2018 Indiana Deer Season Thread

This will be our 2018 Indiana Deer Season Hunting Thread. Me, as I am sure many others, would love to see all kills taken this year. Pics and stories will be much appreciated! With the urban season beginning this weekend I figured it was an alright time to go ahead and post this! I am looking forward to an awesome and blessed season and can't wait to see all the booners ya'll can smoke this season!

Been passing on bucks the last two years so Im due a good un'...........h.h.

Good luck to all !

Killed a decent doe on Saturday evening on Cedar Branch Farms. Shot her with my old reliable 44 mag. Can't thank the guys down there enough for having me down for the youth season hunts. Will try to have a picture up sometime soon! Good luck to all!

Congrats Magnum!
Was that your last youth hunt, or do you have another yr?

to darn hot to even think about going out ... yet ... new hatch of skeeters and the eye gnats by the billions right now ... maybe I'll get out by the end of the week, but the weather forecast still shows warmth for the next 10 days or so .... maybe if we get a cool morning, but I'm not fond of morning hunts this time of year .. no rush, I didnt get out till the 9th last season because of the heat and still had a good season ... the older I get, the wiser I hunt ...

No sir Bo, I get to hunt next year as well thankfully... according to dnr law. Yes, it sucks that the heat is coming back just a bit, I'll be looking forward to what next week brings in temps, probably just gonna try to turkey hunt this week and do a tad bit of deer hunting this weekend.

congrats mag !

I took a decent doe in September in a Reduction Zone.


Last weekend, I took Sydney (my youngest) out for her last Youth Weekend. She bow hunts so youth weekend has kind of lost the excitement since we just roll into regular bow season and she prefers hunting in late October now anyway ... but we went more for sentimental reasons. We saw some does both mornings. I made her pass on a doe that she could have easily killed on Sunday morning because it was getting late into the sit and she had to be at a team tennis match in a couple of hours. Dealing with a deer and making it to tennis at that point would have been tough. I don't think she was too happy with me that I had to reign her in when she was getting into kill mode ... LOL. We had fun though. You can see the look in her eyes in the walking out picture that she wasn't too happy that I didn't let her drop the string on that doe ... LOL. Great memories!

Congrats to all so far. This cold weather should get them moving. We had a young 9-pointer get smacked by a car on the highway in front of our house this morning. The police gave me the carcass, so I'm on the board with some venison at least

Some video I took this morning of a 2.5yo 8pt chasing a small doe around

The past few days the younger bucks have been moving pretty decent up here. The big boys have gone pretty quiet in terms of movement, at least from what my cameras are showing. But that should change about any moment.

I went and sat in my box blind yesterday afternoon because it was pouring rain on and off, and I was tired of sitting around the house. I did not expect to see any deer, I just really wanted to be out in the woods/fields. In between some rain this nice tom strolled in with a couple of his buddies. Since it was the last day of turkey season and the fact that these birds get my blood pumping, I let a broadhead fly. Shot him at about 5 yards, he went maybe 6 feet and died. I never did see a deer last night.

Very nice, congrats on the Tom.

Watched a 160" class 10pt harass does this morning @ 8:30 and checked 5 scrapes before ducking into thicket. Some big boys on their feet on our cams as well, more often. Seeing some staining on some does as well. Almost primetime fellas.

great Tom, good job

Can't wait to get back into the woods. I went last Friday morning and saw 4 bucks....not quite shooters yet. The first two were together but then split off at my stand. The other two were moving pretty quick and seemed to be looking for the ladies. Saturday morning was awesome. Had a small buck come cruising through right at light and then a dark antlered beauty came running right to me and stopped right in front of me. His antlers were so dark I couldn't make the decision quick enough whether he was bigger than what I had on the wall already. He had a ton of points though. He began trotting away again looking for a doe and I couldn't get him to stop. I was going to take the shot if he let me.

Next week or so should be really good at least where I'm at. (Martinsville) Hope to seal the deal before the gun season puts the big boys in hiding.

Good luck to you all.

