There was alot of talk on here between many of us about which days to take off work during the rut. I tried November 3rd and had a decent 8 point under my stand making a scrape and putting on quite a show. I sat all day and that was the only buck I saw.
I then tried November 11th and the only deer I saw all day was 2 doe at 8:00. With high winds all day all I got was wind burnt on my face. It was a frustrating day to say the least.
I spent countless hours on stand every morning I could and just about every evening since Late October. Then, listening to you guys and your rut reports, as well as looking at the weather reports, I decided to hunt this morning before work. I asked the fella in the classroom next to mine if he could cover my homeroom so I could sneak out for a morning hunt. That would give me woods time until about 9:00 and back in the classroom for my first period at 9:15 (the property I'm hunting is pretty close to the school). He agreed and it was all set. I had debated about taking my final personal day, but decided just a morning sit and then evening, if needed, would be good.
I left my house at 5:45 and started the walk in at 6:15. On my way in I passed a thicket and heard commotion coming from it. I stopped and saw a tail take off. It ran across a small field and stopped at the woods edge. I put the binos up and I could see rack, but it was too dark to tell how big. The walk to the stand was not good. The frost had caused every step to sound like eggshells crushing under my feet. I could hear deer bolting over the hill down to the lake and snorting from, waht seemed, every direction.
I shook my head in frustration and continued on my way. There was nothing I could do. I climbed up my ladder stand, hung my bow on the hook, and settled in hoping I didn't scare the whole county. It was 6:30...
A few minutes after settling in I hear walking to my right and make out a body walking about 40 yards from me. I put the binos up and it's a doe that had to watch me walk in and climb up. She wondered off in front of me then headed up and old logging road and out of sight. 10 minutes passed and I hear more walking from where the doe went. I again see a body and look through the binos... it's a buck! "Here he comes" I say to myself. He's walking down the road the doe just walked out and headed right for me. I'm almost piositive it is "Jagger".
Jagger is a nice 8 pointer that we've been getting on camera pretty frequently. I reach for my bow and prepare for the encounter when I lose sight of him. I then see a flicker of a tail and notice that he has turned with his nose on the ground and decided to bird dog the doe that just went through... "you got to be kidding me".
A couple minutes pass and I still have my bow in my left hand hoping he changes his mind, but I can't see him. I then hear walking over the hill from me. I am perched on the edge of a ridge with a hillside going up to my right and a hillside going down to a lake to my left. In front of me is a long flat leading up the holler.
The walking I hear is directly over my left shoulder and straight down. I can't see the deer, but I know it's there. I still have my bow in hand and I'm stuck... I try rubbernecking over my shoulder and finally see that it's a doe and she has seen me trying to get a look. I freeze... she stares... she finally begins feeding again. I slowly turn to face front and get the kink out of my neck. Now I hear walking in front of me.
Shooting light has arrived by now and I see a body through the trees straight ahead. Again I put the binos up, but very slowly knowing that the doe is still below me and probably watching me. The new comer is a 4 point checking scrapes.
At this point my head is on a slow swivel trying to figure out where all this new noise is coming from. I hear more walking to my left over the hill but further down from where the doe is. Again I strain to look over my shoulder.... I see good rack, but not sure how good. The buck is about 50 yards away and in a tangle of twigs. He clearly is interested in the doe.
I again grab my trusty binos to get a better look. I put them up to my eyes and... FOGGED UP! Seriously?!?!?! I made the mistake of not holding my breath on either the last look or this one and I couldn't see a damn thing. With my bow still in my left hand I lower my binos with my right and try to wipe the lens. Now the buck is acting fidgety because the doe is intently watching me. I'm screwed...
I manage to get the right lens clear enough to see and I try again. I get a decent enough look to see that he might be one of my target bucks. At this point, because of where the deer were positioned, I'm all twisted up. The doe is still looking at me and the 4 point that was in front of me on the upper level is also staring at me. The only one not worried too much about me is the buck. He looks at the doe, then me, then the 4 point which he can probably just see his head. He continues this trend... he looks at her, me, him, her, me, him...
My mind is racing and I'm really not positive this is a target buck but it sure looks damn close to one. By this time he is at about 30 yards and facing directly at me. I'm still sitting (I never did have a chance to stand) and he is starting to waiver on leaving. I can see it in his body language. He turns and is now broadside at 30 yards... he walks a little and is now quartering away at 40 yards. It's now or never.
When he looks away I draw... the 4 point snorts... the doe trots off... he stands there. I settled the 40 yard pin on him. I pull my head out from the peep to get one more look at him... I settle back in and let her loose. Crack! He bolts down the hill toward the lake. I can see him run off the second level... then the 3rd in a series of ridges and then he does a Pete Rose head first slide into the swamp at the bottom and at the edge of the lake.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him go down. I was questioning the shot in my head the whole time. Should I take it? Can I make this shot? In the end I decided he was worth it and I ended up burying the arrow about 6 inches behind the facing shoulder and out the front of the opposite shoulder.
