sureshot
The Hunt Never Ends....
December 16th, 2012: Although I have no photographic or film evidence of this encounter (too dark), the landowner whom I hunt on decided to attempt to fill one of his doe tags on the last evening of 2ndseason shotgun. Just before dark, he caught movement to the north and saw a big buck working towards the field. Upon a closer look, he realized that AWOL had returned. Around this same time the neighboring landowner once again started capturing daylight photos of AWOL on his trail cameras;
December 22nd, 2012: AWOL’s Last Day: A major storm front had pushed through Iowa a few days before, and the deer had been on their feet. Being the first day that I was able to hunt during Iowa’s late season, and knowing that AWOL, along with a few other good deer were around, I was super excited to get down to the farm. I contacted Derek Wilkerson (Dwilk) to see if he would film, which he agreed too. We were all setup by 1PM, and had deer and turkeys in the brassicas a short time later;
At 4PM Derek caught movement 600yards to our northeast, and noticed Rookie, a giant antlered buck, standing in the fenceline. We watched as Rookie jumped the fence and followed a doe in our direction. It appeared he was on a b-line straight for the brassicas, but after reaching 275yards he veered off to our left and entered the cover of a heavy draw. By now we had rearranged our gear in the blind, and positioned the camera to film Rookie if he followed the draw up to the plot. Does and young bucks also entered the plot, including a solid 145 3.5yr old 10pt with split 2s, who will be an absolute stud next year.
As we were staring intently into the cover of the draw, hoping to catch movement or any sign of Rookie, I caught movement to my right; it was AWOL, and he was already feeding at 95 yards. He had snuck in on us. At basically this exact moment, a doe 12 yards from the box blind got spooky, stomped and blew a few times. I quickly settled the crosshairs of the scope on his vitals, and just before he spooked from the field, squeezed the trigger. AWOL lunged forward as the sabot struck him perfectly behind the shoulder, and sprint 70 yards before piling up. Everything happened so fast that Derek was unable to capture the shot on film, but I wasn’t about to let my #1 hitlist buck get away. Derek and I exchanged high fives, and as unmanly as this sounds, a few hugs, before I called the landowner and a few close friends. We then gathered our gear and recovered AWOL;
This is the 2nd year in a row that I have harvested my #1 hit list buck, and I can’t help but think of how lucky I truly am. I will be the first to tell you that my wall wouldn’t even be half as full if it wasn’t for the help of others in the process of the ‘never ending season’ that we all love so much. I am truly blessed to be able to hunt farms that get limited amounts of pressure, and have big whitetails inhabiting them. I feel fortunate, and have had a lot of luck on my side in recent years. More than anything though, I’m grateful; grateful for the opportunity to do what I love, because, I know there are a lot of people out there who have never had that chance. Good luck to those of you who still have tags…..these cold temps should really have them up and moving!
*On a sidenote I want to personally thank arrrrgh11 for adding to the history of AWOL, and giving me his matched set from his 2010 rack. I appreciate it very much, sir! :way:
December 22nd, 2012: AWOL’s Last Day: A major storm front had pushed through Iowa a few days before, and the deer had been on their feet. Being the first day that I was able to hunt during Iowa’s late season, and knowing that AWOL, along with a few other good deer were around, I was super excited to get down to the farm. I contacted Derek Wilkerson (Dwilk) to see if he would film, which he agreed too. We were all setup by 1PM, and had deer and turkeys in the brassicas a short time later;
At 4PM Derek caught movement 600yards to our northeast, and noticed Rookie, a giant antlered buck, standing in the fenceline. We watched as Rookie jumped the fence and followed a doe in our direction. It appeared he was on a b-line straight for the brassicas, but after reaching 275yards he veered off to our left and entered the cover of a heavy draw. By now we had rearranged our gear in the blind, and positioned the camera to film Rookie if he followed the draw up to the plot. Does and young bucks also entered the plot, including a solid 145 3.5yr old 10pt with split 2s, who will be an absolute stud next year.
As we were staring intently into the cover of the draw, hoping to catch movement or any sign of Rookie, I caught movement to my right; it was AWOL, and he was already feeding at 95 yards. He had snuck in on us. At basically this exact moment, a doe 12 yards from the box blind got spooky, stomped and blew a few times. I quickly settled the crosshairs of the scope on his vitals, and just before he spooked from the field, squeezed the trigger. AWOL lunged forward as the sabot struck him perfectly behind the shoulder, and sprint 70 yards before piling up. Everything happened so fast that Derek was unable to capture the shot on film, but I wasn’t about to let my #1 hitlist buck get away. Derek and I exchanged high fives, and as unmanly as this sounds, a few hugs, before I called the landowner and a few close friends. We then gathered our gear and recovered AWOL;
This is the 2nd year in a row that I have harvested my #1 hit list buck, and I can’t help but think of how lucky I truly am. I will be the first to tell you that my wall wouldn’t even be half as full if it wasn’t for the help of others in the process of the ‘never ending season’ that we all love so much. I am truly blessed to be able to hunt farms that get limited amounts of pressure, and have big whitetails inhabiting them. I feel fortunate, and have had a lot of luck on my side in recent years. More than anything though, I’m grateful; grateful for the opportunity to do what I love, because, I know there are a lot of people out there who have never had that chance. Good luck to those of you who still have tags…..these cold temps should really have them up and moving!
*On a sidenote I want to personally thank arrrrgh11 for adding to the history of AWOL, and giving me his matched set from his 2010 rack. I appreciate it very much, sir! :way: