meyeri
PMA Member
2019 will go down as one of the biggest learning seasons for me. My main area in Warren county got wiped, like buck apocalypse wiped. Had 4-5 shooters/would be shooters on cam last year and they all disappeared, doe population took a big hit too. In a place that historically has great age structure my oldest deer on camera was a 3 yr old, just one 115" 3 yr old. Anyway, I figured surely something mature would show up, but by the end of October I found myself scrambling and abandoning this piece altogether.
I hit up some pieces I don't hunt much and found one outstanding buck and he was active just minutes after shooting light. I got very agressive on hunting this deer, but he never showed up again. Pressure in this area skyrocketed and I resorted to hunting less pressured spots. I spent a lot of time hunting new areas and pretty much hoped for a random mature buck as I didn't have much to go on.
After 12 days of grinding it out I finally released an arrow. At 11am in the morning I glanced over to see tall G2'S cresting the hill. I thought shooter and grabbed my bow. I didn't recognize this buck and he was on me in seconds. At 7 yds slightly quartering too me I launched one through his boiler room. He disappeared around a ridge 70 yds away and I questioned how good my shot actually was. Gave him 3 hrs and found him 120 yds away. Coyotes had already started in on him, so he had piled up pretty quickly I assume.
He ended up being a buck I actually had on trail cam and intended to pass. In the heat of the moment I didn't realize it was him. Still a great buck and one I'm happy to wrap my tag around. Good luck to those still grinding!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
I hit up some pieces I don't hunt much and found one outstanding buck and he was active just minutes after shooting light. I got very agressive on hunting this deer, but he never showed up again. Pressure in this area skyrocketed and I resorted to hunting less pressured spots. I spent a lot of time hunting new areas and pretty much hoped for a random mature buck as I didn't have much to go on.
After 12 days of grinding it out I finally released an arrow. At 11am in the morning I glanced over to see tall G2'S cresting the hill. I thought shooter and grabbed my bow. I didn't recognize this buck and he was on me in seconds. At 7 yds slightly quartering too me I launched one through his boiler room. He disappeared around a ridge 70 yds away and I questioned how good my shot actually was. Gave him 3 hrs and found him 120 yds away. Coyotes had already started in on him, so he had piled up pretty quickly I assume.
He ended up being a buck I actually had on trail cam and intended to pass. In the heat of the moment I didn't realize it was him. Still a great buck and one I'm happy to wrap my tag around. Good luck to those still grinding!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk