Been passing young bucks the last few weeks after a slow start to the season.
I had only two on my hit list. One at Mingo Sportsmen and one behind my house. Once hunting pressure began both vanished, minus one sighting on Friday of the one by my house standing in the neighborhood while I was on my way to work.
Yesterday morning was insane. Saw 7 different bucks. One of them was a real nice up and coming 10 and the other an up and comer with a split brow. The split brow went by me twice yesterday and was really tempting me but wasn’t an automatic yes.
This morning was another fun one. That 10 came back offering me a chip shot. He’s wide but has no mass yet.
So I let him walk.
All of a sudden, my cell cam sends me a pic… couldn’t tell exactly what buck it was because it’s a little blurry, but looked decent.
Well, this cam location is between my house and Jesse’s Knob (named after our very own Jesse and a spot he shot a crow from). I got the pic notification and I sent it to my dad immediately and said “he will be here in 5 minutes”.
So, he had to walk through the powerline clearing and stay on that bench that leads to me. My stand faces the opposite direction and I wasn’t sure about shooting him based on the pic. So I stood up and faced the hillside behind me knowing he’d be coming that way.
When I saw him I knew it was the 9 with the split brow from yesterday and I figured “game on” if he gives me a shot.
He stopped at 20 and was eye level because he was on the hillside. So I let it fly. He walked about 10 steps and fell over. Then the flipping began and he rolled over the steepest part of the hill. Kendra and Klay came with me to get him out. When I got his head unwedged from the tree he slid the remaining way down the hill. So we followed suit and slid down with him. Gutted him out at the bottom and drug him up the switch back. Awful drag!!! Long and all uphill. One of those hills that requires 2 or 3 stops on the way up when you’re just walking let alone dragging a deer.
So, he got two passes yesterday, but with youth gun and gun season coming up, I was ready to end my two year drought of chasing one or two particular bucks and just getting frustrated. It was sapping the fun out of it for me.
So, here is the young split brow. Thrilled at the opportunity to harvest a fine buck and can’t wait to make some jerky!
I had only two on my hit list. One at Mingo Sportsmen and one behind my house. Once hunting pressure began both vanished, minus one sighting on Friday of the one by my house standing in the neighborhood while I was on my way to work.
Yesterday morning was insane. Saw 7 different bucks. One of them was a real nice up and coming 10 and the other an up and comer with a split brow. The split brow went by me twice yesterday and was really tempting me but wasn’t an automatic yes.
This morning was another fun one. That 10 came back offering me a chip shot. He’s wide but has no mass yet.
So I let him walk.
All of a sudden, my cell cam sends me a pic… couldn’t tell exactly what buck it was because it’s a little blurry, but looked decent.
Well, this cam location is between my house and Jesse’s Knob (named after our very own Jesse and a spot he shot a crow from). I got the pic notification and I sent it to my dad immediately and said “he will be here in 5 minutes”.
So, he had to walk through the powerline clearing and stay on that bench that leads to me. My stand faces the opposite direction and I wasn’t sure about shooting him based on the pic. So I stood up and faced the hillside behind me knowing he’d be coming that way.
When I saw him I knew it was the 9 with the split brow from yesterday and I figured “game on” if he gives me a shot.
He stopped at 20 and was eye level because he was on the hillside. So I let it fly. He walked about 10 steps and fell over. Then the flipping began and he rolled over the steepest part of the hill. Kendra and Klay came with me to get him out. When I got his head unwedged from the tree he slid the remaining way down the hill. So we followed suit and slid down with him. Gutted him out at the bottom and drug him up the switch back. Awful drag!!! Long and all uphill. One of those hills that requires 2 or 3 stops on the way up when you’re just walking let alone dragging a deer.
So, he got two passes yesterday, but with youth gun and gun season coming up, I was ready to end my two year drought of chasing one or two particular bucks and just getting frustrated. It was sapping the fun out of it for me.
So, here is the young split brow. Thrilled at the opportunity to harvest a fine buck and can’t wait to make some jerky!
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