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The death of a Monarch

Should of added these pics before. This was him right back at the bait pile the very next evening in shooting hours after the miss the day before. You don't know how relieved I was when he showed back up...lol... Time is really 5:30ish not 6:30ish as on tc...
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Here are some more random pics...
Going in to hang a stand...
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Hour and a half later...lol
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Here I am hauling the turtle blind in...
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Here I was today taking cams down. As you can see the rest of the deer should have enough food there for the rest of the winter...lol
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Unreal. For a buck as elusive as he had been I guess I learned something very important here. Never underestimate the stomach of a post rut buck in extreme temps.
 
I have really enjoyed this thread along with the picts!
That's an incredible harvest! Congratulations JD!
 
Great pics JD! Did you use a gravity wagon to dump the corn? LMAO

I have to say, if a hunter was to go after a target buck you had the perfect place to do it! Easy access for your vehicles regardless of weather and great terrain. Just enough cover and openness mixed in to set up a blind and wait on his arrival. This has got to be one of the best killer set ups I've ever seen buddy! The pic of you hauling in your blind looks like you have a space shuttle on your trailer...lmao!

Was your blind set up behind the camera taking these pictures? If so, how far away? We're you totally downwind or was it a crosswind? How far was your walk and did you walk in using the road you brought your corn in on? A lot can be learned here as far as where to establish a feeding station or mineral lick and then how to access it without alerting the deer of your presence.

Have you decided what pose you're going with on Tank? Pedestal or wall? Can't wait to see how he turns out. What shape was his cape in? Any battle scars or did he just have to show up and the competition back down? Lol
 
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finelyshedded said:
Great pics JD! Did you use a gravity wagon to dump the corn? LMAO

I have to say, if a hunter was to go after a target buck you had the perfect place to do it! Easy access for your vehicles regardless of weather and great terrain. Just enough cover and openness mixed in to set up a blind and wait on his arrival. This has got to be one of the best killer set ups I've ever seen buddy! The pic of you hauling in your blind looks like you have a space shuttle on your trailer...lmao!

Was your blind set up behind the camera taking these pictures? If so, how far away? We're you totally downwind or was it a crosswind? How far was your walk and did you walk in using the road you brought your corn in on? A lot can be learned here as far as where to establish a feeding station or mineral lick and then how to access it without alerting the deer of your presence.

Have you decided what pose you're going with on Tank? Pedestal or wall? Can't wait to see how he turns out. What shape was his cape in? Any battle scars or did he just have to show up and the competition back down? Lol
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Perfect place indeed. Its a cow pasture that has a south facing slope and that lane goes back to the cow loading area. Perfect for late season hunting when they wanna get some sun. They can lay up there and see everything. Or at least think they can...lol

The placement of this set up had and only could be put where I put it. I parked on a bridge and looked at this hillside a couple times and tried to figure out the best spot for it so I could get into the blind without deer spotting me. Knowing that this blind and corn pile is only a 100 yards if not less from where they bed. The south fence is thick with honeysuckle and if I walked as close to it as I could without limbs hitting me and making a lot of noise I could sneak in without them seeing me cause the hill stops right at the fence. I would walk till the blind was directly to my north and I would make the 75 yard walk straight and quietly as I could cause I didn't have a hole lot of cover at that point in. If I would of walked in that lane one of the deer in there would of caught me and I'd been done. At first I thought only a wind out of the north would work but after sitting there a couple times I noticed that they only came down a gulley that was to my nnw. I still only hunted when I had a direct west or any north winds till the day I killed him but that day was so cold and windy I didn't think it would matter so I hunted the ssw wind the 6th anyways. I hunted that blind 8 times from the 23rd to the 6th and I saw tank 4 times.

I had the blind set up at 22 yards east of the big corn pile and I also had another smaller pile ten yards from the blind. I also had a stand set up 40 yards from the pile in case that blind didn't work out. If it didn't I was gonna roll it down by the old barn and just leave it there out of sight. But luckily that blind never seemed to really bother them at all. As you know I help a farming buddy in the fall and whenever they spill corn I clean it all up. There was at least ten bushels of corn and another ten bushels of beans there. I wanted them deer to feel as safe as possible in there and have plenty of food to not wanna leave. I've went back through pics and tank left for a four day period at one time but that was when we didn't have any snow on the ground.

All said and done now, finally after 14 years of trophy hunting, I had a set up with the intention of killing 1 deer work. I've done some one time sits and got lucky in killing a big one while they were on a hot doe but actually planning it this way this was my first.The scouting and many late night drives looking for him in that period of time paid off. That period of time will be one I never forget.

The corn pile debates have put a lot of thoughts in my mind but I've stayed out of them. All I can say is I made the biggest corn pile around and it worked...lol... Come to find out as well the big nt I hunted back in 010 was his daddy. I have the shed from him the year before he got killed and it looks almost identical to Tanks. I killed Tank about 250 yards from where I found this guys shed...
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Still haven't decided on the mount yet. Cape was in perfect condition...
 
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Excellent details JD. Thanks for answering Ric's questions. I didn't think he was going to stop asking. Figured next question would be what color socks you were wearing or something. lol
 
hickslawns said:
Excellent details JD. Thanks for answering Ric's questions. I didn't think he was going to stop asking. Figured next question would be what color socks you were wearing or something. lol
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Lmao Phil.

Thanks for going in to detail JD. I believe the success of killing a mature buck starts with your stand or blind placement or setup. You also MUST be able to enter and leave it undetected whether it's over a huge pile of corn,pinch point or oak flat.

Congrats again! Looking forward to seeing what pose you decided on! You going to take Tank to the D&T Expo in March?
 
Great read JD!! Congrats again! There's so many things that go into hunting a specific deer. I have a great deal of respect for all of you guys that do it. I just don't have that level of patience & commitment at this point in time. rotflmao
 
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