Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting First NC deer ever (reflecting back)

I got stationed here in December of 1996. I didn't start hunting here until the '97 season and after a lot of trial and a lot more error, never killed a deer but did learn a lot. Number one was stop hunting deer like I did in WV where I grew up! In any event, one rainy afternoon on November 4th, 1998 I was still hunting a transition zone in the Croatan National Forest. It was buck only in those days at that time of the season and I finally connected on the only antlered deer I saw that year. One 100gr factory Remington Core-Lokt from a borrowed M700 in 6mm put him on the ground. I was tickled to no end. He's not a booner, but to take one from the ground via still hunting on heavily pressured public land was a treat! I left about a week later to the Med for six months with the 24th MEU. I shot this buck really close to where fellow Campfire member 6mm250 lives and he knows the place . I apologize for the "quality" but it's a digital photo of a 35mm pic.

Nice buck. Pictures of that deer and other east coast deer always have a rack that to me looks tall and narrow compared to the ones I see around here. Does this match the observation of anyone else?

Generally speaking I'd say the vast majority of the coastal bucks I've seen killed here fit that description. Once in a gray while you'll run into one with a wide spread but not often, at least locally. I have seen some bucks on Camp Lejeune and up towards Greenville area that were much bigger/wider but I've hunted a lot of places from New Bern to Morehead City areas which is about a 40 mile stretch and the vast majority of the racks I've seen live or dead fall into the category you mention.

Brass, that is an extremely nice buck to have been taken on public land in the Croatan. I used to live in Swansboro and hunted all over the Croatan, mainly from Great Lake westward to the White Oak River. I actually never saw a buck unless it was in front of dogs.

BTW, how long were you with 24? My next-door neighbor was commander of 24's FSSG.

I think that's a great buck HB.

NIce buck for down here, our Mnt deer usually don't have that much hieght

I detached from my parent unit April of '98 to the 24th MEU. We stood up early so we could participate in MARCOT/United Spirit (if I remember the name correctly) in June of '98. This was a Special Marine Air/Ground Task Force (MAGTF) to assist Canada in writing it's amphibious warfare doctrine. We sailed out around 14 November '98 to the Med and return stateside May '99.

Thanks for the comments fellas. I appreciate it. Definitely tough still-hunting the Croatan NF when the dogs are turned loose.

High Brass,

Nice deer for the Croatan. I'm here at Lejeune and have hunted here on and off for a number of years. Tough hunting compared to WV and PA where I also hunt but have actually taken me best buck on base! Got a small basket 6 this year but am happy with that as I got it with my daughter. Looking at the base Game Warden site, there were some HOSSES taken like I have never seen here before. Anyway, nice buck and I guess we have a long wait til Sep.

MGunns

MGunns,

Where in WV have/do you hunt? I'm originally from there (Charleston area) and hunt the state every year. I used to hunt in Lewis Co. near the Gilmer line from '91 until about three years ago. Then I started hunting Jackson Co. and on the Putnam/Cabell line. Semper Fi.

High Brass, that is a nice buck; you look like a kid in that picture! NC deer have some wide-ranging high rack strains in various pockets across the east. I have noticed quite a few in the Northampton County area, especially just south of Jackson (up near the VA border). I shot this one across the highway from Odom Prison in 2007; a friend of mine shot one much bigger than this in 2006, hunting in the same area. I have been told the NC deer herd was re-introduced in distinct phases between WWI and WWII, using deer from across the US (southern and northern deer). That is supposed to explain the widely varying characteristics (such as ruts being two months apart over a 50-60 mile span). Don't know about all of that - I think you just take what you get a chance to take - like you did. Nice buck, especially in a heavily pressured area like the Croatan.

Nice buck Odessa!

Yeah I've heard the same thing on the various strands of WTs in NC. You're definitely right about the rut being different in various parts of the east. Really strange and very hard to nail down here in Craven and Carteret Counties.

You're right about looking like a kid. When I'm clean shaven it takes a few years off of me. I was only 21 in the pic.

Having grown up at Ft.Bragg,I can say yes a lot of the WT racks are like that.I was told at the gas station by a couple of old guys,it was because the pine trees grow so close together,that the wide racks can't get thru in a hurry.....just sayin

I had always taken my best bucks the week of Thanksgiving,chasing does.
Nice deer!

There are some big deer in NC. This picture is one that came from NC. The guys face is blacked out to protect his Identity.

Here's a big (over 200#) NC deer I shot some years ago in Anson County on game land. He was an old deer but he has that narrow spread you see on a lot of deer from NC. Take a look at his torn up ears, he liked to fight.
I talked to a guy who managed a game preserve on the same land that I killed my deer on (it's no longer game management land) and he says he sees two distinct genetics, some grow wide racks in the same area.


Tarheel

Highbrass,

I hunt in Monroe County, WV every year with two retired buddies who moved back that way. Look forward to it every year. I'll try to figure out how to post a picture here when I get a chance. the Lord blesses me a few years back here on base with a nice 8-point that I have shoulder mounted. Like others said, very high rack but not real wide but is just at or a hair outside of his ears. Thinking about trying Holly Shelter Game Land next year but alot of pressure and dogs running through there I think. Anyhow, nice buck.

MGUNNS

Odessa,

Sure is a nice buck you got there.

MGUNNS

MGunns, thanks. By the way, dogs have their uses - some dog hunters have disrupted me in the past, but some have run nice deer by my stand as well. Sometimes you get the benefits without having to hunt up the dogs after the deer hunt!

Odessa,

I hear you on the dogs. My buddy almost exclusively hunts the Croatan and has a buck pushed past him every year. Attached (hopefully this worked) is one I took on Lejeune in 2002.

MGunns

Odessa, that's a big buck for the area isn't it? It's a nice one.

MGunns, very nice buck - plenty good bucks downeast, eh!

Dave, any buck over 150 lbs is getting on the nice (and big) side downeast. The one in the picture above weighed right at 175 lbs. (taken in Northampton County). I have taken one other that weighed 200, and another that was nearly 225 - the biggest two (by weight) that have been killed on our Edgecombe County farm (a little farther south from Northampton Co.); pictures below, and while nothing to write home about in some areas of the country, are all quite heavy for eastern NC


This one, a 6 pt, was taken 10-24-08, was nearly 225 lbs.


This one (taken an hour and fifteen minutes after the one above) was 200 lbs.