I'm on a new lease in Brown County and the hunting has been slow. I mean really slow. On most hunts I was just seeing birds and squirrels with no deer sightings. Our cameras did show that there were some nice bucks on the place but all the deer activity was at night. One of these nice bucks was a mainframe 10 with split brows on each side making him a 12. He looked wide on game cam but his tine length wasn't all that great and I didn't really get too excited about him on camera. The cameras showed that this deer seemed to have no pattern to him at all. He'd bounce around feeder to feeder, disappear for a week here and there, and show up at all different times.
Fast forward to this past Friday. I was in the stand for the afternoon hunt and to my surprise a nice 9 point walked into shooting range. This deer had a big old body and I knew instantly that he was mature. His rack didn't get me too excited and I knew I shouldn't shoot him when my first instinct was to reach for my camera and not my bow. However, I doubted myself considering that this was the first buck over 60 inches that I'd seen from the stand.
The next morning the front blew in and it was cold and really windy. I did not see a thing that morning hunt. I ended up shooting at and missing a squirrel at 16 yards.
After that hunt I pulled camera cards and headed into town for some breakfast. While waiting for my food I flipped through the pictures and found that two of the three cameras didn't take pics. Great. On the camera that did take pics the 12 point was at the stand during the daylight the week prior. One picture caught him as he was coming in on a trail behind the feeder at 5:30 and I figured that if I ever saw him from that stand that's probably where he'd be coming from.
That afternoon, I decided to hunt that stand. The wind was still howling and the ladder stand at this location has a terrible angle to the tree trunk that makes your back hurt instantly. I settled in for a cold hunt in the painful stand. At 5:30 I look up and see a doe at about 40 yards and heading my direction. Finally some action! I grabbed my bow and clipped my release on the string and waited for her to come in for her dinner. As she was heading my way, I look up and see the 12 point cruising in on the same trail that he used on the picture the game cam took of him the week before. This was awesome. I already had my bow in my hand and my release on ready for the doe and here comes a buck. I knew right away that I'd underestimated the buck in the game cam pictures because this dude had me excited. I could tell he was wide and was a stud.
The buck was heading into my shooting lane when he sees the doe. He threw his nose to the ground and grunted and off he went after her. ****! I knew he could either chase the doe into the next county or just run her a bit and come back for corn and lucky for me after about 3 minutes he heads back my direction. He is now coming from my left to right at 15 yards and he is going to walk where there is a huge branch between he and I that will allow me to draw. He comes in on a string, I get drawn and settled just as he steps into my shooting lane and I sent the arrow at him. He kicked on impact and the arrow passed through him and sat covered on the ground. The buck busts through the brush and exits about 40 yards away with his opposite shoulder pouring enough blood that I can see it from my tree. Then he goes down in sight. It was all over in seconds.
I walked up to him and he was better than I ever expected from the game cam pics. 12 points, 20 inches inside and 145 3/8.
Thanks to TxAg for helping me get the deer loaded up and for taking the LDPs!
Fast forward to this past Friday. I was in the stand for the afternoon hunt and to my surprise a nice 9 point walked into shooting range. This deer had a big old body and I knew instantly that he was mature. His rack didn't get me too excited and I knew I shouldn't shoot him when my first instinct was to reach for my camera and not my bow. However, I doubted myself considering that this was the first buck over 60 inches that I'd seen from the stand.
The next morning the front blew in and it was cold and really windy. I did not see a thing that morning hunt. I ended up shooting at and missing a squirrel at 16 yards.
After that hunt I pulled camera cards and headed into town for some breakfast. While waiting for my food I flipped through the pictures and found that two of the three cameras didn't take pics. Great. On the camera that did take pics the 12 point was at the stand during the daylight the week prior. One picture caught him as he was coming in on a trail behind the feeder at 5:30 and I figured that if I ever saw him from that stand that's probably where he'd be coming from.
That afternoon, I decided to hunt that stand. The wind was still howling and the ladder stand at this location has a terrible angle to the tree trunk that makes your back hurt instantly. I settled in for a cold hunt in the painful stand. At 5:30 I look up and see a doe at about 40 yards and heading my direction. Finally some action! I grabbed my bow and clipped my release on the string and waited for her to come in for her dinner. As she was heading my way, I look up and see the 12 point cruising in on the same trail that he used on the picture the game cam took of him the week before. This was awesome. I already had my bow in my hand and my release on ready for the doe and here comes a buck. I knew right away that I'd underestimated the buck in the game cam pictures because this dude had me excited. I could tell he was wide and was a stud.
The buck was heading into my shooting lane when he sees the doe. He threw his nose to the ground and grunted and off he went after her. ****! I knew he could either chase the doe into the next county or just run her a bit and come back for corn and lucky for me after about 3 minutes he heads back my direction. He is now coming from my left to right at 15 yards and he is going to walk where there is a huge branch between he and I that will allow me to draw. He comes in on a string, I get drawn and settled just as he steps into my shooting lane and I sent the arrow at him. He kicked on impact and the arrow passed through him and sat covered on the ground. The buck busts through the brush and exits about 40 yards away with his opposite shoulder pouring enough blood that I can see it from my tree. Then he goes down in sight. It was all over in seconds.
I walked up to him and he was better than I ever expected from the game cam pics. 12 points, 20 inches inside and 145 3/8.
Thanks to TxAg for helping me get the deer loaded up and for taking the LDPs!
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