Dixie Deer Classic antler contest | 03.07.12 – NewsObserver.com

Chad Coley, 42, of South Hill, Va., took home the Best in Show and the Best Virginia Typical By Bow awards Sunday from the 32nd annual Dixie Deer Classic hunting exposition held March 2-4, 2012, at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C. On the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2011, Coley, a biologist with Dominion Virginia Power, was drawing his bow on a large Lunenburg County, Va., buck when this bigger specimen appeared 18 yards to the hunters left and began scraping an oak branch. Coley changed his target, and the trophy buck scored 173 4/8 under the rules of the Pope and Young Club, which maintains bowhunting records. The other buck later was taken by another hunter and scored about 161, Coley said.  Click Link Below to see all 21 wallhangers.

Terri Boggess – newsobserver.com

via Dixie Deer Classic antler contest | 03.07.12 – Sports – NewsObserver.com.

Some thoughts about ‘trophies’ – The Ledger Independent

By Sam Bevard

Many contemporary hunters would scoff at the little eight-point rack, professionally fixed to a badge-shaped mounting board.

The tines are neither wide nor heavy, and one is broken off; another has a burl scar from an injury. These flaws would mean deductions from the frame’s meager tally of points via the vaunted Boone & Crockett or Pope and Young evaluation formulas.

We are in an age of trophy hunters, of high-minded sportsmen who are not just hunting deer, but only deer that meet certain mathematical standards. Each autumn, these folks go to the woods with the goal of becoming one of the random elite who down those newsworthy bucks that bring their slayers envy and fame and get their names into print.

After reading and listening to numerous accounts of the killing of game animals both ordinary and notable, one truth is common to most all: They all die very much the same way. Circumstance, setting and hunter performance are of universal quality; it is random chance that usually determines the size of the rack.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this trophy-minded approach to hunting if that’s what one wants to make of the game. Game departments manage herds to produce the heads these hunters desire.

There are definite downsides to the production of record book racks, however, because with each such deer taken in our hunting grounds and publicized, often comes diminishment of future hunting opportunities. Big deer attract serious sportsmen — often outsiders — with big money to spend to hoard all the hunting land. I’ve said this before and I’ll keep shouting it from the highest soapbox ridge I can find, that trophy deer hunting is wrecking traditional easy access hunting in Kentucky as generations of us have known it.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Some thoughts about ‘trophies’.

Is Wisconsin the Best State for Trophy Deer Hunting? | Outdoor Life

by Alex Robinson

Sorry Iowa, Texas and Kansas, Wisconsin is now the best state for trophy deer hunting, at least according to the Boone & Crockett club. The club recently issued a press release stating that the number of trophy deer taken in the Badger State has risen by 857 percent over the last 30 years. And during the last five years (excluding 2011) Wisconsin hunters entered 383 bucks into the book. That’s higher than any other state.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Is Wisconsin the Best State for Trophy Deer Hunting? | Outdoor Life.

Hunting enthusiasts think it’s time for heavier poaching fines | Wichita Eagle

By Michael Pearce
The Wichita Eagle

The alleged poaching of a potential state-record buck has re-ignited calls for stiffer poaching penalties.

“We need a system that’s more fair to the value (a deer) has to the state,” said Tim Donges, president of the Bluestem Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association. “We want to be sure there’s proper restitution.”

Donges, of El Dorado, has been working to get a bill into the Kansas legislature that would increase fines to many poachers.

Last week the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism announced charges against David Kent of Topeka.

He’s accused of illegally shooting a 14-point buck on Nov. 11 in Osage County. The eight charges also include criminal discharge of a firearm, illegally hunting with an artificial light, hunting outside legal hours, hunting from a vehicle and using an illegal caliber to shoot big game.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Hunting enthusiasts think it’s time for heavier poaching fines | Wichita Eagle.

Fond du Lac area man’s buck falls short of record | fdlreporter.com

Laurie Ritger

For Wisconsinoutdoorfun.com

Hopes for a state record whitetail buck were dashed when scoring for antlers from a Johnsburg man’s buck fell short.

Jeff Weber registered a 15-point typical buck Oct. 6, 2011, at Dutch’s Trading Post in Fond du Lac after spending hours tracking the deer the previous night. Weber was new to bow hunting and the shot at his massive “Weber buck” was the first he had ever taken with a bow.

“It wound up short of the state record,” Weber said of the impressive set of antlers.

Share your trophy buck shots | Browse 2011 trophy shots

Weber had to wait for a 60-day drying period for final measurements on the antlers to be taken. The buck was scored at 173 1/8 inches after deductions were taken. The current Pope & Young bowhunting record is 187 inches, Weber said.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Fond du Lac area man’s buck falls short of record | Fond du Lac Reporter | fdlreporter.com.

Louisiana deer season in need of adjustment | thenewsstar.com

By Richard Price

Well, here we are in the “two-minute warning” of deer season. I will personally be glad to see the sun set Sunday. Last Saturday, Margaret Ann and I got up and made our usual morning hunt. As usual, we didn’t see anything. As a matter of fact, I had quit even loading my rifle.

Anyhow, back at the camp, we fried fish for dinner. Mike, Terry, Margaret Ann and I ate about five pounds of river catfish. Then my sugar went up. Remember last Saturday evening, about 80 degrees and the wind blowing right outta somewhere? Boy, I sure was glad when Margaret Ann remembered she had to make church bulletins for Sunday. I brought the big ol’ “jinxed” Four-Fifty-Eight home.

