Congrats to Mike Cottis on being the September BOTM here on TOO! Mike's great opening weekend buck is the kind of deer we all seek to let the air out of come opening weekend. His story is sure to stoke the fire inside that has been slowly building steam all summer long! Thanks to Mike for putting together such a great story with several great pictures to go along with the read. Simply a great way to lead the TOO brotherhood into the season!!!
The 2010 deer season started off earlier for me than usual. I had done scouting in the past, but nothing like this... I finally had trail cameras! So my season of scouting became much more than road scouting and I was thankful as the property I was hunting did not have easy access to scouting at all. The property is all woods with only old logging roads to navigate quietly through the woods. For the past few years, I'd had a heck of a time learning the property and the trail cameras provided a big boost in deer sightings before hunting season rolled around.
The only drawback was that I was extremely busy with my son's fall baseball flag football seasons, so I was late hanging stands. Once mid-September rolled around, the bucks began showing up on camera. My dad (age 72), who routinely checked the cameras while I was at work, began sending me pictures via email of some shooters in the area. Of course my blood started pumping. The season was rapidly approaching and I was yet to hang a stand! It was killing me knowing that I was getting the following pictures...
A very nice 10 point and a sweet droptine buck. The dates show the latest pic being September 19…
As soon as I get these pictures sent to me I immediately call my dad and tell him I need to get my stands hung pronto! The 10 was nice and I would shoot him, but I had my sites set on the droptine. Unfortunately, this would be the first and only pictures of him…
Then my dad, who is retired and bored (God bless him), makes another trip into the woods. Now mind you, I'm asking him in a nice way to stay out of the woods and leave it alone until we can get in to hang the stand, but he's too curious and so am I. I was always hoping for more pictures of the droptine. It is decided that we will go on Saturday (opening morning) and hang my stand in the spot of the camera. I truly hadn't had time to do anything until that day.
So my dad, my two boys (Kody and Klay), and myself venture into the woods on opening morning to get to work. I'm already extremely angry with myself for my lack of prep and I am not happy about missing opening morning, but I had to do what I had to do. As we get ready to walk into the woods I tell my boys to be extremely quiet and cooperate with me. They were 8 and 10 at the time and having two boys be quiet and cooperative is damn near impossible.
As soon as we get to the spot we check the camera one last time. I am looking through the pics and I tell my dad, "You ain't going to believe this.... There is another giant and he was here yesterday and this morning!" I am beyond angry with myself at this point. If I had been set up and on stand I would've had a crack at a buck that had never been seen yet and would've been my biggest to date. I immediately fall in love with this buck and his double split brows and height.
The 2010 deer season started off earlier for me than usual. I had done scouting in the past, but nothing like this... I finally had trail cameras! So my season of scouting became much more than road scouting and I was thankful as the property I was hunting did not have easy access to scouting at all. The property is all woods with only old logging roads to navigate quietly through the woods. For the past few years, I'd had a heck of a time learning the property and the trail cameras provided a big boost in deer sightings before hunting season rolled around.
The only drawback was that I was extremely busy with my son's fall baseball flag football seasons, so I was late hanging stands. Once mid-September rolled around, the bucks began showing up on camera. My dad (age 72), who routinely checked the cameras while I was at work, began sending me pictures via email of some shooters in the area. Of course my blood started pumping. The season was rapidly approaching and I was yet to hang a stand! It was killing me knowing that I was getting the following pictures...
A very nice 10 point and a sweet droptine buck. The dates show the latest pic being September 19…
As soon as I get these pictures sent to me I immediately call my dad and tell him I need to get my stands hung pronto! The 10 was nice and I would shoot him, but I had my sites set on the droptine. Unfortunately, this would be the first and only pictures of him…
Then my dad, who is retired and bored (God bless him), makes another trip into the woods. Now mind you, I'm asking him in a nice way to stay out of the woods and leave it alone until we can get in to hang the stand, but he's too curious and so am I. I was always hoping for more pictures of the droptine. It is decided that we will go on Saturday (opening morning) and hang my stand in the spot of the camera. I truly hadn't had time to do anything until that day.
So my dad, my two boys (Kody and Klay), and myself venture into the woods on opening morning to get to work. I'm already extremely angry with myself for my lack of prep and I am not happy about missing opening morning, but I had to do what I had to do. As we get ready to walk into the woods I tell my boys to be extremely quiet and cooperate with me. They were 8 and 10 at the time and having two boys be quiet and cooperative is damn near impossible.
As soon as we get to the spot we check the camera one last time. I am looking through the pics and I tell my dad, "You ain't going to believe this.... There is another giant and he was here yesterday and this morning!" I am beyond angry with myself at this point. If I had been set up and on stand I would've had a crack at a buck that had never been seen yet and would've been my biggest to date. I immediately fall in love with this buck and his double split brows and height.
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