jkratz5
Well-Known Member
I was fortunate enough to put down one of my target bucks on November 7th. The history with this deer started mid summer when the cameras turned up the first image.... or half image of him. For early July he appeared to have some good growth and was definitely sporting some good mass. No previous history with him, this farm just has a knack for turning up great whitetails out of the blue, not sure why but I will take it!!
Over the next few weeks he proved not to be camera shy, and really started to show some awesome character. I gave him the nickname Low Beams because of the two extra beams he was sporting on the bottom side of his rack.
Mid to late summer he started to frequent an interior food plot that we had put on this farm and needless to say my excitement around this deer grew quickly.
Hunting season came and Low Beams continued to frequent the interior plot and really seemed to favor a small core of the farm. Actually of the 6 cams on this property, we would only get him on 2 of them and those 2 were less than 200yds apart. I had focused several early season cold front hunts over this food source and in what I believed was his core, thinking that would be the time to kill him but was treated with no physical sightings, however the cams continued to show he was around and most of the time moving just before or after shooting hours.
Finally, my rut vacation began on Nov. 5 and I had 17 straight days to put in chasing whitetails. The 6th proved to be one of the best whitetail hunts I have had in a long time. I moved to a great little transition between two bedding areas and was treated to constant deer movement from 8am until dark. Lots of chasing, a great encounter with a 4yr old 140" 8pt and a sighting of what I believe was Low Beams running a doe hard through the thicket. The next morning my hunting buddy chose to go to the stand I had hunted the morning before and I moved to the opposite end of one of the thickets, about 500yds away. While I was having a slow morning, he was greeted with tons of action when all hell broke loose around 8am when a hot doe bedded up 25yds from him. For the next 2.5hrs he had the same 140" 8pt that I had seen the day before run buck after buck away from her and more than 9 different bucks work thru the area. At 10:30 the doe finally had been harassed enough by the little bucks and decided to drag the 8pt off into the thicket. Unfortunately for my buddy he had to be at work at noon so he took this as the moment to get down and head out of the timber.
I called him and said I would meet him at the truck and then I was going to go sit the transition stand the rest of the day. We had created an awesome entrance and exit to this stand through a deep banked creek that runs thru the middle of the this property, so I was able to slide in quietly without disturbing the timber. At 12:15 I was back in the saddle and settled in. I decided that I was going to get a little rowdy with all the buck movement my buddy had in that area just 90 minutes before so I grabbed the buck roar and gave a couple loud grunts, followed by a few soft grunts. 60 seconds later, I let out two more louder grunts and no more than got the grunt call back in the pack when I heard some crashing directly to my south. I looked that direction and my heart instantly jumped in my throat as this brute crested the small ridge in front of me and was walking 35yds out. As he stepped behind a tree, I grabbed the Elite and took a couple of deep breaths. At 20yds his head went behind another tree and I made my draw. Just as he was about to clear the tree and step right in front of a trailcam for what would have been an unbelievable image, he decided to turn and head directly toward me. He closed to 8 yards and when he turned and gave me the look I had been waiting for all year, I let the Hammerhead eat. With the crack of ribs and instant carnage I knew I had just closed the deal on a brute of a whitetail. He ran 60yds and stopped and stood for 30 seconds or so before walking off into the thicket south of me. I sat down on the platform of the stand (I was shaking so bad I thought I might fall off the seat) and replayed what had just happened in my head and said a few thank yous for the opportunity I was just given and for an awesome hunt . I looked down at my watch and it was 12:31, I had been in that stand for a mere 15 minutes.
After composing myself I picked up the phone and called my hunting buddy who had just left that stand and said you are not going to believe this, I just smoked him. His reply was you have to be kidding me (although the kidding may have been a little more R-rated). I waited a good 3 hours before climbing down and upon examining the arrow and replaying the quartering away shot, decided to let him lay.
