Extended Bow 2012

    Extended Bow kicked off in 2012 with substantial rut activity.  The day before, the last day of regular bow season, I had an encounter with 2 shooter bucks chasing a hot doe all around me in the woods for over an hour.   I was able to get a pretty good look at both deer but neither provided me with a shot.
The very next morning, October 27 2012, first day of extended bow season just at sun up, I hit the grunt tube with two short grunts and a ten pointer come right into me and provide me with a shot at 27 yds.  After wiating an hour I texted my cousin and we got underway with the recovery.  He went 80 yds.

 Here is a pic of where i found him.

 This buck dressed out at 140 lbs.

I killed My buck on a Saturday.  Friday of that same week, I got a text of a big 10 pointer that had been killed at 3:30  in the afternoon so I made arrangements to do a photo shoot.   From the text I could tell that Drew had killed a substantial buck, but I was blown away upon seeing the deer in person.  Drew had this buck on his trail camera during Hurricane Sandy and quite a few people had seen this Slammer in his area.  After checking an astro table that said peak deer movement would start at 2:19 he made sure he was in the stand by 2:00.   He killed this buck with his compound bow at 3:30 pm.

 Drew's deer dressed in at 190 lbs

 This deer had an official net non typical score of 159 2/8 "

           Next to record a kill was my dad.   He shot this seven pointer quartering away hard with a 125 grain vortex broad head at 40 yards using Stryker 380 crossbow.  The bolt entered just behind the shoulder and exited through the front of the chest.  The buck went a mere 20 yds.  when we field dressed this deer it was completely devoid of blood.

This deer also weighed in at 140 lbs.

       The following morning November tenth, I received a call form a friend whose nephew had killed a nice ten pointer with the bow.   I asked them to bring it by.  Jason's deer dressed in at 145 lbs and had a 20" spread. 

   The Evening of November 13th my phone rang and Muddy called to say he was bring one by.  He killed this eight pointer with a broken g-2 and a kicker with his 10 point crossbow. Muddy's buck dressed 140 lbs. which seemed to be the average weight of the bucks killed in the 2012 season.

Next was GV who downed this wide racked nine pointer on the morning of November 23rd with his compound bow.

This deer had a very unique right antler.

 Gary's buck dressed in at 120 lbs.

The same morning that GV killed his 9 point buck, Dave was able to connect with a wide 7.

    Dave's deer dressed 125 lbs. 

Muzzle Loader 2011

Monday November 29th, was the start of New Jersey's muzzle loader season.  Dave and Bill were the first to fill their tags on opening morning each killing a 5 pointer. The temperatures were unseasonably high and after christening the new game pole they were off to the butcher shop after letting their deer hang for all of about 20 minutes.

Dave and Bill with their bucks.

The next morning Charlie arrived after his morning sit with this nice 8 point buck in the back of his pickup. We hoisted him up on the scale and he weighed out at 122 pounds.

Charlie with his Deer

On the way back from the check station we saw a big buck hanging at our buddy farm and pulled in for a closer look.   Jimbo had killed this 20" wide eight pointer on a 2 man push late in the morning.

This buck was bedded with a doe in a small wooded piece between farm fields.  Jimmy's cousin Al did a soft push through the piece jumping the buck with his doe and the both ran right to Jimbo's position.   Jimmy killed this buck with a perfect shot to the heart from his Thompson Center Encore muzzle loader as he was at full stride breaking out of the wood line into open ground.

Jimmy's deer dressed out at 162 pounds.

Jimmy with his Buck

 Here are a few trail camera photos of Jimbo's buck from a couple of mile's away earlier in the season.

Here is another picture of the same deer from a year earlier.

Later that evening on the same day November 30th, I got a call from my friend Rob who told me to meet him at the check station because he got one.  I showed up and Rob had this eight pointer hanging on the scale upside down so I took it down and hung it right side up for better picture angles.

Robs buck tipped the scales at 161 pounds.

Rob with his buck.

The early muzzle loader season in New Jersey is an exciting time because the rut is usually still strong and there is a lot of potential for killing nice bucks that haven't heard the sounds of gunshots and started running for their lives.  Every year we see some beautiful buck taken during the early season.

Steve killed this six pointer Christmas eve.  This buck didn't have a huge rack but he was a stout deer weighing in at 136 pounds.

Steve with his Muzzle loader buck.