2016 BBC Stories / Pics / POST HERE

[Jeff G]

It's true........5 point bucks are better than 10 point bucks

Let me explain why.

Rewind. My son turned 10 this year, first year to buy his own tag. He has sat with me the last 3 years and we have done very well, so well he thinks deer hunting (shooting a buck) is easy....

2015 Christmas I bought him a youth 20 gauge shotgun, we put a rifled barrel on it and he was going to practice over the summer shooting. Very good shot for a 10 year old.

Fast forward. 2016 October youth hunt in WI. Dan set us up on a big buck spot so Jameson could get a crack at his first deer. He was pumped up. No deer, but a great time was had. On the way home he said he needed a scope so he could shoot farther. Guess what next week I bought a scope and we were at the range practicing. He was ready for his next chance.

We hunt MN and WI. MN gun opener was Nov. 5. We sat an observation stand Friday evening. He saw a 7 pointer and a few does. he was getting excited for the morning hunt.

Opening day. We sit the thermal tunnel on a long ridge, i know where the bedding is and how they cruise. This spot has been very productive in the past. 8am: I rattle lightly, 2 minutes later i see a little buck coming in. I quickly turned the camera on and gave the gun to my son. Being 10, he needs to use a shooting stick to support the gun. He determined earlier where his shooting zone of comfort was. He was not able to cover a large area. The buck started up the hill toward us. He stopped, i knew he did not smell us due to the 10 lbs of milkweed my son had been dropping all morning. i gave him a small doe bleat. He started back toward us, stopped again. Now started to walk a different direction.....i gave him one last bleat, he turned and walked into the shooting lane. Jameson was all set, he was on the sticks and had the deer in the scope. Next thing i head was a quiet "click". I asked if he could see the shoulder. I asked Jameson if he wanted to take the shot and felt comftroble. One second later....Kaboom!

Buck mule kicks, runs down the bluff out of sight. We hear some small crashes and all is quiet.

i was pretty sure he hit him. i told him we would wait 1 hour (i was not sure, although i saw a mule kick). I didn't want him to loose his first deer.

i got down found a spot about the size of a quarter. then nothing. i circled around, nothing. i took the trail i thought he went down, found a few more specks, then a gusher. There laid his buck. A perfect shot thru the lungs and grazed the heart. I quickly got back to him and he asked what i found. I said i found a little blood, and needed his help. He put his head down and started to cry. He said he wanted it so bad and aimed so hard. I told him to come help me look. More eyes are better. I let him find the first blood and we turned it into a tracking lesson, he quickly picked up the trail and it lead to his buck!!! He was soooooo happy. I was sooooo proud. 10 years old, first season, one shot, 5 point buck down!!! He said "dad, this is easy" lol

As we were doing interviews, a giant walked up on us and ran away.

When we were dragging, a 7 pointer came in and we let him goo as well.

We got the deer registered and taken care of. It was now 1pm, I said should we try to get me a deer? He said yes. he even told me he could shoot it for me. lol

we sat in the same stand as the morning. I knew the bucks would be cruising that spot with the thermal tunnel still there. 4:30: Hey Jameson, there's a big buck. It has 4 points on one side, its legal, can you shoot that far. No, dad you have to do it. He disappeared for 5 minutes. I bleated at him, he was curious and looking around. He started up toward us. I took the shot. Dad, you missed. I must have hit some of the little branches. The buck froze due to the echo of the shot in the valley. He did not know where it came from. He took a few more steps and i hammered him hard. He took off down the ridge. A minute later Jameson saw him flick his tail, then we saw a white belly flop. I thought he was wounded and down in the deep ditch, so i got out of the tree, ran down the hill, found a blood trail that was unbelievable. There he laid dead. A 10 point buck. Went back got Jameson and we gave high fives.

We will never forget this day. I was happy with just getting him his first deer, i didn't care if i even got a shot. wow.

Memories for a lifetime, and that's why 5 pointers are better than 10 pointers.

[Peeps22]

[quote="Peeps22"]This year has been the toughest year yet as far as hunting goes. I did an out of state hunt in ND with a friend in early september for the opener out there. Needless to say, neither of us came back with a deer, but we still had a great time and learned alot.

After returning from ND, i got back into shining and doing some scouting around home for the fast approaching WI bow opener. Feeling fairly confident with my findings and sightings while shining, weeks went on without any close encounter with a nice buck. On Oct. 16th i finally had a nice buck within 60 yds but just never had a shot...

The next couple weeks went by and still no buck tag was filled. On November 14th, i took vacation from work and sat all day. At last light i heard a series of grunts in the catails, followed by a bunch of crashing. I got ready and saw the doe come flying out of the redbrush and run past me at 40 yds. No more than 10 seconds later he followed right in her tracks.

Perfect, right??! Unfortunatly, he ran through every shooting lane i had there doing about 80mph, and he never stopped for noise i threw at him. I didnt get a real good look at him but knew he was BIG. I had maybe missed 7 or 8 days from Sept. when it opened, to November 19 when gun hunting started And that only yielded a handful of big buck sightings. I tried not hang my head on the missed opportunity with that big guy, but man i was starting to get a little burnt out...

I gun hunted opening weekend and again thanksgiving morning with no buck sightings. That next day i recieved a picture from my cousins fiance (he hunts the same lease as i do where i saw that big buck not even a week before)

I was soo happy for him, that was by far his biggest buck and he has really started to put in his time bowhunting the last few years. He would have rather got it with the bow, but i dont think you'll here him complain...

Again though, it was kind of another kick to the boys as far as my season was going....

I hunted muzzleloader as much as i could with not much happening after the gun season pressure... we did end up getting quite a bit of snow so i decided to get a head start on scouting for some late season bowhunting.

I put on some miles on private land and public land as i knew pressure on public would be rapidly decreasing after muzzleloader was done. Once the last antlerless t-zone hunt was over with i could get back at it.

I hunted everyday i could and was seeing quite alot of deer. I hunted private and public equally and was still striking out with no big buck sightings. The week after Christmas i had off of work so i planned on hitting the woods everynight. Mornings were spent scouting...

Thurs. Dec. 29th: i hunted some private land but didnt see a deer, except on the drive home. I was seeing outlines of deer left and right. I quick drove home and dropped my bow off and went back to shine some of the fields around the public areas i was targeting. Lone behold, i saw a nice buck across the road from public! I got home and started to make a gameplan...

Fri. Dec. 30th: As much as i wanted to go in after the buck i saw shining, i couldnt because the wind just wasnt right for any setup in where i thought the buck was bedding, so i decided to head in at 10am on the opposite side of the public where i saw that buck and scout my way in and try to get on some fresh sign over there. I got on some good tracks and followed them until about 90yds of suspected bedding. I setup and ended up seeing a half rack 10pt, and watched a decent 8pt chase a lone doe around in the redbrush. He never offered a shot though, and stayed out of range... after hunting i quick ran home to drop my bow off and i headed back over to shine again like the night before. Once again, i saw the nice buck from the night before...

Sat. Dec 31st: i got a text from a friend on Saturday morning asking if he could venture into the public with me that night. The wind was right for the bedding area that i thought the big buck was using. It was just over a mile back into public. I knew of other possible bedding that was within 200yds or so of where i would be setting up so i showed my buddy where to setup on a map before we headed in. We walked in and parted ways about 3/4 of a mile in.

I was setup in a group of 3 cedar trees along a cedar swamp and redbrush transition with the bedding being just inside the redbrush. I saw a lone deer about 80yds out but couldnt tell what it was. About 4:20 i stood up and was going to stand the rest of the night when i caught movement to my right. I grabbed my bow and tried to peek through the branches to see what it was. Finally i caught a rack and got ready as the deer was only 30 yds away and coming right past me. He ended up coming past at 25 yds and i hit him a bit back. I got my lone wolf down and checked for blood where i hit him. I saw blood and then decided to backout for the night with the possiblity of me hitting liver and maybe guts.



After a long night of celebrating the new year, and a couple hours of laying awake in bed, the sun rose and my dad, 2 buddies, my girlfriend, and myself headed out to track him...

He went about 100 yds before he started bedding down. We found 5 beds within 10 yds of each other and the last bed had him laying in it!

Now when i shot him, i thought he was maybe a little bigger than the 10pt i shot last year. Well there wasnt any ground shrinkage and he was bigger than i thought... he ended up being a 10pt with a 19 3/4" spread and weighed 172#.

I did get the shot on video and its my first kill shot on film with the bow... im going to try and get it on here eventually.

It was a fun and long drag out but we all had some good laughs along the way. After a long hard fought season, i wouldnt have had it go any other way. I learned a ton and got it done late season on public land. This was a hunt ill never forget!

[Matt3]

On October 8th 2016 I was able to hunt on Fort Campbell in one of the archery areas. I was finally able to do an all-day hunt. Fort Campbell is difficult due to the fact that you have to go in blind unless you have hunted the area in the past, or the area was open for hiking. The weather was clear with a high of 70 and a low of 52. For Thursday and Friday the high was in the low 80’s. The wind all day was coming out of the north at up to 21mph. I just started using the moon guide this year. The dial said it was a red moon weekend, with morning hunts by beds and evening hunts by field edges, with the best opportunities in the evening.

