As most of my friends know, I haven't had much time to hunt as a result of my work schedule, but I have been out a handful of times for a few hours each. Shot a small spike that I thought was a doe at last light a little while back, but no other shot opportunities other than that, up until this week.
In the NW corner of my alfalfa field (which seems to be eaten into dirt), I found trails coming in from both the west and the east that were loaded with fresh tracks since the recent rain. A cold front was coming through, so I hoped something would be moving into the field during daylight.
I didn't have much cover for a spot on the ground or in a tree to the west, so I followed the trail from the east into a drainage, and found a decent tree for an ambush. I quickly pulled a treestand and some climbing sticks from a different field and got seated for the evening hunt with less than 2 hours of light remaining.
around 45 minutes before dark, I could see 4 day and a small buck up in the field, which must have entered from the west. Around 20 minutes later I heard deer coming through the drainage toward me from the Northeast. At first I only saw two, and they were nice 3.5yo deer that I have been following since last year. I had previously resolved to hold off on shooting them because they should be really nice next year, but my mind was racing, with season ending soon. I was doing complex mathmatical equations in my head, regarding how many mature deer I would still have next year on my property if I shot one of these, and was getting ready to draw down on a buck a freind named 'High and Mighty', when I heard noise further up the trail. I grabbed my binoculars and saw a mature 8 point that I had some night time pictures of. I let the 2 younger deer pass, even though they had nicer racks, and decided to hope that things worked out for the older 8 point.
The other 2 contined toward the field, and the older deer slowly made his way down the trail. He passed by at around 10 yard, and even though I was 12 feet up the tree, he was nearly level with my because of the contour of the drainage. I drew as he crossed behind a tree, and he was nice enought to pause nearly broadside just after passing by the tree.
I had recently been shooting my Silvertip in the expecation of using one of my ground blinds, so I left my Stickflingers at home for this hunt, and that reliable Silvertip did it's job. I put a real good hit on him, using Nitro stinger arrows made up by Gary at DM custom arrows. tipped with wide 2 blade VPA head. Got a mule kick, and he ran around 30 yards toward the field before doing a spin and flop, making for a shorter drag for me. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the result.
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Some pics of him on the hoof.
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Congrats on a fine buck!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :clapper:
Glad to see you are able to get out and doing well!
Congrats on the fine looking buck!
Awesome buck Pat!!!
Congrats!
Bisch
Well done sir!
Great job Pat !! :thumbsup:
Well done. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Real nice Pat.
The buck that I passed on to shoot this one.
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And the other I passed on.
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Another couple left for next year.
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Awesome buck, CONGRATS!!
Well done! Congratulations :clapper:
Good job buddy!! You have some awesome bucks on your pace!!
Very nice buck! Congratulations.
Dang fine buck. Congratulations!
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Next year is lookin GOOD !! :bigsmyl:
Wow! Nice work sir!
Way to go, Pat :thumbsup:, Congrats!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Great buck! Congrats! Good luck next year! :thumbsup:
GREAT start for sure!!!
Nice buck Pat! Glad you had a chance to get out. Just look at it this way.. You will be retired before we will and you will be in a tree and we will be at work lol. Congrats on a great WT.
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He's fine, nice work!
Nice buck! Congrats.
Beautiful buck!! Congratulations
Well made Par, now I need to follow your tracks, lol
:clapper: :clapper: :thumbsup:
Thats awesome and congratulations!
Good one Pat! Congratulations
Congrats !!!
Congrats on a great deer! Thanks for sharing!
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Fine buck Pat.
Even finer this late in the game.
Congrats Pat
out standing..
nice buck, congratts! :thumbsup:
NICE!! next year could be epic!
Great Buck!!!