LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
*****VIDEO teaser - http://vimeo.com/31058122 *****
There is no history with this buck at all. When we got pictures of him we couldn't decide if he was 3.5 or 4.5. We're beginning to realize how difficult it is to exactly age a buck without any history of them. We went back and forth between three or four, but finally decided that this buck was a shooter.
Fast forward to this past Friday, Oct 21st. We begin to check trail cams, after having let them sit for 2~3 weeks, the anticipation was high, very high! We begin to check cams and 3 or 4 of them had dead batteries when they shouldn't have... there wasn't much for pictures. I won't ellaborate on what was wrong with them but I'm sure you can relate to the major frustration that builds up when trail cams don't work. It isn't a good feeling having things out of your control and not working like planned... Saturday I ran and picked up a couple infared cams so we at least have something to use during the next few weeks.
I get back with an ifared cam, go out to a stand that we like hunting, make a mock scrape and hang the cam. Saturday night Russ and I are trying to make a game plan on where to hunt the following morning. We had one stand in mind and were set on going there but dad made a good point that it was possible some of the farm and field workers may be going by and could disrupt your hunt (another frustrating moment having to change our plans last minute...). Dad made a suggestion to go to the stand I just hung the new trail cam. So it was decided that was the morning plan.
Sunday morning, 6:00am - Russ and I get up and are out the door in minutes heading to the stand. First thing we notice on the drive was it was a very foggy, cool morning. We park the truck and were able to have one of the quietest walks into the stand we've ever had, followed by one of the quietest gear setups we've ever had, Russ hung the cameraman stand and all his gear without making any noise (nice work!). We did spook one deer from under out stand as we snuck up on to the stand, it blew once.. but we continued on with setting up. Now Russ' stand is situated abnormally higher than mine, about 6ft. This makes it impossible to communicate, especially on a morning this calm and quiet. As he's setting up I thought I could hear something in the wet grass infront of us, it was close to us.. but I couldn't get Russ' attention to let him know. So he continued to setup, just as he hung his pack up, he looked down at me and I motioned I heard something. We both sat quietly and a very short time later this deer appears at 30yds.
It was well before shooting light. It was one of those situations you can't really make out what you are looking at. Your depth perception is horrible, the buck is 35 yds away but it feels like he's 100yds. The buck went right to the scrape I made the day before and hung out there for a couple minutes. As he was doing so I bino'd him, confirming which buck I thought it was, ranged him so I had half a clue of the distances for the stand, then went to bino him a 2nd time... this is where it got interesting...
I wasn't wearing a glove on my release hand, so I had this white hand making a motion to grab my binos the 2nd time and he spotted it. The buck knows something is up and out of curiosity walks into 25 yds (it is still well before shooting light). I honestly figured this deer was going to spook and we'd never get a shot but I luckily had bow in hand since I first saw him... which was now a few minutes ago. Time starts to tick by as this buck paces back and forth at 25 yds, but light begins to pick-up... quickly! Finally after a stare down, the buck turns broadside... I don't even remember clicking my release but once he turned broadside I made a decision that Russ had to have enough light for the camera and I knew he'd be filming. I began to put pressure on the string as the buck turned, but he saw the movement.. stopped and turned his head.. and had me pegged. I had no choice but to attempt to draw while the buck stared right at me. I got to full draw with as little motion as possible, settled the pin, and the release went off.
First thing I see if the majority of my arrow sticking out of the buck in the shoulder area... I immediately thought "This is going to be a longgg day, that was a great shoulder shot I put on him"... but the buck crashed immediately! I turn to Russ and he's as excited as he gets! He was doing his job the whole time! We celebrated, got down, found the arrow and then the buck less than 100yds from the shot!
It is hard to describe what it is like hunting with a brother. We both feel like we can read each others minds, we think alike 99.9% of the time, and that 0.1% we don't... we actually work it out now instead of dualing it out like the good old days!
For some reason, when we get in the tree together, magic happens, we have a great time, and God seems to be with continue to bless our family with more than we could ask for.
Looking back at the trail cam frustration and change of plans on which stand to hunt... it makes you wonder whose plan was failing? whose plans were in the works? We were upset/frustrated when the flash trail cams broke so ended up going to pick up some infared replacements quick. I hung the one infront of this stand... then the next morning we had a buck work the scrape infront of this cam... if it were a flash cam would he had hung around infront of the scrape for 3 minutes? Someone had a better plan for us it seems... we just had to have a little faith that God is always doing his thing, no matter what our plans are!
David, Ben, Nick, and Cody stopped over to check out the buck and watch the footage! The day warmed up quickly and once everyone left it was back to work. I don't think it has sunk in yet... when Russ and I walked up on the buck we both agreed it felt like we just found someone else's buck... we didn't really believe that we shot it!
