2023 Hunting Picture Thread

Armored farmer said:
Opening day of Illinois firearms deer season.
I was a 200yd walk from my hunting blind where I spent the night to be in the woods at first light. It rained on and off all night so the woods were super quiet this morning. I slept good with the pattering of rain on the tin roof. I made a pot of coffee and toasted some waffles and smoky links for my breakfast before leaving the blind for a walk.
View attachment 1180301View attachment 1180302
I couldn't pass on this 8pt when he walking in front of me. I love harvesting deer off my own property.
One shot with my new 45-70 Handi-Rifle! 65ish yds.
View attachment 1180296View attachment 1180297View attachment 1180298

Right after lunch, #3 son took this nice 9pt while on his way to his stand!
One shot with his Savage 220.
View attachment 1180299View attachment 1180300
Click to expand...
Well done! Couple of nice bucks there.
 
Armored farmer said:
Opening day of Illinois firearms deer season.
I was a 200yd walk from my hunting blind where I spent the night to be in the woods at first light. It rained on and off all night so the woods were super quiet this morning. I slept good with the pattering of rain on the tin roof. I made a pot of coffee and toasted some waffles and smoky links for my breakfast before leaving the blind for a walk.
View attachment 1180301View attachment 1180302
I couldn't pass on this 8pt when he walking in front of me. I love harvesting deer off my own property.
One shot with my new 45-70 Handi-Rifle! 65ish yds.
View attachment 1180296View attachment 1180297View attachment 1180298

Right after lunch, #3 son took this nice 9pt while on his way to his stand!
One shot with his Savage 220.
View attachment 1180299View attachment 1180300
Click to expand...
Two nice bucks! Congratulations to you both👍
 
I’m sitting down to a bowl of tag soup today(actually my Mom made delicious chicken and homemade oven baked Mac n cheese) still have muzzleloader and late antlerless. But rifle is over. Just waaaaay to warm here. And trail cams see stuff about 10:00 pm… nothing in the day… drought been bit tougher on stuff too. IMG_2826.jpeg IMG_2827.jpeg
 
Last edited:
JmacD said:
Yesterday was NE firearm deer opener… and I saw a buck chase a doe better than a mile away and across the state line… had a guy come in and sit in my lap and pretty much ruin the rest of my hunt for the afternoon/evening. Oh well…
Click to expand...
Irritating when inconsiderate yahoos do that.
 
JmacD said:
I’m sitting down to a bowl of tag soup today… still have muzzleloader and late antlerless. But rifle is over. Just waaaaay to warm here. And trail cams see stuff about 10:00 pm… nothing in the day… drought been bit tougher on stuff too. View attachment 1180404View attachment 1180405
Click to expand...
If I might add, it does appear the hog of a 6x6 that I’ve been keeping tabs on has lived to die another day… maybe muzzleloader…
 
Yesterday was the best rifle opener I can remember having. The morning started with quietly walking to my stand, when I looked to my left and saw a leg step out from behind a tree. I was still about 300 yards from my stand and held still. Three more legs stepped forward. I knew it wasn’t anything huge and thought it was a doe. The freezer is empty, and I have the tags, for two bucks and four does so I took aim and shot. Off she ran. I started questioning nosler partitions and walked faster to my stand assuming after the shot there was no point being quiet.
I got into the stand and chambered another partition into the model 70 only ten minutes before hearing deer walk just to the north, which was on my right. Being right handed, I had to turn quite a bit, but the maker of the noise did not seem to notice. At thirty minutes after shooting, I had a big bodied 6 point in my crosshairs at sixty yards. I shot, and he ran. I made sure to aim perfectly and make a mental note of what the sight picture looked like when I pulled the trigger. When I found him the point of aim according to the mental note and the point of impact were a perfect match. The rifle shot fine. Again questioning partitions, I started tracking and was frustrated that there was no blood to follow. I heard this one crash, so I followed the direction from wince that sound had come, and then discovered that the fault was mine. There was an easy to follow blood trail, but I had misjudged distance. The deer was twenty yards further away at the shot than I thought he had been. I was tracking from where another deer ran through earlier kicking up leaves. Thankfully he crashed loudly enough that I found him and learned a humbling but important lesson about being sure you know where something is vs assuming you are experienced enough that your guess is factual.

after a long, uphill drag, I gutted that deer and proceeded to find and gut the first deer. Finding “her” revealed her to be a him because the antlers were blocked by ears. That’s two bucks, so now I have to be very careful to look for antlers. Does only for the rest of my season. I cleaned them and when I finished and grabbed a bite to eat, it was my son’s turn. He’s been trying to kill a deer for a few years but hasn’t had a shot until last year, and when that opportunity came nerves got the best of him and he missed. I took a .357 r92 for me and he with his savage axis in .223 joined me in an elevated blind. He was watching the woods and I was watching a field on the other side. Around 4:30 a deer came out into the field. I decided I did not want to shoot it, so I asked him if he thought he could get to my side quietly. He said he’d try. After setting up and taking aim (and using my fist as a quieter rest than the loud window ledge), I clicked off the safety for him and as soon as I gave him the go ahead he delivered a perfect shot on his first deer. He then tracked it himself, my only instructions being a reminder to mark last blood. I was and am very impressed with my ten year old.
Here come the pics.

