It's been a season of ups and downs on my new Jack County lease. It's not a very big place. It's just 150 acres to myself, but it's plum full of deer. You can't go anywhere on the place without bumping into deer. Deer in camp. Deer in open pastures. Deer bedding by stands. It's a good problem to have!
Up...this big 6 gave me a perfect 20 yard shot on November 20th.
Down...I missed. Shot right over his back.
Up...lots of does and lots of freezer filling to do.
Down...I gut shot and never found the first doe I decided to take. It happens to all bowhunters if you do this long enough, but it's still a hard thing to get over.
I got back on the horse a week later, and this past Friday morning I had another opportunity to get on the board. Deer were moving good. I had a small double main beam buck push three does past my ladder. No shot opportunity, but it was good to see the rut seemingly still going strong. An hour later, a big doe and her yearlings slid in under the feeder. This was the same spot I shot over the big 6.
Up...The shot looked great. The arrow looked good, and the blood trail was easy to follow. She went about 100 yards and died within view of camp. Cooler #1 was full!
Friday afternoon, I was doing some stand maintenance on a quad pod that's in a big oak on a corner of two pastures that make an L. I had been hand corning this spot, and it seemed that the deer were really hammering it. I was 20 feet up this tree hanging a second stand, breaking branches, throwing branches down, wrestling with a lock-on and not worrying about disturbing any deer midday.
Up...In the middle of all that racket, I happened to look down to see a buck standing ten yards from my atv parked under the tree. He was standing at thirty yards staring at the tree. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had never seen him before, either in person or on cam. He was heavily palmated on both sides and had at least one kicker that I could see. He looked mature. He stood there in the wide open for about a minute before slowly turning and walking slowly into the block of woods next to the pasture. I finished up my tree stand work and would come back to sit there that evening hoping he would be back for corn.
I got settled into the quad pod around 3 pm. I just knew I would see that buck again, and I'd be ready for him. Deer started pouring in about an hour before dark. I ended up having 13 does under me at once all on the hand corn. I figured if a buck was going to show, all of these females would be the reason. Light faded away and no buck showed. I waited until the does were gone before exiting the stand. I would be back in the morning.
Saturday morning, I got in the stand an hour before shooting light. I didn't see anything until an you rafter first light. It was a lone doe. She was on my hand corn for a half hour, and no other deer were in sight. She was mature and didn't have any yearlings with her, so I decided to shoot her.
Down..the shot looked back. Here we go again. I couldn't tell if I clipped a branch or just put a bad shot on her. I got down and checked the arrow. It was a mix of blood and paunch. I backed out and decided to give her four or five hours minimum. I went back to try and track her but couldn't find much blood past fifty yards. I decided to check around the pond that's in that block of woods close to the stand. I found her bedded and dispatched her quickly. I hate that she suffered for hours, but I'm glad I didn't lose another deer to a poor shot.
Up...cooler #2 was full!
I got a surprise visit from the landowner when I was getting ready to go out for the evening hunt. He's a really nice, older man. He said he had bad news.
DOWN...he sold the place. He wasn't looking to sell but couldn't pass up the offer someone made. I'm happy for him, but that one really hurt. I had quickly fallen in love with this little lease, and it was going to hurt leaving it. He told me to keep hunting through the end of the season. I might be able to make contact with the new landowner and see if they want someone leasing the place. The bottom line...I was bummed.
I decided to go sit another stand Saturday evening. I was planning on heading home after the evening sit. I saw five does and no bucks. I pulled the cam card on the way out, and there were no bucks hitting that feeder for the last two weeks. The wife talked me into staying another night and trying to find that buck I had seen on Friday.
It was hard to get up Sunday morning. It had been a long three days at the lease, and I was missing home. I decided to hunt the stand closest to camp where I shot the doe on Friday morning. If that buck hadn't been at the quad pod since Friday afternoon and wasn't on cam at the other feeder in two weeks, the stand by camp seemed to be the best bet on seeing him. I actually got to the stand earlier than usual. I threw out hand corn around the feeder and settled into the 20' ladder a full hour before shooting light. I enjoyed the silence and stars and said my usual prayers. As scared as I am of walking alone in the dark, sitting in the dark waiting on the sun to come up might be my favorite times to be in a deer stand.
