Wintertime Deer Hunting in New Jersey can be challenging especially when you combine a brutally cold day in January with a gusty wind. But regardless of how hard the wind was howling that morning when I walked out on my back patio in the dark, I was determined to have a go at it and get up in my tree stand before daybreak. And I did indeed have second thoughts!
Now every hunter has his or her own rules when it comes to deer hunting. Some won`t shoot does, others will only shoot trophy bucks and then some of us like to have a freezer full of venison to enjoy throughout the year. Well…….. I certainly like to crack a nice big buck just like any other guy or gal out there, but as the season progresses, I have to focus on fillin` my freezer. And that`s exactly what I did the other cold morning when I was out and about.
I jumped up in my tree at 5:40am and as I looked up at the stars in that cold crystal clear sky, the trees readily swayed back and forth in the strong wind. Definitely was having some doubts as to how or even if the deer would be moving this morning.
Then at around 8am, movement caught my eye about 150 yards out. Seven or eight deer began to skittishly
meander the hillside then disappeared. I quickly turned on the Go PRO………..
So crank up your speakers and jump up in that tree with me and let`s see how it turns out!
NJ Deer Hunting in the Wintertime can certainly be challenging and today when I jumped up in my tree stand at 5:45am it was a brisk 12 degrees. Fortunately I do indeed like the cold weather, not the wind, just a nice calm, cold winter morning.
After seeing what showed up on my Trail Cameras this past week, I was very anxious to jump up in my tree
this morning! Two very Big Bucks showed up during the week, one is an absolute Trophy! A Huge 8-Pointer
with very high tines on both sides. Have a look at the pictures below –
Quite the Big Bucks eh?!
Now I do read about this quite often, hunters on various threads around the internet saying, “Ohhhhhh they`ve gone “Nocturnal”….. Really? No no……. see they went “Nocturnal” because nowadays we all have trail cameras and can finally see Monster Bucks like this at night! Big Bucks have always been Nocturnal feeders and are very wise deer, hence the impressive “Crown of Antlers” they usually exhibit like the Big Boys above. So I have been regularly jumping up in my tree stand, hoping that one of these Big Bucks would walk out of the cover…….. but to no avail as of yet. While I am routinely in my stand, I`m not taking that bet that either will show up before the NJ Deer Hunting Season ends. I really think my opportunity to see either or both will be in the Fall of 2015 during the Rut. But I have my fingers crossed and maybe if we get a little snow, these Big Boys will show up in the daylight hours.
As it is getting along in the NJ Deer Hunting Season, it is also time to fill the freezer with some meat!
My opportunity came this morning around 11:30am as four does approached “Ken Beam`s Big Big Buck Deer Feeder”, I cracked the one below, loaded the doe up in `ol Big Red and drove it over to my friend`s place, Tommy the Butcher in Washington to have it processed. By the way, if you`re looking for an excellent butcher in NJ, I highly recommend Tommy! All of the cuts are vacuumed packed and you can`t beat his prices!