dedgeez
death from above
This is the story of a buck that was named Screen Saver by default.
First off let me start you off with some easy listening. Click on link, press play, then come back and enjoy the read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-8WQhNmh2A
Let me thank my sponsor whom with out them none of this would have been possible. Pure goodness in the SNR, not to mention lots of protein for minimal antler growth on your whitetails. Thanks Pearson's :way:
A little about the farm:
This farm lays out absolutely perfect for getting deer to travel exactly how you want them to. We formed a strategic plan 3 years ago to put in 2 large plots. 1 would be on the NW end of the farm about 500 yards from the woods and over a hill. This would provide for easy access first thing in the morning to a stand in a finger draw that jets out from the woods to the east. All of the deer in theory should work their way around this finger to go to the food, or come back to bed. There is a large canyon to the East that most of the deer go to bed in later in the morning after milling around in the CRP. It also is easily accessable in the evening due to the terrain. The first year we planted corn and added about 1 acre of clover for this particular plot. Trail cams revealed some outstanding deer and I was able to take a 172 inch 10 point on October 8th coming back to bed in the morning. So anywho.......we knew the plan was working and by not hunting directly on the food plot we were able to keep the does there which kept the bucks all year.
WAKEUP folks
I only hunted this farm last year 1 time due to lack of mature buck pics on cams. So all the bucks got a pass last year. Fast forward to this summer. We decided to put in Soy beans this year and also keep the clover plot going. Screen Saver started showing up in late August and I knew he was very mature, but grossly underestimated his score. I continued getting pics of him all fall (some cool pics on the 'rub tree') (thanks 6x6 for the idea) :way: This is the pic that gave him his name. I used this as my screen saver on my home computer and everytime we talked about this deer it was always "the buck on your screen saver". So by default he became 'Screen Saver'
Well, I had kind of written him off this year due to the fact that I had 3-4 other big deer that I wanted to go after on other farms. I had an encounter with a stud 170 class 11 point on November 2nd and shortly after that my season became sloooooooow. The big deer on these farms just disappeared and to the best of my knowledge were moving at night with does. I have exhausted all efforts over the last few weeks and have passed on some beautiful young bucks, but wasn't finding the deer I wanted. Well Tuesday night I received a call from the landowner saying that the does were pounding the beans on this farm and he had been seeing a bunch of deer in the evenings when he would go for a ride around the farm. This farm hadn't been hunted since October 24th so I knew the deer weren't pressured and this would be my best bet to see really good movement with the cold temps. I decided to leave work early yesterday and make the 35 minute drive to the farm with one deer in mind (screen saver).
I was in the stand by about 3:30 and by shortly after 4 I started seeing does going to the beans. By 4:30 I had 10+ does within 50 yards of me an 0 bucks. None of them looked like they were near or in estrous, so my expectations weren't to high for the last 30 minutes of light. About 4:40 I hear a buck fight to the north of me about 100 yards. It was loud and sounded like some pretty good banging. Not 5 minutes after the clash out steps screen saver into the field. At this point he is about 80 yards and is standing and observing the area like it is his kingdom. He starts to make his way toward me with that slow cocky walk that only a mature buck has. He is closing the distance fast and I already have the bow in my hand waiting for him. I remember talking to myself about the shot angle and the wind and squeezing the release. The rest was like slow motion. I ranged him at 43 yards with him still coming quickly. He walked to the edge of the brush at 15 yards and began to walk the edge. I drew when he went behind some brush and when he came out the other side he was 18 yards quartering away perfectly. I gave a soft mouth grunt and when he stopped I squeezed it off. The arrow hit perfectly and he bolted about 50 yards and stopped. 2 flicks of the tail and over he went. Absolutely textbook hunt and couldn't have worked out any better. I remember thinking to myself after the shot that he was a hell of a lot bigger than I thought, but it wasn't until we did the recovery that I really knew how big he was. It was great to have good friends and family with me for the recovery. Lots of laughs and few busch lights Thanks to all involved.
In all seriousness, This is what I live for and there is no other rush in the world like killing a mature whitetail. All of the hours and sweat planting food plots, hanging stands, checking cams, shooting bows, and the just being out in the woods are worth every second even without the kill. This is one of the hardest seasons I have had and I loved every second of it. God has blessed me with another beautiful whitetail and I hope I can continue to do this for a long time. Thanks to all of you for reading this and I wish all of you with tags left the best of luck.
