POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

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Mario
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Mario » Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:31 pm

A little background.

Dan and I got access to hunt a parcel of land late in the summer. The land contained a large swamp area that was perfect for a beast style hunt. There were a few factors to consider when approaching the swamp area.

• We had no time to fully scout the area since we would be doing more damage than good.
• We knew there had already been a fair amount of foot traffic in the area that had likely burned some of the potential bedding areas.
• We also knew some trail cameras had been placed in certain areas by others who had access to the land.
• The area was also surrounded by a fair amount of pressure from other hunters on private land.
• The area we wanted to focus on was a little over a mile hike by foot, so our approach to traveling in and out of the area was important.

Since we could not scout the entire area in winter and we knew there was already pressure from foot traffic we examined the topographic maps and satellite pictures of the area to identify potential bedding areas along with any food sources within the swamp.

The plan was to stage hunt the swamp. Hitting the various fingers coming off of each islands in the swamp. Slowly pushing our way back to the better bedding areas. Once we identified the first stage to hunt on the topo/aerial map we moved in for our first sit on Monday night, 9/16/2013.

Day 1 – 9/16/2013

We arrived at the property around 2:30 PM. We got all our gear on our backs and slowly starting making our way back to the Swamp. It was 65 degrees out so it didn’t take long to work up a sweat hiking in. We had a NNW wind which was pretty good for the area we planned on hunting. Following Dan through the swamp is like chasing a gazelle on the plains of Africa :lol: , I felt like I was on an episode of American Ninja keeping pace….

Around 3:15 PM we made it to the first area we wanted to hunt. We dropped our stands and sticks, so we could do a quick scout of the area we wanted to focus on. We were careful to not push to far back on this first island because we did not want to burn any potential spots for future hunts. When scouting we found what appeared to be a fairly fresh scrap, and bed on the island. Based on the position of the bed and the wind we thought it was possible that we kicked a buck from this bed while coming in. I picked a small out cropping of Popple trees, while Dan moved further up the island by some Oaks. We both had potential bedding to our North, North East. By 4:30 PM we were settled in our stands, again taking our time setting up the sticks ad stands. The wind was in our face most the evening. I should have brought a thicker coat, every time my body gained some warmth back the wind would kick up and take it away. It was a good first sit. We both saw doe as well as a variety of waterfowl but no bucks presented themselves. The moon was bright for our first walk out of the swamp so it made navigating a lot easier.

Pics from Day 1

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set-up
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view from the stand
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Day 2 – 9/17/2013

The plan for the next sit was to push a little further north into the swamp and adjacent island. Again drawing closer to the more remote bedding areas. Dan could not hunt on Tuesday night, so I would go solo. We discussed a plan for where I should sit, and decided to push in about 40-50 yards beyond where he sat on the Northern tip of the first island. I again arrived at the property around 2:30 PM, got my stands, sticks, and bow packed up and started making the 1+ mile trek back to the second location. The temperature was around 70 degrees, and the wind was opposite of the first day, now SSE. Of course traveling into the swamp never comes without adventure. As I made my way through a transition point to the first island I lost my footing stepping over a large bump in the swamp grass, somehow my boot caught on the bottom of my alpha stand causing me to fall face first into the swamp grass :oops: . After reaching back and dislodging by boot heal from my stand I got up and proceeded on… luckily when your alone in the swamp only the critters are there to laugh at you :lol: .

By around 3:30 PM I was to the area I wanted to hunt. I pushed a small fawn out of a bed on the way in, but did not see anything else move.

The area I was hunting in tonight was pretty thick but a good transition point between the potential bedding areas, and food source (Oaks on islands). I had two trails intersecting in front of me, one at 20 yards and at 10/15 yards. From my position the SSE wind was cutting across my face so I was hoping the deer would stick to the trails in front of me without picking up my sent. These trails led North and East to the potential bedding areas, and South to the food source. Again I did not push further into the woods so I was not positive on the bedding or exact path of the trails.

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I took my time setting up but had my sticks and stand in position by around 4:15 PM. This time I brought plenty of clothes knowing the temperature would drop as it did on Monday night. At 5:15 PM I had a small 4 pointer move through on the high trail at 20 yards. He didn’t hang around too long but gave me a good idea of what shooting lanes I had on that trail.

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbbhbx98Fm8[/bbvideo]

At 6 PM I heard a hoof stomp and a doe blew directly behind me. At 6:30 PM a very alerted doe and small fawn passed in front of me taking the high 20 yard trail. Right around 6:30 PM I had 2 turkeys pass through behind me in the thicket. There was a lot of activity with ducks, geese, and crane flying in and out of the area.

As the evening progressed the wind stayed pretty consistent, I could hear mallards landing in the pond nearby. I began to see the moon take shape on the horizon. As nightfall drew closer I told myself I sit for about 10 more minutes since I had over a mile to hike out solo in the dark.

Right before dark I heard a branch snap off to my left side. The same direction from which the other deer came from. I was losing daylight but fortunately he stepped out into the low trail at 10/15 yards. I only had two shooting lanes to pick from since it was pretty thick underneath me. He moved around me from left to right, and froze in my second shooting lane at 15 yards broadside. I took aim right behind his right front shoulder and let my arrow fly. He immediately ran straight out the trail I walked in on. I took a couple of minutes to settle down then I called Dan since I knew I might need some help tracking him. Thanks again Dan, I know I got you out of bed, Dan needed to work at 3 AM.

With the night almost upon me I and not a lot of knowledge of the area, I decided to quickly pack my gear up then begin tracking. After recovering my arrow I called Dan again to let him know there was good blood on the arrow but not a lot in the immediate area. I was a little worried that I might have hit him high since the angle of the shot was so extreme due to the close range.

After making a few circles at 5, 10, and 15 yards I ran into my first sign of blood. A good spray on the swamp grass. The Blood trail opened up from there. As I moved down the trail there was good blood on the small trees flanking each side of the trail.

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As I reached the edge of the transition point between the island I sat on and the first island we hunted the night before there was a large pool of blood on the trail. I raised my flash light to check the edge of the island and there he was lying about 15 yards in front of me. In total he ran about 50 yards.

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When I first saw him I could not believe how big his girth was. The moon was lighting up the swamp all around me so for a few minutes I turned off my flash light and just took in the experience. It was a beautiful evening to be hunting in the swamp.

Dan arrived and we quickly realized it would be too difficult to get the buck out in darkness. We covered the deer up with a coat to keep human scent on it, and hopefully scare off any coyotes then we made our way out of the swamp.

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The next day I grabbed my sled, wheel barrow, and a stretcher I borrowed from Dan. I had two friends meet me in the morning to help hall him out. I can’t thanks these guys enough, I might still be dragging right now if I was doing it by myself. We started at 9 AM and had him back to the truck by about 11 AM. That stretcher was a life saver!

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The deer is a main frame 7 pointer, with two small stickers off each of his brow tines.

