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When people were sending me trailcam shots of big bucks late this summer, I wondered if we'd see any of those deer again in hero shots.

We would.

In early archery season my friend Freddy McGuire shot a beautiful seven-pointer that he had a number of trailcam shots of. (I'd seen the deer in person one evening while Freddy and I sat watching one of his food plots.)

Here's the second. This buck first appeared on this blog on September 20. Bobby Hodges of Salem killed the trophy while hunting his small piece of property on Wildwood Road. From the looks of the rack, and from what the sender of the trailcam shot let me know, I'm 99 percent sure this is the same buck.

Hodges said he was just out for a meat hunt when the big boy showed up chasing two does. The buck had 10 total points and Hodges said it weighed 162 pounds field dressed.

This buck killed by James Swingle in Craig County on Nov. 10 has it all -- points, length and mass. The main beams were nearly 26 inches long, and the G-1s and G-2s were both about 10 inches. Swingle said the buck taped out at about 160 Boone and Crockett inches.

Yes, there are a few bucks still roaming around out there. My friend Freddy McGuire sent me this shot of a nice eight-pointer that has made it through the busiest part of the season.

It probably helps that this guy was hanging out around the Blue Ridge Parkway.

When Steve Grubb sent me this shot, he joked that he shot it in his Southwest Roanoke neighborhood.

Actually, this buck might not qualify as a shooter in that neighborhood, where Grubb once had a big whitetail attack his 3-D target.

At the place I hunt in Bedford County I have seen only one decent buck all season. Now I know why. They all left for the areas other guys are hunting, and are getting shot there.

Tom Watkins was headed to his stand one afternoon when he saw this guy come out of a thicket chasing a doe. He had no need to hunt in his stand that evening.

This buck was chasing a doe at dusk in Bedford County when it walked into Heath Eckstein's crosshairs on Nov. 9, the same day Heath's brother Craig killed the buck in the picture below.

This has been a busy week for pictures and I have about a dozen in the hopper. I'll get them posted as quickly as I can.

Craig Eckstein sent in this shot of a great buck he shot in Bedford County on Nov. 9.

Here, in his words, is how the hunt unfolded:

"I hunt a very, very thick cutover. The pines and briars are so thick you can't see 20 yards; their bedding area is pretty much the same as the feeding area. They never have to leave (and rarely enter the hardwoods nearby)! But I have one lone tree in the middle of it, and I cut some shooting lanes thru the thicket several years ago. I spend the day staring at a few very small openings, waiting for them to step into them. On the 9th, the buck made the mistake of stepping out of the thicket and nearly stuck his snout into my Tinks 69 scent bomb. That was probably the first, and definitely the last time he smelled Tinks."

Here's that final Dixon family picture I promised. This is Jackie Dixon with an awesome nine-pointer she killed on Nov. 19 while hunting in a ground blind with her husband in western Roanoke County. Barry Dixon's bear and 10-pointer were great, but I think I know who's in the lead with family bragging rights so far this season.

The rack's outside spread was 21 7/8 inches. It's also clear that this thing has some impressive mass. I love those heavy bases and the cool sticker near the right brow tine. The deer's live weight was 183 pounds.

Jackie was using a Remington Model 7 Youth in the .260 Remington caliber, with a hand-loaded 120-grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet.

Here's a shot of Alan "Moe" Lazenby with a nice buck he killed the final Friday of the rifle season near Roanoke.

This wasn't the shot I planned to post next, but I came straight home from an all-day assignment at Smith Mountain Lake and the final picture from the Dixon family trifecta is on my work computer's hard drive. I'll try to post it in the morning. And, let's just say I saved the best for last with that one.

Speaking of trifectas, I was pretty happy to complete one of my own Saturday morning when I shot a doe in Botetourt with my rifle. So I've gotten one with a bow, muzzleloader and rifle this season.

I'm not giving up on shooter bucks just yet, but it's been a pretty thin season for me. I guess I've seen two decent bucks all season, a fair 7-pointer during bow season and a mature six-pointer that I passed up with a muzzleloader. Unless something dramatic happens in the next month this will probably be my slowest season for seeing shooters in a while.

As promised, here's another shot of Barry Dixon of Troutville with another trophy. He killed this 10-point buck on private land in Botetourt. The buck's live weight was 156 pounds.

Barry's rifle was a Browning A-Bolt (he's a man after my own heart as that's what I shoot) in .300 Winchester Magnum caliber. The bullet was a 180-grain Nosler P/PT handloaded by his dad. In short, that deer didn't go far.