I'm back...what a hunt!

[drdougrx]

Hi All,

Just got back from Old Stone Fence in Rensselaer NY.  I took three great trophies.  A stag that was 8x9, a good fallow and an awesome hog.

Have a look and let me know what you think!!!

http://community.webshots.com/album/204052374MEmZxY

Doug

[Tom]

Wow, they are 3 nice ones.   Congratulations!  

The fallow has big palms.   The red stag has lots of lengthy points.   The hog is a really good one.   Do they call that a Russian hog?  Its nose looks real long and its hide hairs look pretty course, like a Russian one would look.

Are you getting them scored?

[Graybeard]

Sorry, too many spywares and pop ups there for me. Spybot blocked three attempts to add spyware and I deleted one popup.

GBO will host your images for free and WITHOUT popups and spyware.

[TimWieneke]

Thank you Dr. Doug - what a trip down memory lane that was for me.  Your first photo - you took that from the platform stand right?  I'm pretty sure is the exact spot where I took my first hog ever.  Excellent hog you got there.

Can't really complain about Steve's operation.  He handles first timers like I was and nonhunters/observers like my wife was very well and his wife Gail's cooking is incomparably good.  I let Steve coordinate the taxidermy work on my hog and I was very impressed with the work that the taxidermist Steve was hooked up with did.  (Don't know if it's the same guy now)

It is an enclosure but the animals were definitely wild.  I'll have to get back there someday, but next time I think I'll go with a bow or maybe a handgun.

Tim

[drdougrx]

Thanks everyone!  GB....I'd love to have GBO host my pics.  Please e-mail directions or may I send them to you?

I actually did not shoot anything from the tree stand.  It was just in the pic.  The hog is a european breeder (has not been castrated) and was one of 5 that were over 300lbs.  The other four looked real piggy, short snouts, fat jowels, fat shoulders and big bellies.  This one was also really aggressive.  It charged four times and I spent the day worrying about him because he actually came at us at about 40 yards from under a brush pile.  Anyway...45/70 makes for calming any distemper and I know you know what I mean.  We brought him to the butcher un gutted for a live weight and he was 317.  Plenty of hog!  

By the way...his eye to snout measurement was 12 and 1/2 inches...a long nose to be sure.  

Tom...I'll score them this weekend (I'm an SCI certified scorer).  I expect the fallow won't make a silver medal (I have one already) and the stag may make gold, but, we'll see.  I'll post scores later this weekend.

It was great fun, Steve Fobare and Gail are super folks so, if anyone has the interest in going....do it!

Doug

[Graybeard]

Doug, Matt has posted the directions for use of the GBO Photo Albums in a thread on the Questions about Forums Forum entitled  How to use the GBO Photo Album... Explained! It is a Sticky just under the announcement at top of forum. The URL is:

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=36393

I've never used it personally but a good many folks are now. I have a different but similar set up I use to assign URLs to images I want to post. Been doing it long before Matt set this up for members to use. We did it as a service to members and because I have a particular dislike for sites that have pop ups and try to add spyware to my computer. I just will not visit them as second time once I'm aware of what they do. I know usually ya get nothing for free and those pop ups and spyware are how they pay for the space. But at GBO it really is free to members and we add nothing to help pay for it. Our advertisers pay me and I pay the bills. Members pay nothing and don't have to put up with pop ups and we'll never ever add spyware to your computer.

[markc]

I looked at the thumbnails, but when I tried to enlarge them, or go to the next page, I had all kinds of problems and kept getting booted out.  What I saw, it looked like you took some really nice animals.  How large an enclosure do they have there where you hunted?   Congrats!  
markc

[drdougrx]

Hi Mark,

Sorry about the thumbnails.  I'll try to post on another site if I can.  The enclosure is about 200 acres....certainly not very much.  The guy is a deer farmer and I was tired of going to TX and getting crazy prices only to find that the trophy quality was aweful.  I spoke with a guy in Maine, also a farmer, and he wanted zip code sized numbers for his reds.  12K for a 350SCI red deer is kinda nuts.  I only had a few days, so, I called around and Steve Fobare was willing to work with me.  I'm happy that's for sure.  Between the the fallow, red and boar, I have hundreds of pounds of meat and some great trophies.  I don't make too much about it.  This was a meat hunt with big trophies plain and simple.  I knew this going in.  Still, it took about 6 or 7 hours to get them all.  I looked over 20 or so fallow and then spent a couple hours trying to get close enough for a shot.  The stag was easy because he was the biggest one he had.  The hog, well, he was way more aggressive than any that I had shot before and actually gave us a some fits. He liked to lay up under brush piles and charge.  This happened four times.  I finally shot him in a pile because we saw him before he saw us.  

Anyway....I was alone and had a great time.  Next year... Indianhead Ranch I think!

Doug

[markc]

sounds like that hog was having fun, up to a point.  Amazing how well they can hide isn't it?  
markc

[Robert]

Just curious as to the total cost for three animals hunt/cut and wrapped.

[drdougrx]

Hi Guys,

Sorry...I don't get on line at home till the weekend.

Tom...you asked about score.  I scored the fallow and the red deer today.  I'm an SCI certified scorer.  The Fallow scored 227.  A silver medal.  I was surprised.  It's main beam lengths were only 22" each and the spread was 20".  BUT...the palm circumference (each palm) was 17".  In the SCI scoring system, the palm circumference is tripled so it came to over 100".  The T-1 and T-2s  (brow and second tines) were each over 7".  So, it had the palm width and the main tine length of a much larger deer with the inside spread, and main beam length of a smaller deer.  No matter...it will be a pedestal mount.

The Red Stag measured 254".  It had 35" main beams, 10"+ T-1s, T-2's and T-3's as well as descent point lengths and mass.  If it had longer main beams by a couple inches, a bit more inside spread (only 25") and longer top points, it would have been fantastic.  Still....it's an SCI gold medal animal and I'm quite happy with it.

Robert...you asked about price.  Here it is.  The stag was $3,500, the fallow was $1,500 and the boar was $500.  It cost $240 to skin, butcher, bone, wrap, pack and flash freeze all three animals and an additional $50 to cape the stag and the fallow to ease transport home.


That's the story!

Regards!

Doug