Pics from opening day of Deer season

[mhancock]

Our rifle season came in this morning and we had a great first day. I saw a number of good deer with a lot of potential and even took a nice 130 class 10 point but for some reason my camera was acting up and wouldn't focus at the range I was trying to shoot. The deer shown below were about 300-350 yards away. I'm guessing that the light fog and cloud cover was playing tricks on the auto-focus but hopefully you can enjoy the few that I am going to post.

These all appear to be two year olds or less but I watched 7 or 8 of them most of the day from my tower stand. Again, I'm sorry that they are so fuzzy. I guess I'm going to have to break down and buy a better digital camera if I want to continue photographing our deer herd.

None of these deer are legal size to shoot on my property but they are fun to watch and seeing them this healthy really makes us proud of our trophy managment program. We have been managing this property for a long time and with the help of our neighbors it is really starting to show. I saw less than one doe to every buck today and with the exception of the two little 4 points all of them had nice 6-10 point racks with 16-18" spread.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2970.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2973.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2972.jpg

This is the 10 point that I took late this afternoon and I hate that I didn't get to photograph him before the harvest but I gave up on the camera when it was getting close to dark. He dressed in right at 200lbs and should score in the mid 130's after the mandated drying period. He didn't have a lot of width or exceptional mass so that will hurt his score but the rack is very tall, has 26" main beams, and 14" tines with very few deductions. It was a nice first day after all the long hours we have put in over the last few weeks getting ready for the season to start.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2982.jpg

I think that I shared the photos below with you guys last year but these two were taken from two different areas on our hunting property, the same day, less than 5 minutes apart last November. The one I took is what I would consider a management buck since he was 6 years old, lame, and only had 7 points. The other deer is a 4 year old 11 pointer and it was my friend's largest ever so that too was a good day of hunting for us.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2151.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2149.jpg

[63 Vette]

Nice bucks !

[donho]

Holy hell!!!!
Bucks everywhere

What state is that?????????????

[9sec_5.0]

nice bucks

[mhancock]

What state is that?????????????

These pictures were taken in South GA but the quality and number of bucks is the product of many years of intense trophy management more than location alone. None of the photos of any live deer are legal to shoot on our property under trophy management rules. This is the only reason we get to sit and see deer like this on almost every hunt. Me and all my property neighbors work hard year round on these deer and the last few years has really shown a lot of promise with several really nice bucks being taken. We have the buck to doe ratio really close to even and I have honestly seen more bucks than does this year. I hope to have some new pictures of different deer to post in the morning. All of these were taken on opening morning.

[MyStang]

Awesome bucks! I miss huntin`, haven`t gone in a few years...my first kill was a 200 lb. 7-pointer!...with a crossbow!, lol...

[mhancock]

Awesome bucks! I miss huntin`, haven`t gone in a few years...my first kill was a 200 lb. 7-pointer!...with a crossbow!, lol...

WoW a 200lb 7 point. That is almost exactly the same size as the 7 point shown in this photo. I thought that was just about the largest 7 pointer I had ever heard about until now but it sounds like I am not alone with this. Mine weighed a little over 200 dressed but he was injured (possibly hit by a car) and I think he would have been a much better deer if he hadn't been carrying that old injury. He was lame and got worse thoughout the season and that was one of the only reasons I took him. I watched him most of the year and at first he just had a minor limp but by the end of the season, he couldn't walk more than about 30 yards without laying down. He didn't have any teeth and we aged him at well over 6 years old. Being a mature deer with less than 8 points qualified him as a management buck but I knew he was old and on his way down so until I saw him struggling to walk I had been passing him up. After the harvest and seeing he didn't have any teeth I realized why I kept seeing him on the food plot almost every afternoon. He more than likely couldn't eat anything except the tender grass we had planted.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2151.jpg

[jmpaint]

wow, I gotta go get the bow out!!! nice deer...:smt063

[MyStang]

WoW a 200lb 7 point. That is almost exactly the same size as the 7 point shown in this photo. I thought that was just about the largest 7 pointer I had ever heard about until now but it sounds like I am not alone with this. Mine weighed a little over 200 dressed but he was injured (possibly hit by a car) and I think he would have been a much better deer if he hadn't been carrying that old injury. He was lame and got worse thoughout the season and that was one of the only reasons I took him. I watched him most of the year and at first he just had a minor limp but by the end of the season, he couldn't walk more than about 30 yards without laying down. He didn't have any teeth and we aged him at well over 6 years old. Being a mature deer with less than 8 points qualified him as a management buck but I knew he was old and on his way down so until I saw him struggling to walk I had been passing him up. After the harvest and seeing he didn't have any teeth I realized why I kept seeing him on the food plot almost every afternoon. He more than likely couldn't eat anything except the tender grass we had planted.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2151.jpg

Mine didn`t have a very nick rack like the one in your pick., as a matter of fact, it almost resembled the shape of a bird`s nest..not a very wide spread at all. .but his body was huge, full neck, good teeth,,..estimated a few years old. Lotsa venison that year!...I`m plannin on goin during Gun season, but i gotta see how the money situation is by then. Nice to hear from sumone who enjoys huntin & racin, as much as the next!...

[Jesse Lambert]

damn i gotta get back in the woods!

[Rebel25A]

Incredible deer...alas I am stuck hunting public ground here in Indiana so deer management is not in the cards...I have been pretty fortunate though due to some good scounting and research to have found a "spot"...I have harvested a buck five seasons in a row on opening day from the same stand location...nothing as nice as yours though...my best buck ever is a 130# class 9 pointer that dressed 200 pounds...he was taken with a Remington 870 20 gauge at 75 yards on private ground my father and I had permission to hunt before he died

[mhancock]

My 10 pointer's score from this year fooled me a little. The taxidemist unofficially scored him at 144 7/8. He is still no match for the 168 over the fire place but it will look nice since I have almost a twin to him in the "study" i.e computer room.

Good story there Rebel and I know you and your dad had some great times. Mine taught me to hunt too and I lost him back in 98. He never hunted deer with any type of gun. He just liked watching them so that may be why I prefer photographing them over shooting most of the time. I have seen some nice public land deer taken too. Just scout well and it will pay off just like you mentioned.

[Dragwayman]

http://static.racingjunk.com/63/ui/2/89/9988172545185.jpg


This one I took about 3 weeks ago, I had 2 small bucks fighting in front of me and he came out to check out the fight and I took him at 75 yards. I live in Aiken County South Carolina.

I have about 160 acre tract that sits on the savannah river and we usually produce alot of deer each year.

I don't know what he scored yet but the main beams were 33" long on each side. He weighed in at 185 pounds with 8 scoreable points. I have taken my 8 year old with me all year and she is almost ready to take her first deer. We have killed 5 so far this year.

[Dragwayman]

I have a ton of footage from my land with deer fighting and alot of them within 5 yards of my stand. If I can figure out how to get it on the net I will post the link.

[Dragwayman]

http://static.racingjunk.com/63/ui/4/67/6231636171288.jpg

This is another one I took last Friday. Seems that Fridays are the good days for me, the previous picture of the 8 point I took the Friday before.
He was a nice 6 pointer at 185 pounds with a 15 inch spread. I have him on video and let him walk 2 days before but my brother and I discussed it and decided he wasnt going to get much bigger so we took him out of the fleet.

Jeff

[Shamus O'toole]

NIce!!