He ain't what she used to be.

[Coalman]

11-08-09
Yesterday morning found me at the Murphy Stand till around 0900. All was quiet. I checked for sign and if the scrapes had been refreshed from last week. Not much to report. The buck activity was mild.
After putting the USS Coalman to sleep in the barn for the winter I still had an itch to get in the woods. I have a favorite piece of woods close to home I set my sights on.

Half the piece is a sanctuary. The land owner allows everything but hunting. One small corner of the protected woodlot holds the sweetest vittles. So I made a plan.

My muzzle-loader was left at home. I disguised myself as a hiker and went for a walk. If there were any deer in the sanctuary they needed the boot.
It worked like a charm. I could have shot three. Best of all they were busted. The apple orchard in an acre size piece of the protected woodlot had produced so well the ground cover was yellow crab apple. The deer tracks were beat to the mud. Mother nature called a few times in the bedding area.

11-09-08
The wind was right for the homeland push today. My stand is located at a swamp and brook crossing off a busy roadway. Two drivers were to come up along the road in my direction.

Joe got on the radio about an hour into my sit and said he had fresh tracks and was going to slowly follow then. Ten minutes later I heard him shoot. Time for high alert.

He told us he shot at a doe and had seen numerous flags after the shot. About that time I saw a deer crossing the swamp about 60 yards to my left. A doe. I had my M tag filled out and attached. It was all instinct. The hammer came back, the deer walked into the opening, BOOM, smoke and nothing.

Joe came back on the radio and said he had found his deer. Spined her. Dropped in its tracks. He asked me if I got the deer. Told him too much smoke to see. Then has asks the dreaded question, Did you shoot that spike buck?
Spike buck??? I say???? No, I just shot my M tag.

After marking the spot I descended the tree. I found hair and two spots of dark red blood. Nothing else. Then it started to rain. So I played it safe and waited for help.

It took them about an hour after their chores to get to me. We all started on the track. After the first 50 feet we had found two spots of blood. I was worried. We were worried.

I couldn't have had a better shot. I even got to rest the gun on a branch.
So it was track by track. After 50 yards and no blood we were discussing starting over when I got the famous and not so famous words.
"Dave, there's your deer. Right there dead. You did get the spike buck.

And spike buck it was. I never saw the spikes. Please don't feel bad for me. HA ! This is the third time in the age of M tags I have mistaken a spike for a baldy. I'm used to it.


I hit him a little far back. Took out 1/3 of his liver and messed the paunch up bad.
You can't guess what his last meal had been?

Yellow crab-apples. Long live the sanctuary.

[cold waters]

nice work... always love your winter reports.....

[oddfish]

Nice work, set up and all!

OD

[slowwalker]

nice deer!

[Brandon-K]

Good job Coalman, great story! Congrats!

[47onthewall]

I wish they drew the line at "less than ear length" to define an M deer. Three inches doesn't always show up as horn under hunting conditions. Fired three times at a small deer in a snowstorm once before spining it on the run. 4 inch spikes were a surprise when I tagged the deer.

[Roccus]

Nice story, good hunt... good eatin'!

[cold waters]

what is a M deer??? i am gathering it isnt illegal to take a spike deer but it isnt want you want to do?!

[Coalman]

C W'a
An M tag is issued to hunters who pay a $13 fee to allow the harvest of an antlerless deer in NH's wildlife management unit M. Roughly Manchester to Exeter on the south side of Rte 101 then the Squamscott River to the Great Bay.

I though this deer was bald, no antlers. As OTW says they antlers were hidden by the ears. I never saw the spikes. Had I seen the antlers, I would not have burned my buck tag on a 1.5 year old.

He would have got a free pass to grow up.

Now if Scottymack would post up a picture of the buck he shot yesterday we will be looking at some real bone.

Scotty...........You out there?

[cold waters]

thats exactly what i thought the case was.... you lost your shot at a nice buck for the year.... Well i bet he is still tasty