I did not know where to go for the morning and did not expect to see anything, but wanted to get out so I set up in a transition area coming off of a bean field. I was able to hear a lot of motion while it was dark, but ended up not seeing anything. While in my stand I was looking at the topographic I had, as well as google maps satellite view on my phone. Knowing that field edges were supposed to be good in the evening, but also knowing that with this being public/pressured areas, I decided to set up in an area where there was thick/nasty bedding type area down below, with a bean field up top. On the walk in I bumped a doe, and then when I got closer to where I wanted to be I saw a few rubs and then I bumped a small buck. I got where I wanted and started looking for a good tree. I made sure that I didn’t go back from how far I went in. I found a tree that would offer up to a 50 yard shot, but expected shots to be less than 30. I double checked the wind and it was blowing from the field to just off the thick nasty bedding area. It looked to be a perfect setup.

I used my Lone wolf stand/stick combo and got up about 22 feet. I was ready to go by 12:30pm. Periodically, I would check the wind with milkweed seeds that I got back a few years ago from a member on the beast. Wind was perfect for what I was looking for and what I was hoping would happen. Around 3:30pm I caught movement to my right that turned out to be 5 hens, then I caught more movement coming from my left, which was not where I expected anything to come from. Low and behold, 2 hunters were coming my way… I whistled, and blew on my grunt call until finally at 40 yards one of them spots me, slumps his shoulders and they walk back the way they came. I didn’t expect to see anything else for a while. At 3:45pm I saw a young deer coming up from the bedding area to my right. She slowly walked and fed her way up to about 12 yards. I ranged her in my shooting lane at 23 yards, took a few pictures and just watched her. She kept looking behind her and flicking her tail. I then saw another doe coming. She looked to be quite a bit older than the first. She again walked right through my shooting lane. With the first doe at 12 yards, second doe at 20, I saw a third deer coming behind them. Once I saw it I knew, this was the one I had been waiting for. I didn’t even bother to count. I knew he was bigger than anything I had ever killed before. He followed the exact path the first two deer took. When he was looking the other way I drew my bow and waited. As he stepped into the middle of my shooting lane I let the arrow fly. I didn’t want to try and stop him because of how close the doe was to me. The arrow looked like it hit right where I was aiming, and was a clean pass through. The buck ran in front of my stand and was at 25 yards facing almost directly away from me and was behind a huge tree. The does didn’t even move. I grabbed another arrow and got ready. I expected him to drop and was surprised when he started to walk away. I drew back again, and even with the severe angle and let it fly and stuck it right behind his ribs straight into the center of his chest cavity. I could see the last 4-6 inches sticking out. I was using lit nocks, which I will use for the rest of my days hunting. After the second hit, the buck jogged back down towards the bedding and I lost sight of him. I contacted the game warden on Fort Campbell to notify him and told him what happened. He was surprised that I didn’t hear the buck crash and told me to meet him out by my truck. I dropped off my stand at the truck and grabbed my Vikings deer sled. He asked me how big it was and I told him “I have no clue, 120” maybe? But it is my biggest whatever it is.” The game warden and I went back to where I shot the buck and started tracking him. He was looking down at blood when I said to him, “Well there is my arrow, and it is still in the deer.” I could see the lit nock still lit. The buck ended up going less than 100 yards. As we walked up to it he said, “That buck is much bigger than you thought.”

Looking at the buck I realized he was by far my biggest buck. He was wide, and had a lot of mass, with 10 total points. He looked almost perfectly symmetrical. I dragged him to my truck, and had to have a friend come and help me get it in the truck. I couldn’t lift him myself. I can say for certain that without that Vikings sled I would have never made it out. At the check in station we weighed him at 150lbs dressed. It was such an incredible experience. The things I have learned on this site, what to look for on maps/topo, the importance of wind, has totally changed how I hunt. Add to that, utilizing the moon guide and I feel better than I ever have entering the woods. The next few days after the hunt, I couldn’t even focus on anything. I was so excited and on such an adrenaline high, I couldn’t do anything right. I didn’t even bring a knife or Ziploc’s or anything when I went to a friend’s house to butcher it. When I took him to the taxidermist we measured him out at 149” gross. Two weeks prior to this hunt, my wife and I came up with a list we wanted to accomplish over the next 5 years. Number one on my list was killing a 150” buck with my bow. I can’t believe how close I came to hitting that goal. When I get him back I think I will take him to a Boone and Crocket official scorer to see if maybe I did. I am not going to enter him in the books, but I do want to see if I hit my goal.

Thanks for reading this long recounting of my hunt, I hope you enjoyed it. It was one of my best experiences ever in the woods, not for the successful kill, but for things going how I thought, planned, and expected them to. I can’t thank you guys enough for all of the information on this site. I may not post much, but I lurk, read, and learn. This kill is as much mine as it is yours.

