2011 Hunt Pictures

[Ohio farms]

Nice big buck JPH. Congratulations.

[pickleguy]

Awesome buck JPH, I hope it is my turn now!

[JPH]

Nice one JPH. Looks quite symetrical. Looks like his neck is really swollen. I see blood around the mouth, was it a lung hit? Its really nice when you can bring them to you, isn't it.

Thanks guys. Sorry I left the details out. It was a long night.

It was a pure mid-day hunt. I had only been on stand 45 minutes and he was the second buck of his class to respond to my 1st rattling set. The first buck had gotten into my scent stream and busted me. I was sitting up there pouting when this buck walked in. He stayed on my upwind side and walked into the clear at exactly 15 yds. It was a double lung, high to low, with a 2 blade Rage. It opened him up horribly in the high wound but did not fully exit on the low side.He left a beautiful trail but he went a long way. He covered about 200 yds, (looked it up on Google Earth) albeit downhill. The last leg of his death run was at a point he was totally out of blood, so the final moments before I found him were a bit tense/

To be honest, I knew he was a solid deer.but I did not realize how big he actually was. He's physically the biggest deer I've ever killed and the mass on his rack in amazing. Good thing I didn't realize that or I'd have screwed it up.

Here's one more sot at another angle.

web2.jpg (171.23 KiB) Viewed 83 times

[charlie 01]

Looks like you had a good overcast day. I always have a better feeling on those type of days. Did the arrow break? Looks like you have a broken arrow in your quiver. What was the first buck like, bigger? Those big ones seem to go a lot farther with major hits. One I double lunged, I swear went way over 200yds. Always keep telling myself to try to figure the actual distance. But hard to do in such a brushy area. Good job. I keep wondering why, no pass through at 15yds. What are your thoughts on that. A number of years ago, I shot a big one at a measuered distance of 33yds with a pass through. But that was when fixed blades were all there was. It was a Bear stainless, sharpened my way. In fact thats the deer in my now avatar that went over 200yds.

[Cal]

Outstanding buck JPH! And to rattle him in mid-day, all the sweeter. Congrats.

[Deebz]

Nice Buck JPH! I know there's at least 1 or 2 bucks cruising the area I hunt that are probably close to that guy... I hope I get a chance to let an arrow fly at one...

[JPH]

Looks like you had a good overcast day. I always have a better feeling on those type of days. Did the arrow break? Looks like you have a broken arrow in your quiver. What was the first buck like, bigger? Those big ones seem to go a lot farther with major hits. One I double lunged, I swear went way over 200yds. Always keep telling myself to try to figure the actual distance. But hard to do in such a brushy area. Good job. I keep wondering why, no pass through at 15yds. What are your thoughts on that. A number of years ago, I shot a big one at a measuered distance of 33yds with a pass through. But that was when fixed blades were all there was. It was a Bear stainless, sharpened my way. In fact thats the deer in my now avatar that went over 200yds.

I hate to hijack the thread but you ask some very valid questions regarding the performance of my broadhead/arrow combination.

I shoot a 100 gr. Rage-2 on a 7595 gr. carbon arrow. My bow is a Mathews S-2 dialed up to 70 lbs. There is no lack of energy in my set up but I am here to debunk the myth that Rage broadheads penetrate like a fixed blade. They don't. I have a pretty generous statistical sampling of bow kills both before and after switching to a rear-opening slip cam mechanical. When I shot a fixed blade, it was very rare for one of my arrows not to pass through. Now that I shoot what I do, it is equally rare to achieve a complete pass through.

So why, you may ask, would I use this combination? Two reasons. One, the accuracy is unreal. There is literally no change in arrow flight between my field tips and my broadheads. And secondly, the entrance wounds are horrific. The Rage will turn a marginal or even poor shot into a killing wound by the sheer nature of the cutting area.

The performance of my arrow and head was pretty typical on this hunt. I was 20+ feet in the air and shooting at a deer only 15 yards away, so the angle was steep. I hit him high behind the rt. shoulder. The head opened a 3-4" entry wound and the shaft buried itself, leaving little more than the vanes outside. I could see blood spraying as he ran off. When I took up the trail, I was able to follow it at a steady walk. Blood was all over the place, and my broken arrow shaft was lying in the trail about 40 yards from the initial hit. The splatters got bigger and bigger as I went downhill, but they did stop once he reached the bottom ground. I attribute that to a lack of blood pressure. The final 40 yards were nothing more than small drops. As it turned out, the blade did open him low on the far side, but it was a fairly small hole. I suspect that the broadhead worked itself out, rather than punching through at the initial hit. I admit that this is a noted disadvantage as compared to a fixed blade, but it's an exchange I'm willing to make.

[JPH]

One more thing. I'm not proud to admit that the first time I opened this thread was to post my own photos. As a matter of fact, I bought my bow tag about 4 hours before I killed that buck. That's how distracted I've been this year!

I just wanted to take a second to congratulate everyone who's been fortunate enough to post successful hunt photos! Several deer stand out and are, in my opinion, worthy of particular comment. Powell, your buck is simply amazing! If he only grosses 155", I'll eat my hat. Ranwin, you deer would be remarkable if he were killed behind a high fence. Given the area and the pressure that exists where you hunt (I know it only too well), he is the buck of a lifetime. And Swamplife, I've never hunted South Fla., but I had no idea deer like that ever came from there. And on public land? Nice!

Again, congrats to all. Please keep posting the pics. Does, bucks, whatever you kill! I promise not to wait so long before looking.

[Ohio farms]

JPH, I have to ask, how far did you have to drag that beast? I shot a 234 lb. buck last year and only had to drag it maybe 90 yards...downhill. If I didn't have a friend with me I would still be dragging it. Just swinging him into the back of a truck was an adventure. Those 200+ deer pose all types of different problems. Hope to have those problems again this year (:

[JPH]

JPH, I have to ask, how far did you have to drag that beast? I shot a 234 lb. buck last year and only had to drag it maybe 90 yards...downhill. If I didn't have a friend with me I would still be dragging it. Just swinging him into the back of a truck was an adventure. Those 200+ deer pose all types of different problems. Hope to have those problems again this year (:

Ugh! That's a story of it's own. I hate to drag the thread away from celebrating everyone's deer...but if you insist.

He died 250 yards into a thorny timber, downhill from a large field of standing beans. He was exactly 1.08 miles from my truck by way of the only accessible route through the timber and around the crops. I always hunt alone. Woods Walker suggests that it is my odor but most people that know me say it's my personality. Anyway, thank God I broke down and bought a 4-wheeler last winter! I was able to drive it to within 30 yards of him because I drove it into a place I should never have even risked. So after dragging him the 90' and then up and onto the back of the quad, I was pretty spent and not thinking very clearly. I looked up the hill and wondered how I ever got in there but I gave her the gas...and ran smack into a tree, blowing the bead on my rt. front tire! The only way out was to get in front of the quad and lift the front end every time I needed to turn. Heaven only knows how many ATV and lifting safety violations I committed to get him back to my trailer.

I'm a little sore today.