Round out your duck season right by targetting wood ducks using these “out of the box” tactics.
It’s time for LouisianaSportsman.com users to decide the best photos entered in the December edition of the Nikon Deer of the Year and the Trail Cam contests. Voting will continue through Jan. 5, with winners in each contest announced Jan. 6.
Monthly winners will move on to the final voting session scheduled for next month, when the overall contest winners will be decided.
In the latest Nikon Deer of the Year contest, users can choose from three images that include a public-lands buck, a pair of lock-up bucks and a Concordia Parish swamp kill.
Click here to see the three photos and vote for your favorite.
Toby Guidry, or “thecajungator2” as he’s known on the LouisianaSportsman.com reports forum, entered a photo titled “Awesome spread off NWR.”
“I’ve been hunting the same spot on a NWR for the last eight years, and have killed some really nice bucks from this one spot,” Guidry said. “It was cold, 26 degrees and frost everywhere. … I had that feeling I was being watched and, sure enough, I turned around to look behind me and there he was, standing in a clump of trees.
“One shot from my .300 WSM, and he went straight down. I couldn’t believe how big he was, 10 points and a broken-off tine. It was awesome.”
Also in the running is Kate Savant’s “Locked up” showing two Avoyelles Parish bucks that were locked up when Savant shot.
“I was going hunting with my dad. We were on our way to his stand when we noticed a deer about 80 yards down the road,” said Savant, aka “bowhunter71.” “He finally picked up his head enough to catch a glimpse of his rack. I got on the ground, lying on my stomach, aimed behind the shoulder, fired my .243 and dropped him!
“As we got closer we realized what the deer was actually doing in the road: He was locked up with another big buck! It seemed as though the deer I killed was fighting with a big 8 point earlier that day and the 8-point lost. He had killed him (we think he smothered him in a mud hole), but he was still locked up and couldnt get out! I had never seen anything like this before. It took my dad and his friend over 30 minutes to get the deer apart.”
James Parish, who is known as “Sgt. Catahoula” on the site, entered the third choice. His photo is titled “Blind 260,” and shows a great buck he arrowed in Concordia Parish.
“I drew back on this buck twice and he needed to take that one step more,” Parish wrote. “The third time I drew on him he took that last step and I was able to make a good shot from 20 yards away.
“When I got to him it looked like he might be blind in his right eye because it had a white ‘frosted’ over look to it. Now I know how I got away with drawing on him three times.”
The Trail Cam contest pits photos by Michael Fourcade, Robbie Henderson and Ruse Smith for the monthly prize. Click here to see the photos and vote for your favorite.
Fourcade, aka Michael64, entered “deer love” showing a buck mounting a doe.
“This is the first time I had ever had a picture like this,” Fourcade swrote.
Henderson’s “teaching the little one a lesson” shows a large hog apparently taking a smaller pig to the wood shed.
“Better him than me!” wrote Henderson, who uses the site alias of “Robbie H.”
The last Trail Cam contest is “Running Deer” by Ruse Smith (aka “treeclimber”). It pictures a great Avoyelles Parish buck trotting past Smith’s camera.
“Four cameras were set up on different trails about 200 yards apart,” Smith wrote. “This buck was picked up on every camera. I have 10 pictures of that deer over a period of 30 days.”
A final monthly round of voting will be held Feb. 1 to allow users to choose winners from photos entered this month, and the Grand Prize voting session featuring all monthly winners will take place immediately thereafter.
Anyone can enter the Nikon Deer of the Year and Trail Cam contests, but only registered users of LouisianaSportsman.com are eligible for the voting sessions and prizes. Click here if you’re not already registered to get started today!
