Aging Deer Chart

Helpful hints on aging deer on the hoof!

Greg's Big Buck

Greg's big 8-point buck taken south of Vicksburg, MS in December 2000.  He was the guest of a hunting buddy/friend and used his inline muzzleloader.  The rest is history.  It weigh 255 lbs. and the antlers had an inside spread of 25 inches. This buck scored 131 on the Boone and Crockett.  Congrats Greg!

My Godchild's Big Buck!

John Kirk Ring with his awesome buck at his camp.

John Kirk Ring, my Godchild, killed this nice big buck in south Warren County at 5:15 pm on the edge of a food plot. He found the right side of a shed that is very similar to this buck in March of 2005 while scouting for turkeys. The shed was found around 350 yards from where Kirk killed this buck.

On December 23rd, he was climbing a tree when the deer came out trailing a doe and his gun was on the ground. He had to watch him trot by. The day that Kirk killed the buck, he hunted from sun up to sun down, and the buck finally walked out just before dark. 

It was 74 degrees that day with 20 mph winds.

9 point Inside Spread: 19 1/2" 
Beams: 23" 
Weight: between 200 and 215 lb.

My congrats to my Godchild in our great wild outdoors! I'm so proud of you!

John's 10 pt. Buck

John is now attending college at Mississippi State and will be a Sophomore this coming fall. His Grandpa Bob and I are so proud of his accomplishments.  Way to go John!

It was an unusually hot opening weekend; one of the warmest that I can remember; lows in the 50's highs close to 80. Opening morning we saw two small does and 5 gobblers (4 long beards, one Jake). That afternoon we went to 46 and were bomb barded by ~500 ladybugs, so we left there and went to 38; didn't see a deer (too hot). The next morning I asked John where he wanted to hunt, and he said 3, so that is where we went.

We got to the stand probably 15 minutes before light. Just when it started breaking light, I saw a white tail sticking up. I told John that I see a deer, but I could not tell what it was. I saw the white tail one more time, but the weeds were too high, so I was never able to tell what that deer was. Shortly after it broke light, a big ole doe came out. I grunted at her and she stopped right out in the middle of an opening. John got his gun, but he was not able to see the deer. He was trying to find the deer in the scope, so I told him to find the doe with his eyes before he looked through the scope. The doe took a few steps before John spotted her, but by then she had made it safely to some cover.

I immediately looked behind me, and I saw a buck coming up out of the bottom. I asked John to let me have his gun so I could see how big he was. I knew immediately that the buck was big enough to shoot, so I told John that he was a shooter, and we switched chair positions. I grunted at the buck and stopped him in an opening broadside. I grabbed my video camera and started videoing the buck. John could not find the buck in his scope at first, so I told him to look over the top of the scope and find the buck with his eyes, and then find him in the scope. John found the buck then, so I told him to slowly squeeze the trigger and shoot when he was ready.

John said that he was too far; the scope was on 4 power, so I cranked it up some, and John said that was better. I was concentrating on keeping the camera steady when John said that he was scared and that he could not keep the gun steady. John asked if I would hold the gun steady. I put my camera down and reached over and put my hand on the scope to try and steady the gun. John was still having trouble keeping the gun steady, and I didn't know if I was helping him or making it worse, so I took my hand off the scope and grabbed my video camera again. The buck then reached back and licked himself, and that is when I saw what kind of rack he had. He had some long G2 tines and good beam length, and I asked John if he wanted me to shoot him. John said no. The buck looked forward, and started to walk off, so I grunted again to stop him. The buck looked right at us. John said that he couldn't keep the gun steady, and when I looked over at him he had his head down looking at the floor of the stand. I realized then that maybe his chair was a little to low for him to hold the gun steady, so with the buck looking dead at us, I moved John up and I moved over to his chair and sat him in my lap. John said that was better, but he still couldn't keep the gun steady, so I reached around him and put my hand on the scope to help steady the gun. I told him to concentrate with the cross hairs on the shoulder and slowly squeeze the trigger. John shot, and the buck lunged forward with his right front leg not moving; I knew he was hit hard, and he ran over a slight ridge and into a little depression. I felt the deer had gone down, but I wasn't sure if he had made it to the bottom he had come out of. I set my compass to where the buck was standing when John shot, and told him that it would help us find exactly where the buck was standing because the woods look different when you are on the ground. We both walked over there, and John said this is where the buck was standing, I told him no it is over here to the right. I just new I was going to walk up on the deer any second, but I couldn't find any blood, and I could find the buck piled up like I had expected. I was so excited/nervous that I couldn't concentrate on finding blood, I was just looking for the deer. I then replayed the video, and noticed a leaning tree just to the right of the buck, but I could not find the leaning tree where I thought the buck had been standing when John shot.

I told John that I was going to have to go back to the stand to see if I could see the leaning tree. Sure enough when I got back to the stand I could see the leaning tree, and realized that I had set my compass wrong. I set it on a small opening to the right of where the deer was standing, and I noted that John was right when he said that this is where the buck was standing. I told John that he was right, and he beamed back with a smile. We found one pin drop of blood, and I noticed that some overturned leaves where the buck had gone over a slight ridge. I had John lead while I videotaped him. He walked up the small ridge and there he laid. I asked him how may points he had, and he said 8, I said boy you better count again, so he did. John's first buck was a 10 point with 191/2 inch beams, 9 inch G2's, 8 inch G3's, 13 inch spread, and 190 lbs (scored 128 4/8).

Dad: Greg Phillips

Featured In Sports Section ~ January 2013

Click to enlarge!

Rex Howell and I taken at the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club where I hunt on March 8, 2009.  My hunting friend and mentor.

My Bowhunting Days

My daughter found these pictures of me last night while trying to find a particular picture she was looking for.  She called and told me about them but actually don't remember having these taken but glad she came across them to add to my deer hunting blog.  I must have been in my late forties or early fifties when I was bow hunting.  I have had no interest in about 10 years now and have since sold my bow.  I did enjoy hunting with my bow and had many memorable hunts.     

I only stuck one big doe after her two yearlings came across a levee and hit her shoulder bone and it bounced off and she took off.  Bent the tip of my broad head with blood but did not get up to the poison. 

Another time I was in a stand and had a doe just 20 feet away and when I drew back...I brushed my jacket too close and made a noise and of course it took off. 

While on the levee stand again I had three does walking the road in front of me and when I pulled back to release my arrow, it fell to the ground.  I was not very happy about that and they took off. 

It was enjoyable just being in the woods and enjoying nature and hunting before gun season opened and knowing where the deer were traveling.

The pictures above were taken at my deer camp, Jasper Bottom Hunting Club, Claiborne County at the Big Black River off of Fisher Ferry Road.

My Grandson, Michael "Ethan" Kelly

Ethan just took on a new assignment at Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB in North Carolina last week.  

He wanted to go hunting again before he left to joined the Air Force last October but never got the chance.  Hopefully, if he comes home for Christmas he can head to the woods and get him a deer.  

Be safe Grandson and I love you very much!   Gran Gran

Pictures of Ethan that I took when he was a little boy while I was babysitting him and his baby sister, Lucy.  

One day, I told Ethan to go and throw himself into the flowers...

...and these are the cute pictures I got.