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.

Shotgun 2010

New Jersey Shotgun season started off with low temperatures and high winds, conditions that made getting deer particularly challenging. Monday of deer season we had a 17 man hunting party assembled by 10 am. We drove a local state piece and an flushed all of the deer out to the standers but as it turned out they were all antlerless, 5 does. We managed to get up 20 some deer that day but none of them had any horns to speak of.

Day two we switched gears a little and decided to do a push on private ground at daybreak. Bobby decided to drive his personal reserve that he has been managing for 8 years and had only been driven one other time in that eight year time span. Deer were running all over the place. One nice buck broke up behind some houses, a few does were seen by the first standers and then the shooting started. When the smoke cleared this 165 pound nine pointer was laying on the ground. Zach put 5 shots of 3 1/2 inch buck shot into him at 30 yards. Jake fired a couple of follow up shots and i put one into him for good measure.

As Zach gutted his buck I received a text from my cousin Pete who had just shot another nine pointer from a tree stand that he had hung a few days earlier. Pete nailed this buck with buckshot at 15 yards.

After running only 15 yards, Pete's deer died standing up in this bush. Pete's buck dressed out a 140 pounds.

Zach's buck at the check station. He weighed in at 165 lbs. Would have won the big buck contest if Zach had entered.

On Saturday we managed to kill this five pointer. My cousin Ray shot it first and then Frank put it down. The deer dressed 115 pounds.

Saturday night a friend of mine brought by this seven pointer. He was only able to make it out on Saturday and got this nice buck on his first attempt.

We warned him about the blood staining the horns and got him some wipes to clean off the blood.

This buck dressed out at 127 pounds.