Thank you
Matt O’Connor

[Boo]

Boo Buck

I shot this buck at 3:35pm on Wednesday afternoon, the 26th of October. It had rained most of the day and all of the previous night. The rain stopped around noon but it was still very overcast and gloomy. The wind was out of the East and changing to the north east as the evening progressed. The spot I wanted to hunt was just south of a known buck bedding area, perfect for any north or east wind. I hunted this spot on Monday the 24th with a similar wind but it was dry and it was loud getting in with little wind to cover my entrance. That day I crossed the creek and as I was easing my way up the bank I bumped a deer. I never saw it but it bound away. I froze on the bank and stood there for a while to let things settle down. I went the rest of the way to my stand and set up. I did have a small 2 ½ year old chase a doe past me that night. Her fawns stayed close by and feed around until dark. With similar conditions on the 26th and everything being wet I thought I could sneak back in and try this spot again. I wanted to see if I could see the deer I busted out and with the possibility of a old doe possibly coming into estrous early I thought it could be a good night.
I left work around 2 o’clock, ran home to get my stuff and was off. I arrived at my spot at 2:45, gathered my stuff and started the walk. I slowed down when I got close and took my time getting in quiet. I climbed up and started getting situated. I pulled my bow up and knocked an arrow then I clipped a branch that would have been in the way if the deer did what they did on Monday. I was still getting organized when I heard a stick snap. I looked over and there he was 25 yards away. I quickly grabbed my bow and slowly turned. As he cleared the brush he was behind I drew and settled the pin and loosed the arrow. He mule kicked and ran about 70-80 yards. I saw him slow down and then I heard a crash. I could see him laying on the ground and his head look like it was down. The shot was slightly back but he was quartering away. I watched him for an hour and there was no movement. I packed up my gear and slowly started tracking cautiously with an arrow knocked. The blood trail was decent at first but then it started to thin out but I was able to follow his running tracks.
He was dead when I found him and had been since I heard the crash. I took some pictures and then gutted him and started dragging. I drug him about a ½ mile back to the truck and then loaded him up.

He weighed 204 pounds and was approximately 140”.

Trail camera picture of him






Boo #2

Public Land DIY Mule Deer Hunt!

I shot this buck on Wednesday November 2nd, 2016. I had shot a buck in Minnesota in late October and had planned on having the following week off to hunt. Since I still had an out of state archery deer tag in my pocket and dreams of harvesting a mule deer with my bow the decision to head west was pretty easy! I tried to get as much “stuff” done around the house on Saturday and I left early on Sunday morning for the 9+ hour drive out. Since I had never been to the exact area I wanted to hunt I was unsure of the route or road conditions. Thankfully the road was in decent shape and I was able to make it and get camp set up before dark. After camp was set I snuck out to a point for a quick glassing session. I saw a few deer and was optimistic for the morning. The next morning I snuck back out to the same point with my spotting scope and watched the prairie come to life. I could see a lot of deer out feeding and making their way back up towards the draws where they would bed. I did find a couple of nice bucks and tried to keep track of them to see where they were going to bed. It was super windy (30+ mph). I lost the bucks when they entered a draw but I knew a general area so I set off trying to find them. I was trying to stay in the shadows of the trees on the ridge and trying to not skyline myself but I couldn’t find them. I got to the very end of the big rock point and was slowly looking around and I spotted one of the bucks! He looked like the wide 2X2 I had seen earlier that morning with the big 4X4. He was bedded in a steep draw under a big rock. It looked like it would be a very tough stalk. I searched around for the bigger buck but I could not find him. There was another smaller buck bedded in the draw right next to the 2X2 though. He was sitting in the wide open of the draw but it also looked like it would be a tough stalk and there was no way to get to the 2X2 without first getting by the smaller buck. I devised a plan. I slowly inched my way down an adjacent draw towards the smaller buck using the wind to cover the noise of me slipping and causing small rock slides. There was a small spire sticking up on the draw that the little buck was in and my goal was to get up to that and see what he looked like up close. This would put me about 30 yards away from the buck. After a long stalk I somehow made it to the spire. I peered over the edge and there he was. He instantly jumped up and took a few bounds. He was now at approximately 67 yards. He was a decent 3X3 and I was very happy to get that close but with the 30+ mile an hour cross winds there was no way I could shoot. I hid next to the spire and he was trying to figure out what had happened. After a few minutes he dropped down into a different draw and out of site. I never saw the other buck leave so I figured he was still bedded down. I quietly snuck up and around to a small bush that would give me a view of the draw he was in. I peeked over the bush and he was not next to the rock so I scanned the draw and found him tucked up next to a cut in the bank. The stalk was on again. Thankfully it was as windy as it was because it really helped to cover my noise. I snuck up to where I think he was bedding and he blew out of there. I had to be within 10 yards! He jumped up on the bank at about 30 yards quartering away hard. He looked back for a split second. I drew and estimated him closer to 40 and let it fly. Left to right the shot was good but it was high and sailed right over his back. I was pretty bummed out to miss such an easy shot but I was happy I got that close to two different bucks. I headed back towards camp for a quick meal and some evening glassing. I again saw a lot of deer all over the place. At dark I went back to camp and went to bed. The wind blew hard all night but I slept fairly well.
The next morning it was back to glassing to try and find a good buck to chase. I found a nice 3X4 and watched him for a few hours until I lost sight of him. After packing up my spotter and gear I headed in the direction he bedded to try and find where he was spending the day. After a few attempts I found him in the wide open bedded in some short evergreen shrubs. It appeared that he was sleeping with his head lying down on the hillside. I took note of the few landmarks I could and the stalk was on! I left my pack and unnecessary gear up top of the hill and started down. There was not much wind this day so I had to move even slower that the previous day. I finally made it to his valley but could not see him yet. I inched my way down the hill trying to stay quiet and low. All of the sudden he busted out about 70 yards away. I never saw him but he must have seen or heard me. I don’t think he knew exactly what happened but he wasn’t sticking around. He ran for a hundred yards and then looked back. He slowed and went around a pile of rocks and I never saw him come out. I sat a while watching in his direction and then headed that way. I didn’t know where he was but I knew he was still around. I moved slowly but once again he heard me before I could see where his new hiding spot was and he was gone. Jamie (my firend) was finally almost here so I went back to camp to meet him and help him set up. Back to the point we went that evening for a quick glassing session.
The next morning it was back again to glassing. There were deer all over once again. A few does, a couple small bucks and a nice 4X4 near the water holes only 400 or so yards away. The 4X4 was sniffing and chasing the does around. He bedded 3-4 times out in the wide open while the does fed around. When the does decided it was time to head for bed the buck followed them into a draw and then disappeared. The does came out a ways down but there was no buck with them. It was once again time to find him! We worked our way around to different points trying to see where he bedded. Jamie finally found him on the side hill out in the open. The wind was perfect and we didn’t see any other deer around him so once again the stalk was on! I dropped down to what I thought was right above him and started working his way slowly. I was getting close to my estimated 100 yard mark when all of the sudden he jumps up and takes off. The ground I was on was a dirt deer trail which made for very quiet walking; the wind was in my face the whole time. I was confused as to why he had busted. Then I saw the little fork running out in front of him. The fork must have been a guard deer that I never saw but he definitely saw me and took the big guy with him. Another blown opportunity! Jamie had snuck down a different draw a couple hundred yards away near the water tank hoping that if I pushed the buck that way he may have a shot; unfortunately the buck didn’t go that way but Jamie was in a good spot for some potential action that night so he stayed put. I decided to go and see if there was a buck using either of the beds I found the first day. As I slowly peered over the edge of the rock point I could see a buck bedded in the same draw as the first day! There was not much wind but I knew what I had to do. I slowly and quietly snuck up to the spire again and got ready for a shot. This buck was facing away from me so I was able to draw and shoot. It was a very steep angle and there was some brush right on the edge but I thought my arrow would clear it. I released and my arrow hit the buck far back. He ran out to 65 yards, stopped and looked back. I quickly knocked another arrow and peered around the spire to see if I could tell where the shot was. There was no sign of blood at this point. I knew I hit him but I watched him for a minute to see what he was going to do. As soon as it looked like he was going to leave I drew again and shot. He was broadside when I shot but he turned at the shot. The shot looked good but looked like it was running parallel with his spine as he moved as soon as the arrow was released. He took off hard and fast with the arrow still in him. I lost him for a bit but then saw him again a long ways away. I could see blood on him now. He did a few circles and then started walking slowly. He made it a bit further and bedded down. I went to grab my first arrow and then headed back up to my pack on the top so I could watch him with my spotting scope. He would get up, walk a little ways and then bed back down. He was hurting but there was no way I could make it to where he was without pushing him and other deer so I was stuck just watching him through the spotting scope until dark. I was sick. I had a gimme shot and blew it.
The next morning I went back to the same point I was on the evening prior to see if I could find him laying dead. I saw nothing. No coyotes, no magpies, no dead deer. After an hour of glassing we headed to the spot I had last seen him. Down in the draw I found blood and had a decent blood trail. We found two places where he bedded. The last bed had a lot of good, still wet blood in it. After that the blood trail dried up. There was no sign where he went. We searched around all day for him and found nothing. No more blood anywhere. We searched all of the draws, the brush, everything and came up empty handed. We walked for close to 8.5 miles. Again, I was sick. Jamie was leaving in the morning so my plan was to do some more glassing and look for birds or coyotes. I knew he had to be dead somewhere because of how rough he looked the night before.
On the way back to the top I would stop and wait for Jamie and look around. I saw a deer out in the wide open about ¾ -1 mile away that looked funny. Its head was down. I grabbed my binos and looked and could tell it was a buck. I quickly set up the spotter and found him. He was now laying down with his head down. I had to get to this buck and see what was wrong. Jamie stayed to watch with the spotter in case he ran before I got to him. I noted a few landmarks and took off. As I closed the distance I finally spotted him. His head was down and he had expired. He made it almost a full day after I had shot him. It was now almost dark so I gutted him and put some of my smelly clothes over him to try and keep the coyotes away. I was so relieved we had found him. My prayers had been answered.
The next morning I woke up early and packed up camp in the dark. Jamie took off and I headed down to cut up and pack out the buck. The coyotes did find it and ate the hind quarters. I salvaged all of the meat that I could and packed him 1.5 mile out. I cleaned up and took off for home.
It was an amazing trip that I will never forget! All on public land and I never saw another hunter!!

