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Since the deer season here in Alabama is long and since I will be doing a lot of deer hunting over the next two plus months, I thought a sort of diary of my exploits (LOL) might make for interesting reading.  Our bow season opened Oct. 15 and runs through January.  I didn't get a deer with my crossbow this season.  My last hunt with the bow was this past Saturday afternoon.  I saw five, one of which was a small eight point buck.  Didn't try to shoot any, the closest was about a hundred yards.

Our muzzleloader season opened Monday and runs through January.  I didn't hunt Monday but I did zero my muzzleloader.  I have a .50 caliber NEF Huntsman inline.  I shoot a 250 grain .45 caliber saboted bullet over 2 50 grain pellets of 777 and a 209 primer.  I think I am ready.  My last zeroing shot cut the X out of the ten ring.

I did hunt yesterday (Tuesday) morning.  I saw three does but let them walk.  I have decided that I will not shoot any does at least until January.  And then only if I haven't gotten a buck or two by then.  I hunted again yesterday afternoon.  I saw one doe which sorely tempted me to break my self imposed rule of no does yet.  That doe stood in nearly the same spot 75 yards in front of me for 40 minutes.  Most of that time it was broad side to me.  I don't think it moved its hind legs for 20 minutes.

I didn't hunt this morning but did this afternoon.  I saw two.  The first one I couldn't identify due to it being about 400 yards away.  I was running late and in my rush to get to my stand I forgot my binoculars. I couldn't have shot it anyway because of the distance and it was on the wrong side of the fence.  About 4:10 a buck jumped onto my side of the fence.  He was about 200 yards away.  He is a two point on one antler that I have gotten several pictures of him on my game cameras.  This is one of those pictures.

This is a picture of him when he jumped onto my side of the fence.  The camera is zoomed to max zoom and I am pointing it out the window of my shooting house.  He is about 200 yards away.  Those orange ribbons on the fence are at 50 yard intervals.  I decided I wouldn't shoot until he came within 150 yards.

At this point he was coming toward me and I thought he was going to give me a shot.  But instead he turned and jumped the fence onto the other property.  I want to shoot him mainly because I don't want him passing that one horn gene down.  Our regular gun season opens Saturday.  If I had my .30-06 I would probably have taken the shot.

My shooting house is backed into the opposite fence corner to the one you see in the picture.  From corner to corner is about 220 yards.  You can see the shooting house over the backs of the two bucks in this picture.

My plan is to hunt again tomorrow morning and afternoon.

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Way to go...I am glad that you got some meat...and were able to Baptise that Knife I sent....love it...and Congrats Charles 

Went deer hunting yesterday morning and afternoon.  Don't really know exactly how many deer I saw.  From about 7 to 9 AM, they coming and going in and out of the brush as many as three at a time.  Did see a couple of bucks chasing does.  I don't doubt that I saw at least six different deer.  They were all too far away and on the wrong side of the fence to shoot.  Except for one little buck.  He kept making himself an easy target at 50 yards for about 20 minutes.  But he was just too little to fool with.   He had one spindly four inch antler on his right side and a two inch on his left.  He must have been a this year's fawn.  He was too small to have been a year and a half old.  (Did I say he was little?)

In the afternoon I only saw two.  A three point buck would have been an easy shot.  In fact at 5 yards he would have been an easy shot with my pistol, a .45 Ruger Blackhawk.

So with the six I saw the day I killed my deer and six from yesterday makes 50 deer seen so far this season.

I did take one picture of wild (?) life yesterday.

Pretty blue bird - look at all the fun you are having. You need something to chase those deer on your side of the fence.

In Alabama this season, they clarified the baiting law.  You can "supplemental feed" the deer  as long as it is over 100 yards and can not be seen from where you are hunting.  They did leave themselves an out.  If you are obviously hunting over bait, they can still get you.  Now I would never "bait" the deer, I am just "supplemental feeding" those poor hungry deer with a little corn! 

BTW, I plan to have another go at them tomorrow.  I hope they enjoy that "supplemental feed" I put out yesterday.

Does look like your having a good time out in the field anyway.  Seems to me getting the deer is just the icing on this particle cake!

