Mass Daddy
This year has been one of the most difficult and trying seasons in the deer woods. Frustration and exhaustion both physically and mentally begin to set in after countless hours of scouting, sitting in stands and blinds, and fighting the cold and the heat. Doubt, confusion, and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with thoughts of the big bucks eluding you begin to take over. I have learned these are just common symptoms of deer hunting addiction. After 200+ hours in the stand spread over 48 hunts, this is the story of my largest mature whitetail.
The story actually begins in 2011 during which I attained a new piece of property to lease for hunting along with four other guys. Trail cameras were hung, mineral sites established, and I personally did not hunt this particular tract of land the entire season. Most trail cam photos showed small bucks with plenty of deer on the property. Fast forward to 2012, the same approach was taken. Minimal hunting pressure, I hunted two days the entire season on this property. I took a doe in shotgun season and I believe it was the only deer taken from the property during those two seasons. Late season trail camera survey revealed several 2.5 year old bucks which made the outlook for the 2013 season to be promising. There had been no photos or sightings of my buck at this time. While I was on a trip out of state, my dad decided to do a little shed hunting and came up with this set about 40 yards apart in a pine thicket. Not having any trail cam photos had me wondering where this deer had been hiding all year.
Spring of 2013 came with great turkey and mushroom hunting. I located this shed on the property during a mushroom hunt and I was starting to think some good bucks were making this area their home. I mixed my own minerals up and started two sites in locations I felt would hold some good deer.
As the beginning of the 2013 Ohio archery season drew near I had photos of one buck that I believed to be 3.5 that I would shoot. He was a tall 8 and at this point was my primary target as none of the other properties I hunt were producing photos. I placed two blinds in thickets on opposite sides of the farm and brushed them in.
Season had arrived, excited to be in the stand I hunted 24 times in the first month of the season without seeing a deer on 14 trips. Was my scouting really this terrible? Were the deer numbers declining so much that I was seeing this much of a change? I wasn’t sure but I was having some doubts in my techniques and tactics. I had the two blinds and two ladder stands set on the property and had hunted them 7 times in that first month without a single deer being seen. Thankfully the rut was just around the corner and I knew there would be opportunities regardless of where I hunted at seeing some mature deer.
This year has been one of the most difficult and trying seasons in the deer woods. Frustration and exhaustion both physically and mentally begin to set in after countless hours of scouting, sitting in stands and blinds, and fighting the cold and the heat. Doubt, confusion, and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with thoughts of the big bucks eluding you begin to take over. I have learned these are just common symptoms of deer hunting addiction. After 200+ hours in the stand spread over 48 hunts, this is the story of my largest mature whitetail.
The story actually begins in 2011 during which I attained a new piece of property to lease for hunting along with four other guys. Trail cameras were hung, mineral sites established, and I personally did not hunt this particular tract of land the entire season. Most trail cam photos showed small bucks with plenty of deer on the property. Fast forward to 2012, the same approach was taken. Minimal hunting pressure, I hunted two days the entire season on this property. I took a doe in shotgun season and I believe it was the only deer taken from the property during those two seasons. Late season trail camera survey revealed several 2.5 year old bucks which made the outlook for the 2013 season to be promising. There had been no photos or sightings of my buck at this time. While I was on a trip out of state, my dad decided to do a little shed hunting and came up with this set about 40 yards apart in a pine thicket. Not having any trail cam photos had me wondering where this deer had been hiding all year.
Spring of 2013 came with great turkey and mushroom hunting. I located this shed on the property during a mushroom hunt and I was starting to think some good bucks were making this area their home. I mixed my own minerals up and started two sites in locations I felt would hold some good deer.
As the beginning of the 2013 Ohio archery season drew near I had photos of one buck that I believed to be 3.5 that I would shoot. He was a tall 8 and at this point was my primary target as none of the other properties I hunt were producing photos. I placed two blinds in thickets on opposite sides of the farm and brushed them in.
Season had arrived, excited to be in the stand I hunted 24 times in the first month of the season without seeing a deer on 14 trips. Was my scouting really this terrible? Were the deer numbers declining so much that I was seeing this much of a change? I wasn’t sure but I was having some doubts in my techniques and tactics. I had the two blinds and two ladder stands set on the property and had hunted them 7 times in that first month without a single deer being seen. Thankfully the rut was just around the corner and I knew there would be opportunities regardless of where I hunted at seeing some mature deer.