Deer Hunting Stories | Whitetail Hunting

Whitetail Hunter Bags Big Georgia Buck!

A perfect deer hunting trip always ends with the hunter harvesting a big white-tailed buck, but as we know most hunts do not end that way. However, Bob Coombs had anything but a perfect hunting trip, or season for that matter, but he ended up harvesting the biggest buck every harvested in the state of Georgia with a crossbow. Coombs had watched the deer for several years, and although this article is older, pay attention to how the hunter tracked this animal and finally put himself in position to harvest this monster whitetail.

Source: “The first time I saw Brutus was early in bow season of 2004. He was very wide, but all I saw was just a blur of antlers. I didn’t see him again until very late that season. The rut had died down, and a bachelor group of seven bucks got back together. The leaves were off the trees, and the bucks were about 80 yards away, so I got a very good look at Brutus. He was about a 160-class buck, and very wide with tall tines, but he didn’t have all the split tines that he would grow the next season. The smallest buck, a little forkhorn, put his antlers down like he wanted to challenge Brutus. The other bucks just watched. That was a really cool thing to see, and I saw Brutus really well. It was just awesome. Continue reading Whitetail Hunter Bags Big Georgia Buck!

Hunting to Control Urban Whitetail Deer

Whitetail hunting can be a safe and effective way to control white-tailed deer populations in urban and suburban areas. However, not all areas are willing to allow hunting to keep deer numbers in check. Many places that once banned hunting are now looking at expanding harvest opportunities for sportsmen. Of course, not all towns and cities are the same. Too many deer can be a big issue, but people that are too narrow-minded can make a big issue even bigger.

When the issue of overpopulation becomes an issue, deer control by some method is warranted. The trapping and removal of deer is very time consuming and, as a result, expensive. Direct harvest, on the other hand, through either gun or archery can help keep local deer densities at managable numbers. However, the killing of animals does not come without critism.

Source: “For a decade or so, towns, villages and counties in the New York region, similarly concerned about too many deer, have dispatched bowhunters and sometimes sharpshooters to cull the herds. But now the cull is getting bigger, as one of the largest local jurisdictions — Westchester County — allows culling for the first time in its own parkland, and a few towns and villages within that county are considering similar moves. What’s more, these places, more densely populated than many of the communities that currently authorize such culling, are focusing on bowhunting rather than shooting, for safety reasons. That preference is prompting criticism from animal-rights groups, who see bowhunting as particularly cruel.”

Whitetail Deer Rut Report

Whitetail Rut Report

The whitetail hunting season is upon us and the deer are not the only ones getting ready to roll! Everyone, including the bucks we hunt, are looking forward to the whitetail deer rut. The rut gives us an opportunity to take advantage of bucks doing what they don’t normally do — acting stupid. Big bucks that are normally nocturnal all of a sudden are chasing does throughout the day. So is the whitetail deer rut on in your area?

Source: Down in Texas I spoke with Johnnie Hudman, a long time friend and hunting partner of mine from near Albany, Texas. “Bucks are chasing does and acting like teenage boys in love. The rut is definitely underway, at least the early stages. By week’s end or the beginning of November they’ll be going strong…which really seems a little early.”

I also spoke to my brother, Glenn Weishuhn, who hunts on several places in the eastern half of Texas. “Around home (Colorado County, Texas) our rut is just about over. I saw a couple of bucks chasing does, but it’s slowed down. In East Texas where I hunt (north of Houston about a hundred miles) we’re seeing a lot of rubs, scrapes and some rutting activity. The cooler weather we’ve been having is starting to get the deer a whole lot more active. I’d say the rut is underway in East Texas, especially based on what some of the other hunters on our lease are seeing.”

Bowhunter Bags 190 Inch Illinois Whitetail

When it comes to whitetail hunting and big bucks, the state of Illinois is about as good as it gets. One lucky hunter bagged a 190 inch Boone and Crockett monster while bowhunting, but it did not happen by accident. The well thought hunter tracked the big whitetail using his game camera as his antlers developed, then he found out where the big boy was spending his time. When the time was right, the bowhunter moved in for a successful harvest.

Source: This spring as the bucks started showing their racks in June and July once again the buck showed up on my trail cameras, this time a little bit more consistently. It appeared that he had moved his core area into the heart of my hunting spot and was living there for good. Now I had to come up with a plan to finally harvest him.

When the 2008 bow season opened I did my best to hold off hunting this spot until the time was right, and last week I decided that it was. With the pre-rut just starting these big bucks are up on their feet during daylight more often now, so I figured I might be able to catch up with him. After several close encounters with this giant I was finally able to pinpoint his bedding area and on the evening of Ocotber 28th he presented me with a 10 yard shot as he walked along a trail from his core area headed towards a doe bedding area.