All in all one of the more memorable hunts I have ever had… Big thanks to Dan for devising the plan to stage hunt these areas… Now it’s time for you to get this guy’s Big Brother :D


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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:55 am

BOW BUCK 2013 "Hard Work Pays Off!"

well to start off the title says it all "hard work pays off". ive been scouting and hunting my tale off theses past couple season and was able to kill a good gun buck two years ago. fast forward to last season, I was able to kill a public land doe in early season but had bad luck with the bucks. I wounded one in early season and one on nov 1st. both really good bucks but the one hit home the most. A 5 year old ten point that I had my eye on for a few seasons. on nov 1, 2012 he came by close to bedding and I made a bad shot and never found him . he never showed up this year on trail cam :cry: I had other bucks on camera last year that I knew would be shooters this season and was watching a couple. fast-forward to this season. this one buck in particular was showing up in early summer just like last year. I named him the "split G2 buck"..I got many pics of him during summer and the early stages of his antler growth. I knew he was bedding close by just by the time frame of pics. I went up a few time during summer and glassed for him and seen him once, got a little footage of him but cant seem to find it :? there were a few other bucks I was watching. he was one of the biggest shooters I was targeting this season and I knew there was no doubt in my mind that when he came by I was shooting!
early bow opened and I pounded the cattail marshes around home to balance out my season. had some good early success on a publicland doe that I syber scouted from google earth.
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I bounced around all my best spots and had some cool encounters with some bucks. one encounter I will never forget from this season . if I had 10 more seconds I could of shot a 130 class 8 point on the ground less then 5feet away! if you followed the live from the stand thread I posted the story when it happened. i learned a lot form hunting in the cattails this season aging. found a lot of fresh sign, set up on fresh sign and even kicked deer out setting up to close to bedding, more less and educational season. I hunted hill country and tried getting on some of those bucks from the farm. didn't see much. I was able to get Jodi on a good nine pointer and she killed him but the yotes found him first. at least she go the rack! early season was winding down and not much had been seen on the farm. one buck was showing up regularly all fall though, the split G2 buck! I knew from my scouting that he was bedding close . I knew those doe bedding areas I found would be key during the rut if I had any chance in seeing the buck I was after. I checked trail cams a couple days before I killed him and got fired up when I see he was working a scrape/rub about 300 yards away from were I killed him . like a ghost he would show up here and there.
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I watched the weather a few days before I decided to go for it ...the weather changed the last second and the wind switched to a Northwest wind , the wind I needed to hunt a funnel near the doe bedding I located this past spring. I headed up Friday mourning nov,1st with high anticipation. I got up to the cabin about 10 am. got wood started a fire , got my gear together and headed out. I remember it well like it was yesterday. It was a light misty drizzle. the smell of manure was in the air. I headed down my access trail one step at a time. I could hear a horse and buggy down on the road. the famers dog was barking in the back ground. as I neared my set up tree I slowed my pace way down. step by step I inched my way through the thick brier bushes along the ridge up in that 1/3 travel corridor. because it was raining the leaves were quiet so I was able to walk in a little father and get closer to the scouted out bedding area. I set up about noonish and settled in. my set up was perfect . I was right in that "thermal tunnel". I was on stand for about an hour when I suddenly heard a loud grunt! I looked around to see If I could see anything. I didn't see nothing so I stood up turn on my video camera and looked around. I heard another grunt. looked even harder and seen a flash of white. several does were running hard followed by two big bucks. grunting like crazy they chased them around. I focused hard on the bigger buck. I grabbed my grunt call and grunted twice. he threw his head up and started my way. at first I thought he was going to walk to the left of me but he decided to walk right. I focused the camera and then concentrated on the shot. he walked under the fence looking for the "buck" that he just heard grunt at him. he sniffed the air hard but my wind was perfect. he started down the point at 15 yards and I had no choice to stop him and shoot right there and then or my shot lane was blocked by thick nasty branches. I drew my bow stopped him put the pin on him and touched off! the shot placement was perfect. I watched my red luminock disappear right were I was aiming. a double lung shot! the buck jumped in the air as the 100 grain G5 striker ripped through his ribcage! he took off and bolted down into the valley. you cant see it in the video because I had the camera panned all the way back but I watched him fall only 55 yards away! I got very emotional as I watched him fall....it felt like thousand pounds was lifted off my shoulders! in the footage you can see my reaction is priceless :lol: , and that reaction is why I hunt! I could not believe what I just shot. even though I seen him fall I gave him a half hour, gathered my stand and walked down to were I hit him. found my arrow and seen it was covered in blood. to be honest with you guys I had no clue it was the "split G2 buck". I had chills when I walked up on him and seen it was him. the feeling that came over me when I realized I had just killed this buck was like no other. only hunters will know the feeling! I sat down for a brief couple seconds and flashed back on this years season after I walked up on him. It was like a fast motion movie. the quest for the Split G2 buck was over!
all the hard worked paid off. spring scouting, summer scouting , glassing, running trail cams, shinning. it all came together for me. I waited for the right wind and stuck to the plan and got it done the first sit. a few key things made this hunt for me this year ....
#1 letting the buck grow
#2 putting my time in scouting the land and learning all the best bedding areas
#3 waiting until I had the right wind
#4 keeping the trail cams away from the bedding areas
#5 sticking to the plan
I am truly blessed to have taking this animal and want to thanks dan and all the beast members for making it possible!
grossed 137 5/8

I made a short video of the hunt....it has a small topo video, spring scouting and the hunt.
to keep the thread clean of post: PLEASE PM ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE VIDEO OF THE HUNT THANKS ! the music is recorded by me , I play guitar and just wiped this up for my trailer
if you listen closely and turn volume all the way up during the hunt you can hear the buck grunting

[bbvideo=425,350]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QyNGavavWE[/bbvideo]


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Last edited by BigHunt on Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:00 am

2013 GUN BUCK

well after having an awesome bow season I was ready to head west for nine days of gun hunting with Jodi. we headed up Friday mourning before the big hunt. we got to the cabin around 9am and unpacked and got everything situated. gather a lot of wood temps being in the single digits we were going to need it!!! deer camp 2013 had officially started me and Jodi were ready for the cold temps. for the first time in 8-9 years we finally had some good snow on opening morning . I was awaken by the coffee pot gurgling away. the smell of fresh brewed coffee lingered in the air. that was enough to get me out of bed into the 38 degree cabin...Jodi forgot to get up and load the wood burner :lol: once again the anticipation was high. we had a northwest winds with temp below zoro. I set up Jodi on a leeward hill side, and I set up on a different ridge side. action was slow for me at first. at about 8 am Jodi had a doe walking down right to her. making a rookie mistake she stood up and the doe saw her and bolted :doh: o well lesson learned I told her. progressions of a hunter :lol: that was her first solo hunt with out me. later on in the day I seen 8 does. opening day came and went heard a lot of shot but as many as I thought factoring in the snow. we thought Saturday was cold Sunday was even colder!!!!! I sat until about 11 am came back met Jodi and eat lunch. we both head out about 12 pm.i set her up in a different location. I also set up in a spot I know from years past that deer pass through this travel corridor. it was about 130, the leaves were so crunchy it took me awhile to get any were. I finally got to my spot and was looking around. i didn't even sit down and my phone vibrated...Jodi had texted me and said she just seen a huge bodied deer come flying down the ride right past her but couldn't get the shot off. I texted her back. I no more looked up and seen a huge deer drop off the ridge and was walking right to me in the thermal tunnel. I threw my phone down in the snow and shouldered my 30-06 . I seen he had good main beams but didn't know how big he was but new he was a shooter! I waited until he got into the clearing and squeezed the trigger. I hit far back and low. the buck took a few steps and stood there wounded :doh: I cambered another round and drilled him right behind the shoulder but did not know it. he scrabbled around and then fell over!! I focused my scope on him and could barley make him out through the brush. I gave him a few and slowly made my way down to him. when I got down on the trail I did not see him right away. I rounded the corner and there he was! dead! I could not believe my eyes when I seen what I just killed. the first thing I said when I seen him was THE MASS! OMG!!! It took awhile for it to kick in that I just killed my best buck ever! my emotions flooded and I couldn't keep it in. what a slob! to be honest I really didn't care if I got one or not gun hunting, i was just glad to be able to take a good buck with the bow and just wanted to relaxe and relive my past bow season and remember the good memories. this buck was just the icing on the cake. MY best season ever. a few things made this hunt possible.
#1 knowing my land and scouting it and learning all the travel routes
#2 knowing were to sit 1/3 travel
#3 staying with it and out in the cold weather
I have no trail cam pics of this deer or no history. he looks to be a 4+ year old buck
I put a tape on him and it came out to 153 5/8
the neibor heard about the buck and came over to see it. when he got there he said "yep" that's Him" ...he showed me three years of trail cam pics of the buck but would not give any up. he was not happy. its amazing this bucks home range was vey small. he has trail cam pics of the buck just right over the ridge less then 400yards away. I have no pics of this deer? I hope to get some more insight of this buck.