Here is a look from the buck bed to the top where I was when I first spotted him.



This is a picture from the buck bed to the spire that was my landmark and shooting point.



My first ever mule deer. Public land spot and stalk made it that much sweeter!



The pack out on a beautiful morning!

[buckeye]

Saturday, November 12th my buddy and I decided to leave our public land camp and head to a different piece of public land for the rest of the weekend. Once we arrived I was dropped off at my hunting location around noon. I headed in blind with my Assault on my back to an area I had never been into, although I had map studied this land extensively.

I took my time on the way in surveying the area comparing what I was seeing on the ground in comparison to my map study. Everything was lining up as planned. Once I was within 50 yards of my predetermined area I jumped two does 25 yards out in front of me. I got to setting my stand up right away.

Fast forward a few moments, I was then standing on the ground with my Assault slung over one shoulder, my bow tied to my pull up rope ready to climb up and hang the stand as I had just finished attaching 4 sticks to the tree. Then I hear it... chasing. They were coming my way fast. A doe, a bruiser buck and a smaller 8 point stop and were standing about 25 feet directly up hill of me and 25 yards out. I quietly grabbed my release from my fanny pack and strapped it on. I then unclipped my pull up rope from my bow and nocked an arrow. I stood as close to my tree as possible for cover and came to full draw on a quartering away buck. However, it just didn't feel right, the angle of the shot up hill like that. I felt it could have easily turned into a regrettable decision had I let the arrow loose. I just didn't feel solid aiming up hill like that so I let down and just leaned against the tree for a few minutes watching them. Off the doe went and the chase followed her to my South-West.

Throughout the afternoon I saw a few more cruising bucks and some chasing again started up with about 40 minutes of shooting light left. After a few minutes of watching the chasing I noticed a deer coming my way from the South-West, the same direction the big buck from earlier went. I then got a glimpse of a big frame and knew it was a good one, the same buck from earlier. He was walking in the direction of where the other bucks were chasing the does around. He approached me with a slight quartering to angle. I mouth grunted him to a stop at about 10 yards and double lunged him. Passing that iffy up hill shot earlier in the day led to a slam dunk 10 yard shot with a 50 yard recovery on the same buck a five hours later.

[kurt]

My motto this year was "little things." We all seem to do the major things right I wanted to do everything as best as i could on every hunt to the smallest detail. Right down to how I put things in my pocket . With my family life it seems time to hunt gets lost, which is fine. But my hunts have got to be perfect and with defined purpose.

So this hunt starts on 10/7 I traveled to hunt a temp. drop . It was a perfect wind shift for a bedding area I had scouted. The shift was from a lot of South and SE to west winds later in the day. But as a buck I would feel most comfortable on the southerly wind but a west is still okay. But the west wind is just off enough for me to get it done.

So I leave work early and arrive with plenty of time. I take the long way around to keep out of sight and from my wind blowing towards bedding area. I find way more leaf drop then I expect. I ended up walking in the water the leaves were crunchy to the edge of water. I get to the last couple hundred yards or so before the bed,The Red Zone. Every step's importance is heighten. What was suppose to be steady winds seemingly got light but eventually picked up and made the journey easier.

I'm all setup now and pleased with how it went. I was in the stand for 15minutes or so I sent a text to my cousin to let him know I was on stand and ok. I'm a long ways from anyone who knows were I am. I see movement while texting and it's a buck lightly working over a tree. I could see a ten point frame. My intial guess is 130 most likely a 3.5 year old. Awesome sight 75-80 yards away on his feet early October 3 hours before closing. He beds again. After a hour I seen him getting restless in his bed he gets up walks into a slashing of young maple and starts shaking, rubbing them and bending them to the ground. The noise was intense. To thick to make him out now and it quiets down after awhile. I'm intently watching waiting to get a better look maybe even I will get a shot off. I'm slightly worried if he was big enough but at this point I'm not sure just guessing.

