Couple GINORMOUS deer! Post-rut buck tips! Buck targets meat pole doe??

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The DeerBlaster culls the best of the whitetail interwebz every week for DIEHARD whitetail nerds…cuz it’s fun! And informative too. Then it “blasts” into your inbox.

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> The people that respect this animal the most are the ones who know what it takes to get a deer like this in the dirt. There’s a lot of things that must go right for a plan to come together on a low-fence deer like this.

> The buck gave him the slip twice actually, once at around 10am and again around 2pm on separate occasions. The evening the deer was killed [Nov 30] was the last day Thomas had…before he would return to work….

> At 5:53pm my phone rang and it was Thomas. He was quiet for a minute and asked normally if I was busy, I responded with “I can be there in 20 minutes to help you get that deer if that’s what you’re asking me.” 

> …3 years ago Thomas was the lucky guy who killed a 170 out of Wilson County and a lot of people said, “You’ll probably never kill a bigger one so you might as well stop hunting.” A lot of those people should’ve been right, sometimes people are just blessed.

Says it scored 189, but that sure seems low to us!

> Mark pored over trail-camera photos and in-the-field sightings, and obsessed over a misplaced shot. Last year he released an arrow at the deer that clipped a honeysuckle vine….

> This season he even had a 35-yard encounter during muzzleloader season. The buck just didn’t offer an ethical shot. [Props to you Mark!]

> On Oct 28 he slowly eased to the treestand along a low-impact entry route. Shortly after daybreak, 2 small bucks cruised through in search of does. Several minutes passed, and then a doe and fawn slowly pushed through cover.

> Less than 5 minutes after they [went] out of sight…Zeus’ crown materialized in the timber.

> Luster stopped the buck at 25 yards, and took the quartering-away shot. Unfortunately, the deer took a step just as the arrow released, and the broadhead hit the back of the vitals. The buck ran about 100 yards before making it out of sight.

> Thinking the broadhead had hit straight liver, Mark chose to give the deer some time. The next morning, they recovered the deer in short order.

> “We knew [Monday] was gonna be a rainout. It was gonna rain hard all day. I’ve got 2 treestands that have rain roofs, so we said, ‘You know what? We’re going in for the day.’

> “I heard noises that I’ve never heard before. All kinds of noises in there. Then I started hearing the grunting and the snorting. I said, ‘OK, there’s some deer in there.'”

> …saw a deer working its way through several lanes in the fir thicket nearby. First he saw the brown of a deer’s coat. At the next opening, he saw antlers. And when the deer stepped into the 3rd opening, standing out against a thin coating of snow…he took the shot.

> “When I fired, I was looking through and saw it had horns…were a little more than I expected.

> “I’ve got some antlers mounted, but I’ve never seen antlers like that before other than on a Facebook page or on TV. I’ve never seen horns like that, with that kind of a wide web, like a snow-shovel kind of deal. I don’t know what caused that, but they were really unusual.

> “There’s drop tines, he’s got a couple coming out of the top of his head. There’s all kinds of little things. It’s somewhere between 17 and 21 [points], I’d say.”

He’s gonna have the 193-lb deer scored, and thinks it’ll have somewhere betwen 17 and 21 points. Very cool deer!

> Been watching that deer for months but never could get a shot. They’ve been managing their ranch for big heads about 3-4 years and it’s really starting to pay off. Waiting til they are 4-5 yrs old. I’ve never seen one like that tho.

> We formed a QDMA cooperative with the surrounding neighbors, with the goal of growing mature bucks more than we have in years past and it has really helped. We have a lot of great bucks in the area now because of it.

> We’ve seen a lot of great 3.5-yr-old bucks in the area with outstanding potential. This was the first buck any of us had seen that was 4.5 yrs or older, which is the type of deer we are looking for.

Great story and encouragement for others to maybe do the same! He made the 200-yard shot with a Remington 700 chambered in .300 WSM. Says the big dude was making his way into a hayfield/food plot that they planted earlier in the year.

Do you call those things drop tines when they don’t even drop? (thinking emoji) Thanks to @bowhunterplanet and @jakepetro14 for sharing:

From Non-Typical Nation on FB, shot by Chance Lane Peters. How do you even score that beast??

Congrats to deer brother Ethan, who shot this guy on a deer drive using dogs. Says the buck was trying to slip out of the hunt when he shot him at just 30 yards with his 20ga over/under. Impressive!

Sounds like the woods were pretty full.

2. WI’s 9-day gun season gets 16% more deer than last year.

> Multiple factors favored hunters this year, including an earlier start to the season, a greater percentage of crops harvested and generally better weather.

