Live from the stand

“I didn’t sleep at all last night”. Isn’t that a song?
My first Muzzle loader hunt of season and it’s not starting as planned. Finally gave up trying to sleep at 3am and went to the stand. Rain forecast at 5 so I tried to beat it. Got wet. Laid on hard blind floor from 5 till daylight(715) and tried to sleep. Didn’t work. Not that cold for one cotton later and my go to light jacket but I got wet. Not freezing but not comfy.
Close to daylight so we will see. Sitting on 80 ac wheat field that’s just starting to come up and don’t know if they using yet or not.
I may not be the smartest hunter but I don’t lack effort…..

Good luck today!

Best of luck. It will hopefully pay off I love hunting the rainy days. Always remember even a bad day in the woods is still worth it to me.

With the muzzle loader are you looking for meat or horns? Good luck on which ever you are after.

Horns, BIG horns. Does will come with xbow-I need the practice.
And, yes, worst day hunting is better than the best day working(I got the sweat shirt that says so). .

Good luck. I will say this. You've got a better chance getting a buck being cold and wet in the stand, than warm and dry at home.

That is true. Good luck.

It's just windy now, yes??

Rain is over and wind slowed a lot. Sun after awhile.

Sun is trying.

Good Luck.

Kill a big boy, man that wind blew here this morning!

I remember seeing that field! Good luck and hang in there - you the only one there?

Can you tell me how far it is to the tree line?

Good luck but I think the no sleep got him when the sun hit him. Best sleep ever when you wake up wandering what day it is in a stand,,

Starting a guessing game until he wakes up. 85 yards is my guess.

Tlk, I’m solo.
Hud, you know I can. I didn’t bust open the piggy bank for those RF binos for nothin. 165.8 yards(not meters).

Beautiful morning in the stand.
I'm jealous freerange!

Good luck
Hope you got one picked out to hunt this year

Ouch missed that a lot. Thought the tree on the right might be at 20 yards to base my guess off of.

This doe came in early to the regular feeder but not much left over from the morning. Hit my remote control on the mobile feeder and she came over.

I'm in the stand this afternoon myself, just eyeballing unless a coyote comes by. 4 doe, 2 fawn and 2 gobblers so far.

This regular came running when the regular dinner bell went off.
He had a bad accident in velvet apparently and I think he’s been sickly. Been watching him two prior years and hoped this would be the year. Look close and you can see his beam and another point wrap back around his head.

This guy ran em off for a minute.

He’s back. With a little company.

Is he still breathing?

This is him last year. Maybe next year he’ll come back strong but doubting it.

Thats where its at brother enjoy

Day 2 started strong and got better. First time to corn these roads this year and they were all over it. Tons more pics from a beautiful morning.

DAmn Free! That buck in the last pic looks GOOD!!!!!

Yes, he’s a real pretty one. He was out here all morning and I never really got a great pic that shows him well. He’s a little short on his right but he has 6 over there. His 2 and 3 are a little better than pic shows cause they lay back and everything kinda curls in. Real good beam and decent mass.
Last pic is last year and then I found both his sheds. I hoped he would get better this year but think he’s pretty similar. One of the other guys may want to hunt him. I just like watching what they do year to year.

Nothing better than lunch on a deer stand.

Making me jealus now FR....some of us still have to work!


Whats the weather like and how has deer movement been today?

I plan to get up to my place tomorrow eve and be there friday and saturday, maybe leave sunday am...

Weather nothing special but today deer activity was great. I’ve got to where I don’t think there’s any telling when deer may move. Until deer start talking to me I’m going with that.

Boy howdy he is easy to recognize with that crabclaw point at the end of his right beam.
Really cool deer!

Agree, I don't buy the whole weather makes deer move thing (with one exception) was mainly just asking how comfortable it was in the stand....no rain, cooler weather is awesome for a long sit.

Deer movement, more specifically buck movement, I think can be better on days with extreme high pressure. I have read that, anecdotally seen it. talking 30.30+

According to my weather station at my place, it is 30.26mm hg right now. That is pretty good pressure for buck movement. Of course, the coming pre-rut and rut activity trumps all that nonsense and deer just move more this time of year. Good time to be hunting right now!

