sureshot
The Hunt Never Ends....
Below is the story of AWOL, my #1 hitlist buck of 2012. It documents nearly 3 years of his life, including his demise on the evening of December 22nd, 2012. If you'd rather watch the video, simply click here: Full Circle For AWOL
When looking back at my 2012 deer season, I feel very fortunate for a variety of reasons; I was able to spend countless hours with friends and family. In November (2nd-14th) I experienced one of the most action packed ruts that I’ve ever had the pleasure of hunting/filming, and filled my tag on a solid whitetail on video and off of the ground. I also was able to film my best friend, Blake Lefler, as well as my girlfriend, Alex Abens, kill great bucks with their sticks and strings. (my 2012 archery buck):
At the time, back in November, I was content with how my season had unfolded, and to be honest, killing a buck during late muzzleloader would’ve just been icing on the cake. What more could I ask for? Well, a giant come late muzzleloader would be nice. In particular, my #1 hit list buck, AWOL. Luckily for me (and unluckily for him), AWOL and I met face to face on the evening of Decmber 22nd, and although that’s when it ended, that’s definitely not when it started, so before I give all the details, let’s start from the beginning:
2010: At this time I had no idea that AWOL even existed. He was living on the neighbors farm, and as to my knowledge, spent the majority of his time there. These photos of AWOL are from the neighbors trail cameras (he sent me these photos after learning I had killed AWOL), and were the first signs of AWOL’s existence;2010: At this time I had no idea that AWOL even existed. He was living on the neighbors farm, and as to my knowledge, spent the majority of his time there. These photos of AWOL are from the neighbors trail cameras (he sent me these photos after learning I had killed AWOL), and were the first signs of AWOL’s existence;
In March, the neighbor found AWOL’s matched set;
2011: After shedding, AWOL disappeared. The neighbor ran trail cameras all summer and fall, but never received any photos of AWOL. Had he dispersed, or was he dead?
January 2012 (still his 2011 rack): After already filling my late muzzleloader tag, and wanting to get a good inventory of the bucks that were currently on the farm, I decided to put my Cuddeback up overlooking a bushel of corn. A week later I pulled the card, and upon scrolling through the photos, saw that a solid 10point (AWOL) had shown up. At this point, I had yet to give him a name, but was hoping that he stuck around;
Summer of 2012: I ran cameras hard all summer, but the solid ten never showed his face on the farm I hunted. This was somewhat disappointing to me as I knew he had the potential to turn into something special. Luckily for me, the neighboring landowner and I have developed an open relationship, where we share/compare trail camera pics with one another. The solid 10 (AWOL) showed up on his cameras, and had turned into something special;
August of 2012: Earlier in the spring, the landowner had planted one of our 4 acre food plots in soybeans, however, due to heavy deer browse, topped with a drought, they suffered significantly. We both realized that there wasn’t enough in the plot to last until late season, and without food, we wouldn’t have luck. On August 18th (my birthday), we decided to disc up 2 acres of the beans and plant a brassica mix. The brassicas came in well;
October 3rd, 2012: My good friend, Joe (6×6), introduced me to the concept of ‘rub trees’ and how they worked well for drawing bucks into them. The bucks seemed to go crazy for rub trees when they were placed in an open area, such as a food plot. I decided to give this trick a try, and put a rub tree up in the brassica plot. I placed one of my Truth Cams on an Elimatree to document if the rub tree worked;
October 8th, 2012: I was once again in the area, so decided to pull into the farm and pull the card on the rub tree quick. I was excited to see that the solid 10 had shown back up on the farm, and decided to call him AWOL due to the fact that he was so ‘hit and miss’ and would go missing off of my cameras for months on end. The character that his rack possessed made him my favorite whitetail out of all of my hitlist bucks, however, I didn’t have much faith in killing him since he never seemed to hang around;
October 20th to December 15th- AWOL once again lived up to his name, and went missing during this time period, not only off of my cameras, but also off of the neighbors cameras. We were both disappointed that he had left, but knew that he had a good chance of showing back up come late season due to the large amount of food planted on both of our properties.