Bucks are slow around here. Some 1.5 and 2.5 yr old chasing, but the big boys seem to be staying lazy. Should spike up at any time.

I hunted Friday morning and evening, Saturday morning and evening, and then Sunday morning. 5 different stands across two farms. I never saw a single deer in those 5 sits. I checked cameras also and in the past week, there has been little to no activity on cameras that up until that point were getting tons of photos. One camera that was on what had been a hot scrape got three pictures in 7 days, all of a squirrel. The deer activity just fell off a cliff for some reason, which I don't ever recall happening for the last few days of October and into the first few of November.

It can only go up from here I guess ... LOL.

saw two small bucks on their feet this morning

Friday evening I had two does come right by me and stand in front of me for about 5 minutes. I sat there and waited... and waited... and waited for a buck to come in with his head down and tail up following them, but that sight never occurred. The first doe finally caught whiff of my scent as she had circled downwind. She blows and runs off. The other doe doesn't mind what her girlfriend is saying and stands in front of me, broadside, for about another minute. Finally deciding there was no buck coming in I sent an arrow right through her pump station as I have some relatives who want the meat. I shot her at about 6:40 and let it get dark before I started tracking. Less than an hour after shooting her, my buddies and I heard a coyote start howling about 50 yrds from us. We attempted to scare them off and about an hour later we found my deer mauled and torn up. Very upsetting. Looking forward to getting out and busting those yotes after deer season. Saturday morning, had a 2.5 yr 7 point run right by me with his nose up a doe. Later on, two more does. Nothing Sat night and didn't make it out yesterday.

Back in 2012, Jess Stuart from Sierra Blanca Bows, made me this beautiful bow. I killed a deer several years with it and hunt with it regularly. I pulled it out this year since I have not taken the time to really get comfortable with one of my selfbows and I shoot this one really well. Saturday morning this doe gave me a second chance after a hurried whiff over her back at 20 yards. She came back around thanks to the beauty of a quiet recurve. The second shot was perfect and she only went 50 yards and died in seconds. Monroe County, public land.

Why the heck did that post upside down?

Congrats on your recurve Doe.

And I fixed your image

Thanks!

The Indiana DNR posted the kill count for the 2018 deer season so far. I believe it was only a little over 20,000. Does that seem low or normal? Never really paid attention before this early so I don't really know.

We were just under 21k this time, last year.

Oh alright. So it's about normal. Thanks!

Great trad kill John!

John--that's awesome!

I got an eight pointer last night. First one using a decoy. He locked in and came in on a rope! 10 yd shot from the ground

Hey Chevy. Thanks. Where's the pic? You going to Turkey Run Monday? Check your PMs. Thanks.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/VUaIzYX.jpg?1[/img]

Nice 76. Well done.

Before & After.... haha
Nice buck 76, congrats

Nice one, congrats on your success.

Heck yea 76! Decoying bucks is so much fun. Congrats!

Congratulations 76!

Couple pics and video from this morning...

Nice pics & video. That youngster could be a dandy in a year or two.

Love the photos of that buck!

This button buck just really wanted his butt scratched, so I obliged with the carabiner on my pull rope, haha.

Nice shot Justin!

What a weekend this past one was! I went Saturday morning and right out of the gate 10 minutes into legal time in a sideways snow storm I saw a body of what I thought was a good deer about 75 yards through the woods and just into a thin spot in the standing corn. I grunted at him, he picked his head up, and ran to 40 yards and stopped behind some trees. As I tried to dissect what he was I knew he was pretty good but still couldn't tell if I liked what I saw or not. He turned away and started to leave so I hit the grunt hard one more time. He turned on a dime and circled out around in front of me. I kept catching glimpses of a tall brow tine and decided to grab the bow. At 30 yards in what I thought was a clear opening I stopped him and let an arrow fly. I saw the lighted nock blow through further back than I had hoped. I watched him run through an open bean field and disappear where my corn field meets a neighbor's woods. I let him lay until noon when my daughter Sydney got home from volunteering at a church coat bank. Together we took out after him. We ended up finding him about 150 yards from where I shot him. Pure liver shot. I am 99% sure the arrow hit some small branches that were a couple yards my side of the deer that I never saw and diverted the arrow just a bit back. Just a solid 8 pointer. Long left beam and long brow on the left side. I think I have photos of him in my archives but not totally sure. I didn't get the shot on video because the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't keep the camera on him, as the wind would blow it to the side when I let go. So no video.

