backyardtndeer
Well-Known Member
We hadn't gotten any pics of decent bucks for two months, then finally on October 17th a buck of interest shows up, and during daylight.
When I saw that he showed up again on October 21 I knew that it was time to get my cell cam where this cam was. I ended up getting several more pics of him leading into Monday. I knew there would be pressure around us, and hoped to get a chance on him early, so right after I knew he was around, I set up an aggressive stand in the bottom near my property line where I knew that deer crossed back and forth regularly. I have another stand on a ridge further back that I looks down into the bottom, that i killed both my bucks from last year, but you cannot see in the thick stuff where they cross. The scrapeline he was on in the above pics is up in the hills back to east of the stand I sat Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and I have a stand over the field were you can see the scrapeline from about 175-180 yards away.
With the rain and wind, I opted to pass on our cwd rifle opener on Monday, and waited until Tuesday morning, and hunted the new stand.. It did not disappoint, I saw several deer, but not the one I was hoping to see. No sign oh him until Tuesday afternoon while I was sitting in the school parking lot to pick up my 12 year old son. At 1:45 there he was, middle of the day.
I let my wife know, and she said for me to be ready about 5:30, she would be home, so I slipped into the stand looking over my field, and I saw a lot of activity, but no sign of the buck. Wednesday morning he bedded down for 10 minutes in from of my camera.
Wind was forecast out of the north, not the best for the stand looking over the field. So, Wednesday morning I go back to the stand in the bottom, and at 8:24, there he is again at the scrapeline. I let my wife know, and ask her if she can take off early since she went in to work early. She tells me to plan on going, and tells me to just leave our son with our 17 year old daughter, our daughter would be home early since she didn't have practice after school. So right after my daughter gets home I start changing my clothes, and my daughter catches me and wants to talk. School and boy drama, after 15 minutes of trying to make her feel better and giving her straight and honest advice, I tell her I need to get going. The walk to the blind is only about 5 minutes, down into a gully and back up a steep hill and the stand is right there before the top of that hill. As I step outside and am getting on my parka, the cell cam lets me know I have activity, just a doe. Again I get activity as I am walking back, another deer, little body, maybe a young buck. I get up in the stand, it is wrapped with army tent canvas to where you can climb it without being seen on the other side of the ridge where the deer usually follow. I peak over the rail and see nothing in the field. The pedestal for the boat seat in the stand is still raised up for my son, so I had to pull the pin and i just let it all the way down for myself. It clanked a little. I sit down and look through my binoculars back at the scrapeline and don't see anything. I put the binoculars down, and look back to my left and I see antlers coming towards me. I pull the binoculars back up and quickly realize its him. Its 4:20 in the afternoon, over 2 hours before legal shooting light end, did not expect to see him that early or that quick. I raise my rifle and flip off the scope caps, he heard the caps and looked dead at me. I flipped off the safety and as soon as he was broadside I squeezed. Not sure what happened, maybe a twig I didn't see, or something in the barrel, but I must have hit him low. There was a spot right behind his legs where the hide was pealed away. He hunched like he was gut shot, and went straight away from me walking. I got lucky to get another shot and picked a spot for him where he was quartering away, and i hit him right where I aimed, took out his off side shoulder.
As he lay.
Thank God I only had to drag him 10 yards out of the brush pile to get him in the tractor bucket.
When I saw that he showed up again on October 21 I knew that it was time to get my cell cam where this cam was. I ended up getting several more pics of him leading into Monday. I knew there would be pressure around us, and hoped to get a chance on him early, so right after I knew he was around, I set up an aggressive stand in the bottom near my property line where I knew that deer crossed back and forth regularly. I have another stand on a ridge further back that I looks down into the bottom, that i killed both my bucks from last year, but you cannot see in the thick stuff where they cross. The scrapeline he was on in the above pics is up in the hills back to east of the stand I sat Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and I have a stand over the field were you can see the scrapeline from about 175-180 yards away.
With the rain and wind, I opted to pass on our cwd rifle opener on Monday, and waited until Tuesday morning, and hunted the new stand.. It did not disappoint, I saw several deer, but not the one I was hoping to see. No sign oh him until Tuesday afternoon while I was sitting in the school parking lot to pick up my 12 year old son. At 1:45 there he was, middle of the day.
I let my wife know, and she said for me to be ready about 5:30, she would be home, so I slipped into the stand looking over my field, and I saw a lot of activity, but no sign of the buck. Wednesday morning he bedded down for 10 minutes in from of my camera.
Wind was forecast out of the north, not the best for the stand looking over the field. So, Wednesday morning I go back to the stand in the bottom, and at 8:24, there he is again at the scrapeline. I let my wife know, and ask her if she can take off early since she went in to work early. She tells me to plan on going, and tells me to just leave our son with our 17 year old daughter, our daughter would be home early since she didn't have practice after school. So right after my daughter gets home I start changing my clothes, and my daughter catches me and wants to talk. School and boy drama, after 15 minutes of trying to make her feel better and giving her straight and honest advice, I tell her I need to get going. The walk to the blind is only about 5 minutes, down into a gully and back up a steep hill and the stand is right there before the top of that hill. As I step outside and am getting on my parka, the cell cam lets me know I have activity, just a doe. Again I get activity as I am walking back, another deer, little body, maybe a young buck. I get up in the stand, it is wrapped with army tent canvas to where you can climb it without being seen on the other side of the ridge where the deer usually follow. I peak over the rail and see nothing in the field. The pedestal for the boat seat in the stand is still raised up for my son, so I had to pull the pin and i just let it all the way down for myself. It clanked a little. I sit down and look through my binoculars back at the scrapeline and don't see anything. I put the binoculars down, and look back to my left and I see antlers coming towards me. I pull the binoculars back up and quickly realize its him. Its 4:20 in the afternoon, over 2 hours before legal shooting light end, did not expect to see him that early or that quick. I raise my rifle and flip off the scope caps, he heard the caps and looked dead at me. I flipped off the safety and as soon as he was broadside I squeezed. Not sure what happened, maybe a twig I didn't see, or something in the barrel, but I must have hit him low. There was a spot right behind his legs where the hide was pealed away. He hunched like he was gut shot, and went straight away from me walking. I got lucky to get another shot and picked a spot for him where he was quartering away, and i hit him right where I aimed, took out his off side shoulder.
As he lay.
Thank God I only had to drag him 10 yards out of the brush pile to get him in the tractor bucket.
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