2019-2020 Bambi whacking

Speed3 said:

I shoot the executioner bolts, they are great. I stopped using lighted knocks because my bolts tend to shatter and never able to shoot them again.

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The lighted nocks I got are reusable. Which is good because my first deer everything was reusable. Since then I’ve shattered bolts or damaged heads on every deer since then.

Recovered and reused lighted nocks twice now...

Annoying as heck when you lose $14 worth of bolt and head. Still not super expensive for all that venison. My guy tonight rolled right over the arrow. Almost went straight through and saved the bolt. Almost (lighted nock was buried about 2 inches inside it. A few yards closer and it probably would have zipped through)

I saw this guy out two evenings ago chasing some does in the herd. Today he came in a few minutes before last light. Edged to about 38yds away and broadside with no time left. Lighted nock and I saw it zip out there...and hit too far back, but I couldn’t tell how far. He rolled hard and lay there for about 5 seconds. Got up slowly and I quick recocked my crossbow and went to put another bolt on and snapped off the quiver.

He walked a little briskly and then slower out of my clearing in to the neighbor’s woods (I have permission to hunt their property). Lost sight of him in my binoculars between the darkness and going behind a tree. He wasn’t moving fast. Waited about 5 minutes, went in and told my wife.

My younger son came out to help me find where I hit him. After about 15 minutes. Bunch of blood on the ground and a spot where his hoof tore up the ground. Only found a couple more spots. As USUAL he didn’t take close to the path I had remembered and swung much wider.

Took our time as I didn’t want to go in to the woods and spoke him if he was still alive. Made our way towards the edge off the woods and my son found blood going on back tracked and it was a very solid trail. Went back to where he went in the woods again and saw him laying on a fallen tree maybe 20yds away. He moved his head once and was gone.

Shot WAS far back. Right about the height I wanted, maybe a couple inches higher after shooting a few inches too low on the last few deer (well, lower than I had wanted), but I think he stepped AND hunched a little. Willing to blame pulling the shot a little, but pulling it THAT much.

Anyway, the irony is it’s the worst shot I’ve ever made on a deer. 3rd shortest distance one has gone on me. Maybe 50yds total distance. Looks like I nicked the hip bone and cut the aortic artery. Arrow entered the abdominal cavity, but very high. Arrow partially passed through and I couldn’t see the nock because it was 2” inside the deer. Broke the arrow again sadly, but the head and nock were both intact and reusable.

Going to keep an eye out for that big 10 point, but I think my season might be done unless I get an invite for a late gun season cull or something. Tons of venison in the freezer (or about to be).

seeing lots more does and fawns proportionally this year.

Lazaruz- man, that shot is way back for being such a close shot especially with a crossbow.

Huuman said:

I'm not sure if i'm reading this right. But page 11 of the 2019 MD Guide to hunting. It said that hunter that did not require license (i.e. owner hunting on their own land only.) does NOT have to buy bonus antler stamp? So I can take 4 bucks (Archery/rifle/muzzy/bonus) a year? Just trying to make sure my eyes work properly reading it.

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This is correct. Pretty sure you can sign up for a free DNR id as a landowner only on compass-web. May need to call into DNR to confirm. I've always bought a license anyway because I hunt other properties and the occasional public land.

Norbalco said:

seeing lots more does and fawns proportionally this year.

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Gre. They made a lot of deer this spring. Im overrun with button bucks.

Took my boys down to VA this weekend for early muzzleloader.

My 17 year old pulled the trigger on a wide 4 pt but luckily missed cleanly.

My 13 year old dropped this 8pt from 45 yards. His first deer! He was so excited and received huge accolades from the guys at the cabin.

I'm very proud of both of them. Great weekend!!

https://www.mdshooters.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=270898&stc=1&d=1573428903

GutPile said:

Gre. They made a lot of deer this spring. Im overrun with button bucks.

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I'm curious why you aren't killing them en masse. I guess it would make sense if you live in region A. Region B has a high limit for antlerless deer, and I plan to hit that limit. At the beginning of the season I was hesitant, this being my first season for killing a deer and all, but now if it's legal to shoot, it becomes food. I'm at 4 so far, and plan to go out for Veteran's Day.

Late post, but my son stuck one today. The Deer was cruising by his stand so he grunted to stop it and when it stopped he double lunged it at about 25 yards.

No pics, but the blood trail was insane. I wish all of them were that easy to track.

Striper69 said:

Lazaruz- man, that shot is way back for being such a close shot especially with a crossbow.

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Yes it was. Still scratching my head how I managed it. That said, I’ve missed cleanly a couple of times. Once I pulled the trigger on a doe as she stepped out behind a pine tree in ML season and she ducked as she did, shot right over her back. Shot under a couple of deer when I was aiming too low. Never shot to the side of a deer before. Bust 38yds is nearly half a second for a crossbow bolt. Doesn’t have to be moving fast to move far in that time (3mph is 4fps...or 2 feet in half a second). If he took a step as I squeezed the trigger, possible.

I am willing to cop to buck fever, but I didn’t feel like I flinched, pulled the shot or anything else like that. Just glad it hit the aortic artery and/or kidneys.

And when I discharged the bow in my garage later at 7yds it was dead on for the horizontal. Zero horizontal drift to the arrow and when I’ve been siting it in at 20yds it’s dead center. Groups about 3” at 40yds with a rest.

