It is high time we get back on the BOTM train and there is no better way to kick things off than a story of opening day success from the 2011-2012 deer season! I've had the pleasure of meeting this young man and it is refreshing to see some quality outdoorsmen present in the next generation. He and Diablo serve as "little brothers" to the TOO fraternity, but these boys can certainly hold their own in the hills and hollers of this great state! Congrats to Jake Gray (AKA: Moundy) on his great opening day buck!!!
2011 is a year that came with a lot of firsts for me. My season started out like one that probably never will again…
We'll begin in the summer. One of my main goals was to do a lot of scouting and get into trail cams more than I had before. I started out with an old Bushnell and Wildview cameras, running both on different chunks of land to hopefully get some deer patterned. During muzzy season in 2010 (my 1st season hunting this farm) I remember walking into a chunk of woods about an acre and a half thick located about 200 yards from the landowners' home, and some 80 yards from a road. As I slowly walked into the woods, a big buck jumped up and ran off. Unfortunately, I was unable to find him through my scope. So I walked down to his bed and looked around, and there was deer sign everywhere… A trail here. Trail there. Intersection here; along with several beds and a good field above them. I made sure to make a mental note of this spot for the 2011 season. When I first went to hang cameras this summer, I knew exactly where I wanted to place it. So Diablo and I headed out on the four-wheeler with a bag of corn and the trail cam in order to get a good looking set up going.
After two weeks, I finally had some good action coming in to my set up and it wasn’t all does or scrub bucks. The first good buck was a somewhat tall 8. This was the first shooter I had ever gotten on trail camera, so I was pretty excited about it. After the first successful card pull here is what was lurking in my neck of the woods…
The 8
Here is a buck I named Freak. His antlers will show ya why! I'm assuming he was hit by a car, judging from the way he walks and his rack…
After around a month of nothing more to show for my efforts, I had the 8 point come back in… but he wasn't an 8 anymore. He had grown split brows AND decided to start visiting during daylight. My mind was made; I'd shoot him given the chance.
After finally getting my SpyPoint, I put it out and had some great deer come in to my set up. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be getting this many deer on my trail camera the first year doing it on my own. Here's some of the pre-season hit list...
(BTW… These two made it through both gun seasons.)
2011 is a year that came with a lot of firsts for me. My season started out like one that probably never will again…
We'll begin in the summer. One of my main goals was to do a lot of scouting and get into trail cams more than I had before. I started out with an old Bushnell and Wildview cameras, running both on different chunks of land to hopefully get some deer patterned. During muzzy season in 2010 (my 1st season hunting this farm) I remember walking into a chunk of woods about an acre and a half thick located about 200 yards from the landowners' home, and some 80 yards from a road. As I slowly walked into the woods, a big buck jumped up and ran off. Unfortunately, I was unable to find him through my scope. So I walked down to his bed and looked around, and there was deer sign everywhere… A trail here. Trail there. Intersection here; along with several beds and a good field above them. I made sure to make a mental note of this spot for the 2011 season. When I first went to hang cameras this summer, I knew exactly where I wanted to place it. So Diablo and I headed out on the four-wheeler with a bag of corn and the trail cam in order to get a good looking set up going.
After two weeks, I finally had some good action coming in to my set up and it wasn’t all does or scrub bucks. The first good buck was a somewhat tall 8. This was the first shooter I had ever gotten on trail camera, so I was pretty excited about it. After the first successful card pull here is what was lurking in my neck of the woods…
The 8
Here is a buck I named Freak. His antlers will show ya why! I'm assuming he was hit by a car, judging from the way he walks and his rack…
After around a month of nothing more to show for my efforts, I had the 8 point come back in… but he wasn't an 8 anymore. He had grown split brows AND decided to start visiting during daylight. My mind was made; I'd shoot him given the chance.
After finally getting my SpyPoint, I put it out and had some great deer come in to my set up. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be getting this many deer on my trail camera the first year doing it on my own. Here's some of the pre-season hit list...
(BTW… These two made it through both gun seasons.)
