Every now and then the question arises, "Why do you hunt?" I think about that often. I almost always seem to be hunting something whether it be a good sunset, a new fishing hole, artifacts or white-tailed deer. It seems that my entire life revolves around "The Hunt" in some way, shape or form.
I've killed my share of deer since I started deer hunting many years ago but this past season put everything into perspective on why I love to hunt. This all started about a month before the season when I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about hunting the property that I live on. I have hunted it in the past many of times but never stayed with it since I have other places that keep me busy with hunting during the season. I decided this year I would put a little more effort into hunting it to see what I could drag into my woods from the surrounding areas.
I got in contact with TBH'er Mike J and discussed plans on getting him over to my place with his tractor to disc up an area back in my woods for a fall food plot. He came on out and disced up about an acre in a really sweet spot in the middle of my woods. I waited till rain was in the forecast and spread out a bunch of oats to see how they would do. Within 3 weeks or so the plot was coming on strong.
I also put up a small hanging corn feeder up in the middle of the food plot but took it down after a week thinking the deer around my area would come into hand thrown corn better. Since I live and work on the property, I would have time to go out every other day or so to check the camera and throw more corn out if needed.
When bow season came around, I put most of my effort in hunting my bow lease that is 2 miles from my front door. I continued to hand corn the food plot area behind my house during bow season. I was getting a good handful of pictures of a group of does and a few small bucks but that was it. I continued to hunt my bow lease hard and had a couple close encounters with some great bucks but just couldn't get them in range.
As the end of October approached, acorns started literally raining from the tree tops like I have never seen before, especially back in the woods behind my house. I checked the camera over the next few days and movement came to a screeching halt and so did my enthusiasm. I waited a few more days and went and checked the camera and it only had 10 pictures on it. I figured it would be pictures of all coons and I was right, except one picture had this on it.
Me and my son Colton looked at each other after seeing the picture and both of us let out a grin. We were pleasantly shocked to see that we had a big buck cruising through our woods. I sent the picture (October 31st) to my dad and he had the same reaction as us.
I went back into the woods the next day and put the camera out in a new spot right in the middle of the food plot over some hand throw corn. I would sneak back into the food plot around 11 am everyday to check the camera to see if this buck had come back in. After 7 days of checking the camera, he made another brief appearance.
If you look at the time it says 12:59 pm but the camera time was off an hour and was actually 11:59. I was back there checking the camera at 11:15 am that morning. A few days go by and we get another picture of him in the morning.
It looked like he was sticking around a bit so this is when we decided to hunt him. I sat the very next morning for 4 hours and didn't see a deer. My dad hunted the next day and had a spike come in and that was it. We let it rest for one day then I hunted it the next morning. Nothing. I let the area rest the remainder of the week then went and check the camera around lunch time on Saturday the 15th. He came in that morning.
Colton called his good friend Tyler to come over to spend the night Saturday night so they could get up early and hunt for this buck the following morning. Colton and Tyler sat for 5 hours Sunday morning and didn't see a thing.
At this point, the buck just flat out disappeared from our area. After two weeks of checking the camera everyday and this buck no where to be seen, we kind of gave up hope. This is when Colton gave the buck the name "Waldo". We figured with the rut winding down that he headed back to his Sanctuary deep in the woods behind our property.
This buck obviously did not have a set pattern and was darn near impossible to hunt. December proved my theory correct with only 2 pictures of him late at night cruising through the food plot. Even though sightings on camera were few and far between, we still talked about him daily wondering where Ol Waldo was holed up. The forest floor was literally covered in acorns and we knew Waldo didn't have to travel far wherever his bedding area was to get something to eat. The only hope we had is that the deer would start coming into the food plot in late December or early January. That was a very long shot but we held out hope.
The general season ended as did my hopes of running into Waldo. I continued to check the camera back on the food plot and deer were starting to come back in but still no Waldo. On January 9th, I left the office at 11 am like I have done almost every day since late October to walk back into the woods. I noticed that my hand thrown corn looked to have taken a beating since I check the camera the day before. I head back to my house to check the card and bam...
I let out a big smile and texted Colton the picture while he was in school. His reply was, "I told you I would get him during youth season." He did tell me that back in November when Waldo disappeared but what does he know.
Waldo stayed on the corn for over 15 minutes that morning which I thought was a good sign. Plans were made for Colton to hunt out back the next morning with his good buddy Tyler.
They headed on out early the next morning for another 5 hours and once again, not a deer to be seen. Around lunch time, I took the boys to the river for the rest of the day to look for artifacts. By the time we got home, them two boys were whooped pretty bad. They planned on getting up early to hunt Waldo on the food plot but they were so worn out that they didn't make the call for the Sunday morning hunt.
I got up that Sunday morning around 6:30 and put on a pot of coffee like I usually do. As daylight came around, I found myself in the back bedroom staring out the back bedroom window along the wood line 100 yards away looking for a sign of Waldo like I have done all season long. Nothing was stirring so I went back into the den to drink some more coffee and talk to the wife. Around 9 am I can hear Colton and Tyler in Colton's room stirring about. I went in there to give them a hard time about not making the morning call and how he's probably back there on that plot now. The response was a "YEA RIGHT".
I walked out of his room and 5 minutes later I get a text from my dad that said, "Waldo out back." I replied with a yea right since me and my dad like to bs each other all of the time. Of course that made me get up to go look just for the heck of it. I look through the back window and see a few deer walking along the wood line 100 yards away. I focus my eyes a little harder and one of the deer threw his head head up and it was no mistaking on who it was. With a panicked voice I'm yelling for Colton and here he came uh runnin! I gave him his ear phones, jacked a round in the 30-06 and out the back door he went as quiet as a mouse.
Colton slipped off into a group of trees undetected and everything really started to slow down for me at this point. Of course I have always admired my son whether it be on the baseball diamond or on the golf course but watching his patience waiting for Waldo to give up the ghost really gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I raised this boy in the outdoors and he just seems to blend in with his surroundings and become one with nature when he steps off the pavement and into the woods.
As soon as I saw Colton steady the rifle and the safety switch pushed forward, I knew Waldo was done. All he had to do was clear some trees. I just sat back and took in the moment watching my son doing what he loved to do. A few minutes go by and Waldo finally started to walk off to the right to get back into the woods but not before Colton let out a grunt to stop him. When Waldo stopped, everything seemed to of stood still until the 30-06 broke the stillness as Waldo buckled and the impact of the 165 grain bullet rocked him hard.
Colton looked back at me and I gave him a big thumbs up. We met up with my dad and waited 30 minutes before taking up the trail. After trailing good blood for 40 yards, we look up and see this.
We all kind of looked at each other with a smile on our face. I guess we all really couldn't believe that this actually played out the way it did. I rubbed my hands through my son's hair and gave him a big congrats on killing a deer that means something very special to me and my family. It is a buck that we talked about everyday for 3 months and had never even seen him till this Sunday morning. We pulled him out of the brush, gave him a pat on the back and said thanks for the ride. Till Next Time....
I've killed my share of deer since I started deer hunting many years ago but this past season put everything into perspective on why I love to hunt. This all started about a month before the season when I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about hunting the property that I live on. I have hunted it in the past many of times but never stayed with it since I have other places that keep me busy with hunting during the season. I decided this year I would put a little more effort into hunting it to see what I could drag into my woods from the surrounding areas.
I got in contact with TBH'er Mike J and discussed plans on getting him over to my place with his tractor to disc up an area back in my woods for a fall food plot. He came on out and disced up about an acre in a really sweet spot in the middle of my woods. I waited till rain was in the forecast and spread out a bunch of oats to see how they would do. Within 3 weeks or so the plot was coming on strong.
I also put up a small hanging corn feeder up in the middle of the food plot but took it down after a week thinking the deer around my area would come into hand thrown corn better. Since I live and work on the property, I would have time to go out every other day or so to check the camera and throw more corn out if needed.
When bow season came around, I put most of my effort in hunting my bow lease that is 2 miles from my front door. I continued to hand corn the food plot area behind my house during bow season. I was getting a good handful of pictures of a group of does and a few small bucks but that was it. I continued to hunt my bow lease hard and had a couple close encounters with some great bucks but just couldn't get them in range.
As the end of October approached, acorns started literally raining from the tree tops like I have never seen before, especially back in the woods behind my house. I checked the camera over the next few days and movement came to a screeching halt and so did my enthusiasm. I waited a few more days and went and checked the camera and it only had 10 pictures on it. I figured it would be pictures of all coons and I was right, except one picture had this on it.
Me and my son Colton looked at each other after seeing the picture and both of us let out a grin. We were pleasantly shocked to see that we had a big buck cruising through our woods. I sent the picture (October 31st) to my dad and he had the same reaction as us.
I went back into the woods the next day and put the camera out in a new spot right in the middle of the food plot over some hand throw corn. I would sneak back into the food plot around 11 am everyday to check the camera to see if this buck had come back in. After 7 days of checking the camera, he made another brief appearance.
If you look at the time it says 12:59 pm but the camera time was off an hour and was actually 11:59. I was back there checking the camera at 11:15 am that morning. A few days go by and we get another picture of him in the morning.
It looked like he was sticking around a bit so this is when we decided to hunt him. I sat the very next morning for 4 hours and didn't see a deer. My dad hunted the next day and had a spike come in and that was it. We let it rest for one day then I hunted it the next morning. Nothing. I let the area rest the remainder of the week then went and check the camera around lunch time on Saturday the 15th. He came in that morning.
Colton called his good friend Tyler to come over to spend the night Saturday night so they could get up early and hunt for this buck the following morning. Colton and Tyler sat for 5 hours Sunday morning and didn't see a thing.
At this point, the buck just flat out disappeared from our area. After two weeks of checking the camera everyday and this buck no where to be seen, we kind of gave up hope. This is when Colton gave the buck the name "Waldo". We figured with the rut winding down that he headed back to his Sanctuary deep in the woods behind our property.
This buck obviously did not have a set pattern and was darn near impossible to hunt. December proved my theory correct with only 2 pictures of him late at night cruising through the food plot. Even though sightings on camera were few and far between, we still talked about him daily wondering where Ol Waldo was holed up. The forest floor was literally covered in acorns and we knew Waldo didn't have to travel far wherever his bedding area was to get something to eat. The only hope we had is that the deer would start coming into the food plot in late December or early January. That was a very long shot but we held out hope.
The general season ended as did my hopes of running into Waldo. I continued to check the camera back on the food plot and deer were starting to come back in but still no Waldo. On January 9th, I left the office at 11 am like I have done almost every day since late October to walk back into the woods. I noticed that my hand thrown corn looked to have taken a beating since I check the camera the day before. I head back to my house to check the card and bam...
I let out a big smile and texted Colton the picture while he was in school. His reply was, "I told you I would get him during youth season." He did tell me that back in November when Waldo disappeared but what does he know.
Waldo stayed on the corn for over 15 minutes that morning which I thought was a good sign. Plans were made for Colton to hunt out back the next morning with his good buddy Tyler. They headed on out early the next morning for another 5 hours and once again, not a deer to be seen. Around lunch time, I took the boys to the river for the rest of the day to look for artifacts. By the time we got home, them two boys were whooped pretty bad. They planned on getting up early to hunt Waldo on the food plot but they were so worn out that they didn't make the call for the Sunday morning hunt.
I got up that Sunday morning around 6:30 and put on a pot of coffee like I usually do. As daylight came around, I found myself in the back bedroom staring out the back bedroom window along the wood line 100 yards away looking for a sign of Waldo like I have done all season long. Nothing was stirring so I went back into the den to drink some more coffee and talk to the wife. Around 9 am I can hear Colton and Tyler in Colton's room stirring about. I went in there to give them a hard time about not making the morning call and how he's probably back there on that plot now. The response was a "YEA RIGHT".
I walked out of his room and 5 minutes later I get a text from my dad that said, "Waldo out back." I replied with a yea right since me and my dad like to bs each other all of the time. Of course that made me get up to go look just for the heck of it. I look through the back window and see a few deer walking along the wood line 100 yards away. I focus my eyes a little harder and one of the deer threw his head head up and it was no mistaking on who it was. With a panicked voice I'm yelling for Colton and here he came uh runnin! I gave him his ear phones, jacked a round in the 30-06 and out the back door he went as quiet as a mouse.
Colton slipped off into a group of trees undetected and everything really started to slow down for me at this point. Of course I have always admired my son whether it be on the baseball diamond or on the golf course but watching his patience waiting for Waldo to give up the ghost really gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I raised this boy in the outdoors and he just seems to blend in with his surroundings and become one with nature when he steps off the pavement and into the woods.
As soon as I saw Colton steady the rifle and the safety switch pushed forward, I knew Waldo was done. All he had to do was clear some trees. I just sat back and took in the moment watching my son doing what he loved to do. A few minutes go by and Waldo finally started to walk off to the right to get back into the woods but not before Colton let out a grunt to stop him. When Waldo stopped, everything seemed to of stood still until the 30-06 broke the stillness as Waldo buckled and the impact of the 165 grain bullet rocked him hard.
Colton looked back at me and I gave him a big thumbs up. We met up with my dad and waited 30 minutes before taking up the trail. After trailing good blood for 40 yards, we look up and see this.
We all kind of looked at each other with a smile on our face. I guess we all really couldn't believe that this actually played out the way it did. I rubbed my hands through my son's hair and gave him a big congrats on killing a deer that means something very special to me and my family. It is a buck that we talked about everyday for 3 months and had never even seen him till this Sunday morning. We pulled him out of the brush, gave him a pat on the back and said thanks for the ride. Till Next Time....
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