Bambi Whacking 2022-2023

[44man]

I do miss the old days when everyone I knew deer hunted and gathered at the check in station after dark to see what other folks got and to shoot the bull and other guys coming to the farm checking on us and us checking on them

This place is the next best thing but it’s not quite the same as seeing folks in person

I do appreciate having all of you guys to talk to and seeing y’all’s pictures and hearing your hunting adventure stories. It means a lot to me. So thank y’all

 

[gwchem]

I do miss the old days when everyone I knew deer hunted and gathered at the check in station after dark to see what other folks got and to shoot the bull and other guys coming to the farm checking on us and us checking on them

This place is the next best thing but it’s not quite the same as seeing folks in person

I do appreciate having all of you guys to talk to and seeing y’all’s pictures and hearing your hunting adventure stories. It means a lot to me. So thank y’all

Brother, you got a lot of hunters local to you still. I'd be happy to swing by and shoot the shit this weekend if you're still at it.

 

[Doco Overboard]

I do miss the old days when everyone I knew deer hunted and gathered at the check in station after dark to see what other folks got and to shoot the bull and other guys coming to the farm checking on us and us checking on them

This place is the next best thing but it’s not quite the same as seeing folks in person

I do appreciate having all of you guys to talk to and seeing y’all’s pictures and hearing your hunting adventure stories. It means a lot to me. So thank y’all

44 man if you want to get somewhere else and have a hunt let me know. Theirs still time left and some extra days for firearms left.
But yes, its all about deer check in apps, how many can I get, property line tools on the phone, written permission instead of a handshake and all of that online shopping stores for scopes anymore.
No more rubber ink stamps on a back tag thats a carbon copy or check in stations with a scale/hot coffee.

 

[44man]

Brother, you got a lot of hunters local to you still. I'd be happy to swing by and shoot the shit this weekend if you're still at it.

I appreciate the offer and perhaps another weekend. I am just having a rough time and missing some guys and the old times tonight.

I was talking to my young cousin about why he hasn’t been seeing as many deer as in the old days and explained to him that we are short about ten or twelve guys so the deer simply walk around him and the others and I realized the reason we are short was because they’re all passed and now I am the second oldest hunter we have next to his dad and the two of us are all that’s left of our old group of hunters

Just missing them guys

And I do like talking to folks here

Thanks again

 

[44man]

44 man if you want to get somewhere else and have a hunt let me know. Theirs still time left and some extra days for firearms left.
But yes, its all about deer check in apps, how many can I get, property line tools on the phone, written permission instead of a handshake and all of that online shopping stores for scopes anymore.
No more rubber ink stamps on a back tag thats a carbon copy or check in stations with a scale/hot coffee.

Thanks, I am good for hunting spots and I am mostly a liability so I won’t bother anyone else with dealing with me, plus I am told I am difficult lol

It means a lot that you would offer, thank you

I posted below what is wrong tonight but it will pass

Thanks again

 

[CombatAK]

I know that I haven't posted in quite awhile but, I thought I would share the two Garrett County bucks from this years hunts. The first pic is my big 6 point archery harvest and the second is an 8 point on opening day of rifle season. I have been in the woods a lot since early in the season. Both bucks were taken standing in the same spot but came from different directions. Bear season seemed to change some of the travel habits. I know that there were a lot of big bucks taken up here in Garrett County so far this season. Now a doe for muzzleloader season will be on the menu.

 

[wilcam47]

I know that I haven't posted in quite awhile but, I thought I would share the two Garrett County bucks from this years hunts. The first pic is my big 6 point archery harvest and the second is an 8 point on opening day of rifle season. I have been in the woods a lot since early in the season. Both bucks were taken standing in the same spot but came from different directions. Bear season seemed to change some of the travel habits. I know that there were a lot of big bucks taken up here in Garrett County so far this season. Now a doe for muzzleloader season will be on the menu. View attachment 391087 View attachment 391088

Nice, congrats!

 

[lazarus]

Someone outside my neighborhood got a very nice buck with something large bore.

