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Regular readers know that J.R. is a one of the more enthusiastic bowhunters out there. So they won't be surprised to hear that he was in a tree on Halloween evening in Floyd County in the pouring rain. This big doe was his reward.

He reported that his heart was pounding when three does showed up and this one stepped into a shooting lane at a range of 31 yards.

"I know it seems silly to get so excited over a doe, but I just love bowhunting and to work so hard all summer and move stands the last two weeks to get fine tuned," he wrote. "Its an awesome feeling to know all I have learned and put afield has a reward in the end. The first buck is next I hope but if not, I still love getting a shot at a big doe."

Well put, J.R., and congrats.

My buddy Freddy McGuire spent a rainy evening last week hunting in a pop-up blind overlooking a food plot. The effort paid off when this doe got to within 23 yards.

Freddy's arrow was tipped with a Rage broadhead. I assumed this was the exit whole. It was actually the entry. Wow. There's no debating that the broadhead did its job in this case.

Freddy does most of his hunting in Franklin and Bedford counties, both of which are under the earn-a-buck regulations. Getting that first doe down is always a relief. Freddy knocked down doe number two a couple days later. So he has earned his number two and three bucks should he get the chance.

If you hunt in an earn-a-buck county, it's always best to get at least one doe out of the way as soon as possible.

Dale Wade reported last week that his deer hunting in Floyd and Montgomery counties hadn't been going great -- one doe killed -- but he did manage to kill this impressive coyote on a recent hunt.

I always joke that scouting cameras are great for getting pictures of the big buck you won't kill this season.

Of course we know that sometimes we do kill those bucks.

Jason Nicholson, who got that recent cool coyote/eight-pointer double, filled his second west-of-the-Blue Ridge buck tag on the morning of Oct. 24 when he shot this great eight-pointer in Floyd County.

It's a deer he had captured previously on trail camera pictures that appeared here in September.

Nicholson said the buck showed up early in the morning and got to a range of 15 yards where Nicholson made a good shot and the 100-grain Thunderhead-tipped arrow did it's job. The buck still had the wound on its snout that was visible in the trailcam pictures.

He further reported: "All in all I have been truly blessed this season to have take a great 8, good 8, doe and coyote all in the same week. I owe a lot of credit to my wife who puts up with me going hunting as much as I do."

The good news for the rest of us is that Nicholson plans to start hunting in North Carolina so he will leave some game out there for all us average hunters.

Jerry Borger of Christiansburg had quite a hunt on the morning of Oct. 9. In less than two hours he had opportunities for a coyote and a bobcat, and he capitalized on both.

"The squirrels on the Borger property are rejoicing," reported Borger. "As is the local taxidermist."

What a couple of awesome animals.

I've been preaching since I launched this blog that I wanted any and all hero shots -- not just of trophy bucks. A hunt isn't just defined by antler inches, but what goes into the hunt and what the hunter gets out of it -- beyond the actual animal. It's why I post shots of myself with does and I'm always glad when others submit the same.

Anyway, regular Ralph Barton came through with this shot of his great doe from a recent hunt on public land. After Ralph smacked the doe at 18 yards it ran just 40 yards before crashing. It's a long walk out but he had stashed a game cart in there so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I wish I could post a shot of me with a nice doe but I haven't been hunting since the first week of the season. Tonight wouldn't be a bad night but I have an assignment. But, looking at my schedule, my non-hunting streak might end tomorrow. It's a little warmer than I'd prefer but I've got to take the opening when I get it. I hope I get some openings next week because it looks like a nice cold front is coming.

Jason Nicholson didn't have much time after work on Oct. 21, especially since he promised his wife he would be home early and wouldn't hunt. But he wanted to run out and pull the memory card from one of his trail cameras. Not wanting to take any chances he took along his bow. I'll let him take it from here:

"I made all kinds of noise because I was in a hurry. I got to the camera and took the memory card out and started viewing what was on there with my digital camera while sitting in my tree stand. It wasn’t five minutes and nine deer were under me, all does and there little ones. They hung around for a few minutes until this coyote scared them off. I shot him at 20 yards (first coyote).

Then 15 minutes later a six-pointer which I have on the trail camera showed up with this good eight-pointer trailing him. This is the first time seeing this eight-pointer. He is more than likely a   2 ½-year-old but he looked pretty good and he was hard to pass so I stuck him. (With a 100-grain Thunderhead, same as the coyote).

What did I learn? I learned no matter how much you try to sneak in the woods you may or may not see deer. I made too much noise if I were going to hunt. I had my dress pants on with my green rubber boots and only my camo jacket, no hood, no mask, no gloves, no cover scent. Basically all the tricks I’ve learned over the past 20 years were out the door on this venture. All the stars must have been aligned for me yesterday because it was a perfect hunting evening! The buck weighed in at 170 pounds field dressed and sported a 16 ½-inch spread."

Wow! Maybe Jason can weigh in here and tell us what kind of area he was hunting. Whatever it was it sure was a hot spot.

It's 4:30 a.m. on Friday and this is my second early wake-up in a row.

I'd like to say it's because I've been on my way hunting, but it's not.

Yesterday I had to hit the road at O-dark-30 to go to the DGIF board meeting in Richmond to cover the board's vote on the proposal to protect elk that wander into the state from our neighbors, a story I wrote up for today's Outdoors Page in The Roanoke Times. I was going to link to that story here, but it didn't make it onto our Roanoke.com Web site. So if you want to read what happen you'll have to buy the paper. At least my fall turkey hunting preview made it.

Today I'm on the way to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight. But it's not a bad thing, either. My wife and I are heading to Chicago for short little getaway, and I actually will be back at Northwestern tomorrow for our homecoming game against Indiana. It should be a fun weekend, even though the weather doesn't look too good.

My mom is in town to watch the kids, and having her here next week should help free me up to finally get back in the woods.

Good luck to everyone this weekend and I'll be back at it on Monday.

Stacy Osborn put a lot of extra work into positioning two stands together so it was easy to hunt next to 10-year-old son McGuire. The work paid off on the opening day of bow season when this eight-pointer showed up and McGuire made a good 23-yard shot to put the deer down.

McGuire, who lives in Grayson County, killed his first deer at 7. This is his fourth deer, and first with a crossbow.

Since he was a young tot, Donnie Barger has been tagging along with his father, Don Barger, in the woods. "He taught me everything I know from the time I was 5 years old and I haven't missed a hunting season with him in 30 years," the son reported, proudly.

So Donnie didn't mind giving his dad a hand pulling this monster buck out of the woods on Oct. 12.

The elder Barger, who is 63, shot the huge 11-pointer on private land in Botetourt County, not far from the family home in Buchanan.

If you're wondering where those three extra points are, they are short stickers on the massive bases of these antlers. This is really just a mainframe 8-pointer. According to Donnie Barger, who sent in the shot, the deer had an inside spread of 21 inches and those G-2s measure 12 inches.

Mainframe eights don't get much bigger than this in Virginia.