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OH season’s only been open a coupla days and here we have one GINORMOUS whitetail. Not a lotta deets yet — The Hunting News had what’s available:
> Details are still coming in but this buck was killed in Ross County…Monday (Sept 28) evening by a hunter named Chad….
> …reportedly was killed on a hunting lease and was verified as a wild-killed buck by game wardens. The buck has already been green-scored and he measured out at 262 2/8.
Whoa! Be interesting to hear the story, whether chad had it patterned pretty well or what. Either way, huge congrats dude!
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GA hunter had a perfect plan to drop this triple brow tine beast!!!
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Another freak goes down! First: That deer look old or what? And sweet brow-tine thingy jutting out. Sounds like just another day in the woods for Jack Young Jr — said “big deer are nothing new to me.” Told his tale to Southeast Wildlife Innovations:
> I killed a 168″ in rifle season of 2014. But when I saw my first pic of this buck on 9-4-20, I was at work and about fell out of my chair! He came to a trough feeder I had set up in some young sendero pine trees. He didn’t stay long and I would then get weekly photos.
> My friend Michael Mallory, who is a wildlife biologist, helped me look at some topographic maps and determined his living area and most-used routes. My good friend and long time bowhunter David Cagle. who has had several P&Ys, helped me set up the trap.
> I had to use a ground blind because the trees were so short — we moved the feeder 6″ at a time for about a week to setup the perfect 30-yard shot. I only fed once a week and used an electric golf cart to go in and out. We all agreed I would not go hunt the deer until conditions were perfect.
> My wife wanted me to come home and watch the Georgia game but the wind was in my favor. So I elected it was time to hunt. I had him on camera the night before at 6:30. I was in my blind about 4:30 and he was there at 6:20 with 2 other bucks. He stayed behind them for 30 minutes until he walked out behind the feeder broadside.
> I took a 40-yard shot sitting in a chair in the blind which I have never done before and hit him right in the lungs. He turned and ran into some thick stuff. I called a dog…we recovered him just before 10 at night.
Few key takeaways for us:
– Pretty cool tactic to move the feeder just a little bit every day and sneak in/out.
– Smart to choose hunting over TV football!
– Great idea to get a dog involved in the track. They’re always ready to go:
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H-U-G-E Kansas symmetrical 12-point!
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Couldn’t find much on this deer, seen on Hornhub, but how ’bout that perfect profile! Taken by a hunter named Gary Faiss….
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“Every whitetail buck in north Idaho feared his name.”
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Toughest North American animal to hunt?
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Frank Noska (with a KS whitetail ^) is the only guy to have taken all 29 of North America’s big game animals with a stick and string — TWICE! Deer, elk, moose to polar bears and some species you may never have heard of. What’s the most challenging? Great question! Frank said:
> I was to disregard the financial cost, the odds of drawing a tag, or access to each animal. Each species was to be ranked only with regard to the animal’s wariness, adaptability and intelligence. And in all cases, I was to consider only mature animals.
> Based on my experience, and the criteria of wariness, adaptability, intelligence, and maturity, those 3 are Roosevelt elk, mule deer and whitetail deer.
> …maybe a bit surprising to some, that a mature whitetail buck made the top of my list. The wariness, adaptability, intelligence and 6th sense of the mature whitetail buck is 2nd to none. Even with all of our proficient archery equipment and deer-hunting paraphernalia, the mature whitetail buck is still one of bowhunting’s great challenges.
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News
3. TN expecting a huge harvest.
> “Conditions in our state have been excellent for fawn production and antler growth. The number of deer seems to be increasing across the state. I’m anticipating we’ll see one of the best years we’ve seen in a long time.”
4. ID closes some forest access cuz of fires.
> …Closures south of Twin Falls in the Sawtooth National Forest, affecting big game hunts for hundreds with tags for deer, elk and pronghorn.
5. OR’s southern forests begin opening up again.
> Rain, less smoke and the availability of firefighters to attack any future fire starts allowed the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to reopen many areas.
6. WY: Some hunters might be eligible for license refund.
Due to fires:
> Regulations allow a license holder to request a license reservation or a license refund when the [DNR] determines licenses cannot be used for a good cause due to a natural disaster, including wildfire.
