Deer Season 2025

[BGGMKLR]

View attachment 730886
I had a wonderful experience this deer season. One of my employees was talking about working hard to get his 14 year old daughter a deer. She has hunted three seasons now and has barely seen any deer, much less shot at one.

They came up to my cabin and I set them in a blind before daylight. The deer came in and stayed just out of range , long enough for her butterflies to settle down.

I gave her the green light to shoot anything she wanted and as many as she had an opportunity for.

All said and done, she got two does and a buck! I am so happy for her and her dad!

Great 2025 deer season!!

View attachment 730886
I had a wonderful experience this deer season. One of my employees was talking about working hard to get his 14 year old daughter a deer. She has hunted three seasons now and has barely seen any deer, much less shot at one.

They came up to my cabin and I set them in a blind before daylight. The deer came in and stayed just out of range , long enough for her butterflies to settle down.

I gave her the green light to shoot anything she wanted and as many as she had an opportunity for.

All said and done, she got two does and a buck! I am so happy for her and her dad!

Great 2025 deer season!!

Well done.
You're a good man Charlie Brown.
Best
Spike

 

[Red Leg]

These two have been posing the last couple of weeks, but another year or two would help them both.

This is the one I am hoping shows up again.

 

[dchum]

These two have been posing the last couple of weeks, but another year or two would help them both.

View attachment 730903
View attachment 730904
View attachment 730905

This is the one I am hoping shows up again.
View attachment 730907

Nice mature 8 there!

 

[ActionBob]

In 2022 I decided to hunt with my .243 and got a crack at this buck and missed. That night while laying in bed not being able to sleep I decided to take @Bob Nelson 35Whelen ’s advice and sell it!

View attachment 729560I had no pics of him in 2023 but got one set of nighttime pics in 2024. This year he was back again and I got these.
View attachment 729561
View attachment 729562

I decided that this year it was going to be him or nothing and only 2 more days left that I can hunt I was resigned to the fact that it was going to be nothing. But tonight with only 10 minutes of shooting light left and after 120 hours sitting for him he finally slipped up! What a marathon it was.
View attachment 729563
View attachment 729564
View attachment 729565
View attachment 729566

Heck if you as @Bob Nelson 35Whelen you probably didn't miss. That 243 bullet just bounced off that brute. Or got scared and veared off course

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Not sure how I missed this thread earlier.

Below is the main frame 10 I took in October with the bow on my lease. Buddy took a picture of us taking photos which I thought was a pretty cool candid.

I’ve got another couple 8’s, 9’s and 10’s I’ve been watching around the house. Can’t decide if I’m going to sit for one or not. Had one of the 10’s chasing a doe around the backyard and 15 yards in front of the garage yesterday while I was in there working.

View attachment 729841View attachment 729839View attachment 729840

Little update ….

Continued to watch a big 10 and a very big mature 8pt on camera daily the last week at the house along with a slew of other bucks.

Last night, I learned the neighbor’s oldest son (9 or 10 years old) took the big 8 as his first buck. I heard the story, saw the cell phone video, and don’t think he stopped smiling once. The best part was my neighbor telling me his son had been freaking out since they saw him a month ago and was worried I’d shoot him and him “lying” to his son saying he only shoots really big stuff. Made me glad I kept putting off sitting in back and they were able to take him and experience that together.

Now I’m heading over with a couple air rifles for his to give the kids for Christmas that I’ve had sitting around. Good bye squirrels

 

[Scott CWO]

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.

 

[Wyfox]

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.

What a stud! Congrats!

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Heck if you as @Bob Nelson 35Whelen you probably didn't miss. That 243 bullet just bounced off that brute. Or got scared and veared off course

@ActionBob
It bounced off.
Bob

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Scott CWO that is an outstanding buck, congratulations!

 

[Zinz]

I mentioned earlier about this deer I’d seen last season. We got a good picture of him a month ago. This is on a buddy’s property near Beeville, TX. He doesn’t hunt at all and gave me the green light to hunt him.

I watched him and two other mature bucks yesterday morning as they worked a scrape line down a long pipeline right of way. This bucked moved into the brush just as I was about to line him up. I hunted the same stand last night and he waltzed out giving me a good shot opportunity.

As I suspected, his right pedicle is damaged. He would have never grown a typical right antler, I suspect. Nice heavy, mature buck.

Ed Z

 

[MontanaPat]

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.

Congrats Scott, that one’s a brute!

 

[ActionBob]

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.

WOW Scott, that is a deer of a lifetime! You deserve it, Congratulations

 

[John Wasmuth]

I mentioned earlier about this deer I’d seen last season. We got a good picture of him a month ago. This is on a buddy’s property near Beeville, TX. He doesn’t hunt at all and gave me the green light to hunt him.

I watched him and two other mature bucks yesterday morning as they worked a scrape line down a long pipeline right of way. This bucked moved into the brush just as I was about to line him up. I hunted the same stand last night and he waltzed out giving me a good shot opportunity.

