medicsnoke
Member
Well the quest for Shorty is over. Shorty is a deer I’ve hunted for the last 3 seasons. I guess “hunting him” is not really true…..more I’ve known of him for 3 years and hunted him only the last two. The story of me and Shorty can be found by reading this link.
http://www.ohiosportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40346
For this post I will only tell of this season and today’s hunt.
Ive been running my trail cams in Shorty’s area since mid-summer. I’ve only been able to catch Shorty on cam 3 times since then. As with my history with Shorty….It seems I was snake bit…all 3 pics were very low quality and the last pic my camera actually died while snapping the last fleeting images. But these pictures were enough to tell me I was in his area. Its hard to hunt a spot and not see the deer you know is around. I learned this year, you have to trust what you know and you have to tell your-self that he is there….its only a matter of time. From finding his sheds I knew where he liked to bed. The area is very hard to access due to local houses, the steep terrain and my uncles barking dogs that I swear alerted Shorty to any abnormal conditions and usually my entrance into the woods.
This morning set up was just under the rocky hilltop that was Shorty’s bedroom. I picked this area today because of wind direction and the scarlet oaks that seem to be the only acorns/oaks around. I got in plenty early ,sitting in the dark for almost a full hour. My entrance was near perfect, I heard chasing going in but never bumped any deer. I knew what tree I wanted to climb, Ive climbed it many times before and killed a doe from this very tree. I knew that deer sometimes walked threw the cracks in the sandstone to gain access to the hilltop but I still find it hard to believe. Today the deer did just that. At 8am I had a mature doe and fawn materialize and slip threw the rocks. I heard them with just enough time to see them disappear between the sandstone then re-appear on the rock top. I watched them with my binos and thought, boy sure hope Shorty don’t do that…cause I never had a shot at them. I sat back down and started texting a buddy. About 10 minutes after the does passed I was snapped to attention by a loud grunt. I knew the direction and snapped my head….I looked up to see a large bodied deer with a rack that’s configuration resembled Shorty’s. He grunted again as he dogged the Does scent trail, he was moving fast and took a full body length stride past the rock crack. Shorty’s stopped and grunted loud a third time while he tried to find the scent trail. I knew if he turned and went threw the crack he was gone. I never looked to confirm if was Shorty, I never gave any thought to anything……I grabbed my bow, drew aimed and squeezed, all with-in under a few seconds of hearing the first grunt. The arrow flew true and heard the hollow thwoop….he ran 10 yards and I could see blood pumping out his mouth. I knew he was dunzzo……but was it really Shorty?
I was a nervous wreck as I called my Dad, I said I think I got him…come help me track. We found the blood trail real easy. The 2 blade 100 grain rage opened him up good. Track job was about 80 yrds......and there lay my prize……………..It was in fact Shorty. I was so bumped…...but also very sad. This deer means a lot to me. It’s the first deer Ive had history, sheds, passed up when younger and finally was able to harvest. It’s very re-warding. Im also very glad I got to share another recovery with my Dad. Deer hunting is my passion and he is who I owe it to. So here is to the final chapter…..of a deer named Shorty.
[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]
You Tube Video Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2JGa2QEvY[/QUOTE]
http://www.ohiosportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40346
For this post I will only tell of this season and today’s hunt.
Ive been running my trail cams in Shorty’s area since mid-summer. I’ve only been able to catch Shorty on cam 3 times since then. As with my history with Shorty….It seems I was snake bit…all 3 pics were very low quality and the last pic my camera actually died while snapping the last fleeting images. But these pictures were enough to tell me I was in his area. Its hard to hunt a spot and not see the deer you know is around. I learned this year, you have to trust what you know and you have to tell your-self that he is there….its only a matter of time. From finding his sheds I knew where he liked to bed. The area is very hard to access due to local houses, the steep terrain and my uncles barking dogs that I swear alerted Shorty to any abnormal conditions and usually my entrance into the woods.
This morning set up was just under the rocky hilltop that was Shorty’s bedroom. I picked this area today because of wind direction and the scarlet oaks that seem to be the only acorns/oaks around. I got in plenty early ,sitting in the dark for almost a full hour. My entrance was near perfect, I heard chasing going in but never bumped any deer. I knew what tree I wanted to climb, Ive climbed it many times before and killed a doe from this very tree. I knew that deer sometimes walked threw the cracks in the sandstone to gain access to the hilltop but I still find it hard to believe. Today the deer did just that. At 8am I had a mature doe and fawn materialize and slip threw the rocks. I heard them with just enough time to see them disappear between the sandstone then re-appear on the rock top. I watched them with my binos and thought, boy sure hope Shorty don’t do that…cause I never had a shot at them. I sat back down and started texting a buddy. About 10 minutes after the does passed I was snapped to attention by a loud grunt. I knew the direction and snapped my head….I looked up to see a large bodied deer with a rack that’s configuration resembled Shorty’s. He grunted again as he dogged the Does scent trail, he was moving fast and took a full body length stride past the rock crack. Shorty’s stopped and grunted loud a third time while he tried to find the scent trail. I knew if he turned and went threw the crack he was gone. I never looked to confirm if was Shorty, I never gave any thought to anything……I grabbed my bow, drew aimed and squeezed, all with-in under a few seconds of hearing the first grunt. The arrow flew true and heard the hollow thwoop….he ran 10 yards and I could see blood pumping out his mouth. I knew he was dunzzo……but was it really Shorty?
I was a nervous wreck as I called my Dad, I said I think I got him…come help me track. We found the blood trail real easy. The 2 blade 100 grain rage opened him up good. Track job was about 80 yrds......and there lay my prize……………..It was in fact Shorty. I was so bumped…...but also very sad. This deer means a lot to me. It’s the first deer Ive had history, sheds, passed up when younger and finally was able to harvest. It’s very re-warding. Im also very glad I got to share another recovery with my Dad. Deer hunting is my passion and he is who I owe it to. So here is to the final chapter…..of a deer named Shorty.
You Tube Video Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2JGa2QEvY[/QUOTE]
