Anyone who's ever bowhunted with me has joked about how often I move my stands from place to place. Uh hmm. More often than not though I usually end up seeing good bucks or getting them on my trailcam when I do. This time was no exception. Last Sunday (the last day of archery season) after the morning hunt I placed a stand in an area I'd been watching at BAO for the past 4 years. Every time I'd be in the area, I'd check it out and every time without fail there'd be rubs and scrapes within 20 - 30 yards of this tree. The same day I placed the stand I put up a trailcam and hand fed some Record Rack in front of it. Wednesday, I picked up the camera and lo and behold there were about 4 or 5 DIFFERENT big bucks on it. I've included a trailcam pic of the buck I killed this morning.
I was antsy all week waiting for the season to reopen and had to work Sat. morning so my first hunt from the new stand would need to wait until Sat. evening. I got up in the stand around 4PM or so and saw a nice 8 or 10 pt. about 60 yards away in the brush shortly after 5:30. A doe had worked her way into bowrange and I was just sure that when the buck saw her he would work his way into range as well. It never happened and I never saw him again.
Sunday morning might have turned out a little different had I studied my trailcam pics more closely. One of the bucks was on the trailcam at 7AM CDT, but I didn't realize that I hadn't changed the time on my camera and he was actually there at 6AM CST. I went into the stand at 5:45 thinking that was early enough since it didn't get light until about 6:20. I got busted by a deer that was already close to the stand and later that morning after not seeing anything, I climbed out of the stand and learned that there was a fresh scrape in the vicinity of the deer that blew at me earlier in the morning. I decided that from now on, I'd be in that stand at least an hour before daylight. It paid off this morning.
After a night of thunderstorms and heavy rain which I figured probably interrupted their normal activity, I decided to hunt the stand for a few hours before work. I got into the stand apparently unnoticed around 5:15 this morning. It was VERY quiet walking because of the soaking rain last night. The hour before daylight was uneventful. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop but I heard and saw nothing the entire hour. The moon was bright enough through the clouds that I could have seen anything moving through within bowrange.
When daylight broke, I heard several feeders going off around BAO and a neighboring ranch. The low cloud cover seemed to contain and magnify the sounds. I heard a noise and turned ever so slowly to see cattle working their way through the brush around me. It seemed like it took them forever to pass through the area, but even before they were gone, a big boar appeared out of the brush only 18 yards away. I thought he was 20. I put the pin low on his shoulder and he suddenly took a few steps away from me so I raised it a bit and released. Immediately, I saw the arrow pass through the boar about 6 inches below the hairline on his back and directly in line with his front leg. I knew it was too high. Shortly after the boar ran off, a cow moved in and licked all the blood (if there was any) off the arrow. He licked it from broadhead to nock several times over.
When the cattle moved off, a lone doe came in and I noticed a movement behind her in the brush about 50 yards away. All of a sudden, she raised her head, looked into the brush in the opposite direction and turned inside out getting out of there. I thought maybe she saw a dominant buck and wasn't in any mood to be harassed. When she ran the movement in the brush behind her turned into a small buck and he followed in the direction that she ran. When they got out of sight I waited a few minutes and decided to grunt. In less than 5 minutes, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed the antlers moving through the brush on the side of the trail from the direction that she ran. He was already only 25 yards away behind brush and moving in a direction that would put him in the open at only 17 or 18 yards. I slowly reached for the bow and prepared for the shot. I held my breath as he entered the clearing. It was sooooo quiet. He stopped broadside and as I drew the arrow back, he looked in my direction. Thankfully he didn't look up and I placed the pin directly behind his shoulder about a third up his body and released. I watched as the arrow passed through his body just slightly above the spot where I had aimed. I knew instantly that it was a good shot and didn't think it would be a difficult recovery. After waiting 20 minutes or so just in case, I packed up my gear and eased down the stand. The arrow was covered in blood the full length of the shaft and it wasn't a problem to spot first blood on the ground. I looked in the direction he ran and there he was less than 50 yards from where he stood when I shot him. I never saw him go down from the treestand because he fled behind a patch of live oaks. It looked as if he just stopped and fell over... no thrashing, no noise. I was elated. Although I passed on bigger bucks for various reasons throughout the seasons at BAO and ended a few seasons without, this year would be different. He's not a trophy by any means, but he's a nice, mature 9 point that weighed in at 175 pounds. I haven't had the time to score him yet. He won't book, but it's still not a bad way to end a season. The bucks at BAO have gotten bigger and better each year that I've been there and I'll be looking forward to bettering this one next season.
I was antsy all week waiting for the season to reopen and had to work Sat. morning so my first hunt from the new stand would need to wait until Sat. evening. I got up in the stand around 4PM or so and saw a nice 8 or 10 pt. about 60 yards away in the brush shortly after 5:30. A doe had worked her way into bowrange and I was just sure that when the buck saw her he would work his way into range as well. It never happened and I never saw him again.
Sunday morning might have turned out a little different had I studied my trailcam pics more closely. One of the bucks was on the trailcam at 7AM CDT, but I didn't realize that I hadn't changed the time on my camera and he was actually there at 6AM CST. I went into the stand at 5:45 thinking that was early enough since it didn't get light until about 6:20. I got busted by a deer that was already close to the stand and later that morning after not seeing anything, I climbed out of the stand and learned that there was a fresh scrape in the vicinity of the deer that blew at me earlier in the morning. I decided that from now on, I'd be in that stand at least an hour before daylight. It paid off this morning.
After a night of thunderstorms and heavy rain which I figured probably interrupted their normal activity, I decided to hunt the stand for a few hours before work. I got into the stand apparently unnoticed around 5:15 this morning. It was VERY quiet walking because of the soaking rain last night. The hour before daylight was uneventful. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop but I heard and saw nothing the entire hour. The moon was bright enough through the clouds that I could have seen anything moving through within bowrange.
When daylight broke, I heard several feeders going off around BAO and a neighboring ranch. The low cloud cover seemed to contain and magnify the sounds. I heard a noise and turned ever so slowly to see cattle working their way through the brush around me. It seemed like it took them forever to pass through the area, but even before they were gone, a big boar appeared out of the brush only 18 yards away. I thought he was 20. I put the pin low on his shoulder and he suddenly took a few steps away from me so I raised it a bit and released. Immediately, I saw the arrow pass through the boar about 6 inches below the hairline on his back and directly in line with his front leg. I knew it was too high. Shortly after the boar ran off, a cow moved in and licked all the blood (if there was any) off the arrow. He licked it from broadhead to nock several times over.
When the cattle moved off, a lone doe came in and I noticed a movement behind her in the brush about 50 yards away. All of a sudden, she raised her head, looked into the brush in the opposite direction and turned inside out getting out of there. I thought maybe she saw a dominant buck and wasn't in any mood to be harassed. When she ran the movement in the brush behind her turned into a small buck and he followed in the direction that she ran. When they got out of sight I waited a few minutes and decided to grunt. In less than 5 minutes, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed the antlers moving through the brush on the side of the trail from the direction that she ran. He was already only 25 yards away behind brush and moving in a direction that would put him in the open at only 17 or 18 yards. I slowly reached for the bow and prepared for the shot. I held my breath as he entered the clearing. It was sooooo quiet. He stopped broadside and as I drew the arrow back, he looked in my direction. Thankfully he didn't look up and I placed the pin directly behind his shoulder about a third up his body and released. I watched as the arrow passed through his body just slightly above the spot where I had aimed. I knew instantly that it was a good shot and didn't think it would be a difficult recovery. After waiting 20 minutes or so just in case, I packed up my gear and eased down the stand. The arrow was covered in blood the full length of the shaft and it wasn't a problem to spot first blood on the ground. I looked in the direction he ran and there he was less than 50 yards from where he stood when I shot him. I never saw him go down from the treestand because he fled behind a patch of live oaks. It looked as if he just stopped and fell over... no thrashing, no noise. I was elated. Although I passed on bigger bucks for various reasons throughout the seasons at BAO and ended a few seasons without, this year would be different. He's not a trophy by any means, but he's a nice, mature 9 point that weighed in at 175 pounds. I haven't had the time to score him yet. He won't book, but it's still not a bad way to end a season. The bucks at BAO have gotten bigger and better each year that I've been there and I'll be looking forward to bettering this one next season.
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