Hotspotoutdoors

Post those pictures here!

Remember the guidlines:
1. Pose the deer if possible, no excessive blood, no pictures from the tailgate or hanging on the gambrel.
2. Have the hunter in the photo, keep the sun in their face so the photo doesn't wash out
3. Keep the beer cans and smokes out as well
4. If it is a kid, no matter the size of the deer, post that picture, their smile makes up for deer size in a heartbeat.


Click Here if you need help on how to post pictures & images on to HSO!

Half an hour after sunup I shot a nice 9-pointer. Barnes Expander 2 3/4 12 gauge slug right in the neck/spine. Dropped in his tracks smack in the middle of the logging road, kicked twice and was done. Went back, got the pickup, drove up to him, tagged and dressed him and drove back to the lake cabin with a registered buck by 8:30.

Now for the afternoon. So many deer around the Bemidji area that I could very well spank a doe late this afternoon and be done. And if not, at least we'll have a lot of meat in the freezer.

Not a big 9-point rack. Very heavy, typical rack, main beams nearly touching in the center, but whole rack not as wide as the tips of the ears. I'd guess 3.5 years old, maybe a big 2.5. Medium-sized body. In full rut. Totally swollen neck and I could smell him as I walked up.

Not too often it's that easy. Sure is nice when a guy is lucky. This was the only acceptable view. Head-on or view of the other side was NOT pretty.

Nice looking buck!!... Green is the new Blaze

thats a good deer foss. good work.

Way to go Steve I wont even be out in the woods until Wednesday.

That picture would look a lot better if you had a bird on your head.

Great buck Steve and nice to hear deer numbers are there...I can't get out to the woods until Thursday,...

My 11 year old daughter Amanda and I were out this morning in hopes of her getting her 1st deer. She missed a small buck last year w/ her rifle and passed on a couple of fawns during this bow season.

We are in our ground blind on an ATV trail on my dad's property. About 7:30 we hear a close shot and my dad radio's that he just shot a 6 ptr. We decide to sit for a while and see if we can get as lucky. 45 minutes later we hear him shoot again.....What the heck? Turns out the buck was still alive and he had to shoot it again. By this time Amanda is jumping out of her skin to help grandpa out. We walk over and help him get his buck back to the house.



Amanda and I went out to our field blind this afternoon at 3pm. About 4:50 pm, she puts her book down and looks to the right and starts pointing. I look and see it's a spike buck that we've been seeing all fall(bowhunting). We get her rifle on the shooting sticks and we had to move her chair so she could get comfy. Some leaves crunch and the buck is looking right at us. I whisper to Amanda to take her time and squeeze the trigger. BOOM! The deer spins and hobbles off into the woods. I lost track of it, but Amanda says she saw it go down. High fives, hugs and kisses. I hand her my cell phone and she calls my dad, hardly able to talk! I don't know who was more excited.....her, me, or my dad. We sneak out of the blind and creep up to where the buck went into the woods. I'm looking w/ my binocs and see an ear on the ground. He's down for good, I turn around and high fives and hugs again.
She made a perfect, 50 yard shot, right behind the front shoulder. He only made it 20 yards before piling up.


As for a report, hardly any shooting around our area, north of Cohasset....maybe 10 shots all day. Usually we hear 30-40 shots opening day. Too warm of temps and deer are moving at night, as shown by my trail cam that's been on a scape since last Monday. All pics have been during darkness.

Congrats on a nice buck Steve!!

As for the guy's that can't get out yet, don't worry, once the temps cool off, things will get really nuts with the whitetail rut!

Brian
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Nice deer everybody!

I finally got a full time job again, good for the bank account, but bad for hours in the stand. I've been pretty much been limited to hunting weekends for the last month. Last weekend (Halloween) I sat dark to dark on Saturday. I only saw 3 deer all day!!!! Talk about slow I passed up a small 6 and a spike and saw a doe a ways out. I decided to only hunt the morning and evening of Sunday. Sunday morning I tried a different stand (ladder stand on a creek crossing). The leaves were wet and a nice shooter 8 point came running in (nearly silently) off of the deer trail. I had my bow up and ready to draw thinking he would run past, for a quartering away shot. Instead he stopped right in front of me at 10 yards with the wind in my face. I couldn't draw and he started to inspect his surroundings and noticed the big blob on the ladder. I closed my eyes and waited for what seemed like forever, but after a full minute I thought he would lower his head and resume his course. Instead he took a few bounds I was unable to get a shot off. Picked off in a ladder stand, sometimes I just hate them things. GGGGRRRRRRRR!!

