I've been so busy this year that about half my trailcams are still sitting in the house, never deployed. I did get a few cameras out, about half of them are doing security/surveillance on private properties rather than patterning deer. Of the few cams I had out, I saw a couple of decent bucks, but as usual, I figured they would move to other properties when the rut kicks in. Historically, it seems they use our farm as a bachelor pad during the summer, head to the river bottom because it is a rich doe environment. We've had a very late harvest this year due to record amounts of rain. The standing crops kept the deer on our property longer than usual. I was at work on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 4 when Julie called. She asked what my afternoon looked like for appointments, said that "You always say the bucks leave the farm come the rut, why don't you take this afternoon off to hunt?". Well, how do you say no to that?
I was ill prepared for the archery season. I didn't buy my hunting/archery license until Sept. 28, bow season opened Oct. 1. As I got to the farm, I started getting my gear rounded up. The tote bag I usually carry to the bow stand did not have my gear in it. I couldn't find my safety harness, no grunt tube, no rope to haul the bow up into the stand. I went to the shed and found a section of rope to hoist the bow, decided if I hunted out of a ladder stand the safety harness might not be as needed as much as if I did a hang and hunt with the LW. I grabbed the bow out of the case for the first time since last year's bow kill, headed for the stand. As I walked across the pasture to the ladder stand, I noticed I'd never cleaned off the arrow I used for last year's kill. The quiver was missing an another arrow I'd put into that buck as well. Shook my head at my lack of forethought.
Since all the crops were still in, I needed to walk a big loop to get to the ladder stand at the south end of brushy draw that divides a corner of an 80 acre field. This ladder stand provides a great view of a lot of the farm, so I would also consider it an observation stand. I figure if nothing else, I could gather intel on deer movement. The bucks tend to bed in the north end of it, so the hope was they would get up and move south towards the creek bottom, going past this stand. I climbed in around 3:30 pm and it didn't take long to see deer come out of the north end to feed on soybeans. They were about 150 yards out, so I could catch a glimpse of antler, but not get a real good look. Of course, I didn't have binocs with me.
A little later, I look straight east and see a couple of does/fawns on a fence line. They were feeding in the grass buffer strip along the soybean field. While watching them, I see them throw their heads up and look to the south. I glance that way to see 4 deer headed north from the creek bottom, sun glints off their racks. Three are smaller bucks, the bigger one intrigues me. I tried to take some pics with my new cell phone, distance makes the pictures less than perfect.
The buck looks very wide, not lots of points from what I can see. He heads away from me, goes to the fence line where he tends a scrape and licking branch. I figured that when he moves off, I'll climb down, sneak out, regroup with my gear to come back the next day to hang the LW in a tree in that fence line.
I leave work early again on Friday, Oct. 5, found all the gear I didn't have the previous day, throw the LW over my shoulder and head for the fence line. I get there and see the scrape, but there aren't any good trees close to it. The closest Oak is too big, a Shagbark Hickory is also on the large size with too many limbs, then a couple of snaggy Box Elders. I stand there weighing my options for what seemed too long, decided that if I start on one fork of a three trunk Box Elder, then move to a second fork, I should be able to hang the LW there. It was a corkscrew climb, but I had the stand hung and sitting down at 4 pm. The does/fawns I had watched from the ladder stand started milling around me soon after I sat down, which was a good sign. The bad sign was the darkening clouds to the west, from which I could hear thunder. I decided that being up in a tree on a hill was probably not a good place to be with lightning moving in, so I climbed down at 5 pm to head to the farm house, leaving the LW in the tree. As I jumped the fence into the farm yard, it started pouring rain.
My next chance to hunt that stand was Thursday, Oct 11. I left work at noon, headed for the farm. The wind is blowing something fierce, but I figure it will probably die back towards sunset. I walk across the pasture, hit the fence line, walk south down it to climb into the LW. As soon as I'm standing in the stand (3:30 pm), I happen to glance south to see a buck bedded 35 yards from my tree. With the wind blowing (it can be heard in the cell phone video), he didn't hear me walk in. I quickly attach the safety harness, pull the bow up, put my camo ski mask and gloves on, knock an arrow, and try to take one handed cell phone video as I hold my bow in the other hand and sway with the wind. Sorry for the quality, click on the image below for the video.
A still shot and inset in the upper left to show the buck bedded.
A couple of times the wind shifts a little and I was sure he'd catch my scent, but he only looked my way a couple times, never got real spooked. He might have gotten a faint whiff. Shortly after 4 pm, he gets up and moves to the other side of the pine trees. I lose sight of him. Around 5:30, I see antlers coming from the pond dam that is to the SE. It is a smaller buck. It moves towards where I last saw the bedded buck, working over saplings along the way. The buck that had been bedded steps from behind the pines to join him rubbing saplings. They slowly move north on the east side of the pines, which will surely take them through my scent stream. All I can imagine is that the wind took it over them and/or diluted it so much that they never got a good smell. There was a gap in the pines straight east of my stand, 20 yards out. As the buck went through there, he never stopped. Once past that window, he crossed to my side of the pines, stopped broadside, slightly quartering away at 30 yards. I was at full draw, put the 30 yard pin on his ribs and hit the trigger. I saw the arrow pass through as him and his buddy bolted NE through the pines. I didn't hear him splash into the pond, didn't see him go to the south or jump the fence to the west. Only thing I could figure is that he was either down or jumped the fence to the north into the pasture. Looking at the cell phone, 6 pm. I waited until 6:30 to climb down, meanwhile getting a show from his little buck buddy chasing and grunting at 5 does who had arrived under my stand.
Once down, I walked to where he stood, looked for my arrow, found it covered in dark blood, stuck in the ground with the cockfeather vane sheared off. Stepping to the far side of the pines, he was laying less the 40 yards from where he stood when I shot. Quickly field dressed him as the sun was setting, drove the Jeep down through the pasture, short (60 yard drag) and he was in the Jeep. As we were driving out the farm lane, we heard coyotes down cleaning up the gut pile. 21" inside spread, 22" main beams, haven't put to tape to him but rough guess is 125-130". This is the earliest I have been tagged out for archery by one day, as I shot a decent buck Oct. 12 back in 2012, 3 hunts and done this year.
Trail cam pic of him.
I plan to hunt shotgun season with the NIB Henry .44 mag lever gun I bought a couple of years ago. That season is 5 days long, should be able to hunt the weekend, that is if I can knock off a few more chores on the to-do list......
Sorry for writing a book and thanks for reading.
