Mass. Opening Day Buck - Tracking on Snow and Wet Leaves

[Natty Bumppo]

Had some success on Monday morning. It was the Mass. shotgun opener. It snowed and rained all day Sunday so we had a decent coat of lite snow Monday morning. The wind was also blowing heavily....a great day for tracking. Got on what I was pretty sure was a small buck track early and followed him for a good 2 hours VERY SLOWLY. He left a thick spruce/fir swamp and began heading up a wooded knob...but I lost 90% of the snow. The leaves were so wet from the Sunday mix that I could see where he was walking in the leaves. I did lose his track a few times and had to search around...I'd eventually pick it back up...moving slowly...peering ahead through the trees looking for the tip of an ear or antler. After another painstaking hour of tracking him, I finally saw a glance of movement above me on the knob about 80 yards away. Not sure what it was, but I hit my grunt call 3 times. Waited about 8 minutes and didn't see anything. I was just about to take 6 or 7 more steps and I saw slight movement again from the same spot up on the knob. I knew something was moving, just couldn't make it out. Hit the grunt 3 more times...waited 5 more minutes...and finally I saw a deer moving on the knob working his way towards me. I knew the deer from pics...a young 1.5 YO 4 pointer. He worked his way down to 60, 50, 40 yards...I decided i would shoot him if he gave me a chance. I haven't gotten a deer in a few years. Haven't seen a buck all season yet. He got to 25 yards and stepped out behind a tree quartering slightly towards me...I gave him one right in the shoulder. He ran 35 yards, stopped, and dropped dead. Got him right through the heart.

I don't like leaving a gut pile on the land, so I had one hell of a drag home. Took me 2 hours to the nearest ATV trail. Then I got him on a Jet sled with my ATV. He weighed in at 140 lbs. dressed at the check station. Feeling very blessed today and thought I'd share.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Atta boy Natty!! That's some good eating right there friend

 

[Tree Spud]

Congrats Natty!

 

[bueller]

Great job. I love hearing weights more than antler inches. And somehow they are 5x heavier to pull with 35 lbs of guts in them.

 

[fishin coyote]

Congratulations on a hard earned trophy. I have a question on the gut pile issue Why not leave it?

 

[35-acre]

Nicely done!
To me when hunting in the big woods/hardwoods with no fields for many many miles, any adult deer is a trophy - congrats! What a lot of people don't understand is that in this environment, they can go anywhere, eat in the same 15 yards where they bed (I find that sign together all the time - which tells me "doe in the area" during the hunting season). So tagging a 4pt is nothing that requires an explanation in my opinion.

I got this really fat buck. I don't have access to weigh it, but I'm guessing year and a half old. I just can't believe the size of the belly on him!




A for leaving a gut pile in the woods - nothing goes to waste. I put a camera (in video mode) up on a gut pile with the assumption that Coyotes or Bears would be on it. Instead I got Fishers (mostly - I think it was 2 different ones), ravens, blue jays, red-bellied woodpeckers and so on. It was pretty cool to see nature take things back:

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Atta boy Natty!! That's some good eating right there friend

Great job. I love hearing weights more than antler inches. And somehow they are 5x heavier to pull with 35 lbs of guts in them.

Congrats Natty!

Thanks fellas. Appreciate it.

Congratulations on a hard earned trophy. I have a question on the gut pile issue Why not leave it?

Thanks!

Few reasons. Where I got this guy is in a really good area and I plan to hunt there again. We have a very high coyote population right now. I didn't want to attract coyotes to that area.

Secondly, with a long drag on dirt and leaves it lessons the chance of getting dirt inside the carcass.

And then third, once at my place I feel I can do a finer job of gutting the deer by lifting him with my FEL. Everything spills right out into the Jett Sled. I can hose him down. Just a nicer and cleaner job overall.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Nicely done!

A for leaving a gut pile in the woods - nothing goes to waste.

Nice buck. Yes...a fat belly!

I do leave the guts out for wildlife, just not where I like to hunt. I take them down to the river's edge near my home and leave them there. I actually throw some pieces in the river so the crayfish will feed. There's always an otter down there that hits the guts. And yes, the usual ravens, foxes,...might get a black bear or a coyote.

 

[fishin coyote]

All good reasons thanks for the answers Natty. Around here it doesn’t seem to bother the deer or bring in anymore coyotes than what’s already around. I had a camera on the pile from my archery doe and had more deer pictures on it in a week than I had scavengers

 

[35-acre]

All good reasons thanks for the answers Natty. Around here it doesn’t seem to bother the deer or bring in anymore coyotes than what’s already around. I had a camera on the pile from my archery doe and had more deer pictures on it in a week than I had scavengers

Yeah - I had never left a cam on a cut pile before. It was cool to see.
After I got my buck I had gutted him about 60 yards from another cell cam and have had picture on it as well (and as I mentioned before - I hunt big woods so it's hard to get a lot of pics).

This fisher video was neat from my gut pile. Looks like a little bear:

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Yeah - I had never left a cam on a cut pile before. It was cool to see.
After I got my buck I had gutted him about 60 yards from another cell cam and have had picture on it as well (and as I mentioned before - I hunt big woods so it's hard to get a lot of pics).

This fisher video was neat from my gut pile. Looks like a little bear:

Great video! Cute little sucker for a fairly vicious carnivore.

 

[Bill]

Congrats Natty!

Never in a million years could I stalk one. Just don’t have the mental patience. I couldn’t stand still long enough.

 

[Angus 1895]

Well done.

it’s a beautiful buck!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Congrats Natty!

Never in a million years could I stalk one. Just don’t have the mental patience. I couldn’t stand still long enough.

Thanks Bill. I appreciate that.

When I track deer it's almost cathartic for me. I go into thinking I will never see a deer. But mentally I hunt as if there is a deer behind every tree. I can stay on the track of a buck for 4, 5, 6 hours and fully know there will be a very good chance I will jump it before I see it or run out of daylight. Yet, 2 or 3 hours in a treestand is all I can stand. I lack the mental patience and/or toughness to do any more than that.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Well done.

it’s a beautiful buck!

Thanks Angus.

 

[buckdeer1]

Good job but I would never drag one far,I would cut up and pack out,way easier

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Good job but I would never drag one far,I would cut up and pack out,way easier

Thanks buckdeer. That's illegal in some states, Mass. being one of them. But yes, that would be a great way to get the meat out.

 

[SWIFFY]

Well done Natty! Congrats! Reminds me of the old Benoit stories!

I think a lot of us dream of hunting that way but few have the patience to do it right.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Well done Natty! Congrats! Reminds me of the old Benoit stories!

I think a lot of us dream of hunting that way but few have the patience to do it right.

Thanks Swiffy. Sometimes living in western, MA I bemoan what crappy whitetail hunting I have where I am locally. I have some of the poorest soils in the country. No mast. No ag. VERY low DPSM. But yes, I am blessed to be able to track in the northern big woods, which I think is a rare opportunity for most deer hunters.

And in fact, if there were more deer around I never would have got this guy. Once I lost the snow I was having a hard time following him the last 100 yards or so. If there been other deer around I never would have been able to follow him. So, a low DPSM worked in my favor this time!

And yes, Larry Benoit. Legend!

 

[Native Hunter]

Congratulations Natty. Great deer and story.