7. NJ has too many deer?
> We need a plan for the entire state, now, before it is too late. A domino effect is at work. The destruction of our forests by an out-of-balance population of white-tailed deer is chipping away at NJ’s landscape. It is contributing to the erosion of streams and the siltation of river channels. It is decimating generations of young tree growth, threatening the future of the forests themselves. And it is causing our native birds and plants to vanish.
8. IA: Here’s some bowhunter stats.
> Based on the annual bowhunter survey, they go out an average of 12 trips per year and spend an average of 3.5 hours per trip. They tend to be more selective and harvest fewer does than other regular deer seasons.
9. ME: More bigger deer coming from southern areas.
> Increasingly more of the largest deer taken each year are coming from central and even southern Maine, but on average they are younger and smaller [than historical northern bucks] in terms of both dressed weight and antler score.
10. OK: Blake Shelton joins OK wildlife foundation.
Board of directors of the new OK Wildlife Conservation Foundation….
11. HI closes axis deer season due to Covid but…
…gyms and beaches are open?? HI appears to be one of the anti-logic states:
> Determined that cancelling the hunt was in the best interest of public safety, even though gyms and a number of beaches in the state are open.
12. MT: Judge says BLM acting dir William Pendley must go.
Sounds like the controversy is over the “acting” tag, but some conservation/environmental groups have targeted him because he advocates the sale of public lands. Judge is an Obama appointee:
> A federal judge ruled that William Perry Pendley, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, has been serving unlawfully and cannot remain in his role at the BLM.
13. Airgun Hunting Legion establishes record book.
Kinda cool:
> Airgun Hunting Legion exists for 1 reason, to coalesce and advance airgun hunting. We are the first and only hunting record book for airgun and air archery trophies.
14. Parts of bankrupt Remington will be lots of places.
> Everything associated with Remington, Marlin, AAC, H&R, Barnes Bullets, DPMS, Bushmaster, Tapco — including trademarks, intellectual property and manufacturing equipment — will be disbursed across the firearms industry.
15. SEVR wins Hunt Stand Silver Award.
> Of the [7] broadheads tested, SEVR posted a 1st-place finish with a miniscule 5/8″ grouping.
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Deer Disease News
1. PA: New digital map shows CWD areas.
2. NH is CWD-free and wants to stay that way.
> NH Fish and Game collects heads and extracts samples from hunter-killed deer across the state for testing…hunters who make trips to CWD-positive [states] are required to closely follow the mandatory regulations on bringing home any cervid carcasses.
3. SD confirms multiple EHD/blue tongue cases.
> Many deer exhibit no clinical signs and appear perfectly healthy, while others may have symptoms such as respiratory distress, fever and swelling of the tongue. With highly lethal strains of the virus, deer can be dead within 1-3 days. Affected deer are often found near low-lying areas or water, likely due to the deer attempting to combat the high fever.
> “With hunters now out in the field and landowner’s surveillance of wildlife on their properties, we ask those that encounter dead deer to report those to their local conservation officer or GFP office”….
4. ND also reports EHD cases.
> Since late August, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has documented white-tailed deer deaths attributed to epizootic hemorrhagic disease in Emmons, Grant, Morton, Dunn, Billings, Stark, Hettinger and Adams counties.
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New Stuff
3. Couple new GPS handhelds from Garmin.
In our experience GPSMAPs have been the deal in dense woods:
> GPSMAP 66sr and GPSMAP 65 Series now supports multiband GNSS technology, making them Garmin’s first handhelds to receive and utilize multiple frequencies, enabling improved user position accuracy, specifically in areas where signals are spotty.
4. Rapid Mobile Shower by Scent Crusher.
This contraption is for the dudes who are lucky enough to have hunting land just minutes from their job. Work a full day, then bounce and hunt until sundown. Only problem: You stink like the office and the cheeseburger you scarfed for lunch.
Scent Crusher has the solution: Just slip on this jumpsuit before you get in your truck, plug it in, and by the time you’re on your hunting property, you’re stink-free:
> This chemical-free Scent Crusher product is the fastest way to eliminate contaminants and bacteria effortlessly. Hit the field ready to hunt no matter whether you’re coming from home, the gym, or a long day of work.
