Tag Archives: Hunting

April 12, 2012

Season Recap – Antler Discovery

By Greg Johnston

Four antlers, two deer and one lucky hunter. That pretty much sums up my 2011 hunting season. As documented here on AHT I killed a deer dubbed ‘The Ghost Buck’ on Nov. 19 with archery tackle in hand.

'The Ghost Buck' Mount

The only history I had with the deer was a single trail camera photo – or so I thought.

On Nov. 23 I tagged another hit list deer I had dubbed ‘The Shed Buck.’ I had both sets of sheds from the deer from the previous year. I was thrilled with the outcome of my season – one that I deem my best in my nearly quarter century hunting career.

'The Shed Buck' - And The Sheds


The story however got even better in early April when I picked up ‘The Ghost Buck’ from my taxidermist. After securing the buck in the trophy room and admiring him I recalled a set of sheds my then 3-year-old son and I had retrieved the previous year. We had found the sheds just a stone throw away where I arrowed the buck.

The Sheds

I dug through the shed pile and located the antlers in question. I held them up to the mounted animal and was amazed to see that they were a near perfect match. The deer had grown significantly, but carried the same characteristic – sweeping beams with small times, and more of them on his left side. There’s no doubt in my mind that indeed the antlers I found in 2010 are a match set to ‘The Ghost Buck.’ This discovery means I have matching sheds to both bucks I killed in 2011. You can’t ask for a more satisfying feeling in the deer hunting woods.

Proof that passing young deer grows bigger deer.

To say I’m tickled would be an understatement. We’ve put a lot of effort, time and money into growing deer on our properties.

My accomplishments in 2011 are the result of this effort. Taxidermy photos of ‘The Shed Buck’ expected in early May.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Day Afield, General Tales, Gun Hunting

October 9, 2011

When Deer Attack …

By Author

Among the several reasons I share for hunting deer, I can honestly say “self defense” has never been one of them.

After an unusual deer:human encounter last week in Preston, Idaho, I think protecting citizens from deer is a fine enough reason to hunt.

The screen shot shows the corn field where a struggle with a muley took place (image borrowed from localnews8.com)

AHT reader Jason Shell sent along the following story.

According to LocalNews8 in Idaho Falls, jogger Sue Panter was attacked by a shady mule deer as she ran alongside a corn field. She knew right away that something was unusual about the animal as it walked parallel with her as she made her way down the roadway. Could you imagine the fear?

Thankfully, for Panter, Michael Vaughan and his 17-year old daughter Alexis were able to play the roles of hero to make sure the buck didn’t kill Panter in the freak accident. And according the report, it was Alexis who should most be credited with going to combat against the muley.

The story is well worth reading. Click here for the written and video stories. Perhaps a rut-crazed young buck? Idaho officials are in search of the deer to try and figure that out.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2011, General Tales

February 8, 2011

The “Majors” of Hunting

By Author

Fresh on the heels of a fantastic Super Bowl, and just a few wake-up calls short of the biggest NASCAR race of the season – the Daytona 500 – I wonder what would be considered the “majors” for hunters.

My hunting buddy, Jason Shell, and I pondered the topic last weekend. And for the most part, he and I are in accordance with what we consider the “majors” in our hunting minds. There is no question that majors of hunting are quite a bit different from the top events in sports like golf. With hunting, it surely is a more individual thing.

Hunting elk with a bow is among this blogger's "majors" in hunting!

I think most hunters in our country would consider hunting the majestic whitetail in the midwest as one of their majors. After several trips to the corn belt, and seeing some of the deer that roam those parts, I would easily agree, and I consider chasing deer there one of my favorite pastimes.

Having the opportunity to hunt elk with a bow is one of the majors I hope to accomplish someday. It’s a dream I’ve had for a number of years. Whether it’s a do-it-yourself expedition or with an outfitter, having the chance to get within bow range on a bugling 1,000-pound elk is on my bucket list! Could you imagine? I’m envious of all my friends who have had the opportunity to do that!

Also on my to-do list is hunting mule deer, chasing a 30″ monster in the western part of this fine Union. Consider this a slight hint to a certain friend who grew up in North Logan, Utah, to think about hooking his favorite blogger up with the right folks to make that happen!

At some point in my hunting career, I’m going to schedule my spring around completing the Grand Slam in turkey hunting. Fueled partially by the end of deer and duck season and the turkey season being next on my hunting agenda, I get ridiculously excited about considering the challenge of completing the royal flush of hunting thunder chickens – successfully killing all four major subspecies of turkeys (Eastern, Merriam’s, Osceola and Rio Grande). I know of several friends who have accomplished this feat and, once again, I’m envious. This is one where family and work might make it hard to achieve until retirement, but mark my words that it will happen at some point! I can’t wait.

