Good Season

[Payaso]

Had a good year chasing deer and sitting here in the hospital with my son who has pneumonia I figured I’d do a recap.
I haven’t hunted deer in a couple years, mostly because there havent been many mature bucks around to get excited about. I saw some deer last year after rifle season that gave me some optimism. Like this guy.

 

[Payaso]

Saw a few through the summer that almost had me ready to hunt. This dude had potential.

 

[Payaso]

Towards the end of September a buddy showed me a picture of a deer he saw while out mowing and he looked promising.

 

[Payaso]

Beginning of October I happened to spot a buck that looked pretty cool and decided I should get myself an archery tag and see what happened.

 

[Payaso]

Never did see that deer again, but I knew there were a few around in the right age class to try and arrow.
I sold my bow to a buddy a couple years back with the stipulation that if I found a deer to chase he’d let me use it.
Finally got the time to actually go out hunting, so I grabbed my old bow from him and began the search for a good one.
Had a good wind forecasted for the Saturday so decided to go hiking through some bigger county and see what I could find. My 10 yo son wanted to come along which was cool but he didn’t take my warnings seriously. After about 5 miles he had some nice heel blisters and didn’t care much about hunting at that point. We spotted a decent buck and I put a stalk on him, got to 22 yards and gave him the pass.

 

[Payaso]

The rut was getting going and I found some nice bucks but nothing that I wanted to commit to.

 

[Payaso]

Few days later with about 20 minutes of daylight left I found one that checked all the boxes. He was with a doe and I tried to make a move on him but couldn’t close the distance without spooking them, so i backed out and knew I found one to go after.

 

[Payaso]

My buddy wanted his bow back as he was chasing a whitetail and the new Mathews just dropped, so I decided I’d go get myself a new bow. Went to the shop on Tuesday morning and got the bow set up and sighted in. Now to go find him again and seal the deal.

I couldn’t find him the next couple of days but found a real old looking buck that I decided I would go after if I could get him in a good position.

 

[Payaso]

Friday evening I found the target again with 12 does. They were working west so I got around front and worked towards them. Got to 120 but they turned south and I was stuck.

 

[Payaso]

Weekend was here and I had 2 days that I could concentrate on hunting this deer. Buck fever had set in and I was determined to get it done this weekend and get back to productive work.
Saturday morning I couldn’t find him. I went hiking for the day, covering a few thousand acres the best I could, getting on a few different groups of deer but never finding the dude.

Sunday morning my luck changed and I found him with a group of deer shortly after daylight. They were moving into the hills so I just glassed and tried to bed them down and be ready to make a move.

 

[Burt_Niel]

Can't wait for the rest of the story!

 

[Payaso]

I watched the two bucks bed on a fence line, and the rest of the herd kept moving south, out of sight. He was in a great spot. It looked perfect for a stalk. I’d have to go all the way around them, downwind, to be able to close the distance but the terrain was right from the other side of them. Game on.

 

[Payaso]

I get everything ready to go and right before I go to take off I glass back over and the big buck is standing up looking south. Little buck is gone. Not sure what is happening I watch, and the big buck takes off running south out of sight. A few minutes later a doe comes around a hill with both of the bucks on her tail. They work basically straight south of me and over a hill and out of sight.
The wind is out of the south which is perfect for where they went but I have no idea where they’re headed/ended up. I just lace up the boots and go try to find him again.

Mile in I find a group of deer bedded, but the buck is not with them. I glass a doe another 3/4 mile or so south of this group and decide to skirt around and go see if he is with her. I get to where I saw her and there’s another group of deer bedded, but he’s not with them either.

Big hill to my east so I back out around and head up to try and glass some more country. Almost to the top and I find another 5 does 1/2 mile away that I watch for an hour or so but no buck with them.

I figure I should go back to where I found the first group and make sure he isn’t over there somewhere before I go cover anymore country. As I’m getting close to the first group, maybe 500 yards or so, I see a deer moving and when I pull up my glass I realize it is him. He jumps a fence and joins the group. I get worked around them and see him, 3 other smaller bucks, and 8 does. I watch him bed on the SE edge of the group and think I can make a play on him. I go out around and choose a line. I get to 90 yards and try to peek up to make sure nothing else is between us, but end up looking a fawn in the eye at about 50 yards. I back out and around and luckily didn’t spook anything.