I truly want to thank dan and ALL the hunting beast members for making this possible, if it wasn't for you guys this would not be possible!

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BOUNS PIC: I noted that he had a chuck of bullet in his main beam :shock: not from me
know that a trophy on its own!!
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:59 pm

A meeting with a buck!

With a large storm sweeping across the nation I opted to ditch my 2'oclock meeting and leave work early and chance the dance of moving deer.
Today I was after meat or at least that's what I thought!...

I was readied with the LW on my back and dove into a new spot I cyber scouted only to burn 1.5 hours of boot time w/ no fresh sign.
One of my new found rules is to obort situations like this; so back to my truck and ditching the LW I had 50-minutes of legal hunting and grabbed a seat cushion.
I figured I'd sit where I passed a good Doe earlier in the season hoping for a ray of sunshine !

As I sat up against a large rock on the edge of a bottleneck in fading overcast skies I thought to my self; this feels REEAAL good to be breathing the fresh air!

After 35-minutes clicked bye I heard the infamous "branch break" and grasped my gun with the hopes of a fur-bearing game animal!!
At last I spied legs in the near dark conditions, then the body of a deer, figuring it was the Doe (and not the fawn) I was happy by the body size!

I picked a spot in-between trees and @ 50-yards in the darkened woods I wasn't completely satisfied I'd make a perfect shot with the shotgun.
After squeezing the trigger everything went quiet and didn't see the deer drop so I went to the suspected site to investigate.
Looking around I didn't see blood, no hair, no hoof marks in the leaves, so I quickly went to the trees in-between me and the deer.
I found what I believed to be the bullet hole in a tree and almost backed out before talking myself into spending more time looking...

As I looked (more of a protocol) for 10-minutes I found 1st blood and then hair --> Bingo!
25-yards from the shot site I walked up to notice there was no ground shrinkage AND "she" had horns - !!!

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Looking him over I decided to prop him up with a branch to take his picture

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This is the point of the hunt that you text your wife and all your friends; yee-haw!
My best buddy left work to help w/ the dragging chores and snapped this photo.

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Back home with the Jakester
Jake did comment that he was REALLY happy for me, and I had to confirm that he wasn't "a little happy for me" (meaning I finally killed a bigger deer)

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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Bucky » Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:44 am

I entered 2013 season with high hopes of catching up with a buck I have been following for years. This buck would be 6 1/2 years old this season and even though he didn't have whopper head gear I had it set in my mind it was him or nothing. As the cameras started rolling in July he showed up in his usual haunts and by August had filled out bodywise to SLOB proportions!

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Since this would be my 3rd year of actively hunting this deer I had a pretty good idea of where he was comfortable and planted an early season secluded clover food plot near one of his core bedding areas. Like planned he showed up in it during daylight! I have very few pictures of him in daylight during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. So at 6 1/2 it seemed he was getting a little less cautious with his daylight movements.

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Unfortunately, with the location of this food plot I did not want to check the camera until I was gonna attempt to hunt the spot (had I checked it slightly earlier I might have caught him on this pattern). In my experience, the clover tends to really heat up once the beans yellow mid-late Sept and that is when I was gonna move in. I was hunting on the fringes of his core bedding area hoping to catch him heading to beans from Sept 15-25th. I kept moving and hoping to catch a glimpse so I could move in.

The neighbor then sent me an email that pretty much put me in a rotten mood late Sept... the buck had busted off his G3 and brow tine on the left side of his rack!

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Well now what!!!! I had put most of my eggs for early season in this basket.... this was one of the best bucks I had on camera and really the only one I WANTED to kill on the private I had access to...

So I started bouncing around and took my frustration out on a few does...

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Passed a few younger bucks in the process as well....

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By now it was early Oct and decided to just take a break from hunting and started muskie fishing which was a blast!

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I fished until roughly Oct 20th or so and then decided to try and locate a buck that lived mostly in the wide open expansive marsh. I found one of his sheds the year prior and really didn't know too much about him other than I would occassionally catch him on a remote island....

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So I started long range scouting from the few trees I could sit on the edge of the marsh. On my second sit late Oct I spotted him way out in the middle of the marsh bedding by a downfall tree. (This particular deer was avoiding trees like the plague). I kept sitting on the out skirts knowing eventually he would start to check some of the doe bedding areas. I peppered cameras all over and caught him working a scrape twice Oct 27th and 29th on one particular island that had a doe group working it routinely. I knew it was gonna be more of a game of luck with watch n wait if I wasn't gonna try and ground attack him..... that is when of my good buddies invited me to hunt is property out in Western WI. At this point I was ready for a change and was more than happy to go hunt some hills instead of staring at marsh grass!

By knowing the history of the property and seeing bucks that have been killed off it in the past I knew I was going to be hunting some great ground. One buck that had been a regular on the farm and was passed the year prior was now on the hit list....

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Nov 3rd, the first day, I was given a section of the farm to start on out of ladder stand but I planned to pack in my lone wolf and move after the AM movement. I was hoping I could get setup on an East-West ridge top and be ready for the mid morning early afternoon cruizing.
"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Bucky » Tue Dec 10, 2013 3:54 am

I entered 2013 season with high hopes of catching up with a buck I have been following for years. This buck would be 6 1/2 years old this season and even though he didn't have whopper head gear I had it set in my mind it was him or nothing. As the cameras started rolling in July he showed up in his usual haunts and by August had filled out bodywise to SLOB proportions!

2013
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2012
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2011
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Since this would be my 3rd year of actively hunting this deer I had a pretty good idea of where he was comfortable and planted an early season secluded clover food plot near one of his core bedding areas. Like planned, he showed up in it during daylight! I have very few pictures of him in daylight during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. So at 6 1/2 it seemed he was getting a little less cautious with his daylight movements.

