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TN velvet hunt Aug 25-27
- Thread starter agelessssone
- Start date
Don'tDrinkTinks
Well-Known Member
No desire to hunt before the month of November anymore.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Meat will be good for at least 2 days at 85deg temps in the shade if you skin, quarter, and hang in game bags asap after the kill.
The quarters will form a nice crust FAST in those temps and protect the meat inside. If you need longer than 2 days without referidigation, just spray the meat with a citric acid solution... could prob get 4 or 5 days at 85 deg before it begins to spoil.
I checked the TWRA Hunter's Toolbox and it shows that only 858 bucks were taken during the 2022 velvet season. That is out of a total of 88,232 bucks taken for the entire season.
If you figure the typical 10-15 percent success ratio for bowhunters, that means only about 5,000 hunters take advantage of the velvet season. And that may be a gross overestimate.
If you figure the typical 10-15 percent success ratio for bowhunters, that means only about 5,000 hunters take advantage of the velvet season. And that may be a gross overestimate.
Bowhunters are different. Hardcore bowhunters are differenter than that!
It's obviously not for everybody. I've done it and enjoyed it. I'd 100% without hesitation do it again if I had a buck I wanted to hunt. I could sit for hours in the sun exposed bleachers at a Braves game and nobody would say a word. But sitting in the shade of a tree stand through the same weather and everybody thinks it's crazy.
hangingstands
Member
themanpcl
Well-Known Member
negative. standards don't drop on velvet. if i wouldn't shoot it in sept, won't shoot in aug. imho i wish it would have stayed velvet only.
Same here. I won't shoot a velvet buck that I wouldn't shoot in regular season. If he's a mature rack buck that tickles my fancy then I'm hunting him regardless of season or weapon. If not then I won't.
hangingstands
Member
I just see me killing a monster this time of year with velvet.. I'm old school , gotta be freezing my butt off early in the morning and hear that chase coming up the ridge and get that heart beating
Record heat for saturday, Can we change the velvet season next year to a week earlier?
Yeah I get that. Seems to be the majority opinion. I'm cut from a little different cloth I guess. I enjoy it all. I've done the velvet hunt once so far and it was hot just like this year except we got a thunderstorm Sunday evening, and the buck walked under my stand as wind was roaring & lightning flashing. I shot that sucker in the pouring rain. I'd be tickled pink to do it all over again.
No way, Jose! Velvet does nothing for me. I'm staying in where it's cool and there are no ticks and skeeters/wasps swarming. Good luck to all the die-hards who do venture out to hunt in this sauna we are in right now!!
themanpcl
Well-Known Member
At least we aren't going to have the remnants of a hurricane like a few yrs ago...
That's the year I'm talking about. 2020. Around here the weather was fine until Sunday. Then it was hard wind, hard rain, and lightning. Deer still moved though!
themanpcl
Well-Known Member
That was fun, and a day i picked the wrong size tree. not sure i could have shot straight from the stand if a b&c had walked by...lol
Fortunately I was in a huge oak, and even it was swaying. My buck jumped a fence as it ran off but died right away. He ran full throttle for about 50yds and nose dived. As I was pushing the top row of barb wire down to step over, lightning hit the fence somewhere down the line and it knocked me on my @$$ hard. Luckily no serious or lasting injury but all exposed skin got welder burned, my hand got blistered up burned, my eyes got flash burned, and I couldn't hear a thing for about half an hour. I've killed some decent bucks over the years but none with a story like that one.
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Yessir I am. Luckily my brother was down from Ohio to hunt with me and was standing right there when it happened. I actually thought I had been hit in the head because of the instantaneous sensation of all the symptoms and my vision whiting out. I came to my senses pretty quick and realized it was lightning so panic set in to turn around & check on him. He was fine. He said lightning hit down the line and at the same exact time I sparked and made a popping sound. When I held my hand up he saw the fence burn and realized what made the spark & sound. We laugh about it now and make jokes but in the moment it was really eerie.
His size is the best part of the story!. I'd been watching him grow a wide 10pt rack all summer long and just knew he was going to be a big perfect 10 in velvet. Out past his ears, good mass, beams that extended past his nose tip, everything like in a big rack. Then we walked up to recover him and my brother burst into laughter, which considering the circumstances it was nice to have some comic relief. If deer have dwarfs this buck was it. In hindsight I could have used the fence for scale, but somehow I completely missed it. He's not half as tall as a T-post. Good thing was that I just threw him over my shoulder and walked him out to the truck lol