IMG_2534.jpeg

IMG_2535.jpeg
IMG_2533.jpeg

IMG_2542.jpeg

IMG_2544.jpeg
 
courtgreene said:
Yesterday was the best rifle opener I can remember having. The morning started with quietly walking to my stand, when I looked to my left and saw a leg step out from behind a tree. I was still about 300 yards from my stand and held still. Three more legs stepped forward. I knew it wasn’t anything huge and thought it was a doe. The freezer is empty, and I have the tags, for two bucks and four does so I took aim and shot. Off she ran. I started questioning nosler partitions and walked faster to my stand assuming after the shot there was no point being quiet.
I got into the stand and chambered another partition into the model 70 only ten minutes before hearing deer walk just to the north, which was on my right. Being right handed, I had to turn quite a bit, but the maker of the noise did not seem to notice. At thirty minutes after shooting, I had a big bodied 6 point in my crosshairs at sixty yards. I shot, and he ran. I made sure to aim perfectly and make a mental note of what the sight picture looked like when I pulled the trigger. When I found him the point of aim according to the mental note and the point of impact were a perfect match. The rifle shot fine. Again questioning partitions, I started tracking and was frustrated that there was no blood to follow. I heard this one crash, so I followed the direction from wince that sound had come, and then discovered that the fault was mine. There was an easy to follow blood trail, but I had misjudged distance. The deer was twenty yards further away at the shot than I thought he had been. I was tracking from where another deer ran through earlier kicking up leaves. Thankfully he crashed loudly enough that I found him and learned a humbling but important lesson about being sure you know where something is vs assuming you are experienced enough that your guess is factual.

after a long, uphill drag, I gutted that deer and proceeded to find and gut the first deer. Finding “her” revealed her to be a him because the antlers were blocked by ears. That’s two bucks, so now I have to be very careful to look for antlers. Does only for the rest of my season. I cleaned them and when I finished and grabbed a bite to eat, it was my son’s turn. He’s been trying to kill a deer for a few years but hasn’t had a shot until last year, and when that opportunity came nerves got the best of him and he missed. I took a .357 r92 for me and he with his savage axis in .223 joined me in an elevated blind. He was watching the woods and I was watching a field on the other side. Around 4:30 a deer came out into the field. I decided I did not want to shoot it, so I asked him if he thought he could get to my side quietly. He said he’d try. After setting up and taking aim (and using my fist as a quieter rest than the loud window ledge), I clicked off the safety for him and as soon as I gave him the go ahead he delivered a perfect shot on his first deer. He then tracked it himself, my only instructions being a reminder to mark last blood. I was and am very impressed with my ten year old.
Here come the pics.

View attachment 1180477

View attachment 1180475
View attachment 1180474

View attachment 1180472

View attachment 1180471
Click to expand...
I've learned this the hard way several times. Where I hunt, a single doe is usually male, and if only two does, the smaller one is probably a button buck.🙃
 
I'd say it's not as popular as other places, but there are plenty of dedicated hunters here. Looking at some data from Mass Wildlife they claim deer density of 12-18 per square mile in the western part of the state, to 30-50 deer per square mile in the eastern part of the state. Looks like 15,853 deer were tagged here in 2022. Total of 600 were tagged in my zone which is zone 2. 4,259 were tagged in zone 11 which is the most in any zone. Zone 6 had 293, the least of any zone.
Our season runs from mid October to the end of the year on western zones and October 1 to the end of the year in eastern zones. First is bow, followed by two weeks of shotgun starting Monday following Thanksgiving. The last three weeks are primitive arms, meaning any form of muzzleloader. Lesser weapons are permitted in seasons of greater weapons. Meaning bow can be used in any season, muzzleloader during shotgun.
Everyone gets two buck tags, doe tags are a lottery for the western zones and available over the counter in some eastern zones.
Attached are the hunting zones.
Screenshot_20231120-194832.png
 
Shanghai,
First, thank you.
I think we do actually have a more dense deer population. Massachusetts is about 10550 square miles with a deer herd around 150000. That comes out to approximately 14 deer per square mile. Kansas is around 82000 square miles with a deer herd of around 700000. That's 8-9 deer per square mile.
I know that for various reasons the eastern side of Massachusetts has a much larger percentage of the deer.
Is Kansas similar? Deer more concentrated in certain areas? I don't know much about Kansas at all. Flat and endless fields of crops is my perception.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Hunting relationships- 2023 season ahead
Replies
8
Views
569
wombat13
W
H&Hhunter
  • Locked
Guiding the best hunting “clients” in the world
Replies
8
Views
651
bikerdoc
bikerdoc
W
  • Locked
Hog Hunting in East Texas
Replies
3
Views
756
BP Hunter
BP Hunter
courtgreene
  • Locked
Let me brag on my dogs
Replies
4
Views
468
courtgreene
courtgreene
G
  • Locked
My sons first buck
Replies
16
Views
1K
Fremmer
F
Back
Top