The Toad: Added story and pics
- muddy
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The Toad: Added story and pics
This season I had high hopes of takin a specific buck, but as deer do, he disappeared. As summer progressed my cams didnt really get me terribly excited. A few nice 3 and 4 year old, but nothing mature.
Season finally got here and I managed to take a big doe that the kids helped me "find"
Pre rut eventually turned into rut and I was seeing quite a few bucks, including all the ones I had on cam. Unfortunately none of these bucks really did it for me, and I passed all of them numerous times. After 2 weeks November was starting to wear me down. Bucks locked down an I knew I had to switch things up. I ended up going into an old place I hadn't hunted for awhile with my xop stand. That morning was awesome, hot does, multiple bucks, everything you want!
I made a mid morning move and found an awesome saddle. That evening I saw so many deer it was stupid. I passed both big 9s again and in the dark moved my stand according the next days wind. Over the course of 5 days I hunted this little 200x200 yard saddle and moved around to perimeter trees according to wind. A few days of rain made this possible for sure and on the 6th day things got real.
The morning was windy, really windy, and by mid morning it was deader than a hammer. I opted to get down and run some errands and climbed back up at 2pm. As the wind died down deer came out of the woodwork. There were 2 nice 9 pointers, a nice 8 pointer, a weird half rack squib buck, and various little guys doing their thing. Thus far I'd passed them all at least once and was still hoping for something bigger to show up.
My stand is situated so that there is a large ravine I cross to get to it, and it is on the edge, the access is bullet proof with a strong SE wind, which I had. I got to the base of my tree, suited up, and climbed in. There were already deer in the small field but I managed to get set up undetected. For the next couple hours I watched a pile of does come out of the bedding an into the fields to feed... it was just a matter of time before antler would show, and show it did.
All of a sudden there were bucks everywhere. Dinks up thru some nice 3 year olds, but I was really hoping for more, after all, I had already passed all of these guys over the season. The nice 9 point suddenly got nervous and his head came up, I looked where he was looking and this Toad of a buck just sauntered out of the thick stuff. Instantly I knew, that if he presented a shot, I was going to kill him. As Toad walked up the tree line I got my grunt call out and gave 1 soft grunt. He heard it and turned into the thick stuff. I immediately turned and threw my grunt call back behind me, it had spooked it's last buck. As the night progressed the does filtered into the main feeding field and Toad suddenly appeared 300 yards away. He bumped a doe until the 9 point tried to join in, he had none of that. He puffed up and simply walked towards him and followed him out of the field, over a fence, around another field, all for 250 yards and right under my tree. It was almost a straight down shot, but enough quarter away that I absolutely destroyed Toads heart. He died on his feet running, and was down before I could hang up my bow. Great end to a great season, with probably my 2nd best bow buck ever. Toad is a buck I've never seen before, but have yet to check the cam I threw up in this area 2 weeks ago, hopefully I have a few pics of him! He had a very nasty scar under his right eye, both ears were shredded, and he had some impressively gross wounds on his neck and shoulders. Regardless of what he may score I'm very proud of him since it's been awhile since I've shot a buck on my own ground on my own terms.
Season finally got here and I managed to take a big doe that the kids helped me "find"
Pre rut eventually turned into rut and I was seeing quite a few bucks, including all the ones I had on cam. Unfortunately none of these bucks really did it for me, and I passed all of them numerous times. After 2 weeks November was starting to wear me down. Bucks locked down an I knew I had to switch things up. I ended up going into an old place I hadn't hunted for awhile with my xop stand. That morning was awesome, hot does, multiple bucks, everything you want!
I made a mid morning move and found an awesome saddle. That evening I saw so many deer it was stupid. I passed both big 9s again and in the dark moved my stand according the next days wind. Over the course of 5 days I hunted this little 200x200 yard saddle and moved around to perimeter trees according to wind. A few days of rain made this possible for sure and on the 6th day things got real.
The morning was windy, really windy, and by mid morning it was deader than a hammer. I opted to get down and run some errands and climbed back up at 2pm. As the wind died down deer came out of the woodwork. There were 2 nice 9 pointers, a nice 8 pointer, a weird half rack squib buck, and various little guys doing their thing. Thus far I'd passed them all at least once and was still hoping for something bigger to show up.
My stand is situated so that there is a large ravine I cross to get to it, and it is on the edge, the access is bullet proof with a strong SE wind, which I had. I got to the base of my tree, suited up, and climbed in. There were already deer in the small field but I managed to get set up undetected. For the next couple hours I watched a pile of does come out of the bedding an into the fields to feed... it was just a matter of time before antler would show, and show it did.
All of a sudden there were bucks everywhere. Dinks up thru some nice 3 year olds, but I was really hoping for more, after all, I had already passed all of these guys over the season. The nice 9 point suddenly got nervous and his head came up, I looked where he was looking and this Toad of a buck just sauntered out of the thick stuff. Instantly I knew, that if he presented a shot, I was going to kill him. As Toad walked up the tree line I got my grunt call out and gave 1 soft grunt. He heard it and turned into the thick stuff. I immediately turned and threw my grunt call back behind me, it had spooked it's last buck. As the night progressed the does filtered into the main feeding field and Toad suddenly appeared 300 yards away. He bumped a doe until the 9 point tried to join in, he had none of that. He puffed up and simply walked towards him and followed him out of the field, over a fence, around another field, all for 250 yards and right under my tree. It was almost a straight down shot, but enough quarter away that I absolutely destroyed Toads heart. He died on his feet running, and was down before I could hang up my bow. Great end to a great season, with probably my 2nd best bow buck ever. Toad is a buck I've never seen before, but have yet to check the cam I threw up in this area 2 weeks ago, hopefully I have a few pics of him! He had a very nasty scar under his right eye, both ears were shredded, and he had some impressively gross wounds on his neck and shoulders. Regardless of what he may score I'm very proud of him since it's been awhile since I've shot a buck on my own ground on my own terms.
http://www.iowawhitetail.com
Leading the way for habitat and management information
"It's a good thing you don't need commas and colons to kill deer" -seaz
Leading the way for habitat and management information
"It's a good thing you don't need commas and colons to kill deer" -seaz
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Re: The Toad
Mannnnnnn that's a beautiful deer
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
- xpauliber
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Re: The Toad
NICe!!!
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Re: The Toad
Wow! Congrats!
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Re: The Toad
Hammer!
- Bonecrusher101
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Re: The Toad
Congrats! Can't wait to hear about it!
Be original and Enjoy every step along the adventure.
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Re: The Toad
congrats!
- MN_DeerHunter
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Re: The Toad
great buck!!
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Re: The Toad
Congrats
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: The Toad
Holy cow Muddy!
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Re: The Toad
Very nice! Congrats
There is only so many Novembers in ones life, make the most of them.
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Re: The Toad
Sweet good work!
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Re: The Toad
That's a perfect 10. Awesome, congrats to you!
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Re: The Toad
What a stud. Congrats. He's a Beast.
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