Success of a different kind
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Success of a different kind
I'm posting this because because I know a lot of you guys can absolutely appreciate the joy you feel in this situation. For the past handful of years I've been putting my dad first with hopes of him bagging his first "big" buck. This has added many challenges on top of that normal ones involved in getting a big one in the big woods; but it has been a run full of memories I'll cherish and never forget. I apologize for all the rambling.
I found this stand site at the end of last year due to an accident and I realized its potential largely due to what I've learned on The Beast. At the end of the season last year I was hunting a location along side a river (which you will see in the pic that it looks more like a creek due to being so close to its head) next to a thicket where I had found some very nice bucks several years back but I was struggling to find them in the daylight during the season. I was looking towards the thicket expecting them to come out before dark when I got surprised by a very nice 8pt walking up behind me from the more open side and going towards the thicket. As I tried to get turned around he caught movement and froze. As I waited and hoped for him to relax and come another 10 yards a 10pt walked up beside him. They soon decided to go back the way the came but I immediately back trailed them and investigated to try and find out why they were headed in the opposite direction I expected. 50 yards later I found a heavy trail through a location I had never thought to check because it was so small, but yet it seemed very secure. This trail was coming through a bottleneck between a high steep bank of the river and the more open area I had been sitting in. Even though the thick was so narrow, it was so thick a deer was completely hid as it moved. The river cut in too tight at that location where I had been sitting that evening and forced them to be exposed for about 40 yards of the trail. I set up in a tree growing right on that steep bank and was overlooking that 40 yards the next weekend and saw 6 bucks; the most I'd ever seen in one sit. The most amazing thing about this spot is I could walk in the river bed straight up to the spot, climb the bank and the tree, leave the way I came, and the thermals pulled my sent away from the trail. I was able to hunt the stand as many times as I wanted and never be detected and I found I was able to hunt the stand with virtually any wind except a S wind blowing over 20mph.
Fast forward to this season. I started this year in this stand and had my dad sit the tree when he could come. I noticed quickly that a doe group had a bedding area right out in front of the stand. We saw them every time we sat the stand and I got the feeling it might get real fun during the rut. Up until the rut we had only seen small bucks. When muzzleloading season came we were considering trying some other areas I had scouting some big bucks in and so I decided to spend a couple hours before work the morning before and do an observation sit to see if any big bucks had moved in. That morning I spent an hour and 15 mins watching the biggest buck I'd ever seen anywhere in my entire life running around guarding a doe and thrashing trees. They bedded down within sight. I left everything in the tree except my longbow and snuck back down into the river bed and out to work. (I really wanted to make a play on that deer..wow..sigh) With excitement I sat my dad in that tree. He was growing impatient but I got his word he would only shoot at a huge buck. He called me a little after 8 am with a quivering voice to tell me he had just seen the biggest buck he had ever seen but didn't have a shot as it was chasing a doe at a run. Fast forward to rifle season... He wanted me to sit that spot because he said he was feeling back about all the opportunities I was missing to try and help him. However that morning when I picked up my rifle the scope was so lose it almost fell off... (no idea how that happened) So he agreed to sit it that morning. As I was hanging his stand he whispers that there were already deer coming. I froze while they passed, then finished and crept out. 30 minutes later I heard the double report of his rifle. It wasn't the buck from a month before, but he as dad said, he didn't have to look through his scope to see if he had antlers either.
Some pictures that were taken of him before season.
I found this stand site at the end of last year due to an accident and I realized its potential largely due to what I've learned on The Beast. At the end of the season last year I was hunting a location along side a river (which you will see in the pic that it looks more like a creek due to being so close to its head) next to a thicket where I had found some very nice bucks several years back but I was struggling to find them in the daylight during the season. I was looking towards the thicket expecting them to come out before dark when I got surprised by a very nice 8pt walking up behind me from the more open side and going towards the thicket. As I tried to get turned around he caught movement and froze. As I waited and hoped for him to relax and come another 10 yards a 10pt walked up beside him. They soon decided to go back the way the came but I immediately back trailed them and investigated to try and find out why they were headed in the opposite direction I expected. 50 yards later I found a heavy trail through a location I had never thought to check because it was so small, but yet it seemed very secure. This trail was coming through a bottleneck between a high steep bank of the river and the more open area I had been sitting in. Even though the thick was so narrow, it was so thick a deer was completely hid as it moved. The river cut in too tight at that location where I had been sitting that evening and forced them to be exposed for about 40 yards of the trail. I set up in a tree growing right on that steep bank and was overlooking that 40 yards the next weekend and saw 6 bucks; the most I'd ever seen in one sit. The most amazing thing about this spot is I could walk in the river bed straight up to the spot, climb the bank and the tree, leave the way I came, and the thermals pulled my sent away from the trail. I was able to hunt the stand as many times as I wanted and never be detected and I found I was able to hunt the stand with virtually any wind except a S wind blowing over 20mph.
Fast forward to this season. I started this year in this stand and had my dad sit the tree when he could come. I noticed quickly that a doe group had a bedding area right out in front of the stand. We saw them every time we sat the stand and I got the feeling it might get real fun during the rut. Up until the rut we had only seen small bucks. When muzzleloading season came we were considering trying some other areas I had scouting some big bucks in and so I decided to spend a couple hours before work the morning before and do an observation sit to see if any big bucks had moved in. That morning I spent an hour and 15 mins watching the biggest buck I'd ever seen anywhere in my entire life running around guarding a doe and thrashing trees. They bedded down within sight. I left everything in the tree except my longbow and snuck back down into the river bed and out to work. (I really wanted to make a play on that deer..wow..sigh) With excitement I sat my dad in that tree. He was growing impatient but I got his word he would only shoot at a huge buck. He called me a little after 8 am with a quivering voice to tell me he had just seen the biggest buck he had ever seen but didn't have a shot as it was chasing a doe at a run. Fast forward to rifle season... He wanted me to sit that spot because he said he was feeling back about all the opportunities I was missing to try and help him. However that morning when I picked up my rifle the scope was so lose it almost fell off... (no idea how that happened) So he agreed to sit it that morning. As I was hanging his stand he whispers that there were already deer coming. I froze while they passed, then finished and crept out. 30 minutes later I heard the double report of his rifle. It wasn't the buck from a month before, but he as dad said, he didn't have to look through his scope to see if he had antlers either.
Some pictures that were taken of him before season.
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: Success of a different kind
Awesome buck!! Big congrats to you and your dad!!
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
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Re: Success of a different kind
Awesome story congrats to you and your dad.
Sounds like a wicked stand site that's for sure
Sounds like a wicked stand site that's for sure
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Re: Success of a different kind
Great buck!
Congratulations to you both! Great setup! You must be pumped for the future in this tree...
Congratulations to you both! Great setup! You must be pumped for the future in this tree...
Work hard, stay humble, be kind.
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Re: Success of a different kind
Awesome job!
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- tgreeno
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Re: Success of a different kind
Nice Work!
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It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: Success of a different kind
Absolute STUD buck!
Congrats to your Dad! !
- cbay
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Re: Success of a different kind
Wow. Congrats to your Dad and you. That's a Giant!
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Re: Success of a different kind
Um. WOW! That thing is huge! Congrats to you and your dad
- Dewey
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- Wlog
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Re: Success of a different kind
Great story! Congrats to both of you!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
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Re: Success of a different kind
Love the story.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
- checkerfred
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Re: Success of a different kind
Awesome story and wonderful memories made right there!
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