bowhunterfanatic
Well-Known Member
As usual I wasn't the one who did the killing, that would be my brother, but I played a big role in this deer dying so I thought I'd share.
My brother went up to the lease for 3 or 4 days early last week and hunted a little bit. He actually thinks this is the same deer he saw the very first evening and ended up passing because it all happened so quick. Fast forward to last Thursday evening and we were both back up there this time. We were really late getting there and it was super hot so instead of trying to get a climber hung I opted to hunt a loc on that someone left on the property before we started leasing it. It was in a litte draw that eases out into the middle of a cut cornfield. Upon reaching the stand I realized someone on our lease had taken the ladder down to use elsewhere and left the stand in the tree. It was already 5:30 so I opted to just sit on the ground in some tall weeds on the point of the draw and observe the cornfield. About 20 minutes before dark I watched two bucks ease out into the corner of the cornfield about 300-350 yards away. I think one of them was probably a shooter but I'm not positive. I lost sight of them in a low spot and decided they must've exited the field somewhere. By this time it was dark so I started trying to figure out the best exit strategy to get out of the field without spooking any deer that might be in it. The first option didn't work, because there was 5 does feeding 80 yards behind me on the left side of the draw I was in, so I decided to try and ease out the right side of the draw and hope the bucks hadn't come back into the field and headed my way. The second I stepped into the edge of the field I scanned back up the direction I had seen the bucks come out earlier and noticed 5 deer standing in the field around 120 yards from me. I kneeled down slowly and threw my binos up and could see a couple dandy racks under the moonlight looking back at me. I prayed they hadn't noticed me and would resume feeding but to my dismay the lead deer snorted and they all bolted back up toward where they had come from. My heart sank. I headed back to the truck to let my brother know I had probably ruined our chances for the next few days.
Friday morning around 10 I moved my stand into a white oak up around the corner of the field I had seen the deer enter from and found a bunch of acorns on the ground along with some big fresh rubs. I knew I had found the buck's staging area and that if I hadn't spooked the bucks too bad the night before I'd have a great shot at killing that evening.
I got in the tree around 5 that evening and it didn't take long for a couple does to enter the field. I watched them for a few minutes before I spotted a funky junk rack buck eating acorns in the little finger of timber with me. It didn't take me long to realize he wasn't alone as I spotted his 110-115 inch 9 point buddy 10 yards behind me. At this point I'm trying to keep it together thinking one of the bigger bucks from the night before has to be close by. For some reason the big deer never showed, but I ended up seeing 5 bucks and a few does.
Saturday was supposed to be a perfect day. Weatherman was calling for rain most of the day. It was supposed to move out around 4 and not start again until late that night.Around 3 p.m I headed out into the pouring rain and moved my stand about 35 yards closer to the corner of the field. I knew I had found the perfect tree, just needed the weather and deer to cooperate now. Of course it ends up stopping for about an hour around 4:45 then proceeds to pour down and soak me along with all of my gear the last hour and a half of light. I managed to see two does. That was it for me, time to head back home to my pregnant wife.
My brother decided he would turn right around and head back up there this morning. Good choice on his part. We knew the weather would be perfect today if the weathermen were correct. He was late getting there this evening and didn't get up a tree until almost 5:20. By 5:30 he had 2 does in the field with him. They picked around for 10-15 minutes then the bucks started entering the field, 5 altogether. The one he shot was last to show. The deer slowly fed his way in to 34 yards and stopped quartering away just a hair. He let the arrow fly around 5:55, and it found its mark. Deer went about 35 yards and piled up. I'm tickled to death for him and thankful he made a great shot!
