Gut punch

That feeling you get after the velvet hunt thinking you had nothing to hunt over 140in and you go through trail cam pics 2d later and find this dude was on camera the evening before you started hunting.

I never even hunted this farm as there was a 135in 11pt 3.5yo I had seen regularly and didn't want the temptation...

Ooof

Awesome deer !

Mmmm, that's a good deer!

That is a hoss!

Looks like a big 10 with a large kicker.
Wow.

Wow!

Great buck. What are your thoughts on where he will be/relocate once he sheds velvet? Do you suspect he will be within reach in Oct/Nov?

Wow!

I feel your pain! On Friday I was on the north end of the property and saw some does and a big spike. Meanwhile a 130"+ was meandering on the south end (400 yds away) near the stand I was hunting Saturday. Of course I didn't see the pics until Sat night when I pulled the card after climbing down. I LOVE deer hunting!

I'd murder the crap out of him!

Andy S. said:

Great buck. What are your thoughts on where he will be/relocate once he sheds velvet? Do you suspect he will be within reach in Oct/Nov?

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This particular farm is a summer haven for bachelor groups of bucks.... has been for years. Not the best habitat, so very few does (although I am in the process of negotiating with the lessee to covert 60 acres of hay ground to soybeans next year with mandatory cover crops of wheat and radishes for the winter). I had already scouted this farm earlier this summer and found the bachelor group and looked them over. 7 bucks, 1 was 4.5 and around 120in, a stud of a 3.5y/o 11 pt with an extra flyer around 135in, and 5 other random various smaller 2.5 and 3.5 y/o's. Nothing I wanted to shoot for the velvet hunt (although I'd kill the 4.5 y/o 120 with a ml/ rifle as my buck of choice without hesitation). But my mistake, I didn't follow up scout, as there is usually just one large bachelor group here. When I came back up, I pulled the card from the camera on a salt lick, didn't even look at the pictures and spent all my time on another farm where I had seen several 4.5y/o's, but never a large bachelor group figuring I had just missed the big group somehow. Didn't realize a second bachelor group of all 4.5y/o was using the original farm until I got home and went through pictures.

Unfortunately on this particular farm, all the bucks shift approx 1/2 mile to 2 miles south to the timbered hill country early/ mid October. They still drift onto the farm for a day or two during the course of the season, but its very tough to encounter them... until after Jan 1st... they usually come back late season right before close, so I don't expect to really have a chance at this fine buck, unless he makes it to my main farm a couple miles south (which does happen on occasion)

^^^ Makes sense, thanks for the insight. Good luck with the rest of the bucks this season.

Maybe he will stick around. Have missed hunting a certain stand, for obligations, and come back days later and swapped cards only to find a very nice passer through buck had been out in front of the stand, at the time I should have been in that stand. Yeah gut punch fits.

backyardtndeer said:

Have missed hunting a certain stand, for obligations, and come back days later and swapped cards only to find a very nice passer through buck had been out in front of the stand, at the time I should have been in that stand.

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Happens to hunters on my place ALL. THE. TIME. Hunter debates "this" stand or "that" stand. He chooses "that" stand. Big buck walks in front of "this" stand while the hunter would have been there had he chosen it. This happens probably 5 times a deer season.

BSK said:

Happens to hunters on my place ALL. THE. TIME. Hunter debates "this" stand or "that" stand. He chooses "that" stand. Big buck walks in front of "this" stand while the hunter would have been there had he chosen it. This happens probably 5 times a deer season.

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Yes, we see that play out frequently as well.

But there's often much more to what really happens.
Often, the deer you see by the stand you did not choose,
would have been alerted to your presence,
either by hearing your approach, seeing your approach, or scenting you or "smelling" your approach.

These deer we pick up on our cams are often bedded nearby, then we get their pics when the get up and go somewhere. But when we decide to hunt a stand near where they're bedded (or just feeding, whatever), we may then cause them to go elsewhere.

This issue is not limited to target bucks.
When a hot doe realizes you came into a stand, she's typically not coming near you, so when a buck comes along later, she's not bringing that buck your way (even though that buck has no idea you're there).

TheLBLman said:

This issue is not limited to target bucks.
When a hot doe realizes you came into a stand, she's typically not coming near you, so when a buck comes along later, she's not bringing that buck your way (even though that buck has no idea you're there).

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We don't pressure does, a hot doe bringing in a "new" buck happens here often. That was the case a few years back when i was at a band competition watching my daughter perform.

TheLBLman said:

But there's often much more to what really happens.
Often, the deer you see by the stand you did not choose,
would have been alerted to your presence,

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Very possible that if the hunter had chosen the "right" stand, the buck wouldn't have walked right in front of it. They don't get old by being stupid.

BSK said:

Very possible that if the hunter had chosen the "right" stand, the buck wouldn't have walked right in front of it. They don't get old by being stupid.

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Ditto! I have to remind hunters of this OFTEN. I tell them that more than likely, the buck was near your other stand "because you were not in it".

Andy S. said:

Ditto! I have to remind hunters of this OFTEN. I tell them that more than likely, the buck was near your other stand "because you were not in it".

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Very, very possible.