The foggy morning made for a fun time taking harvest photos! Nice work Russ!
There is no history with this buck at all. When we got pictures of him we couldn't decide if he was 3.5 or 4.5. We're beginning to realize how difficult it is to exactly age a buck without any history of them. We went back and forth between three or four, but finally decided that this buck was a shooter.
Fast forward to this past Friday, Oct 21st. We begin to check trail cams, after having let them sit for 2~3 weeks, the anticipation was high, very high! We begin to check cams and 3 or 4 of them had dead batteries when they shouldn't have... there wasn't much for pictures. I won't ellaborate on what was wrong with them but I'm sure you can relate to the major frustration that builds up when trail cams don't work. It isn't a good feeling having things out of your control and not working like planned... Saturday I ran and picked up a couple infared cams so we at least have something to use during the next few weeks.
I get back with an ifared cam, go out to a stand that we like hunting, make a mock scrape and hang the cam. Saturday night Russ and I are trying to make a game plan on where to hunt the following morning. We had one stand in mind and were set on going there but dad made a good point that it was possible some of the farm and field workers may be going by and could disrupt your hunt (another frustrating moment having to change our plans last minute...). Dad made a suggestion to go to the stand I just hung the new trail cam. So it was decided that was the morning plan.
Sunday morning, 6:00am - Russ and I get up and are out the door in minutes heading to the stand. First thing we notice on the drive was it was a very foggy, cool morning. We park the truck and were able to have one of the quietest walks into the stand we've ever had, followed by one of the quietest gear setups we've ever had, Russ hung the cameraman stand and all his gear without making any noise (nice work!). We did spook one deer from under out stand as we snuck up on to the stand, it blew once.. but we continued on with setting up. Now Russ' stand is situated abnormally higher than mine, about 6ft. This makes it impossible to communicate, especially on a morning this calm and quiet. As he's setting up I thought I could hear something in the wet grass infront of us, it was close to us.. but I couldn't get Russ' attention to let him know. So he continued to setup, just as he hung his pack up, he looked down at me and I motioned I heard something. We both sat quietly and a very short time later this deer appears at 30yds.
It was well before shooting light. It was one of those situations you can't really make out what you are looking at. Your depth perception is horrible, the buck is 35 yds away but it feels like he's 100yds. The buck went right to the scrape I made the day before and hung out there for a couple minutes. As he was doing so I bino'd him, confirming which buck I thought it was, ranged him so I had half a clue of the distances for the stand, then went to bino him a 2nd time... this is where it got interesting...
I wasn't wearing a glove on my release hand, so I had this white hand making a motion to grab my binos the 2nd time and he spotted it. The buck knows something is up and out of curiosity walks into 25 yds (it is still well before shooting light). I honestly figured this deer was going to spook and we'd never get a shot but I luckily had bow in hand since I first saw him... which was now a few minutes ago. Time starts to tick by as this buck paces back and forth at 25 yds, but light begins to pick-up... quickly! Finally after a stare down, the buck turns broadside... I don't even remember clicking my release but once he turned broadside I made a decision that Russ had to have enough light for the camera and I knew he'd be filming. I began to put pressure on the string as the buck turned, but he saw the movement.. stopped and turned his head.. and had me pegged. I had no choice but to attempt to draw while the buck stared right at me. I got to full draw with as little motion as possible, settled the pin, and the release went off.
First thing I see if the majority of my arrow sticking out of the buck in the shoulder area... I immediately thought "This is going to be a longgg day, that was a great shoulder shot I put on him"... but the buck crashed immediately! I turn to Russ and he's as excited as he gets! He was doing his job the whole time! We celebrated, got down, found the arrow and then the buck less than 100yds from the shot!
It is hard to describe what it is like hunting with a brother. We both feel like we can read each others minds, we think alike 99.9% of the time, and that 0.1% we don't... we actually work it out now instead of dualing it out like the good old days!
For some reason, when we get in the tree together, magic happens, we have a great time, and God seems to be with continue to bless our family with more than we could ask for. Looking back at the trail cam frustration and change of plans on which stand to hunt... it makes you wonder whose plan was failing? whose plans were in the works? We were upset/frustrated when the flash trail cams broke so ended up going to pick up some infared replacements quick. I hung the one infront of this stand... then the next morning we had a buck work the scrape infront of this cam... if it were a flash cam would he had hung around infront of the scrape for 3 minutes? Someone had a better plan for us it seems... we just had to have a little faith that God is always doing his thing, no matter what our plans are!
David, Ben, Nick, and Cody stopped over to check out the buck and watch the footage! The day warmed up quickly and once everyone left it was back to work. I don't think it has sunk in yet... when Russ and I walked up on the buck we both agreed it felt like we just found someone else's buck... we didn't really believe that we shot it!
The foggy morning made for a fun time taking harvest photos! Nice work Russ!
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