Two different mature 8 pointers - 13 minutes apart

[Native Hunter]

I know that in great deer hunting spots this wouldn't be uncommon, but for here it is. I really enjoyed seeing these boys on camera so close together to the same time. Something was in the air for sure that day.....

I could have shot the wide deer 2 days after these pics were taken but gave him a pass. He is still alive but on a midnight pattern now with all the shooting around. The close up below is when he came through the plot on the second day of season.

 

[tooln]

Nice

 

[Mortenson]

I always look forward to your pictures and deer. Love the way you set up your cameras (and property for that matter)!

How high is your camera in the 1st set?

 

[Native Hunter]

I always look forward to your pictures and deer. Love the way you set up your cameras (and property for that matter)!

How high is your camera in the 1st set?

Thanks Mortenson,

I sometimes wonder if I post too many pictures, but I really enjoy the cameras. I've learned more about deer in the last 4 years with cameras than the entire rest of my life before I started using them.

That camera is about 10 feet high. I don't check this one as often as some of the others. It's looking at my east boundary line, and I don't spend much time on that side of the place. When I check that camera, I back a pickup truck up to it and stand on the raised tailgate. That puts the camera at about eye level.

Glad you enjoy the pictures!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Great pix Native. The wide 8 is gonna be a bruiser next season. You'll have to keep us posted on his ( and the other's ) whereabouts once the season is done up to shed time !! You have some good ones growing there.

 

[Native Hunter]

Great pix Native. The wide 8 is gonna be a bruiser next season. You'll have to keep us posted on his ( and the other's ) whereabouts once the season is done up to shed time !! You have some good ones growing there.

Thanks Bowsnbucks. My cameras generally show good deer movement in December for the second rut. It will be interesting to see what they are doing then. The wide one has lived here all summer and the other one lived on my neighbor during the summer - then he moved in here during the first rut. I agree that it will be fun watching them as time goes on.....

We will probably check cameras mid December and then again late December - should be interesting..........

 

[Bill]

Any news on fish gig? I forget what you called him.

 

[Native Hunter]

Any news on fish gig? I forget what you called him.

The last picture I had of him (Abby Normal aka Fish Gig) was 2 hours before daylight on opening morning of gun season. I know that doesn't sound promising, but for the first two days of season, there wasn't a shot anywhere remotely close to us.

I want to believe he left with a hot doe and went somewhere else and is holding in cover, because of all the shooting that eventually took place. It's not like him to be gone for more than a day, so it probably means the worst. But, I also know that we were post peak at that time, and sometimes about that time a deer will range out further than normal looking for the last few does when the home ground plays out. If he doesn't show up by the next time I check cameras, I will say he is dead.

Funny thing - Thanksgiving day in 2015 when I drove down to check the gate, he was standing in the middle of the chip and seal road 70 feet from the gate. I guess tomorrow I had better check the gate again...

 

[Bill]

Hopefully he's back soon. One of my good ones left November 5th. I figured he was dead. Showed back up 2 days ago and again tonight. Rifle is over! Whoo who.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Native Hunter]

That's great news Bill. That's a good one to look forward to next year. Our gun season is over too, and I'm glad as well.

I always remember the best deer I had in 2012. He completely disappeared from cameras two days before gun season and didn't show back up until 2 days after gun season. He was gone 12 days, but then showed right back up. The next year I had him in a food plot on the second day of gun season.

I think it depends on chance happenings with does.

 

[Bill]

Does rule for a few days a year. The best buck I've taken left every year mid October only to return in December.

Luckily I got him in late sept at 5.5. He was going to leave again, I just knew it.

If this guy doesn't get hit by a car I'm targeting him in Sept if he plays the same cards.

 

[Native Hunter]

That sounds like a good plan. Wishing you luck with hooking up with him next year.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

For you guys who can't locate your big bucks and think they may be dead ........ A good friend saw a big one come out of a drain culvert under a paved road once. Hunting pressure had been extreme in that area because folks knew he was around. Slickest move I've ever heard of !! Anybody want to push out some drain culverts ??? o_O

 

[Native Hunter]

For you guys who can't locate your big bucks and think they may be dead ........ A good friend saw a big one come out of a drain culvert under a paved road once. Hunting pressure had been extreme in that area because folks knew he was around. Slickest move I've ever heard of !! Anybody want to push out some drain culverts ??? o_O

LOL, I see a new business plan forming - called "Drain a Buck."

Marketing Pitch: Why shoot a buck when you can drain a buck and save a buck in the process. Why pay unreasonable fees to go far away from home to hunt big deer when you can grow them at home and preserve them for years to come.

Okay, I will stop now. The dark side of the force took over for a minute.........

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Native - You're not a used car salesman, are you ???? :D :p I know we all think of possible hiding places where old mossy-horns would lay low ....... but who would ever think of a drain culvert ??? I wonder if bucks can laugh .......

 

[Seriously]

Dandy looking eights, Native...hope you get Abby back soon!
Had a similar sighting on a buck coming under a railroad culvert while hunting in NE...set stand about 40 yds from the tracks with the culvert right behind me. Just before dark heard splashing in the water and thought i would see a raccoon family come out...turned out to be a 120" eight pt...he had to stay really low to make it through the culvert.
He stood right at the entrance to the culvert as a train went through 10 ft above him...amazing what they can adapt to and will tolerate!

 

[Native Hunter]

Dandy looking eights, Native...hope you get Abby back soon!
Had a similar sighting on a buck coming under a railroad culvert while hunting in NE...set stand about 40 yds from the tracks with the culvert right behind me. Just before dark heard splashing in the water and thought i would see a raccoon family come out...turned out to be a 120" eight pt...he had to stay really low to make it through the culvert.
He stood right at the entrance to the culvert as a train went through 10 ft above him...amazing what they can adapt to and will tolerate!

That's a cool story. I think it would be interesting for someone to start a thread about unusual spots folks have seen mature deer hold up under pressure. I know in the past some different people have shared stories like that, and over the years I have read a few in magazine articles and books. Can't really recall a lot of details of those except for the fact that it was small places of cover where humans just overlooked.