Legacy -The 2024 Deer Season-

[Legacy]

What a weekend!

My kid was in the same set both am and pm hunts on the opener hoping for a chance at one of our shooters. We both sat in the punch/funnels that connect the two big chunks of woods. He passed up a few small bucks and a slow afternoon turned into chaos. Chasing in the thicket behind him for an hour eventually led him to put eyes on this great 8pt. The buck made his way to him from over 200 yards away. And eventually the deer walked directly in front of the stand about 20 yards, the kid waited until the deer was past him, quartering away before he stopped him and hammered him. The kid was close enough that once I heard the shot, I got to watch the deer on a death run through binoculars. Perfect shot heart and both lungs. Deer ran 50 before falling over. Big mature 8pt with decent mass. I'm guessing 4 years old as we do have pictures from him last year. Love these great dad moments!

 

As for me...

Day 2 of gun 

Going where the SW wind allows me I ended up in one of my best sets. Saw a couple of young bucks cruising early. I decided with buck sightings to pull out my can call and dumped it 3 times. 5 minutes later this 8pt was standing 20 years directly downwind from me without a care in the world. It was at that moment I realized that my kid and i had been confusing these two deer on camera. And that we had 2 8pts that we had been watching. The deer decided to continue on his path from right to left and gave me a 20 yard shot. Easy track job. Deer probably ran 70 yards. I enjoy bow hunting so much more but man is rather shoot them with the gun. It's devastating.

 

Although I'm tagged out now it was a great moment to have with my kid!

 

 

[Legacy]

SO I thought I would share this...

 

I saw this somewhere online and bought this "blood trailing flashlight" based off the comments I read from others. It works great. I brought it into the field this year on recoveries and the damn thing works well. I also tested it in the daylight hoping it would be fairly useful but nope. But in the dark... wow. The way it seems to work is by flashing lights and it highlights the color red and literally illuminates it. The flashing light makes the color red blink and man does it work well. If your tracking at night this is a must have. The video I shared is extremely accurate and not an exaggeration.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z3KRRF7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

 

 

 

[Duckman1]

Nice story and pics. Just ordered the light. For someone who is color blind I hope this helps me a bit

[Gator]

10 hours ago, Legacy said:

SO I thought I would share this...

 

I saw this somewhere online and bought this "blood trailing flashlight" based off the comments I read from others. It works great. I brought it into the field this year on recoveries and the damn thing works well. I also tested it in the daylight hoping it would be fairly useful but nope. But in the dark... wow. The way it seems to work is by flashing lights and it highlights the color red and literally illuminates it. The flashing light makes the color red blink and man does it work well. If your tracking at night this is a must have. The video I shared is extremely accurate and not an exaggeration.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z3KRRF7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

 

 

 

I just got one of these last week, and let me tell you, last night I put it to the test on a doe a buddy had shot in a field (easy recovery and great blood trail), and it worked lights-out (pun intended). It's a bit heavy, but given how well it works it will take up residence in my pack. I will mention that there are several illumination options including a very, very bright white light and three strobing red/white combos at different frequencies. 

 

I haven't evaluated how long it will last in the field, and that could impact its usefulness since there's a dedicated Li Ion battery involved. The product manual says 2.5-3 hours fully charged, depending on which mode you use. If correct, that would fit all but the longest tracks. It's USB-C rechargable, so you could potentially carry a power source too...

[MeanMachine]

Just a quick season update for me.   Started out with Rob at Southern Ohio Outfitters opening week.  First night in the stand had what would have been my biggest buck come in.  Big 8 - stopped him and pulled trigger on xbow safety on, rush take it off and shoot.  Thought I smoked him.  Arrow had a lot off fat on it and not a lot of blood.  Take that night no luck and next day no luck.  4 days later he shows back up on cam.  Pics below - a little high and back - arrow passed through 

 

Shot a nice 8 at my lease on a windy day.   Was ticked because the buck showed up on camera at the stand I almost hunted.   Fortunately he came by this stand and made a nice 30 yard shot. 

 

 

Hunted Illinois November 7-10th.  Booked with an outfitter.  Started out more like a DIY hunt.  Nothing scouted or stands set.  Ran into trespassers which really sucked.  They moved us on 4th day into a nice location.   I ended up scoring on a nice 8 Sunday evening.   

 

My daughter was also successful in Ohio with another booner.  She is a great shot and has some incredible luck seeing giant deer.  It's been a ton of fun watching her score on some great deer over the years.   This pic is my favorite of her deer

 

 

Good luck to everyone!

[GAMBLER]

10 hours ago, MeanMachine said:

Just a quick season update for me.   Started out with Rob at Southern Ohio Outfitters opening week.  First night in the stand had what would have been my biggest buck come in.  Big 8 - stopped him and pulled trigger on xbow safety on, rush take it off and shoot.  Thought I smoked him.  Arrow had a lot off fat on it and not a lot of blood.  Take that night no luck and next day no luck.  4 days later he shows back up on cam.  Pics below - a little high and back - arrow passed through 

 

Shot a nice 8 at my lease on a windy day.   Was ticked because the buck showed up on camera at the stand I almost hunted.   Fortunately he came by this stand and made a nice 30 yard shot. 

 

 

Hunted Illinois November 7-10th.  Booked with an outfitter.  Started out more like a DIY hunt.  Nothing scouted or stands set.  Ran into trespassers which really sucked.  They moved us on 4th day into a nice location.   I ended up scoring on a nice 8 Sunday evening.   

 

My daughter was also successful in Ohio with another booner.  She is a great shot and has some incredible luck seeing giant deer.  It's been a ton of fun watching her score on some great deer over the years.   This pic is my favorite of her deer

 

 

Good luck to everyone!

They are amazing animals.  The stuff they survive is unreal.  A couple season ago, I shot a doe with a backwards leg.  It looked like she had been hit but a car, her leg broke and healed backwards.  She was perfectly healthy and the injury was old.  Congrats on the deer!  

Edited Wednesday at 12:03 PM by GAMBLER

[Gill-T]

that is jacked up Brian!

[GAMBLER]

1 hour ago, Gill-T said:

that is jacked up Brian!

I was a little confused when I was walking up to her.  Three forward and one back!  

[Gill-T]

Anyone seeing anymore daytime chasing or are things quiet?

[battlehammer]

I just returned from a week hunting southern Erie/North Catt line area. Big woods hunting - 

Beyond quiet for us. 4 guys nothing hanging. We have seen very few deer.

Cameras are silent minus doe groups in the wee hours feeding in the oaks. Mind numbing considering the amount of deer we seen during archery. Bring on the snow 

[Gill-T]

Ya, that spinning low pressure system had very few deer moving. Same area you are hunting. 

[whaler1]

Very quiet in northwest Monroe County

[Gill-T]

We have bucks and does hanging but you have to step on them or play the push game. 

[Smat64]

Same here, super slow. Very hard to even see a deer. 
 

saw a rabbit Friday, raccoon Saturday. 

[Gill-T]

The does are trying to stay out of the woods where they are getting harassed by bucks. You find them bedded in the first cut of goldenrod on a field edge. They are making micro movements.