This is a buck I finally caught up with the weekend before Thanksgiving. We had been following him some years. First noticed he would be special at 3yo. He first put on double drop tines at 5yo. We were sad to see him come back sickly and down to an 8pt with a 2 kickers at 6yo. This year we noticed him late summer back better than ever…I got the green light from the family to go after him. As the season came open I saw an opportunity to take him with a bow. He was coming every morning and some evenings to a feeder and I saw a sitting duck…
I set up a pop up by the feeder and planned to let the deer adjust and come back. After about 3 days a cell cam showed he became comfortable and went back to his normal routine. October came and I could hardly sleep the night before going after him. I got dropped off and climbed in early. As grey light started to appear I expected him to show right away like he always did. As 8am came and the heat came back I wondered what went wrong. I hunted the same way the rest of the weekend with no sign of him. A big front blew in that Friday night and was blowing like crazy and I figured that was the issue.
Monday morning came and he showed right at feeding time. I knew it was me and not the weather. He showed every week day morning and I was right back after him the next Saturday. This time I drove myself and walked in from further than I ever park…3 hunts and no dice. one being in the rifle blind at that spot.
Next Monday morning comes and he is there right at feeding time. Back to the drawing board on what I’m doing wrong…all other deer that were regulars were showing so I wasn’t sure if it was a wind swirl issue or what.
The following weekend I was back at him the same way. Walking in as quiet as ever and no lights…again the same story. I started to feel the pressure of early season slipping away. And with that would come broken patterns and a broken up buck. I had some commitments to get to and didn’t get back until the week before thanksgiving.
I had Charles our ranch manager move the pop up to 130yds out. And was going back with the smoke pole! The family and I came up with the conclusion he was bedding ridiculously close to the set every night. And there wasn’t a way I knew to get in my bow blind without him knowing.
Saturday morning came and weather was bad. Drizzling rain and overcast. Humid but cold also. I walked in with no lights from far out and got in my pop up with a rifle. It took forever to get grey light being overcast. I was scanning the brush with binos and saw a flash of antler. It was him standing 15 yards back in the brush scanning and listening. He stayed there doing that for about 10 or 15 minutes. He finally felt it was okay and walked out. I was shaking like crazy but got a steady shot off. He dropped where he stood. I don’t think I could handle a drama filled tracking job on him!
The ranch is family owned and managed since 2003. The deer is a ranch record and means the world to me. It’s what I used to drool at in hunting magazines growing up! We started with a shot out ranch and have taken it from there. It takes a team every year to make it happen. Thanks for reading my story!
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I set up a pop up by the feeder and planned to let the deer adjust and come back. After about 3 days a cell cam showed he became comfortable and went back to his normal routine. October came and I could hardly sleep the night before going after him. I got dropped off and climbed in early. As grey light started to appear I expected him to show right away like he always did. As 8am came and the heat came back I wondered what went wrong. I hunted the same way the rest of the weekend with no sign of him. A big front blew in that Friday night and was blowing like crazy and I figured that was the issue.
Monday morning came and he showed right at feeding time. I knew it was me and not the weather. He showed every week day morning and I was right back after him the next Saturday. This time I drove myself and walked in from further than I ever park…3 hunts and no dice. one being in the rifle blind at that spot.
Next Monday morning comes and he is there right at feeding time. Back to the drawing board on what I’m doing wrong…all other deer that were regulars were showing so I wasn’t sure if it was a wind swirl issue or what.
The following weekend I was back at him the same way. Walking in as quiet as ever and no lights…again the same story. I started to feel the pressure of early season slipping away. And with that would come broken patterns and a broken up buck. I had some commitments to get to and didn’t get back until the week before thanksgiving.
I had Charles our ranch manager move the pop up to 130yds out. And was going back with the smoke pole! The family and I came up with the conclusion he was bedding ridiculously close to the set every night. And there wasn’t a way I knew to get in my bow blind without him knowing.
Saturday morning came and weather was bad. Drizzling rain and overcast. Humid but cold also. I walked in with no lights from far out and got in my pop up with a rifle. It took forever to get grey light being overcast. I was scanning the brush with binos and saw a flash of antler. It was him standing 15 yards back in the brush scanning and listening. He stayed there doing that for about 10 or 15 minutes. He finally felt it was okay and walked out. I was shaking like crazy but got a steady shot off. He dropped where he stood. I don’t think I could handle a drama filled tracking job on him!
The ranch is family owned and managed since 2003. The deer is a ranch record and means the world to me. It’s what I used to drool at in hunting magazines growing up! We started with a shot out ranch and have taken it from there. It takes a team every year to make it happen. Thanks for reading my story!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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