Post by 10gaauto on Jul 6, 2016 16:11:25 GMT -5
I noticed that the deer in my avatar looks like the twin to the default avatar. It's not. My avatar was taken on the Eastern Shore of VA in Northampton Co. in 1994. In the 95 deer competition it took 1st place in the "east of blue ridge" 10 pt ML category. Later in the state competition it took 4th place with 2 bucks from Bedford Co. and a buck from Page Co. scoring better. Well the other bucks were what is known as "park" deer as Bedford and Page have large portions of the Shenandoah NP in them. It was taken with a Cabelas "traditional Hawken" rifle of 50 cal and 1/60 twist shooting PRB over 110 gr of FFF Elephant black powder. The PRB was a hornady swaged rb in a red pillow ticking patch. Used RWS cap to light the fire. Range was 11 yards and I was in my home made "baker" pattern treestand. Time was 4:05 PM on November 4, 1994. Field dressed weight was 227#. It is the biggest deer I have ever killed and the best scoring. Score was 196 VA system and 168 B&C. The mount was done by Hughs Taxidermy in Richmond area and it is a superb mount. It was so big that at the time a whitetail form big enough wasn't available and he used a mule deer form. We had seen this same deer 2 years earlier but did not harvest and he was completely unseen until he walked by my treestand that day.
I am not much of a "horn" hunter as mostly I just like to hunt and whatever comes by may be in extreme danger "depending". Over the last 30 years my yearly average has been 8 deer. VA has liberal take with limit of 3 antlered bucks and however many bonus doe tags you want to buy, you get 3 either sex called "buck tags" and 3 antlerless only with license and then can buy antlerless bonus tags unlimited. 2 years ago had hemoragic fever through the eastern part of the state and kill down but herd is rebounding nicely.
Being retired since 09 hasn't really increased my deer take numbers but has increased my time and enjoyment hunting and my pursuit of "satisfying" my SML addiction. Retirement has bumped my fall turkey harvest pretty good.
Kinda slow on the board this time of year but I'm always "getting ready" and thinking about being afield.
Safe and pleasant days ahead to all. 10
