doublerack
Active Member
I'll try to keep this post as short as possible.
I like many of you, I took vacation the entire week last week. By Wednesday I was starting to wonder if that was such a good idea. I had hunted every stand I had, in every condition there was, and I just wasn't seeing any deer. Well, that's not completely true, I was seeing deer, but at a distance of 200+ yards. I was starting to think, "had I totally missed the rut?" Well, about that time, I watched 5 bucks (all of decent size) check a group of about 20 does and the does were not having anything to do with them. It was then I realized that rut hadn't fully arrived yet. So, reassuring myself I would eventually see deer, I continued to hunt.
(on a side note, my fiance's car broke down, so we were relying on friends and family taking her to and from work while I had the truck out hunting. talk about embarrassing. try explaining to your parents that you can't take your wife to work because you have to hunt)
Continuing, the week came and passed and Friday was there in a blink of the eye. I had been looking forward to Friday because we were supposed to have a cold front come through. And come through it did. I was out at 6 am Friday morning waiting to start a ground stalk when the 30mph winds and rain hit. As I was banging my antlers together and breaking a knuckle or two when I started swearing at myself for going out. Needless to say, I was back home warming up by 9 am.
I was sitting inside warming up. I thought I had convinced myself to stay in and spend the evening with my lady and my good friend Jack Daniels. The fact that I would be hunting late season in frigid cold over a food plot hoping for a shooter to walk past was becoming more evident. That is when I peaked out the window and saw the snow. So, the idea of staying in and drinking my deer sorrows away went out the door with a little bit of hope arriving since last year I shot my buck in the first snow on November 18th.
After drying my camo and eating a big lunch, I headed out to give it the ol' college try. This time, I decided to take my climber and hunt a timber that somehow had slipped my mind. I knew it was a bedding area for does, and hoped that if I didn't spook anything on the way in, hopefully I would catch a buck cruising that evening. I got in stand and settled in. It had been a while, so I check my phone to see the time. There was a text message from a friend saying the Yankees traded Sheffield for 3 prospects. Damn Yanks!... anyway, as I was getting ready to respond to my text, I looked up and saw a buck coming my way. I wasn't sure if he was a shooter but got my bow ready anyway. When he got broadside, I could see tines all over. I knew he was a shooter, now I just had to wait till he was in my shooting lane. As he approached, he walked straight to the path I had walked in on. He continued on his path and I could tell he saw my prints in the snow and started to slow down as he sniffed them. I knew it was now or never, he was about to catch my scent.
"Muurrrp!"
He took turned his head on a swivel and gave me the perfect shot. When I finally got done shaking, texting, and calling a few people, I finally got out of my stand tracked him down. I hope this guy spread his genetics because they are some of the best I've seen. He is a mainframe 6x6 with split G3's on both sides totalling 14 pts. He isn't a huge buck, but definitely one of my greatest whitetail trophy's.
Thanks for the pics Doug
I like many of you, I took vacation the entire week last week. By Wednesday I was starting to wonder if that was such a good idea. I had hunted every stand I had, in every condition there was, and I just wasn't seeing any deer. Well, that's not completely true, I was seeing deer, but at a distance of 200+ yards. I was starting to think, "had I totally missed the rut?" Well, about that time, I watched 5 bucks (all of decent size) check a group of about 20 does and the does were not having anything to do with them. It was then I realized that rut hadn't fully arrived yet. So, reassuring myself I would eventually see deer, I continued to hunt.
(on a side note, my fiance's car broke down, so we were relying on friends and family taking her to and from work while I had the truck out hunting. talk about embarrassing. try explaining to your parents that you can't take your wife to work because you have to hunt)
Continuing, the week came and passed and Friday was there in a blink of the eye. I had been looking forward to Friday because we were supposed to have a cold front come through. And come through it did. I was out at 6 am Friday morning waiting to start a ground stalk when the 30mph winds and rain hit. As I was banging my antlers together and breaking a knuckle or two when I started swearing at myself for going out. Needless to say, I was back home warming up by 9 am.
I was sitting inside warming up. I thought I had convinced myself to stay in and spend the evening with my lady and my good friend Jack Daniels. The fact that I would be hunting late season in frigid cold over a food plot hoping for a shooter to walk past was becoming more evident. That is when I peaked out the window and saw the snow. So, the idea of staying in and drinking my deer sorrows away went out the door with a little bit of hope arriving since last year I shot my buck in the first snow on November 18th.
After drying my camo and eating a big lunch, I headed out to give it the ol' college try. This time, I decided to take my climber and hunt a timber that somehow had slipped my mind. I knew it was a bedding area for does, and hoped that if I didn't spook anything on the way in, hopefully I would catch a buck cruising that evening. I got in stand and settled in. It had been a while, so I check my phone to see the time. There was a text message from a friend saying the Yankees traded Sheffield for 3 prospects. Damn Yanks!... anyway, as I was getting ready to respond to my text, I looked up and saw a buck coming my way. I wasn't sure if he was a shooter but got my bow ready anyway. When he got broadside, I could see tines all over. I knew he was a shooter, now I just had to wait till he was in my shooting lane. As he approached, he walked straight to the path I had walked in on. He continued on his path and I could tell he saw my prints in the snow and started to slow down as he sniffed them. I knew it was now or never, he was about to catch my scent.
"Muurrrp!"
He took turned his head on a swivel and gave me the perfect shot. When I finally got done shaking, texting, and calling a few people, I finally got out of my stand tracked him down. I hope this guy spread his genetics because they are some of the best I've seen. He is a mainframe 6x6 with split G3's on both sides totalling 14 pts. He isn't a huge buck, but definitely one of my greatest whitetail trophy's.
Thanks for the pics Doug
