Going in Blind Success Stories

[Bowfisher]

Hey all, I'd really like to hear some success stories from when you went in blind just based off maps. I've never successfully pulled it off, but I've had many of encounters with good bucks doing it. They just weren't what i was looking for at the time. I hunt hill country, so nearly all my located spots are picked from topos, I really enjoy doing this, but all my luck has been during rut. New to beast hunting and would love to hear a story or two about going in blind to a hill country bed. Any story really though, gotta pass these next few weeks if you know what i mean

[headgear]

I think I have jumped 5+ bucks going in blind, no chance to get an arrow in them but I call that a success. Didn't get a good look at all of them but the few I did see were shooters and or got a flash of nice antler, the others had nice tracks. I was also able to check out their beds and make sure I didn't make the same mistake. Another time I had a buck come in right at dark, looked like a great public 8 or 10 but shorter tines. Had I got into the tree I wanted to it would have been a 10 yard chip shot but I didn't and had to let down at 35 yards, still light to see him and legal shoot time but it was just too dark/far to make the shot with the light I had. The next year I left the climber at home and got a hang on. I have also grunted in some mystery deer right at last light going in blind, obviously I wasn't as close to their beds as I needed to be, a couple of them I could hear tearing up trees in the distance so that is always a little exciting. I have since re-scouted those areas and got a little better handle on things. It seems like about half the time I go in blind and get on deer it turns out to be a great bedding area, the other half might be more of a random encounter and/or I just can't seem to figure out the area and pin them down. It can be fun hunting too, I always try and do one or two a year in areas I want to hunt but didn't get to scout that year.

[headgear]

Forgot about last year, canoed down a river into an island and had a decent ten at 35 yards but it was crazy windy so he was there one minute and gone the next by the time I spotted him. Had to of veered off to the right because I was ready to shoot had he taken a left and headed my way, early season so the leaves made it hard to see where he slipped off to. I will be back there again this season to see if he made it through rifle/winter.

[Edcyclopedia]

I have more success coming out...

[GoInLight]

I know it's not real success on a big buck, but last year I hunted blind all year. I put my stand on my back and scouted/hunted until I found fresh sign and hunted it right then. I passed some young bucks and killed several does. I passed a 120" 8 pt with my Mzl loader. I was able to tell my buddy where the spot was and he took his 9 year old son in there and the little guy killed it,first hunt. That kinda made my year.... With that said, blind hunting is a blast and I really can't imagine hunting any other way now. There's something about hunting a fresh spot every hunt.

[SMS79]

Great idea for a thread! Probably my craziest and most memorable hunt ever was a "Going in blind success story". This story precedes my Beast induction by several years, but I've thought back about the location and come to the conclusion that there must be great buck bedding nearby attributing to the success. The property and terrain consist of flat ag land that has some swampy, low areas of woods in between. My dad leases this property and had been down hunting the week prior as this was leading up to the prime time of the rut. He had been rifle hunting a stand on the corner of a pasture and seen lots of rutting activity that week with the majority of the deer running in and out of this head of woods that sticks out into the pasture. I was unable to get off work that week, so I headed down right after work on Friday. Saturday morning my dad hunts the same stand but sends me with my climber (bowhunting) into that head of woods and says, "Just go in there and find a tree to climb." Going in blind, I find that the head opens up into a strip of taller, fairly open pines, and I picked a tree to climb. It was unseasonably warm that morning (putting a damper on my expectations) and when I got set in the tree was hot, sweaty and out of breath. Being full-swing rut, I was planning to do some rattling, but decided when I got set that I needed to sit for a little while to cool off and catch my breath. After about 30 minutes, I grunted a few times then pulled my rattling pack out and started a sequence. About 10-15 seconds in, a buck comes full-sprint running in from straight out in front of me. It happened so fast that all I could tell was that he had a wide rack with good mass and that he looked to be a mature buck. I thought it could be an older buck with great mass and short tines we had a few trailcam pics of so I grabbed my bow and tried to get drawn and get him stopped all at the same time. He slowed and then came to a stop at 17 yards after I basically yelled at him. I had to lean out a little to get an open shot and released an arrow. It hit him perfectly and he only ran about 30 yards before I watched him go down. He actually did end up being the old buck with great mass and short points. He grossed about 135 and we had him aged at 6.5 yrs old. I thought this interesting b/c he's the only buck over 2.5 yrs old I've ever had respond to calling that quickly and aggressively. Usually older bucks come in more cautiously and take their time. Case in point, I went back to the same tree that afternoon only b/c I had left my stand in there while we were getting the deer out. I ended up rattling in another mature buck that afternoon just before dark. He came in from behind me and stopped in a thicket and stood in one spot for about 15 minutes just cautiously looking for the source of the sound he'd heard. I couldn't see him clearly enough to tell how big he was until a small buck came chasing a doe through and he took off after them. I got a glimpse of him and immediately knew he was bigger than the deer I'd shot that morning. My dad ended up killing that buck with a rifle a week later and he ended up being a main-frame 8pt that grossed 145. So, in wrapping up this story, it was a pretty epic day and the going-in-blind success was really cool, but since I've started following the Beast, I've often thought back on that spot and the initial and subsequent successes I've had in this one little area. I have, since, killed my biggest buck ever and seen 2 or 3 more shooters from the same spot. I have not been back to the property since joining the Beast in January of this year, but when I have the opportunity, I plan to get in there and find the primary buck bedding area that I assume must not be too far away.

