Well, my first public land buck fell Thursday morning. I have been hunting SE ohio since 2007 but this is only my second year on public land. Needless to say I'm really learning how to hunt deer! This year was tough, and to spare a long story I'm a bit tired to write, it was by the luck of God I harvested this 10pt. I'm ecstatic with this buck. Had it been a first day encounter, he'd still be alive and I'd be kicking myself. Long story short, I hunted 7 hard days and saw 7 deer. I was lucky enough to shoot the biggest buck I saw all week. I ended up shooting him only minutes, literally, before I climbed down. I had zero success calling all week but decided I better hit the horns one last time before I get down. Not ten minutes had gone by when this buck had made a beeline straight to my tree. A clean pass through double lung and 70 yards later, I had my first 100 inch deer on the ground, after passing a few up in past seasons and missing a solid 125+ a couple years back in ND. Not sure what he scores, he's still at the butcher, and honestly it doesn't matter. I worked tirelessly for this buck, from start to finish. All day sits seeing no deer most days, to the hour long drag out with a deer cart... And when I left, I had shot by far the biggest deer in the campground, so it was a rough week all around. Hard hunting, perfect shot, easy recovery, great week with friends in camp, what more can you really ask for? He'll go anywhere from 105-115, probably in the 108 range. Solid 2.5yo, shame he had to fall this year. But he means a lot to me...
