A Long Brutal Season

[LONGSTYKES]

Tom: Sounds to me like you actually had an awesome season. I worked all season on a large muley. But I had to settle on a couple of Does. 1 Muley and 1 Whitetail. Still a great season. Good luck next year. Don

[GraniteStater]

Great story by a great story-teller.  I really enjoyed that!

[Tim]

Hey Tom....as usual great stuff!  Incredible pictures from start to finish!  

Some mighty fine bucks in your part of the country!    

[twitchstick]

Thanks for shraing your tough season. I am right there with you it was one of my hardest years ever. I had got within range of bedded 30" 3x3 mule deer with no shoot. Had my hand pulling the string twice on good bulls on a tough unit,with no shoots fired. I had a bull at 10 yards but it was during my cow hunt. I finally fill one tag out of 4 in the last week of doe hunt. It's amazing how the hard times always seem funnier as time goes on.  

[smoke1953]

Nothing there looked brutal to me, lot of great encounters. Nice pics and story TJ.

[loneviking]

Really nice story and pics. Threads like these are what got me coming over here to this forum.  You might have gotten skunked by this buck, but just think of all the things you've learned chasing that big fella!

[LoweBow]

Originally posted by smoke1953:
Nothing there looked brutal to me, lot of great encounters. Nice pics and story TJ.

Ohhh..there's a ton of comedy that TJ didn't relay!  He and I have compared notes all season as to who had the most unseen or unexpected suprise hunt killers...and he finally pulled ahead in the late seaon for the win!!  

The mad dash from work to climb in a stand ony to find the farmer 20 yards from it dumping loads of horse manure....the lady in a jogging outfit that came out of nowhere to pick up the arrow he'd missed a doe w/ earlier in the morning and not noticing him in the tree 20 yards from her..       only a couple, but that one was my favorit!!      

[joe ashton]

good job

[ti-guy]

NIIIICE!Thanks for sharing

[Fritz]

Awesome pics and story! You must have an iron will for sure! That big 6x6 would have broke my will! By the way you can't claim "skeeter" is just a KY word! We use it down in LA, too (although I wish I'd never see another one)!      

[steadman]

Great stories Tom! I would have broke the promise to myself long before you did. But good job on the choices. Hope the 6 by lived, but if not, no doubt his genetics are still around, looks like he was a scrapper. Look forward to next year!

[bofish-IL]

Great story.  Great photos. Looks like you had a very exciting season even though you didn't have the outcome you would have liked. Nice looking arrows they look just like mine.

[BTW]

thanks for sharing Tom...has me pumped for next year!

[varmint101]

Nice pictures, Tom!  Still looks like a good season, but I know what you mean.  Hope you get a crack at them this fall again!

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by LoweBow:
 

Originally posted by smoke1953:
Nothing there looked brutal to me, lot of great encounters. Nice pics and story TJ.

Ohhh..there's a ton of comedy that TJ didn't relay!  He and I have compared notes all season as to who had the most unseen or unexpected suprise hunt killers...and he finally pulled ahead in the late seaon for the win!!  

The mad dash from work to climb in a stand ony to find the farmer 20 yards from it dumping loads of horse manure....the lady in a jogging outfit that came out of nowhere to pick up the arrow he'd missed a doe w/ earlier in the morning and not noticing him in the tree 20 yards from her..           only a couple, but that one was my favorit!!           [/b]

Yeah LoweBow and I went back and forth all year with some things that would just make you roll on the floor. The lady pulling my arrow out of the ground was funny. Just another one that pops in my mind was a small group of does had stopped about 25 yards out while feeding on acorns. They were all facing me and I was up and ready to give them a go when an old Dodge pickup truck came down the road I was about a hundred yards from. This usually wouldn't be an issue as these deer are used to vehicles going by. But this Dodge was well mature in its years and it was missing badly and making loud noises. As the heap got right to where we were it let out a huge BANG backfire. Sounded like a bomb hitting the ground. I just threw my hands up in the air as I watched my sausage run over hill.

Then there was the spike buck that had a very nice buck behind him both coming down my trail. When the spike slammed on the breaks and was watching a squirrel root around in the leaves right in front of him. No big deal right? Well not this year. The spike started blowing and ran off taking the buck with him. I wasn't going to shoot either of them but that is just how my year went.

[PA stickbow boy]

cool pics, great story... but looks like a not too bad season to me!  always next year & they'll be bigger

[JamesJamison]

Beautiful pictures.  Hope you get a crack at that buck this upcoming season.

[pitbull]

All those experiences are why we hunt and make it special, if it was easy the reward wouldn't be so sweet. Congrats on a great season TJ.

[Boone the Hunter]

great story and picture's,you the man! It's hard targeting one deer like that, It's the greatest thing in the world when you score, but oh so hard if you don't after passing on some other nice bucks. At the end of the day(or season)though it's the challenge and beauty of the great outdoors that somehow make it all worth it and leaves us all staring at the calender waiting for next season.

[Otto]

TJ

Good story.  Sometimes the plan just doesn't come together.  I haven't punched a buck tag for 4 years for virtually the same reason as you this season.

Still, it's the way I choose to hunt and I'm comfortable with all my decisions.