Finally got some time to sit down and post this. I‘ll start off by saying I don’t post a lot on here, but this forum is a wealth of knowledge and I’ve learned so much from the years of being on here and truly enjoy and value what everyone post.
A story on this deer, I was working ridiculous hours but had enough of it and put my 2 weeks in and my last day was the 8th, so hoping to salvage a deer season I started working on it right away. Took 2 days and cleared my trails and shooting lanes and checked stands on the 14th and 15th and also threw up a couple cams on some scrapes. I picked up 2 reveal tactacams and on Thursday the 21st set them up over some corn to take inventory and pulled cards from the scrape cams.
The scrape cam showed that this deer had been here once, but I really don’t expect any deer to stick around for long on this property other than the few does that call it home. Mature bucks have always come through during the rut phases, typically at night, and then disappear never to be seen again except for the rare occasion when one might show back up after gun season and stick around. I’m going to wander off story here and talk about the property a little bit. I’ve been hunting this property since 2013 and it’s always been extremely difficult, its a little less than 20 acres of mostly very thick woods. It sits right along I-70 making it impossible to hear deer till they are right on you, but can also be helpful at the same time as I have walked within 10 yards of bedded deer and they never heard me over the roar of the interstate. Also getting a good wind direction to work with is difficult to say the least. This property has had a few nice deer that decided to stick around over the years but I have never been able to seal the deal on them. Now back to the story.
At this point the cell cams were on the second day of being in the woods, no deer had shown up on cam and I didnt expect much after scenting up the area and assumed it would be a few days before anything would show up. Before this only a few pics of a coon coming to snack on the corn was all the cam had sent. Definitely wasn’t expecting this. I was debating even hunting as I had a couple things I wanted to get done around the house but I hurried up and finished them up and started getting ready to head to the stand. It was about 3:45 by the time I had got my hunting clothes on, scent smoked them and got in stand. At about 5:00 the deer were on the move, had 2 doe come in from behind and to my left. They acted skittish when they came close to the corn and cam as they weren’t used to it yet and decided to leave. Around 6:00 I could tell something was behind me again, I could hear sticks cracking and then all of a sudden all hell broke loose as either a buck was chasing a doe or chasing another buck out of the area. I couldn’t see a thing through all the honeysuckle but I went ahead and got a grip on the crossbow ready for action. I hear steps to my left and from behind and then a small doe appears followed by a small 4 pointer. Then I catch movement directly in front of me.
By this point I had eyes on him, he came out directly in front of me in a narrow strip with my greatest visibility from this stand which is out to 35 yards. As he was coming in his rack hung up on some branches and was the perfect opportunity to shoulder my crossbow, I had to check my left to make sure the doe and small 4 didn’t have eyes on me and luckily they were in the heavy honeysuckle and couldn’t see me, so I shouldered the crossbow and watched him through the scope till the point in this pic. He never once looked at me in the stand which helped my nerves for sure. Something was drawing his attention, that feeling of dread came over me that he was going to bolt out of the area. He was quartering to me at a hard angle and and all I needed was him to turn just a little more broadside.
Its 6:30 now and he made that fatal step that put him more broadside. It’s 15 yards to him and I knew the angle of the shot was now going to be safe to take, I had faith in my equipment to do the job. I pulled the trigger, watched the arrow fly straight to its mark through the scope. Smack! He mule kicks and bolts out of the area. I can only catch glimpses of him going through the underbrush. I lose sight and then hear sticks cracking as he’s crashing through them then silence, then a short burst of leaves rustling come from the last place I heard him. I pull out my phone to check the time of the shot and it’s 6:31. I shoot a quick text to my buddy Alex aka TOO member TripleA88 saying I shot one. I have the adrenaline shakes bad at this point and I’m shaking uncontrollably in the stand. I hear a stick crack in the area directly in front of me so I look and here comes another buck very similar in size to this one! At first I thought is this the same buck circling back after the shot? I watch and it’s not him. This buck is clearly looking for him in a rutted up pissed off buck fashion and heads straight to where I heard my buck go.
