getting ready

[Stupid]

Always a joy looking at some quality pics. I have several cameras out as well. I'm just waiting on the "3rd" weekend in July. I'm really starting to get he itch. And all this rain is only making my itch worse.

Jeff

[Joey~AP]

Tuthdoc!

I expect to see one or three of those arrows get bloody next week!

Rub line, hand! Rub line!

[Dale Moser]

I ordered me and dad a dozen Vapor 4000 pros the other day.......I don't currently own a bow, but I got some new arras comin!

The nuptuals have got me a little behind this year. But they are over with so I'm going to hang cameras, tune up feeders, tilt up a new feeder, work on camp, maybe move a blind or two, and just look around this weekend.........and maybe play golf on Sunday!

[Joey~AP]

The nuptuals have got me a little behind this year. But they are over with so I'm going to hang cameras, tune up feeders, tilt up a new feeder, work on camp, maybe move a blind or two, and just look around this weekend.........and maybe play golf on Sunday!

Your wife is gonna let you go?

[BIG D]

Nice pics Tuthdoc. This thread has got me rumaging around in my goodie boxes, making sure I have enough broadheads, sharpening broadheads, and fletching up arrows. My first order of business for this season, since I cant hunt my lease until November, is to get my 13 year old nephew his first bow kill. I am making him some wicked looking hunting arrows and hopefully this year they wont just go sailing over backs like last year.

[tuthdoc]

I REALLY, REALLY hope so, Joey. I'm looking forward to it. All those arrows are in my bow case right now. LOL. I just need to screw on some heads that cut.

It tips off in two months with some dove hunting and hopefully dove killing. After that, things move fast. Teal, then archery then everything with feathers and hair. Can't wait. I've waited for seasons to open for 46 years, since I was 10, and I still get excited.

[Chance Love]

I am finally getting around to putting cameras on my protein feeders on Sunday. I "hear" the bucks are coming along pretty good out there. Can't wait! TD, I would have called that buck 6 just by looking at those pics. It's good to know their history, that's for sure.

[mesquitecountry]

TD,

Chaffin's buck was huge. Even if you take the drops off the mass on that buck was huge. One of the heaviest (weight wise) set of antlers i've ever held. Wow.


BTW. i'll be putting my cam's up in the next two weeks.

[tuthdoc]

I'll post some pics of him. Here he was in the 03/04 season. I named him the Brickhouse Buck. I aged him at 2 1/2. He and several others were from 20 yards to about 20 feet all morning.



The next year, I videoed him from the same blind. He added a split on the right side and they changed his name to Splitter.





He took to protein once we got away from Lissey and Eckle and in 05/06 he grew a BIG kicker on the left and kept the split on the right. He broke the long kicker off early in the year. That year, he'd probably gross right at 160 without the kickers. Add them in, and he'd have gone a little over/little under 170.







These are a couple pics of him after the season in a pen. The close up shows where the long kicker broke. Alas, the drought. We had most of our bucks hold their own with the feed, but not all did the MLD thing.

This buck came awful close to being shot. They would ask my opinion and I'd tell them. Got into lots of debate over his body size making him 6 1/2. I tried to tell them that protein deer are different animals. They are bigger and look older. The history on this buck probably saved his life. That, and the chance that he wouldn't quite make 160.





If he doesn't break, he'll die this year. The kid that's going to hunt him really wanted him last year. I just hope he grows his "stuff" back and becomes the best buck he can be.

[Wildman]

Tuthdoc, I always look forward to your pre-season prep talk...... those bucks are what make me sleep well at night

[tuthdoc]

Thanks, Wildman. Those axis you chase keep me going. I LOVE those things.

MC, that was some kind of rack. It had mass that would make a northern whitetail proud. I felt blessed just to be there when it was killed. I bet we stayed in the field for almost 2 hours just staring at it in disbelief.

[BIG D]

tuthdoc, I saw a video tape many years ago that a buddy gave to me called Horns of the Junco. I dont know where he got it and I know it wasnt bought. It was just a lot of homemade video of deer. Do yall put something like that together with everyone's footage every year or something. It had some monsters on it.

[passthru]

TD, could you tell me what fletching tool you used on your arrows and which glue for the carbons.

[tuthdoc]

I've used an Arizona EZ fletch for years and years. I changed to the blue carbon model when I went to carbon. It's easy to use and you can knock out fletch work pretty quickly, which is important to me because I hate fletching my arrows almost as much as I hate building strings. LOL

I use the Fletch Tite Platium glue from Boning. I lightly sand my carbons where the fletches will go, use a little acetone to wipe it off, and then just put the glue on the vanes, close the fletcher, wait a minute or so, open it up and start all over. When I used Flex Fletch vanes, I used acetone to clean the vanes, but so far I don't have problems with my vanes by just skipping that part. Main thing is, just put a bead of glue on the vane, smear it evenly, and leave it. If you put too much, it makes clean-up a buggar.

Big D, the group I'm in usually puts everyone's videos, or parts of them, on a "highlight tape". It's used to track deer and to show deer that are ready, as well as show deer that are "off limits".