Image

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Unfortunately, with the location of this food plot I did not want to check the camera until I was gonna attempt to hunt the spot (had I checked it slightly earlier I might have caught him on this pattern). In my experience, the clover tends to really heat up once the beans yellow mid-late Sept and that is when I was gonna move in. I was hunting on the fringes of his core bedding area hoping to catch him heading to beans from Sept 15-25th. I kept moving and hoping to catch a glimpse so I could move in.

The neighbor then sent me an email that pretty much put me in a rotten mood late Sept... the buck had busted off his G3 and brow tine on the left side of his rack! Image

Well now what!!!! I had put most of my eggs for early season in this basket.... this was one of the best bucks I had on camera and really the only one I WANTED to kill on the private I had access to...

So I started bouncing around and took my frustration out on a few does...

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Passed a few younger bucks in the process as well....

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By now it was early Oct and I decided to just take a break from hunting and started muskie fishing which was a blast!

Image

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I fished until roughly Oct 20th or so and then decided to try and locate a buck that lived mostly in the wide open expansive marsh. I found one of his sheds the year prior and really didn't know too much about him other than I would occassionally catch him on a remote island....

Image

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So I started long range scouting from the few trees I could sit on the edge of the marsh. On my second sit late Oct I spotted him way out in the middle of the marsh bedding by a downfall tree. (This particular deer was avoiding trees like the plague). I kept sitting on the out skirts knowing eventually he would start to check some of the doe bedding areas. I peppered cameras all over and caught him working a scrape twice Oct 27th and 29th on one particular island that had a doe group working it routinely. I knew it was gonna be more of a game of luck with watch n wait if I wasn't gonna try and ground attack him..... that is when of my good buddies invited me to hunt is property out in Western WI. At this point I was ready for a change and was more than happy to go hunt some hills instead of staring at marsh grass!

By knowing the history of the property and seeing bucks that have been killed off it in the past, I knew I was going to be hunting some great ground. One buck that had been a regular on the farm and was passed the year prior was now on the hit list....

Image

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Nov 3rd, the first day, I was given a section of the farm to start on, hunting out of ladder stand, but I planned to pack in my lone wolf and move after the AM movement. I was hoping I could get setup on an East-West ridge top and be ready for the mid morning early afternoon cruizing. I sat until roughly 830 and quickly made my move to the leeward side of the ridge on this bedding point.

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I instantly had action within the first 30 mins :D

Two different two year olds rolled through by 11AM

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The spot was decent but my gut told me I needed to move further into the large chunk of timber that had not been pressured all year. At noon I broke down my Lone Wolf and headed deeper into the timber. By studying the map, I knew the East-West ridge I was hunting continued into the larger block of timber. I walked roughly 500-700 yards to the East and saw what I was looking for.... mega sign on the top of the ridge, huge scrapes, rubs, and even better I jumped a few does while walking (it was a bedding area). It was slightly thicker as well... I dropped off on the leeward side and found a beat down cruizn trail. I setup so I would have roughly a 20 yard shot to the trail. From 1:30 until dark that day I saw 7 different bucks (mostly 1s and 2s).

The next AM anticipation was high, the weather was cool, the wind was consistent with the previous day, and I had my tree all setup. The action started early with deer moving all over on the ridge, below me, above me, and deer following the cruizn trail. I just sat back and took in the show. Around mid morning I had a doe come right past my tree tongue hanging out with a parade of bucks hot on her trail. It was just one of those magical November days... buck after buck came through on that trail grunting and following to a T where she had trotted through. Again, mostly 1s and 2s with a nicer 3yr old 10pt at roughly noonish. I started taking pictures with my cell phone but quit after a while as it was comical the number of deer/bucks passing by! :D Finally, at around 3:30PM, I caught a glimpse of a better deer heading right to me on the cruizn trail. It was the first time all day I picked my bow up off the EZ hanger. As the deer approached I studied his body and rack through binos and thought he was for sure mature and at least 4yrs old. At about 75 yards from my stand he busted off the cruizn trail and dropped into the valley below where I had been seeing does/fawns mill around all day. He jumped up some deer, grunted a few times, and started heading back up the ridge out of shooting range. It appeared he was changing directions and gonna head up over the ridge top so I knew now I had to call to him. Earlier in the day I tried grunting on my True Talker and it sounded funky, so instead I used my mouth to snort wheeze at him. When he heard the wheeze he stopped on a dime, turned, and started coming! He walked directly to my tree and was literally 5 yards from the base of my tree... he started to realize something was not right as he kept testing the air with his nose... luckily I didn't panic and just waited. Finally, he decided to start heading back the way he came and I pulled back as he was walking away.... at about 16-17 yards he hit an opening and I center punched him right behind the front leg. I saw the glow nock the whole way (love that!) and it appeared the arrow hit the off side shoulder. He took off on a dead run but crashed at about 50 yards. Whew... I love it when I don't have to track!

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This is how I found him when I walked up on him roughly 30 min after the shot

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The next day while everyone was hunting I spent some time hauling him up a logging road to get some better quality photos over looking a valley with a rustic abandon barn.

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We left that evening for home and the next day I took my 5yr old son out of school so we could spend the day together caping, butchering, and driving around with a "buck on the truck". It was one of those awesome days as a dad....

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Here is my son Garrison with my 85yr old grandfather

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I feel super fortunate to have friends that would allow me hunt their private property and shoot such a deer without a hint of bitterness/jealousy. 8-)

If anyone is wondering.... the 6 1/2 year old is still alive and well post WI rifle season :mrgreen: Can't wait for next season.....
"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear
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PK_
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby PK_ » Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:43 am

11/30/13 Somewhere in northern Florida...

The cold predawn air sent an uninviting chill as I followed an old logging road deep into unfamiliar country. Unsure of the trail that lay ahead, I used a dim light to pierce the thin fog that hung as a cloak over the damp forest floor. The sun was gaining victory over my descent into the great unknown as the tree line on the Eastern horizon became backlit by its first glow of the day. I realized I would not reach my intended destination by the break of day. I stood for a moment, watching my warm exhales fade towards the sky. I contemplated the lay of the land that I had dissected so many times prior to my journey. I made a reluctant decision to change my course from SW to SE and head for a small knoll that looked to hold some large oaks only a couple hundred yards away. I figured it was worth a chance, but deep down I knew that any buck worth his hide would be found deeper into the swamp by daybreak. Although it wasn't my desired location, I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise as it's golden rays split the mighty oak limbs and the Spanish Moss slow danced as the still air began to gently push and pull before settling into its desired flow.

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A few young deer graced me with their presence, topping off what was already a stellar start to the day. It wasn't long after 7am that my feet became restless, for the swamp was begging for my intrusion and I humbly obliged. I gathered myself, got my bearings and then headed to the area I have been anticipating for months. Several swamps nearly converged at one point, which looked to create land bridges connecting lots of habitat and I imagined endless nooks and crannies for a stubborn old whitetail to haunt. Setting the perfect stage for a game of chess with a wary buck. When I neared my area of interest, tracks and rubs confirmed that I had arrived at the threshold of a bucks home. The wind was perfect. I moved ever slower and never without purpose, straight into the very jaws of the swamp...

