Developing history with a particular deer or on a particular property is not something I have ever done in the past. I’ve always been invited to hunt on other people’s property or hunted public ground. That doesn’t lend itself to familiarity with herds or individual deer but is exciting in its own right nonetheless. My wife and I were blessed to be able to purchase a small piece of property in the summer of 2020, thus fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning land. The idea was to have a place to get away from the city from time to time and also have a place to hunt. Other than walking the property once and looking at satellite images before deciding to purchase, we knew nothing about it. Everything looked good and felt good and knowing the area somewhat, I knew the potential it held for being a good place to hunt and hopefully kill some decent deer.
I put out some cameras shortly after we took possession and wasn’t disappointed with the deer numbers and quality. Then came the hard part, figuring out how they were using the property and how to hunt it. I was fortunate enough to kill my 2020 buck at my buddy’s place in Lawrence county during our annual deer vacation. The pressure was off and this allowed me to just let things simmer and not really pressure it at all that first year. I was able to kill a doe during gun and that was a wrap for 2020.
Fast forward to 2021 when we decided to build a small cabin on the property. This consumed all of my time during the summer and most of the fall. Couple that with starting a new job in November and it left little time for anything deer related. I continued to check cams but that was about it. I had high hopes of killing my buck at my buddy’s place again but that wasn’t in the cards. I did, however notice a significant uptick in traffic. I was able to get out during muzzleloader and had a shot at a good buck but that wasn’t to be either as a small tree jumped up and took the bullet for him
.
We were able to get a lot done on the cabin and around the property during the winter and spring. Enough so that I was comfortable devoting a lot of time to some property improvements, setting new stands, moving existing ones, etc. That along with the little bit of history I had been able to develop with the local herd had me coming into this season with high hopes. I had more bucks in velvet and more deer in general frequenting the mineral sites all summer than I had since we got the place. I was able to go back through old pictures and identify a couple bucks that had made it through the previous seasons. That was a really cool thing to finally be able to do. And much to my delight there was a significant decrease in coyote activity and a significant increase in fawn numbers!
There were 2 bucks in particular that really had me pumped to hopefully get a crack at. One of them was the one I would end up shooting. He was a good buck in my book a couple years ago. I don’t recall getting any pics of him last year and certainly can’t find them if I did. Form 2020 to this year he went from pretty typical to all kinds of funky on his right side. He started showing up early summer and was a regular until he shed velvet. As they typically do in my area, he disappeared for a couple weeks and started showing back up right before the season came in. I was getting regular pics of him at dusk and dawn. This really got me going! Some history and now a pattern.
2020…
2022…
I was able to make it out the evening of opening day but didn’t see anything but a bobcat at last light. Looking ahead at the weather for the next week had me all kinds of excited. Friday couldn’t get here quick enough (working 4-10s is one of the perks of the new job). I headed out Thursday evening and got down to the cabin around 10:30. I have both a stand and a blind in the general vicinity of where I expected him to show and debated which one to hunt. The deciding factor ending up being the fact that I could comfortably drink my coffee in the blind. That turned out to be the right move. I had a button buck come through and literally brush up against the blind around 7:45. I had fun watching him for a bit before he meandered off. At 8:10 I caught movement to my right and sure enough it was a deer. It didn’t take long to realize it was him. My heart leapt into my throat and I kept telling myself to calm down. He messed around licking and rubbing a tree for a few minutes and I was certain he was going to mosey off. He then turned and started walking broadside towards me. At this point I realized “this is gonna happen!”. I waited for him to get behind a tree before shouldering my crossbow and clicking the safety off. He stopped, none the wiser, at 20 yards and was quartering to. I settled the crosshairs right to his shoulder and let it fly. I heard the the distinct “thwack” of a solid hit and watched him bound off. A moment later I heard what I thought was him crashing and then silence.
About this time Rick texts me and asks if I’m hunting. Says he and Maxx got one to track in Gallipolis and could stop by. I replied that I just shot one so come on down! We had talked at the summer shoot about bringing Maxx down to get some work in. I texted him earlier in the week to let him know I’d be hunting Friday. I was fairly certain it was a good hit and he didn’t go far but I didn’t want to risk pushing him. I went to the POI and had blood so I backed out and waited for Rick and Maxx. They got there around 11:00 and we commenced tracking. Maxx picked up the trail and we were off. It was a short job and Maxx found him 60 yards later, me and Rick in tow.
At this point I couldn’t believe it was really happening. 2 years of investment, work, patience, and developing some history had all led to this. And it did not disappoint! I was on cloud nine. We got him gutted and dragged out, snapped a few pics and Rick was off to his next adventure. I can’t thank him enough for making the trip and sharing the memory with me.
