2012 Bow Season Game Plan
Going into the 2012 bow season I adopted a new game plan for the year. Having a four year old, a one year old, and a wife with a new job with a very busy schedule, I knew my time in the woods would be limited. Not to mention, I did not want to spend much time away from my little girls who need their dad around. I decided I was going to hunt minimally and evenings only until Halloween was over with. When trick or treat with the little ones had passed, I was going to hit it hard. I figured that would be my best chance to kill a nice buck. When November 1st arrived, it was on. I planned to hunt every chance I could until I killed a good one or November 12th came. That in short was my plan. "Less is More" was my motto for this season.
Nov.1
Starting on Thursday, November 1st, my "rut hunt" began. That first night on stand was a good one. I saw three different bucks and called all three inside of five yards with rattling and grunting. The second one to arrive was the best and I would estimate a 110-120" eight point who was cruising and was ready to go. As I left that night I thought I was off to a good start.
Nov. 2-8
I hunted hard all weekend. I spent as much time on stand as I possibly could. When the weekend had passed, I rushed home from school everyday and got on stand as quick as I could. I spent the majority of my time hunting one of the biggest bucks my dad and I have ever had on one of our properties. My dad had three different encounters with him and unfortunately a tree limb was in the wrong place as the giant stood ten yards away. My dad center punched the branch. Dad estimates him to be much wider, taller, heavier, more tines, etc. etc. than the buck I killed. He believes it is a 160-170" ten point. He decoyed to my dad perfectly. Unfortunately it was not to be. I was also in the wrong stand at the wrong time the night my dad missed him. Dad watched him walk from 150 yards away to his decoy passing my climber tree at 5 yards. I have never laid eyes on this buck and I am going to get a few of my cameras in his general area to hopefully capture a picture of him. As November 8th came to a close, I had seen a lot of bucks. I kept track since November 1st and to this point I had seen 20 bucks. Of those 20 bucks, two were shooters. Neither of the two came anywhere near bow range.
Nov. 9
I was extremely excited to go to my first Deer Camp ever. My good buddy has an Uncle who owns a cabin out in Nellie, OH. His cabin is surrounded by 300 prime acres. A lot of big bucks have been killed on this property. Four of my best friends and I would have the place to ourselves. I was pumped to say the least. Everyone was arriving Friday evening except me. I had an appointment in the early afternoon Friday then I rushed out to Deer Camp to try and get a hunt in before dark. Little did I know I had just enough time. I used the Scent Smoker quick and headed out. I had never hunted the area I went to Friday evening. I knew the wind was perfect for the ridge top I wanted to hunt. The hardwoods were loaded with Oaks and there was sign everywhere. When I got to the top of the ridge, I quickly noticed there were deer highways intersecting all over the place. I found a good tree, climbed up and got ready. I had no more than just settled in when I heard hard chasing below me. I thought to myself, No Way! Not already! A few seconds later I had three does shoot up the hill and stop to my left at ten yards. A second or two later a little basket rack followed them. I thought dang, just a dink chasing them. However, the does kept looking back over their shoulder and so did the basket rack. I hooked in my release and got ready. Just a second later I see this wide rack coming up the hill. The buck had his nose to the ground dogging them. Another doe squirted out in front of him to my right. I had very little to no shooting at my right. At that point I thought I was done. I figured he would chase the lone doe away from me and that would be it. It was my lucky day because the wide 8 pointer turned away from the lone doe and let out a ROAR!!! I have never heard anything like it in my life! It sent my heart into my throat. The buck put his nose back down and continued towards the does right in front of me. The does shot off and he followed. His route to them gave me a 15 yard slightly quartering away shot. Honestly, if i could of told him where I wanted him to stand for a shot, I would of put him where he stood when I arrowed him. As he approached nose down, I drew my bow. As I began to squeeze my release to set my clicker off he stopped perfectly. I stretched and watched the arrow crush him in the high lungs. I could see blood pumping out of his left side. He shot off for about 40 yards then began walking. He slowly looped around back towards me and was walking very slow. I knocked another arrow and got ready to stick another one in him. Before I could draw again, he let out a death cough and started wobbling. He tipped over and rolled down the ridge next to me inside of 50 yards. I could not believe what had just happened! My entire hunt happened in less than 15 minutes and I had a big buck laying dead inside of 50 yards. I could not believe it! This doesn't happen like this for me! I sat back down and collected my thoughts and began to shake a little. I waited for about 10 minutes which felt like an eternity. I called my wife to tell her I had shot a big one. I then called my best buddy and told him the same. He dropped everything to come help me with the deer. After I climbed down I knocked another arrow just in case and walked over to the ridge where he rolled down. He painted a couple of trees on his way down and there he laid in the brush. I was jacked! We took care of him and loaded him in my buddies truck and took him back to my house to show my family and friends. He has not been officially scored yet but he does have a 23" spread. He is no older than 3.5. I am very happy with him and how this season has went. I am now a believer of the less is more approach. I feel I did not mess up any of my good spots by going in to early or burning up stand locations. I am going to focus my future buck hunts on Nov.1 and after. I also am going to make myself only check trail cameras once a month.
Thank you for reading and good luck to you guys out there. You can sit for less than fifteen minutes and have the right hot doe walk in front of you and change your whole season in a matter of seconds. That is how it worked for me and I feel very lucky. I love reading all the posts and talk on here and I feel it is very beneficial for me as a deer hunter as well as everyone else who participates. My favorite picture is of me and my girls.
