huntlines

My son has the riffle hunt just after your archery hunt. If you don't mind letting me know of any bulls worth chasing for him after your hunt ends let me know. Thanks, Lance

My son may have a year of a lifetime due to him holding an early rifle bull tag in unit 27. He has a chance to take a trophy bull as well! We will post pics and hopefully video sometime in mid October......

Fantastic! A coues with stick and string is the toughest thing to do in my opinion. Great job, now help your buddy get his!

Congrats, way to getter done!

I had the camera with lil sis in her ground blind..... wish I would have been there with the camera.

My oldest daughter was a little bummed last year when she skipped an arrow off the brisket of a small forky whitetail last year. She has practiced all summer in hopes of getting a second chance to take her first buck with a bow. Opening morning we were in the blind before light and after only about a 15 minute wait we had a 90inch three point that seemed to come out of nowhere. He was only about 22yards but standing facing us providing no shot. He seemed to be very nervous of the blind or maybe he heard us climb in before light. The buck backed out and tried to come back to the water twice but never provided her with a shot. The rest of the day we only saw one doe. I told her I had a spike on camera in this area and just wanted to see if she was going to hold out for the bigger buck. Her response "heck no, first buck that gives me a shot is going down". She had college studies to get taken care of Saturday so it wasn't until this morning that she was able to get back into the blind. My youngest daughter was also hunting this morning so I was with her and had the video camera so it wasn't filmed :-(. This was her first time sitting all by herself and I was a little nervous about it. I was with my twelve year old and we were enjoying does and one spike that never got within her range. For some reason I never could get a cell signal when I have not had this problem before in this area. I had a feeling I needed to get a signal to check on her. I slipped out and climbed a ridge and sure enough over twenty text messages! She had shot a spike at 730am and was waiting for me to come help her track it. She felt the shot was a little back but she had good blood on the arrow and was going crazy waiting for me. By the time I got to her it was 10am. After looking over the arrow and the sign I agreed we needed to get this buck found. After a short track my daughter is the one who found him piled up! I am so proud of her for spending the time at the range, waiting patiently after the shot and for her quick learning in the skill of tracking. I'm amazed that she has actually been paying attention during past tracking and did a great job finding her first buck. She was jumping up and down when I came up to her after she found it. It is indescribable watching a young hunter take their first.

I now lock the tree stand in a folded position so no one can sit in it. Other than that i would tell them to either get out of it or I would remove it with them still in it. I have yet to have someone say they will not get out when I tell them it is coming out with or without them in it.

Nice buck! Is this your first? Either way, first or one of many that is a good coues. Can't wait to read the story.

Congrats, any coues with a bow is an accomplishment. Sorry to hear about the short hair. I too hope she gets to do what she loves before she passes.

Dillon my daughter did the same thing. She had a really nice three point buck at 22 yards opening morning and even though she knew he was still around, as soon as her spike came in she didn't hesitate. In fact her buck and yours look a lot alike. Her and I were talking to a guy i know a few weeks ago and even though he has been hunting for years, he has never taken a buck with a bow. What you did is something special and you wont forget it for the rest of your life. Ask any bow hunter about thier first and they can remember it like it was yesterday. This is just the first of many I'm sure because your dad is a great mentor. He is teaching you how to be a patient and courteous hunter. Congrats

I agree, it seems like just a few days ago we were in high school and I was after my first buck. Let me know if you need any help on your December hunt. I will be done elk hunting with the rest of the family by then so I should have a few days......might be able to go out with ya.

I still have my son and youngest daughter to keep me in the field. May have more successful pics later this season. Taking a buck in January has given me the time to really enjoy the kids' hunts. Stay tuned for more.......

I thought my daughter was going to get a 20 yard shot at a 90inch whitetail but the buck didn't like the blind and never she never got a shot. Today she took her first buck with a bow but he is no 90inch buck. When a spike walked in at and gave her a broadside 30 yard shot she took it. Pictures with post coming....

I used to never worry about this issue, that is until the last two elk hunts I was on. 2010 and 2011 My dad and I had bad experiences with leaving a bull overnight. I have always been of the opinion to leave a bad hit animal overnight and have had great success in finding the animal the next day. The last two elk hunts were different and not due to loss of meat but to the entire animal. My dad and I both had elk taken by other hunters before we could track them down the next day. Yes someone got lucky and happened to stumble onto our bulls early the next morning and take them before we could track them up. Read my post on Sweet and sour" elk hunt I posted last year and it will give all the details. If it ever happens again I don't know if I will be able to wait overnight.........

I took a buck in january and now I'm getting to focus on my kids archery deer hunts. Don't know what I'd do if I couldn't take one of them out hunting. It is a s close to me actually hunting as I can get. Hope to get one of my three kids a first archery harvest. I'm pumped!

Here is a little fuel to the fire.... :-)

Any buck you see even on opening day(this year the 24th) only has a few inches of growth left. Most bucks start shedding velvet about the third week of september. They don't grow much more from the third week of August to the third week of September. Trust me I have thousands of trail cam picks and have studied this exact issue.

Here are some of my elk hunts starting in 1997.

Amazing video. I have seen a few fights but nothing like that!

Love the elk pictures, maybe try to shoot some video of the elk?

WFT..... I thought the video was going to be of ELK?!?!?!?

Unit 27 early rifle bull with my son. His first bull tag!

365 Heck of a bull.

This stuff always sucks........... I'm still upset that vortex sold the rights of their inverters. Don't know if I trust the new owners and am going to go back to the regular vortex.........

This is something I have thought about as well. It is tough knowing they probably will put on a few more inches from late August to mid September. I have harvested several bucks in velvet and most of them in late August. The biggest issue for me is the bucks move in my experience about the time they start to rub off. Late August and early September is a perfect time to really pattern bucks. When they start to rub they generally move, usually for different food sources. Then of course come December they are constantly on the move! In my opinion if you find a buck you really want then August is the best time to get him patterned. While December and January are the funnest times to hunt coues, August can be most productive of one particular buck. I know a few guys who refuse to hunt in August and Sepember because they want the bucks to reach their max growth. I wanted to do this one year too and was watching a buck all summer and drooling. I put in for the early rifle October tag thinking he would still be in the area. Well he wasn't and I never not only saw him again but never got him on camera until the following July. Yes, that year I didn't hesitate to shoot him in velvet........ Long story short; if he is big enough for you in velvet then why wait even a week or two for him to maybe get a few inches bigger? One of the guys I know who refuses to shoot them in velvet, well he hasn't taken a buck in several years.........