Couestracker

Congrats to you both!

Great experience and write-up!

It really was! I went western on them (from Arizona). 😎

Today was my 3rd day hunting, got to the deer stand late this morning at 10:45. Sat all day and didn't see any deer until sunset. Saw lots of other stuff,which broke up the boredom: a bald eagle flying around the meadow, a bluejay, a racoon, a pheasant, a red headed woodpecker and another woodpecker that I didn't know what kind until later, turned out to be a piliated woodpecker- same kind as woody! So, just after sunset, I saw a big buck walking very slowly, kind of in my direction, but it kept looking to its right and was sort of steering that way. I figured it was going toward a side meadow instead of to me, plus I figured I was running out of shooting light, so I made the decision to get out of the deer stand and try to "head it off at the pass". Well I got out there in thick grass and swampy ground about 100 yards from the stand, had a tree line in front of me, the other side of that was the meadow I thought he was headed up. So I stopped to scan the treeline with my 8 power rangefinder, went back and forth a few times to try and find him. On the 4th scan, I see him come to the edge of the trees and stop. OMG, there he is! He came right towards me! I pushed the button on the rangefinder to get the distance, it's 80 yards. I slowly bring up my muzzleloader, it took forever to find him in the scope (didn't even know what power it was set on) but I finally locate him. He's quartering towards me, staring my way. I can't believe this is all coming together! So I shoot and end up with a monster non-typical Minnesota buck! After getting him in the truck in the dark, we got it to the farms shop, cleaned the buck and got him hung in the walk in cooler. Turns out my friends family have been tracking this buck all summer and had him on their trail cams! They named him the crab buck because of the crab claw feature on its right antler. Too cool! My hat's off to Tony for his help in making this happen. Thanks guys, I feel like I'm part of your wonderful family.

A friend has one he's selling, in 6mm BR. PM me if interested for his name and #.

Thanks. He taped at 75 and some change. Good luck in the draw!

Was in unit 57, took 16 years to draw that tag. Might look for an easier to draw area.

Would someone helpout and fix my pics? Thanks!

Finally posting about my DIY antelope hunt. Broke some stuff on the way up and on the way back, had tire failures too, but that did not deter me, lol. I scouted this area back in August, saw the biggest buck ever there, so that's where I went each day. I didn't see that huge buck again, but I sat a water hole in that area. I used my Ranger as a blind, sat about 200 yards from a waterhole. It was comfortable, out of the wind and sun and the antelope didn't seem to care I was there. On day 2, a very unusual buck came in. He had a pure white head and a prominent black cheek stripe. Reminded me of an oryx. Trouble was he wasn't very mature. Sure would of made an awesome mount though. He also came in on day 3, so I had to decide not to shoot him twice, lol. Also on day 3, I was amazed to see a small herd of elk nearby. I wouldn't have ever guessed there would be elk around there. 4 huge bulls and 2 cows. Man were they dark compared to Arizona elk. Also on the 3rd day a pretty big buck came in. I really liked him so I decided to try and get him. Getting out of the Ranger and into a shooting position proved difficult, plus he was dashing all over the place, then left the water pretty quickly. I moved to a berm, set up and took a shot at 645 yards. Just missed him! Went back to the Ranger and sat a while more. Another group of antelope showed up and there was a buck similar to the one I just missed. I watched as he chased does and ran off all the other bucks. He was ruling the roost! I liked him, so while he was chasing does, I got out of the Ranger and set up for a shot. When I got my sights on him, he had his head down getting a drink. When he lifted his head, he was kind enough to turn broadside, so I squeezed the trigger. After the shot he was gone! I stood up but couldn't see him. All I had on me was my rangefinder, so I started panning looking for him. I saw his white rump out in the field. He ran 80 yards! I go over to him, there's a huge pool of foamy blood next to him. Turned out the shot went through both ribs without hitting bone and took out both lungs. I was a happy hunter! As he lay Didn't have a pen, so I signed it with antelope blood. First broken leaf spring. Second broken leaf spring. First blown tire. Second tire failure. Fresh backstraps made it all better.

I drew my second Gould's tag with 6 points. Magic can happen. 😎

4 of us got hit for HAM javelina. 🐗

Good luck on the draw and hunt! I'm headed to Minnesota next week on my first eastern whitetail hunt. Using a pistol.

I thought you were a diehard pistol hunter.

That's great! Congrats to her!

A friend has a like new in box BTX 95, with eyepiece, includes a Marsupial case for $4,100. Call Dan at 480-231-0828