Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2007 10:29:09 GMT -5
I missed a nice heavy, mature 8 pointer Friday evening.
First the hunt for this weekend... it was FANTASTIC. The best two hunts I have had in a long time.
Friday evening I hustled down after work and got on stand at about 4:00pm. I had just enough time to lay some estrous scent out in a couple of scrapes and drip some around me. My setup was in a woods corner 30 yards off a foodplot in a powerline cut. There are two very active oak trees between me and the foodplot and deer have been hitting them heavy every night. I saw a BIG 8 pointer follow some does out into the powerline cut the week before but he didn't come on to me...he turned 55 yards away and walked down another logging road.
This weekend was different. First, at 4:30pm, I had a very nice 1.5 year old 8 pointer walk into the powerline cut and find my scent line. He came right in to my shooting lane and stopped at 15 yards. There have been many times that I would have taken him...he is a very nice young deer and probably is already 80 inches or so. I let him walk because I know there are two or three bigger deer in there and he shows great potential for next year, if he makes it.
At 5pm, here came the deer parade. 6 does and a button buck came out the same trail right across the powerline cut from me. They all worked down to the oak trees and I could have shot each and every one of them at 25 yards or less. Not far behind them came a heavy racked 8 pointer. He was NOT the same 8 pointer from last week. He had shorter G3s, but he was wider and heavier. I knew instantly that he was a shooter in my book.
Sure enough he came right into my shooting lanes around the oaks. He was making little runs at the does but not chasing really seriously, just playing the "flirting game". He stopped broadside at 22 yards and I drew back and let fly.
Here is where the story gets embarrassing. I don't usually practice sitting down and that turned out to be a big mistake. My cam on the lower limb of my bow banged off my knee as I released and turned the bow downward. I don't think the arrow made it halfway to the buck. A couple does bounded off and the buck followed them a ways but he never spooked. He stayed around me, but out of shooting range, until after dark...over an hour. It is the longest I have ever had a buck of that quality stay around me. I could have shot him 9000 times with a shotgun, but you know how that goes.
On Saturday morning I was hunting a different set up because of the wind. I ended up passing on the same 8 pointer from the night before at 6 yards! I had a nice long encounter with him and he never knew I was in the world. It makes me worry about him making it through the season.
I had a button buck and a doe at 6 yards too, but passed. I have already taken two deer and I am antler hunting now. I had another shooter buck come into my set up chasing a doe hard. He never stopped long enough for me to get a great look at him but he was wide and heavy horned. I saw a total of 23 deer in my two weekend sets combined. It was just AWESOME! But I think next year I will do some practicing while sitting down.
That is probably good advice for all of us who bow hunt.
First the hunt for this weekend... it was FANTASTIC. The best two hunts I have had in a long time.
Friday evening I hustled down after work and got on stand at about 4:00pm. I had just enough time to lay some estrous scent out in a couple of scrapes and drip some around me. My setup was in a woods corner 30 yards off a foodplot in a powerline cut. There are two very active oak trees between me and the foodplot and deer have been hitting them heavy every night. I saw a BIG 8 pointer follow some does out into the powerline cut the week before but he didn't come on to me...he turned 55 yards away and walked down another logging road.
This weekend was different. First, at 4:30pm, I had a very nice 1.5 year old 8 pointer walk into the powerline cut and find my scent line. He came right in to my shooting lane and stopped at 15 yards. There have been many times that I would have taken him...he is a very nice young deer and probably is already 80 inches or so. I let him walk because I know there are two or three bigger deer in there and he shows great potential for next year, if he makes it.
At 5pm, here came the deer parade. 6 does and a button buck came out the same trail right across the powerline cut from me. They all worked down to the oak trees and I could have shot each and every one of them at 25 yards or less. Not far behind them came a heavy racked 8 pointer. He was NOT the same 8 pointer from last week. He had shorter G3s, but he was wider and heavier. I knew instantly that he was a shooter in my book.
Sure enough he came right into my shooting lanes around the oaks. He was making little runs at the does but not chasing really seriously, just playing the "flirting game". He stopped broadside at 22 yards and I drew back and let fly.
Here is where the story gets embarrassing. I don't usually practice sitting down and that turned out to be a big mistake. My cam on the lower limb of my bow banged off my knee as I released and turned the bow downward. I don't think the arrow made it halfway to the buck. A couple does bounded off and the buck followed them a ways but he never spooked. He stayed around me, but out of shooting range, until after dark...over an hour. It is the longest I have ever had a buck of that quality stay around me. I could have shot him 9000 times with a shotgun, but you know how that goes.
On Saturday morning I was hunting a different set up because of the wind. I ended up passing on the same 8 pointer from the night before at 6 yards! I had a nice long encounter with him and he never knew I was in the world. It makes me worry about him making it through the season.
I had a button buck and a doe at 6 yards too, but passed. I have already taken two deer and I am antler hunting now. I had another shooter buck come into my set up chasing a doe hard. He never stopped long enough for me to get a great look at him but he was wide and heavy horned. I saw a total of 23 deer in my two weekend sets combined. It was just AWESOME! But I think next year I will do some practicing while sitting down.
That is probably good advice for all of us who bow hunt.
