As some of you know life has been tough for me this past year with the loss of my wife to cancer. What I haven't shared is 4 months prior to that I lost my best friend from highschool in a motorcycle accident, actually in 3 days will be a year since he's been gone.
Despite all this I was able to locate some textbook beds on 4 different points that will be utilizing the SW wind we have today. Last Friday my dad spotted this guy heading towards these beds with a very similar wind. The 4 points are probably only 150 yds apart in total so I plan to start with the farthest one and hunt it, kind of hoping to stack them.
I have a great access route to my tree that will require me to walk about .5 miles. It's a little further than I usually have to walk and I'm going well out of my in order to avoid detection. I've hunted here for about the last 10 years so I'm very familiar with the terrain and how to use it to my advantage. Almost all of it was learned through failure though lol.
This area is by far my favorite place to hunt as it has great quality of bucks and deer in general. As a matter of fact, and I'm being totally honest, in 10 years there's probably only been 5 times I've hunted here that I didn't see a deer. I've been fortunate to harvest 3 P&Y bucks with my bow and 3 with a gun.
This will be my first true beast hunt as I've never set up on an actual known bed. The wind is perfect as it will allow me to set up with a "just off" direction. I plan on getting there with plenty of time so I can go super slow in my approach and my set up, especially since I've never done a true bed hunt.
I will approach my tree fully believing he is in this first bed so that I will stay focused and try to remain as quiet as possible. Regardless how tonight goes I'm just grateful to be able to even attempt this hunt. If I've learned one thing this past year it's that life truly is precious and short and I take way too much for granted. So I will enjoy this to the fullest no matter how it plays out.
The eternal optimist in me fully expects to be successful on this hunt, whether that means setting up undetected or seeing deer or actually getting a shot or even just learning, it will be a success.
With that I'd like to leave one of my favorite quotes that I think of alot on tough days and it comes from the movie Rocky so it has some beastyness to it haha.
"Let me tell you something you probably already know. Life ain't all sunshine and rainbows...it's a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to you're knee's and keep you there if you let it. But it ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward! That's how winning is done!!"
Have a great day/weekend everyone and good luck hunting!
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