Old Wiley Coyote beat them to it!! But I know what you're saying.


Frank

I was up in Pendleton Co. (50 miles from here) the other day, and there was a dozen or 15 ravens there beside the road. Biggest flock I've noticed for years. Snow on the ground, maybe there was a deer carcass there? Big ravens, they'd make 3 crows.

Honestly, I didn't think about it at the time, but if I'd have waited another couple or 5 minutes, the deer would have been on my "Spring" trail cam. Maybe it is? I've got pictures of the buck a day or 2 before on that camera, but I don't think I've checked it since Thanksgiving? That's where I was going to hunt, didn't have time to mess with the camera.

Long story, but I first noticed the buck in the skyline of the ridge to my south, lost sight of him for a little bit, behind the timber and all. It was walking toward the spring, when he came back out, I was on him. Just walking, he turned to his right and stopped. I could see everything except his head, wasn't sure what it was doing? Wasn't sure if it'd had winded me or what? Just stood there, all 4 feet on the ground. Two or 3 jumps up the mountain and he'd be gone, so I took a shot at him. As a rule I'll take the first good shot I get.

While we're talking about it, I was shooting downhill at a fairly steep angle, at the shot the deer hit the ground. Just a nice, clean kill, and that's what we all hope for.

I didn't know it at the time, but the bullet didn't exit the off side of the deer. I forget the exact numbers, but whatever foot-pounds of energy that a .270 Winchester generates at 100 yards, the carcass took it all.

Just a nice and relaxing hunt, very nice day in the woods. (I'm waiting on a phone call now, or I'd be gone.)

Well, I didn't get out of town today, had a girl off so I was on call. I'll take the ribcage to the mtn tomorrow.

Frank, I forgot about the gut pile. After I rolled the innards out, I always slice open a deer's stomach. Once you find out what they're eating, then you know where to hunt the next day.

As well as I could tell, the deer had mostly grass and I think a few soy beans in it's belly. My flashlight was about shot, and I didn't dig around in it much.

I don't remember exactly how many days later I walked up, probably 3, but the gut pile was gone. Nothing but a wet spot on the ground. I'll check that camera tomorrow, maybe I'll be abe to find out what did clean it up?

The doe that I shot the other day was stuffed full of clover.

How many deer are you allowed per season?

Well, it varies in different areas of the state, I live in Hardy Co. WV. If I'd buy all of my additional stamps (which I don't), I'd be legal to take 2 with a bow/crossbow. I could harvest as many as 3 antlerless deer, with a rifle. And 2 bucks with a rifle. Oh, and I could harvest 2 deer with a blackpowder gun. So, 9 total. I think that's right?

For any of you that are not following along with Musher's Utube channel, Brian posted an interesting video a while back about deer hunting. I forget the title of that one? But he took a nice buck, big bodied deer, with a shotgun yet. Shooting slugs and all. $5.00 a shot, I think he said?

That's new to me, I've never hunted deer with a shotgun and slugs.

But his video is interesting, at the end he unloads his pack and shows what all he carries. Well worth watching.

Here is the link to the video.

https://youtu.be/ASHToVUenGw

The opened the season here 2 years ago. My son got one the first year and I had my chances. This year my son chose not to hunt (wasn't a fan of the meat or the kill). I hunted less than the year before and got lucky.

Crossbow/bow for the first 7 days and muzzle loader/shotgun for the last 3 days. Buck only.
The deer season is a couple of weeks after the moose rifle season.

Yep, those sabot slugs cost 5 bucks a piece. But they tack. They also kick a lot and make a dandy BOOM!

That is a lot of deer to hunt in WV. Here it is one and done. I think you can kill 2 on
Anticosti Island.

Just watching Mushers video, there's lots of good info there, reading between the lines.

I'll give you my take on the situation. We've got some young guys here on the forum and all. Brian made a good shot on his deer, and had a good blood trail. It doesn't always work that way.

$5 a shot!

Tracking an animal is something that is very serious. Reading between the lines, you'll notice that Brian asked his wife to stay put. Where he had a good blood trail, you don't want 2 or 3 guys tromping all over the trail, and get it all botched up. Put one man up front, take it slow and easy, that one little twig, or pine needle knocked out place, that could make the difference.

It's always nice when you can have a buddy, stand back and help you mark a trail. But when you're out on your own, you'd better mark it. If nothing else, use a snotrag. A piece of paper towel, or whatever.

But anytime you shoot at a game animal and it runs out of sight, you need to mark your shot. And mark the last spot where you lost sight of it. And mark the spot where you shot from.

I know it's tempting to run out there and try to find it, but you're better off to just take 5, mark the shot, and all, and then go get him.

Once you cross a little cove, get out there 100 yards or so, everything looks the same. Ridge to ridge is even worse. But tracking is a very nice skill, hopefully you'll never need it, but if you hunt very much, one of these days you're going to need that skill.

Usually I flag every blood spot. Looking back it makes a line which can keep you on coarse. But in this case, there was too much blood and I knew I could go back and flag if the need was there.

The worst are bears. They don't bleed much. A moose, on the other hand ....

Yep, $25 for five slugs. But they seem to work well!

I assume they are making you use shotguns simply to limit the harvest. Ohio was shotgun only for many years, but that was partly safety concern since we are fairly densely populated. Recently they have reneged and now we can shoot straight walled rifle cartridges. I had a Mossberg shotgun with a rifled barrel, and scope mount cantilevered off the barrell. It would shoot 3 inch groups at 100 yards with saboted slugs.

You are correct about the harvest. I can rifle hunt moose from my deer stands. Rifled barrels and good slugs turn a shotgun into a rifle. A rifle that makes a big hole.