I have got to hunt a good bit this year, I reckon, but have seen fewer deer, bears and turkeys than any other year that I can recall. Looks like we might have to start huntin’ with deer dogs again. Maybe a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. I just really believe that our deer, under so much hunting pressure, are literally becoming seasonally nocturnal. And most everyone I’ve spoke with has come to grips that deer season in Louisiana is too long. Most concur that deer season in Area I should open the Friday after Thanksgiving and close 60 days later. Open and closed case. Archery season should open Nov. 1 and close the Sunday after the 60th day.

We have too many tags per person. This has no bearing on those hunters who take 15-20 deer a year anyhow, but a limit of two bucks and a doe would suffice. There ain’t no way me and Margaret Ann can eat six deer, much less process them and store that many. So who else can either? Of course, the powers that be will see this as a reduction in sales of licenses that will therefore dwindle the bank account. Go figger. Remember when we started hunting outa “tree stands?” A deer would not hardly look up.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Louisiana deer season in need of adjustment | The News Star | thenewsstar.com.

Birmingham deer hunter finds spirit in the hunt, taking huge buck | al.com

By Jeff Dute

By his own account, most of 2011 will not stand out as a stellar year for Birmingham’s Adam Burt.Laid off and unemployed for nearly five months, Burt landed a new job around the first part of October.Still, hamstrung financially and mentally by the long search for work, Burt was also concerned getting on with a different company would limit the amount of time he’d have to make the 90-minute drive to his hunting club near Haleyville in northwest Alabama.  So it was on Dec. 29 that Burt climbed into his stand to enjoy a little Zen time and maybe take a fat doe if the opportunity arose.Euphoric would best describe how he felt leaving those woods a couple of hours later. Riding to camp with a massive 14-point buck on the back of your ATV has a way of doing that.Burt’s stand was set up overlooking a hardwood bottom that ran uphill and through a thick transition zone before it ran into a stand of planted pines.Earlier scouting had revealed that a buck under the spell of an early breeding urge had left behind several scrapes and rubs along the thick area between hardwoods and pines.Hoping to lure the buck within shooting distance of his rifle, Burt walked in that day with some Top Secret Hot Mama.  Click Link Below For Full story!

via Birmingham deer hunter finds spirit in the hunt, taking huge buck | al.com.

Northern Plains hit by deer-killing disease – USATODAY.com

By Amy Sancetta, AP

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – White-tailed deer populations in parts of eastern Montana and elsewhere in the Northern Plains could take years to recover from a devastating disease that killed thousands of the animals in recent months, wildlife officials and hunting outfitters said.

In northeast Montana, officials said 90 percent or more of whitetail have been killed along a 100-mile stretch of the Milk River from Malta to east of Glasgow. Whitetail deaths also have been reported along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana and scattered sites in Wyoming, South Dakota and eastern Kansas.

The deaths are being attributed to an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. Transmitted by biting midges, EHD causes internal bleeding that can kill infected animals within just a few days.

“I’ve been here 21 years and it was worse than any of us here have seen,” said Pat Gunderson, the Glasgow-based regional supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “Right now it’s going to take a few years to get things back to even a moderate population.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Northern Plains hit by deer-killing disease – USATODAY.com.

Patience Pays Off For Kentucky Hunter Who Took 180-Inch Buck | Outdoor Life

By Travis Faulkner

When you’re a father and hardcore deer hunter, it can be extremely difficult to juggle a demanding work schedule and family commitments with fall hunting. This is exactly the dilemma that Josh Hunt found himself facing during the magical month of November. In addition, Hunt had promised his 7-year-old son that he would get the first shot during Kentucky’s annual modern rifle season.

Needless to say, this guy was really feeling the pressure to tag-out with his bow. As a result, he decided to take the second week of November off from work and hunt from daylight until dark. Hunt’s perseverance and dedication was finally rewarded during the last day of his vacation. Here is how his amazing hunt unfolded.

During the first part of Hunt’s vacation, he was seeing a lot of deer activity near his treestand. He was setup directly between two bedding areas with thick cover, which allowed him to catch bucks cruising back and forth for receptive does. In fact, Hunt almost shot a 150-class bruiser the weekend before his vacation started, but the buck busted him when he was drawing his bow. At the time, Hunt felt like he had been gut-punched and that another opportunity would probably not present itself before the opening of gun season.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Patience Pays Off For Kentucky Hunter Who Took 180-Inch Buck | Outdoor Life.

Massachusetts Hunter Takes 13-Point Double Drop Tine Buck | Outdoor Life

by Marc Alberto

Chris Alberini was excited for the upcoming hunting season in Massachusetts. “I had a ton of good bucks on my trail cameras and it looked like I would have a couple “slam dunks” on some good bucks,” he said.

As the season got underway, Chris had plenty of does and small bucks walk by his stand, but the big ones that he had captured on trail camera were nowhere to be found. Frustration was beginning to set it, but Chris stuck it out and continued to spend as much time in the tree as he could.

With the bucks not moving during shooting hours, Chris changed his focus to the does and decided to take a few off the property to put some meat in the freezer.

By the second week of November things started to change and the bucks were becoming more active. Chris’ trail cameras captured several bucks as they cruised through the area in search of hot does.

While on the stand one evening, Chris heard a commotion coming from the swamp to his right and watched as a doe busted out of the thick cover. Trailing right behind her was the big nine pointer that Chris had been after. Light was fading and it was now or never for Chris. With the buck at a mere fifteen yards, Chris let his arrow fly and watched in horror as the arrow sailed over the buck’s back and buried into the mud. He was crushed.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Massachusetts Hunter Takes 13-Point Double Drop Tine Buck | Outdoor Life.

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