When looking back at my 2012 deer season, I feel very fortunate for a variety of reasons; I was able to spend countless hours with friends and family. In November (2nd-14th) I experienced one of the most action packed ruts that I’ve ever had the pleasure of hunting/filming, and filled my tag on a solid whitetail on video and off of the ground. I also was able to film my best friend, Blake Lefler, as well as my girlfriend, Alex Abens, kill great bucks with their sticks and strings. (my 2012 archery buck):
At the time, back in November, I was content with how my season had unfolded, and to be honest, killing a buck during late muzzleloader would’ve just been icing on the cake. What more could I ask for? Well, a giant come late muzzleloader would be nice. In particular, my #1 hit list buck, AWOL. Luckily for me (and unluckily for him), AWOL and I met face to face on the evening of Decmber 22nd, and although that’s when it ended, that’s definitely not when it started, so before I give all the details, let’s start from the beginning:
2010: At this time I had no idea that AWOL even existed. He was living on the neighbors farm, and as to my knowledge, spent the majority of his time there. These photos of AWOL are from the neighbors trail cameras (he sent me these photos after learning I had killed AWOL), and were the first signs of AWOL’s existence;2010: At this time I had no idea that AWOL even existed. He was living on the neighbors farm, and as to my knowledge, spent the majority of his time there. These photos of AWOL are from the neighbors trail cameras (he sent me these photos after learning I had killed AWOL), and were the first signs of AWOL’s existence;
In March, the neighbor found AWOL’s matched set;
2011: After shedding, AWOL disappeared. The neighbor ran trail cameras all summer and fall, but never received any photos of AWOL. Had he dispersed, or was he dead?
January 2012 (still his 2011 rack): After already filling my late muzzleloader tag, and wanting to get a good inventory of the bucks that were currently on the farm, I decided to put my Cuddeback up overlooking a bushel of corn. A week later I pulled the card, and upon scrolling through the photos, saw that a solid 10point (AWOL) had shown up. At this point, I had yet to give him a name, but was hoping that he stuck around;
Summer of 2012: I ran cameras hard all summer, but the solid ten never showed his face on the farm I hunted. This was somewhat disappointing to me as I knew he had the potential to turn into something special. Luckily for me, the neighboring landowner and I have developed an open relationship, where we share/compare trail camera pics with one another. The solid 10 (AWOL) showed up on his cameras, and had turned into something special;
August of 2012: Earlier in the spring, the landowner had planted one of our 4 acre food plots in soybeans, however, due to heavy deer browse, topped with a drought, they suffered significantly. We both realized that there wasn’t enough in the plot to last until late season, and without food, we wouldn’t have luck. On August 18th (my birthday), we decided to disc up 2 acres of the beans and plant a brassica mix. The brassicas came in well;
October 3rd, 2012: My good friend, Joe (6×6), introduced me to the concept of ‘rub trees’ and how they worked well for drawing bucks into them. The bucks seemed to go crazy for rub trees when they were placed in an open area, such as a food plot. I decided to give this trick a try, and put a rub tree up in the brassica plot. I placed one of my Truth Cams on an Elimatree to document if the rub tree worked;
October 8th, 2012: I was once again in the area, so decided to pull into the farm and pull the card on the rub tree quick. I was excited to see that the solid 10 had shown back up on the farm, and decided to call him AWOL due to the fact that he was so ‘hit and miss’ and would go missing off of my cameras for months on end. The character that his rack possessed made him my favorite whitetail out of all of my hitlist bucks, however, I didn’t have much faith in killing him since he never seemed to hang around;
October 20th to December 15th- AWOL once again lived up to his name, and went missing during this time period, not only off of my cameras, but also off of the neighbors cameras. We were both disappointed that he had left, but knew that he had a good chance of showing back up come late season due to the large amount of food planted on both of our properties.
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