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I found a few small peninsulas and islands where a buck took a lay and rubbed some small trees within the cypress bottom. However I didn't feel as though I had found his bedroom, so I pressed on. Less than an hour into my search I found what I was looking for, a lone rub at the water's edge that seemed to be reworked several times. The majority of its scarring was facing a tight trail winding back into the tangled bog. I studied the trail and beyond where it wanted to lead me. As my eyes crawled towards the canopy I noticed large pine trees hidden within the cypress. This is it! My eyes widened as a spike of adrenaline raised the hair on my neck. Knowing you are within a buck's wheelhouse suddenly brings a certain 'over awareness' to a deer hunter. All at once every flicker of movement was magnified and each sound around me was amplified, all becoming ever important.

The below freezing temperatures that morning prompted me to lace up my calf-high insulated boots in place of my usual 18" rubber ones, a choice I would soon regret. With high hopes and sheer determination I took up the trail into the bottom. The water was clear and still, resembling a mirror laid beneath the towering cypress trees. Upon further inspection, the trail I was following was darker in color. Perhaps it was my adversary who has stirred the mud and turned the trail to a rusty brown. It took what seemed an eternity to cut the short distance between myself and the pine island. I was now more than 3/4 of the way to the buck's lair, I could see much of the dry ground ahead but had yet to spot neither a deer nor any further indication of this area being used by one.

The water has now reached its highest point. My boots sunk deep into the ancient peat soil. For a moment, there came a sudden realization of the perceived futility of what it was that I was attempting to do. I began tugging on my legs to break the grip of the swamp. The only branch within arms reach was lifeless, suspended in the air only by the strength of some small vines. A few small vines which my right arm, seemingly by its own volition, had become entangled with. So there I am with a heavy slug gun in my left hand, a right arm elbow deep into a knot of vines and both feet held snug in the muck. At that moment I felt vastly inadequate at accomplishing the task at hand. I paused for a moment to analyze the situation and question what little sanity I thought I possessed. I was a split second from ripping my arms out of the vines and violently twisting my feet out of the holes they were in and marching right back out of that mudhole. It seemed as though this buck had laid every obstacle between He and I, but that has never stopped me in the past. I was far too stubborn to allow myself to give up.

A quick calmness came over me, I took a deep breath and contemplated my options. That's when the game changed. A flicker about 50 yards distant and close to the ground caught my attention. As my eyes quickly focused in, I made out the rear end of a bedded deer sticking out from behind a large tree. I quietly, yet feverishly worked to free myself from the grasp of the mud and tangles. I pushed my feet forward slowly under the water until I felt the ground become firm again. I took a knee in the frigid water and got the deer in the scope. So there I was, balls deep in freezing water with no clear shot at an unconfirmed buck. Now what? I knew he would outlast me in a standoff, so I decided to give him two soft contact grunts with my mouth. This brought him straight to his feet and on a string. I watched him get closer and closer, until the scope was full of his chest. The first time he showed me his shoulder, I squeezed the trigger with confidence. The buck lost his feet immediately and expired within seconds. I stood in disbelief of what just occurred. I racked another round through the 870 and stuck the empty in my pocket as a souvenir. I walked over to the buck, knelt down and placed my hand on his side. I admired him for his beauty and thanked him for the sustenance he would provide as well as the lessons he had taught me. Patience and persistence. A buck wise to hunting pressure almost never comes easy and he was no exception.

This is where the buck was laying. No defined bed, but right on the 'elbow' of the strip of high ground:
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This is where he was laid to rest. He was bedded just out of frame to top left:
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Here he is next to the rub that gave him up:
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Arrowbender » Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:25 am

The Bean field Buck.

Because of a buck that gave me the slip in 2012, I started to employ a few trail cams this year. I did not get many good pics and even less pics of good bucks. One of the bucks that showed up became my target, or obsession if you will. He may or may not be the same guy that gave me the slip last year but I planned on killing him in early season and I wanted to do it with my modified Beast tactic of calling him out of his bed/bedroom so I wouldn't mucky up his safety zone.
I wanted to document this on film.
On Opening Sunday, I sat just outside of his presumed bed that I scouted out this spring. This particular area was historically always doe bedding until the 2012 season when the does, for no good reason started bedding elsewhere. My trail cam pics also enforced that My buck was using the old doe beds.
Low and behold when I commenced to try to call him out of his bed on Sunday I got does and fawns instead. I like to see deer as much as anyone but they really had my tree pegged and every time they would leave one of them would have to come back and check it out again. It was actually quite comical, as even though they pretty much had me surrounded several times they never winded me or spooked in any fashion. This went on for the better part of two hours. Well that put a kibosh on any further calling for that day.

I surmised that if the does took back their prime real estate, the bucks must be back in their old haunts as well. So on Tuesday evening I went in and set up in a stand of poplars on a ridge that borders a big long marsh. This transition had been home to several bucks back in the day. The wind is strong but consistent and in a perfect "just off" direction of SSE. Well somewhat to my surprise my plan came oh so close to working. After a few calling sequences my target came out of his bed and into the timber where I was perched. I didn't get a real good look at him until my opportunity had passed.
I was Jazzed!
I was so close.
I researched the weather for the coming week and determined that Wednesdy was forecasted to have the same wind only it was going to be unseasonably warm. I contemplated that there was no way the deer would be moving early in 80 degree temps with 90% humidity. I know I didn't want to.
BUT.... I figured that that would be my best chance to rely on him to be in the same bed again.
So the plan was to move in for the Kill. No calling. 100% Beast this time. I was even going to leave the camera home. (at least the camera arm).

I set up 40 yards closer and slightly further down his desired path. At 6:15 or so I hear a deer get up. In a few minutes I can see movement and with the help of the binnies I can see a rub being made. I make out some heavy antlers and smile widely.
Suddenly he spooks and I can't tell where he went. My heart sinks. I blew it! What in the H did he hear/smell /see?
I can't believe it.
After I sulk and am in near depression, I hear someone chewing on acorns behind me. I turn around ever so cautiously and see the buck. He is not the target but a good 2 yo 8 pointer sucking up Oak nuts. I am still not sure what it was that spooked him, but it obviously wasn't me.
Whew!
He didn't spook far, and much to my dismay it wasn't my target buck.
BUT.... if my buck is bedded where he was last night...I am still in this thing!

So I watch my newly found friend eat acorns.... and fart. (yup! that's right. It was the craziest thing ever! Green acorns must give them the wind).
Then I hear it!
Unmistakable sound of a clumsy old buck getting up from his nap. And he is CLOSE. Sounds like less than 50 yrds.
I wait......And watch........
I see movement in the marsh grass.
He magically appears a midst the swaying marsh grass, his dark antlers contrasting the lighter foliage.
He isn't as impressive in height as I remember him from last night but his mass and character more than make up for it.
I ponder a second if I should pass him up, I am not accustomed to filling my buck tag this early. My bow somehow comes to full draw and I decide that a 4 day long MN season sounds really good.
My indecision though costs me his best shot offering, and I will need to force it a little now. I am very confident that it will be over quickly.

