My Little Slice of Paradise

[Paradise725]

I had a great hunt last weekend. I averaged over 20 deer sightings per day. I had a 60 yard encounter with Crabby on November 4th. He was cruising through a bedding area at 12:30. I proceeded to have an encounter with Brutus right at dark on November 5th. He is a bruiser. Hopefully I will be able to seal the deal this coming weekend.


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[Paradise725]

This bruiser showed up on trail camera a few weeks ago. I'm going to hunt him Thursday morning on a west wind. Fingers crossed!


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[dogdoc]

That's a beautiful buck. He's only 3.5?
At least you know he survived the shot. Good luck with the new buck.

Todd

 

[Paradise725]

That's a beautiful buck. He's only 3.5?
At least you know he survived the shot. Good luck with the new buck.

Todd

Yes I had pictures of him last year as well, so I'm pretty confident he is 3.5 this year. The harvest picture made him look bigger than the trail camera pics did.

 

[Paradise725]

It's been a very good year on the farm, and I'm just now getting time to document our successes. The first buck kill of the season happened on Friday November 11th. My buddy hung a stand this year near one of the stand locations that Steve Bartylla had identified as showing promise based on his property plan. We had hunted the stand twice this season without much success but my buddy was confident something would show up during the rut. As luck would have it, a big 10 pointer, that we have no history with other than catching him on camera numerous times starting in mid October of this year, chased a doe by his stand at 15 yards just after daylight. Jim made a perfect shot and watched his 132" 4.5 year old go down within sight.

A trail cam pic from a mock scrape about 1/4 mile away:

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[Paradise725]

Gun season opened on November 12, and I hunted the very center of the farm on the power line right of way, hoping to take advantage of the low pressure and numerous does using that section of the farm. This was the first time a human set foot in this area since September. The morning started out great with a dandy 1.5 yr old buck with great potential chased 4 does under my stand.

Later, I saw a big buck cross the power line to my south and head into a bedding area. He kept to the brush and I was unable to find him in my scope as he crossed at 200 yards. Half an hour later, I look to my west and he is crossing the road 50 yards away. I get my gun on him this time and begin to study him intensely. He is a dandy 9 point (broken brow tine or he would be a 10), but I can tell from his body shape that he isn't 4.5. I debate shooting him but decide to let him walk because he is 3.5.


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[Paradise725]

That afternoon, I hunted a food plot approximately 1/2 mile from the power line and was startled to see a big buck step into the field an hour before dark. I soon realized it was the same buck from that morning. As he worked his way to 40 yards, I struggled with wanting to shoot him. He would have been the biggest buck I had ever passed on our farm. Eventually, the buck caught my wind and started to bug out. As he turned to leave, I decided this was not the year I wanted to pass on such a great buck. After all, bucks always appear even bigger when they are leaving. I raised my gun and put a good shot on him and heard him go down just outside the food plot.

So, after eating my buck tag last year, I'm happy to have put my tag on a great 3.5 yr old this year. Score-wise, I think he is about equal to my biggest buck from the farm.


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[wbpdeer]

Congratulation Luke.

That is a nice buck. If it was me, I would get the taxidermist to repair the right eye guard. I am impressed with the improvements on your farm. Steve gave you a good plan and you are definitely a great practitioner. You farm will continue to improve.

The deer that the neighbor killed is part of the process. At times in the future you will attract their good bucks because of your land improvements and they will get a hero photo from you. Turnabout is fair play.

Good deer - thanks for sharing.

 

[Paradise725]

Congratulation Luke.

That is a nice buck. If it was me, I would get the taxidermist to repair the right eye guard. I am impressed with the improvements on your farm. Steve gave you a good plan and you are definitely a great practitioner. You farm will continue to improve.

The deer that the neighbor killed is part of the process. At times in the future you will attract their good bucks because of your land improvements and they will get a hero photo from you. Turnabout is fair play.

Good deer - thanks for sharing.

Thanks Wayne. The change in how we access the property has made a tremendous difference this year. I've seen more 2.5+ bucks this year than I ever have. In fact, in 7 days of rut hunting, I saw at least 16 bucks that were 2.5 or older. The electric ranger also kept the perimeter of the farm fresh even after several days in a row of hunting. We would often drop a hunter off to hunt the perimeter and keep driving further back to hunt another location. We still saw several good bucks within just an hour or two of having driven through. We've come a long way from 5 years ago, when I would have been lucky to see 2-3 bucks that age in an entire season of hunting.


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[Chainsaw]

Congratulations Luke;That is a beautiful Buck. He looks quite large and mature even when I block out those high scoring antlers from view. It's great that your hunting is improving so much and so quickly. Congratulations to Jim also; it's super when two guys who hunt together each shoot a good buck in one season. Just think barring any unusual weather happenings or unknowns, next season may be another leap forward yet in the amount of large buck activity you experience on your property. Sixteen 2 1/2 year old and up sightings in one week though is a pretty exciting week for sure.

The gun you are using is unlike anything I have ever seen. Can you tell us about it?

 

[dogdoc]

Wow, dont think I could have passed on that big boy either. Beautiful rack.

Congrats
Todd

 

[Paradise725]

Congratulations Luke;That is a beautiful Buck. He looks quite large and mature even when I block out those high scoring antlers from view. It's great that your hunting is improving so much and so quickly. Congratulations to Jim also; it's super when two guys who hunt together each shoot a good buck in one season. Just think barring any unusual weather happenings or unknowns, next season may be another leap forward yet in the amount of large buck activity you experience on your property. Sixteen 2 1/2 year old and up sightings in one week though is a pretty exciting week for sure.

The gun you are using is unlike anything I have ever seen. Can you tell us about it?

Thanks Dave! He really is a great buck and I've found that staring at trail camera pictures as often as I do tends to make me lose sight of the quality of some of the "less mature" deer on the farm. I'm very happy to have tagged that buck. Here he is on the hoof:

The gun I'm using is an interesting combination. It is a DPMS Gen II .308 rifle with some prototype parts from the Remington R10. I am the lead designer of the R10, so I have the luxury of being able to cobble together both used and obsolete prototype parts for my personal rifle. I spray painted the rifle with a can of Krylon from Home Depot to get it that color.
The rifle is essentially a magazine fed semi-automatic .308 that is under 8lbs and handles very comfortably. I would recommend the Gen II to anyone who hunts in a state where it's legal. Remington recently introduced the R25 Gen II, which is essentially a camo version of the DPMS product that is also a great choice.


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[Paradise725]

Wow, dont think I could have passed on that big boy either. Beautiful rack.

Congrats
Todd

Thanks Todd. I've been meaning to catch up on your thread. Have you killed any of those big OK bruisers you've got running around yet?


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[Native Hunter]

Luke, a big congratulations to you and your friend. When I first saw the aerial of your place I knew you were destined for great success. It has arrived!! Nothing but more great hunting and memories to come.

 

[Paradise725]

Luke, a big congratulations to you and your friend. When I first saw the aerial of your place I knew you were destined for great success. It has arrived!! Nothing but more great hunting and memories to come.

Thank you! Yep I am lucky to have what I have, and am looking forward to the memories to come. As a matter of fact, my other buddy that hunts there just sent me a picture of blood on a radish leaf. He says it was at least a 9 point but he is waiting a little bit before taking up the trail. Fingers crossed that he made a great shot!


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[Paradise725]

I hunted this morning with the hope of filling at least one of my doe tags. I chose to hunt the log yard and I was blessed with an incredible sunrise that pictures don't do justice.

Shortly after sunrise I heard a deer approaching from my left. The big doe stepped out at 35 yards and I made a good shot that put her down just off the edge of the plot. I decided to stick it out for a while longer because I still had two more tags to fill. Fifteen minutes later, another doe stepped out except at the far end of the plot about 90 yards away. I took my time and put a good shot on her and watched her go down too. What a great morning! Not 5 minutes later, a smaller deer stepped out right where the second doe came from. I determined it was a doe fawn and opted to pass in favor of enjoying the morning sights and sounds. I soon noticed movement on the far end of the plot as a coyote worked his way off the hill and down to the edge of the plot where the fawn fed unaware. As I tried to steady myself for the 110 yard off hand shot, the coyote caught the scent off the second doe lying dead near the plot edge. It turned into the wind and began trotting out of sight. I took a hurried shot at the trotting coyote and didn't connect. Bummer! I was happy to have had the eventful morning and decided to stick it out a while longer. At 7:50, I heard more deer approaching from behind me. I had a clear shot once they got inside of 20 yards and put a 150 grain Barnes TTSX through the doe's heart. Here was the end result:

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[wbpdeer]

Man you are stacking up at record pace. Shame on you for missing the 'yote. Since you are doing a great management job we will overlook it this time.

Bust every 'yote you can, your best buck ever may be the one you save.

You have had a super year. Congrats 2 you Luke. Thanks for sharing the sunrise.

 

[Gator]

Well, I got a bittersweet picture from a neighbor yesterday. The buck we call Lefty, which my buddy shot and couldn't recover back in September, was shot by a neighbor that morning.

I'm glad to see he made a full recovery and a great trophy for someone else. He was even bigger than we thought! I was hoping he would make it through this season so we could chase him again next year as a 4.5, but I'm genuinely happy to know what happened to him at least. The bucks are rutting hard at my place right now. More updates to come in the next week or two!


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Lefty is a great name for that buck!


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[Chainsaw]

Thanks for the pic of your deer alive. That is a heavy looking deer. The gun description is very interesting as well. And yikes three does in one morning, that's a fun morning. I also like the weather you seem to be having;that weather is something else. You truly do live in Paradise. We are hunkered down here feeding the stove and staying warm.

This afternoon I "plowed" short openings in the snow in some of the oat fields and the turnip fields so the deer could eat easily tomorrow. It wasn't cold, a plus 32 degrees but it felt much colder. Once the 40 plus MPH winds dwindled it was a lot nicer. Deer actually moved this afternoon and hopefully some enjoyed the food exposed from plowing small parts of the food plots.

 

[lakngolf]

Great stories and beautiful paradise!!