Extended Bow 2011

           Extended bow season is believed by many to be the most exciting time to hunt whitetails in New Jersey.  The 2011 season proved it to be quite true.  New Jersey bow hunters were blessed with nearly ideal conditions for deer hunting.  A few cold snaps really kicked the rut into full swing and the buck were moving steady and frequently.

        Jay was the first this year to fill his extended bow tag putting the smack down on this long tined 8 pointer the evening of Sunday, November 13th.   This buck was coming straight into Jay while he was hunting a field edge.  The deer, sensing that something was amiss, quartered away hard and prepared to vacate the premises.   Jay knew that it was now or never and let his arrow loose from his Mathews Switchback on a 30 yard shot.  The Crimson Talon broad heads did a number on this buck slicing through four ribs upon entry and eventually making an exit through his chest. 

This buck weighed in at 129 pounds respectively.

Jay with his buck

              Jays deer had nice long tines and a nearly a 16 inch inside spread.   The buck green scored 125 7/8" and hopefully after the 60 day waiting period retains enough inches to qualify for The New Jersey Outstanding Deer Program.

           Two night later, on Tuesday, November 15th, my cousin Nicky scored his first buck when he arrowed this 3 pointer from his back yard ladder stand set up.   Nick had been watching several different buck coming into his corn pile on his trail camera but was having a hard time getting them to show up during shooting time.

Nick enjoyed a clean kill and recovered his buck after a 100 yd tracking session.

Nicky's deer weighed in at 103 pounds.

         Two more nights later Andy managed to take his first buck of the season.   Andy is an accomplished bow hunter who has managed to tag out early in the last two consecutive years during the earn a buck program.   This year during early bow he filled his earn a buck tag on the first morning.  The next shot opportunity he was presented with was on what appeared to be a huge y buck with a double throat patch.  On account that he couldn't clearly see the brows on that buck and the institution of the three point rule in many zones this year, Andy fore went taking the shot.   Little did he know that he wouldn't see much more than spikes and button bucks for the next six weeks.   

     When this 109 pound seven pointer came into bow range on the evening of November 17th, he seized the opportunity to fill his extended bow buck tag.  Andy made it happen with his Mathews LX compound bow and Rage 3 blade broad heads.

Andy's deer had a distinctive split g-2 on its left antler.

Here is a trail camera photo from my dads camera of Andy's buck a month prior to him killing it.

      Gary killed this nice 2 1/2 year old 8 pointer Thursday November 24th on a mid day spot-and-stalk.   It was a rainy afternoon when Gary spotted this buck bedded in tall grass tending a hot doe.   He stalked up to the buck to withing 20 yards and upon him standing up Gary let loose a bolt from his Excalibur Phoenix tipped with a  Vortex Pro Extreme 125 grain  broad head.  The bolt hit its mark and the buck expired after a 20 yard run.  

     Garys buck dressed 121 pounds.  I assisted him in skinning and quartering his deer.   Upon skinning him out we discovered extensive gouging and bruising on his back and right side that we speculated was sustained from another buck while most likely fighting for the doe that he was tending.

This deer was Gary's first with a crossbow.

Just as extended bow season was wrapping up for the year Carl killed this wide nine pointer with a crossbow on the morning of Thursday December 29th.  This buck came into Carl's set up traveling with a spike.  

Carl's buck had an impressive outside spread of 21 inches.

He survived late into the season and surely bread many does. 

Here are a few trail camera pics that my dad captured over the course of this season of Carl's buck.   

Early Bow 2011

The early season started off this year with warm temperatures and wet humid conditions. making it a chore for NJ hunters to take to the woods to fill their first tags. After the first morning hunt on September 10th there was a mad rush at every local retail store of hunters trying to buy a thermocell machine. I know I wasted at least 4 hours driving around trying to get one. A few days later the weather cooled down and the bugs subsided. By the following weekend many hunters were able to fill thier Earn-A-Buck doe tag and begin hunting for a buck.

After tagging out on his EAB on the evening of September 17th, Steve went out the following evening (9-18) and killed this 2 year old 8 pointer. After sitting in the stand for about an hour, Steve decided to let out a few bleats and a couple of immature buck grunts. Shortly after, in came this deer which steve put a nice pass through shot with his crossbow just missing the heart and crushing through the opposite shoulder blade.

Steve got it done using a Horton and 100 grain Swhacker broadheads.

This buck was on the ground within 20 yards of the shot.

Steve's deer dressed out at 104 lbs.

Regular Bow 2010.

On Sunday October 24th Dave Z. of SJ Fowl Addictions killed this magnificent main frame 10 pointer during his morning stand. He could hear this buck from a ways off freshening up his scrape line and tangling his rack in his licking branches. Brian grunted this deer in and smoked him at close range. This deer also had 2 sticker points making it a 12 pointer all together. He killed this buck during the heatwave weekend of the 23rd thru 24th when many hunters were seeing very little deer movement.

This buck has a 20 inch inside spread and should make the book. This buck was not weighed in due to some renovations occurring at our local check station, it was estimated to weigh in the 180 lbs. range.

On the evening of of Tuesday October 26th Steve P. killed this 114 lbs. Y buck. The deer came into a mock scrape and Steve shot him at 20 yds. with a bank shot off of a tree. The arrow hit a branch and ricocheted hitting the deer in the vitals and leaving a gaping wound from the Rage mechanical broad heads. This deer ran 50 yds before expiring.

Here is a pick of the rage exit wound

Cousin Petey also was able to fill his buck tag for regular bow season with this 100lbs. spike buck. Petey shot this deer out of his brothers stahd on the evening of October 23rd.

I called this post Regular Bow because today marked the start of traditional bow season statewide in NJ. However, there are a few new policies introduced in 2009 by Fish and Game that make the title "Regular Bow" seem not so regular at all.

First off is the sanctioning of Crossbows. Now in the NJ Fish and Wildlife Digest the crossbow has added to the long bow, recurve bow and compound bow as legal for hunting during all archery seasons. Second is the EAB (earn-a-buck) policy, which is an early hunting season offered for killing a doe before taking a buck.

Many bow hunters in the South Jersey area harvested their EAB antlerless deer to to earn the right for an early season chance at a possible trophy buck in velvet. Some hunters were even were able to fill their buck tag within that early season. Statewide starting today open season was declared in New Jersey in both EAB territories as well as zones that did not offer the earn-a-buck early season.

This symmetrical 8 was taken just minutes before 7:00 am on October 2nd with a crossbow straight through both lungs. He ran only thirty yards before succumbing to his wound and piling up. He dressed out a a formidable 141 pounds.

Wesley was able to place a clean kill shot on target just a few seconds after this buck came moving quickly into his range. The action happened so fast that Wes didn't have much time to make an assessment on the deer. In fact he was a little surprised at just how nice this buck was when he came upon it at the moment of recovery.

With this bucks symmetry there should be very few deductions side to side but it might just fall short of the 125" mark needed to be recorded in the record book.