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Didnt get skunked this season.

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megalomaniac

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
15,865
Location
Mississippi
Only got to hunt for myself 4 days in TN this year, another 15 days taking 6 kids.

But prerut started in south MS a couple weeks ago, and 1st rut is full bore right now. Killed this buck on my lease outside town this eve. Pretty representative 3.5yo. Didn't feel like dragging, so I cut him up on the spot.

I saw him cross a pipeline at 450y at 2p, but he decided to cross back at 300y at 5p. Didn't realize he broke the end of his left beam when I shot him, but after 30 days in the field.since mid Nov,... well sometimes something just needs to tip over!

He is the 2nd buck killed this year on my local lease in over 300 hunts by members.

Saw another 3.5yo tending a doe this morn, but entire right side was broken off at the pedicle.
 

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Congrats on a nice buck! So, when are your other lease members gonna figure out that sitting on the plots and feeders isn't the best thing to do. Lol.
 
TN Larry said:
Congrats on a nice buck! So, when are your other lease members gonna figure out that sitting on the plots and feeders isn't the best thing to do. Lol.
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They just can't help themselves... cameras on feeders is killing them. They get pictures of bucks tjey want to kill at night on the feeders and think those bucks HAVE to eventually hit them in daylight.... but they don't.

Yesterday morning, I set up on this particular pipeline on a high spot. I could see 2 feeders in opposite directions from me one 500y and the other 600y away. I watched 12 does / fawns and 3 bucks cross that pipeline... all in a low drain they can't see when hunting the feeders. Not a single deer hit those feeders yest morn, and in fact, 200y was the closest one came to a feeder.

Yest eve when I shot this buck, I was right by one of the feeders on that same pipeline hecause the wind direction had changed from the morning.. But I wasn't in the box stand 100y away that everyone else hunts, I was literally parked in the middle of the pipeline 5 yards away from the feeder and hunting from the roof of my tahoe (you need the extra height above ground level to see down into the bottom they travel 300y away, and you can't see it from ground level unless you get 50y from it). I'm sure the 2 cameras aimed at the feeder and me were wondering what the hell I was doing parked beside the feeder!
 
This is how I hunt down here... slide a piece of plywood onto the roof rails to distribute weight, shooting mat on that, then sit in a folding stadium seat for back support. Shoot from prone position with bipod and rear bag when a deer comes out. It's a little tricky spinning 180d if they cross behind me, but as long as they don't smell you or see you move, they just ignore the vehicle after stopping to look at it for a but. Nice having an 02 Tahoe whose roof can support all the weight, just have to be careful not to put weight on the sunroof.

So far, I've only spooked 1 deer this season, and that was because the wind swirled on me and she blew at my scent.
 

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Sat eve, this was my view... I sometimes hunt the powerline beside the private blacktop road. Another member came in to hunt after me and parked his truck blocking my shooting lane 100y away. Took his picture, then to asked him to get back in his truck and park beside me so I could shoot the powerline bottom. I'm sure he was wondering what the heck I was doing.
 

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megalomaniac said:
This is how I hunt down here... slide a piece of plywood onto the roof rails to distribute weight, shooting mat on that, then sit in a folding stadium seat for back support. Shoot from prone position with bipod and rear bag when a deer comes out. It's a little tricky spinning 180d if they cross behind me, but as long as they don't smell you or see you move, they just ignore the vehicle after stopping to look at it for a but. Nice having an 02 Tahoe whose roof can support all the weight, just have to be careful not to put weight on the sunroof.
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That's cheating! ;)
 
BSK said:
Nice buck Mega. You're average 3 1/2 is a bit bigger than ours.
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Not even close! This buck would have scored around 100 if he hadn't lost his g3 and end of left beam (he looks bigger in the pics than he really is). The other 3.5 y/o I saw that morning would have scored around 75 if he had both sides. Our 3.5y/os average around 85 to 90in here, 4.5y/os are 100-105. Highest scoring buck ever killed was 123 in the 6 years I've been on this club, and he was 4.5, but I also killed a 4.5 y/o that only scored 90. We have only killed 2 bucks that were 5.5. One scored around 80 in, the other was 115. You just have to set expectations a good bit lower when hunting locally. Per age class, bucks average 25inches less per age class from 3.5 and up than my TN farms. But there is an even more pronounced difference in the 1.5 and 2.5y/os. 90% of our 1.5 (really 1.25yos, due to fawn drop in Sept and Oct) are spikes with antlers less than 5 inches. Most of our 2.5y/os are 5 to 7pts that look like my TN 1.5yos.

There is a chance this buck is 4.5, as one side shows enough wear on M2... but that side has abnormal dentition causing uneven wear. The other side is normal and is only 3.5y/o, so I think that is probably the correct age.
 
megalomaniac said:
Not even close! This buck would have scored around 100 if he hadn't lost his g3 and end of left beam (he looks bigger in the pics than he really is). The other 3.5 y/o I saw that morning would have scored around 75 if he had both sides. Our 3.5y/os average around 85 to 90in here, 4.5y/os are 100-105. Highest scoring buck ever killed was 123 in the 6 years I've been on this club, and he was 4.5, but I also killed a 4.5 y/o that only scored 90. We have only killed 2 bucks that were 5.5. One scored around 80 in, the other was 115. You just have to set expectations a good bit lower when hunting locally. Per age class, bucks average 25inches less per age class from 3.5 and up than my TN farms. But there is an even more pronounced difference in the 1.5 and 2.5y/os. 90% of our 1.5 (really 1.25yos, due to fawn drop in Sept and Oct) are spikes with antlers less than 5 inches. Most of our 2.5y/os are 5 to 7pts that look like my TN 1.5yos.

There is a chance this buck is 4.5, as one side shows enough wear on M2... but that side has abnormal dentition causing uneven wear. The other side is normal and is only 3.5y/o, so I think that is probably the correct age.
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Must be a smaller body making his rack look bigger than it is. I was thinking 115!

Amazes me how narrow your age-class bell curves are. At my place, a 3 1/2 year-old could be 60 and he could be 160.
 

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