Ecestu said:

I'm curious why you aren't killing them en masse. I guess it would make sense if you live in region A. Region B has a high limit for antlerless deer, and I plan to hit that limit. At the beginning of the season I was hesitant, this being my first season for killing a deer and all, but now if it's legal to shoot, it becomes food. I'm at 4 so far, and plan to go out for Veteran's Day.

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Personally I like to watch em grow. I've killed a few in my time. In my case my property just tends to be a fawning ground and they stick around until they are about a year old. Giving them shelter has paid off down the road in large heads on the wall.

GutPile said:

Personally I like to watch em grow. I've killed a few in my time. In my case my property just tends to be a fawning ground and they stick around until they are about a year old. Giving them shelter has paid off down the road in large heads on the wall.

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Oh. I misinterpreted your overrun issue as a problem.

I took my 3yo and 5yo out scouting on Sunday on public land. They did more snacking then actual looking but we found this scrape and so I set up my spypoint trail cam on the scrape. I got a few hits over night with what looked like a doe in the evening and another doe 5 min after I got up the tree in my climber at 6:00 on Monday morning. the pics are not as good quality over cell as they are on the SD card so I didn't notice the morning pic at first.

Around 730 I noticed the pic and was sending it to my buddy hunting on the same track. This guy comes trotting in and I thought he wasn't going to stop. he ended up slowing to an almost stop at about 10-15 yards right as I got my crossbow up and he cleared some brush. The shot was double lung but a little farther back than I would have liked, the picture shows the exit hole.

I see the shot hit and bright blood from the hole immediately as he ran around behind my stand and dropped and kicked about 30 yards behind me. This is my first buck and first deer on public land. I have only hunted for the past 5 years and only really started about the past 2 seasons.

It was nice my boys got a chance to see it when they helped scout because they have been with me in the woods a few times and haven't seen any results. It also felt good to go in blind to an area and set up where I wanted, my private land set up is an inherited stand location and a few corn piles and pray.

Also in looking at the pics from the SD Card after I pulled the camera, It looks like it was a fork and not a doe at the scrape about 5 min after I got set up. Looks like I may have found a nice little traffic area.

Nice buck!

lazarus said:

Yes it was. Still scratching my head how I managed it. That said, I’ve missed cleanly a couple of times. Once I pulled the trigger on a doe as she stepped out behind a pine tree in ML season and she ducked as she did, shot right over her back. Shot under a couple of deer when I was aiming too low. Never shot to the side of a deer before. Bust 38yds is nearly half a second for a crossbow bolt. Doesn’t have to be moving fast to move far in that time (3mph is 4fps...or 2 feet in half a second). If he took a step as I squeezed the trigger, possible.

I am willing to cop to buck fever, but I didn’t feel like I flinched, pulled the shot or anything else like that. Just glad it hit the aortic artery and/or kidneys.

And when I discharged the bow in my garage later at 7yds it was dead on for the horizontal. Zero horizontal drift to the arrow and when I’ve been siting it in at 20yds it’s dead center. Groups about 3” at 40yds with a rest.

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Are you target shooting with braodheads also? I had a terrible time when I first started with a crossbow. Missed a nice buck and skimmed his belly. 10 yards ok, 20 iffy and 30 and 40 was OMG.

Found out the bolts were weak in spine and the broadheads were planing and the target points were not. I bought stiffer spined bolts and all the trouble went away.

Archeryrob said:

Are you target shooting with braodheads also? I had a terrible time when I first started with a crossbow. Missed a nice buck and skimmed his belly. 10 yards ok, 20 iffy and 30 and 40 was OMG.

Found out the bolts were weak in spine and the broadheads were planing and the target points were not. I bought stiffer spined bolts and all the trouble went away.

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I have tried multiple NAP mechanical broadheads and every single one impacts exactly where the field points do. I use tenpoint arrows with tenpoint crossbow.

One issue I had initially was having my range finder in normal mode instead of archery mode. I guess that made a big enough difference that I shot high (spine) two times in a row. It was nice dropping them on the spot but they both needed another shot to finish them off and i don't like hitting the back straps.

GutPile said:

This is correct. Pretty sure you can sign up for a free DNR id as a landowner only on compass-web. May need to call into DNR to confirm. I've always bought a license anyway because I hunt other properties and the occasional public land.

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Negative..Only three bucks this year (zone B). used to be 4.

I was out yesterday evening with my 9 year old son hunting from a blind. Right before dusk we had three does come in separately, then about 10 minutes later a nice 4-point showed up. By the time I had a shot with the bow the dusk was really setting in. I took the shot but wasn't able to follow the arrow's path, however, we definitely heard the impact and the buck jumped and took off. Unfortunately he headed the 25 yards or so down towards the river. There was a really good blood trail through the Rhododendron thickets to the waters edge. The buck ran across the damn river (below knee deep at that area) as far as we could tell. I didn't have any way of crossing the river, we did walk along the edge and shown the flashlights along the opposite bank to no avail.

I'm going back with a pair of waders today on my lunch break and cross the river to look for him. I'm not optimistic as we recieved about 2" of snow overnight and it is still coming down. Pretty upset about losing him.

Hi3cho

Nice deer man, I see you live close to me. Just curious where did you shoot him at?

Congrats!

onedash said:

Negative..Only three bucks this year (zone B). used to be 4.

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Correct you need to follow the regs. But as a landowner you don't actually need to buy the bonus stamp. But you have to stick to your property. I think most people that hunt their own land still buy the licenses and tags.