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Back In The Saddle!

badger

*Supporting Member*
Bumped a doe on the way in. Got the wind to my face and beaver pond to my right, come on deer!





 
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badger

*Supporting Member*
Just had a big lone doe come through at 25 yards, too much junk in the way to send an arrow. She come from behind me where I jumped the other one, probably the same deer. Beautiful evening so far.
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
Good luck buddy. I hope you can clock one tonight. Should be coming through anytime now :D.

Thanks Adam and the rest of ya'll, but it didn't happen. Had a deer walk up with the wind to it's back at 6:40. Never could make out if it was a doe or a buck. It stayed in the thick shit out in front of me and I thought I heard it walk off. That was untill my feet hit the ground and it snorted at me.:frown:

Oh well that's bow hunting, it was still a great night to be in the woods. Had my buddy the beaver out in the pond the last hour of light.
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
Thanks Mike.

That was pretty cool! It was like I had never seen a deer before, I couldn't believe how excited I got. I watched him come in for about a hundred yards. I had two shooting lanes on the main path and he stopped in the first one, but I had some stuff barely blocking the boiler room. I decided to let him get to the second one which he did and I had to stop him there. I drew back as he was walking and just when he was getting where I wanted him I said deer out loud and he stopped and looked directly away from the two of us. This was going to be too easy. I settled my pin tight to the crease and let her fly! Not sure where I went wrong, but I was dead on left and right, but a foot high of a good heart shot. I damn near grazed his back. He jumped about thirty yards away and stopped. At the same time I heard another one busting brush in front of us. Here there was a deer bedded in front of me and the small buck and I jumped it up with our confrontation. Never seen what it was, but he walked right out of sight to the other deer.

Spent the rest of the evening laughing at myself and thinking of wacking all the squirrels that had witnessed my terrible shot.

Can't wait to get back out there tomorrow. I won't be missing again, it's not my style!
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
Great blow-by-blow Badger

I'm down here worken, liven through you'r hunt. :smile:
 

badger

*Supporting Member*
The scrapes and deer movement have really been picking up in the woods I hunt. Been seeing deer almost every time out which is a big change from earlier in the season. Last nights hunt was the best so far. I had hung a new stand for my son to hunt the previous night and decided to hop in it as he had basketball practice. The area I hung it in faces a bunch of white oaks to the north, and a bedding area just north of them. There's cut bean fields and an old apple orchard to the north of the bedding area. It's surrounded by lots more hardwoods with a field to the south, and an old slashing to the southeast. With the north west wind, I should have a good hunt.

My buddy had hit a decent 8 the night before at 5:00 and I had missed a small buck at 5:20 a few nights ago, so I wanted in early. By 4:00 I was settled in and checking TOO on my phone. Basically I was drooling at some of the bucks ya'll have been killing. I quit looking at Mao's buck and decided to put my phone up. Ten minutes went by watching squirrels when I heard the faint steps of a deer to my left. As I eased my attention in that direction I could see a a nice doe 50 yards away walk into a clearing. She was uneasy and kept looking behind herself. Within seconds a very wide and tall buck comes charging her with his neck stretched out and flattened. All I could think was here we go! She would let him get a sniff and that was about it. He tried to mount a few times but she wasn't having it yet. They kept walking in circles with her leading, and never getting closer than 40 yards. I'm not good at all on aging or scoring deer. All I can say is he was a very symmetrical 8 with good mass, very tall & wide and looked to be an older deer in the face & body.

After 15 minutes or so, she started walking away with him following. I've never used a grunt call much but figured this was as good of a time as any. I expected him to ignore me and stay with his lady, but to my surprise he stopped and turned around walking to me! He only closed the distance to 30 yards facing me when he stopped and froze. This time he was staring in the direction they had come from. Here comes another buck following the two of them. This one was a younger deer with a smaller rack & body, but was a 10 or a 12. The first buck postured up and was letting him know who was boss. It was obvious the younger buck wanted no part of him. They had a short stare down with the younger guy backing off. Damn, I was ready for a fight!!!

The big guy returned his attention to the doe, and the other buck kept his distance. I lost the 8 point and the doe and figured they had walked off. Now I couldn't see the younger buck any where's, he had vanished as well. I've never been a rack hunter so I was more than happy to have got a shot at the smaller one but he was gone. Just when I was going to sit down I made out a deer rump 40 yards away behind some briers. It was the younger buck who was now bedded down. My hopes started building again as i was hoping the other two might be bedded too. At 5:30 the young back stood up, swapped ends and layed back down. I stared at him until 6:15 when I heard a stick snap. Out of no where steps the big 8 again. Him and the doe messed around a bit and then walked off. With that the young buck was following and I decided to use my doe bleat a few times. He stopped and would look, but he had his mind on taking a chance with the for sure thing. I stayed up till dark never seeing anything else but squirrels.

No shot, but a hell of a night in the stand.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
That was an awesome story and sounded like a helluva hunt as well. That right there is what keeps the passion burning and us going back for more.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
Thanks for sharing Dale! Glad you got to experience it. Wish I could get out. Playing catch up on work from leaving town for a long weekend last weekend. dang. Awesome story though!
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
Awesome hunt Badger, that'll get the blood flowing... Not always about the shot as much as the experiance...