Like in the All Star game when Pete Rose took out Ray Fosse at home plate, this buck was DOA.
I immediately call my right hand man, my dad. It is now 7:40 and I get to tell him the good news. I tell him that I got one and I think it is Jagger. I can see the buck clear at the bottom, but can't see rack because he wrapped around a tree.
My dad says he's on his way and I head down to get my first look.
The exit wound is right under the whisker biscuit.
When I come up on him I realize, it's not Jagger. Now, in hindsight, I'm pretty dang sure Jagger was the buck I saw earlier bird dogging that doe. However, I was very happy with the buck I took and very thankful for the opportunity to harvest him. He's not the biggest buck in these woods and not the biggest we have on camera, but he's solid. An itchy trigger finger doesn't help either!
Halfway down to the buck I came across my arrow at the impact site. It was a pass through and from there I got my range finder out. I looked back up at my stand which was straight above me. It read 40 yards on the nose. I never did the range finder for that shot while sitting in the stand. It was a guess... feels good to be lucky sometimes.
After getting to the deer I decided that I had way too much clothing on. I headed back up the hill to my truck and shed the coveralls and put on my lighter clothes. I also dropped the bow off which is why the bow isn't in the hero shots.
By then my dad had arrived and we walked down together to field dress and drag. I know many of you have heard this before, but my dad has been with me for every single kill. He may not be right in the stand with me, but he's there if you know what I mean.
Once again, just like last year, he spent a ton of time scouting either with me or for me. He checks cameras while I'm at work and promptly emails me eye candy to look at to make sure I can't focus on my job.
He helps hang stands... He helps move stands... He helps track... He helps drag... He helps hang the deer... He goes through everything I do. If the hunting isn't so good, he feels it. When I make the call to him that it's time to drag one out I think he gets just as excited as I am. Not about the dragging part, but... well, you get the idea.
I can't thank him enough for the time and help.
After getting the buck loaded up in his truck I headed off to work. A few people there are actually interested in what I do. I showed off some pics then headed into the lounge where there were some Krispy Kremes. I still had a little blood on my wrist and shirt sleeve (didn't realize it) and I dove into the donuts. I got some "ewwww gross" looks from the ladies. Oops!
Then I headed upstairs to get ready for the rest of my day.
So, that's the story of the "Pre-Work" buck. I do have some trial camera pics of him from the last couple nights, but I need to swap cards after just doing a quick check today. Hopefully by tomorrow I can post them up. In the meantime, here's one of him from earlier in the year... try not to laugh.
I then tried November 11th and the only deer I saw all day was 2 doe at 8:00. With high winds all day all I got was wind burnt on my face. It was a frustrating day to say the least.
I spent countless hours on stand every morning I could and just about every evening since Late October. Then, listening to you guys and your rut reports, as well as looking at the weather reports, I decided to hunt this morning before work. I asked the fella in the classroom next to mine if he could cover my homeroom so I could sneak out for a morning hunt. That would give me woods time until about 9:00 and back in the classroom for my first period at 9:15 (the property I'm hunting is pretty close to the school). He agreed and it was all set. I had debated about taking my final personal day, but decided just a morning sit and then evening, if needed, would be good.
I left my house at 5:45 and started the walk in at 6:15. On my way in I passed a thicket and heard commotion coming from it. I stopped and saw a tail take off. It ran across a small field and stopped at the woods edge. I put the binos up and I could see rack, but it was too dark to tell how big. The walk to the stand was not good. The frost had caused every step to sound like eggshells crushing under my feet. I could hear deer bolting over the hill down to the lake and snorting from, waht seemed, every direction.
I shook my head in frustration and continued on my way. There was nothing I could do. I climbed up my ladder stand, hung my bow on the hook, and settled in hoping I didn't scare the whole county. It was 6:30...
A few minutes after settling in I hear walking to my right and make out a body walking about 40 yards from me. I put the binos up and it's a doe that had to watch me walk in and climb up. She wondered off in front of me then headed up and old logging road and out of sight. 10 minutes passed and I hear more walking from where the doe went. I again see a body and look through the binos... it's a buck! "Here he comes" I say to myself. He's walking down the road the doe just walked out and headed right for me. I'm almost piositive it is "Jagger".
Jagger is a nice 8 pointer that we've been getting on camera pretty frequently. I reach for my bow and prepare for the encounter when I lose sight of him. I then see a flicker of a tail and notice that he has turned with his nose on the ground and decided to bird dog the doe that just went through... "you got to be kidding me".
A couple minutes pass and I still have my bow in my left hand hoping he changes his mind, but I can't see him. I then hear walking over the hill from me. I am perched on the edge of a ridge with a hillside going up to my right and a hillside going down to a lake to my left. In front of me is a long flat leading up the holler.
