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Post by Speagles84 on Jul 17, 2019 17:23:38 GMT -5
THIS IS NOT A DEBATE. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH HUNTING OR ITS MORALITY JUST DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD PLEASE!
I know there's only a few of us on here that do hunt, but figured I should start a thread on it.
I've hunted since I was 6 years old with my father and grandfather. Its my favorite time of year, and I count down to it months ahead of time. Whitetail deer hunting season starts in Pennsylvania the Monday after Thanksgiving ( typically the last monday of November or first monday of December).
Post your hunting stories here!
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Post by Speagles84 on Jul 17, 2019 17:28:02 GMT -5
My most recent whitetail deer, was shot November 27th, 2017 in North central Pennsylvania. I went opening day of Whitetail deer at my camp with my father, best friend and his father. We all were in a remote area approximately a half mile from one another. I shot this deer at 10:30 AM after sitting outside in pristine hunting conditions (38F and party cloudy). My best friend shot his deer of similar size a half mile away at 10:31 AM HAHA. I have the texts to prove this. What a day. We finished up in the woods, went home built a gigantic bonfire and drank a bottle of whiskey. One of the best days of my life.
This deer provided me and my wife with meat for 9 months. Fantastic animal
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Post by 🖕🏿Mörön🖕🏿 on Jul 17, 2019 20:38:48 GMT -5
Well, while not an actual hunt per se, I did stalk/track some deer for the fun of it at dusk on one of the table mountains in Golden, Colorado. The vegetation there is short grass and some small bushes, no trees. There are a few streams upon a mostly flat surface,with scattered rocks, but there are a few inclines. I got pretty close to them at one point near a stream but they ran off. Later that evening, I saw a cougar but it was running away from me as well, which was a good thing.  |
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Post by Speagles84 on Aug 21, 2019 21:51:47 GMT -5
 First deer I ever killed, happened in late November of 2005 (Second day of whitetail hunting in PA). I have so much respect for this being, fought to the end with me. My life was permanently altered this day. The first day of hunting of the year was a wash, it was probably in the mid 20s the entire day with heavy snowfall. So cold and unforgiving, I was young and couldn't handle the entire day so my dad and I retired early for the day. We woke to the next morning, realizing the temperature rose to the mid 40sF with heavy rain. My dad was not sure hunting would even prove worthy for how bad the conditions were, but he went out for me regardless. We went to a location we had never been before, hoping for sheer luck. We arrived, and parked our truck. We put on our rain gear and loaded our guns and hoped for the best. We walked no more than 100 yards from our truck and a large buck jumped out from the pines in the distance. I was shocked, and my adrenaline was pumping. I was a novice hunter then (its unlikely to see the same deer twice in one day walking around in the northwoods of Pennsylvania). I told my dad I was going to hunt him down and find him. We walked a few miles through the mountains for a few hours, looking for any sight of a deer. Nothing. We hiked down a canyon to a stream and took a break. We set our guns down with the pouring rain melting all the snow from the day before, getting cold and discouraged. From NOWHERE the same large deer (or so we are both positive it was) jumped from the brush 50 yards from us!!! It was insane. I grabbed my .270 winchester rifle and ran after the deer and shot 5 times from the hip (without looking in the scope, whatsoever). My dad watched and said after the 2nd shot that the deer stumbled, but he kept running. I could clearly not keep up. I thought I was a bad person for injuring an animal I did not kill. Started feeling guilty, to be honest. I had practiced with that gun for YEARS before I actually took a kill shot, and that was not how I pictured it going. My dad advised me to keep calm, and wait it out a few minutes. 15 minutes later, we followed where he had run and he was there. I shot him in the best location possible, both lungs and through the heart. I cried seeing him there, realizing what it meant to be a true carnivore. But at the same time, realizing the spiritual side of it all. This is what its truly like being human. I'm sorry if this offends people, but if you eat meat, you have to understand this is what life is. I take pride in it, honestly. Animals deserve the same earth given rights of all that are born on this planet. If you can't handle the responsibility of taking life, don't eat meat. I feel a connection to every animal I kill, do you? |