I sit till 6:50 then climb down and check for blood. I’m finding nothing in area of the shot. Alex calls while I’m looking and says circle out in the area he went and see if you find any. I found some spots on a vine and then notice several more spots on the ground. I hang my headlamp with the red lights going on the vine and then head out to change clothes and wait for Alex to get there to help. We get back in the woods around 8:00 and pick up the trail. A very short track and Alex spots him before I do and he try’s to play it off like he hasn’t found it yet
.
We got him loaded up on the gator after a very exhausting drag.
I have to give Alex a huge thanks!!! He’s always helped me from hanging stands to dragging out deer.
A story on this deer, I was working ridiculous hours but had enough of it and put my 2 weeks in and my last day was the 8th, so hoping to salvage a deer season I started working on it right away. Took 2 days and cleared my trails and shooting lanes and checked stands on the 14th and 15th and also threw up a couple cams on some scrapes. I picked up 2 reveal tactacams and on Thursday the 21st set them up over some corn to take inventory and pulled cards from the scrape cams.
At this point the cell cams were on the second day of being in the woods, no deer had shown up on cam and I didnt expect much after scenting up the area and assumed it would be a few days before anything would show up. Before this only a few pics of a coon coming to snack on the corn was all the cam had sent. Definitely wasn’t expecting this. I was debating even hunting as I had a couple things I wanted to get done around the house but I hurried up and finished them up and started getting ready to head to the stand. It was about 3:45 by the time I had got my hunting clothes on, scent smoked them and got in stand. At about 5:00 the deer were on the move, had 2 doe come in from behind and to my left. They acted skittish when they came close to the corn and cam as they weren’t used to it yet and decided to leave. Around 6:00 I could tell something was behind me again, I could hear sticks cracking and then all of a sudden all hell broke loose as either a buck was chasing a doe or chasing another buck out of the area. I couldn’t see a thing through all the honeysuckle but I went ahead and got a grip on the crossbow ready for action. I hear steps to my left and from behind and then a small doe appears followed by a small 4 pointer. Then I catch movement directly in front of me.
By this point I had eyes on him, he came out directly in front of me in a narrow strip with my greatest visibility from this stand which is out to 35 yards. As he was coming in his rack hung up on some branches and was the perfect opportunity to shoulder my crossbow, I had to check my left to make sure the doe and small 4 didn’t have eyes on me and luckily they were in the heavy honeysuckle and couldn’t see me, so I shouldered the crossbow and watched him through the scope till the point in this pic. He never once looked at me in the stand which helped my nerves for sure. Something was drawing his attention, that feeling of dread came over me that he was going to bolt out of the area. He was quartering to me at a hard angle and and all I needed was him to turn just a little more broadside.
Its 6:30 now and he made that fatal step that put him more broadside. It’s 15 yards to him and I knew the angle of the shot was now going to be safe to take, I had faith in my equipment to do the job. I pulled the trigger, watched the arrow fly straight to its mark through the scope. Smack! He mule kicks and bolts out of the area. I can only catch glimpses of him going through the underbrush. I lose sight and then hear sticks cracking as he’s crashing through them then silence, then a short burst of leaves rustling come from the last place I heard him. I pull out my phone to check the time of the shot and it’s 6:31. I shoot a quick text to my buddy Alex aka TOO member TripleA88 saying I shot one. I have the adrenaline shakes bad at this point and I’m shaking uncontrollably in the stand. I hear a stick crack in the area directly in front of me so I look and here comes another buck very similar in size to this one! At first I thought is this the same buck circling back after the shot? I watch and it’s not him. This buck is clearly looking for him in a rutted up pissed off buck fashion and heads straight to where I heard my buck go.
I sit till 6:50 then climb down and check for blood. I’m finding nothing in area of the shot. Alex calls while I’m looking and says circle out in the area he went and see if you find any. I found some spots on a vine and then notice several more spots on the ground. I hang my headlamp with the red lights going on the vine and then head out to change clothes and wait for Alex to get there to help. We get back in the woods around 8:00 and pick up the trail. A very short track and Alex spots him before I do and he try’s to play it off like he hasn’t found it yet
. We got him loaded up on the gator after a very exhausting drag.
I have to give Alex a huge thanks!!! He’s always helped me from hanging stands to dragging out deer.
