Bow Season 08

My Dad started off the 08 bow season for our hunting party with this six pointer on Oct. 28. The rack is fairly typical of a bloodline that has existed in our hunting grounds for quite some time. In the late 90's he killed a 3.5 year old deer with a double main beam that dressed out a 170lbs. I figure that this deer is 1.5 years old. Buck tag filled for bow just before the opening of extended bow season.

My Uncle Roy Killed this six with the bow 2 day later. I only have one picture of this one which i appropriated from my dads camera.

That wrapped it up for regular bow season.

Extended Bow 08

Extended bow season in NJ is, for most hunters, the prime time to hunt. This is when the rut comes into full swing and bucks throw caution to the wind. This usually translates into your highest chances to kill a nice trophy.

My buddy Andy Killed this really nice six on either the 4th or 5th of November. I myself am a big proponent of fresh kill photography. My cousin had given me a call on the same day that Andy had killed this deer and I rushed right over to get some pictures of it. Little did I know he had already caped out and butchered the same day that he had killed it. I myself like to hang a deer for a few days and admire it. Show it off a little, have a few photo sessions etc. This was a really nice buck, and the only picture that I was able to get of it are in a trash bag like it is about to be thrown in the trash.

After reading this post Andy sent me this picture....
This is a trophy six in my opinion. I know that Andy is giving alot of consideration to having this one mounted.

Next up was my Cousin Mark, a.k.a. Pepe. He killed this nice 9 pointer on Thursday evening November 27. He made the shot close to dark and opted to track the deer the next morning.

Next up with a bow kill was Ryan, a.k.a Budday. Just two days after killing his first buck with the muzzleloader on the first day of muzzleloader season none the less, he goes out and shoots this trophy spike and fills his exstended bow buck tag.

This deer dressed out at 87 lbs and was Ryan's first buck with the bow. He did however kill an antlerless deer on the first day of early bow season of 08, which was his first deer kill ever.

Ontario Canada, Early November 08

My dad and My uncle have been traveling to Ontario now for about 6 years hunting for whitetails. For the past two years they've opted to drive instead of fly to cut out the hassle and bring their deer back whole. This year was an exceptionally good year for my dad, and Uncle Roy came back with a trophy as well.

Above is the 10 pointer that my dad shot. Following is the 8 pointer that Roy had killed.

My Dad's deer dressed out at 243 lbs. It was his all time biggest whitetail. Needless to say I photographed it excessively.

Pre-Season 08

In anticapation of the 08 hunting season, and repeated sightings of substantial bucks in my area, I aquired a Telephoto lense for my Sony Cybershot DSC-H3. In conjunction with the lense, I also purchased a window clamp tripod mount to steady aim for those long shots into the back of fields.

With this new equiptment I managed to pull off a few desent pictures of some nice sized buck this pre season.








On the deep fields resolution suffers slightly when i have to zoom in digitally rather than optically. But overall I am fairly satisfied with the results considering the pictures that I used to try and capture using digital imaging.

Road Kill 08

Doesn't it always seem like some of the nicest deer you come across are killed by automobiles?

This deer was found on the road dead in the Rosenhayn area during mid rut.

This one was a suspected casualty of the infamous "blue tongue" My buddy, Real Trespasser, found this deer dead under his old tree stand location. It was just a pile of bones, with no arrow in it.



This Eight pointer was another suspected fatality caused by disease......

This high nine was killed by way of automobile on buck rd.

Shotgun Season 07

Shotgun season 07 proved to be a difficult hunt. We had Limited succuss in the stands on Monday morning. My buddy Mikey Bess did happen to put down this basket seven at around quarter to 8.

We hunted hard Monday and Tuesday both sitting and in the stands. There was alot of talk among hunters about the devastation of blue tongue and I was starting to buy into the hype.We hadn't seen a deer.

Wednesday, Mother Nature provided us with a treat....Snow.

My Cousin...MEAT-WAGON

It started snowing a little past mid-day and managed to free up people schedules whom were otherwise obligated to work. We rallied and set up a few drives in Franklinville where we have had past success. On the first drive, I caught a flash of what looked to be a big deer through heavily falling snow. Upon inspection of the tracks, I knew that I had missed out on the opportunity of the season. On the next drive i got 2 deer up and My cousin pepe put three shots into this 4 pointer.

It broke to the field and just as it was about to fall Johnny Wengert finished it off with a slug from a ladder stand center field.

Friday, after a fruitless week of sitting in the mornings and evenings in a new spot I was trying out, I opted to hunt my dad's piece to increase my chances of succuss. Early on I saw three does come in close. They milled around for a while and then passed through. About half an hour before dark I had a descent Y buck come through. He presented me with a 50 yd broadside opportunity and I took it. He ran another 50 yds. before dying here.

I took him to the Checking station and he weighed in at just under 100lbs.

While I was checking him in, we ran into this bruiser at the scale....



The last day, Saturday, was a bust. It was drizzling, the guys were disorganized, and i decided not to go out.

Not long after, in regular muzzle loader, Pepe's uncle Punch killed a nice Y buck.

All in all, 2007 turned out to be the year of the 4 pointer. We confirmed a few kills with more points than four, but out of the seven deer taken, 4 were 4 pointers. I can live with that.

As a footnote, this was a considerable buck that was dispatched by an automobile.