Well guys i am back for a bit and a hunting report.

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koger

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I know I checked in back In the spring after having my 4th hips surgery in 16 months on the same hip, but it is doing well since then. I have been on here briefly checking in on you guys. Just have not posted much on here, or any forums but one or two. With all the illness, and recuperating, it has been a full time job, and this spring summer and fall, have been working to keep the farm up, and have succeeded so far. I have had to hire some stuff done, that I would normally do, and it was the right decision. I can only do about 1/8th the stuff I used to do in a days time, therefore it seems I am busy as heck but making slow progress. Have had a stellar hunting season, hunting out of ground blinds, this year. I have went a grand total of 3 times, and have 3 deer in the freezer. First two trips were in a blind in the neighbors hay field. On a Tuesday evening I shot a doe facing me, at about 10feet, not yards, in the throat and broke her neck with the crossbow bolt, DRT. The next evening, same blind, had 18 deer in the field with me, finally got a chance at big old doe at 40 yds, center punched her with a double lung, and she never made it out of the field, dropped after 50 yds. We have a early weekend ML season here in KY, buck or doe in my area. The wife went and got in her blind about half an hour before daybreak. I waited till good shooting light, and rode over to the same field I killed the other 2 does in. I went around the field on the low side, in case any deer were in the field, couldn't see me. As I popped back up on the field, about 40 yds from my blind, I look over at my feeder, and their stands a buck, a huge buck. I could see a good slice of horn, and his body was huge. I slid off the 4 wheeler as it rolled to a stop, sliding my rifle sling off my chest, and by the time my knees hit the ground, the hammer was back, and as the stock settled on the seat, the cross hairs settled on the center of his shoulder. I touched if off, and as the smoke cleared, I saw the buck pushing off with both shoulders on the ground. I reloaded my TC Omega, with the Harvester crush rib sabot, and the 300gr Pt slug. I got on my 4 wheeler and went over to where I thought he would be, nothing! I finally looked out across the big field, and there he was about 120yds downhill, dead. He had pushed himself down there, all the way on his shoulders. I drove up to him, and there was no ground shrink, if anything his body got bigger. The antlers had a big wide spread, on one side, 4 on one side, the other was broken off above the brow tine. About the time I got him gutted, I hear the wife shoot, about half a mile from me. I call her and sure enough, she has a #90 doe down, dead where it stood. I booked over to her, and she had it gutted by the time I got there. We managed to get it up on the 4 wheeler, and took it to my barn and hung it up on the hoist. I then backed up to the tilt trailer and hooked it up. The wife looked puzzled and asked me what we needed that for, I told her trust me, we need the trailer. She hopped on with me, and as we drove up to my deer, her eyes got bigger, and she said you have killed a moose. I backe the trailer up below it, and even though we only had to get it up 6 inches to get it on the trailer, it took 4 tries and was all we could both do to get its shoulders up on the trailer. It was then I realized I had shot my biggest whitetail body wise of my 56 years. We took it back to the barn and working hard, we had both deer skinned and boned out in an hour and a half and on ice. After trimming all the meat, my buck made exactly #123 of boned out meat, and we threw most of the off shoulder away, due to being so blood shot. I got to thinking, I first thought he would go #200 gutted, but I believe he was close to #250. Most big bucks, will bone out, 45-50% of their gutted weight. Since we only got about 30% of the off shoulder and still came up with 123#, the math said he had to be close to 250. I was tickled with the deer, even with one horn. His neck was swelled up, as big as a 5 gallon bucket, and he had about 2" of white lard covering his whole body. We ended up with 150# of burger packaged up, and the other two does I killed in bow season made #60 and I added #30 of pork shoulder ground up to it, for #90 total. That made about 240# in the freezer, along with some elk and deer burger from last year. With a hog we killed and chickens from the farm also, along with the garden stuff in the freezer, we have 2 freezers full for another year, which is great because we live on a fixed income. The wife still has her buck tag and rifle season opens next weekend, and I have one doe tag left. I plan on filling that one with an original trapdoor springfield made in 1884. The old gun has a pristine bore, shoots great, and I think killing one with that will not only be nostalgic, but a lot of fun as well. Sorry if have been long winded.
 
I know I checked in back In the spring after having my 4th hips surgery in 16 months on the same hip, but it is doing well since then. I have been on here briefly checking in on you guys.

Sorry to hear of your health problems but seems like your on the road to recovery! Love your hunting story. It sounds like you have a nice place to hunt!
Nothing like a full stocked pantry and freezers full of good meat to start the winter. Enjoy!
I sure wish my health would let me hunt again but both knees need fixing' bad. I am also just getting over some failed cataract surgery but doing well! I was blind in the right eye for about 5 months.
My next trip to the doctor I'm going to see about a special permit that allows me to hunt off a 4wheeler or out of a pickup. My friend calls it "a old broken down men's" tag.

Big John
 
Enjoyed the read skoger.
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p.s Take care of yourself.
 
A couple of dear friends of mine had hip surgery recently (their first). Do what the doctor says and heal up. :cheers:
 
Sorry to hear of your health problems but seems like your on the road to recovery! Love your hunting story. It sounds like you have a nice place to hunt!
Nothing like a full stocked pantry and freezers full of good meat to start the winter. Enjoy!
I sure wish my health would let me hunt again but both knees need fixing' bad. I am also just getting over some failed cataract surgery but doing well! I was blind in the right eye for about 5 months.
My next trip to the doctor I'm going to see about a special permit that allows me to hunt off a 4wheeler or out of a pickup. My friend calls it "a old broken down men's" tag.

Big John
I am 74 years young on both knees replaced in 2012. Suggestion: Get a 2nd opinion, follow through with rehab. I elk & deer hunt here in Colorado (Archery & muzzleloader) without any knee issues, and totally pain free.
MikeW
 
Good story; excellent write up! Never give up! You sir, are a survivor in many ways. Very inspirational to us all.

A man can never have too much meat for winter! Well done! Best of luck on your total recovery.
 

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