A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

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TedH
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A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by TedH »

The alarm sounded at 4:30, but I was already awake. My brother had phoned at 4:00 am to tell us about the arrival of my God daughter, his second daughter, Rylie Hope, at 2:15 this morning. :D

I was ready to go hunting, and I had to give brother a hard time for missing the opening day of deer season due to the very poor planning on his part. Now there is going to be Birthday Parties interfering with deer season from now on. :lol:

The wind was howling, but at least the rain had stopped overnight. I got to my stand about 30 min. before legal shooting time. The wind was just brutal, swaying my stand back and forth enough that I was worried if I had to shoot at a deer. Shortly after first light I started seeing deer. First a doe with her two little ones, then a couple small fork bucks, and later a 6 point. Deer were all around most of the morning. There were a couple legal bucks, but they were not what I was looking for. I planned on staying on stand all day, but the wind was really getting to my eyes, so I came out of the woods for lunch and to help Dad with couple things. I got back to my stand about 1:30 pm and started seeing deer right away again. I had counted 9 different bucks I had seen so far this day, and twice that many does. About 4:30 a little fork horn came by chasing two does. He suddenly disappeared, and the two does stayed put. Something had their attention behind me. I slowly turned around to see two more does about 75 yards through the thick woods, then I saw a buck, a big buck. I didn't need to glass him first, there was no mistaking he was a shooter. The trees and brush are very thick. I can see parts of him through small openings, but he won't stop. He turns and starts quartering toward me as I pick out a hole about two feet wide that he's about to pass by. He stops just as his head gets in the clear lane. Holy cow, he's bigger than any deer I've ever shot, and now my heart is racing because the wind is swirling and he looks like he's getting nervous. Just one more step, just one more step. He turns away, no shot. He continues to check the wind while keeping an eye on the two does he has with him. Finally, he seems content in his lair, and starts toward me again. I pick out another opening, and after the longest 30 seconds in history I see his shoulder in my crosshairs. I don't know if he slowed down, or if my mind was just running in slow motion, but I was rock solid right in his shoulder when the Marlin 375 barked and the 230 gr. Ranch Dog cast bullet hit it's mark. He spun around, ran a small circle, then was down and out all in about 10 seconds.

I gave him 15 minutes just to be sure, but he was done. I said a prayer, thanked the Lord for my good fortune, and for my wonderful harvest.

There was no ground shrinkage, he was better than I thought. A good 12 point, nice tine length, and a couple kickers to boot.

I of course forgot my camera at home, and I don't have any way to get the crappy pics from my phone to here, but I'll add them when I get home tomorrow night. I have not scored him yet, but I'm certain he's going on the wall. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of my first deer at age 10, and finally now 30 years into it, I now have my wall hanger. 8)

Edit: I figured out a way to get this pic from my phone posted. Going to try and get some better ones in the morning with some good light.

Image

Image

After a quick preliminary measurement today, it looks like he's going to gross a tad over 150, and after deductions end up around 143 B&C.
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Last edited by TedH on Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:14 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: A Great Opening Day!

Post by Hobie »

:mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day!

Post by 86er »

Sounds outstanding - can't wait to get a look at him! Congratulations to your brother as well!
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Re: A Great Opening Day!

Post by BenT »

Awesome! :D
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Re: A Great Opening Day!

Post by Ysabel Kid »

Congrats! :D :D :D
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TedH
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Re: A Great Opening Day!

Post by TedH »

86er wrote:Sounds outstanding - can't wait to get a look at him! Congratulations to your brother as well!

I'll pass along the Congrats to Travis. I don't think he missed going hunting today anyway. They've been at the hospital since 4:00 am Thursday morning! That lil' girl just didn't know it was time to come out and join the rest of us. 8)
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Steelbanger »

Very nice Ted. Your choice of the RD cast bullet is the same as mine for our upcoming season, only I'll be using a 38-55. We had an early doe season and with my geezer status I was allowed to use a rifle so I killed a doe with a 444P and the RD 300 gr. bullet. Dropped right down, no tracking necessary.

I've gotten lucky a few times over the years and got some nice deer but never over 10 pts. Your 12 point is outstanding.

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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Borregos »

Nice one Ted :D :D
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Dave »

WOW! That is a super deer! A wall hanger indeed!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Marc »

Wall hanger, I reckon! Very good buck. Congratulations!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Blaine »

One to be very proud of, for sure :mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by kimwcook »

Good job. Nice looking whitetail.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by Mike D. »

That's top buck in my book, Ted. What a beautiful set of antlers. Someday, I might be able to bag a Whitetail. They are already in the far northern reaches of CA and working their way south through the river canyons.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by RIHMFIRE »

Congrats!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! Pic Added

Post by rjohns94 »

thats bigger than any buck I've ever taken. well done. Congrats to your brother too.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Chuck 100 yd »

WOW !!! Good job! :mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Nath »

Ted, thats outstanding. Happy for you and your bro.

Nice work Ted :D

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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Ben_Rumson »

8) 8)
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by .45colt »

Fantastic.. :) .
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by rangerider7 »

Great buck. He would have got me excited. :mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by BlueStateSaint »

That is a beautiful buck. Congrats!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Old Savage »

Wow, great buck.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by TedH »

Wouldn't you know it, with about 15 pounds of meat left to grind my cheapo Chinese meat grinder stripped a gear and is kaput! Oh well, it's been a long day, the rest will just go in the freezer to grind later.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by cshold »

Very very nice :mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Mac in Mo »

WOW! Fantastic buck Ted. Congratulations. That is a great rack.

Our camp down in Texas Co. was stacking the does up like cordwood. I have one doe in the freezer and will be going back Friday for round two.


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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by dr walker »

Outstanding buck. Congratulations!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by JReed »

Nicely done :mrgreen:
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by 19112TAP »

Nice buck, CONGRATS!!!!!!!!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by CEMENTHEAD »

Congrats Ted!



:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by C. Cash »

Congratulations, both times!
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by Dave B »

Great Job! I really enjoyed your post.

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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by mod71alaska »

Beautiful buck, Ted! Congratulations! Thanks for updating with those photos.
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Re: A Great Opening Day! NEW PICS ADDED

Post by RIHMFIRE »

Whoa....way to go! Wall hanger for sure! congrats...

I just spent the last two full days in the woods and saw zip...nadda...zero
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