My season started hot In KY with a velvet buck down on my third sit of the season. I felt great starting the 2019 season and really had high hopes for the rest of the year. From there I came back to WV, moved onto Michigan, then Ohio, then Missouri then back to WV. Buck encounters in every state. So close so many times! December hit and with the busy pace of the holidays I knew my time was running out. So this past Saturday I loaded up to head to Ohio for one last go with the muzzleloader.
When I got to my lease I was met with more frustrations. They had logged our pines and two of my best spots (right by the road) were now messed up and I discovered four trail cameras stolen. At this point you just gotta laugh right?
The hunt started pretty uneventful, no deer spotted until Sunday evening when I spotted a nice buck 300 yards away on a power line that goes to the back of our property where it drops over onto a point that leads to a nasty clear cut. I wasn't able to get a shot but I watched where he went and thought to myself he was there for a reason and there had to be a food source right there he was keying in on. I hunted Sunday night with no sightings of the buck.
This morning my plan was to hunt the same area, watching the power line where I had an easy 125 yard shot to a heavy crossing where I had seen him the day before. By 10am I hadn't seen him so I decided to still hunt my way to the back of the property heading out the point so I could peak over the edge and hopefully catch one up and feeding in the thick timber.
I slowly made my way across the oak flat and as I got to the edge where the point really starts to drop off I spotted a doe slowly moving toward me feeding. I caught movement behind her and a flash of antler and now my heart is pounding! I could see four on one side through the binos and I knew I was shooting him. I had about ten yards to go to the edge of the hill so I slowly laid down and started inching my way closer to the edge. I made it to the edge in the prone position and I could see the buck calmly feeding his way up the hill. At 65 yards he exposed his shoulder through a small opening and I touched it off. He went down HARD and barely twitched!!
I honestly didn't know what he was, so he actually grew a bit when I walked up on him! A nice main frame nine with a cool tine shooting off his brow. My first ten point and on the last day and last minutes of my season.
This year was a true test of patience and perseverance for me and although it was tough I wouldn't have had it any other way. 287 hours of actual in the tree time went into this buck and I feel like that time and this deer will absolutely make me a better hunter in the end.