Anyways I got mad and left, thinking if he saw me any other deer would too. That evening I hunted a different property. It was a hard decision to either hunt or watch the game, so I brought the headphones with and did both! I ended up passing on a doe and seeing a decent 6 point walk by too. GO VIKES!!

All week passed with me leaving the house in the dark and getting home in the dark. I heard from my neighbors and friends of the day light activity picking up fast!! I was excited for the weekend

Saturday morning came and I was in the stand for the all day, what I had hoped for EXTRAVAGANZA! It was HORRIBLE! Like the weekend previous (Halloween) I passed a different spike (7am), saw a small 6 (8am) and a doe fawn sreamed by at 3:30 pm. Three deer in 12 hours on stand!! [PoorWordUsage] Talk about a long day To say the least my spirits were low.

Last night I checked the weather forecast for the lastet wind update, and found it to be east for today. I looked in my notebook for a good stand site for that wind and decided on a funnel that is over a half mile back on some public land. (that I found last year)

To say the least I wasn't exactly thrilled when the alarm clock went off at 4:30 this morning, but I hoped this funnel would produce some activity for another all day hunt. With the gps in hand and my climber on my pack I found my way to the spot. I had only passed two scrapes and a few fresh rubs on the way in (1100 yards of walking). Nothing spectacular.

The funnel itself is a bridge of dry land between about a 10 acre swamp and a 5-7 acre pond. I already had a tree picked out to cover the 30 yard span. On the deer trail passing through I quickly made a mock scrape and dumped some tink's on it. (putting out scent is something I rarely do.) My thought was that this scrape might stop a buck that is running through the funnel and present a shot without having to grunt to stop him.

I set up my climber and maxed out my hoist rope, my feet were at 25 feet. The wind was perfect and I had a chip shot to the trail.
I wasn't sitting for very long and about 6:45 I saw some movement coming around the swamp. The deer was about 60 yards away trotting right towards the funnel. I saw antlers and stood up with bow in hand. As the buck closed within 30 yards I decided he was a shooter and drew back my bow. He merged right onto the main trail that crossed right in front of me and was closing ground fast! My shooting lanes aren't much of lanes (can't cut trees down on public land), but the mock scrape I had made earlier stopped him perfectly in a small opening!! 15 yards away, 25 feet up, the shot was steep, but I sunk a perfect arrow through his chest as he was peeing on the mock scrape!

The arrow didn't pass through, lodging in the opposite front shoulder. I watched as he srambled throuth the brush, he was nearly out of site then suddenly piled up about 70 yards away!

I let out a few hoots of celebration, hoping nobody was close enough to hear They would have have thought it was the biggest owl ever LOL

I climbed down and packed up then walked over to check him out. He was a nice 10 point, not huge, not my biggest, but a buck like that is good enough to ride in the back of Brandon Meyer's truck anyday!

Thats a dandy he could ride in the back of mine any day too

That's a beauty, B-man!

My 11 yr old sons 1st deer 8 pt.
Really a big day for my son, even a bigger day for Dad!

Congrats to you and your and son, his first deer is almost if not even more memorable then your first deer if your anything like me.

good job to the kid, just next time make sure the gun isnt pointed at himself when taking pictures, safety first.

Sunday at 11:15 am this small 7 pointer was taken by me from around 150 yards. I had a heck of a time dragging it out from the cold swamp muddy waters. A picture of my son going out deer hunting for the first time with me. It was more of a camping trip for him but he made me proud.

Congrats to all.. love the picts with the kids in them!!!

Congrats to all. Nice archery buck B-Man.

Shot this guy the afternoon before rifle opener. He was chasing does all day but I finally caught him alone and grunted him into range.

Well here is my doe. First with my bow since '05 so it was nice to stick one again. Now im out looking for a mature buck since got so meat in the freezer. If it all works out i'll be sure to post pics.

20yd shot good size doe.

Good eating right there - looks like you hit her perfect. Congratulations.

That's a great pic - congratulations!!

Heres a pic of the 8 pointer i shot at 5:10 opening evening! shot it at about 50 yards and dropped him on the spot

I got my two tags filled out by 8:55 saturday morning. quickest I have filled out, and biggest buck to date.

the doe popped out into the clear cut first and then I saw him dogging her hard. I brought up my gun to get a better look, I didn't even realize how big he was until I got up to him. they were 150 yards north of me so I couldn't really tell. After they stayed in the trash for 5 minutes I finally spotted the doe and she was shootable for a long time but I fixed my crosshairs on the buck until he presented a clean shot, one step and I sent the bullet his way making him just drop, I had a doe tag too so when she just stood there looking at him I just had to, Ka-Boom.... Thwap! 2 deer in 3 seconds.

just a reminder...
pics taken in the feild before feild dressing look much better.

good looking deer everyone. congrats