He appears again , walking slowly, his head rotating to allow his rack to walk through the dense saplings. Impressively quiet given circumstances of cover he is walking thought. He turns I have a opening I put pressure on my bow string but then I relax. He turns in a semi circle and beds 20 to 25 yard's away. He stretches and stands but nothing but a brushy frontal shot is offered. Before long it is dark. Call it a pass for my mental sake. Call it indecisive. After reviewing a trail cam in the area for over a month it was the biggest buck on it then it became a mistake for me. My Motivation is fueled.

A couple weeks later Im hunting the same area with my brother. Trail cams are checked he is still around and presumably coming from the same bedding area. Saturday night hunt was too calm for any such move on him. Tried a spot I actually was hoping to take my daughter with on but nothing showed anyways. My brother got goose egged as well.

So Sunday morning rolls around and we got up extra early for the first morning hunt of the year. You can smell rut coming on this calm cool morning. As we begin to pull into the area guess who shows up in the headlights with a doe. He intially runs towards where we were headed then doubles back across road following the doe. At first I said "Dang it! Wrong way buddy." Then my brother goes, "You know he will double back further down." So I had a little in decision on were to sit with 0mph wind speed predicted. Well this sighting changed all that.

I had a pretty good feeling for my brother that if he headed to the same bedding area I seen him in he would nail him. If he came through while it was still light out. I was going to creek crossing a great funnel with tons of different edges also coming together perfect for leaving the field he hopefully doubled back for.

So about 15 to 20 minutes before opening I hear him and he's dogging her lightly. He is clicking not like a grunt but similar. I've heard the vocalization before but not this often. Right now I'm praying he stays in field till it's light then comes through. I check my phone it's 10 minutes past opening my excitement heightens. After 5 minutes or so the doe comes trotting along field edge but doesn't cross creek to me but parallel 56 yards away is the closest and He follows. They head north and I watch the glow of that rack dissappear.

After a half hour or so I can hear them coming back. I seen her bed along a bend in the creek in the tall grass 80 yards away. He stands tall behind her. As I wait I decide to look for my grunt tube. I get it out and try to echo it behind me. Desperation for sure. I hear something else but it's actually wood ducks behind me. I turn back and he is gone.

It was a frantic few minutes till I realize he is out of river bottom walking straight down field edge towards me. Basically walks the same 56 yard edge past me that he did earlier. He walks by and gets to the wider marshy treeless bottom and looKs out. I grunt but back across creek away from him. He turns around takes a few steps stretching his head up as high as he can looking freezing for minutes. Then he starts walking towards me and dumps down into the creek.

I have to say that in all the years hunting I've seen some things but as he walked down this creek with his body language starting to get aggressive it was impressive. Now the cherry and whip cream on top is the steam coming off of the creek that he is walking through is making this moment almost indescribable. Easily a top life moment that I will forever take to the grave with me.

He closes in and as he get's to the crossing he spins a circle. This freaks me out. I don't want him to head straight away and wondering if he had my scent. I draw my bow as he is starting to quarter away I take the shot. I did a poor job of getting the pin closer the shoulder for the quartering away shot and hit in the last few ribs right through the liver and down through the guts. He storms out of creek and stops behind a clump of trees 40 yards straight in front of me. I nock another arrow and can visually see the dark liver blood on his side. He slowly steps out into a small window. I shoot I hear a loud crack and he takes off. I was a little unsure of what happened. But later I figured out I never accounted for him being 40 yards instead of the initial 20 and hit him in leg on the opposite side low below brisket. It would have been perfect for quartering away. Yet another mental mistake but he spun a loop around and bedded 60 yards away. I got ready I decided if he got up I would shoot again. After a little while he did. He started heading straight away but I made a noise and he curled his head and body around with his but still facing me. So heavily quartering away it's a shot I normally won't take at 20 much less 65 yards now but I settled pin right along the right hind quarter and the Shot broke clean. I watched my arrow drive right up behind ribs. He took off and appeared to plow through some brush.

At this point my emotions were a wreck. My stomach hurt so bad I was almost keeled over. My last shot looked good but how far up did that arrow actually make it. How did I screw up the first shot. What just happened. I waited till noon watching for movement. Then I backed out. Decided to call someone from United Blood Trackers. He agreed to meet me at 5p.m. Give the deer plenty of time given the only thing we were sure about was liver.

Time seems to stand still but finally it was time to start the track. We started with a puppy but we weren't getting anywhere. No blood in the bed just a small bit before second shot. He decided to get other dog. On his way back he yells for us to come over. The dog walked straight to it. The last shot was better than I anticipated he actually didn't plow though some brush he fell over. My 65 yard desperation made it just barely into his heart.