Much like golfers who lift above all else the possibility of holding all “majors” in one season, I can’t help but think that completing all the “majors” above in the same year would be the greatest of all hunting achievements.

Of course, it would come with a helluva taxidermy bill!

Tales: Just a heads up that the Daytona 500 will air live on Fox, Feb. 20. Green flag is slated for 1 p.m. EST.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2011, General Tales

November 24, 2010

The Hit-List Buck Falls

By Author

By Greg Johnston
AHT Guest Contributor

Grandpa always said he’d rather be lucky than good, but on opening day of the New York firearms deer season, I was a little of both.

Rewind one week to Nov. 13 when my hunting pal, John Koska, and I were hunting my family’s property in Livingston County.

The author with his Great 8 2010 NY buck


It wasn’t long into the hunt and I felt the vibration from my phone in my safety vest. The message was clear and to the point: “Shooter chasing a doe.”

After a short while John gave me a call and said he watched the buck breed the hot doe and then work past the treestand with the doe at about 25 yards. John said the doe trotted through the shooting lane and that the buck had followed. Not feeling comfortable trying to squeeze a Carbon Express arrow through the young saplings, he elected to pass the questionable shot. You have to respect that.

My question to him was “where did the buck go?” He answered “west,” and that gave me an idea. I had a treestand at the bottom of the hill where the buck seemed to be working towards and with the doe in heat I was confident he wouldn’t go far.

It took multiple encounters for this mature buck to fall

So, I packed my gear, climbed down from my stand and hiked to the truck. From there I drove around the block where I planned on entering the same block of timber, but from the west side. It’s probably about 9:30 a.m. or so at this point.

I eased up the hill and reached the stand. Once settled, I could see a flurry of activity up the hill and it wasn’t long before several does worked by. I then caught a flash of something running and knew that mature buck was exactly where I anticipated he’d be. This meant two things: First, I’d positioned myself so the shooter was now in between John and me; and Second, I was now in a position to try and kill him.

With the help of my 10x42s I could see the brute laying into a tree about 90 yards away. I watched for a few minutes and examined him. “Man, he’s got cool-looking bladed main beams,” I thought.

What now?

I decided to grunt – all while watching him through my binos. He didn’t react, so I became more aggressive with a snort wheeze. At this point I realized it wasn’t meant to be. There is no replacement for love and this bad boy was in it.

At 12:30 p.m. I called it quits, as my son’s birthday party was the next day and I had to tend to some household chores.

With that, I hung up the Bowtech for another year and headed to work for the week, waiting for the following Saturday – the opening of firearms season – to roll around.

John and I talked and decided that the “Great 8” had leapfrogged his way to the top of the hit list.

On opening morning, I was carrying my Remington 1100 Special 20 gauge and entered the woods just hoping that I’d have a chance at the buck – or at least a mature buck. The morning hours came and went with many shots fired, but none from inside the perimeters of our property.

I backed out for lunch and John, my Dad and I discussed the afternoon hunt. After a sandwich, we were back at it. I reached the stand around 2 p.m. and settled in. Shortly after, a doe and yearling worked by. From there it gets a little blurry, because I dozed off in the stand. What? You’ve never done that? Whatever…!

Okay, after my cat nap I awoke to a much calmer woods. The wind, which had been stiff out of the west, had faded and the conditions had improved.

I sat and texted back and forth with John as he was hunting a stand in the middle of our property. It wasn’t long after that I caught movement to my right. Guess who? At 85 yards I struggled to find a clear lane to squeeze a Berennke through. That is until he stopped to work a scrape. I steadied my recticle on him and fired.

Bang.

The deer whirled, ran 10 feet and stopped. Bang. I fired again. This time, he went on a dead run through the woods, but angling towards me and closing the distance. I knew the second shot had hit him, but I wasn’t sure where.

I begged him to stop. And at 60 yards my recent string of bad luck ended as he applied the brakes. Bang. I shot a third time and with that he disappeared over the nearby gully.

So, you’d rather be lucky than good? Grandpa was right! Me too. That third shot had found its mark and entered his front shoulder.

I waited awhile and eased my way along the edge of the gully. What I saw at the bottom of the gully was the end of a lengthy, season-long quest. The “Great 8” was down! I stood at the top of the bank for 10 minutes or so collecting my thoughts before descending down to put my hands on him.

I couldn’t believe it had happened. I called John and told him the news. He was pumped and made his way over for the celebration.

Now my problem was talking my wife into another taxidermy bill. It’s like Dierks Bentley sings: Man what was I thinking?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2010, Day Afield, Gun Hunting, Uncategorized