Coach
New Member
I tend to get a little wordy, but I love this sport, so enjoy. What a season, I don't know where to begin. It all started with my trailcam. I had it out for a few weeks during August and was getting the norm, a few doe close-ups and a few little bucks. One day I went to pick up the cam right before dusk and there was a huge 10 pointer with a split brow tine and a 4 inch kicker coming off the main beam. I watched him with my binocs for 5 minutes before he worked his way down the field edge. He was about 15 yards from the cam, man was I pumped when the cam still had 2 pics left, I just knew I got some good pics of him! As all of you would expect, when I got my film back I had nothing
. I moved the cam to a new farm and hung a stand on the same heavily beaten trail. I came back a week later and the cam was full. When I got the pics back I was amazed, one buck after another. 6 pointer, 6 pointer,
giant eight pointer, medium 10, then a bunch of does and a big bobcat to boot!!! I was in the hot seat. I was so excited to sit this stand once the conditions were right. Just when I thought the deer gods were smiling down on me I got the hammer dropped on me. I ran into a guy at the farm that informed me that several other fellows were coming to hunt the same area the whole month of November, cue my heartbreaking in half! I finally thought that I had pulled all the pieces together after 16 years of bowhunting, and I had to start over. My friend Canjo and I were able to hit that spot a couple times before the other guys moved in and he scored a nice 8 pointer with a kicker just off the right G1 on October 26, a good buck with a gigantic body. The other guys moved in and just what I thought, the big bucks moved out.
I now had a camera man and the drive to find my shooter somewhere else. We hit several spots more than several times and started to close the distance. We had 125" bucks on several mornings come into the decoy, but not quite what I was looking for. I started collecting overhead maps of all of my farms and did a lot of research. We started driving around what we thought were the best areas from the maps after each hunt and one night we spotted a giant at the end of a draw. We decided he was the one. The first night that the wind was right we moved in, As I was setting up my stand I spotted a huge, I mean HUGE buck cutting across the CRP field. I quickly pulled up my bow and grabbed the horns. I rattled and gave a few grunts, but the bruiser slipped off out of view. I rattled again about 30 minutes later hoping the buck would circle back. As I just finished my rattle sequence I heard a stomp. I slowly turned around to see that a giant 10 pointer of the 170" variety had ran in the back door on me. He was about 35 yards out and the gig was up, he had seen my camera man move or maybe myself, who knows now, but he wasn't sticking around to figure it out. He snorted and started to run off. I quickly rememberd a post that I had read on Iowawhitetail about snorting at dominant bucks. I snorted back at him a couple times and he stopped, got very angry, and started back towards me. He came back into about 35 yards, but I had no shot, and he trotted off. About 30 minutes later I saw him again on top off the hill cruising. I grunted at him 2 times and he stopped, gave the old tail twitch, and started coming in on a string. I was preparing for my shot when things went bad quickly. Several does busted by him out of nowhere and he followed them. The only explanation that I could think of was that a big buck was chasing them and would be heading my way!!! I could hear something coming and my heart started to race. I could see some movement and it was coming right up the draw to me, I clipped my release on just as I saw 2 dogs running up the trail to me. Heartbreak part 2. What did I do to deserve this?
I waited 5 days before I went back to the same draw. This time I positioned my stand on what I thought was the bucks main trail through the draw. After 20 minutes of sitting a doe came crashing through the brush and stopped 15 yards from me, she was definately being chased. I could hear grunting coming after her, I clipped on the release and there he was, a nice 6 pointer; but no shooter. An hour later I heard my camera man whisper the words big buck! I turned around and saw a huge 175" 8 pointer drop down in the creek behind me about 40 yards out. The only problem was that he slipped in down wind of us. He stood around for a couple of minutes scent checking the wind and then he walked off into the sunset; cue heartbreak #3
.
We decided that we needed a new game plan, so we went to the maps. The new plan was to guess what his night time travel route was and to be waiting for him in his bedroom when he came home in the morning. We hunted a different spot on a Friday night and took a long route home to drive by my hotspot. I filmed a heavy tall buck across the street working some does, but he wasn't the big 8.