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Post by Speagles84 on Aug 21, 2019 21:59:13 GMT -5
 Story for another day. This was a big buck my father took recently. EDIT: November 25, 2013. I found a new fantastic whitetail deer hunting spot, whilst hiking in the wilderness in the summer. I took my now wife hiking the north woods of PA about 15 minutes driving distance away from my family's camp just to check out a new region I'd never been to. Its down about 5 miles down dirt roads in the government owned forest, far from any form of human civilization. We hiked about 15 minutes from the truck to find a large clearing in the pines/hardwood forest (which is rare in this region) to find an acre of blueberry bushes mixed with thick young trees. We jumped 15 deer, of which had 3 large bucks. I knew in an instant this was a great hunting area and told my dad about this. I was still a novice hunter compared to my dad, and wasn't sure he would take my advice to switch hunting spots, but for the first time he took my advice about the hunting spot and agreed to hunt there in the late fall. We arrived the day after Thanksgiving to inspect the spot we had selected earlier in the fall. Tons of deer were in the region from our observations. I set my tree stand in a spot about a mile from the truck, and my dad had already picked a spot no more than 250 yard from my stand. We knew where we each other were, so not to shoot in that direction. Opening day morning, we awoke to 8" of new lake effect, and a brisk NW wind from the lake (about 20F). I saw plenty of deer at daybreak, but no large bucks. At approximately 730 am my dad saw the deer pictured creep up right next to him. He took the shot, and it was an instant kill. I knew it was him, and got out of my stand and helped with the process, and we got the deer back to the truck. I was certainly discouraged as a 21 year old guy finding the spot, and missing such a big kill. I was still determined, so I sat all day in my stand in the biting wind. Snow began to fall again at about noon, and the temperature dropped more. I had been sitting in my stand for nearly 8 hours in that cold wind, (11 hours interrupted) seeing doe and small bucks run by. Finally at abound 330 pm, a legal moderate sized buck approached my stand from a distance. The snow made it easy to see him, but he was about 150 yards away in a heavily wooded area. I was confident in my shot, but 150 yards in wooded areas is still always a risk (I am a firm believer in responsible killing, and I will not take a shot to injure an animal to let it suffer). I focused, and decided to take the shot. The deer was shot and did not move, but did not instantly die. I took another shot and it was the final blow. I got down and reached him just as the snow began to pick up. I thanked the deer for his sacrifice, and began to take him back to the car. It took nearly an hour to get back to the truck, and it was dark and snow was really starting to fall by then. I met up with my dad, and we loaded our deer on the truck and went home. We celebrated the crazy story of having two deer killed withing a few hundred yard together by making a huge fire and drinking some whiskey during the lake effect snow band that was coming down that day. Again ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. |
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Post by Speagles84 on Nov 11, 2019 16:10:27 GMT -5
Hunting Trip 11/1/2019 to 11/4/2019 - Location near Bradford, PA Arrived late on 11/1/2019 which was a day later than I had hoped, had been so busy at work that I couldn't leave. Got there pretty late, had a fire and beers and went to bed. Morning of 11/2/2019 - Was very cold, I don't have a temp gage up there, would guess around 18F. Went down to the northern Allegheny River, and was well worth it. Saw a bald eagle flying down the river. Beautiful    Hunting/Hiking later that day:     Above ~2200' there was some leftover lake effect snow from 2 days before on Halloween  When we got back to the cabin, we had a visitor  Some shots of the cabin and fire:   Steak dinner on the fire:  Can't wait for deer hunting season after Thanksgiving! |
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Post by Speagles84 on Dec 10, 2019 16:48:48 GMT -5
November 30th, 2019  Fantastic animal. I hope he had a successful and fulfilling life in the wild. I was able to harvest 63 lbs of meat for this winter. I'm very thankful. |
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Post by 🖕🏿Mörön🖕🏿 on Dec 11, 2019 22:10:09 GMT -5
how old do you think he was?
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Post by Speagles84 on Dec 12, 2019 7:22:51 GMT -5
how old do you think he was? If estimate he was a third year buck, weighed about 190lbs live |
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Post by 🖕🏿Mörön🖕🏿 on Jan 5, 2020 14:33:15 GMT -5
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