I actually got blanked Sunday morning after getting pix of two great deer that I had not seen yet. With the warmer weather and SW wind I had, the upcoming North wind Sunday evening got me excited. The temp was supposed to start dropping at about 3.
I was in the stand by 230, and by 3 I heard something coming through the woods behind me, I assumed it was a squirrel and didnt turn to look right away. It got louder and heavier and I had to look. It was a dandy 125" 8 pointer. I was quite surprised at how early he was up, but it gave me a good boost of confidence for the evening. He worked a scrape and headed back into the woods.
I rattled hard about 15 minutes after he disappeared and a smaller 8 ptr showed up in the woods. he was curious, but didnt come out to the field edge. After he left I grunted some more, and not 30 minutes after that buck left, another 6 pointer showed up. the bucks were really on their feet and responding well to the calls for once.
As prime time approached, I had only seen one other doe but things were looking good. I rattled hard and i only got 10 seconds into the sequence when a 100-110 incher came blasting out of the timber and ran right up to my tree and made a big loop around my set up looking for whoever was making all the racket.
15 minutes later, I rattled again, and another 110 class show up from the opposite direction the prior had run off to. Very similar looking deer, but different buck. He looked for the fight but kept on working up the hill. This action was hot and with 20 minutes of shooting time left, my confidence was still high!
Just as things were getting dark I rattled one last time, hung up my antlers and grabbed my bow. Not 2-3 minutes later I heard the heavy dragging footsteps of an approaching buck and I readied myself in case it was a shooter.
I could tell he was a good buck, but he quickly jumped the fence and began working a scrape 20 yards from me. I didnt get a chance to fully identify him, but I determined he was a shooter and drew my bow as he turned to head up into the corn.
At 18 yards I grunted to stop him, settled the pin behind his shoulder and touched off the release..... I heard the arrow pop him, and I knew I made a good shot, but I had no idea where I hit him. I must have blinked and missed the impact.....
he ran in a big circle and after about 100 yards he laid down. He started throwing his head up and finally laid back and expired. The nice thing was he died right where I could drive up to him!!! Can't complain about that!!!
I got over 75 pictures of this deer starting in July and ending two days ago!
I elected to pass him on October 2nd, but he wasnt so lucky this time around!
