Meyer30
Active Member
In 2023, I saw him almost every time I went out, but he had broken off the opposite G3 from the split. I had him twice at 20 yards during bow season and my uncle passed him during gun season. He seemed to be a home body but also didn't mind being on his feet during daylight.
After verifying that he made it thru the winter, he was the #1 buck I was waiting to show up on cameras heading in to September. He started showing up more often in late September again. Then my neighbor's bull getting loose for a month (and deciding my timber and food plots was a good spot to live) put a damper my October hunting. With the bull finally wrangled and the calendar turning to November, it was getting serious. I had encounters with this buck on November 2, 7, and 12. All ending with him slipping by me. On the 2nd, he was bedded at 60 yards for 4 hours.
11/17 - With the wind being almost dead calm, I opted to sit in one of my easier stands to get to. Just 120 yards off the road, I got in by 1 and settled in for the afternoon. I had a thicket out in front of me with a west wind blowing down a ditch back to the road. With UTVs and trucks driving by frequently, I wasn't really expecting anything to be moving until after 4. But just after 3:00, I look up to see a buck cruising parallel to me at 100 yards. It was a nice ~140" 8 pt, I then caught movement trailing the 8pt and saw it was him. I grunted a handful of times but neither deer picked their heads up or looked my way, they just kept going. After it looked like they were heading off, I turned around to hang my bow back up. I looked back and both bucks were headed straight to my tree. The 8 pt was in the lead and browsed head on straight to the base of my tree, while this buck walked in the last 40 yards directly behind a large red oak. When I knew he was close and the 8 pt wasn't looking, I drew my bow, when he got to 5 yards, he just stuck his head out from behind the tree and looked up at me. I'm not sure how long I was stuck at full draw but had to be close to 2 minutes. Finally, the 8 pt started walking to my left, he took two steps and gave me a clean shot. He ran off and I heard him crash so I backed out and waited for my uncle to show up. My wife and son got to come out and help with the recovery, which was great.
After verifying that he made it thru the winter, he was the #1 buck I was waiting to show up on cameras heading in to September. He started showing up more often in late September again. Then my neighbor's bull getting loose for a month (and deciding my timber and food plots was a good spot to live) put a damper my October hunting. With the bull finally wrangled and the calendar turning to November, it was getting serious. I had encounters with this buck on November 2, 7, and 12. All ending with him slipping by me. On the 2nd, he was bedded at 60 yards for 4 hours.
11/17 - With the wind being almost dead calm, I opted to sit in one of my easier stands to get to. Just 120 yards off the road, I got in by 1 and settled in for the afternoon. I had a thicket out in front of me with a west wind blowing down a ditch back to the road. With UTVs and trucks driving by frequently, I wasn't really expecting anything to be moving until after 4. But just after 3:00, I look up to see a buck cruising parallel to me at 100 yards. It was a nice ~140" 8 pt, I then caught movement trailing the 8pt and saw it was him. I grunted a handful of times but neither deer picked their heads up or looked my way, they just kept going. After it looked like they were heading off, I turned around to hang my bow back up. I looked back and both bucks were headed straight to my tree. The 8 pt was in the lead and browsed head on straight to the base of my tree, while this buck walked in the last 40 yards directly behind a large red oak. When I knew he was close and the 8 pt wasn't looking, I drew my bow, when he got to 5 yards, he just stuck his head out from behind the tree and looked up at me. I'm not sure how long I was stuck at full draw but had to be close to 2 minutes. Finally, the 8 pt started walking to my left, he took two steps and gave me a clean shot. He ran off and I heard him crash so I backed out and waited for my uncle to show up. My wife and son got to come out and help with the recovery, which was great.
