Working at the Farm - Took a few I-Phone Pics

[Paradise725]

Dang I was hoping to see you kill Abby Normal this year! Great buck your son shot, hate that y'all couldn't find it until later. I think you did the right thing by putting your tag on it.


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[Native Hunter]

Dang I was hoping to see you kill Abby Normal this year! Great buck your son shot, hate that y'all couldn't find it until later. I think you did the right thing by putting your tag on it.


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Thanks Paradise. Yes, I wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't tagged the deer after finding it. I'm still sick about losing all that meat, but at least I know I tried my best and that's all a man can do.

So, old Abby gets a pass. I hope he makes it through.

 

[lakngolf]

Nice rack on that deer. And glad your son got some meat from younger buck. I know how it is to do everything possible for his success and enjoyment.

 

[Fish]

At least you found him. A shame the way it went down. But.... thats a heck of a deer.
Turn that place into a sanctuary now and keep abby normal alive and well.

 

[Native Hunter]

At least you found him. A shame the way it went down. But.... thats a heck of a deer.
Turn that place into a sanctuary now and keep abby normal alive and well.

I think it will be a sanctuary for them after what I heard yesterday afternoon. The neighbor to the southeast shot some kind of semi automatic for over 3 hours nonstop. I estimate between 600 to 1,000 rounds fired. I'm just surprised that deer he was shooting at stayed around so long.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Nice buck there Steve. Stinks you all didn't find it quickly but good job on the follow through

 

[Native Hunter]

Nice buck there Steve. Stinks you all didn't find it quickly but good job on the follow through

Thank you Lance for the encouragement. I'm feeling pretty down right now - running it over and over in my mind. Never had anything like this to happen before. I was actually looking at that deer when he shot it, and saw no indication of a hit. And, when we combed the area, also not even a hair or single drop of blood. I have friends that have had this happen and I thought I knew how badly they felt - I've learned now that I really didn't understand their grief.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Sorry to hear about that buck NH. He was a nice one. Think it was awesome of you to tag it. I'm in the stand trying to catch up a bit. I stay pretty busy this time of gear too. You all have a great thanksgiving up your way.

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[lakngolf]

Thank you Lance for the encouragement. I'm feeling pretty down right now - running it over and over in my mind. Never had anything like this to happen before. I was actually looking at that deer when he shot it, and saw no indication of a hit. And, when we combed the area, also not even a hair or single drop of blood. I have friends that have had this happen and I thought I knew how badly they felt - I've learned now that I really didn't understand their grief.

Don't knock yourself too much. If the wildlife in your area knew about "Thank You" cards your mail box would be full.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Thank you Lance for the encouragement. I'm feeling pretty down right now - running it over and over in my mind. Never had anything like this to happen before. I was actually looking at that deer when he shot it, and saw no indication of a hit. And, when we combed the area, also not even a hair or single drop of blood. I have friends that have had this happen and I thought I knew how badly they felt - I've learned now that I really didn't understand their grief.

I had a somewhat similar experience two years ago. I shot a nice 8pt, actually knocked it down hard though. Set my gun down and the deer got up and ran off!! I got down to check out the spot and no blood anywhere . After looking without luck I called a buddy of mine out of Indiana with a tracking dog, He came down and dog never hit a single track.

About a month later the neighbor found it just beyond where we quit looking about 30yds from our property line !! I think I've shared the story but the neighbor , who I get along with well, would not give me the deer head back. I was sick about the whole situation and replayed my actions over & over again in my head, that's the first deer I had ever lost !!

I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes errors just happen. We both obviously tried to fulfil the ethical standard of the situations we faced without complete success but we can't live life in retrospect as you know. As said before, be glad that you did recover that beautiful animal somewhat quickly .

 

[dgallow]

Congrats to your son on both bucks!

I'm quite sure our marksmen ancestors could tell plenty of stories about losing game or spoiled meat....advancement in firearms technology don't really matter....it will happen to everyone at some point more than once. After taking over a hundred deer from this place, we've lost some we should have found, found some we should have lost, and lost some we never will find. I think there are odds factors at play.....but the hunting gets better every year no matter if a shot is taken. Those 'errors' do seem to make us slow down for the shot.

At least you found him....close the chapter and move forward.

 

[Triple C]

Just got home from the farm and catching up on threads. I echo dgallow's last comment...close the chapter and move forward. Happens to all of us. Very nice buck! Putting your tag on that buck hopefully means we will have another year of following along in the adventures of Abby Normal.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks so much everyone for the supportive comments. That does help more than you know.

I'm going to get my mind back on habitat work and start planning for new projects to keep the land improvements going on. Seeing triplet fawns for the first time in my life this year did more for my energy level than anything else I could have experienced. A man needs to focus on the things he can have influence over and not let the things out of his control drag him down too much.

Wishing everyone a blessed Thanksgiving. I may just set some apple trees on Black Friday. Can't think of a better thing to be doing, and hopefully old Abby Normal will be watching from the bushes with his seal of approval.

 

[dogghr]

Son shot this Tuesday morning. Not a drop of blood and we thought a clean miss. We combed the entire area the best we could and saw no indication of a hit. He went back to hunting later and eventually took another deer. Buzzards led me to this one today. I just went ahead and used my tag so no one could call any fowl play. I thought it was the right thing to do, so I'm finished hunting. Breaks my heart to lost this meat, but felt we did all we could. Never had anything like this to happen before and hope it never does again.

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Native, I don't have the privilege to know many people that are as outstanding as you. I consider it an honor to know you indirectly. Congrats for understanding what is really important. Congrats on a great season. You are a fine outstanding man and a role model for todays society.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Native Hunter]

Native, I don't have the privilege to know many people that are as outstanding as you. I consider it an honor to know you indirectly. Congrats for understanding what is really important. Congrats on a great season. You are a fine outstanding man and a role model for todays society.
Thanks for sharing.

Dogghr, thanks for your kind words. I know I can't live up to them, but I will sure try. Coming from someone with your devout love for nature and deep understanding of the really important things in life, I am honored. Thanks for that, and I can tell you that your friendship is extremely important to me, even though we haven't met in person. We must change that someday, and Lord willing we will do that.

Good hunting my friend and keep in touch.......

 

[Flyfixer]

Nice buck, sorry it worked out the way it did but you did the right thing! I think that if you looked up the word integrity in a dictionary it will have your picture for a definition Well done!

 

[dogdoc]

That's a beautiful buck, sorry it didn't work out like you wanted. Always enjoy your updates .

Good luck the rest of the season
Todd

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks everyone.

For those of you who remember the escapades of "Herman Munster" - the deer I harvested in 2015 - I got my mount back today. Herman wasn't a high scoring deer but a very unusual fellow. He was a minimum 6.5 and maybe 7.5 according to my taxidermist who had a state biologist to look at him and give an opinion on age.

So Herman made it back home today and brought back many good memories from the few years that he called my place home. Welcome home Herman.

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[lakngolf]

Shouldn't you hang that mount on the apple tree for a few nights?!

 

[Native Hunter]

Shouldn't you hang that mount on the apple tree for a few nights?!

LOL, he did seem to like apples but had a real fetish for Kieffer Pears...