Going into the 2012 bow season I adopted a new game plan for the year. Having a four year old, a one year old, and a wife with a new job with a very busy schedule, I knew my time in the woods would be limited. Not to mention, I did not want to spend much time away from my little girls who need their dad around. I decided I was going to hunt minimally and evenings only until Halloween was over with. When trick or treat with the little ones had passed, I was going to hit it hard. I figured that would be my best chance to kill a nice buck. When November 1st arrived, it was on. I planned to hunt every chance I could until I killed a good one or November 12th came. That in short was my plan. "Less is More" was my motto for this season.
Nov.1
Starting on Thursday, November 1st, my "rut hunt" began. That first night on stand was a good one. I saw three different bucks and called all three inside of five yards with rattling and grunting. The second one to arrive was the best and I would estimate a 110-120" eight point who was cruising and was ready to go. As I left that night I thought I was off to a good start.
Nov. 2-8
I hunted hard all weekend. I spent as much time on stand as I possibly could. When the weekend had passed, I rushed home from school everyday and got on stand as quick as I could. I spent the majority of my time hunting one of the biggest bucks my dad and I have ever had on one of our properties. My dad had three different encounters with him and unfortunately a tree limb was in the wrong place as the giant stood ten yards away. My dad center punched the branch. Dad estimates him to be much wider, taller, heavier, more tines, etc. etc. than the buck I killed. He believes it is a 160-170" ten point. He decoyed to my dad perfectly. Unfortunately it was not to be. I was also in the wrong stand at the wrong time the night my dad missed him. Dad watched him walk from 150 yards away to his decoy passing my climber tree at 5 yards. I have never laid eyes on this buck and I am going to get a few of my cameras in his general area to hopefully capture a picture of him. As November 8th came to a close, I had seen a lot of bucks. I kept track since November 1st and to this point I had seen 20 bucks. Of those 20 bucks, two were shooters. Neither of the two came anywhere near bow range.
Nov. 9
I was extremely excited to go to my first Deer Camp ever. My good buddy has an Uncle who owns a cabin out in Nellie, OH. His cabin is surrounded by 300 prime acres. A lot of big bucks have been killed on this property. Four of my best friends and I would have the place to ourselves. I was pumped to say the least. Everyone was arriving Friday evening except me. I had an appointment in the early afternoon Friday then I rushed out to Deer Camp to try and get a hunt in before dark. Little did I know I had just enough time. I used the Scent Smoker quick and headed out. I had never hunted the area I went to Friday evening. I knew the wind was perfect for the ridge top I wanted to hunt. The hardwoods were loaded with Oaks and there was sign everywhere. When I got to the top of the ridge, I quickly noticed there were deer highways intersecting all over the place. I found a good tree, climbed up and got ready. I had no more than just settled in when I heard hard chasing below me. I thought to myself, No Way! Not already! A few seconds later I had three does shoot up the hill and stop to my left at ten yards. A second or two later a little basket rack followed them. I thought dang, just a dink chasing them. However, the does kept looking back over their shoulder and so did the basket rack. I hooked in my release and got ready. Just a second later I see this wide rack coming up the hill. The buck had his nose to the ground dogging them. Another doe squirted out in front of him to my right. I had very little to no shooting at my right. At that point I thought I was done. I figured he would chase the lone doe away from me and that would be it. It was my lucky day because the wide 8 pointer turned away from the lone doe and let out a ROAR!!! I have never heard anything like it in my life! It sent my heart into my throat. The buck put his nose back down and continued towards the does right in front of me. The does shot off and he followed. His route to them gave me a 15 yard slightly quartering away shot. Honestly, if i could of told him where I wanted him to stand for a shot, I would of put him where he stood when I arrowed him. As he approached nose down, I drew my bow. As I began to squeeze my release to set my clicker off he stopped perfectly. I stretched and watched the arrow crush him in the high lungs. I could see blood pumping out of his left side. He shot off for about 40 yards then began walking. He slowly looped around back towards me and was walking very slow. I knocked another arrow and got ready to stick another one in him. Before I could draw again, he let out a death cough and started wobbling. He tipped over and rolled down the ridge next to me inside of 50 yards. I could not believe what had just happened! My entire hunt happened in less than 15 minutes and I had a big buck laying dead inside of 50 yards. I could not believe it! This doesn't happen like this for me! I sat back down and collected my thoughts and began to shake a little. I waited for about 10 minutes which felt like an eternity. I called my wife to tell her I had shot a big one. I then called my best buddy and told him the same. He dropped everything to come help me with the deer. After I climbed down I knocked another arrow just in case and walked over to the ridge where he rolled down. He painted a couple of trees on his way down and there he laid in the brush. I was jacked! We took care of him and loaded him in my buddies truck and took him back to my house to show my family and friends. He has not been officially scored yet but he does have a 23" spread. He is no older than 3.5. I am very happy with him and how this season has went. I am now a believer of the less is more approach. I feel I did not mess up any of my good spots by going in to early or burning up stand locations. I am going to focus my future buck hunts on Nov.1 and after. I also am going to make myself only check trail cameras once a month.
Thank you for reading and good luck to you guys out there. You can sit for less than fifteen minutes and have the right hot doe walk in front of you and change your whole season in a matter of seconds. That is how it worked for me and I feel very lucky. I love reading all the posts and talk on here and I feel it is very beneficial for me as a deer hunter as well as everyone else who participates. My favorite picture is of me and my girls.
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