The walking I hear is directly over my left shoulder and straight down. I can't see the deer, but I know it's there. I still have my bow in hand and I'm stuck... I try rubbernecking over my shoulder and finally see that it's a doe and she has seen me trying to get a look. I freeze... she stares... she finally begins feeding again. I slowly turn to face front and get the kink out of my neck. Now I hear walking in front of me.
Shooting light has arrived by now and I see a body through the trees straight ahead. Again I put the binos up, but very slowly knowing that the doe is still below me and probably watching me. The new comer is a 4 point checking scrapes.
At this point my head is on a slow swivel trying to figure out where all this new noise is coming from. I hear more walking to my left over the hill but further down from where the doe is. Again I strain to look over my shoulder.... I see good rack, but not sure how good. The buck is about 50 yards away and in a tangle of twigs. He clearly is interested in the doe.
I again grab my trusty binos to get a better look. I put them up to my eyes and... FOGGED UP! Seriously?!?!?! I made the mistake of not holding my breath on either the last look or this one and I couldn't see a damn thing. With my bow still in my left hand I lower my binos with my right and try to wipe the lens. Now the buck is acting fidgety because the doe is intently watching me. I'm screwed...
I manage to get the right lens clear enough to see and I try again. I get a decent enough look to see that he might be one of my target bucks. At this point, because of where the deer were positioned, I'm all twisted up. The doe is still looking at me and the 4 point that was in front of me on the upper level is also staring at me. The only one not worried too much about me is the buck. He looks at the doe, then me, then the 4 point which he can probably just see his head. He continues this trend... he looks at her, me, him, her, me, him...
My mind is racing and I'm really not positive this is a target buck but it sure looks damn close to one. By this time he is at about 30 yards and facing directly at me. I'm still sitting (I never did have a chance to stand) and he is starting to waiver on leaving. I can see it in his body language. He turns and is now broadside at 30 yards... he walks a little and is now quartering away at 40 yards. It's now or never.
When he looks away I draw... the 4 point snorts... the doe trots off... he stands there. I settled the 40 yard pin on him. I pull my head out from the peep to get one more look at him... I settle back in and let her loose. Crack! He bolts down the hill toward the lake. I can see him run off the second level... then the 3rd in a series of ridges and then he does a Pete Rose head first slide into the swamp at the bottom and at the edge of the lake.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him go down. I was questioning the shot in my head the whole time. Should I take it? Can I make this shot? In the end I decided he was worth it and I ended up burying the arrow about 6 inches behind the facing shoulder and out the front of the opposite shoulder.
Like in the All Star game when Pete Rose took out Ray Fosse at home plate, this buck was DOA.
I immediately call my right hand man, my dad. It is now 7:40 and I get to tell him the good news. I tell him that I got one and I think it is Jagger. I can see the buck clear at the bottom, but can't see rack because he wrapped around a tree.
My dad says he's on his way and I head down to get my first look.
The exit wound is right under the whisker biscuit.
When I come up on him I realize, it's not Jagger. Now, in hindsight, I'm pretty dang sure Jagger was the buck I saw earlier bird dogging that doe. However, I was very happy with the buck I took and very thankful for the opportunity to harvest him. He's not the biggest buck in these woods and not the biggest we have on camera, but he's solid. An itchy trigger finger doesn't help either!
Halfway down to the buck I came across my arrow at the impact site. It was a pass through and from there I got my range finder out. I looked back up at my stand which was straight above me. It read 40 yards on the nose. I never did the range finder for that shot while sitting in the stand. It was a guess... feels good to be lucky sometimes.
After getting to the deer I decided that I had way too much clothing on. I headed back up the hill to my truck and shed the coveralls and put on my lighter clothes. I also dropped the bow off which is why the bow isn't in the hero shots.
By then my dad had arrived and we walked down together to field dress and drag. I know many of you have heard this before, but my dad has been with me for every single kill. He may not be right in the stand with me, but he's there if you know what I mean.
Once again, just like last year, he spent a ton of time scouting either with me or for me. He checks cameras while I'm at work and promptly emails me eye candy to look at to make sure I can't focus on my job.
He helps hang stands... He helps move stands... He helps track... He helps drag... He helps hang the deer... He goes through everything I do. If the hunting isn't so good, he feels it. When I make the call to him that it's time to drag one out I think he gets just as excited as I am. Not about the dragging part, but... well, you get the idea.
I can't thank him enough for the time and help.
After getting the buck loaded up in his truck I headed off to work. A few people there are actually interested in what I do. I showed off some pics then headed into the lounge where there were some Krispy Kremes. I still had a little blood on my wrist and shirt sleeve (didn't realize it) and I dove into the donuts. I got some "ewwww gross" looks from the ladies. Oops!
Then I headed upstairs to get ready for the rest of my day.
So, that's the story of the "Pre-Work" buck. I do have some trial camera pics of him from the last couple nights, but I need to swap cards after just doing a quick check today. Hopefully by tomorrow I can post them up. In the meantime, here's one of him from earlier in the year... try not to laugh.
