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slugging for big bucks

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Wapsi Tree Rat

Well-Known Member
My first deer I ever took was 25 years ago, a 2 1/2 year old buck with an arrow. I'll never forget the rush and didn't come off that natural high for weeks. Fast forward 23 years...married with children and they aren't too keen on venison steaks and burger, and enough cheese pepper sticks already! (gave away 35 lbs of them 2 years ago) So a deer a year has been sufficient in the past, all with arrows, does and bucks. However, in the past couple years we have perfected a home made jerky recipe and the kids and I eat it like candy. We have already consumed a large youth season doe that came off the dehydrator 3 weeks ago. Um...need more venison. So we loaded up on tags. Bummer...a healthy snack and a lot more fun!
Well, last year me and the boys were out in the timber walkin and stalkin during slug season, looking for a nice big doe for more jerky meat. Out of nowhere a big body 10 pnt comes crashing in and stops broadside 50 yds....bigger than anything I've taken with a bow. With my boys watching I raised the gun and centered the bead on his shoulder................... I couldn't pull the trigger! It just didn't seem sporty enough. Didn't even seem like fair chase to just pull a trigger. And how much more fun would it be with a arrow??!! The buck trotted off and my boys looked at me like I was crazy. Was I? Am I? What do all you archery nuts think? You guys go slugging for big bucks?
 
I can see what you mean, but I would have shot.:D Regardless of style of hunting, it still requires you to be in the right place at the right time. I don't shotgun hunt, but I do get together with a group of guys during late muzzy and do pushes about once a year. We go to an area with lots of deer and a good amount of really nice deer. Over the course of probably 6 or 8 years of doing this, I have yet to shoot a big buck from those hunts. Just because you have a gun in your hands rather than a bow doesn't mean it is easy. But hey, if you weren't feeling right about it, then good for you for passing.
 
Wow...yeah you might be a little crazy! haha. I shotgun hunt but I'm also a big archery hunter. Yes it is easier to make the kill shot with a shotgun but getting an opportunity at a mature buck during shotgun is not easy. I actually feel like I have a better opportunity to kill a mature deer with a bow. Yes occasionally a big one will run out of a deer drive and get shot, but in my experience that's an exception to the rule. typically the big ones will run between the walkers and go back or they will run out in some random area where no other deer go. These deer have played the game before and are big for a reason.
 
I will be a part of the orange army Saturday. Fellow sportsman think it's easy, unethical, boring, ect.... so be it. I think it's a blast! A few do it wrong and it gives everyone a bad name. In my experience bow hunting is easier than gun hunting. Different strokes for different folks.
 
I still have never killed a deer with a gun but the situation you described is why I get a slug or muzzy tag every year. In fact I missed the buck my son killed last year. I hunt the gun seasons mostly to hunt with the kids and friends but slug season when the woods are full of hunters you never know what might come running by. I'm getting a slug tag this year because I have a city buck tag I will be trying to fill the rest of the season.
 
I prefer archery over shotgun hunting by a long ways. I will take part in the Iowa shotgun season for a couple reasons, keep an eye on the farm, and shoot a nice buck or possibly a management buck. To me it is fun, I enjoy it.

To answer your question, I have had the same feeling. I quite muzzy hunting because I would rather shoot a buck with bow in late season. I can relate to what you are saying.
 
Hey guys, just for the record, I have no ill feelings toward anyone for how they take a deer, as long as it's legal and respectful to the land and animal. Beyond that, have your fun any way you like it!
 
I have yet to kill a deer with a gun.... not because its wrong I just haven't yet. I've done the late muzzy a few times but with limited time at that time of year I don't hunt that season much. However I hope this year will be different.
 
I think you're a little crazy. I too, agree that I have better odds at a mature deer with a bow than with a gun. Mainly because the places I hunt turn to crap once the deer shift to food sources. I've hunted shotgun or late muzzy for years and never even had a shot opportunity at a mature one.
Even when I'm hunting does with a buck tag in my pocket I'm always secretly hoping a mature buck shows up. Your call at the end of the day, but opportunities like that are few and far between.
 
First, let me say I think you are a little crazyo_Oo_O for passing up a big buck with any weapon. However...I 100% completely respect you making a decision that you feel is best for you!!! Like people passing or taking young deer. If it is legal and makes you happy with your harvest then do it. If you are going to feel unsatisfied or guilty then pass.

I hunt with bow, muzzy and shotgun. I use all legal methods including food plots and drives at times. I love them all!! If I was forced to pick one I would take bow. More days to spend hunting and much better odds of taking a trophy. I think my odds of getting a trophy (150-180") within bow range during the rut is MUCH higher than getting one in range during either gun season. My success rate is heavily lopsided to the bow season. I have six over 150" with a bow and my best gun deer is 140". Maybe just my luck, or a trait of the properties I have hunted over the years, but I think for most (not all) people the odds of taking a big deer are probably higher during the archery/rut season.

Good luck to everyone with the rest of archery, shotgun and muzzy seasons!
 
Ha! A heartfelt thank you to all that have voted me crazy.:D My son is 14 and saved his grass cutting money and bought himself a muzzy. I think I could warm up to that. He's having a lot of fun with it, but he's going go Kentucky style with open sights and lead ball...maybe he's crazy too?:)

Let me ask this. If you could only mount 1 trophy and your only choices were 180" gun or 160" archery kill, which one goes in the living room?
 
Archery first for the last 35 years for me. Haven't hunted with a shotgun for years, but do enjoy hunting muzzleloader seasons. Having said that, I'd have layed him out every day of the week and twice on Sunday :) I've got at least one full shoulder mount from an archery kill that was just dumb luck...if that same scenario plays out 100 times he gets away without me even getting off a shot 99 of them. He still looks good on the wall :) To each his own though, I respect what you did.

