These were great. Thanks GarGuy
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Pressured Deer Are EASY To Pattern
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Originally posted by GarGuy View PostDaybreak on opening morning of gun season found me sitting in a homemade tent blind looking down a ten ft wide shooting lane that ended under a big whiteoak 50 yds away. I could see a little corn left from the 2 5 gallon buckets of corn I had poured out the evening before on the Davy Crockett national forest floor. The sound of an occational acorn falling transitioned to the sound of distant and not so distant gunshots. After all, I was hunting in the most highly pressured area of the DCNF intentionally. I was sitting only 35 yds inside the worst overgrown clearcut you can dream up with a small stream immediately in front of me and the only white oak for miles. I had cut this small opening in July when I realized there would be a whiteoak acorn crop.
The sounds of the wild became abundant as the morning progressed. An old log truck rattled past my hiding spot on the road 35yds behind me and truck doors slammed as hunters gave up early and headed for camp. A glimpse of antlers caught my attention at 852am. A decent 7pt walked boldly into the corn trail and started eating. Long before antler restrictions, this was a very legal deer yet I knew my hunt was just starting. He threw his head up and stared behind me and to my left. Shortly I could hear boots walking on the paved road and hunters talking as the walked past. The deer returned to eating.
By 945, the gunshots had ceased yet the road behind me had a steady stream of traffic. The 7pt bolted and in walked a nice 8pt followed by a small 6pt. Over the next 30 minutes 8 different bucks showed up to grab a bite of corn or acorns and established pecking orders with a bigger 8pt allowing most to eat. Suddenly every one of them looked North. The 8pts posture changed and he cowed down. I eased my rifle up and rolled the scope to 4 power just as a heavy horned 9pt walked in. 7 year old brute in the mid 140s and it didn't take me long to shoot him dead. 1032am and there was no way in heck I was going to be able to load this deer so I left him there and drove to a small store a few miles away where I knew hunters would be gathered and a big buck contest was going on.
There was a huge crowd there and maybe a dozen deer in the cooler. Almost all were does and 1.5 year old bucks. I walked up to a group of hunters and the entire conversation was about how poor the year was with only does at their feeders. The feeling was unanimous that the buck doe ratio was horrible. Now keep in mind that I had just seen 9 deer, all of which were buck and all but 3 were over 3 years old! I was going to ask for help but decided against it and went to get a friends help instead. I sure hated to show him that spot.
I have dozens of stories just like that one but told it because of the great thread about growing big deer but not being able to close the deal once they got smart and nocturnal. The truth is that heavily pressured and nocturnal deer are the EASIEST to pattern. If you can locate his core thicket, you can count on him being right there during shooting hours. This is what I was doing in the DCNF until they made it illegal to corn. Now I just do the same thing on thickets adjoining DCNF.
Getting in and out of these areas is another story but with the right setup, you can see that old nocturnal buck eating corn but not likely at your feeder.
Steve
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Originally posted by GarGuy View PostFunny thing about that big typical 12pt Jooger speaks of(Actually a typical 13 but broke a g2). I had pics of that deer the year before right in the heaviest pressure, in my sanctuary but no other times. A friend got hundreds of pics of him about 3 miles away and was after him hot and heavy. I didn't know it at the time but Jooger was after him too. My friend and his family literally hunted him every day during Oct. He stopped getting pics and I told him that deer was about to show up in my secret sanctuary. He said call him if I started getting pics. 7 days later, I called him and let him take some pics on my tail gate.
I lost 25lbs that year hunting that back! I'd get up at 4am, drive an hour. Sneak in about a 1/2mi. 1/2 of that I had to crawl because it was so thick! I'd have some bottled water and trail mix in my pack. I'd set til black dark and sneak back out, drive an hour home, drink 2 beers for supper, go to bed and do it again tomorrow. For 3 months! My mom thought I was on drugs because I looked so bad.
Maybe when Steve goes on to the white oak bottom in the sky he'll leave me those horns in his will lol! I've never hunted a deer so hard before or since. I learned more about E. Tx deer that year than I had in a lifetime of hunting there.
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Originally posted by jooger17 View PostI hunted him from daylight to dark every single day that I was off from Oct 5th to Dec 22nd. I work 14/14 so that is a lot of days! LOTS OF HOURS! I passed a giant 9pt 145ish at 20 yards on Halloween morning. I'd seen him on the 5th at 15 yards but it was too thick to shoot.
I lost 25lbs that year hunting that back! I'd get up at 4am, drive an hour. Sneak in about a 1/2mi. 1/2 of that I had to crawl because it was so thick! I'd have some bottled water and trail mix in my pack. I'd set til black dark and sneak back out, drive an hour home, drink 2 beers for supper, go to bed and do it again tomorrow. For 3 months! My mom thought I was on drugs because I looked so bad.
Maybe when Steve goes on to the white oak bottom in the sky he'll leave me those horns in his will lol! I've never hunted a deer so hard before or since. I learned more about E. Tx deer that year than I had in a lifetime of hunting there.
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These stories just keep getting better and better.
That's a nice 'full circle' story on Ol Double Shot. Very cool you were able to knock him down with that same friend in company.
Was there any 'damage' to either side of his horns from the spine/bullet injury?
My dad's first buck he shot (at age 40) was an 8pt but one side looked like it belonged on a yearling deer. One of the old men in camp said 'I bet he has been shot before or injured'
Sure enough, when we cleaned him, about 3/4 of his spine was gone right above his shoulder blades, and only the bottom 1/4 was connected. We deduced that somebody must have skipped a bullet right over him
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