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.   

Bow Season 2011

Bow season started off this year extremely slow. Everyone had good activity on the trail cameras, but warm weather and an abundance of acorns made seeing and patterning the bucks difficult.

Uncle Roy killed this high racked seven pointer on an evening hunt on the the last day of regular bow season. He set up in the swamp where he was able to pattern regular buck movement. Roy was seeing 3 to five different bucks in this area regularly where he was set up on a crossroad of deer runs. This buck came right down the trail to him and he hammered him at point blank range strait down through the middle of the deer's sholder blades. His deer was real easy to track as it was spurting blood six feet into the air.

This deer had fairly decent heft to him and I would estimate he weighed in the 120 to 130 pound range.

Roy killed his buck with a Mathews Reezen compound bow in conjunction with Wasp Jak-Hammer three blade expandable broad heads.

My brother Andrew was next to chalk up a kill tagging this nice eight pointer on October 20th. After work Andrew decided to take his climber out on a windy afternoon. After watching this buck make a scrape, he was presented with a 40 yd broadside shot. Andrew got it done with his trusty Barnett Jackal crossbow and Vortex 125 grain expandable broadheads.

Andrew's buck weighed in at 122 pounds.

My son John was the first to tag a buck this year when he killed this 100 lb spike. John killed his buck with a Parker Bushwhacker Crossbow and Rage 100 grain broad heads. The deer came to him chasing two does and he shot the spike while quartering towards him at 5 yds. The bolt passed through the deer but left very little blood to track. With the limited blood trail we were not able to recover the deer until the next day.