Deer Season 2025

[dchum]

Green net 134 6/8" (I think) was 136 5/8" gross but almost no deductions because of symmetry. It was a 50 yard shot...

Beautiful buck

 

[BigGame]

Hunting in Maine with my daughter. Made a lifetime of memories she'll have with dad. This was her second trip with me and I'm glad she came back. I made her drive the Silverado HD in 4WD the entire week in the great northern woods. The success on this trip was a safe experience. I'm looking forward to next year!

 

[Rubberhead]

Beautiful buck

Thank you. I saw him at about 140 yards but it was in a narrow gap. By the time I switched from the binoculars to the gun, he had stepped into a patch of woods we call "The Thicket". (The woods on the left in the video) Of course, things change and the thicket really isn't that thick anymore. It was November 26th and our "rut" (whatever that is) is all but over but I hit him with a grunt call hoping he still had a little fight left in him. It took about 20 minutes but he came out and seemed to me to be looking either for a doe or the buck that had just grunted. As I learned in Africa, I made a heart shot and he only went about 30 yards.

 

[3chunter]

Green net 134 6/8" (I think) was 136 5/8" gross but almost no deductions because of symmetry. It was a 50 yard shot...

That’s a grown one for SC. Congrats.

 

[3chunter]

I got lucky this year outwest.

 

[Atticus]

South Georgia buck I was fortunate enough to take last week with my 9.3x62

 

[Sabre]

View attachment 731144
I got this bruiser this morning in Colorado on the Eastern Plains. A client missed it three times several days ago and it went nocturnal. I found it again this morning and had to take a long 450 yard shot across a picked cornfield. 10x8 and scores 177”! It’s my best white-tailed deer. I’m always guiding mule deer so I don’t get a chance to hunt white-tailed deer very often. I am very grateful for the opportunity to get this big buck.

That is a buck of a lifetime! Congratulations. Do you have any more photos you could post of it? It is really cool how a bunch of his tines split like that.

 

[ActionBob]

Ten days after the Minnesota rifle season, the Kansas rifle season opens. We had Grand plans for Gina, her dad, her son, and granddaughter Lilly to all make it out with priority being to get a nice mule deer buck for Gina's dad and son. And to get hunting pictures with all 4 Generations. Gina's son had his work days off scheduled, he also made the wise decision to pull Lilly out of school and couple days so she could learn some real life stuff

Well the best laid plans of mice and men... We all got sick.... But of course i had business commitments tire in to that trip also... Gina had planned to introduce Lilly to our very busy calf nursery while I was working... It was going to be a great trip!

I took the trophy to

Gina was really feeling rough but I felt I needed to go as I had business that was best done in person.... Gina assured me I was past the contagious period. So I drove up alone.

Actually made it a day early so went out and discarded little scouting the day before season. With about 3000 acres to hunt and being open pivots seeded to winter wheat or Tritacale, with some fairly big area of sage brush in the Sandhills between some fields, the method i use to hunt is spot and stalk. Often the stalks can be a good half mile and quite fun using the terrain mostly as cover. That morning of scouting went pretty typical. I chose a spot to glass from and soon spotted a doe and two fawns to my left. Determining they were alone i scanned to the right just as a small herd of about a dozen animals was emerging 350 yards away from the sage and grazing the wheat. This group was about half bucks. One wss a decent one and the crest were young 3x3 and 4x4's and smaller. Two seemed a bit older with one of those being respectable however as I got the spotting scope i really wanted him to walk another year or two. Although for a first mule deer he would have sufficed so it was with mixed feelings I contemplated the desire to see him mature more and if Gina's family had made it this was a real candidate. However I decided I would not shoot him myself. That was used up that prime hour before during and after sunrise. However I took a long drive back through most of the rest of the property and saw more deer but no shooters. The afternoon got very busy with work and I didn't make ot back out for more scouting.

So as I got up the next morning I didn't have a great plan of action other than hope a better buck might be around. Not sure why but I went to that same spot to start gassing. There are thousands of acres of scrub sage across the road as well as to the North along with fields, and more fields to the South so deer can have in and out pretty quickly. Some does were around but not the group of bucks. As the sun was rising a service truck pulled up to a well in the distance. He was there for a bit then flashed his lights. I wasn't sure what to make of it but was done looking in that area and wanted to drive West to check other areas and as I did, the group from the day before came over a hill... I think the oil service guy was signaling that he saw this deer. Of course that buck stopped brosdside at 142 yards (has Gina's Swaro range finder binos) but I just confirmed he needed a year or two

