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My honey hole buck

Alphamax10

Member
1,042
72
Kirtland, Ohio
Guys, it has only taken a few weeks to write this but here it is. As you know I hunt with Ryan and we have been skunked the last few seasons out here in Ohio. We have both tried to find other spots to hunt to expand our areas. Don't get me wrong we love our one area it's just a hike and we're looking for closer spots. One day while at a bar one of my co-workers was telling me about her father's house. She said he had 11 acres and allowed someone to hunt before. I immediately thought I had to get on this property. I waited a few days before I brought it up and she said she would ask her dad but no promises. He invited me over and the rest is history as long as he got some venison.

I started running cameras that day. After a few weeks of collecting pictures I had two different bucks on my hit list. One a 3.5 year old eight that was around 130' and the buck I shot which I thought was a little bigger but I'm still in love with him. Opening weekend I hunted there only once and saw a ton of deer but no shots. I know 11 acres and no shots... In this spot I was hunting you have to harvest two doe before you can shoot a buck. Three weeks went by and I couldn't get a clean shot. I didn't want to take the risk of making a mistake and not being able to go after the deer if it went off his property. After a few weeks I still was unable to harvest a doe and I was going nuts. It just seemed like everything wasn't working out for me. Then a blessing in disguise happened for me, Hurricane Sandy. Remember I said for me, I still feel terrible for the people that lost everything. I am a school teacher and Hurricane Sandy knocked down a transformer in front of our building giving our school from Tuesday-Sunday off of that week. It all started to turn around for me Thursday morning when the winds started to die down and I could finally get out hunting. I knocked down my first doe at 16 yards. Next was Saturday evening when I shot a little doe which I still feel bad about to complete my mission of two doe. With all the scent I put in the woods over those few days I decided to still hunt there Sunday morning. From what I had been seeing the rut was kicking off and the bucks were moving. With daylight savings time messing me up a little I didn't get into my stand until just after shooting light. I was in the stand cursing myself out for not getting their earlier when I looked up and saw movement about 60 yards out. I was only in the stand for 15 minutes at this point and started to get excited. I stood up, grabbed my bow, and turned the camera on. When he stepped into an opening I could see it was one of my target bucks. Heart started pumping harder and harder at this point. He came into a scrap that some smaller bucks had been using on my past hunts. He was thirty yards away heading right into a shooting lane I had at 20 yards. As his head went behind some trees I pulled back. He walked out, I grunted, and touched off the release...

A flashback from two years ago entered my head as I was pulling back. I missed a beautiful 8 at 16 yards because my arrow hit a branch. So, as I released this arrow I was screaming in my head, "Please don't let this happen again!!!" I watched my arrow connect right to the spot I was aiming, THANK GOD!. Now, I have a Roscoby riser camera on my bow that captured it all but in the exciting moment I dropped my bow down (meaning pointed it at the ground) and followed the buck with my eyes instead of the camera. He ran about thirty yards and fell over. I couldn't believe my eyes and was ecstatic at this point. The first call I made was to my father. That man has taught me everything I know about the sport and wanted to share it with him first. Next call was to Ryan. I wanted to give a big thanks to him as I wouldn't have been able get this deer without him. What I mean by this is that when he was helping me set up the stand he recommended the stand placement and I took his advise. The bitter ending of this is that the home owner is really motivated to sell his house and I think this is the one and only year I will be able to hunt this honey hole. I plan on asking the new owners if he does sell it so keep your fingers crossed.
 
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Alphamax10

Member
1,042
72
Kirtland, Ohio
Here are my three favorite pictures of him

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1353249715.756749.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1353249739.935792.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1353249750.819111.jpg
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Great write up and buck Alphamax! Well done man! I hope things workout for ya so's you can keep hunting that place.