As I suspected, his right pedicle is damaged. He would have never grown a typical right antler, I suspect. Nice heavy, mature buck.

View attachment 731169View attachment 731168

Ed Z

That is an awesome buck. Nice going.

 

[Zinz]

That is an awesome buck. Nice going.

Thanks, John

Shame this buck got hurt. His left antler had 68”, with a 22” main beam and a 5 1/4” base.

I know there’s gotta be some really big deer on this place, I wish I could spend more time down there.

@Scott CWO …that buck is tremendous! Congratulations!

Ed Z

 

[CADDIE5]

Harvested 3 does Southern Illinois 1st season with CVA Cascade XT 450bushmaster and BearCreekBallistics 240HV ammo. 2590fps muzzle. Illinois straightwall state. Single load requirement. 100yd zero. First doe scapula @137yds up .75moa. 2nd and 3rd does @225yds neck shot, up 3.5moa. Carry laminated chart 25yd intervals to 400yds. Three shot group@300yds 1.5". Didn't see any bucks.

 

[wiyofa]

Here’s my 2025 hunting report. My family now hosts 5 other hunters, including 3 grandchildren. (I only have myself to blame for their addiction). We identified 4 older bucks for harvest based on trail camera pictures, and one of them is 6 years old and we have 4 years of pictures on the property. For us that is rare as our property is less than a mile in any direction and they easily travel out of the property. The grandkids have a lot more privilege to shoot younger bucks but all hunters must take at least a doe if they want a buck. So for the season, including youth season we have taken 14 deer, including 5 bucks My season has been long mornings and evenings in the field passing young bucks, shooting does, and scouting for the rest waiting on the right age buck to make a mistake. He finally did last night. View attachment 730445This is a picture of my tractor bucket loaded with the 3 does I shot in ten minutes . Glad I have people waiting for meat. View attachment 730446My grandson with his doe and buck.View attachment 730447Just an old warrior (the buck), Roman nose and plenty of mass, thinking about where to shoot a deer as he watches at least two younger versions walking around.

Looks like a great start! Lots of deer activity with those 24 does and a couple of fans, and the peanut field with acorns and wild grapes should keep them moving. Your 700 ADL in 25-06 with 117gr Nosler Partitions is a solid choice for the season.

 

[Altitude sickness]

@Scott CWO man the mass on that buck. He looks old.
Congrats!!

 

[Wahoo]

My son and his trusty tracking dog finished out his year with a great old buck. We are thinking 6.5 years old based on previous pics. A balmy 3 degrees that day.

 

[ActionBob]

Got this buck on my second morning out at our Minnesota place (the place that's for sale). It's been a hectic year and I didn't have any cameras out nor did any scouting other than my Father in Law want around on Gina's Ranger before season and noted a lot of scrapes and rubs when we were up there a week before season. We had to head back South and then I had a business meeting come up so it gave me the opportunity to get back up during the last week of rifle season. The good part of that is that the whole World War III typical opening day was long over and i think things had calmed down. It was day 11 of our 16 day rifle season. It was also the dark period of the moon.

The first morning and evening that I hunted I was in the stand near the pond thinking 1. It was very dry so water should have been a premium. 2. That was the area with lots of good sign. Nothing but turkeys and squirrels that morning and a nice healthy young fork that evening.

The next morning I chose a different stand and shortly after sunrise a doe and two fawns (almost as big as moma) came out into a hay field and walked across back into the woods on the other side. The doe was focused on something over there looking with her ears up. From the house most mornings deer can be seen between this stand and the house so I opened the window shade that direction which almost cost me as it lit up my silhouette. About 15 minutes after that trio went into the woods I caught movement in the bushes. They were headed back. First the fawns then the doe and sure enough that buck came trotting out! But he caught my movement to put down binos and grab my rifle.... Damn why did i open that window! They didn't seem overly spooked but he moved through a gap between the trees and hills so quickly i didn't get a shot. When they were out of sight behind that hill i closed the window shade, then stayed on the gun and after several minutes the fawns cleared the hill heading right back to where they came from earlier. Then the doe and after what seemed an eternity that buck cautiously was making his way up from behind that hill. He was looking my way but finally he presented a quartering shot so i took it. He jumped and ran flat out. I felt it was a solid shot but shot again and took off rear leg at the hock. He dropped and was quickly done. Turns out the first shot broke the front of his left shoulder and was a heart lung shot exiting just behind the offside side shoulder.

I messaged my Father in Law and he drove a pickup out and held a leg for me while I field dressed it. We were both amazed at the amount of fat, especially on a broke antler buck well into the rut. This was my Father in Law's first experience with a Northern deer and he was amazed at the body size. I've certainly seen bigger but this guy was prime meat! And the shot left no tainted meat. However we couldn't lift it so simply went back and I got the Skid Loader out of the shed and soon had it loaded and we were on our way to the locker

 

[Rubberhead]

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...