After getting him back to the house, Sydney said she wanted to go hunt, so we loaded up and went to another farm of mine for the last two hours of the day. We had not been in the stand 10 minutes and we were entertained with multiple bucks chasing many does all over around us for the better part of an hour. Fun to watch, frustrating too as rut hunting can be. Every time I thought it would happen for her the zigging and zagging of deer not wanting to fully commit to the season of love would end in a close but not quite close enough situation. Then all of the sudden we see a lone young buck cruising. I hit the grunt tube one time and he turned on a dime and came right to us. He walked across the ice of a frozen swamp right to us. At 20 yards Sydney drew and stayed with him. He walked straight at us and at 10 yards stopped facing us. I whispered "he has to turn, wait until he turns". It felt like forever and then he turned to his right. He took a step and I stopped him for her and said "there it is". She took her time, buried the pin behind his shoulder and let an arrow fly. Perfect text book double lung shot. He trotted about 50 yards, stopped, and stood. After several seconds his butt swayed and then ultimately he fell. She got to watch the whole thing. Just text book how you always picture it to be in your mind. We laughed, hugged, and celebrated as if she had just killed a Booner.

What a Saturday for us and one that I doubt will ever happen again. On Sunday after we got home from church, we got both deer out and shot some photos. Then the skinning (I hate skinning cold deer) and work began. Later that evening I got a text from a great buddy of mine that he had shot a good one as well, so last night I went and helped him drag out a mid 130's 10 pointer. His boy had arrowed his first deer that morning as well, a button. Just an AWESOME weekend of deer hunting fun and great memories.

Congrats to you both! You gotta love hunting the rut.

Congrats everyone. Very slow on the rut front where I am at. I did shoot a nice one 2 hours into my week long vacation Saturday morning. 8:30 am he came thru shot him at 5 yards, he didn’t even run walked 50 yards bedded down and died within sight. 154 5/8 gross. Not sure how to post pics but I’ll try and figure it out. Good luck and stay safe...

Sunday morning was a fun one. I hunt a great spot in western IN and have a stand right in the middle of the action during the rut. The tree I sit has a neighboring cedar tree that is always rubbed and inevitably has a scrape under it somewhere.

As I settled in, the sun was rising behind me and the woods looked like they lit up. A good south wind blew my scent over the marsh and lake to my right. About 9:30, 2 does walked over the ridge in front of me and off to my left on a trail about 40 yards away offering no shots. I imagined a buck would soon be following. Less than 5 minutes later a small buck did just that. And 2 minutes later, another larger one followed. I decided I was watching the wrong trail 😊

I got down and stood/knelt by the largest tree (maybe 8”), near the trail in my leafy suit. 2 minutes later the does worked back the way they had come originally. The bigger one sort of saw me and veered off but then calmed down and gave me a 20-yard broadside shot; but an unperceived rose bush swallowed up my shot. Tunnel vision! Just no actual tunnel. The does ran off snorting the whole way. I am sure there was no damage done to them.

I was smart enough to think that a buck would be following, and no sooner had I thought that, a buck grunt came from down the trail. I knelt and became as small as I could with almost no cover. He worked his way right at me and 5 yards away decided this bush looked weird and he about-faced. But he came across that luscious doe smell and continued dogging her. He got to the one window I had at 15 yards and I bleated him to stop. The shot looked great, a bit high but in the goodies. I heard what sounded like a crash not 50 yards away.

I gave it 30 minutes and quickly came upon my arrow. It had blown through him and was painted red. I started trailing and found no blood the first 10 yards or so. A large log laid across the trail and I stood on it to get a higher vantage point and see the lovely site of a dead deer where I thought I heard the crash. He ran maybe 50 yards total with blood starting at 20 yards due to the high hit. The hit got the back of both lungs and a bit of the liver.

