Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting I want to shoot a big bodied deer

The;big ones are hard to handle. The farmer and I could not lift it into the trunk of my car, We rolled it into the front loader bucket on his tractor. The small ones in VT are much easier.

I don't know about best. I do know about darn good.

Look at where Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio come together. Locals call it the "Tri-State." In the center is Cincinnati.

In Kentucky, the area is Zone 1: unlimited doe harvest. In Ohio, Hamilton County supposedly has one of the highest whitetail concentrations in the world. In Indiana, Switzerland County is considered one of the top bowhunting destinations in the state.

We have 300 lb liveweight bucks in our subdivision on the north side of Cincinnati. The trick around here is finding a spot to hunt them. It is rather disarming to be driving out for a gallon of milk and see a 12 pointer standing next to the neighbor's mailbox, treating the flower bed like it's the salad bar. I've come into the living room on a Saturday morning and had a bruiser staring in the window at me.

Biggest? Probably not, but they're big.

It takes accomodations for sure. I keep a block and tackle and ramps handy. If you dig around on my weblog, you'll see me using it:

http://genesis9.angzva.com/?p=3869

I have an old S-10 rigged as a dedicated deer retriever.

https://get.google.com/albumarchive...bwpCXEW_u3zYM7iGASLE531NEvkTD?source=pwa


Our newest innovation is the L-E-Vator. It's a portable deer lift. It's really handy for getting a big one into the back of the my Silverado.

Jud, no we never did get that old guy. Seems like that's normally the case for those big old slobs.

Ya I’ve learned that, better kill em while ya got the chance!!! Blacktail are really bad that way...

Impressive.

Thank you.

It used to be that it was just me, alone. In 1991, I bagged a 255 pounder in Switzerland County, IN, and had to walk a few miles to find a farmer that would come over with his front loader to get the deer into the back of the truck. That taught me to prepare ahead. Until the kids were nearly grown, it was still just me heaving these boogers around. I took to carrying a block and tackle so I could get them up into a tree and then back my car or truck in.

The latest twist at camp was when SuperCore had his bypass surgery. He bought the L-E-Vator for camp so he could get one of these toads onto the back of his ATV in a pinch.

My goal has been to make sure everyone at camp is fairly self-sufficient. I spent too many years getting called out of the stand on the Opener to retrieve deer. As it is, with the Hirschwagen, the L-E-Vator and our meatpole operation, we've been able to kill 2 deer before 1800, get them to the meatpole, gut them, load them in the truck and have them out to the processor by 1930.

I guess I'm just old school. I just use a ramp big enough to fit in the bed of the pick up. A few years back Wisconsin changed the rule that we had to take the deer out in one piece only gutted. We can cut them up in five pieces now to pack them out. I do carry a double and triple pulley set and rope in my pack to get them up in a tree off the ground and away from the wolves. It took me three days and four trips to pack my last deer, a 12 pointer, out of the hinterland. Note to self: you've got to start hunting closer to the truck.

Im a ramp and block and tackle guy when solo loading bear and bear and hogs.

https://youtu.be/USbA6psnwew

It takes a darned big deer to dress at 200+ pounds. The biggest deflator of egos is a certified scale.

Upstate New York has some big deer too. Here is a doe from about ten years back while on active duty. For reference, I am 6'6" and weighed 235 pounds, so I fully assume that doe hung around 200 pounds dressed.

The yearling on the tin behind me is bigger than most full grown deer on the Mid-Atlantic...

I think fish and bear are even worse!!

Hogs are the most often "fudged" regarding weight.

Well it looks like Wisconsin gets my attention. A friend of mine owns a huge farm in east central Wisconsin so I called him up to see what his deer were like and he said big and too many! Out of state tag isn't outrageous and I have the run of 3000 acres that is about half cropfields. He also said the rut is on more during the muzzleloader season but now that he can he likes to hunt with a centerfire rifle.

Rick,
Actually, the rut happens during the archery season. The ML season begins after the rifle season (rifle season follows the early archery season).

Yep. I watched a guy have a near meltdown at the feed mill in Butternut, WI because his buck that he was sure dressed over 220 was "only" 195 pounds. It was a massive buck with a beautiful rack in the high 140's low 150's. There was absolutely nothing to upset about on that deer. But that guy wouldn't hear it.

I'd run the BS flag up the pole on the rut statement. WI rut is during the crossbow season and may catch the beginning the rifle season. They may be back up and moving during the muzzleloading season though after a tough rut and holding tight during the gun season.

crossbow season in WI? You actually went there?

yup, the farther North the better. The biggest bodied deer that I shot was in Vermont and it weighed over 200 lbs after being dressed out and hung for a couple days. I know they get a lot bigger but that one's body seemed huge to me. I also hunt in the Adirondack of New York where the deer get pretty big. The problem, though, is that these large forested areas in the North have far fewer deer densities than farther south. It is not uncommon to go a week hunting without seeing a single deer in some of the areas with huge bucks up north.