Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Lucky, Good, or Cheating?

My season ended in an unusual way Saturday so I thought I’d share. It’s been a pretty slow season around here. With very little rainfall, the field work was pretty well nonstop. I never made it out during muzzleloader or archery season and didn’t get any trail cams up until early November. I hadn’t seen anything with great antlers or anything that looked super mature on any of the 3 properties I hunt, so I’d only been out twice with a rifle in the first 10 days of rifle season. I just haven’t been motivated this year for some reason. There was only one buck I was considering shooting if I had the opportunity, a nice 8 point that had been showing up at my feeder about 90 minutes after dark pretty consistently since rifle season started, but I’ve never seen him in daylight. I hunted that feeder on a terribly windy day last Thursday evening and never saw a deer.

Saturday, the day before rifle season closed, I had to attend little league basketball all morning and a funeral in the afternoon so I didn’t go hunting. About 5:15 pm I’m sitting on my couch and happen to open up the Tactacam app on my phone. When the app refreshed, I’ll be damned if the first pic that pops up is that 8 point walking to my feeder and the picture was only 1 minute old. I thought for a few seconds before I jumped up and told my wife I was leaving. I quickly changed my clothes , grabbed my backpack and rifle and took off.

I only had about 15 minutes of shooting time when I left my driveway and the buck was 3 miles away. The feeder he was at is near the middle of the section about 850 yards from the road, in a field bordered by trees on 3 sides and a railroad track with an overgrown right away on the other. I pulled into a field on the other side of the tracks and idled up the edge about 300 yards to a trail I’ve cleared to walk across the tracks. I walked across the right away with just a few minutes of shooting time left and getting darker by the second. I had forgotten my good binoculars so I was just using the cheap pair I keep in my hunting buggy. Being about 500 yards from the feeder it was too dark in my binos to see if the buck was still there. So I once again checked the Tactacam app and it showed me he was still at my feeder.

I slumped down and began walking along the fence line as quickly as I could to still be quiet. I stopped a couple times and got on the ground with my bipod but couldn’t see well enough to shoot so I kept going, luckily it’s dark enough now that he couldn’t see me well either. Finally I got to a terrace top and layed down again. Here I realized my see through scope cap was down and that’s why I couldn’t see through the scope. After I flipped it up, I could clearly see my target buck. He must’ve heard me as he had backed away from the feeder and was turned broadside and looking right at me.

I thought I might be around 300 yards away so I held about 6 inches high and let ‘er rip. As soon as I could get back on the scope I looked for the buck running away and didn’t see him. I got on my knees with the binos and quickly looked again, still no deer. Then I noticed what looked like a dark hump on the ground next to the feeder. There he was DRT, which I wasn’t expecting being a lung shooter. I looked at my phone again and the time was 5:34, the last legal minute of shooting time. It had been less than 20 minutes since I’d been laying on my couch watching tv. Turns out I was only 200 yards away so I hit 6 inches higher than I intended, I also hit a few inches forward, so instead of a lung hit it turned into a high shoulder/ base of neck shot. I was shooting a Remington BDL SS DM 25-06. This was the first rifle I ever bought when I was 17 in 1997. On top of it is a 3-9x50 Vari-X II with heavy duplex, which came in mighty useful. Here is the pic I got while on my couch, the first pic my camera took after I walked up to him, and the hero pic.

I’ve been using feeders for 20 years but I believe this is only the second deer I’ve ever shot that was actually standing at the feeder, and without cellular trail cams I wouldn’t have known he was there at all, even when I was 500 yards away. So what does the fire think, good, lucky, or legal cheater? Either way, I’m happy to have a successful end to my season.

As long as it's all legal...........

I think you’re all three pretty good shot considering, lucky everything worked out in such a short amount of time, and a legal cheater because the trail cam pics are the only reason you knew he was there. All said everything was legal and he’s a great buck, congratulations!

I think a little bit of cheating. Game camera to keep watch and baiting with a feeder, nothing to do with luck nor being a good hunter.. But hey, if it is legal in Kansas, and you are happy, go for it.

Here in Colorado baiting illegal. I have never used a game camera, but have sat close to a cornfield that was already harvested. If I am looking to fill the freezer, I use any legal method of take. If trying to score on a big trophy, buck that is another story. What you do and what I do doesn't matter to each of us and shouldn't matter to anyone else, but you asked for an opinion.

I’m good with it as long as you don’t call it hunting.

Good story. I think its cool. People use trail cams, so what. You got busy and utilized your resources. Congrats. He's a cool deer!

Nice buck👍👍👍

neat story congrats ,and thanks for the story,Pete53 > i would have shot too !

Next time put out the feeder within shooting distance if the bathroom and you won’t even have to leave the house.

Looks like a fine 3 1/2 yo buck. I remember when it was illegal to use electronic communication to kill deer. If you're good with it I'm good with it. I've never personally killed a deer using a game camera, but I've killed a few hogs.

I can in no way judge how you hunt/shoot deer.
If it's legal to have a feeder then that's you.
It's not hunting to me....

Not how I would do it, ever, but if you're happy.

Nice buck but I don’t consider shooting deer at a feeder hunting especially with the cell cam. But if it’s legal Ok. It sounds like a tough hunt!

Ummm.....

Judge not, lest we be judged.

Nice buck. I would never let one like that walk if legal.

Deer especially older ones become wise to feeders. They are careful around them and usually check the fringes for hot does that are using them. Don't let these whiners and backbiters make yo feel guilty for shooting a nice buck at a feeder where legal.

Looks like a nice buck from here - congrats.

Not my style but a HELL of a deer!

All legal and made it just in time. Sometimes timing is everything. Nice buck!

The whole history of hunting is on of increasing exploitation of technology. What we consider ethical behavior is an artificial construct shaped by a number of factors, not the least of which are emotional: jealousy, fear, competitiveness….

One spot I hunt here, SC, I shoot deer at a feeder because, for a few reasons, it’s the only practical way. It’s a pretty densely populated area, you have to shoot from an elevated position, there are a lot of deer, and you need to kill them DRT or nearly so. When I go up north to hunt, I prefer to go off in the big woods, “cold” so to speak, and seek out deer.

Not for me to judge how others do it. My primary concern, I guess, is in taking an ethical shot that you are very confident will result in a quick, humane kill, and if something does go wrong, you make every effort to follow up.