The end of deer season 20/21

I’ve been hunting deer for over 40 years now and this past season was by far my best season ever. Now I don’t measure a season so much by what I killed, but how the entire year of seer season played out for everyone.
This year offered many first for many that I hunt with.
I was a part of 2 first ever deer and I felt like it was a first for me as well!


I also got to help by finding deer and placing stands for first ever bucks!



And if all that wasn’t enough to make the season my daughter in law got a nice buck and my son and I took two very nice bucks.



The rut this year was like what you dream about and it seemed to last for a full 3 weeks. Bucks fighting, bucks chasing does, rattling worked, grunting worked, it was just unbelievable. This was the first year I had 3 different bucks over 140” that were on my list. And what’s even crazier is the deer I ended up shooting didn’t look that big on camera. But when I saw him heading my direction at 300 yards he kept getting bigger the closer he got. I was texting my son as it all played out with the first stating which deer it was and the last stating I was done with NO ground shrinkage. I had pics of this buck since July.
My trail cameras also recorded some great footage of what I call a community rub tree. Most would be surprised at what deer actually do most of the rubbing. I had everything from spikes to 5.5+ year old deer giving that tree a beating. Even had a doe rub her opposite end on it and a buck that had lost one side of his rack.
Like I stated, one of my best years yet, if not the best! And on top of all that we achieved our goal of removing the amount of deer we wanted from two different properties.

Congrats to all.

Super

You and your family had an amazing season.

Wow. Congrats. That's near a lifetime of good bucks in my neck of the woods. Particularly like the pic with the young man and his AR. That buck looks like he stood up when he was told to shut up.

WOW...glad you had a gooden.
Lot of smiles there...


Donnie

His father asked if I’d find him a “decent” buck for his first. Found the deer a couple of months before Gun season opened and thought we were good to go. Three weeks before season opener he disappeared to the very back of the property. Luckily the Wednesday before season he showed back up where I had already placed a stand. The young man had him in his sights a day before he shot him but didn’t feel confident with the shot. The next afternoon the buck with three others showed up 2hrs before dark, lol. He was using my AR10 with 168gr Federals. That joker didn’t stand a chance. The young man got a nice surprise for Christmas...a Savage rifle in 6.5 Creedmore. Last Saturday he was able to break in his new rifle on a doe.

Outstanding!

Awesome

excellent!

Nice deer.

Congratulations

Congrats. Lots of great memories in those pics. Very nice deer

Very, very cool! Do you hunt a lot of clear cut young growth in pine plantations?

Great season!

In the last pic, the buck looks to have a bump between his antlers, like a third base starting. Is it just the picture, or something there? I killed one in Illinois a few years ago with a third base located between his antlers, that’s why I ask.

Regardless, good pics , thanks for sharing!

John

Varying stages of pines where we hunt, but no clearcut anything. These woods are managed for quail and quail only. Deer hunting is just done to keep population in check, although we do let the smaller bucks walk and try and concentrate on 5.5 or older bucks. Three of the bucks posted were 5.5, two were 4.5, and the other was a youngster at 2.5-3.5. Plenty of does are shot throughout the year.

Good catch. Yes, he had the start of a third main beam.