BDAHMS
Be here Now
Well last weekend after I had that giant duck my arrow- we went and checked the cameras at a stand I was going to be at and had a decent buck on camera and ended up jumping him. I watched him run off over a ravine right to a part of the property that I had my climber tree stand in. The funny thing is this stand was left in the tree TWO years ago! and was pretty much planning on taking it down at some point to throw away- well I decided that day i saw the buck run up there- that there was a good chance he was ranging in that corner of the property- this is the same place I shot my first ever buck with a bow (my first ever harvest photo shared on this website)
Well I took a friend and his boy down to this property Sunday AM and I decided to go up and sit on the ground near where this hanger was - I dressed fairly light since I was planning on sitting all morning in my heater body suit........ Once I got to the tree about 6:00 AM I realized the climber was still in amazing shape and was easily usable- only problem is I didnt have a rope to pull up my bow and heavy back pack. So i tied off my back pack to the under side of my lower part of the climber and balanced my bow in front of my chest on the frame of the upper portion. If you were a fly on the wall there- i am sure you would have been laughing. Well about 45 pissed off, extremely sweaty minutes later I made to the top of the tree only to realize I couldn't use my heater body suit up there because of how tight the stand is when sitting in it. So I tossed it to the ground and began to FREEZE as I was wet from sweating and now not dressed appropriately for the weather. It was a bad situation and I almost just climbed down out of pure frustration.
I wasn't worried about getting busted IF something even came by after i made noise climbing and cussing my way up the tree- because I had scent crushed my clothes on the way down and once I got up the tree i sprayed wind pro all over everything to cover any smell up that i may have had from sweating.
As soon as it was light enough to see all around- I realized I had made a pretty big mistake not hunting this area for 2 years- the amount of fresh ground scrapes and tree rubs were insane- The trails werent even covered in leaves they were getting used so much- And about 8:00 I have a doe come running in- I was actually going to shoot her because I had promised a good friend a doe who was in need- as I was drawn back on her and was definitely ready to get down from being so cold- I heard something chasing her- so I let up waiting on the big buck. Well it ends up being a button buck and she is gone now so i was pretty disappointed- I literally turn around- hang my bow up and I hear something jump back over the fence where the doe had gone and think to myself- "oh she is coming back" I look up and just see chocolate antlers- and within a few seconds I was drawn back- stopped the buck- let the arrow fly. I never heard it hit him- and the way he ran off I actually thought I had missed- he runs about 40 yards and turns and looks at me- as I sat there looking at him in the binos about to FREAK out thinking I somehow let another buck go- he stiff legged just falls over- no flops- just out cold like a glass jaw fighter who just took a surprised right hook.
WHAT A RELIEF! I have literally every weekend since opening season, but a couple exceptions, and MANY weekdays in the stand- the amount of hours- traveling to and from southern Iowa- land prep- late nights getting home- is unreal. So this is a monkey off my back- as I was just beginning to think I was really good at passing decent bucks and taking great sunrise pics to share on facebook
This buck isnt even close to the largest buck I was after this year- but I am extremely pleased with him and his big chocolate bases
****SORRY SO LONG****
Well I took a friend and his boy down to this property Sunday AM and I decided to go up and sit on the ground near where this hanger was - I dressed fairly light since I was planning on sitting all morning in my heater body suit........ Once I got to the tree about 6:00 AM I realized the climber was still in amazing shape and was easily usable- only problem is I didnt have a rope to pull up my bow and heavy back pack. So i tied off my back pack to the under side of my lower part of the climber and balanced my bow in front of my chest on the frame of the upper portion. If you were a fly on the wall there- i am sure you would have been laughing. Well about 45 pissed off, extremely sweaty minutes later I made to the top of the tree only to realize I couldn't use my heater body suit up there because of how tight the stand is when sitting in it. So I tossed it to the ground and began to FREEZE as I was wet from sweating and now not dressed appropriately for the weather. It was a bad situation and I almost just climbed down out of pure frustration.
I wasn't worried about getting busted IF something even came by after i made noise climbing and cussing my way up the tree- because I had scent crushed my clothes on the way down and once I got up the tree i sprayed wind pro all over everything to cover any smell up that i may have had from sweating.
As soon as it was light enough to see all around- I realized I had made a pretty big mistake not hunting this area for 2 years- the amount of fresh ground scrapes and tree rubs were insane- The trails werent even covered in leaves they were getting used so much- And about 8:00 I have a doe come running in- I was actually going to shoot her because I had promised a good friend a doe who was in need- as I was drawn back on her and was definitely ready to get down from being so cold- I heard something chasing her- so I let up waiting on the big buck. Well it ends up being a button buck and she is gone now so i was pretty disappointed- I literally turn around- hang my bow up and I hear something jump back over the fence where the doe had gone and think to myself- "oh she is coming back" I look up and just see chocolate antlers- and within a few seconds I was drawn back- stopped the buck- let the arrow fly. I never heard it hit him- and the way he ran off I actually thought I had missed- he runs about 40 yards and turns and looks at me- as I sat there looking at him in the binos about to FREAK out thinking I somehow let another buck go- he stiff legged just falls over- no flops- just out cold like a glass jaw fighter who just took a surprised right hook.
WHAT A RELIEF! I have literally every weekend since opening season, but a couple exceptions, and MANY weekdays in the stand- the amount of hours- traveling to and from southern Iowa- land prep- late nights getting home- is unreal. So this is a monkey off my back- as I was just beginning to think I was really good at passing decent bucks and taking great sunrise pics to share on facebook
This buck isnt even close to the largest buck I was after this year- but I am extremely pleased with him and his big chocolate bases
****SORRY SO LONG****