It was the second buck I saw dogging the does in the first place. He is my first buck from the ground with a recurve. I am very happy with him and so impressed with the efficiency of a heavy arrow out of a trad bow. I shot him with my Sierra Blanca bow from the 2012 TradGang Swap that Jess Stuart made for me. It’s 47# @ 27” shooting a GoldTip blem and a Ribtek 190.

Congrats on the trad buck John!

So when I try to load the picture off my phone it says the file is to big. Anyone know a quick fix?

Resize the pic

Real nice John. Way to improvise and get 'er done!

There you go Trad...wow that's a beauty!

Killed a 164lb 2.5 yr old 8 pt Friday the 9th, first day out on vacation #2 .... been a very sluggish season, getting a good Doe in range has been next to impossible on the F&W area ... called the buck in from 100 yds out, double lung at 21 yds, watched him go down about 60 yds away ... the first vacation was a bust, only had a spike and a busted rack 3 pt in range, didnt even see a good buck, and as for a Doe, they were non-existent so to speak, hunted 6 out of 9 days, with 3 all day sits .... I couldnt believe how slow it was with no sightings.. of any deer .... smh .. so when vacation #2 started, I told myself the first decent Doe or 2.5 yr old or old gets a visit to the freezer, glad this guy cooperated ..

Got lucky and scored yesterday when this buck decided to do some cruising in the early afternoon. Made a heart shot on him and he traveled about 30 yards before tipping over. Although I had gotten a few trail cam pics of this buck, this was my first live encounter with him. Felt very fortunate to be able take advantage of our first meeting

Congrats.... Great picture and shot placement!

Nice one!

Congrats

Still Ice on trees..... need sun

Here is a video of the deer that I shot on Saturday as he came in. Sadly, technical difficulties prevented me from getting the kill on video. Basically, I bought a new camera arm before season and I didn't have the section joints tight enough to prevent strong winds from pushing the camera around on me. The winds were howling on Saturday morning and every time I let go of the camera the winds would push it sideways. Needless to say the arm joints have been tightened up for the next hunt.

Not the biggest buck that I have photos of this year, but I am happy with him. Anyway ... enjoy.

Well that grunt got his attention, didn't it? Nice footage.

Took a while to post but, here’s my 2018 buck taken at Kingsbury FWA on Nov 10. I wish I had a great story of watching him chase does, or tend a scrape, or something exciting but the fact is I was watching to the trails to my west and he snuck in through the thicket to my east. I heard leaves crack and there he was 35 yards away. A mouth grunt stopped him and the broad head did the rest! I’ve seen him several times on camera but not in person until that morning. Here’s a little ‘before & after’… [and yes, I was hoping he'd be more centered in the field cam before I shot him and I was really hoping I'd get a pic of him jumping but ]




Here is something I’d like to get your thoughts/comments on-
After witnessing some tremendous blood trails & success from my son using Muzzy Trocar broad heads on his compound bow, I decided last year to make the switch and use them on, both, my compound and my crossbow. Last year I shot a buck at 15 yards with the crossbow. He bounded twice then stood there at 30 yards for approximately 30 seconds until he gently laid down to immediately expire. This years’ buck was shot at 33 yards with the crossbow. He ran 40 yards then stood there for approximately 1 minute until he gently laid down keeping his head up for 2-3 minutes before laying it down to expire.
Both deer ran a relatively short distance, and both deer simply laid down very gently. No jumping, no lunge, no last kick…. Just very relaxed. The crossbow bolt from this years’ buck was absolutely clean of blood! (I think last years’ bolt was relatively clean too but don’t recall.) So my question is this, do you think the similarity (i.e. short distance, relaxed, gentle lay down, etc) is due to the fast bolt speed, sharpness of the broad head, a combination of both, or merely coincidence?

Thanks for your input. Also, thanks to all previous posters for the pics of great deer, nature scenes, etc. And congratulations to all who get out this year!!
-Jeff

I think the fast bolt speed and clean cutting of a good broadhead plays a role. My (relatively slow) 305 FPS Exalibur blows right through the deer and they don't react like they know they have been hit, good broadheds AND good shot placement lead to short blood trails. Congrats!

