Brock/Mason go huntin

[jeremy44230]

I'm really looking forward to heating about your hunt this evening. Good luck boys!!!

 

[brock ratcliff]

Another fun night in the tree with Mason. We saw four total. Two adult does, one button buck and the same nice 8 that I saw this morning. As some of you know, we are hunting very specific deer this year, one that Mason had to let go during shotgun season last year. He swears up and down that he will never be a trophy hunter, he just wants to kill this particular deer. So I've wondered all season if he'd have what it takes to let lesser bucks walk, he is only 11 after all. There are other bucks on the farm that will test him more, but this was a pretty nice buck for a kid to let walk...and he had several minutes with him in range (25 yds) Below is a pic I snapped from the video I took. It looks much darker than it was, we were well inside of legal time should he have decided to shoot.

 

[brock ratcliff]

This made deer number 10 that he has let walk this season. We'll start shooting one of these days.

 

[Bigslam51]

That's some serious self control for an 11 year old!

 

[Mike]

No joke!

 

[jeremy44230]

That's some serious self control for an 11 year old!

Ain't that the truth!!!

I sure do hope his patience pays of for both of you. That would be so cool.

 

[Fullbore]

Awesome update Brock! Gotta give ole Mase some props for passin on all those deer and this nice 8 point. His patience won't go without rewarded.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Mason is an awesome kid. That just proves it a little bit more!

 

[brock ratcliff]

Mason is an awesome kid. That just proves it a little bit more!

His mom told him he was a moron for not shooting when she watched the video...but what's she know?! Old dad was happy not to have to fool with a dead deer, and you can't shoot a really, really big one if you shoot a nice one first!

 

[aholdren]

His mom told him he was a moron for not shooting when she watched the video...but what's she know?! Old dad was happy not to have to fool with a dead deer, and you can't shoot a really, really big one if you shoot a nice one first!

Im thinking the same damn thing HA HA. dang trail cams.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I went up to Fayette this morning. I don't have any idea what's around, but there is usually a good one or two, and sometimes a GIANT. I needed a change of scenery.

There was a deer in the corn stubble in front of my stand before sunrise, no idea what it was. Saw a doe come from a mile away just as the morning gray broke, then another a short time later. About 830, 3 coyotes came along. I mouth-squeaked at them and they came close enough for a shot. Unfortunately, I shot for 40 and the yote was 35, that's enough to cause you to shoot right over 'em! As I was gathering my gear at 9 to climb down, a young buck came chasing a couple of does around in circles. I had to get out anyway to get back to the shop this morning, so I crawled down after they were out of sight and went to get my arrow. As I stood up, another small buck popped out of a little woodlot, we looked at each other for a while, then we walked in opposite directions. Not a bad couple of hours in the tree... I may do it again tomorrow!

The pics show the 3 yotes, and the last little buck I saw.

 

[brock ratcliff]

We snuck into the "kill spot" tonight. Had a doe under us at 515. She wandered off. Two more popped out at 530 and moseyed around a bit. I got a text from a buddy that he had just missed a giant, then I heard a grunt over in the thicket to our left. Got another text that my buddy had just shot a good 10pt and watched him fall 20 yds from the shot, heard another grunt to our left. Suddenly there's this little buck off to our right. He circled around in front of us, offered Mason plenty of shooting opportunities and meandered on into the thicket to our left. We could hear deer tromping around in there, but could never see them due to the fading light. We saw some woodcocks and got to watch a redtail hunting the crp all evening... Pretty good night in the tree, again.

 

[cotty16]

You guys got all the action! Send some deer our way. Lol

 

[RedCloud]

Man, you guys get to see and share a lot of great stuff Brock. You both will look back on these days and agree they was some of the best days spent together. It would just be icing on the cake if one of the big boys came to play and got put in the dirt. Good luck to you guys and I hope it happens this weekend.

 

[Curran]

Love this adventure you guys are on Brock!! Can't wait to see what's on the next page. Good luck buddy.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Went into the "kill spot" this morning... dumb name for a stand, but I can't think of anything better.
There was a deer in my parking spot as I pulled in, no idea what it was. Just at first light a spike buck came up one of the trails I'd bushhogged last week and fooled around for a while before heading deeper into the thicket. I heard some grunting out in the crp a bit later but never did see what was doing it. I'd like to think it was a deer.

We can't hunt tonight since it's a Friday. We'll be out in the morning I suspect.

 

[brock ratcliff]

So Mason and I got up early today, drove a mile or two to our spot, walked in and promptly found four deer under our stand. Dangit! We climb up, wait a while and see a doe cut across the crp field in front of us. She is followed by a 150" 10, he is followed by a small 7 that had walked by us at 10 yds, and then he is followed across the crp field by one of our target bucks, and he is a whopper! The deer all go up the hill to our left shortly before we hear horns mashing together. Just a few minutes later the 150" 10 pt comes back off the hill and right to us. Mason says, "He's not a shooter, this year"...and he goes on his way. We gave up a while later as Mason's feet froze up, jumped a deer that was bedded all of 20 yds from my truck...

I tried to take a little nap but couldn't sleep thinking about that big sucker slipping by my stand while I was relaxing at home, so I headed back to the stand shortly after 1. By 130 or 145, the small 7 came back by, and I was certain that big sucker and the doe would come by before dark. They did not. In fact after seeing the little 7 early, I did not see anything until right at dark when 3 does came under me. Still, it was one heck of a fun day in the woods.

 

[Boarhead]

Sounds like a fun day Brock,you two keep after them.

 

[brock ratcliff]

My laptop will not play any videos since upgrading to windows 8.1, so here are some crappy pics of the 150 that Mason passed on Sunday. The kid is nuts, hopefully it will pay off for him this season.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I didn't want to blow deer out from under our kill stand again, so I decided not to hunt it this morning. I went up on a high spot and sat in a fence row. More so, really, to keep an eye on where the out of towners where going to hunt than to actually kill something. It's a good spot as I've seen deer use that fence row over the years, but I didn't see anything beside a coyote that never came in range. One of the out of towners killed a doe fairly early as I saw Bill driving back with the Kubota to haul it out. It was a doe. They didn't head to their stands until the sun was cracking the horizon, and were all out by 9... Sounds like a recipe for someone to luck into killing a GIANT this week. We'll never kill 'em, we put in too much effort. These guys, however, are not working at it at all...those deer are as good as dead.