Giant 10 point dead in the ditch next to the neighborhood trash cans and mailboxes at the entrance to the hood. Something big crushed it’s rear pelvis, like a tall SUV or truck.

 

[RRomig]

I know that I haven't posted in quite awhile but, I thought I would share the two Garrett County bucks from this years hunts. The first pic is my big 6 point archery harvest and the second is an 8 point on opening day of rifle season. I have been in the woods a lot since early in the season. Both bucks were taken standing in the same spot but came from different directions. Bear season seemed to change some of the travel habits. I know that there were a lot of big bucks taken up here in Garrett County so far this season. Now a doe for muzzleloader season will be on the menu. View attachment 391087 View attachment 391088

Nice!
I love going to Garrett Co. I don’t get to hunt much there but the area is great.

 

[DaveP]

I do miss the old days when everyone I knew deer hunted and gathered at the check in station after dark to see what other folks got and to shoot the bull and other guys coming to the farm checking on us and us checking on them

This place is the next best thing but it’s not quite the same as seeing folks in person

I do appreciate having all of you guys to talk to and seeing y’all’s pictures and hearing your hunting adventure stories. It means a lot to me. So thank y’all

Yup.
Always used to be a CROWD at Moeller's Texaco evening of opening day. Trucks parked on the shoulders, Amish rolling in with wagons of deer.
Big crowd around the scale.

Seafood truck selling fried oyster and clam platters.

Was the social event of the year for some of us, lol.

And back in the '70s, It was that little market in Church Creek, Masons,maybe?

Shame it all went away.
Station might've only got $0.50 per deer, or whatever it was, but they sold a LOT of beer and ice, lol

 

[44man]

Yup.
Always used to be a CROWD at Moeller's Texaco evening of opening day. Trucks parked on the shoulders, Amish rolling in with wagons of deer.
Big crowd around the scale.

Seafood truck selling fried oyster and clam platters.

Was the social event of the year for some of us, lol.

And back in the '70s, It was that little market in Church Creek, Masons,maybe?

Shame it all went away.
Station might've only got $0.50 per deer, or whatever it was, but they sold a LOT of beer and ice, lol

Bow season we went to the Sunoco in la plata because it was the only place we knew who checked deer in bow season

We always signed up for the big buck contest at Fred’s in Waldorf i believe it was

In gun season in the 70 we either went to cut rate liquors or pop Reynolds’s shell gas station in glasva but they quit doing it

Once Mohler’s started checking deer, or we found out they did, we started going there unless we had a buck for the contest

And yes indeed it was one of the big events of the year!!! Everyone showed up. Big doins lol. Good friends, good food, plenty of beer and liquor!

I was telling tales to the younger guys last week about Mohler’s. None of them are old enough to remember going but some did as little children.

Good times for sure

Now it’s checking in on the phone and no camaraderie and no seeing other folks deer and no joshing and jokin and drinking and people wonder why hunting is fading away

Between that and schools brainwashing children all our way will be gone

Ok, that’s enough bs from me

Thank you for talking about that, I really enjoyed it

 

[lazarus]

Bow season we went to the Sunoco in la plata because it was the only place we knew who checked deer in bow season

We always signed up for the big buck contest at Fred’s in Waldorf i believe it was

In gun season in the 70 we either went to cut rate liquors or pop Reynolds’s shell gas station in glasva but they quit doing it

Once Mohler’s started checking deer, or we found out they did, we started going there unless we had a buck for the contest

And yes indeed it was one of the big events of the year!!! Everyone showed up. Big doins lol. Good friends, good food, plenty of beer and liquor!

I was telling tales to the younger guys last week about Mohler’s. None of them are old enough to remember going but some did as little children.