[brkissl82]

Im gona pay close attention to this thread

[Bonecrusher101]

I haven't killed anything huge going in blind. Most of my going in blind bucks I estimate to be in the 2.5 year old range. I have killed (4) 8 point bucks from going in blind Scenarios.

1) This one wma I hunt is in hill country and has a very nice gravel road system that winds through the place. The roads are all on top of all the ridges. Most times I would spend the weekends there alone sleeping in my truck. This was back before I found the beast. Basically, I would drive around and watch where other hunters went. I knew I did not want to go where they went.

I found a nice big cutover that had head high pines coming up in it. I found a corner that had giant pine trees surrounding it that I could get up in a climber and observe. This is during rut and once I got to the edge of the cutover (transition line) I saw rubs and tracks. I set up after slinging doe and buck urine everywhere. At first I see a doe come in and lock up beneath me. Behind her I saw the buck. I got him.

The cutover was full of tree tops briars and short pines and walking through it was tricky enough. After the kill, I was dumb enough to haul my deer cart in there thinking I was gonna cart him out through that mess. Over logs and through close together baseball bat sized pines I went. Probably my worst drag out alone in my life.

2) The last three are in a limited access type area where only so many hunters are allowed to hunt. The better areas get hammered and the scrubby unattractive areas no one cares to enter. Myself and a buddy of mine pick an overlooked area to hunt for the evening. We had not seen a deer all weekend at the more common hunting areas. We knew we were throwing up a Hail Mary but went for it. We had never even looked at it before heading in there for an evening hunt.

Come to find out, it's all basically cow pasture and cut corn. There are only a few very small parcels to set up in. My buddy goes one way and I had to back track to find a scant patch of woods to set up in.

I'm really close to houses and can hear dogs barking on the other side of the fence. I'm trying to stay hopeful but it looks like we set ourselves up for a joke. I parked the truck and as I was gathering my gear when I looked over and 5-10 yards away I saw a scrape the size of a car hood. I chuckled and said well that helps. I followed a heavily used fresh rub line 75 yards away from the truck and gravel road until it started dropping off into a set of deep ditches. I set up in a cluster of cedar trees and was only 16 feet up.

I said well the signs here I'm here it's November anything can happen. 45 minutes later here comes the parade. Chaos and excitement ensued. A doe followed by a heavy horned buck, I scoped him with my ml but decided to pass as he never quit jogging. I heard more bucks snorting and crunching through the leaves. I scoped one it was a spike, nope not the one I want. They were circling for a bit, but my visibility was only catching glimpses then I saw a small 4 point.

I waited for the doe and the heavy horned buck to come back. After a few minutes though, I was sure at the time they were gone for good and I knew there was little I could do to get the doe and best buck to come back. I tried the only thing I had, I pulled out my doe bleat and started laying into it. I didn't want to waste the opportunity, it was Sunday night and we were done hunting for 2 weeks after this day. I hear a buck coming in, I'm hoping it's not the spike. I see enough points found the shoulder and busted him.

He wasn't the best buck in there that followed the doe off but he was an 8 point and I was happy to not leave empty handed.

3) last day of the season my buddy dropped me off and I had a basic idea of what I wanted to try, but was going in blind nonetheless. I set up and didn't like my spot, not thick enough. Walking and stalking down the property line I set up again, still not what I wanted. My stomach got upset and I ruined that spot anyway. It's about 9 o'clock now and I hit a nice ditch with a small cutover on the opposite side.

I had the wind in my favor the entire walk and now I found a nice tree and decided that cutover was the thickest patch in the area I had walked. 10:30 I see a nice outside of his ears 8 take 2 steps then freeze up in the little cutover hidden behind a tree in front of me. I then scan through a group of bucks. I saw two smaller bucks walking past where he stood. The nice 8 hidden closest to me was the best. The two smaller bucks kept walking out of sight. He turned to join them when I hit him with my ml.

4) this time my same hunting buddy and I were trying a new area again. He picks a spot on the map and I was driving down to drop him off. As I was driving and looking I spotted two seperate spots that looked thick and looked like what I wanted to try. I told him I would flip a coin to decide which spot I'd try that evening. I dropped him off we said our good lucks and I'd pick him up at dark.

I get parked and walk along a sage grass field and transition line when I see fresh buck prints. I follow them into the woods. Poof, a ladder right there. I followed the tracks down past the ladder stand 200 yards through the woods until I hit a secondary line of smaller trees and unhuntable brush. I set up my climber and had a doe tarsal gland and doe estrus out.

Im a little embarrassed but I was exhausted from walking all that morning and I fell into a deep sleep that afternoon listening to squirrels. I jerked myself awake and noticed it was getting low light prime time. I heard something behind me and I slightly moved just enough to peek over my shoulder to see a wide buck directly behind me.

He blew at me so hard, I knew I was busted. He was directly behind me and couldn't see me because of the tree trunk. We were both frozen. I sat still staring at my ml laying across my stand rail, cussing myself for letting my guard down. I kept waiting to hear him bound away, but he never did. I listened to that buck start walking. I got mad at him for being arrogant and not running away when he had his chance. When he got to 50 yards and was on a steady walk, I grabbed my ml had the safety off and wrapped around the tree and as soon as he was in the scope I pulled the trigger. He was the widest of the 8s.

I have a lot of fun going in blind and trying new stuff. It adds to the adventure for me. None were slob bucks but I'm proud of them cause I did it my way.

[PK_]

Some good stories in this old thread, unfortunately the pics are dead:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20013

Last year all the bucks I killed were from going in blind.

[Grasshopper]

Last season I had a couple of good encounters going in blind. I guess pre beast I could rattle off a good many as well. Here are some of many.

About five years ago I took the young lad across the street in blind on his family's mountain ground in the next town over. I looked at Google maps and saw that there was a slight saddle and the other side was thick nasty. We settled in and didn't see anything until about 10:30am when a couple of does ran into the saddle. A 120+ one eyed 8 pt definitely 4.5+ comes up behind them. I grunted loudly one time he stopped and looked around about 75 yds out. His girls got away from him. After standing there frozen for five minutes he stomps straight to us. Young lad shot right over his back at 10 yds.

Last year I show a guy from work a spot on a map and say this looks good when I get back to Ny this weekend I'm going to scout my way in. Multiple transitions and a ditch funnel close to assumed bedding. About two hours before dark in mid October I hear a buck roar and see deer running a short sprint. The next day I make a 75 yards adjustment to the oak tree Mr buck was so territorial over and end up missing a really good public land Ny buck.

During the low 20s of October last season I went to an area that was rumored to have a stud roaming around. I looked at the maps for where any little bump in the terrain met with the thermal tunnel elevation. The very first bump I soft bump a 2.5 year old. I checked out his bed then continue. I got to the next area and started looking for some cover on the ground to sit in. As I'm looking for a hideout I see antlers rubbing a tree about 70yds away. All I could do is squat down next to a shrub. I still had the required when moving blaze orange hat and vest. He was I'm guessing 150ish he came to 35 yards and I second guessed drawing back. When he stepped out he saw me from about 33 yards. Had I drawn I would have had an opportunity, I don't know if I should be glad I didn't take a semi risky shot at an alert deer at the far end of my range or down on myself for not drawing when my brain said to. After he trotted off I found his bed still soaked with urine about 90 yards away.

[Grasshopper]

Some good stories in this old thread, unfortunately the pics are dead:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20013

Last year all the bucks I killed were from going in blind.

Good link. I liked the one about missing him four times standing still. If he would have ran you probably would have smoked him. It's a shame that the pictures are gone.

[MN_DeerHunter]

Not a kill, but last year I basically went in blind into a bedding area inside of a cattail marsh. Right before dark I heard a buck thrashing redbrush about 20 yards away but never got a look at him. Later, I found a buck bed about 30-40 yds from the tree I set up in. When I left I hung a camera and got pictures of a slightly outside the ears 8 pointer which I am assuming is the buck I heard?

I hung a camera there a few weeks ago and gonna let it soak until I hunt that spot opening week in September- we'll see if its still any good.