Well, maybe I'll do pics at top and more of the story at bottom. Tons of history with this buck. One of the most amazing hunts of my life, for sure. I did not expect to have this hunt the 1st time in the stand but that's hunting, incredible things can happen when you don't expect them to. 6 or 7 years old (depends on the age of the 1st shed & year we noticed him) this season. Passed last year many many times, pic below is when he was in front of me and I was filming him last year and noticed a big wound in his neck - took the picture on the TV screen to send to a Veterinarian I know just asking him what he thought. Long story short on that one - he obviously was totally fine and I am dead serious, he actually killed the other mature buck that frequented that area, massive fight that left the other one with horns in his gut while he walked off with flesh wound. Found one side this spring and looked forward to this fall all summer long. Great end to a tremendous animal. Over 300 lbs before gutted, rough rough scored him twice, second was a little more accurate, in low 200's but whatever, he's a mature beast that sure made my season. I'm lucky, thankful & appreciate every moment God gives with stuff like this so I can go out and hunt.....
I knew this buck better than maybe any others. Mainly due to last year. Watching this "mature" buck doing his thing in a small core area last year. Saw him all the time and he lived in a tiny area. I killed one good genetic buck off that farm and wanted to let it be after that. Concentrating on killing off "bully bucks" and "old bucks" that were extremely aggressive that most other hunters & neighbors had no desire to shoot. Buddies helped out and I was successful on some bullies last year. Watched this one (called him "Bubbles" because in velvet, it looked like he had points just bubbling all over his rack) all season again. Last year he had made a nice jump from previous as well. He was a beast last year. As I was filming him this night, buddy was with me and you can hear him saying on the video "dude, you are insane if you don't shoot him. Smoke him dude!!". I wouldn't. Found one shed, etc. Very heavy.
All I needed to know this season.... Was he still alive? Was he in same area? I confirmed both with one cam pull is all. I then checked it one more time while finishing some work back there and the Dbltree plots. I had my ag corn surrounding it and I didn't even check cams. I stayed the heck out of there. Didn't need to know and didn't want to pressure him. He was always very cautious & smart so I did my best to do the same and leave him the heck alone.
I had the right wind and right temps the opening night which was rare. I honestly thought there was a TINY chance I'd even see him. Maybe 75 mins before dark.... I was covered in deer. He came out 200 yards away. Got to 40 yards within 15 minutes. Walked past as I wouldn't shoot that far, I just won't. Got to 200. He was making scrapes, I couldn't believe his neck size already and he made darn sure to get rid of all the bucks he saw. Scrape after scrape. I'm covered in deer. 4.5 year old downwind, big doe downwind and probably 3-4 deer gobbling acorns under me. Tense. 20-ish minutes later (total guess), I lost him... I finally see him.... 400 yards away and he's about to go into the corn and making his last scrape. I waited til situation was right with deer all over me (got some distance and not down wind on the older ones finally)... One LIGHT grunt, just to see if he wanted to keep others out of his turf. YEP. He noticed. Not like November ticked off but he noticed. Walked to pond top to see. looked around. 2nd light light grunt..... Slow walk over 5 minutes making scrapes all the way to me. I knew he wasn't going to fly in to fight but knew he didn't like other bucks there. Finally, more scrapes & I knew he wanted to check things out. Made a scrape in cedar 15 yards from me for a solid 5 mins. More deer under my stand. I had to be very careful. I couldn't even see him now. Didn't know if he'd go left or right so getting in position was nervous with deer below me!! I counted on right side (harder shot) so lightly turned. Sure enough... right side.... Walked and got about right into my wind about 20 yards away, lightly stopped him and letter fly. Ran into the corn like a train. 2 solid rows leveled for 20 yards and dead silence. Done. I couldn't take it and I knew he was pummeled. I couldn't believe the mass & size of his body. I still cannot get a camera to really show what the mass really looks like. Because he was so big a body, his rack did not have ground shrinkage, for sure bigger than I thought. Got the fam and pulled Bubbles out. Bittersweet seeing that deer in that little core area on my farm & finally connecting. So fun and intense a hunt, it's etched into my head forever for sure. Great times & memories. Good luck to you all this season!
I knew this buck better than maybe any others. Mainly due to last year. Watching this "mature" buck doing his thing in a small core area last year. Saw him all the time and he lived in a tiny area. I killed one good genetic buck off that farm and wanted to let it be after that. Concentrating on killing off "bully bucks" and "old bucks" that were extremely aggressive that most other hunters & neighbors had no desire to shoot. Buddies helped out and I was successful on some bullies last year. Watched this one (called him "Bubbles" because in velvet, it looked like he had points just bubbling all over his rack) all season again. Last year he had made a nice jump from previous as well. He was a beast last year. As I was filming him this night, buddy was with me and you can hear him saying on the video "dude, you are insane if you don't shoot him. Smoke him dude!!". I wouldn't. Found one shed, etc. Very heavy.
All I needed to know this season.... Was he still alive? Was he in same area? I confirmed both with one cam pull is all. I then checked it one more time while finishing some work back there and the Dbltree plots. I had my ag corn surrounding it and I didn't even check cams. I stayed the heck out of there. Didn't need to know and didn't want to pressure him. He was always very cautious & smart so I did my best to do the same and leave him the heck alone.
I had the right wind and right temps the opening night which was rare. I honestly thought there was a TINY chance I'd even see him. Maybe 75 mins before dark.... I was covered in deer. He came out 200 yards away. Got to 40 yards within 15 minutes. Walked past as I wouldn't shoot that far, I just won't. Got to 200. He was making scrapes, I couldn't believe his neck size already and he made darn sure to get rid of all the bucks he saw. Scrape after scrape. I'm covered in deer. 4.5 year old downwind, big doe downwind and probably 3-4 deer gobbling acorns under me. Tense. 20-ish minutes later (total guess), I lost him... I finally see him.... 400 yards away and he's about to go into the corn and making his last scrape. I waited til situation was right with deer all over me (got some distance and not down wind on the older ones finally)... One LIGHT grunt, just to see if he wanted to keep others out of his turf. YEP. He noticed. Not like November ticked off but he noticed. Walked to pond top to see. looked around. 2nd light light grunt..... Slow walk over 5 minutes making scrapes all the way to me. I knew he wasn't going to fly in to fight but knew he didn't like other bucks there. Finally, more scrapes & I knew he wanted to check things out. Made a scrape in cedar 15 yards from me for a solid 5 mins. More deer under my stand. I had to be very careful. I couldn't even see him now. Didn't know if he'd go left or right so getting in position was nervous with deer below me!! I counted on right side (harder shot) so lightly turned. Sure enough... right side.... Walked and got about right into my wind about 20 yards away, lightly stopped him and letter fly. Ran into the corn like a train. 2 solid rows leveled for 20 yards and dead silence. Done. I couldn't take it and I knew he was pummeled. I couldn't believe the mass & size of his body. I still cannot get a camera to really show what the mass really looks like. Because he was so big a body, his rack did not have ground shrinkage, for sure bigger than I thought. Got the fam and pulled Bubbles out. Bittersweet seeing that deer in that little core area on my farm & finally connecting. So fun and intense a hunt, it's etched into my head forever for sure. Great times & memories. Good luck to you all this season!