Good times for sure

Now it’s checking in on the phone and no camaraderie and no seeing other folks deer and no joshing and jokin and drinking and people wonder why hunting is fading away

Between that and schools brainwashing children all our way will be gone

Ok, that’s enough bs from me

Thank you for talking about that, I really enjoyed it

Not being of an age, I can still see it being a loss. Then again, I don’t mind at all I can shoot a deer in my backyard, check it on my phone and have it hanging and skinning it 10 minutes later. Rather than needing to get it to one of my vehicles and then to drive it somewhere to check it in, then drive it home again.

When I take it to the butchers, M&G, they are usually busy enough to chat with half a dozen hunters about their harvests and shoot the shit.

 

[KIBarrister]

Two phase rut? I can’t recall seeing them fighting once rut is done until the fall…

I’ve got three videos in the last two nights of this one chasing off the others… (screen grab since I can’t post the video)

 

[gtodave]

Two phase rut? I can’t recall seeing them fighting once rut is done until the fall…

I’ve got three videos in the last two nights of this one chasing off the others… (screen grab since I can’t post the video)
View attachment 391222

They'll spar weeks ahead and beyond the rut. It's usually smaller bucks half playing, half practicing.

 

[44man]

Not being of an age, I can still see it being a loss. Then again, I don’t mind at all I can shoot a deer in my backyard, check it on my phone and have it hanging and skinning it 10 minutes later. Rather than needing to get it to one of my vehicles and then to drive it somewhere to check it in, then drive it home again.

When I take it to the butchers, M&G, they are usually busy enough to chat with half a dozen hunters about their harvests and shoot the shit.

Yeah I get the convenience

We have always butchered our own deer, hogs, beef, turkeys and chickens so I never had an option to talk to anyone at a butcher shop but once when I dropped a few deer off for the hunters for the hungry so I am sure that has some comradery to it but it doesn’t sound the same as spending a couple hours at the check In station

The boys now spend more time getting the deer to the stripping shed than they do gutting, skinning and quartering them before putting them in the fridges to cool down for a time before cutting them up.

It’s just not the same and we are lesser for it imo

Deer Hunting is a mostly solitary thing. It’s the before and after comradery that use to really engage with the younger, mostly, generation and made more hunters. Yougens would help with scouting and building stands and go to the check in station and see other kids and all the excitement.

We still make s big deal about deer hunting and we feast at lunch and supper every Saturday of deer season and weeks before and try and get the family kids and friends into deer hunting with some success but something is missing because most kids seem more into sitting inside and playing video games or most anything else rather than being outside

Maybe that’s what I miss, more young ones. When I was younger I didn’t know anyone my age down home that did not hunt. It’s not that way now

I don’t know, maybe I am old AND crazy but it just seems like hunting is going by the wayside

Well thanks for the response , it means a lot to me

 

[Doco Overboard]

No your not crazy,
It’s all about night vision, sales tactics advertising, muzzle velocity ,how high I was in a tree stand and face book/ tube.
How often do you hear about someone standing by a tree on an escape path with a rifle busting a doe or spike that runs into a field at a full run or a 60lb doe with a recurve while still hunting.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah I get the convenience

We have always butchered our own deer, hogs, beef, turkeys and chickens so I never had an option to talk to anyone at a butcher shop but once when I dropped a few deer off for the hunters for the hungry so I am sure that has some comradery to it but it doesn’t sound the same as spending a couple hours at the check In station

The boys now spend more time getting the deer to the stripping shed than they do gutting, skinning and quartering them before putting them in the fridges to cool down for a time before cutting them up.

It’s just not the same and we are lesser for it imo

Deer Hunting is a mostly solitary thing. It’s the before and after comradery that use to really engage with the younger, mostly, generation and made more hunters. Yougens would help with scouting and building stands and go to the check in station and see other kids and all the excitement.