I’m not saying weather doesn’t make a difference cause it does. It’s just hard to figure and can’t be counted on all the time at all. Rut certainly makes a difference of course.
Its enjoyable weather to hunt as opposed to the heat. Fall is here.

Keep us poor workin folk of how things go as evening approaches. Living vicariously thru you right now!

Living the life brother

That must be your lucky hat

Over 30 years with the cap. We both are showing signs of wear but hoping for a few more hunts for us both before hanging it up.

I'd hate to see your unlucky cap, but I may know which one you would tell me about.

Yes, he’s a real pretty one. He was out here all morning and I never really got a great pic that shows him well. He’s a little short on his right but he has 6 over there. His 2 and 3 are a little better than pic shows cause they lay back and everything kinda curls in. Real good beam and decent mass.
Last pic is last year and then I found both his sheds. I hoped he would get better this year but think he’s pretty similar. One of the other guys may want to hunt him. I just like watching what they do year to year.




NOTE what Freerange typed above -- "ONE OF THE OTHER GUYS MAY WANT TO HUNT HIM "

THIS RIGHT HERE is what a good lease manager does - Take note and just hope you can hunt on a lease with someone like him - very rare for sure

Oh yeah I forgot - Freerange - get off your phone on this forum and look up at the deer!

FR is a good lease boss for sure. But truth be told, if a 200” buck walked out on him, no way he is letting that one walk for another member…rightfully so. Theres potential out there

I would not count on that - some folks get as much pleasure seeing others take their trophy of a lifetime as if they were taking it themselves - ask me how I know?

Exactly tlk
Freerange is a great guy so it doesn't surprise me at all.

I'd love to hunt with him sometime for sure.....just not in OK! lmao

Free fits in quite well up there in Okieland where duct tape is considered yet another fashion accessory.

Day 3.
Third different spot to sit in 3 days. Daylight to dark, as usual, when I don’t have hands to shake and babies to kiss back at camp. This can be a great spot to sit but today overall deer movement wasn’t as good as yesterday. Then at 1045 everything changed(more on this in a bit. A buck foreplay worthy.)
The stand is at the intersection of 4 fences going equidistant each way(like a 4 way stop.) Roads corned down each fence line and a few deer on each one.
West

East

South

North

Feeder NW

To be Continued.

Free, you hunting a fence line, how dare you, lol. Guessing that is an internal pasture crossfence.

Don’t tell Max…..
Big country has lots of internal cross fencing.

This morning at 1045 I look down the East sendero and a buck jumps the fence from the south at 400 yards and walks up the road East another 100 before going North. I sprinkled very little corn at that distance so he never got to it or wasn’t interested. He’s never been on camera so maybe he doesn’t like corn. I got the camera on him and started clicking. Trouble getting pics from big cam to phone so pic of pic about all I got till later. Kinda like live TV, it’s challenging.
Anyway, he’s real pretty, I like him. Won’t score as much as I’m wanting but he’s got a great look to me. I would prefer the other guys get him but I’m gonna hunt him and try to get a better look and see if he excites me. They will have first choice of stands if they ever show up.
He appears to be a typical 8 with a deep fork on rg2 and a flyer off his lg2. Balanced, yet different. Historically this Ranch has bucks with lots of extras, often around bases, so he may have stuff I can’t see. I love the look when beams and tines curl in. Always deceiving on score. He’s got a good beam, decent brows and mass, good length, character, balanced look and just real pretty. At least IMO, and I’ll be all that counts if he steps out in a minute.
I would love it if anyone wants to estimate score. No way to tell age yet.

I agree - I love the beams wrapping around - he is one of those deer it does not matter what he scores he is just pretty - good luck!

I'll take a crack at score, mid to upper140s and looks 5+ on age to me. Hope you get a better look at him and shot if you like enough.

He’s back!!! Here, hold my beer.

Post pics Free.... Take him out if like enough....

She’s a beaut, Clark.

Boom.

I can actually feel that when I read this...if you know you know.

Mid 130's is what I have. What county are you hunting?

SE Okla. Body size dressed maybe average 140/150.

So no trigger pulled Free? Not quite what you're wanting? Thought you were hunting Throckmorton county, you're in OK?

He is WAY BIGGER that mid 30s.