Charles your "supplemental feed" is quite funny.  A friend of mine has property in Southern Illinois.  He bought the property a few years back.  The former owner used to have a salt lick on the property for the deer.  He used to also feed the deer in this location (not so much for hunting but just because he wanted the deer to stick around.  My friend continued the practice of feeding the deer. (again not to bring the deer into hunt but just because.)   His hunting blind is about a 1/4 mile from where the feeding spot was.

Well about three or four years ago the state of Illinois made it illegal to feed the deer for any reason.   He stopped feeding the deer and took down the salt lick as soon as the law was passed. The problem is after about 30 years of having a salt lick in one place, the ground in the area is so salty that the snow melts away!   Deer continue to come from all over and lick the salty dirt.  My friend's deer stand is about 1/4 mile away and he's wondering when DNR is going to cite him for feeding the deer!

Jan, definitely having a good time.  I love to hunt.  Wandering the woods and fields with a rifle in my hand has always been just about my favorite pastime.  BTW, one of those birds in the picture started to fly through the window into my shooting house.  For an instant the bird and I were face to beak.  He then reversed course and landed on the fence.

Jan Carter said:

Does look like your having a good time out in the field anyway.  Seems to me getting the deer is just the icing on this particle cake!

Tobias, I have salt licks out too.  I have three of them.  The deer really use them heavily.  In fact they have dug holes where the licks are.  I think it is helping the deer.  The last couple of years I am seeing better racks on the deer in my game camera pictures.  I don't use just plain salt.  At Tractor Supply I get a stock salt.  It has six different other minerals added to it.  I have read that the does need the salt too, especially while they are pregnant and nursing.

In a field adjacent to my hunting area, every three years soy beans are planted.  That is when the deer really get "supplemental feeding".  A couple of years ago I stood and watched 10 bucks and 3 does feeding in that field at the same time.

Well it was an active day deer hunting.  I got in my stand about 5:15 am.  It was still dark but the full moon was very bright.  Even though I had used a flashlight to get to my stand and made noise opening and closing the door after I got in, I saw three deer five minutes later at about 50 yards.  One was a buck but I could see only three points so I didn't shoot him.  (Even though it was still about 45 minutes til daylight, the moon made enough light that I could see through the scope enough to shoot him.)

All told I saw eight deer this morning but no shooters.  Here is a couple that I saw.  If you can see his antlers, the one next to the fence is a spike buck.

Grant, the landowner's grandson, was hunting out of my other shooting house.  He shot an eight point buck but hit him too low on the front shoulder.  The buck dropped but got up ran a short distance before going down again.  When they (Grant is only 13 so his parents won't let him deer hunt alone yet.  His grandfather was with him.) tried to approach it, it got up and ran again.  I was able to get within about 30 yards of the deer from another direction and finished it with a head shot.

Here is a picture of Grant, his grandfather Bubba, and the deer.  You can see the entry wound low down by its left front leg.  The bullet broke the right front leg on exiting.

Actually counting Grant's deer I saw nine this morning.

I went back this afternoon.  I got to my shooting house at 2:30.  I looked down the open lane in front of it before going in and I saw there were already deer out.  From 2:30 to 5:30 there was always deer visible to me.  By 5:30 it was so dark that I could no longer see to shoot so I called it a day.  If I counted every time a deer came out where I could see it, the count would have been at least 40.  But I know it was a lot of the same deer going in and out of the brush.  I think I can safely say I saw at least 10 deer this afternoon.  A couple were nice bucks but they were too far down that lane and on the wrong side of the fence for me to get a shot.

Here are some of the deer I saw this afternoon.

All afternoon I was expecting one of those really nice bucks that I have gotten pictures of on my game cameras to step out but it wasn't to be.  I will say it kept me at the peak of alertness just waiting for one of those big bucks.  But I will keep trying.  I still have about a month and a half of season left.  All in all, it was an enjoyable day. 

That brings my count this season to 68 deer sighted.

Wow thats an incredible number!, No where here, is there that many deer except possibly closer to the city St. Louis, where they seldom have any hunts. An incredible number and I'll bet that dream Buck turns up soon!

Great pictures.

Very good. Nice buck, congrats.

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