This buck was standing at the front of the decoy when I shot. He did not go far either. Quick clean ethical kill is what we are looking for!

Got a doe Saturday evening. Freezer is looking very happy. Making sausage tomorrow.

This past bow season was probably the worst bow season I ever had. Good movement prior to the first of October, but then everything fell off a cliff about the beginning of the second week of October. Very little to no activity and just about no trail cam activity. Only had one buck in range all bow season, and it was a 2.5 yr old 8 pointer, and then saw 4 other bucks but they were far from shooters. Very minimal doe movement as well. These passed couple weeks, things have kicked up decently with more day time activity and better trail cam activity. Saturday morning I found myself sitting on a thick treeline enclosed in a blind. A few minutes after daylight and a couple grunts later, a nice 8 pointer stepped into the field at 300 yards and came all the way in to 75. A heart shot and he was dropped dead. A nice buck that I had one trail camera and told myself I would shoot before these deer shut down because of the orange army. Will try to post picture later. Congratulations to everyone who killed this weekend!

Chevy that's a very cool picture!

What a nightmare of an opening day of firearms season that I had. It involved a trespasser and a tiny sliver of landlocked land that butts up to one of my farms. I've hunted my ground (owned by a relative) for 25+ years and have respected this land locked sliver. Somehow some twenty something punk got permission for the land locked sliver and after asking all of the surrounding land owners for permission to access it, he convinced one land owner who has about 10' of land that butts up to it. So at sunrise on Saturday, I could see his orange hat. 45 minutes into the morning, I hear "BOOM". I sat there and watched him get down and eventually start making the LONG drag through the woods and swamps to get back to his 10' wide access point. I decided to get down and go to a totally different spot on my property since I knew that portion was a bust. Part of that trip had me paralleling the sliver. I looked down in my field and see fresh boot tracks, so my walk not turned into a human tracking job. Finally I get to were I can see him, still in his sliver of ground. He waived to me, I waived to him, and then he invited me to see his deer. I greeted him half way and we had a nice conversation, which at one point I asked if those where his boot tracks in my field. He admitted that he walked my field in the dark to easier access his stand deep down the sliver and not disturb any deer in there. I politely (not normal for me) explained how that is trespassing and how I had respected that sliver of land all of these many years and that I expected the same from him. He said he understood an apologized. He then took me to see his deer, a beautiful 140 class 8 pointer ... I wanted to throw up, but I had to be the bigger man and I congratulated him. I even took photos for him with his iPhone. We talked for a while and he told me he wasn't looking forward to the long drag. I told him that I was going to go to another area of my property and get some hunting in since the morning was still early and told him to be safe.

Well ... no sooner was I out of sight it turns out, he drug the un-gutted buck up the hill in the sliver and into my field. He proceeded to gut the deer in my field. Then he walked the some 1/2 mile to his 10' wide access point and across the neighbor's land who gave him access, to get his Kia Forte car. He drives the car through the neighbor's hay field, through the 10' wide opening, approximately 1/2 mile through my picked bean field, loads up his deer in the truck, and then proceeds at that point to slide the car down a hill in my field where it came to rest in a muddy bottom draw right next to one of my treestands. All while I was only 300 yards or so away in a spot where I could not see what was going on. He apparently screwed around for hours helplessly trying to get his car moved but just made it worse. I've never seen a car buried like this ... LOL. Finally at about 1:00 he called me (the neighbor who gave him access also gave him my number) and told me that he had gotten stuck on my land and needed a tractor to get him out. You can imagine how my afternoon went from there. It consisted of law enforcement, multiple land owners, tractors, mud, and me. Sadly, none of the land owners wanted to press charges, though they all had rights to do so. My day was screwed. He had taken a great buck out of the local herd. But he was told by all of the landowners involved that he is never allowed back to cross into that sliver of land. So moving forward no one can access this small parcel that has sat there as a sanctuary for the 25 years that I have been hunting that property.