The next morning we found him piled up 50yds from the last place I had eyes on him, and he had went no more than 100yds total. Always cool to put one down that you have some history with and I am truly thankful for the opportunity to chase such a tremendous animal. He is essentially a main frame 9 pointer with an extra beam on each side and a handful of kickers, for a total of 15 scoreable points.
Over the next few weeks he proved not to be camera shy, and really started to show some awesome character. I gave him the nickname Low Beams because of the two extra beams he was sporting on the bottom side of his rack.
Mid to late summer he started to frequent an interior food plot that we had put on this farm and needless to say my excitement around this deer grew quickly.
Hunting season came and Low Beams continued to frequent the interior plot and really seemed to favor a small core of the farm. Actually of the 6 cams on this property, we would only get him on 2 of them and those 2 were less than 200yds apart. I had focused several early season cold front hunts over this food source and in what I believed was his core, thinking that would be the time to kill him but was treated with no physical sightings, however the cams continued to show he was around and most of the time moving just before or after shooting hours.
Finally, my rut vacation began on Nov. 5 and I had 17 straight days to put in chasing whitetails. The 6th proved to be one of the best whitetail hunts I have had in a long time. I moved to a great little transition between two bedding areas and was treated to constant deer movement from 8am until dark. Lots of chasing, a great encounter with a 4yr old 140" 8pt and a sighting of what I believe was Low Beams running a doe hard through the thicket. The next morning my hunting buddy chose to go to the stand I had hunted the morning before and I moved to the opposite end of one of the thickets, about 500yds away. While I was having a slow morning, he was greeted with tons of action when all hell broke loose around 8am when a hot doe bedded up 25yds from him. For the next 2.5hrs he had the same 140" 8pt that I had seen the day before run buck after buck away from her and more than 9 different bucks work thru the area. At 10:30 the doe finally had been harassed enough by the little bucks and decided to drag the 8pt off into the thicket. Unfortunately for my buddy he had to be at work at noon so he took this as the moment to get down and head out of the timber.
I called him and said I would meet him at the truck and then I was going to go sit the transition stand the rest of the day. We had created an awesome entrance and exit to this stand through a deep banked creek that runs thru the middle of the this property, so I was able to slide in quietly without disturbing the timber. At 12:15 I was back in the saddle and settled in. I decided that I was going to get a little rowdy with all the buck movement my buddy had in that area just 90 minutes before so I grabbed the buck roar and gave a couple loud grunts, followed by a few soft grunts. 60 seconds later, I let out two more louder grunts and no more than got the grunt call back in the pack when I heard some crashing directly to my south. I looked that direction and my heart instantly jumped in my throat as this brute crested the small ridge in front of me and was walking 35yds out. As he stepped behind a tree, I grabbed the Elite and took a couple of deep breaths. At 20yds his head went behind another tree and I made my draw. Just as he was about to clear the tree and step right in front of a trailcam for what would have been an unbelievable image, he decided to turn and head directly toward me. He closed to 8 yards and when he turned and gave me the look I had been waiting for all year, I let the Hammerhead eat. With the crack of ribs and instant carnage I knew I had just closed the deal on a brute of a whitetail. He ran 60yds and stopped and stood for 30 seconds or so before walking off into the thicket south of me. I sat down on the platform of the stand (I was shaking so bad I thought I might fall off the seat) and replayed what had just happened in my head and said a few thank yous for the opportunity I was just given and for an awesome hunt . I looked down at my watch and it was 12:31, I had been in that stand for a mere 15 minutes.
After composing myself I picked up the phone and called my hunting buddy who had just left that stand and said you are not going to believe this, I just smoked him. His reply was you have to be kidding me (although the kidding may have been a little more R-rated). I waited a good 3 hours before climbing down and upon examining the arrow and replaying the quartering away shot, decided to let him lay.
The next morning we found him piled up 50yds from the last place I had eyes on him, and he had went no more than 100yds total. Always cool to put one down that you have some history with and I am truly thankful for the opportunity to chase such a tremendous animal. He is essentially a main frame 9 pointer with an extra beam on each side and a handful of kickers, for a total of 15 scoreable points.
