Well, dad made his annual trip up from NC this past weekend. He usually tags out the first morning hunt, however this year he did not. He said he saw a couple of shooters, but they were a little further than he was comfortable shooting. Saturday was an eventful day, I'll make another post with those details.
Sunday morning was a quick hunt for me. I was on stand and setup by 6:05, nestled in and trying to catch a few zzz's. I could hear stuff crashing in the woods around me, along with coyotes, and hoot owls, all before 6:30. Then it got quiet. Around 6:40 which was legal shooting time, even though with the overcast I couldn't see well enough to shoot, I grabbed my bow and stood up to be ready. At 6:50, I could hear crashing in the brush (what I think was him making a scrape), then I could hear him walking. I positioned myself for a shot the direction he would have been coming from (my right to left). I saw him stepping through the brush but couldn't make out what he was, then he turned and started walking to me. I could see he was an 8, and pretty wide so I decided I'd shoot him. As he stepped to within 8 yards of my stand, I let one fly. I heard it hit hard and watched him run off but I couldn't tell where the hit was.
I gave it 15 minutes, then packed up and climbed down. I decided I'd look for my arrow and blood, then pack everything out to the truck and come back and look. I found blood, but no arrow. Took my stuff to the truck, shed a layer of scentlok and went back to track. He ran about 70 yards. He's not the biggest that I've killed (in fact, he may be the smallest Ohio buck I've killed in terms of antler size), but he is the widest and I was stoked to be able to take on while dad was up on his trip for a change. I guess next year I'll be more patient.
Sunday morning was a quick hunt for me. I was on stand and setup by 6:05, nestled in and trying to catch a few zzz's. I could hear stuff crashing in the woods around me, along with coyotes, and hoot owls, all before 6:30. Then it got quiet. Around 6:40 which was legal shooting time, even though with the overcast I couldn't see well enough to shoot, I grabbed my bow and stood up to be ready. At 6:50, I could hear crashing in the brush (what I think was him making a scrape), then I could hear him walking. I positioned myself for a shot the direction he would have been coming from (my right to left). I saw him stepping through the brush but couldn't make out what he was, then he turned and started walking to me. I could see he was an 8, and pretty wide so I decided I'd shoot him. As he stepped to within 8 yards of my stand, I let one fly. I heard it hit hard and watched him run off but I couldn't tell where the hit was.
I gave it 15 minutes, then packed up and climbed down. I decided I'd look for my arrow and blood, then pack everything out to the truck and come back and look. I found blood, but no arrow. Took my stuff to the truck, shed a layer of scentlok and went back to track. He ran about 70 yards. He's not the biggest that I've killed (in fact, he may be the smallest Ohio buck I've killed in terms of antler size), but he is the widest and I was stoked to be able to take on while dad was up on his trip for a change. I guess next year I'll be more patient.