> With the Rapid Mobile Shower, a hunter can ensure their skin and clothes are odor-free in minutes.
> Using ozone technology, you will rid the scent of the human body while driving to your stand without even changing clothes.
> The Rapid Mobile Shower includes a maintenance-free digital ozone generator and is equipped with heavy-duty zippers, adjustable closures, and leak-free fabric. Plug the suit in using the included 110v AC or 12v DC cords and let the suit do the work!
5. Leupold rolls out 2 new spotters.
> 2 models are now available, both in an angled configuration…a 20-60×60 mm…the other a 20-60×80 mm.
6. New Magellan hunter/hikers.
> The textile uppers promote durability, while the moisture-wicking technology wicks away sweat for all-day dry wear.
7. Lightweight Insights day pack is under 2 lbs.
> 3 expandable pockets help pack the most items in this small but mighty pack.
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Gear of the Week
Well whaddaya know! Springfield Armory is known for some classics, including the M1A and a buncha rock-solid handguns, and this week kinda surprised everybody with the new Model 2020 Waypoint. Outdoor Hub has the deets:
> The foundation for a good rifle begins in the action. Your barrel is affixed to the action. You are manipulating the bolt through the action with each shot fired. Your magazine is loaded through your bottom metal into the action. Your optics are mated atop the action. Springfield Armory definitely did so with theirs.
> The next most prominent feature in the NEW Model 2020 Waypoint from Springfield Armory is their employment of carbon-fiber stocks. They collaborated with AG Composites, a premium manufacturer of carbon-fiber stocks, to reduce weight and allow for a custom pillar-bedded relationship.
> The Model 2020 Waypoint has a 0.75 MOA Accuracy Guarantee out of the box. Simply use match-grade factory ammunition and Springfield guarantees this rifle can shoot.
> While the basis for all accuracy lives and dies upon the shoulders of the shooter holding the rifle, a nice trigger definitely can help those efforts. That is why it is pleasing to see…TriggerTech…deployed…. It is user-adjustable from 2.5 to 5 lbs.
Comes in trendy and tried/true calibers, including 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC and .308 Winchester. MSRP is $1,700-$2,400.
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Tip of the Week
Couple quick overlooked ambush points.
From a hunting guide, on AmericanHunter.org:
> Over hundreds of years many rivers and creeks have jumped their banks due to flooding, leaving behind dry riverbeds and oxbows. Whitetails track along these shadowy edges…. If Schneider stumbles across an old riverbed, he looks for terrain that funnels or prods deer into specific traps along these soft edges….
> “The key for me is to find a pinch point that restricts the deer movement to a known place that deer are forced to pass through. Deep bank dropoffs, the steeper the better, can channel all deer traveling along the waterway to a place you can ambush them….
> “I love to hunt old logging roads that are cut through heavy cover or come out of bedding areas. These old overgrown roads make travel easy for deer and also give them fantastic places to lay down scrape lines and rubs.”
> …he also looks for hand-planted windbreaks of trees that deer follow and use for bedding cover.
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Quote of the Week
“Everything was going great until ‘corn pile Karen’ showed up and blew the whole place out.”
– Christian Berg, Petersen’s Bowhunting editor, talkin’ about that one doe that shows up at the worst time snortin’ and stompin’. One of many killer quotes compiled by Realtree.
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Shot of the Week
Looks like a typical springtime doe and newborn fawn except Heartland Bowhunter says the pic was snapped on Sept 6! That would mean the lil guy was conceived in early March — not exactly the rut??
Lots of commenters on the post say folks have seen it before too, so it’s not that uncommon?
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What’s the DB and who does it??
The DeerBlaster is a weekly roundup of the best, worst and funniest stuff about whitetail deer hunting culled from around the interwebz. We were kinda doing it already, just not the blastin’ it into your inbox part….
It’s put together by some deer nerds — Ted, Jay, Wade, couple more — from around the country. We excerpt content (and credit EVERYONE!), comment on content, do some original content — it’s an internet thing…. We do it because we can’t get enough deer hunting, hopefully you’re wired the same.
The DeerBlaster’s a work in progress, just like we are. Let us know what we can do better and thanks for readin’! Any issues, suggestions, whatever, just hit Reply to this email and we’ll get it. Thank you!
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