Legal shooting time was going to be 6:57 am. Around 6:30, I saw a deer body walk under the feeder. It looked like a big doe. She fed on the hand corn for about ten minutes. At 6:40, she raised her head and looked behind her, and I caught a reflection of antlers on her head. It was a buck! It wasn't just any buck. It was the palmated buck! My heart started racing. My glassed fogged up almost instantly. I checked my phone and saw I had another 17 minutes before I could legally shoot. That helped calm my nerves. Once it was light enough that I could see which way his body was facing, I went ahead and lifted my bow off the hook and rested it on my legs. I clipped the release on the loop and waited. The next fifteen minutes seemed to drag on for an hour. I knew the feeder was going to go off at 7 am, and he was eating under it. I knew he would blast out of there when it went off, so I was dead set on getting a shot off if possible before the feeder fired.
One last check of the time. 6:56. I got my bow up to vertical and waited. He had been eating facing me for nearly the whole time he was there. A rabbit hopped under the feeder. It startled the buck, and he turned to look at what the noise was. He just happened to turn perfectly broadside to me! I took the first opportunity I had draw the ease my Tribute back to full draw. Settling in at full draw on a deer standing 15 yards away is one of the most incredible feelings. The nerves were gone, and I was about to release an arrow at my best buck. I double checked my sight level, centered up the 20 yards pin in the peep and settled it on his shoulder. I distinctly remember telling myself to aim low...AIM LOW. Apparently I didn't aim low enough. As soon as I touched the release, the buck dropped to the ground in a heap. I spined him. I've never spined a deer before but instantly reached for another arrow. He managed to make it about ten yards closer and under me. It took two more arrows to put him down. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't care. My best buck was laying under the stand. No tracking necessary. I thanked God over and over again. I texted the wife and a couple of buddies.
I climbed down and eased up to him to make sure he was down. I couldn't wait to put my hands on that rack. The mass was incredible, and I couldn't believe I had the opportunity to shoot such a unique looking mature buck. The feeder scared me half to death while I was admiring him. I laughed to myself imagining how the buck would have reacted to it. I took the short walk to camp to get the atv, looking back a couple of times in disbelief of what just happened.
He was a chore to load alone, but I got him hanging in camp by 7:15. I was drinking coffee on the tailgate by 8:30. It was a bittersweet feeling sitting there looking over the pasture by camp with my buck hanging from the tree by the camper. I don't know if I'll be allowed to hunt this place beyond January. I can only pray that I will if it's meant to be. I've never fallen so head over heels for a piece of land so quickly, but shooting a good buck eases the pain a little of potentially losing a great hunting spot after only one quick season.
Thanks for reading. I don't stop to write up hunts much these days. Here are few pictures of the buck. He's going to make one heckuva mount and a nice addition to my wall.
Buck down:
Random Shots:
Up...this big 6 gave me a perfect 20 yard shot on November 20th.
Down...I missed. Shot right over his back.
Up...lots of does and lots of freezer filling to do.
Down...I gut shot and never found the first doe I decided to take. It happens to all bowhunters if you do this long enough, but it's still a hard thing to get over.
I got back on the horse a week later, and this past Friday morning I had another opportunity to get on the board. Deer were moving good. I had a small double main beam buck push three does past my ladder. No shot opportunity, but it was good to see the rut seemingly still going strong. An hour later, a big doe and her yearlings slid in under the feeder. This was the same spot I shot over the big 6.
Up...The shot looked great. The arrow looked good, and the blood trail was easy to follow. She went about 100 yards and died within view of camp. Cooler #1 was full!
Friday afternoon, I was doing some stand maintenance on a quad pod that's in a big oak on a corner of two pastures that make an L. I had been hand corning this spot, and it seemed that the deer were really hammering it. I was 20 feet up this tree hanging a second stand, breaking branches, throwing branches down, wrestling with a lock-on and not worrying about disturbing any deer midday.
Up...In the middle of all that racket, I happened to look down to see a buck standing ten yards from my atv parked under the tree. He was standing at thirty yards staring at the tree. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had never seen him before, either in person or on cam. He was heavily palmated on both sides and had at least one kicker that I could see. He looked mature. He stood there in the wide open for about a minute before slowly turning and walking slowly into the block of woods next to the pasture. I finished up my tree stand work and would come back to sit there that evening hoping he would be back for corn.
I got settled into the quad pod around 3 pm. I just knew I would see that buck again, and I'd be ready for him. Deer started pouring in about an hour before dark. I ended up having 13 does under me at once all on the hand corn. I figured if a buck was going to show, all of these females would be the reason. Light faded away and no buck showed. I waited until the does were gone before exiting the stand. I would be back in the morning.
Saturday morning, I got in the stand an hour before shooting light. I didn't see anything until an you rafter first light. It was a lone doe. She was on my hand corn for a half hour, and no other deer were in sight. She was mature and didn't have any yearlings with her, so I decided to shoot her.
