Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

Your getting closer Dave! Now is the time to break out the rutty buck arsenol. The rattle horns, the snort/wheeze grunt call, the hot doe scent, the tarsal gland scent etc. I'm guessin forky toes is the dominant buck in the area and isn't going to take kindly to a challenge. Throw the book at 'em and don't be quiet about it. Grunt like heck, rattle, rake trees, snort/wheeze.....Basically pretend like your back on leave from the Marines!

This worked for me a once with a big old rutty swamp buck. I went nuts with the rattling and grunting for as long as I could with a couple minute break inbetween sequences. This buck came out of the swampy thick stuff where he holed up so mad that he stopped and literally shredded a 5 foot pine tree. When he was done with that he stepped broadside and bang flop. Or you can try the tag team approach. Have someone rattle for you or you for them. Place them off in such a way that you might be able to intercept him as he's circling downwind for a looksy at the intruder(s). He might just get so PO'd that he just bum rushes in also but if he's with a hot doe, he will stick with her. She just might come to the fight to distract him and get him off her back for awhile. (no pun intended) At any rate, its worth a try.

Thanks Guys, Ya know life is Goooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiid...

Dave,

Stay on him your getting close, I know you can!!!

I am hunting forky tomorrow.

I've never before stated that I am hunting an individual anything before. I always just say "deer hunting" or "coyote hunting" or what ever.

But tomorrow, I am hunting forky.

I got my old 1977 F150 ready to roll after work. As far as I know it's just me alone heading to camp in my old pickup tonight. I will roll out of bed in the morning, slide out into the woods in my warmest clothes (single digit temps tomorrow morn) And I will sit & wait for forky to slip up. I know some of his routes now, I know some of the bedding areas for the does, I know the dark nights will now limit night feeding & night travel, temps & snow will force daytime movement, forky's hot for does...

He's a big guy, and I want to get him.

I haven't hunted hard & purposeful for a couple of years now. I didn't get a buck last year. I lost one, and the one I lost would have fit right into my so-so average 8 pointer class of deer. The year previous I took a buck but he was a smallish 8. It's been probably 3 years since I've taken a respectable buck. I've never taken a "big" buck.

I now have what I've wanted for years. I have experience, I have a range of tools to select from as far as rifles specific for what ever my plan may be. I have the location to hunt, and I have "the buck".

Time to see if I can pull it all together. Tomorrow is my day to see what I can get done, my day to try as hard as I can. I'm dedicating tomorrow to myself & my hunt. When the sun goes down at the end of the day I will be happy no matter the outcome of my efforts. I really enjoy hunting and weighing my skills against the game. Tomorrow I will do that, so I know it will be a good day.

When the sun goes down I will return to the cabin to stoke the fire & light the coleman lanterns, I'll probably start some food, then I will sit & wait for the rest of the group to show up.

And when they all show up, a good day will turn into a great day.

Good for you Dave. It's kind of exciting when you're after one animal.

I've done it once. Scouted hard for several weekends, found big rubs, big scrapes, huge tracks. I hung my stand in the middle of it all, and got lucky. He is a big 8, the only deer I have mounted, maybe only one I'll ever have mounted. I was mounting that deer if it was a 6pt. I was so happy and sad at the same time when I saw him on the ground. Glad a plan came together, sad I was done hunting on the second day of my 5 day vacation.

I hope you get him. You've been after him in some way or another for a few years now. I wish I was sitting in your shack when you came through the door and tell me "Tommy, I need help. I got that big, rutty, stinky, somebitch, Forky Toes and he's to big to move."

You have the attitude right that's for sure.

I hope you smile like heck.

(Fade up theme from "Rocky")
Now you watch yourself out there.He's going to use every trick in the book on ya.Just go out there and get him,kid.Good luck.
(theme from Rocky fades gradually.

Stan

I just gotta watch out for flying bears & swamp squids.

Sounds like it good be happy hour in the swamp tomorrow evening!! Game on Dave! I've gotten a couple nice ones but still waiting the big one. I got a few that are 8's and 2 of them are on my wall, i need to gett to the next level before i put another one up. Its the final weekend so you must have fun with it. Good luck on the bIg one and I hope to see him hangin' around your camp this weekend.

It's da second week a deer camp 'n we ain't got no deer yet 'eh...let's get a drive goin'.

Man you got me all pumped up Dave! I can see it coming together. Your sitting in the morning darkness. The sky in the east is becoming a light gray. You hear a twig snap off in the tangled brush. Then hoof clops on frozen ground. More twig snaps. Then silence again. Complete silence. As the sky turns from black to gray, a chill runs down your spine. Your frozen breath is billowing around your head. The north wind picks up ever so slightly as the objects around you slowly turn from dark blobs to trees to bushes. Crash, crash...a doe comes flyin through your shooting lane. You don't take your eyes off the trail from which she came. Silence. Then BRRUUUPPP. BRRRRUUUP. You strain your eyes towards the direction of the sound. Then like a ghost something slips through the trees. Something large! You subconciously lower your mouth and nose into your coat while simultaneously flipping your safety into the fire position. Snap! Nose to the ground, out comes a huge bodied northern minnesota whitetail. At first you think someones prize steer must have gotten loose but wait...steers don't have antlers. And what antlers! You tell yourself there he is. This is forkey toes. The king of the forest. The grand pu ba of camp chicken buck. Blam! Thud! You cycle another round. The shot is still echoing in the distance as you see this magnificent animal take his last wobbly steps through your scope. He's down! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!!

***skip to late afternoon/evening***

You faintly hear car doors slamming. Then the cabin door creaks open. The voices you hear are muffled and sound like they are on the other side of a wall. You look with one squinty eye towards the figures standing there. Without saying a word you hand them this story that you printed off and pass out on the couch...

bazzdard.... now you got me all worked up & I still haff to put in 3 1/2 hours before I get out of here today.

A couple of things...first, don't forget to watch out for meanders. Secondly, close your eyes and smell the shack....mmmm-mmmm. Then smell the stand you will sit in...the leaves.

Have a good hunt, be safe, and shoot straight.

PS Dont forget your alarm clock, I dont wanna read here on Monday about how you slept til 9 accidently and forky laid a set of tracks by your stand.

Don't forget to drink a little Tink's 69 before you go out.

I promise it will work....honest.

oh i always do that tom.

I used to mix it with tonic water but now i just drink it straight.

berettaman, I'll have my cell phone with, I use the alarm feature on it.

the only delema is which ring tone to use, tending buck grunt or snort wheeze buck grunt?

For a minute there, I though you were going to say you take it with orange juice concentrate.



nails on a chalkboard feature...that'll get your butt out of bed right quick.

Nah, I would set it to Swamp Squid Squeal or Flying Bear Wail or Chicken Buck Cluck.

oh the cluck of the chickenbucks.... that's it... I gotta get going!!!!

less than an hour & I'm gone!!

Wooooooooooo!!!!!!

Good luck Dave!!!

I'm outa here at 4:30. Heading up nort' for WI gun opener bright and earily tomorrow am. be out for about a week.

good luck to you too Tom, shoot dat big shtinky rutty shnorty buck why dontcha?

Just don't shtick your brant new terty-terty up in his rack & smile like heck.. he could take off with your gun!!

"and so, if you see a grate big buck wit a brant new terty terty on his rack, call 555 232-2222..... but if dat loonta answers.... hang up!!"