NWBuck
 
Yeah, passing on a mature buck during any hunting season is a little nutty, unless you have limited tags and are targeting specific bucks, I guess. On second thought, you made the choice to gun hunt, so you went into the field with the hopes and expectations to have that exact scenario play out, and you passed?! I changed my mind, that's not just a little nutty, that's bat sh#t crazy. ;)

For me, the largest deer gets mounted, no matter how they were harvested. If I held archery hunting to a degree of higher regard than gun hunting to mount a 160" buck over a 180" buck, then I would probably make the choice to sell all of my gun hunting gear, mount them both with the proceeds, and never gun hunt deer again.

This is my 28th deer hunting season and I got into bow hunting 9 years ago. I believe I have personally harvested right around 200 deer total, to date. I didn't harvest my first 'wall hanger' until the 2006 shotgun season, 10 years ago, and since then, I've harvested 14, a vast majority with a bow. I will admit that ground hunting, spot & stalk and still hunting, with a bow is the most rewarding for me, but I have yet to pass on an opportunity at a big mature buck, no matter what weapon I'm hunting with. I know how quickly dry spells can come on and how long they can last. Plus, bow season can last FOREVER if you're not seeing any deer or you're passing on buck after buck waiting for Mr. BIG.

I LOVE deer hunting in general. It's one of the very few things that still get my adrenaline pumping these days. If the DNR opened up a new SlingShot season, and it gave me one additional opportunity to harvest a deer, I'd do it. That said, if the DNR let me hunt with a gun for all deer seasons, I'd be gun hunting 100% of the time. Longer shot opportunities. Projectile flight less affected by obstacles and weather. Better harvest vs. wound rate. Etc.
 
I prefer Archery , but I gun hunt also when in season and you got to get them when the opportunity presents it self...
 
Wapsi Tree said:
Ha! A heartfelt thank you to all that have voted me crazy.:D My son is 14 and saved his grass cutting money and bought himself a muzzy. I think I could warm up to that. He's having a lot of fun with it, but he's going go Kentucky style with open sights and lead ball...maybe he's crazy too?:)
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Whoa, whoa, whoa...wait a minute...you mean that you are going to knock all his teeth out before he can shoot a deer with a muzzy? Isn't that a little extreme Dad? Maybe just start out with "Southern Illinois style" first and take out just the upper front two teeth and see how it goes! Then if he likes it, and he can still chew his food, you can bump up to "Kentucky style" next year! :D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Daver said:
Whoa, whoa, whoa...wait a minute...you mean that you are going to knock all his teeth out before he can shoot a deer with a muzzy? Isn't that a little extreme Dad? Maybe just start out with "Southern Illinois style" first and take out just the upper front two teeth and see how it goes! Then if he likes it, and he can still chew his food, you can bump up to "Kentucky style" next year! :D:D:D:D:D:D
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Ha Ha Ha! That's good! But... he clobbered a doe late muzzy with it last year..Sabot and scope. Then this year he took his first deer with an arrow 2 1/2 year old buck. HE was the one that pulled the scope and bought like 75 Lbs of lead balls! I had nothin to do with it. Matter of fact, I got him 20 Sabots for his birthday in May and they're still sitting on his closet shelf.:)
 
Wait a minute....I'm a southern Illinois boy and I still have all my teeth I thought toothless jokes were for arkansas but I guess it's regional!

Here in Illinois our first gun season coincides with good rutting activity most years. It's the weekend before thanksgiving. Around here it certainly seems easier to get a mature buck with a gun to me. I gun hunted 2 years, killed 2 deer, and gave it up. I haven't had a gun tag since. I do go out on occasion with a camera and sit with my dad or a buddy who is on a good one. So what I'm getting at is....you don't seem all that crazy to me. It felt less special to me with a gun. These are my own feelings and I'm not trying to look down on someone else's preferences or hunting styles. I know there is a lot of tradition in most gun camps.
 
Archery is hands down my favorite method of hunting- but to say it isnt sporting feeling to pull the trigger almost makes it sound like its too easy........well I have been gun hunting far longer than I have been bow hunting- and I have more buck bow kills than I do gun buck kills.......and trust me- I was trying during gun season. If I have a gun in hand and a nice big 10 that is mature walks out in front of me- boom!
 
One word for me in that situation (ok, assuming the buck meets my current standards)...bang! I started my hunting "career" with a gun, then started bow hunting (8th season this year). Any time I get a good shot at a nice mature buck that I'd be happy taking, regardless of the weapon, I'm taking the shot. When I started bow hunting, I quickly felt that I prefer it over gun hunting because you get to see a lot of cool things that you may not see during the gun seasons (in Iowa), and it seemed like more of a challenge. Granted, I have definitely seen more mature bucks and bigger bucks during bow season than gun season, so that definitely has a bearing on it too. But, given the chance with a shotgun, muzzy, or pistol, I would still have the same excitement as with the bow. Where I hunt, as with where many others hunt as well, mature bucks seem to disappear during the gun seasons, either to less pressured areas or they just don't move during daylight.
 
The first year I ever hunted I was in 4th grade and slugged a doe with my fathers 12 gauge during youth season. Then I started bow hunting in 6th grade the year was 2007. I went every weekend and had my mom go drop me off in the woods after school everyday and my dad would pick me up on the way out. I learned a lot that year, missed 3 bucks that I would put on the wall today. Now I am lucky to see 3 of them in a season. I shot my first buck with a bow in 2008. I guess next year will be my 10th year bow hunting and I will be 21. I don't have any ambition to shoot a deer with a shotgun anymore but I do have fun during late muzzle loader.
 
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