deerhunter93
Well-Known Member
October and early November were filled with quite a few slow sits for me. I misjudged the yardage on an old buck I was targeting on October 30th and gave his belly a trim which still pains me.
November 13th I was in a new tree on a property that is filled with honeysuckle - I absolutely despise that stuff and it seems like the combination of a honeysuckle explosion and EHD hit in 2019 it doesn't hold near the amount of deer that it used to. However, there were three bucks on camera that were targets. The sit on the 13th started off slow. I had a doe sneak in and a few minutes later some grunts in the CRP and here comes a nice 2.5 year old dogging her. I could also hear a separate buck grunting in some honeysuckle within 100 yards but I never got to see what buck it was. After that it was dead and I told myself I was going to get down at 10am. At 9:55 I put my grunt tube in my backpack and within a minute or two I heard a twig snap on a hillside north of me. I caught a glimpse of antler and thought it was one of the bucks I was after. I grabbed the bow and he headed straight towards me. I drew when he was still in thick stuff about 30 yards and he angled towards me on a trail. At 13 yards he stopped quartering towards me and I lost it. For the life of me I don't know how I missed. I honestly think I wasn't even looking through the peep sight. He jumped back about 10 yards, stood for a minute, then started to cut through the brush and circle around towards another one of my openings. I was able to get an arrow, nock it, and spin around the tree while he was moving. At 30 yards I stopped him and 10 ringed him. He took off barreling into some honeysuckle and after about 10 seconds it was silent. I could not believe it. Still can't. But I am thankful.
What made it more special was my wife picked up my 4 year old from preschool and brought him out for the recovery/pictures. My wife does photography on the side (she doesn't care to take pictures of dead animals) but captured some pretty cool moments that I am very grateful for.
For all you guys that still have tags in your pocket, it can change in a minute. And for every post on social media or BBD text from a buddy, there are way more people with unfilled tags. I felt like it was not going to happen this year with how many slow sits I had and lack of mature bucks on camera/moving. Keep at it guys - I'm a big fan of the week leading up to Thanksgiving!
November 13th I was in a new tree on a property that is filled with honeysuckle - I absolutely despise that stuff and it seems like the combination of a honeysuckle explosion and EHD hit in 2019 it doesn't hold near the amount of deer that it used to. However, there were three bucks on camera that were targets. The sit on the 13th started off slow. I had a doe sneak in and a few minutes later some grunts in the CRP and here comes a nice 2.5 year old dogging her. I could also hear a separate buck grunting in some honeysuckle within 100 yards but I never got to see what buck it was. After that it was dead and I told myself I was going to get down at 10am. At 9:55 I put my grunt tube in my backpack and within a minute or two I heard a twig snap on a hillside north of me. I caught a glimpse of antler and thought it was one of the bucks I was after. I grabbed the bow and he headed straight towards me. I drew when he was still in thick stuff about 30 yards and he angled towards me on a trail. At 13 yards he stopped quartering towards me and I lost it. For the life of me I don't know how I missed. I honestly think I wasn't even looking through the peep sight. He jumped back about 10 yards, stood for a minute, then started to cut through the brush and circle around towards another one of my openings. I was able to get an arrow, nock it, and spin around the tree while he was moving. At 30 yards I stopped him and 10 ringed him. He took off barreling into some honeysuckle and after about 10 seconds it was silent. I could not believe it. Still can't. But I am thankful.
What made it more special was my wife picked up my 4 year old from preschool and brought him out for the recovery/pictures. My wife does photography on the side (she doesn't care to take pictures of dead animals) but captured some pretty cool moments that I am very grateful for.
For all you guys that still have tags in your pocket, it can change in a minute. And for every post on social media or BBD text from a buddy, there are way more people with unfilled tags. I felt like it was not going to happen this year with how many slow sits I had and lack of mature bucks on camera/moving. Keep at it guys - I'm a big fan of the week leading up to Thanksgiving!
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