The Most Unbelievable Tracking Footage On YouTube! An Unforgettable Hunt!
- Thread starter Nimrod
- Start date
can jump to around the 7:30 time
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
That’s wild
Bill
Administrator
That's how @Natty Bumppo hunts...
Bill Loser
5 year old buck +
Hope he packed a fresh set of skivies
hillrunner
5 year old buck +
Very cool! I hope I get to hunt in snow like that this year. I love how muffled all the sound is with that thick blanket of snow .
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
That is a wild video! I've done a little of that in northern MN (unsuccessfully) and a bunch of it in montana for elk. Seems like you'll never sneak up on one without getting busted until you do! Much more entertaining way to hunt in some of these areas with lower populations than sitting in stand staring at the same crap all day.
He said he shot him at point blank range but its hard to see recoil or hear a shot, almost looks like he just racked a live round out of it. Must just be muffled with the deer right off the barrel?
He said he shot him at point blank range but its hard to see recoil or hear a shot, almost looks like he just racked a live round out of it. Must just be muffled with the deer right off the barrel?
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Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
I do....been at it for a few weeks now in MASS and Vermont. But never had a close encounter like that. Crazy video! And that's typically how you catch up to them...lots of snow and wind...with a small spruce of fir blocking their head so they can't see you. Or you bump them at 75 yards because you were being clumsy and never see them again. LOL.
If you slow the video down you can see that he shoots the buck at point blank range from the hip and then has to rack the pump again for the 3rd shot. You can also hear the 2nd shot.
Remington pump for the win!
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
Agree Mortenson. And your question about the weight speaks precisely to your comment. Big woods trackers aren't selecting deer for antler mass or points...or age. They are selecting for body mass. 200 lbs. is the generally accepted unofficial minimum weight for what trackers consider to be a "trophy." Though in reality, any deer that a hunter tracks down and kills in the big woods is a trophy. Killing them is often the easy part. Getting a 200 lb. buck out of the big woods can often be a 5, 6, 7 hour endeavour that will test even the fittest man.
Bill Loser
5 year old buck +
I wish I had sections big enough to do that around me. I did it a couple times in the Northwoods when I used to hunt the national Forest and papermill land. Never successful but was fun to try. Of course much younger then!
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Do they require deer to be whole for transport in the northeast where these tactics are common? Growing up in MN I never thought anything of always having to drag a deer out. Hell, my uncle got a moose out of the boundary waters wilderness whole decades ago. After breaking down and packing out a bunch of animals in the west, it seems so stupid to have to keep an animal intact. I think my mule deer this year would have been a half mile downhill drag to a truck but he definitely got carried out in pieces.
Electrodigical
5 year old buck +
I like to tease and jokingly "argue" with people when the whole "western hunting" vs "eastern hunting" thing comes up. Yeah sure you walked a long way to get there, but then you just sat on your ass all day too. Sitting up on a knob looking through binoculars or a spotting scope, that must be really hard being able to see miles and mile of countryside in all directions. 
Come hunt where I do, there's some great views. You can see close to 20 yards that way, 8 yards that way, 16 yards that way, and if you come over here a lean just right, you can see almost 45 yards through the trees.
Come hunt where I do, there's some great views. You can see close to 20 yards that way, 8 yards that way, 16 yards that way, and if you come over here a lean just right, you can see almost 45 yards through the trees.
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Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
I like to tease and jokingly "argue" with people when the whole "western hunting" vs "eastern hunting" thing comes up. Yeah sure you walked a long way to get there, but then you just sat on your ass all day too. Sitting up on a knob looking through binoculars or a spotting scope, that must be really hard being able to see miles and mile of countside in all directions.
I dont see a reason to have them compete, they are just different!
Electrodigical
5 year old buck +
I don't know why, they're apples and oranges. Some people just like to argue (or feel superior).
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
Yes Bill, I am super fortunate that even in relatively densely populated Massachusetts, I do live in the far western part of the State (NY/VT border) that has some immense tracts of land. I can walk 6, 7, 8 hours a day for a week....all in different locations...and never see another hunter, truck, or boot print in the snow. Then the places I hunt in VT make Mass. look like a town square. Northern Maine makes VT look like a small parking lot.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
This is a great question. It came up last year on a Facebook group I am on called Big Woods Bucks. I wasn't sure of the answer myself, so I looked up Maine, VT, and Mass. It turns out the entire carcass does not have to be presented at the check station in Maine and VT. I forgot the law in my own state of Mass. I am going to speculate that dragging the deer out is just part of the culture...not dissimilar to the wearing of green and black buffalo plaid "woolies" and LaCrosse rubber boots and Remington pumps. It's also communal...when the buck is down you're buddies all get to help drag it out. It's also maybe partly due to coyotes. If you're 5 miles in the backcountry and leave a deer to go back to the truck to get the packframe and butchering gear, by the time you get back that deer might be chewed up. Leaving a jacket over the deer can prevent this. You're also going to walk 5 miles out...5 miles back in...and then 5 miles back out again with the meat. Might as well just drag it out? Lastly, there is also the cultural tradition of driving into town with a buck strapped over the hood or in the bed that still holds a lot of significance. Small towns all over Maine and VT have the local check stations at the local mom and pop general stores in each town. It's kind of a meet and greet and show off your deer and pat each other on the back kind of thing.
Moose and elk...totally different story. But for a deer in the Northeast in the tracking culture it's just dragged out.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Good summary, makes a bunch of sense.
If doing one trip, I'd still rather carry it all on a pack frame than drag it! A guy can hunt with a framed pack and a small/light bag too so he doesn't need to walk to the truck to pick it up. My kill kit consists of 1 havalon with some spare blades, nitrile gloves, and some light weight meat bags. Stays in the pack.