After that excitement I cruised over ti another spot in the middle of 4 pivots and spotted a coyote posing that got to enjoy the sun because I didn't want to spook any deer. Stalking over a hill i spotted a new group and again several young bucks and then saw one that warrented closer inspection. These were quite far off so I got some landmarks pegged and hiked around a couple big sand hills and then snuck up what I thought should be the ladt one to be under 300 yards but nothing. So backed out and circled way around to get the wind right. Then topped a hill and the whole group was right there at about 240 yards. The best buck was not huge but looked old. And the strange this is he was sitting like a dog! I took a few seconds and decided to take this buck, again wishing I was the guide and not the shooter. I had shooting sticks and got on them with my Ruger Express 300 Win Mag and the buck was now standing looking straight at me so a frontal shot was what I had. Pulled trigger and he flipped over backwards as the rest flushed out of there like a flock of quail! Twice as many deer flushed out of that sage as I expected. I had lost sight of the buck so I kept watch for a minute in case he got up but nothing. So pegged the spot and weed down to find him laying there facing away. Hit his heart and the Trophy Bonded bullet was back in the guts. The lungs were mush.

Huge thick neck on this old guy. I called our service manager and he said he'd get a helper and come out with a pickup. By the time they got there I had the deer field dressed and drug uphill to the road. Took all three of us to load him. Sure do wish Gina's family could have made it. Hopefully next year

 

[steve white]

Mulie/white tail hybrid?
Congrats! Hope the family all got well.

 

[ActionBob]

Mulie/white tail hybrid?
Congrats! Hope the family all got well.

Yea it does seem to have whitetail type horns. The nearest whitetail population is about 7 miles North along the Arkansas River. But these non typical mule deer antlers seem to be somewhat prevalent in the area.

 

[ActionBob]

Mulie/white tail hybrid?
Congrats! Hope the family all got well.

Yes the family had a nasty stomach bug but everyone has recovered. Unfortunately Gina's son had work commitments and her dad had appointments so they could not make the second week of season either. Her son talked about trying with a bow but a mule deer with a bow out there is a big ask

 

[Red Leg]

I am sipping two fingers of an Aberlour 15 and feeling rather noble as I type this. These two fellows showed up this morning. I am bit over two hundred yards away behind the black dot in the picture to the left of the feeder. Both walked to the edge of the trees for a second course of acorns, posing for twenty minutes or so. I aged the smaller one at 3 1/2 and the larger at 4 1/2. The eight-point horn configuration is identical, so I assume they are likely brothers a year apart. Should they survive, they could be special for our area in the next couple of years. After counting coup a dozen times, I let them walk. We don't need another for the freezer, and I don't have much interest feeding the hungry with one of "my" deer from our place.

 

[Red Leg]

View attachment 733472View attachment 733473View attachment 733474
Ten days after the Minnesota rifle season, the Kansas rifle season opens. We had Grand plans for Gina, her dad, her son, and granddaughter Lilly to all make it out with priority being to get a nice mule deer buck for Gina's dad and son. And to get hunting pictures with all 4 Generations. Gina's son had his work days off scheduled, he also made the wise decision to pull Lilly out of school and couple days so she could learn some real life stuff

Well the best laid plans of mice and men... We all got sick.... But of course i had business commitments tire in to that trip also... Gina had planned to introduce Lilly to our very busy calf nursery while I was working... It was going to be a great trip!

I took the trophy to

Gina was really feeling rough but I felt I needed to go as I had business that was best done in person.... Gina assured me I was past the contagious period. So I drove up alone.

Actually made it a day early so went out and discarded little scouting the day before season. With about 3000 acres to hunt and being open pivots seeded to winter wheat or Tritacale, with some fairly big area of sage brush in the Sandhills between some fields, the method i use to hunt is spot and stalk. Often the stalks can be a good half mile and quite fun using the terrain mostly as cover. That morning of scouting went pretty typical. I chose a spot to glass from and soon spotted a doe and two fawns to my left. Determining they were alone i scanned to the right just as a small herd of about a dozen animals was emerging 350 yards away from the sage and grazing the wheat. This group was about half bucks. One wss a decent one and the crest were young 3x3 and 4x4's and smaller. Two seemed a bit older with one of those being respectable however as I got the spotting scope i really wanted him to walk another year or two. Although for a first mule deer he would have sufficed so it was with mixed feelings I contemplated the desire to see him mature more and if Gina's family had made it this was a real candidate. However I decided I would not shoot him myself. That was used up that prime hour before during and after sunrise. However I took a long drive back through most of the rest of the property and saw more deer but no shooters. The afternoon got very busy with work and I didn't make ot back out for more scouting.

