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Brock/Mason, 2017

aholdren

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Dude your living the dream!!! I really enjoy every damn post you put up. Our boys are with in a year of each other but yet so different in interest, maybe that is why Im developing a dislike for basketball season. Enjoy every minute man.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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SW Ohio
I figured I'd find pics of Mason's buck from last year. I think I did. At first I thought he was the 9 pt from last year, but after seeing trail cam pics of him from this season, I think I know what deer he was last year. If so, he was an up and coming 10 that I saw a time or two last season. The basic shape of the rack is the same, aside from not growing G4s this year. The dead giveaway, to me, is the abdominal cyst which is visible in the pics. We didn't even notice it when gutting him or skinning.

Thoughts? Same deer?

I’d say without a doubt it’s same deer as well Brock.

Hope you can get Lathe a shot at that stud droptine deer next week! Good luck buddy!

Huge congratulations to Drew on getting that big ole doe down, nice shootin too!:smiley_clap:
 

brock ratcliff

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It seems we all agree about Masons deer!

We took the GSP for another walk today. He hasn't been too sharp the last two days but we still found some birds. Our shooting, particularly mine, has been horrible! Nice day for a walk regardless. We saw two dandy bucks too. One farm we hunted was a new acquisition. That place is going to be phenomenal if we ever get some snow!

Here is a pic of Townzen and Mason with one quail that didn't escape.
 

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brock ratcliff

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Absolutely! We are meeting up with a buddy at 730 am to chase some more birds. One place is a proven pheasant hotspot, the other is a newly acquired piece that will soon be a personal favorite, I think. I'm taking both of our GSP and he will have an Airedale along wit his trusty old pointer. It may be an epic day, or we could wind up just wrestling dogs. Lol
 

brock ratcliff

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Still do. Both are going tomorrow, even the spoiled baby, Jake. He will hunt and point we'll, he won't retrieve worth a dang. I suppose that's because he hasn't had to. He's got a sharp nose though.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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Appalachia
Jealous of the pheasant hunting opportunities Brock! Never seen one in the wild myself. Always seems like a fun hunt, especially when following along with you guys! Good luck tomorrow!
 

brock ratcliff

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We had a good morning hunt. We only hit one spot. We saw a couple coveys of quail, killed just one of them. Our shooting was rather poor on pheasant too. Mason missed two roosters. I killed one. We saw probably 10 roosters, but most flushed out of range. Several hens held on hard points, however, which is always fun to watch. A good time was had by all, legs are give out or we would have chased em all day. Beautiful weather.
 

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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
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Brock congrats on you and the boys living a dream and keep it up in years to come.
I still remember in NW Ohio back in the 1950's when the 1st snow fall and I would see a flock of 100 pheasants scratching for corn in the picked fields. Back then corn was picked in ears and there was a lot of corn ears laying in the fields. My brother and I would pick up the missed ear ears to feed or feeder calves. Dad built wire cages and caught many of them to feed our large family. I was 8-10 years old and dad and my older brother took me along hunting and I would shoot all the setting pheasants with my Winchester 1890 22LR pump rifle to safe shotgun shells.
Then came DDT insect spraying and fall plowing idea then the pheasant numbers went down to almost nothing. And never to return.
 
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brock ratcliff

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Things are ever-evolving, not always for the better. I didn't start tagging along to hunt until 1976. By then, the glory days of pheasant hunting had passed. We would kill one occasionally, walking brushy fence rows. I've never experienced the big flocks. I would have loved to. I feel fortunate to know a lot of landowners that do have small patches of cover. Where there is suitable cover there are birds. We just don't have many places left for them to live. In reality, pheasants are an invasive species, albeit the most popular of all time.
 

brock ratcliff

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My lifelong friend, Lathe, came up last night in preparation for today's gun season opener. We had some other friends join us in the man cave last night too. It was a good deer camp sorta good time. We made it to bed way too late but still woke up before the alarm.

We saw a buck in the predawn as we headed to our stands. We saw four more antlerless and two other hunters before getting down around 11. I heard just one gun shot in the distance. I tried to push a couple of small patches out for Lathe with no luck. We went into town and picked up some chill for lunch. Ate that while chatting back at the farm.

I had a plan. I drove Lathe around in the truck so there would be no confusion as to where I wanted him to be. With only me walking, I had a lot of zigging and zagging to do to make the thing work due to this piece of cover being fairly large and extremely thick. I'd have to go slow too but felt sure I could move deer by Lathe.

The plan worked to perfection. Lathe saw 8 or 9 antlerless but held off, knowing what I've seen on this piece. His patience paid off. The buck waited until the last opportunity before moving, he mistakenly moved right to Lathe. He made the most of it and knocked him flat with my Ruger 450 Bushmaster. That little gun is now two for two, and I've never even had the chance to use it myself! Lol

Simply a fun day and Lathe tagged his best buck to date. I had guessed him to be 170". I was wrong. We taped him and he tallied just under 165". Absolutely beautiful deer.

Here's some pics!
 

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