Long Island Whitetail Buck with Quadruple Beams!

Bigs whitetail bucks from Iowa, Illinois, and Texas get tons of press, but there are also some big bruisers produced in New England, believe it or not. One lucky deer hunter managed to harvest a big white-tailed buck on the afternoon of Monday, October 26. It was then that Bjorn Holubar headed into the woods near Brookhaven Long Island to hunt a thicket where he had discovered several big rubs just the day before.

He did everything that he could to make sure the big buck did not detect his presence, then he walked out a few hours later with the remarkable 200-class 20 pointer pictured above. The buck is an amazing quadruple-beamed buck that has an excellent chance to break the New York state archery record. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, but on this day it looks like Mr. Holubar was both!

Big Kaufman County Whitetail Buck Harvested

Eric Minter with 27 Point Non-Typical Buck

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden Eric Minter is living large. That’s because on October 21 he found himself as the lucky hunter staring down the buck of a lifetime from a Gorilla treestand hung high in a creek bottom filled with white oaks raining acorns. When all was said and done, it was Minter putting his own tag on a whopper 27-point non-typical Kaufman County buck. There is no official green score number on the multi-tined monster yet, one look at the photos from the buck would lead one to believe that this deer will score well above the 200-inch mark on the non-typical side of the Boone and Crockett scoring sheet.

“I’ve been kind of leery of telling everybody just yet because I don’t know what he scores and I don’t want to guess and it be a lot lower or higher than I expected,” Minter said. “But this is unbelievable.” Some observers who have looked at the whitetail think it’s possible that the Minter buck could potentially challenge the existing Pope & Young Club state record non-typical in Texas, a 225 7/8 inch buck taken by bowhunter Jeffery L. Duncan on the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge back in 2001. Not bad for Minter’s first bow buck. Continue reading Big Kaufman County Whitetail Buck Harvested

Six Legged Fawn Photo and Video

Six Legged Fawn

White-tailed deer are survivors, but this has got to be the toughest deer ever. A six legged deer fawn was discovered in Georgia. Though the fawn was born with 6 legs, 50% more than the average deer, that was not enough for this poor little critter to endure. The fawn also has two tails, two pelvises and uses one leg from each pelvis to walk.

If that was not enough, the fawn had to be rushed to a nearby animal clinic for emergency surgery after being attacked by dogs. It was reported that one of the tails had to be amputated. The vet said,”It received minor injuries from the dogs but is now recovering — and doing quite well.”

A fawn with six legs really is really an anomaly. It appears it is an identical twin that didn’t form all the way. Vets and biologist are reportedly reluctant to release the young fawn back into its natural habitat and are considering sending it to the University of Georgia to be studied.

Whitetail Hunting: First Bow Buck Kill

Reader Submitted on October 19, 2009

I’ve been bow hunting white-tailed deer ever since I started shooting archery in 4-H Shooting Sports (almost 12 years ago now). However I’ve never taken a deer, buck or doe, with a bow. Now that I’ve been out of college for a while, I have had more time to dedicate to deer hunting. The property I hunt is located in Colorado County, not far from Speaks, Texas. I’ve been trying to make it out all all month, but with the bad weather and college football games my time has been limited.

So, I finally make it out this middle of October Saturday morning. I’m sitting in my tree enjoying the cool air and watching the geese fly over. My deer stand backs up to a rice field. From out on the prairie field comes 2 does on a dead run and they stop about 40 yards from the tree I’m set up in. Then seconds later, a whitetail buck comes trotting up behind, nose to ground, neck swollen, and on their trail. I grab my bow and nock an arrow. Unfortunately, he never stops despite my yelling at him.

That evening, I return to my tree to wait. After being on stand for an hour and a half, the same buck comes walking up from behind me and proceeds to start munching on some fallen oak leaves. I manage to twist my body and nock an arrow without being detected. As he stands broadside, I pull back and my arrow falls to the ground! The young buck turns, but does not know what’s going on. In what seem like seconds, I nock a second arrow, pull back, and release. The next thing I see is the orange fletching on my arrow sticking out his side.

Nervous and shaking, I call my dad off his stand where he was hog hunting an open field. He arrives about 15 minutes later and I crawl out of the tree. We go search for my buck. Following what seemed to be a text book blood trail, there he lay only 50 steps from where I shot him. My first buck with a bow was not a big one, but one I will never forget.

The experience has taken me to a whole new level of whitetail hunting enthusiasm. The white-tailed buck, taken in an one of Texas’ antler restriction counties, is a spike with a 12 inch beam one side and a 3.5 inch antler on the other.