Well, the son of gun made me second guess that decision. Even though I double lunged him; he ran nearly 250 yrds. It took a little tracking prowess and some help from James but he was tagged and on the way home by shortly after midnight.

I so totally enjoyed the challenge of a full tilt Beast hunt and the rush of setting up right on top of that same buck two nights in a row that the killing shot was just frosting on the cake.

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Beast buck - 2013

Unread postby whitetail4ever » Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:00 am

The reason I am calling this the BEAST buck is because without this website and all of the knowledgeable people who are a part of it (especially Dan, of course, BigHunt, and Bighillshunter), I would have never been able to shoot this buck. I would still be doing all the same "tactics" that I used to do. You'll read about those "tactics" later in this post. I have been hunting in hill country in west central Wisconsin for 8 years now. In those 8 years, (until this year) I have only shot two bow bucks, of which one was a decent 125 inch 10 pt that I shot from the ground. I can honestly say I got lucky with that one. Buck sightings within that time period (pre-beast member days) were good, but not nearly as high as they have been since I have been applying what I have learned from the Beast. So before I begin, I want to say THANKS to not only the Beast members listed above, but from all of you who actively post. On another note, Hill Country Bucks is the best tactical hunting video out there...kudos to that as well!


It’s important that when you reflect on where you are today, you understand how far you’ve come to get there. I believe that everything I have learned since being introduced to the Beast helped me kill my 2013 bow buck.

My Pre-Beast hunting days...

I hunt on a property that has a nice timbered ridge running through it, surrounded by agricultural crops on virtually every side. As you know, in hill country deer use thermals for basically all of their movement/bedding. I knew nothing about thermal action and how deer use it...especially during the rut. So, I used to hunt a lot of sign along field edges and doe trails leading to and from food sources, hoping to catch a buck trailing a hot doe or coming out to feed before last light. I did have a lot action during the rut, but it was inconsistent and usually was not near my stand location. Grunt calls and rattling didn't do the trick. Decoying worked for only the smaller bucks. I'd hunt back in the timber up the ridge as well, but not when the time was right, nor in the proper location in accordance to the thermals during the rut. My frustration grew year after year, as I could not get close enough, let alone connect on a nice respectable buck. I log all of my hunts each year, and include information such as the temperature, time of day, wind direction, # of deer sightings, etc. Looking back at those seasons of bowhunting...I had it all wrong. The laundry list of mistakes include:

Mistake #1 - I lived to hunt in the morning, especially early season. I ventured up the ridge to be in stand before first light, I had no idea which buck was bedding where and I had no business being in the woods during the early season, without previous scouting.

Mistake #2 - I hunted elevation on the completely wrong wind. No wonder I didn't see A SINGLE DEER on those days.

Mistake #3 - I over hunted this 80 acre property well before the rut even started, many times from the same stand location and used the same access routes.

Mistake #4 - I placed trail cameras up on the ridge in timber and checked them too frequently.

Mistake #5 - I wasted hard-earned money on scent killer products/sprays, as well as scent lures, etc.

Mistake #6 - I didn't spend enough time scouting the property to know where big bucks live/frequent.

I know that we all have made mistakes as hunters and we learn from our mistakes. This is where the Beast comes into the picture.

Fast forward to Fall of 2011

I met a dude named Bighunt (some of you may know him, lol) when I checked out the Beast for the first time. I knew right away that the Beast was going to be the best thing that ever happened to me as a hunter, as soon as I read some of the posts. Bighunt immediately took me "under his wing" and knew that I had a lot to learn. We had numerous PM's/conversations about what I was doing wrong and what needed to be done to increase my chances at killing a nice buck with a bow. He took several looks at topo maps of the property I hunt and kept mentioning this "thermal tunnel" concept on the top 1/3 of a ridge. I was immediately jacked about being able to check it out and try it. However, it was already late in the bowhunting season and I would have to wait until the next year to take full advantage of this new information. I could not wait. Getting to know Dan as well, he was instrumental and marked the spot on the topo where I eventually killed my 2013 bow buck.

Spring 2012

"You should spend 90% of your time scouting and 10% of your time hunting".

I am not sure if that is the exact time for each, but I know that Dan stresses scouting way more that you hunt. Bighunt is also a big-time scouting freak, as well as many other Beast members with good reason. I started off 2012 doing some spring scouting to see if I could locate any buck bedding areas. I paid most of my attention to the top 1/3 elevation and came across a ton of sign (rubs, scrapes, and a few beds near rubs). I located some great spots to hang a stand and did the necessary trimming to prep the area for fall. I also knew which spots to stay away from so the bucks can have their own sanctuary. I was not confident to employ any Beast style tactics as of yet. I did, however, purchase my very first LoneWolf Alpha that spring, which has changed the way I hunt. I LOVE THAT STAND! I stealth stripped it (with the help of Bighunt) and turned it into a silent but deadly weapon, and I couldn't wait to try it out the upcoming fall. With the little bit of scouting that I did, I already felt more prepared and confident as bowhunter.

Fall 2012

I did not step INTO the woods until the rut came closer, nor did I hunt one single morning before October 28th. I was unable to hone in a particular buck in the early season because I didn’t have enough recon. My scouting skills have to get better and it comes with practice. I mainly hunted field edges in the evening to try to kill a doe, but other than that, since I wasn't hunting over a buck bed I was laying low. All of my trail cameras were hung on field edges. Once October 20th came around, I started to focus on the top 1/3 thermals back in timber hoping to catch some rutting action. I never hunted the same spot more than twice without giving it some time to settle down. To sum up that bowhunting season quickly, from October 20th until the last day of the bowhunting season before gun season started, I saw about 300% more bucks by just hunting the thermal tunnel action alone. I missed two very nice 10 pts., and it just didn't work out for me that I was going to connect on a nice buck that season. You know the feeling I am sure...but I feel that that reason I had so many more bucks sightings is because I cleaned up my act a bit and put myself in the right place on the right wind at the right time, based on what I learned from the Beast. I did not get out during the late season, and I was pumped for 2013.

Spring 2013

I sincerely wanted to stick to the scouting more than you hunt motto, but somebody very special came along! My daughter (1st child) was born on February 1st, so that obviously changed the way I spent my time. I had to juggle/prepare things at work (I am a teacher) to be able to stay at home for 12 weeks. I also coach Track and that took more time out of my schedule. Needless to say, I was not able to scout much, but I did get out a few mornings to turkey hunt and also prep some stand sites for the upcoming bow season. :) I got some other good news that spring as well...I drew a bear kill tag for my area. Uh ohh!!

I just have to share a pic of my true trophy...Giana, who is almost a year old already. She is amazing.

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Summer/Early Fall 2013

With a bear kill tag in my possession, much of my focus/energy went into establishing bait sites and checking/refreshing them all throughout the summer. It is a LOT of work to bait for bear. I had my trail cameras all on bait sites, so I did not put out any cams for deer until the middle of September. It was all worth it though! I was able to kill this 605 pound slob with my rifle on September 5th. The skull measured 21 9/16, which is the second largest bear ever taken in Jackson County. I am still so pumped about it. Here is a pic...

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Luckily I shot my bear early in the fall, so I could switch my focus from bear hunting to bowhunting.