So as I got up the next morning I didn't have a great plan of action other than hope a better buck might be around. Not sure why but I went to that same spot to start gassing. There are thousands of acres of scrub sage across the road as well as to the North along with fields, and more fields to the South so deer can have in and out pretty quickly. Some does were around but not the group of bucks. As the sun was rising a service truck pulled up to a well in the distance. He was there for a bit then flashed his lights. I wasn't sure what to make of it but was done looking in that area and wanted to drive West to check other areas and as I did, the group from the day before came over a hill... I think the oil service guy was signaling that he saw this deer. Of course that buck stopped brosdside at 142 yards (has Gina's Swaro range finder binos) but I just confirmed he needed a year or two

After that excitement I cruised over ti another spot in the middle of 4 pivots and spotted a coyote posing that got to enjoy the sun because I didn't want to spook any deer. Stalking over a hill i spotted a new group and again several young bucks and then saw one that warrented closer inspection. These were quite far off so I got some landmarks pegged and hiked around a couple big sand hills and then snuck up what I thought should be the ladt one to be under 300 yards but nothing. So backed out and circled way around to get the wind right. Then topped a hill and the whole group was right there at about 240 yards. The best buck was not huge but looked old. And the strange this is he was sitting like a dog! I took a few seconds and decided to take this buck, again wishing I was the guide and not the shooter. I had shooting sticks and got on them with my Ruger Express 300 Win Mag and the buck was now standing looking straight at me so a frontal shot was what I had. Pulled trigger and he flipped over backwards as the rest flushed out of there like a flock of quail! Twice as many deer flushed out of that sage as I expected. I had lost sight of the buck so I kept watch for a minute in case he got up but nothing. So pegged the spot and weed down to find him laying there facing away. Hit his heart and the Trophy Bonded bullet was back in the guts. The lungs were mush.

Huge thick neck on this old guy. I called our service manager and he said he'd get a helper and come out with a pickup. By the time they got there I had the deer field dressed and drug uphill to the road. Took all three of us to load him. Sure do wish Gina's family could have made it. Hopefully next year

Great deer - congrats.

 

[dchum]

I am sipping two fingers of an Aberlour 15 and feeling rather noble as I type this. These two fellows showed up this morning. I am bit over two hundred yards away behind the black dot in the picture to the left of the feeder. Both walked to the edge of the trees for a second course of acorns, posing for twenty minutes or so. I aged the smaller one at 3 1/2 and the larger at 4 1/2. The eight-point horn configuration is identical, so I assume they are likely brothers a year apart. Should they survive, they could be special for our area in the next couple of years. After counting coup a dozen times, I let them walk. We don't need another for the freezer, and I don't have much interest feeding the hungry with one of "my" deer from our place.View attachment 733718

you are a good man!

Nothing worse than shooting a buck and then feeling even the slightest bit of regret or second thoughts. I’ve learned that the hard way a couple of times unfortunately

I think your discretion with those to bucks will pay off swimmingly in the next few years

Enjoy the scotch…

 

[HankBuck]

I am sipping two fingers of an Aberlour 15 and feeling rather noble as I type this. These two fellows showed up this morning. I am bit over two hundred yards away behind the black dot in the picture to the left of the feeder. Both walked to the edge of the trees for a second course of acorns, posing for twenty minutes or so. I aged the smaller one at 3 1/2 and the larger at 4 1/2. The eight-point horn configuration is identical, so I assume they are likely brothers a year apart. Should they survive, they could be special for our area in the next couple of years. After counting coup a dozen times, I let them walk. We don't need another for the freezer, and I don't have much interest feeding the hungry with one of "my" deer from our place.View attachment 733718

@Red Leg - Have you tried the Aberlour A’BUNADH? It can be hard to find and not cheap ($80 to $140 depending on where you buy it). It’s cast strength so every batch slightly different but usually 110-120 proof - still very smooth. Two fingers is a “good start”. If you get one of those nice bucks next year maybe consider celebrating with one.

 

[ActionBob]

View attachment 733472View attachment 733473View attachment 733474
Ten days after the Minnesota rifle season, the Kansas rifle season opens. We had Grand plans for Gina, her dad, her son, and granddaughter Lilly to all make it out with priority being to get a nice mule deer buck for Gina's dad and son. And to get hunting pictures with all 4 Generations. Gina's son had his work days off scheduled, he also made the wise decision to pull Lilly out of school and couple days so she could learn some real life stuff

Well the best laid plans of mice and men... We all got sick.... But of course i had business commitments tire in to that trip also... Gina had planned to introduce Lilly to our very busy calf nursery while I was working... It was going to be a great trip!

I took the trophy to

Gina was really feeling rough but I felt I needed to go as I had business that was best done in person.... Gina assured me I was past the contagious period. So I drove up alone.