75Chevy ... GREAT JOB! Over the DSD buck decoy too boot! Awesome man. Congrats!

Great buck 76! DEC, very sorry that you had to deal with that. I can only imagine what was going through your head the whole time and all the things you wanted to do and say. Way to be the bigger person though.

My hunting partner shot this one on our property Monday evening at 3:30. 11 pt, nice mass. Im hunting a bigger 10 that is close to 160. Been an enjoyable season especially since I got rid of the fence sitters to the west that gunned down every deer that jumped the fence.. h.h.

My wife's cousin shot this one opening weekend on the family farm in Jennings Co. His best ever. Can you tell that he's happy?

WOW! Just when you think you have heard it all. Some people have no respect for others, cost him a good hunting spot it sounds like.

Thanks!

The buck decoy added a whole new level of fun!

I texted your photo to Dave Smith and Brad Cochran to share with them that a fellow Indiana hunter killed one over their decoy ... their quotes were ... Dave "Wow!! Super Cool!" and Brad "Hell yeah!"

Here are some photos from my nightmare on Saturday ...

If you know Cody Maag, be sure you tell him you saw his trespassing photos on the internet ... LOL.

Everything you see in this photo is land owned by my mother-in-law and part of what I have been hunting for 25 years.


Kia ... an impressive off roading deer hauler ... LOL.


A sample of the ruts


My reaction when I found his gut pile in my field, not 50 yards from where I had come out of that woods after congratulating him and him telling me he would never trespass again.

Sticksender ... I'd smile like that too if I shot that deer. Great deer. Congrats to the hunter!

This him? https://www.facebook.com/cody.maag

Dave seems like a cool guy. Appreciate and respect their dedication to making the best decoys.

Congrats!

I am making some sausage next week, got the high temp cheese in the mail yesterday

Most likely. He blocked me, so that link comes up that it does not exist for me. He's a big coon hunter. I texted him that night that I was going to make him a star on Facebook and the internet, along with some other choice words that I had for him.

FB says that page has been taken down ... I cant see it either ... were no trespass charges filed against him ?? ..... you should have let him pay for his own tow truck ..

FB page is still up.

maybe you have to be a member, which I'll never be on FB .... says down when I click the link above .. no big deal... just curious as to who the kid is ..

The landowner ... my mother in law ... did not want to press charges. The neighbor who let him in felt horrible about it and brought the tractor. I had the CO, a friend of mine, on the phone and there was nothing we could do. Public shaming is my only recourse.

It's not a kid if it's the same guy. He's a grown-ass man who knew what he was doing.

He is 25. Yeah, grown man that should know better. "Kid" to my old ass ... LOL.

Congratulations everyone!
Some really good deer taken.
I've had encounters with 2 different dandy bucks... and I'm still pursuing them. Hoping to connect soon! Been passing lots of younger bucks since early bow.

Thanks! It was a moment I will never forget!

John congrats again and feel free to post the details about your hunt for that monster.

My best ever buck taken on opening day afternoon. A really nice Hoosier ten pointer with many stickers. He was chasing four does when I ruined his plans! Dressed out at 215 pounds. A very happy old hunter!

Great looking buck....love the mass on him.

Real nice, Thumper, congrats!!

Congrats! That’s an amazing buck!

Nice buck Thumper. Love the tall and tight rack. Good mass too. Congrats!

Thank you to all. I wanted to mention that this was a Washington County {private land} buck. My hunting partner missed a buck that was as big or bigger than mine last Tuesday afternoon. He was just cruising through the corn field seeking companionship at 1:00 PM!

Here's another good one just taken. Posting this for member Hutsell.

Congrats to all on their kills. Im still hunting for the biggin but have not seen one big enough for me. Been slow till today. I had 19 does in front of me at one time, 5 below my stand and not a buck in sight. End up seeing 28 doe today and no bucks. Thought 2nd rut should be kicking in soon. When I checked game cam the bucks are moving after dark. h.h.

Finally got the buck measured....173 5/8. Made it into the Indiana books for nontypical.

Congrats....he was a dandy!