Gator

Maybe a bit harsh? Softie.

Man, I wish I only had to clean my barrel every ten shots. If I don't clean it after three or four using triple seven, forcing a bullet down the barrel becomes a Herculean effort. Agreed that BH needs special primers, otherwise pop fizz, "damn!!" not that I would know lol.

Well played! Although you should have had one of the other guys pose next to it so that it looks bigger lol. How are you going to have it processed?

Hell of a shot with a shotgun for anybody, much less a kid. Good for her! Convert for life, I hope.

Crazy, but I saw zero deer today. Hunted the swamp this morning and the edge of a hay field this afternoon. They cut corn the past few days up front, and every deer in the neighborhood was partying like it was 1999 up there. It didn't help that the neighbor drove an ATV out from his stand at 4:30 through a swamp and creek directly upwind of me. So much for my expectation of evening movement. Our two youngest were the shooters today - Brayden got that doe, and Jeff's kid Caleb took what should have been an eight, but due to fighting was a five. The rest of us were just glad to be there...

It's true that deer can carry COVID...don't let them breathe on you! Six-foot rule! Glad to see you downed one before the orange army descends, Joe.

It's a real pleasure to get to see a good dog work. Tough luck not seeing much activity two of three days, but it sounds like 25% of your crew scored, and that's not bad for fair chase.

Getting it done! Congratulations. Glad to hear you're back in the woods, Joe. Good luck.

I hunt with compound and crossbow both, and there is a striking difference between them in terms of the preparation necessary to kill a deer cleanly. Not having to draw and hold a crossbow is a significant advantage, too. In other words, it's a more effective weapon. Unfortunately, this tends to bring out folks who simply don't want to put in the time...not everyone certainly, but more so than with a compound. I have a similar regard for folks who pick up their bow a week before season. So, I love hunting with my crossbow, and I see clear advantages as I get older, but I recognize that there are drawbacks (pun intended) to including it in bow, as well.

Nice buck, Todd!! I took a doe this morning and let the buck walk, cause my buddy is looking for venison, and he doesn't hunt. Can you believe he was paying upwards of $30 a pound for D'Artangian Farms venison from Wegmans.? He's ecstatic to have a whole deer. I need one myself now for some Cajun Cranberry sausage from Swans and some smoked goodies from Greg.

Congratulations to all who scored! I see no need to qualify a clean kill with "it's not the biggest buck" though. We focus too much on the rack and not enough on the enjoyment of the day. I love the stories leading up to the shot...Isaac's tale got me teared up...and I'd rather a season of good hunts than a big buck any day (not casting shade on Rob's buck - it would have been tough to pass on).

That's awesome! I feel like it's tougher to get girls to stick with it than boys - too many teenage distractions - but you're sure doing the right stuff. I hope she scores big, but more importantly develops into a lifelong hunter. Make sure you post your "proud dad" pics when she does!

Congratulations to all on nice bucks - especially Rob, I know what a grind this season has been for him and the time he put in the stand lol. My sits have been relatively uneventful, with the exception of yesterday morning. I had a large nine point come through snorting and tearing up bushes at 80 yards, so I grunted at him. Nearly crapped myself when the six I didn't see grunted back at me from ten yards! Anyway, we had a grunt-fest, and it was enough to turn the big buck toward me. That little six lowered his head in shame and wouldn't meet the big buck's eyes. And rightfully so, this was his house. I drew as the nine went behind a big oak and began to close from 30 yards on a path that would put him at 22 yards straight in front of me. But he never paused long enough to give me an opportunity. Too many little trees - all he had to do was what he'd been doing the whole way over, tear some stuff out of the ground, paw a bit, but no, he just kept walking. So I pushed ahead of him and found an opening just past a five stem oak, and there I waited. And waited. And he went West straight away from me from behind the tree. And I never saw him again all morning. But more importantly, I didn't push an arrow out that wasn't a sure thing and possibly injure him. I should have grunted or bleated to stop him, but a buddy of mine had one jolt on him the evening before, and I was sure I could get a shot regardless if he kept going straight. Such is life in the woods. Stay safe, shoot straight and be well.

Congratulations to BR and your friend's kid! Getting it done! Both really nice bucks.

Just to make sure that I call out the bad with the good, I will update my thoughts on the new Moultrie Delta, If you don't mind feeding them batteries (or using an external power source), and odd problems are your thing, then you might like these. A couple weeks ago, one of the cameras started taking green pictures. My deer looked like the Hulk. I rebooted, and now the pictures are okay. Except for the inexplicable blurry shots that randomly occur, or the completely black night pictures. Always something with this model. I will say that the detection circuit is decent and the ability to transmit when there is little cell reception is surprisingly good. But they are not even close to what the 7000i brought to the table. I may have a couple for sale, cheap, before the end of the season lol

The two Reveals I got from Bass Pro last week are in the field and performing flawlessly. I'm not a huge fan of the software interface, but It's not horrible. Just a few quirks as to where information can be found...like, data showing how far into your monthly allotment of images you are is buried in a sub-menu, and you need to have all of your cameras on the same plan, so there's no mix-and-match option for cameras that you expect to take less photos. The good news is that cameras share photos, though. Two thumbs up so far.

Yeah, pretty much - big boys will be looking for mature does. IMHO, there's pluses and minuses to taking out the matriarch. It can certainly changes the entire hierarchy of movement on the property, which may be good. Or not. Flip a coin I guess. I see you managed a good one. Congratulations!

We just finished a morning of trimming lanes and changing straps. Could have shot fifty bazillion doe walking around. I can’t imagine wanting to deal with a deer in this heat, but I get the motivation to harvest the older doe. It could work against you though, too. I’ll stick to squirrel this year

I know that I've felt spoiled the past five years with how good the fishing has been. It's unfortunate that it seems like there's always something making it more difficult to get after them as much as I'd like - low water, high water, life in general - and this summer, I fished the least I have in twenty years. Maybe six trips? But they were all quality outings, with one in particular that I will remember for a long time. It's interesting to go back through the forum and to read some of the older threads to get a sense as to how the current situation evolved. Yankee isn't wrong about the West end being perceived as a dead zone after mid-August more years. But it's always been the place to be from May-July, and yes there is awesome offshore fishing for those willing to run later in the season. And Buckhunter has it right in that the East end doesn't seem to be seeing the fish it normally would in the late summer. One common theme is that the bait has been much more concentrated the past few years. Boom or bust. Maybe this is the new normal. But I doubt it. I think that the fluctuations we see occur on a scale of years, and that the pendulum will swing back.

Until you break down lol...

Great. This has the potential to turn into a real **** show.

I've been testing the two Moultrie Delta that I bought in June at my house over the past week, and while I'm impressed with their speed and connectivity, the batteries (AA Energizer Plus) are draining at the rate of ~5% per day on both cameras. Inquiries to Moultrie have been met with, "we now recommend only the use of lithium with Delta model" and, "return it where you purchased it". Neither of which is really gratifying, since I'm past 60 days at Academy. I didn't buy these cameras to feed them batteries. I am trying presently to determine whether using my ice-fishing 10 Amp Hour Marcum Lithium Brute batteries externally will give me more time. I will update when I know more. I don't understand why it seems like the Moultrie cell cams have gone downhill since the 7000i, of which my three are apparently bulletproof.