Actually made it a day early so went out and discarded little scouting the day before season. With about 3000 acres to hunt and being open pivots seeded to winter wheat or Tritacale, with some fairly big area of sage brush in the Sandhills between some fields, the method i use to hunt is spot and stalk. Often the stalks can be a good half mile and quite fun using the terrain mostly as cover. That morning of scouting went pretty typical. I chose a spot to glass from and soon spotted a doe and two fawns to my left. Determining they were alone i scanned to the right just as a small herd of about a dozen animals was emerging 350 yards away from the sage and grazing the wheat. This group was about half bucks. One wss a decent one and the crest were young 3x3 and 4x4's and smaller. Two seemed a bit older with one of those being respectable however as I got the spotting scope i really wanted him to walk another year or two. Although for a first mule deer he would have sufficed so it was with mixed feelings I contemplated the desire to see him mature more and if Gina's family had made it this was a real candidate. However I decided I would not shoot him myself. That was used up that prime hour before during and after sunrise. However I took a long drive back through most of the rest of the property and saw more deer but no shooters. The afternoon got very busy with work and I didn't make ot back out for more scouting.

So as I got up the next morning I didn't have a great plan of action other than hope a better buck might be around. Not sure why but I went to that same spot to start gassing. There are thousands of acres of scrub sage across the road as well as to the North along with fields, and more fields to the South so deer can have in and out pretty quickly. Some does were around but not the group of bucks. As the sun was rising a service truck pulled up to a well in the distance. He was there for a bit then flashed his lights. I wasn't sure what to make of it but was done looking in that area and wanted to drive West to check other areas and as I did, the group from the day before came over a hill... I think the oil service guy was signaling that he saw this deer. Of course that buck stopped brosdside at 142 yards (has Gina's Swaro range finder binos) but I just confirmed he needed a year or two

After that excitement I cruised over ti another spot in the middle of 4 pivots and spotted a coyote posing that got to enjoy the sun because I didn't want to spook any deer. Stalking over a hill i spotted a new group and again several young bucks and then saw one that warrented closer inspection. These were quite far off so I got some landmarks pegged and hiked around a couple big sand hills and then snuck up what I thought should be the ladt one to be under 300 yards but nothing. So backed out and circled way around to get the wind right. Then topped a hill and the whole group was right there at about 240 yards. The best buck was not huge but looked old. And the strange this is he was sitting like a dog! I took a few seconds and decided to take this buck, again wishing I was the guide and not the shooter. I had shooting sticks and got on them with my Ruger Express 300 Win Mag and the buck was now standing looking straight at me so a frontal shot was what I had. Pulled trigger and he flipped over backwards as the rest flushed out of there like a flock of quail! Twice as many deer flushed out of that sage as I expected. I had lost sight of the buck so I kept watch for a minute in case he got up but nothing. So pegged the spot and weed down to find him laying there facing away. Hit his heart and the Trophy Bonded bullet was back in the guts. The lungs were mush.

Huge thick neck on this old guy. I called our service manager and he said he'd get a helper and come out with a pickup. By the time they got there I had the deer field dressed and drug uphill to the road. Took all three of us to load him. Sure do wish Gina's family could have made it. Hopefully next year

The taxidermist aged this deer at over 8 years. The oldest deer I've ever taken.

That Minnesota deer was taken with a Ruger African in 275 Rigby loaded with Federal blue box 175 grain 7x57 ammo which it shoots very well. I used that rifle extensively in Africa on several night critters including a very big hyena and a honey badger.

 

[Daggaboy375]

Socastee/Horry hunter here.

Mature does here are 100# to 120#. There are some big boys in the swamp but unless they are looking for a date, they like moving in the dark.

Taking my new Ruger African 35 Whelen tonight to see if I can score some meat.

DB

 

[jduckhunter]

My deer hunting this year started in Wyoming with a decent 4 x 5 in Oct. with my 30-06

Then on to Texas in Nov. for a nice 10 pt. also with my 30-06

And a few weeks ago here in PA a broken off 4 pt. with my 300 Blk.

 

[WAB]

Shot a decent buck tonight. Unfortunately it was too dark for pictures. Taken with my No 1 in .275 Rigby.

 

[HankBuck]

Shot a decent buck tonight. Unfortunately it was too dark for pictures. Taken with my No 1 in .275 Rigby.

View attachment 735571

@WAB that’s a nice Late Season buck, congratulations !
—- I’d be happy to see one like that in daylight before my Season ends this year….it’s been a tough year for racked bucks (8pts or 3 1/2 yrs old or better - my self imposed minimum). Your effort and perseverance adds to that trophy.