This hunting trip had a real good feel about it from the start. I had confidence in that I knew I was hunting three very good farms with good management practices. Many of the names and towns are left absent as my buddies are more protective over their bucks than most guys are about their wives. This year was no different than in the past other than I felt things may be hitting at the right time and I felt the weather might work out for this trip. I was even optimistic enough to drag along an extra cooler for this trip and we know what that means.
I started off the first day at Farm #1. The hunt started at daylight and things looked good when I passed up a nice little 3.5 year old 8 point the first thing in the morning. I sat through the morning watching it ran and got hungry. I was eating bologna with cheese and reached up to close the shooting house window when I looked to right and there he was. This was a mature buck and he was looking at me. Being grown, he didn't take much time making his way across the field. He could have made a fatal error by stopping on the opposite side to look back, but I hesitated a little to make sure that he was a shooter. Well, that's history. He disappeared into the thick woods. I however was safe and made a good call. Maybe I can get him next year. Sat for all but two hours that day but had few sightings the rest of the day.
Day 2 started at farm #2. Rain and more train delayed the early hunt but it slowed enough for me to get to a shooting house by 9:30. On the way to the stand, I jumped a knobby buck and was again optimistic of the day. The weather was cold, wet, and windy. I did manage to see a doe with a yearling around 12. I then passed up a nice and high little 5 point that around 2.5 years old. The does came back at dark but none of them were hot and I didn't see a big buck show up. Other friends saw bucks and we all had a miserable wet sit but hey we saw bucks. This was almost a all day sit in the same stand but that sort of thing helps you pay dues! That is hunting hunting though and a day in the outdoors.
Day 3 started at farm #2 but it was way cold. I sat in a good stand but saw nothing. We only sat a couple of hours then loaded up and went to farm #3. I sat a couple of hours during the middle of the day and saw 3 does pass through my pine thicket. I also jumped a doe on the way out of the stand. I was having a blast, seeing deer, and spending time with good friends in a place that I enjoy being.
The evening hunt of Day 3 would end at Farm #3. I walked through a large pine thicket to a large, narrow green field on the edge of a hardwood swamp. I got in the shooting house and was happy with the wind direction. It was a warmer today but still good deer weather. I got into the stand about 2:45 and was starving. I was on a diet and my buddies had been eating Doritos in front of me. As soon as I got seated, I broke out some mixed nuts and had to eat. I remember the warm sun. I sat there without yet putting on my head mask (scent lock of course) and started to use scent- prevention spray on my gloves and hats. My mind drifted back to Farm #1 and I even thought about trying a bow hunt on my last hunting day but I digress. My wife that given me a combo grunt/ doe bleat/ and deer snort from previous Christmas and I sat there with my mind drifting. I took the call and made two short grunts. When all of the sudden, a monster rushed the field! He looked at me and there was no thinking----BOOM!
I was shocked! Stuff like that doesn't happen. Well maybe it has happened in my dreams before but never like that. All of this had taken place in 5 minutes. I quickly jumped out of the stand and walked about 70 to 80 yards where I had shot the buck.. I quickly found blood. I had noted the last place I saw the buck and went there. I trailed him a little into the woods but decided to stop and wait. (Always give a deer time to die before you rush in and push it) The texting started between all my buddies. I was nervous to say how good the buck was I always have the fear of walking up and he not being what I thought he would. My buddy (we will call him Rob) made it to the stand and helped me look for the boy. Blood was everywhere. We put our tracking skills to work and find him quickly. He probably went over a 100 yards somehow but we found him in the thicket behind the field.
I was texting and calling my wife. It was the moment that I have learned to savor. A huge buck in hand and taking pictures. Rather than going back to the cabin, I sat and saw a doe and spike with my buddy that afternoon. I did sit that evening and the next day but I sat without a gun. I had done my damage and couldn't have made the trip better.
Good friends, Good times, Good hunting, Good Food, and even killed a big Buck. This was and is a sweet memory. Thanks all my buddies who helped make this happen. Good friends are something to be treasured.
