The pictures aren't great but I figured I'd share my stories for this year.
Got this 11 pointer on the opening day of archery season here in Maine. He was my first deer with a bow! They call him a 12 point around here cuz he's got one nub you could hang a wedding ring off, but I went with the 1 inch rule and call him at 11.
I was about 25 feet up in a stand and had sprayed some Bowunters Set Up and watched it drift directly away from me on the breeze (not normally a good thing). Less than five minutes later this joker was passing by at about 45 yards. When he caught that scent he turned 90 degrees and marched right up to the tree I was in, sniffing the whole way and stopped right below me when he hit the end of the scent line.
This year sure made me a believer in going scent free. If he could smell that stuff, he'd have smelled me. He only ran 32 yards and dropped within sight.
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Got the elk in Colorado north of Del Norte. Shot him with my .30-06 at 10 yards in the timber. Again I was really scent free, and had a herd walk right in on me. I lost count at 15 animals. Mostly cows, a couple spikes, and one fork horn in velvet with this bull bringing up the rear. The lead cow spotted me right off but couldn’t tell what I was. You could almost see the confusion in her eyes. “That tree didn’t look like that yesterday.â€
She kept moving closer and closer, sniffing and turning her head. The others got nervous but just kept looking from her to me and back again. I just turned to stone and avoided eye contact. She kept moving in on me, closer and closer until (I SWEAR TO GOD) she sniffed the end of my rifle and then actually licked the gun barrel!!! At this she whistled an alarm call and the whole herd took one jump and then stood there looking at me. I was completely surrounded by cows, but so was the bull. Luckily as I started slowly raising my rifle he took a step that put his head behind a tree and the vitals in the open and I got the shot. Went 35 yards and fell over in sight. He ended up being a 6X6...no Boone and Crockett contender but I was mighty happy.
A GREAT year!
Got this 11 pointer on the opening day of archery season here in Maine. He was my first deer with a bow! They call him a 12 point around here cuz he's got one nub you could hang a wedding ring off, but I went with the 1 inch rule and call him at 11.
I was about 25 feet up in a stand and had sprayed some Bowunters Set Up and watched it drift directly away from me on the breeze (not normally a good thing). Less than five minutes later this joker was passing by at about 45 yards. When he caught that scent he turned 90 degrees and marched right up to the tree I was in, sniffing the whole way and stopped right below me when he hit the end of the scent line.
This year sure made me a believer in going scent free. If he could smell that stuff, he'd have smelled me. He only ran 32 yards and dropped within sight.
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Got the elk in Colorado north of Del Norte. Shot him with my .30-06 at 10 yards in the timber. Again I was really scent free, and had a herd walk right in on me. I lost count at 15 animals. Mostly cows, a couple spikes, and one fork horn in velvet with this bull bringing up the rear. The lead cow spotted me right off but couldn’t tell what I was. You could almost see the confusion in her eyes. “That tree didn’t look like that yesterday.â€
She kept moving closer and closer, sniffing and turning her head. The others got nervous but just kept looking from her to me and back again. I just turned to stone and avoided eye contact. She kept moving in on me, closer and closer until (I SWEAR TO GOD) she sniffed the end of my rifle and then actually licked the gun barrel!!! At this she whistled an alarm call and the whole herd took one jump and then stood there looking at me. I was completely surrounded by cows, but so was the bull. Luckily as I started slowly raising my rifle he took a step that put his head behind a tree and the vitals in the open and I got the shot. Went 35 yards and fell over in sight. He ended up being a 6X6...no Boone and Crockett contender but I was mighty happy.
A GREAT year!
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