On Saturday Nov. 15th a.m. we slipped in the area that we thought was the big boys bedroom. We got set up and the sun started to rise. Deer were moving all over, all does except a little 6 pointer. At 8 a.m. all was quiet, I looked past the big tree my camera man was in and spotted some movement coming up the hill towards us. By the time I saw the deer he was only 35 yards out and coming right towards us. I whispered at my camera guy to warn him and now I could see rack, big rack
. It was the 175" 8 pointer from before. I was still stuck sitting because he was headed right towards me and I didn't have much back cover. He saw the doe decoy and began to circle downwind of it, the whole time staying to my right where I had no chance of getting up and taking a shot. He stopped about 10 yards behind me, and I was handcuffed
. There was nothing I could do but hope he would finish his circle around the decoy and give me a shot from my left side sitting. He caught wind of something that he didn't like much and bolted about 15 yards further out behind a deadfall oak. All I needed was one more step from him for a 30 yard shot, but he turned and burned after about 10 seconds of hell. Canjo, my camera man, turned the camera on me to get my reaction. I just chuckled and shrugged my shoulders still high off of the adrenaline rush. I then realized as my leg was violently shaking that he was not going to come back in. 30 seconds later I was beating my head against the tree, that was lowest point I have ever felt in a treestand. I had a Booner 10 yards away and was handcuffed!!! I turned to Canjo and confessed that I was about to cry
. I told him to hit the Primos can call a couple of times in hope that the buck would come back close enough for a shot. About 20 seconds after he called I looked up and saw some movement upwind from me. I grabbed my bow and got ready. I could see rack and was not going to get handcuffed this time. Canjo got the camera on the buck as he walked towards us. I could tell he was a big buck, but not the same one. I was ready for the shot as Canjo filmed the buck walking past us. The buck went behind the tree Canjo was in and as he turned to get back on the buck with cam he looked at me, I gave him a gesture of uncertainty and he just nodded that the buck was surely a shooter. This buck saw the decoy and started to circle around it just like the monster before did, but this time I was ready. He walked behind some small trees and I drew my Razortec back, he then stepped into a small open pocket and I gave him a mouth bleat. He stopped perfect for me and I squeezed off the shot at 28 yards. I could see my green fletching flash through his armpit area then he bolted about 40 yards out into the thicket. I knew that I hit him absolutey perfect. We waited about 45 minutes and got down out of the tree. I walked over to where he was standing and there my arrow was, stuck in the ground like it didn't hit a thing, except that it was coated in red. We followed the heavy blood trail 80 yards and there he was expired from a lung-heart shot. The buck didn't seem that big to me at first compared to the monster that I saw only minutes before. What a bitter sweet ending to the best morning that I've ever spent in the stand. We measured him out at 149" gross, a nice 9 pointer.
Thanks for reading the ramblings of my great bow season. I hope all of the members are having great hunts and many more to come!
I almost forgot, the buck that I filmed the night before chasing does is the same buck that I shot 600 yards away the next morning, you gotta love it!
I now had a camera man and the drive to find my shooter somewhere else. We hit several spots more than several times and started to close the distance. We had 125" bucks on several mornings come into the decoy, but not quite what I was looking for. I started collecting overhead maps of all of my farms and did a lot of research. We started driving around what we thought were the best areas from the maps after each hunt and one night we spotted a giant at the end of a draw. We decided he was the one. The first night that the wind was right we moved in, As I was setting up my stand I spotted a huge, I mean HUGE buck cutting across the CRP field. I quickly pulled up my bow and grabbed the horns. I rattled and gave a few grunts, but the bruiser slipped off out of view. I rattled again about 30 minutes later hoping the buck would circle back. As I just finished my rattle sequence I heard a stomp. I slowly turned around to see that a giant 10 pointer of the 170" variety had ran in the back door on me. He was about 35 yards out and the gig was up, he had seen my camera man move or maybe myself, who knows now, but he wasn't sticking around to figure it out. He snorted and started to run off. I quickly rememberd a post that I had read on Iowawhitetail about snorting at dominant bucks. I snorted back at him a couple times and he stopped, got very angry, and started back towards me. He came back into about 35 yards, but I had no shot, and he trotted off. About 30 minutes later I saw him again on top off the hill cruising. I grunted at him 2 times and he stopped, gave the old tail twitch, and started coming in on a string. I was preparing for my shot when things went bad quickly. Several does busted by him out of nowhere and he followed them. The only explanation that I could think of was that a big buck was chasing them and would be heading my way!!! I could hear something coming and my heart started to race. I could see some movement and it was coming right up the draw to me, I clipped my release on just as I saw 2 dogs running up the trail to me. Heartbreak part 2. What did I do to deserve this?
I waited 5 days before I went back to the same draw. This time I positioned my stand on what I thought was the bucks main trail through the draw. After 20 minutes of sitting a doe came crashing through the brush and stopped 15 yards from me, she was definately being chased. I could hear grunting coming after her, I clipped on the release and there he was, a nice 6 pointer; but no shooter. An hour later I heard my camera man whisper the words big buck! I turned around and saw a huge 175" 8 pointer drop down in the creek behind me about 40 yards out. The only problem was that he slipped in down wind of us. He stood around for a couple of minutes scent checking the wind and then he walked off into the sunset; cue heartbreak #3
We decided that we needed a new game plan, so we went to the maps. The new plan was to guess what his night time travel route was and to be waiting for him in his bedroom when he came home in the morning. We hunted a different spot on a Friday night and took a long route home to drive by my hotspot. I filmed a heavy tall buck across the street working some does, but he wasn't the big 8.
On Saturday Nov. 15th a.m. we slipped in the area that we thought was the big boys bedroom. We got set up and the sun started to rise. Deer were moving all over, all does except a little 6 pointer. At 8 a.m. all was quiet, I looked past the big tree my camera man was in and spotted some movement coming up the hill towards us. By the time I saw the deer he was only 35 yards out and coming right towards us. I whispered at my camera guy to warn him and now I could see rack, big rack
Thanks for reading the ramblings of my great bow season. I hope all of the members are having great hunts and many more to come!
I almost forgot, the buck that I filmed the night before chasing does is the same buck that I shot 600 yards away the next morning, you gotta love it!
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