Down..the shot looked back. Here we go again. I couldn't tell if I clipped a branch or just put a bad shot on her. I got down and checked the arrow. It was a mix of blood and paunch. I backed out and decided to give her four or five hours minimum. I went back to try and track her but couldn't find much blood past fifty yards. I decided to check around the pond that's in that block of woods close to the stand. I found her bedded and dispatched her quickly. I hate that she suffered for hours, but I'm glad I didn't lose another deer to a poor shot.
Up...cooler #2 was full!
I got a surprise visit from the landowner when I was getting ready to go out for the evening hunt. He's a really nice, older man. He said he had bad news.
DOWN...he sold the place. He wasn't looking to sell but couldn't pass up the offer someone made. I'm happy for him, but that one really hurt. I had quickly fallen in love with this little lease, and it was going to hurt leaving it. He told me to keep hunting through the end of the season. I might be able to make contact with the new landowner and see if they want someone leasing the place. The bottom line...I was bummed.
I decided to go sit another stand Saturday evening. I was planning on heading home after the evening sit. I saw five does and no bucks. I pulled the cam card on the way out, and there were no bucks hitting that feeder for the last two weeks. The wife talked me into staying another night and trying to find that buck I had seen on Friday.
It was hard to get up Sunday morning. It had been a long three days at the lease, and I was missing home. I decided to hunt the stand closest to camp where I shot the doe on Friday morning. If that buck hadn't been at the quad pod since Friday afternoon and wasn't on cam at the other feeder in two weeks, the stand by camp seemed to be the best bet on seeing him. I actually got to the stand earlier than usual. I threw out hand corn around the feeder and settled into the 20' ladder a full hour before shooting light. I enjoyed the silence and stars and said my usual prayers. As scared as I am of walking alone in the dark, sitting in the dark waiting on the sun to come up might be my favorite times to be in a deer stand.
Legal shooting time was going to be 6:57 am. Around 6:30, I saw a deer body walk under the feeder. It looked like a big doe. She fed on the hand corn for about ten minutes. At 6:40, she raised her head and looked behind her, and I caught a reflection of antlers on her head. It was a buck! It wasn't just any buck. It was the palmated buck! My heart started racing. My glassed fogged up almost instantly. I checked my phone and saw I had another 17 minutes before I could legally shoot. That helped calm my nerves. Once it was light enough that I could see which way his body was facing, I went ahead and lifted my bow off the hook and rested it on my legs. I clipped the release on the loop and waited. The next fifteen minutes seemed to drag on for an hour. I knew the feeder was going to go off at 7 am, and he was eating under it. I knew he would blast out of there when it went off, so I was dead set on getting a shot off if possible before the feeder fired.
One last check of the time. 6:56. I got my bow up to vertical and waited. He had been eating facing me for nearly the whole time he was there. A rabbit hopped under the feeder. It startled the buck, and he turned to look at what the noise was. He just happened to turn perfectly broadside to me! I took the first opportunity I had draw the ease my Tribute back to full draw. Settling in at full draw on a deer standing 15 yards away is one of the most incredible feelings. The nerves were gone, and I was about to release an arrow at my best buck. I double checked my sight level, centered up the 20 yards pin in the peep and settled it on his shoulder. I distinctly remember telling myself to aim low...AIM LOW. Apparently I didn't aim low enough. As soon as I touched the release, the buck dropped to the ground in a heap. I spined him. I've never spined a deer before but instantly reached for another arrow. He managed to make it about ten yards closer and under me. It took two more arrows to put him down. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't care. My best buck was laying under the stand. No tracking necessary. I thanked God over and over again. I texted the wife and a couple of buddies.
I climbed down and eased up to him to make sure he was down. I couldn't wait to put my hands on that rack. The mass was incredible, and I couldn't believe I had the opportunity to shoot such a unique looking mature buck. The feeder scared me half to death while I was admiring him. I laughed to myself imagining how the buck would have reacted to it. I took the short walk to camp to get the atv, looking back a couple of times in disbelief of what just happened.
He was a chore to load alone, but I got him hanging in camp by 7:15. I was drinking coffee on the tailgate by 8:30. It was a bittersweet feeling sitting there looking over the pasture by camp with my buck hanging from the tree by the camper. I don't know if I'll be allowed to hunt this place beyond January. I can only pray that I will if it's meant to be. I've never fallen so head over heels for a piece of land so quickly, but shooting a good buck eases the pain a little of potentially losing a great hunting spot after only one quick season.
Thanks for reading. I don't stop to write up hunts much these days. Here are few pictures of the buck. He's going to make one heckuva mount and a nice addition to my wall.
Buck down:
Random Shots:
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