codywright
TENRINGER
Well after I don't know how many hours in the stand it all paid off on the afternoon of Nov 30. I went in for one buck only and it just so happened he showed up. This deer would show up on my camera going both directions on various days. It wasn't til I killed that I figured out what he was doing. I went in with what I thought was going to be a west Northwest wind but the weather man was wrong, go figure. I got in the stand and the wind was definately a straight south wind. Not the wind I thought I needed. Well it was my last evening to hunt so I just decided to say screw it and hope some deer come from the other direction. At 3:30 I had two does come from downwind and wind me then blow and take off. Talk about frustrating on what you know is going to be your last bowhunt for awhile. Well at around four oclock I hear some antlers banging together to my south only yards from my position. I look over and see a good buck raking a tree in a real little tree draw only 60yds away. I put the binos up and it was the one buck I came in to kill! I thought holy crap he was bedded only a few yards away talk about lucky. My first thought was to call to him but then I decided to let him do his thing and make the first move. I'm glad I did cause he came to the fence looked into the food plot and when he didn't see anything he started to circle around downwind of the plot right to me. I couldn't believe this was happening just like I had pictured it. He did everything exactly how I wanted him too. When he got to my shooting lane at 18 yds I stopped him and let him have it. Watched him run 60 yds and hang his head for 3 mins or so then walk off. I knew something wasn't right and I couldn't figure what happened. Turns out after recovering buck the next morning he must have turned his bodied pretty good when I bleated to stop him. Only catching one lung and the liver. None the less waiting til morning proved to be the best decision. If in doubt back out. This deers mass is awesome and super tall! We have been calling him rudolph for three years now. We believe him to be five years old. So what I learned is this deer would scent check the food plot everytime before he entered it. Thats why I couldn't really figure out why I was getting the random pics of him going both directions past the camera on sometimes the same morning and evenings. Now I realize what he was doing. My camera was up against the south side of a huge brush pile overlooking my food plot to the west. I hung a stand on the backside of this brush pile hoping to shoot the food plot. This deer was using the brush pile as a blocker while scent checking the food plot before entering both the food plot and his bed. Amazing animals! He was bigger last year but I believe this deer is an EHD survivor cause he grew a little messed up and when I got to looking him over his whole body on the outside of the skin was scabbed over and it looked like the worst case of dry skin or mange you can imagine. I'm not sure but thats the only thing I can think of. Has anyone seen anything similar?
