upper deck
Member
This is a hunt that I've really learned to appreciate and look forward to every year. Much of the success of this hunt is due to my dad's love for the land and having the vision and patience to plant 8.5 miles of tree rows to preserve to soil, even though I was the one with a garden hoe and a jug of water that got to spend the summer cleaning the weeds out of the rows. So 30 years later it makes for some great hunting and family time.
Now to the hunt, I spent the first 1.5 days trying to spend some time glassing in an attempt to locate a few mature deer. After not really turning anything up I decided on the 3rd morning of the hunt to get in a spot that overlooks a few known travel routes. About 9 am I noticed a few deer starting to move along a belt north of me, all does. Shortly after, around 9:15 I spotted a few more deer headed for the belt from the north, I then realized it was a mature buck that I was very interested in. He worked his way East and West along the north side of the belt with no shot opportunity, he finally crossed to the south side of the belt and gave me the opportunity I needed. I was able to put two quick shots in his chest at 458 yards, with a light wind I felt comfortable with the shot.
With my tag filled the focus was on finding my dad a good deer, he has shot some nice deer but never had an opportunity at some of the deer he sees during the summer farming. Wed and Thurs the days were filled with nice deer but nothing to fill a tag with. On Fri morning I went back to area where I killed mine and shortly after sunrise I had a great deer working his way across a harvested bean field and worked his way along a belt just 220 yards north of my. By the time dad was able to get over to me the deer had worked his way out of sight, end sat there the rest of the day with hope of him coming back into the picture but nothing showed back up. Fri morning we sat in the same spot and saw plenty of deer with a couple nice bucks but not the shooter from the day before. At about 10:30 I started to pack up when dad noticed some does about 600 yards NE of us. I got the spotting scope out and then saw the buck from the day before, so started the long wait again. He kept moving east along the belt and out of sight, we discussed the options and decided the best bet was to move around to the north of where we last seen him. Dad got moved around to the north and set up for the evening, I moved to a high point where I could cover a little more area. Shortly after setting up I spotted the buck north of where we last seen him, I started to get pretty excites as I knew it was just a matter of time before he would be in the area around dad. As I watched I heard a crack of a shot and the buck took off, not sure if he made the shot or not I headed to where he was set up. I got over there and saw a hell of a buck.
Now to the hunt, I spent the first 1.5 days trying to spend some time glassing in an attempt to locate a few mature deer. After not really turning anything up I decided on the 3rd morning of the hunt to get in a spot that overlooks a few known travel routes. About 9 am I noticed a few deer starting to move along a belt north of me, all does. Shortly after, around 9:15 I spotted a few more deer headed for the belt from the north, I then realized it was a mature buck that I was very interested in. He worked his way East and West along the north side of the belt with no shot opportunity, he finally crossed to the south side of the belt and gave me the opportunity I needed. I was able to put two quick shots in his chest at 458 yards, with a light wind I felt comfortable with the shot.
With my tag filled the focus was on finding my dad a good deer, he has shot some nice deer but never had an opportunity at some of the deer he sees during the summer farming. Wed and Thurs the days were filled with nice deer but nothing to fill a tag with. On Fri morning I went back to area where I killed mine and shortly after sunrise I had a great deer working his way across a harvested bean field and worked his way along a belt just 220 yards north of my. By the time dad was able to get over to me the deer had worked his way out of sight, end sat there the rest of the day with hope of him coming back into the picture but nothing showed back up. Fri morning we sat in the same spot and saw plenty of deer with a couple nice bucks but not the shooter from the day before. At about 10:30 I started to pack up when dad noticed some does about 600 yards NE of us. I got the spotting scope out and then saw the buck from the day before, so started the long wait again. He kept moving east along the belt and out of sight, we discussed the options and decided the best bet was to move around to the north of where we last seen him. Dad got moved around to the north and set up for the evening, I moved to a high point where I could cover a little more area. Shortly after setting up I spotted the buck north of where we last seen him, I started to get pretty excites as I knew it was just a matter of time before he would be in the area around dad. As I watched I heard a crack of a shot and the buck took off, not sure if he made the shot or not I headed to where he was set up. I got over there and saw a hell of a buck.
