Same happened to me this year. Fred said it haunted him till his last day.........I expect mine will be with me forever too.

 

[Florida Marine]

Well today was a low point... Gut shot and had no recovery on a doe.

I have re-run the scenario in my head a million times - had perfect anchor points, I use a hind sight on my bow, so torque is usually not an issue. I picked a spot behind her left leg, aim small, miss small - usually.

She double jumped, and ran off left leg lifted. Waited a half hour, climbed down and found no blood, white hair and brow what has to be intestinal/stomach fluid. Got a clean pass thru and the arrow was covered in blood.

No blood trail - none, zero. Even had a guy that does dog tracking help me. Spent about 2 hours, nothing. He said chances of finding her are nil.

I feel so terrible.

Hit a 3D range to verify your effective range, make sure one of the targets is set up like your blind. Slow down a bit in the field and "feel the shot" before you take it. It happens once or twice in ever hunters life......now we both share something with Fred bear. He said his greatest personal failure in the field was not recovering a bear he KNEW he had arrowed. Same happened to me this year. Fred said it haunted him till his last day.........I expect mine will be with me forever too.

Just got in from shooting and I shot all yesterday afternoon...I am hitting solid out to 30, slamming shafts together.

Think I rushed it, was my first shot at a deer this year - and I got too worked up. I have gone over and over and over the scenario and I can't remember what I saw when I released...just remember seeing the entire deer.

Hunting with a mentor next Saturday, going to calm down and sniper anything I get in range.

I can't pull this arrow back, wish I could.

 

[SGM Retired]

You know I want to see pics. I did go Hog hunting last week but caut short after one day when my partners wife got sick. Hope to return soon to nock some piggy's down.