Fall 2013

I went into this bow season rather blindly due to all the previously mentioned circumstances. However, I was able to put my trail cams out about mid-September. I started catching some nicer bucks on camera, especially once late October rolled around. I wanted to target two out of the bunch. Here is one of the bucks I wanted to shoot…and eventually, I was blessed enough put an arrow through him.

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I knew that if I spent enough time in the woods hunting smart, that I would eventually get a crack at this buck. I didn’t hunt until I knew the time was right, and with the posts I read on the Beast about the rutting action picking up, I knew it was go time. I paid attention to the wind, and hunted several top 1/3 elevation stand sites over the course of the next few days, passing up some smaller bucks and a ton of does. On November 1st, I saw this target buck dogging a doe, but he was out of range and did not respond to my grunt call or snort wheeze. I was disappointed and hoped to see him again before gun season.
A day or two later, BigHunt and Dan both gave me some great advice, pointing out the pinch point where the ridge top narrows together. On a Northwest wind, the rutting action in the thermal tunnel could eventually lead this buck right in front of my stand. Dan and I had conversations via PM’s on the Beast about where the best spots would be. Here is the topo, marked with the stand site Dan thought would work best with a Northwest wind.

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The Hunt - November 9th

It was a perfect November day to kill a buck – 47 degrees and a Northwest wind made it even better to hunt that pinch point Dan pointed out via topo. I hunted this site once already on November 5th, but didn’t see as much action as I would’ve liked, only a few smaller bucks and does. But it was a new day!

I slowly made my way to the stand site that morning in darkness, and once I arrived I started placing my Lonewolf sticks on one by one. I started to secure stick #3, and as I took a step onto what I thought was the ladder step, but instead it was a branch. The branch broke and I fell about 2 feet until I could brace myself. I ended up with a pretty good gash on my chest that stung like mad throughout the morning. I scraped it on one of the sticks steps as I fell. I thought to myself “oh boy, it’s going to be one of those types of hunts”. I regrouped and continued to set up. Once the sun came up, I was focused and awaiting deer movement once the thermals kicked in.

There was some action down below me in the valley at about 8:00. I saw that it was a decent buck dogging a doe, so I went to grab for my grunt tube. As I reached for it, it got snagged on a branch and tumbled to the forest floor. Now I was without a grunt tube, and all I could do is watch the action and hoped it came to me, but it never did.
I started to feel the thermals kick in at about 9:00, so I threw some milkweed out to confirm it. This means top 1/3 action and I was ready with my bow in hand.

The Kill

At 10:00, I saw a doe running right through that pinch point about 25 yards from me on top of the ridge. She ended up walking down to me, right underneath my stand. I knew that a buck had to be chasing her, so I watched her back trail. Not a minute later, the target buck came running right through the pinch point trying to find where that doe went. I had no shot at first because he was running in some thicker brush. It wasn’t until he stopped to look where the doe was, that he stopped, saw her and began walking toward her. I stopped him with a mouth grunt and put my Carbon Express Arrow with a Slick Trick fixed tip right through him at about 10 yards. He ran down the ridge and as I watched him, he disappeared out of sight. I was sure I put a good shot on him. I called BigHunt to let him know I shot the buck and he suggested I wait awhile to go look, but to get down out of my stand to try to find blood in the area I hit him. As soon as I got down and stood on the ground, I glanced down into the valley and I could see him laying down there about 80 yds away. YES!

Here is the topo with more info:

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He was a dandy 10 pt. with very nice mass, nice tine length, and ended up scoring 140 on the dot. He has a broken off G4 that looked somewhat freshly broken. Perhaps he had been sparring or he may have busted it when he fell. I checked around the area and did not find anything.

Here are some pics:

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I am so blessed to have been able to harvest my biggest bow buck to date. It took some perseverance, patience, applying new information and trusting the process. Thanks again to everybody who shares their knowledge on the Beast each year, especially Dan and BigHunt for taking time to reply to my PM's. We can all learn from each other and try to tip the odds in our favor just enough to be able to take nice bucks year in and year out. I can’t wait to see what next season brings! Best of luck to all of you in the Big Buck Contest! Congrats on your successes!
The woods has so much to offer to the human soul...
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby DaHunter » Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:59 pm

Get story whitetail4ever. I hope to have the same success next fall in my first season hunting the hills. I can't wait to get out and scout once this 3 ft of snow melts down a little. Great buck and Congrats!

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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Stanley » Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:50 am

My season started out in October. I hunted around home with really nothing happening the first week. It even snowed in October haven't seen an accumulating snow ever in October. Did a lot of hopping around with no good buck sightings. I had a few tricks up my sleeve but it turns out I was wearing short sleeves.

My water hole I was planning on hunting was a wash out, literally by a lot of rain. So I never hunted that water hole as I intended to. No big deal I'll hit my good corridor. The land owner picked the corn early this year in October. He never picks that early. Well so much for my good corridor it doesn't exist when the corn is gone.

The early picked corn also disrupted my bed to feed patterns. The white oaks had nothing this year for mast so that bed to oaks pattern was a wash. I said heck with it I'm going up and hunt the hills on my buddies farm. I hunted his farm for a few days and still nothing.

After close to a week I decided to head back home again. It is now November and the rut is close very close. I hunted without much going on kind of a weird year in my opinion. Most of the guys I know are struggling that doesn't make feel any better. The first week of November is gone now. It's time to go into rut mode.

I decide to head out of town and hunt a good friends farm. I had some action with smaller bucks and did pass a 130 inch 10 point. I was thinking that may have not been the best move. On the 13th of November I was sitting in a pinch point first time I hunted this area.

I had a good 10 point in the brush up wind of me with a doe at about 2:00 PM He just wouldn't come out of the heavy brush. A couple other smaller bucks hovered around but he would not leave the safety of that cover. About a half hour later he heads south into the wind following the doe.

I'm thinking that is it for the day. At about 4:00 PM I see a doe headed my way coming from the south. I'm thinking the 10 will maybe give me a shot. Well, she comes walking towards me crosses my ground scent and stops at the base of the tree I'm in. Now I'm in a bad spot the doe directly below me. I look to the south and here comes a good 9 point. No sizing him up and deciding he is good enough for me right off the get go.

He crosses my ground scent and gets to 20 yards I put an arrow in him as he is slowly walking. The doe busts out from under the tree and bolts to the south from where she came from. She stops at about 40 yards the buck doesn't know what has happened. He has guts coming out of his right side.

He slowly turns to the south and starts walking towards the doe. He gets to 30 yards and my only shot is hind quarters facing straight away. I bury an arrow all the way through his hams going forward.
The arrow disappears, gone into the vitals. I call him crucified, a pass through from the side and an arrow through length ways.

The doe bolts again and he bolts when the arrow impales him. I can see the doe and then she is out of sight. I do not see the buck. I wait for about 5 minutes and get down to find the buck. I don't blood trail him, I hook around the thick brush and cut in to see where he is.