That deer is very, very similar to the one in the pic below with the exception of him not having the G4 but the deer in free's pic has more mass.
What does this deer below score?

And Free, I know you have killed some great deer and only shoot when one really trips your trigger...............................
But that one trips mine! I love big 8s and that is a hell of an 8 with some extras and great character.

He'd be on his way to the taxidermist if he'd have stepped out in front of me. lmao

Low 150’s

Enough, mid 140s to 150?

Another buck same stand, he’s a regular. He’s at 100 yds all morning.
Other buck yesterday at 500 and just for a bit and never been seen before.
Sorry about pics, pics of pics and it’s raining.


Staying busy this morning and hunkered down for the day. Gonna be fun.

Free, are you exclusively hunting OK now or do you still hunt Throckmorton county too?

DQ, I gave up Throckmorton after 15 years. Nothing wrong and my right hand guy took it over and everyone stayed on.
Okla was too good to pass up and it checks all my boxes.

ILuv, the buck you posted is weird how much he resembles my mystery guest yesterday, even the kickers.

Same buck from while ago. Curious on age and score. How does he compare to the other big 8 score wise. Which one do y’all like better(assuming old enough).
Edit. He has almost no hock stainage.

Free, he looks way older and bigger in that first picture above than in the game cam pic
I'd call 6 in the 1st pic but have a hard time getting him to 5 in the game cam pic.

Hard for me to score because I know your deer up there are ALWAYS way bigger than I put on them. He has 10 solid typ points plus some extras so I think he is at least 8 or 10 inches more than the 8 with the extras.

He will also score really well I think as his frame is GOOD!

Good Luck Free, hope you see something that gets you fired up. Love hunting in the rain!

DQ, if you are talking about the shoulder mounted deer I posted, he was 138-139 in this game cam pic of him the year before as a slick 8. I have one side of his sheds from that year and the 138-139 is dead on.

We are thinking similar as usual. I purposely posted the game cam pic cause they all look about like that, except it was hard to find one without his head down eating. The other one he definitely looks older. The two archery guys would be happy with him but we aren’t sure on age. Seeing in person today helped.
Our small groups understanding is at 5 they need to be a real special deer for someone and then we talk. At 6+ everything is green light if you want him.

FR, have you had good success getting your teeth aged at the lab?

I routinely age deer on my place a year older than what tooth wear shows. I need to really get better about just subtracting a year from what i think.

Given my experiences on my place and how it isnt too far from yours, i would say that buck is 5.5 and could be younger based on my experience and could he 4.5 even. I do not see a 6.5+ yo deer there tho.

Just givning you something to think about on the rain….seeing anything out there in the rain?

TexBuck, I need to elaborate on my tooth lab aging opinion and don’t have time now. Maybe separate thread some times. We send a good many teeth in annually and I have lost some confidence in the method. I don’t think there is a method that works at a high enough accuracy level to put much weight on. Tooth wear on real young and real old is about all I got.
I’m just going by personal observation and opinions of others along with tracking same deer year to year when possible. Once they are dead I really have no way to confirm the thoughts at trigger pull.

FR, just to keep the thought going for a second, and not to belabor the point at all, but that almost mimics my thoughts on aging. I pretty much go with too young to shoot, and old enough to shoot. On my place i like that age to be around 5.5-6.5, but a really special 4.5 or someones first buck i wont get bent out of shape about.

So pretty much all the young ones and hard to determine ones (those in betweeners) get a pass by me. If they look ancient, i am happy to shoot. Not seeing any bucks that age group yet this season. Granted haven’t put enough time in the stand, but from what I have seen while there, its mostly 3-4 yo bucks with a lot of 1-2yo as well

I posted a study on here where they took deer whose age was known and had very experienced biologist age the deer by tooth wear. Then they sent it to the lab for testing.
The results with both methods were ver unimpressive. Around 50% if I recall.
IMO the very best way to age is cameras and videos and following your deer over time.
I will try to find that study and post it again. I too have little faith in either method

Found it: https://www.ckwri.tamuk.edu/sites/d...nsidedeerresearchnewsletter-fall2010.pdf

I went back and checked my guess, I'll stay with mid 130's. 135 to 138...from what I see anyway.