So I guess that ends the long winded recap of what I’ve been up to for the last couple years. He’s all cut up and in the freezer, a memory I’ll recall fondly every time I reach for a back strap or a pack of ground. May the good lord continue to bless us with many more years of memories made and history made.
I put out some cameras shortly after we took possession and wasn’t disappointed with the deer numbers and quality. Then came the hard part, figuring out how they were using the property and how to hunt it. I was fortunate enough to kill my 2020 buck at my buddy’s place in Lawrence county during our annual deer vacation. The pressure was off and this allowed me to just let things simmer and not really pressure it at all that first year. I was able to kill a doe during gun and that was a wrap for 2020.
Fast forward to 2021 when we decided to build a small cabin on the property. This consumed all of my time during the summer and most of the fall. Couple that with starting a new job in November and it left little time for anything deer related. I continued to check cams but that was about it. I had high hopes of killing my buck at my buddy’s place again but that wasn’t in the cards. I did, however notice a significant uptick in traffic. I was able to get out during muzzleloader and had a shot at a good buck but that wasn’t to be either as a small tree jumped up and took the bullet for him
.We were able to get a lot done on the cabin and around the property during the winter and spring. Enough so that I was comfortable devoting a lot of time to some property improvements, setting new stands, moving existing ones, etc. That along with the little bit of history I had been able to develop with the local herd had me coming into this season with high hopes. I had more bucks in velvet and more deer in general frequenting the mineral sites all summer than I had since we got the place. I was able to go back through old pictures and identify a couple bucks that had made it through the previous seasons. That was a really cool thing to finally be able to do. And much to my delight there was a significant decrease in coyote activity and a significant increase in fawn numbers!
There were 2 bucks in particular that really had me pumped to hopefully get a crack at. One of them was the one I would end up shooting. He was a good buck in my book a couple years ago. I don’t recall getting any pics of him last year and certainly can’t find them if I did. Form 2020 to this year he went from pretty typical to all kinds of funky on his right side. He started showing up early summer and was a regular until he shed velvet. As they typically do in my area, he disappeared for a couple weeks and started showing back up right before the season came in. I was getting regular pics of him at dusk and dawn. This really got me going! Some history and now a pattern.
2020…
2022…
I was able to make it out the evening of opening day but didn’t see anything but a bobcat at last light. Looking ahead at the weather for the next week had me all kinds of excited. Friday couldn’t get here quick enough (working 4-10s is one of the perks of the new job). I headed out Thursday evening and got down to the cabin around 10:30. I have both a stand and a blind in the general vicinity of where I expected him to show and debated which one to hunt. The deciding factor ending up being the fact that I could comfortably drink my coffee in the blind
. That turned out to be the right move. I had a button buck come through and literally brush up against the blind around 7:45. I had fun watching him for a bit before he meandered off. At 8:10 I caught movement to my right and sure enough it was a deer. It didn’t take long to realize it was him. My heart leapt into my throat and I kept telling myself to calm down. He messed around licking and rubbing a tree for a few minutes and I was certain he was going to mosey off. He then turned and started walking broadside towards me. At this point I realized “this is gonna happen!”. I waited for him to get behind a tree before shouldering my crossbow and clicking the safety off. He stopped, none the wiser, at 20 yards and was quartering to. I settled the crosshairs right to his shoulder and let it fly. I heard the the distinct “thwack” of a solid hit and watched him bound off. A moment later I heard what I thought was him crashing and then silence.About this time Rick texts me and asks if I’m hunting. Says he and Maxx got one to track in Gallipolis and could stop by. I replied that I just shot one so come on down! We had talked at the summer shoot about bringing Maxx down to get some work in. I texted him earlier in the week to let him know I’d be hunting Friday. I was fairly certain it was a good hit and he didn’t go far but I didn’t want to risk pushing him. I went to the POI and had blood so I backed out and waited for Rick and Maxx. They got there around 11:00 and we commenced tracking. Maxx picked up the trail and we were off. It was a short job and Maxx found him 60 yards later, me and Rick in tow.
At this point I couldn’t believe it was really happening. 2 years of investment, work, patience, and developing some history had all led to this. And it did not disappoint! I was on cloud nine. We got him gutted and dragged out, snapped a few pics and Rick was off to his next adventure. I can’t thank him enough for making the trip and sharing the memory with me.
So I guess that ends the long winded recap of what I’ve been up to for the last couple years. He’s all cut up and in the freezer, a memory I’ll recall fondly every time I reach for a back strap or a pack of ground. May the good lord continue to bless us with many more years of memories made and history made.
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. Words can not explain how happy and proud I am. You sir, are doing things right! Congrats to you and the Mexican (
) on making this dream happen. Hats off, 