I see him laying about 30 yards away. He died in full stride and flipped so he is facing the opposite way he was running. I got up to him and he was one of the rare bucks that actually grows as he is laying on the ground. I'm thinking, man that buck is a stud. I'll skip the drag out part of the story. You don't want to hear it and I don't want to relive it. :lol:
I stopped at a friends place on the way home to show him the buck. I told him I thought the buck would push 150. He said the buck won't hit 150. We were both right I suppose. The buck scored 149 3/8 gross.


The neighbor had more pictures of the buck than I did. The buck spent more time on his ground than he did where I was hunting. The first trail camera picture is mine. Another picture of my big smile and the buck. ;)
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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.
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Boo
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Boo » Sat Feb 01, 2014 3:27 pm

2013
I had high hopes for 2013 like every year! I was able to get permission to a piece of property with Greg (AC Rider). We scouted the property in the spring and made a few improvments during the summer months. After running trail cameras we had a few bucks on our hit lists and we both knew anything could happen during sweet November. I was very excited about this but I also had antelope on my brain. I spent the 4th of July weekend driving around South Dakota looking for some speed goats to hunt in September on public land. When September came around I was able to get the time off of work and head out to western South Dakota. We drove all night and arrived at our starting location a couple hours before daybreak. After two hours of sleep in the truck we started looking for antelope to stalk. After many blown stalks and many miles of walking the guy i was with was finally able to harvest a buck the first afternoon. We were excited and tired. The next day we were back at it. We found a hay field with two bucks and a doe in it. The farmer had left two rows of hay bales in the field and they would make a perfect spot to hide behind if I could get to them. We formulated a plan and decided to go for it. I had to run crouched over as fast as I could for about 1/4 mile to the first set of bales and hope the antelope were still where I had last seen them. After arriving at the first set all was well as far as I could tell so I crouched down and ran another 300 yards or so to the second set of bales. I had to catch my breath before I could look over the bales to see where the goats were. They had closed the distance to the bales and things were looking good. I set up at the end of the bales in the direction they were heading. One of the bucks finally was far enough out in front of the bales that I could peek out and range him. He was at 51 yards. I put the range finder down and drew my bow back. Just as I was about to peek around the bales the other buck and doe came tearing around the bales I was hiding behind at about 10 yards! I don't know who was more surprised to see who! I quickly swung around and put the pin on the buck. They stopped at about 50 yards and I guessed the distance and released. The shot was good and he only ran about 30 yards and tipped over. We were able to shot two antelope bucks in a day and a half on public land in South Dakota!

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Back in Minnesota I had deer on my mind. I was hunting a few different properties around home. There was on a couple of good bucks but I just couldn't close the deal. I was not able to get to the property Greg and I had permission on until November. Greg had shot his buck earlier in the week when I was finally able to make it there. The first day I was able to hunt we had a NW wind. This would be perfect for the North stand that we hung in August based on our spring scouting. I saw 10 deer the first all day sit. It was a great spot. I hunted it again the next day and again saw half a dozen. I had to return home for a couple days to take care of some things but I was able to get back on November 7th. I was set up in the North stand around noon. At 3:19 I saw a buck coming from behind me. He was already only 25 yards away and closing the distance fast. I quickly grabbed my bow, turned and drew. I instantly recognized the buck as Spider. We had a few pictures of him throughout the summer and he was the biggest buck we had on camera. I stopped him at 10 yards and let the arrow fly. He ran down the hill and back in the direction he came from. I replayed the whole event through my mind over and over. After about 30 minutes I climbed down, found my arrow and started tracking. I followed his tracks in the turned up leaves at first until the blood trail started getting heavier and heavier. I found the buck less thank 100 yards away. I kneeled down beside him and said my words of thanks before admiring him!

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Jackson Marsh
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:05 am

[align=center]“The Grinder” An Iowa Public Land Buck
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I drew an Iowa 2013 buck tag and focused my hunting on two separate approximately 2000 acre properties. I scouted these two properties over the past two summers to get a feel for access and deer movement. I had never hunted these two areas, and the plan was to hunt fresh stands every hunt, jumping between the two properties until I had a feel for buck movement and hunter pressure. This is not a story about knowing a property thoroughly; this is about grinding it out until you kill a buck.

I started my hunt on November 1st, and before noon I had seen a spike buck, a few does and a nice ten pointer which cut below the ravine funnel I was sitting in. November 2nd I hunted the same property, but two ridges to the east. After setting up I saw two flashlights bobbing up the hill, I promptly turned my light on and the other hunters turned around and hunted elsewhere. I ended up seeing three different two year old eight pointers, one of which worked a couple of licking branches and made two scrapes twenty yards in front of me, it was a cool encounter. Monday November 4th I had my first shot opportunity at a nice eight pointer, probably a mid 130’s buck. I decided to pass the shot. After he stopped in some brush I got my binoculars on him and regretted not shooting him, he was a nicer deer than I thought.

The rest of my hunts were incredibly slow, an occasional spike buck and a few does, no mature buck cruising at all. From November 1st through November 8th I did 7 all day sits. If I was going to go home without a buck it was not going to be because I wasn’t in the woods hunting.

November 8th I finally had a mostly south wind which is what I wanted for this stand. I accessed the stand from the top, through a ravine. When I got perpendicular to my stand I cut up the hill. I had three does come through at about 5 yards before shooting light. About 12:30 two does came in behind me silently and the lead doe caught me moving. They didn’t stomp or snort; they just turned around and left. I was really irritated with myself; I had allowed my mind to wander and was not in full predator mode. Had that been a big buck I would have blown my opportunity. This really focused me, over the next two hours the bow never left my hand and I never sat down. I did not want to get caught flatfooted again! Around 2:35 I noticed a buck cruising towards the northeast near the bottom of the hill. I gave him a grunt and he stopped, another grunt and he turned up the hill towards me. He stopped in my shooting lane, facing me, no shot. When he turned to leave I drew my bow. He was out of my shooting lane and I only had a small window to thread the arrow through, I bleated to stop him and pulled the release.

At the shot he mule-kicked and headed down hill and into the ravine, then silence. The shot felt and looked good, so I climbed down to look for my arrow. When I was tromping around I heard him run out of the ravine and up the other hillside. I watched him tumble down the hill and land with a crash in a large deadfall at the bottom of the ditch. Buck down!

I took a few pictures, gutted him and hauled my bow and stand back to the truck. It was going to be a chore getting him out of the ravine by myself. While I was walking back to the truck, I ran into two college students scouting for a hunt the next day. I asked them if they would like to make $50 cash each to help me drag a buck out. They said yes…….it was the best $100 dollars I ever spent. With three of us dragging we had him back to the truck in an hour.


Front View



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Side View


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View from the stand.


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Buck’s view.


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Rub on buck’s trail.



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Where he died.



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Aerial.


Red = wind direction
Gray = buck travel route
Purple = access route

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Topo.

Red = wind direction
Gray = buck travel route
Purple = access route

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I was not successful because of skill, or any great knowledge I possess. I just kept on grinding, day after day, until I killed a buck. Sometimes that’s what it takes.
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Carol
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Re: POST HERE ~2013 Big Buck Contest Stories/Pics

Unread postby Carol » Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:13 am

http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23382

THIS THREAD IS NOW CLOSED AND LOCKED

I WILL POST WHEN VOTING BEGINS

STAY TUNED
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then!

Some People Need a Shock Collar!


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