We still make s big deal about deer hunting and we feast at lunch and supper every Saturday of deer season and weeks before and try and get the family kids and friends into deer hunting with some success but something is missing because most kids seem more into sitting inside and playing video games or most anything else rather than being outside

Maybe that’s what I miss, more young ones. When I was younger I didn’t know anyone my age down home that did not hunt. It’s not that way now

I don’t know, maybe I am old AND crazy but it just seems like hunting is going by the wayside

Well thanks for the response , it means a lot to me

You certainly have something there, but I am not sure it is a deer check station thing. My buddy has complained about the same thing with his boys, they just want to sit around and play video games. My kids, the same. I get them out there, but not nearly as much as I'd like to. I turn 40 in a few weeks. I had video games growing up. I also spent WAY more time outside getting into trouble, and surprisingly not causing permanent mischief, than I ever did playing video games or watching TV. My parents are extremely liberal and grew up in Columbia and EC. No hunting or guns for me growing up. But man, I was all over my neighborhoods, making forts in the woods, making campfires in the woods, trapping and cooking crayfish in creeks, tearing around on my bike with my friends, playing soccer and basketball, or younger just make believe.

My 12yr old, generally, loves to help me track deer and 50/50 hangs out while I field dress them, helps me carry stuff back to the house while I drag out the deer. My 14 year old would 100% rather play video games than be outside. But he loves guns and shooting. He's actually asked for a bow for Christmas because he wants to squirrel hunt. He has a little interest in deer hunting, but he has little interest in waking up early or just sitting around in the woods quietly twiddling his thumbs. I am still hoping in the fall to get him squirrel hunting early, and possibly deer hunting. No idea on my 10yr old daughter. It is all gross to her, but she is the most practical of all my kids. She calmly informed me last year that "guns are awful and icky. But I think you should know how to shoot a gun, so, Dad, you can take me to the shooting range". She had a huge blast. But scheduling has just been awful the last year. My kids only went back in-person to school last January and it's been a lot of getting used to in-person school from a couple of years of home schooling, and summers are always extremely busy for my kids. Anyway, Thanksgiving didn't work out taking my kids to the range in rotations (I can only have two guests, and my wife is a bit less than trusting in the gun department, so it is just take one kid with me). COVID bit us all right in the tender spot. Christmas though, I am taking the week following off and plan to take them each to the range (I usually take the oldest 3-4 times a year, middle one has been going about twice a year, he doesn't have a ton of interest in guns, but loves to fish).

On the upside, my 12-yr old would almost rather be outside fishing more than anything else in life.

I think there is a strong element of hunting going by the wayside among kids, but I don't know that it is dropping off all that much for total number of hunter participation. Less per capita for sure, but I am not sure less absolutely numbers, or not by much. And frankly, maybe that is a little bit of a good thing. Bad in that more participation means more resources and political support. But bad, that at a certain point, there are too many hunters and experience and the ecosystem suffer. If there are 100 hunters out on a parcel rather than 10, that has some real impacts.

Something I've seen, being one of them too, is a lot more adults getting in to hunting for the first time, never having participated as youth. I didn't start hunting until I was 32. I had a couple of buddies and their wives over for a "Friendsgiving" last Friday. One buddy is the one that got me in to hunting (technically it was my wife encouraging me to talk to him, former neighbor, about trying hunting). The other one is former mil, he hog hunted once about 20 years ago when he was stationed down in GA. He grew up southern MD fishing, but never really hunted. Anyway, he is looking to get into deer hunting. Their house has a LOT of deer on the property. He left with several packages of venison, and I'd cooked venison roast for dinner, which he and his wife really enjoyed.

 

[44man]

No your not crazy,
It’s all about night vision, sales tactics advertising, muzzle velocity ,how high I was in a tree stand and face book/ tube.
How often do you hear about someone standing by a tree on an escape path with a rifle busting a doe or spike that runs into a field at a full run or a 60lb doe with a recurve while still hunting.

Thanks, I guess all older folks things are changing for the worst. I hope I am wrong and more kids and other folks get back into hunting and others outdoor sports

Maybe I am just longing for the old days lol

 

[44man]

You certainly have something there, but I am not sure it is a deer check station thing. My buddy has complained about the same thing with his boys, they just want to sit around and play video games. My kids, the same. I get them out there, but not nearly as much as I'd like to. I turn 40 in a few weeks. I had video games growing up. I also spent WAY more time outside getting into trouble, and surprisingly not causing permanent mischief, than I ever did playing video games or watching TV. My parents are extremely liberal and grew up in Columbia and EC. No hunting or guns for me growing up. But man, I was all over my neighborhoods, making forts in the woods, making campfires in the woods, trapping and cooking crayfish in creeks, tearing around on my bike with my friends, playing soccer and basketball, or younger just make believe.