God Bless,
Here are a few pics of Screen Saver.
First off let me start you off with some easy listening. Click on link, press play, then come back and enjoy the read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-8WQhNmh2A
Let me thank my sponsor whom with out them none of this would have been possible. Pure goodness in the SNR, not to mention lots of protein for minimal antler growth on your whitetails. Thanks Pearson's :way:
A little about the farm:
This farm lays out absolutely perfect for getting deer to travel exactly how you want them to. We formed a strategic plan 3 years ago to put in 2 large plots. 1 would be on the NW end of the farm about 500 yards from the woods and over a hill. This would provide for easy access first thing in the morning to a stand in a finger draw that jets out from the woods to the east. All of the deer in theory should work their way around this finger to go to the food, or come back to bed. There is a large canyon to the East that most of the deer go to bed in later in the morning after milling around in the CRP. It also is easily accessable in the evening due to the terrain. The first year we planted corn and added about 1 acre of clover for this particular plot. Trail cams revealed some outstanding deer and I was able to take a 172 inch 10 point on October 8th coming back to bed in the morning. So anywho.......we knew the plan was working and by not hunting directly on the food plot we were able to keep the does there which kept the bucks all year.
WAKEUP folks
I only hunted this farm last year 1 time due to lack of mature buck pics on cams. So all the bucks got a pass last year. Fast forward to this summer. We decided to put in Soy beans this year and also keep the clover plot going. Screen Saver started showing up in late August and I knew he was very mature, but grossly underestimated his score. I continued getting pics of him all fall (some cool pics on the 'rub tree') (thanks 6x6 for the idea) :way: This is the pic that gave him his name. I used this as my screen saver on my home computer and everytime we talked about this deer it was always "the buck on your screen saver". So by default he became 'Screen Saver'
Well, I had kind of written him off this year due to the fact that I had 3-4 other big deer that I wanted to go after on other farms. I had an encounter with a stud 170 class 11 point on November 2nd and shortly after that my season became sloooooooow. The big deer on these farms just disappeared and to the best of my knowledge were moving at night with does. I have exhausted all efforts over the last few weeks and have passed on some beautiful young bucks, but wasn't finding the deer I wanted. Well Tuesday night I received a call from the landowner saying that the does were pounding the beans on this farm and he had been seeing a bunch of deer in the evenings when he would go for a ride around the farm. This farm hadn't been hunted since October 24th so I knew the deer weren't pressured and this would be my best bet to see really good movement with the cold temps. I decided to leave work early yesterday and make the 35 minute drive to the farm with one deer in mind (screen saver).
I was in the stand by about 3:30 and by shortly after 4 I started seeing does going to the beans. By 4:30 I had 10+ does within 50 yards of me an 0 bucks. None of them looked like they were near or in estrous, so my expectations weren't to high for the last 30 minutes of light. About 4:40 I hear a buck fight to the north of me about 100 yards. It was loud and sounded like some pretty good banging. Not 5 minutes after the clash out steps screen saver into the field. At this point he is about 80 yards and is standing and observing the area like it is his kingdom. He starts to make his way toward me with that slow cocky walk that only a mature buck has. He is closing the distance fast and I already have the bow in my hand waiting for him. I remember talking to myself about the shot angle and the wind and squeezing the release. The rest was like slow motion. I ranged him at 43 yards with him still coming quickly. He walked to the edge of the brush at 15 yards and began to walk the edge. I drew when he went behind some brush and when he came out the other side he was 18 yards quartering away perfectly. I gave a soft mouth grunt and when he stopped I squeezed it off. The arrow hit perfectly and he bolted about 50 yards and stopped. 2 flicks of the tail and over he went. Absolutely textbook hunt and couldn't have worked out any better. I remember thinking to myself after the shot that he was a hell of a lot bigger than I thought, but it wasn't until we did the recovery that I really knew how big he was. It was great to have good friends and family with me for the recovery. Lots of laughs and few busch lights
Thanks to all involved.In all seriousness, This is what I live for and there is no other rush in the world like killing a mature whitetail. All of the hours and sweat planting food plots, hanging stands, checking cams, shooting bows, and the just being out in the woods are worth every second even without the kill. This is one of the hardest seasons I have had and I loved every second of it. God has blessed me with another beautiful whitetail and I hope I can continue to do this for a long time. Thanks to all of you for reading this and I wish all of you with tags left the best of luck.
God Bless,
Here are a few pics of Screen Saver.
Last edited:
