The 2017 season started off with high expectations around my place. We had a number of bucks reach maturity that we have passed for several years. After much discussion, we picked a deer for dad to hunt and I had a couple of no brainers. Every year, I try to hunt a mature deer that will score over 150 although score means little around our house. There was this GIANT eight point on camera. 7.5 years old and well known to me. I showed him to a friend and his first words were, " Theres a buck fiddy right there for sure." Buck Fiddy became his name right then and eventually shortened to "Fiddy".
Now Fiddy consumed my thoughts. I bow hunted him every time the wind was right but just never got it done although I had some great sightings and close calls. More about Fiddy in another story at another time. On the same property, I was getting pics of several other good deer including an obviously mature buck with a split main beam. I named him LowBeam. I never thought much about him as ..well... I was consumed with Fiddy.
In Late November, Fiddy just dropped off the map. A crap load of nice deer were still coming to the hand corn pen, most of which I had already passed by Christmas. LowBeam was still coming and gathered him a large group of buddies and suddenly Fiddy was back running with them! The wind wouldnt get right as regular season ran out. I made a quick call and borrowed a traditional muzzle loader from a friend.
I didnt even check cameras until a frigid front blew through and finally conditions were right. My truck showed 7 degrees on the way there. I sneaked in with no light a full two hours before day break. With zero moon, daylight came slow to the frozen woods. As it lightened, i could make out bucks in both corn pens as well as some just milling around 40yds away. Big yellow horns! Finally its legal shooting time and i can tell one is a giant 8. It had to be Fiddy even though his tines leaned in more than I remembered on Fiddy. He started walking away... i can finally barely make out the sights.... maybe I could have killed him but I didnt risk it as he strolled out.
The good news was there were still bucks everywhere as it got lighter. Three or four had left but there were still five there including LowBeam. One by one they ambled into the thicket to bed. About ten am I sneaked out with plans to be back early for the afternoon hunt. I kept thinking about how good LowBeam looked and considered whether I had done right watching him walk away.
Around 3pm,, two does came in. They barely ate a few bites when bucks started rolling in! FatForker, Lucky, Passer, HighFive, Nineball,LowBeam, etc! Man, I knew Fiddy was coming any second; after all this was his group of buddies. I saw a high horned 8 coming. It wasnt him! It was a giant 10yr old 8 I called LongBeam and have posted on here for several years. I immediately realized he was the deer I had seen that morning instead of Fiddy. Fourteen bucks came in and argued over positions in the two corn pens. Some sparred, some hooked trees. Six of them were over 6 years old. LowBeam alternated between eating corn and thrashing trees. I considered shooting him but what if Fiddy was close? Surely he was...
Around 445, LowBeam just picked his head up and walked straight away and out of sight. I was hurt. I still had the rest of the bucks there including a 40s 8 (longBeam). I decided right then that if LowBeam came back I was shooting him. A long ten to 20 minutes later, I saw him coming back. Still no Fiddy and it was after 5pm. He walked straight in and claimed a pen at 35yrds. Boom went the smoke pole.. When the smoke cleared,, he was laying right there and the rest of the bucks didnt have a clue what happened. I sat in the stand and txt a couple of friends. Finally i got out and ran the group off to look at my deer.
He aint Fiddy but Im liking him better all the time. Im glad to have him as the camera cards showed that Fiddy was MIA again and hadnt been with the group in four days. I made the right call.
Now Fiddy consumed my thoughts. I bow hunted him every time the wind was right but just never got it done although I had some great sightings and close calls. More about Fiddy in another story at another time. On the same property, I was getting pics of several other good deer including an obviously mature buck with a split main beam. I named him LowBeam. I never thought much about him as ..well... I was consumed with Fiddy.
In Late November, Fiddy just dropped off the map. A crap load of nice deer were still coming to the hand corn pen, most of which I had already passed by Christmas. LowBeam was still coming and gathered him a large group of buddies and suddenly Fiddy was back running with them! The wind wouldnt get right as regular season ran out. I made a quick call and borrowed a traditional muzzle loader from a friend.
I didnt even check cameras until a frigid front blew through and finally conditions were right. My truck showed 7 degrees on the way there. I sneaked in with no light a full two hours before day break. With zero moon, daylight came slow to the frozen woods. As it lightened, i could make out bucks in both corn pens as well as some just milling around 40yds away. Big yellow horns! Finally its legal shooting time and i can tell one is a giant 8. It had to be Fiddy even though his tines leaned in more than I remembered on Fiddy. He started walking away... i can finally barely make out the sights.... maybe I could have killed him but I didnt risk it as he strolled out.
The good news was there were still bucks everywhere as it got lighter. Three or four had left but there were still five there including LowBeam. One by one they ambled into the thicket to bed. About ten am I sneaked out with plans to be back early for the afternoon hunt. I kept thinking about how good LowBeam looked and considered whether I had done right watching him walk away.
Around 3pm,, two does came in. They barely ate a few bites when bucks started rolling in! FatForker, Lucky, Passer, HighFive, Nineball,LowBeam, etc! Man, I knew Fiddy was coming any second; after all this was his group of buddies. I saw a high horned 8 coming. It wasnt him! It was a giant 10yr old 8 I called LongBeam and have posted on here for several years. I immediately realized he was the deer I had seen that morning instead of Fiddy. Fourteen bucks came in and argued over positions in the two corn pens. Some sparred, some hooked trees. Six of them were over 6 years old. LowBeam alternated between eating corn and thrashing trees. I considered shooting him but what if Fiddy was close? Surely he was...
Around 445, LowBeam just picked his head up and walked straight away and out of sight. I was hurt. I still had the rest of the bucks there including a 40s 8 (longBeam). I decided right then that if LowBeam came back I was shooting him. A long ten to 20 minutes later, I saw him coming back. Still no Fiddy and it was after 5pm. He walked straight in and claimed a pen at 35yrds. Boom went the smoke pole.. When the smoke cleared,, he was laying right there and the rest of the bucks didnt have a clue what happened. I sat in the stand and txt a couple of friends. Finally i got out and ran the group off to look at my deer.
He aint Fiddy but Im liking him better all the time. Im glad to have him as the camera cards showed that Fiddy was MIA again and hadnt been with the group in four days. I made the right call.
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