My 12yr old, generally, loves to help me track deer and 50/50 hangs out while I field dress them, helps me carry stuff back to the house while I drag out the deer. My 14 year old would 100% rather play video games than be outside. But he loves guns and shooting. He's actually asked for a bow for Christmas because he wants to squirrel hunt. He has a little interest in deer hunting, but he has little interest in waking up early or just sitting around in the woods quietly twiddling his thumbs. I am still hoping in the fall to get him squirrel hunting early, and possibly deer hunting. No idea on my 10yr old daughter. It is all gross to her, but she is the most practical of all my kids. She calmly informed me last year that "guns are awful and icky. But I think you should know how to shoot a gun, so, Dad, you can take me to the shooting range". She had a huge blast. But scheduling has just been awful the last year. My kids only went back in-person to school last January and it's been a lot of getting used to in-person school from a couple of years of home schooling, and summers are always extremely busy for my kids. Anyway, Thanksgiving didn't work out taking my kids to the range in rotations (I can only have two guests, and my wife is a bit less than trusting in the gun department, so it is just take one kid with me). COVID bit us all right in the tender spot. Christmas though, I am taking the week following off and plan to take them each to the range (I usually take the oldest 3-4 times a year, middle one has been going about twice a year, he doesn't have a ton of interest in guns, but loves to fish).

On the upside, my 12-yr old would almost rather be outside fishing more than anything else in life.

I think there is a strong element of hunting going by the wayside among kids, but I don't know that it is dropping off all that much for total number of hunter participation. Less per capita for sure, but I am not sure less absolutely numbers, or not by much. And frankly, maybe that is a little bit of a good thing. Bad in that more participation means more resources and political support. But bad, that at a certain point, there are too many hunters and experience and the ecosystem suffer. If there are 100 hunters out on a parcel rather than 10, that has some real impacts.

Something I've seen, being one of them too, is a lot more adults getting in to hunting for the first time, never having participated as youth. I didn't start hunting until I was 32. I had a couple of buddies and their wives over for a "Friendsgiving" last Friday. One buddy is the one that got me in to hunting (technically it was my wife encouraging me to talk to him, former neighbor, about trying hunting). The other one is former mil, he hog hunted once about 20 years ago when he was stationed down in GA. He grew up southern MD fishing, but never really hunted. Anyway, he is looking to get into deer hunting. Their house has a LOT of deer on the property. He left with several packages of venison, and I'd cooked venison roast for dinner, which he and his wife really enjoyed.

I applaud you for doing outdoor and shooting and hunting things with your kids. I hope they all get into it or at least cherish the time with you.

And it’s not all about the check In station even though I sound that way. It’s about comradery and spending time with like minded people and the love of the outdoors and respecting nature

I hope you have a great rest of deer season

Thanks for responding!

 

[Derwood]

Don't worry...there is a new generation coming. My boys love hunting and fishing more than anything! The oldest is in kindergarten. Both will be in a duck blind in a few weeks. They practice archery with their little bows in our driveway and they each got their lifetime licenses for their third birthdays. My father and grandfather were not hunters, but they did get me outside other ways (e.g. Boy Scouts) and eventually I got into hunting on my own. My little brother got into hunting with me, and about five years ago our dad started joining us on duck hunts, so now it's a family thing for us. The best thing any of us can do is be good ambassadors for the sport by being safe, sharing fun stories and our bounty, and bringing interested young people along for their first hunts. I also make a point of sharing when I come home empty handed, or miss a shot, or slip and fill my waders with water, and all the other stuff that makes hunting a challenging "hunt" and not a guaranteed harvest.