3. MD harvest 7% fewer deer in early season.

Hit by warm weather and an EHD outbreak.

4. NY released a new draft deer management plan.

Few of the proposed changes:

> Establishing desired deer population trajectories (more deer, fewer deer, stay the same) for 23 regions of the state

> Recommending several hunting-related changes to provide additional hunter opportunity such as a Southern Zone holiday hunt, special seasons to meet local objectives, and increasing antlerless harvest where deer population reduction is warranted

> Maintaining a voluntary approach for letting young bucks go and re-evaluating the existing mandatory antler restriction program for consistency with hunter values and management objectives

> Encouraging voluntary use of non-lead ammunition (such as copper) by deer hunters to reduce human and wildlife exposure to lead by ingestion

5. IA wants comments on deer season proposals.

Designating allowed ot allowed cartridges and deer-tracking dog requirements.

6. TX: Jackson County law enforcement intros 2 boys to deer hunting.

Great job guys! #strong

7. WV looking for venison for needy folks.

Bet that’s the situation in every state.

8. WI: Monks harassed for deer hunting on their own land.

9. AK: Army Corps of Engineers rejects Pebble Mine permit.

Says the wildlife haven violates the Clean Water Act and is against “public interest.”

10. Summit Outdoors buys Ghost Blind.

Should be interesting to see what Summit does with mirrored blind technology:

Post says a rifle had a delayed discharge after the trigger was pulled.

12. Reminder: The Buck Knives holiday sale is still on!

> …replacing 29 “legacy” models in favor of newly-upgraded versions and adding 3 new single-shots….

> …solid 1-piece rotomolded construction with noiseless friction hinges and is sealed with a gasket tight closure to suppress sound.

> Offers the most penetration and is precision made in the USA….

> An ultra-wide detection zone means you’ll pick up every nearby motion and the near instant trigger speeds of 0.2-0.6 seconds ensures they’ll stay in frame…. The fully-automatic IR filter is coupled with 42 No Glow IR LEDs to make this camera capable of capturing crystal-clear low-light images.

> The 1,000 grams of Thinsulate Ultra Insulation protects hunters from frigid temperatures and the EnergyBed LX Footbed with Memory Foam provides added comfort and support.

> Although the 557 Eclipse uses the same push-feed action as the well-loved existing 557 line, CZ’s engineers put it on a diet. The wooden stock has been replaced with glass-reinforced polymer, cutting the rifle’s weight to 8 lbs. 

> This also cut the rifle’s MSRP to $659, meaning that it’s probably going to be available in gun stores for around $600 — and that’s a very big deal to CZ fans.

> The push-feed action is mated to a 20.5″ CZ barrel, cold hammer-forged and lapped in the CZ factory for incredible accuracy and a long shooting life. 

> The stock boasts a strong pistol grip, high comb and slight palm swell with a Soft Touch surface finish that will shrug off rotten weather and rough treatment.

> What’s particularly cool about the 557 Eclipse is that it’s designed so your optic can mount directly to rings — you don’t have to install a base.

Nice price, and it’s available in .308, .30-06, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

MeatEater’s Mark Kenyon says there’s 3 likely spots for rutted-out deer: thick cover, food sources and un-hunted “sanctuaries:”

> …hunting pressure has peaked or will soon, sending deer in search of anywhere they can get away from humans. Furthermore, does have been harangued by bucks…they too are seeking a respite. For all these reasons, thick nasty cover is often the retreat of choice….

> Being right in that cover or along escape routes leading into it is key, as heavily pressured bucks likely won’t travel far from these safe spots.

> As the peak of the rut fades into memory, whitetail bucks shift their focus from reproduction to food once again.

> Once this shift begins, typically at the end of Nov or early Dec, almost all deer activity will start to revolve around the highest-quality food source in the area. …can also attract the young does that might spark the last rutting action of the year.

> A “sanctuary”…is any location or property where hunting is not allowed or where, for whatever reason, it typically does not occur. Hunting around the edges…. These areas will suck in deer during the heavily hunted…portions of the season but can begin leaking again as pressure fades.

– Guess who? Yep, the Nuge talkin’ on deeranddeerhunting.com. Good post, couple more good excerpts:

> I thank the sporting goods industry for constantly coming up with the greatest, most efficient outdoor goodies a dedicated sporter could ever ask for.

> I am incredibly thankful that there are special people who dedicate themselves to law and order, to serve and protect, providing us all safe streets and neighborhoods for the greatest quality of life to be found in the world.

> I thank God for creating hunting dogs. The happiness brought to my long outdoor life by my dogs is one of the greatest things in life.

We love all of these!