The hunt was over I got a second chance at this buck and he ended up much bigger than I intially thought. To go from indecisions to poor shot placement to nothing but Redemption. Such a sweet Feeling



[ Post made via Android ]

[whitetailassasin]

This year was a year of first for me. To say it was going to have its challenges was an understatement. I documented and commented a lot on the beast about my fathers drive to kill a 100" buck in Michigan, my daughters first year hunting(crossbow), my really good friends pursuit on his first buck, and of course me trying to fill my tags this year.

With scouting done and the season approaching my daughter was first up to bat with Michigan's youth season. First morning she had a doe at 10 yards and it was raining and the scope fogged up so she had to let it walk. We opted to hunt the same location the next morning in hopes deer would feed back to bed off the acorn ridge. As the morning got light a small doe approached from our east and I asked her if she wanted it. To my surprise she wanted to pass, saying it's too young dad. It was only 10 seconds and she said dad a tail just flickered. Sure enough I see a buck coming down the ridge headed back to bed. At 7 steps I stopped him and she put a perfect shot on him. As I could see the bolt dripping blood, I could hardly hold my excitement. Neither could she and we laughed and enjoyed the moment together, one I'll never forget.



As our season got underway here, getting dad on a good buck was tops on my list. I was also scouting and watching areas for my friend to tag a buck, his first. I sat so many observation stands and watched a lot of bedding and I saw a ton of 2.5 year old bucks but just hard a hard time locating a 3.5 over 100". Dad and I moved around and double teamed lots of observations. Finally dad and I located a buck that was 3.5 and was 100-105", we set up a game plan and he set up on one side of the bedding and I set up on the other. Well as luck would have it at last light the buck walked straight under me, and....



Ended up with my tag on it. I contemplated letting it walk, but honestly in this state there is no guarantee and I know my dad would have chewed me out if I wouldn't have shot it. Another memory between us.

Well we keep at it, hunting and scouting until one day headed back to one of our spots, I spotted a monster rub from the truck



I knew that was a slob and I had to get dad on him. Well we had scouted this spot and located a huge bed in a bullet proof set up. Dad went back to it and first set there missed a nice 3.5 110" and then had the big boy 150-160" at 25 yards no shot. Well dads health to a plunge and he didn't get to make it out again. So I left the area be and focused on getting my buddy his first buck. I told him only one rule no 1.5 olds. I took him to an area I had observed 2 different 8s in and several other 2.5 year olds. The pre rut was under way and I told him first morning we get to, we need to set up back there. Bucks cruise this area a lot then, and they don't come back to bed there until late usually 9-10am. We are texting back and forth and he hadn't seen a deer and was needing me to talk him into staying in stand. I told him it can happen in an instant and just trust me. 10 mins later he sends me a text saying buck down!!




For sure 2.5 year old and he couldn't have been happier, nor I. He ended up shooting a 6 point and a doe to tag out this year. He bought a lone wolf and sticks and now all he talks about is when are we scouting, hunting tactics and goals.

I got a lot on film but being a huge self critique I feel like I could do way better. Overall it was one of my most challenging but most rewarding seasons. No I didn't tag my target buck or some 150" slob, but I put my selfishness down and learned how to put the needs and wants of others over my own pursuit. I don't regret one minute of it. Can't wait till 2017!!

[hunter_mike]

Hunter Mike's Wisconsin Deer Season - Two Beautiful Public Bucks Hit the Dirt



I was lucky enough to kill two nice bucks on WI Public Land this past season. I give credit to the knowledge shared here on the beast that I put to good use. Here are the stories of the two bucks, including some of the scouting and thought process that went into these two kills. Both hunts I felt entirely confident in my spot that I would kill something. Its a feeling that I am becoming addicted to.

2016 WI Public Land Archery Buck

This archery season I hunted exclusively on Public Land on Southcentral Wisconsin. One would think that someone would get discouraged when out of 9 sits I saw zero deer from the stand (i did see others while walking around scouting). But in the words of Dan Infalt, “I am not hunting deer, I am hunting big bucks!” I saw my first two deer from the stand on October 31st. Both were shooter bucks within shooting range and I ended up killing the smaller of the two.


This kill began with scouting and hunting this area in the fall of 2015. I checked out the area in 2015 because it looked like a good spot on a map. I dropped off a trail camera while I was there. I got quite a few pictures of bucks I’d like to shoot, some in daylight too.






I decided that I would have to go out there and hunt on the anniversary of the daylight picture of the biggest buck, October 31st. This decision was kind of based on the Wired to hunt podcast with Don Higgins. A good listen if you have not heard it.


I scouted the place out in the spring. Spent the better part of a day out there. Luckily I even made a pretty good video of my scouting that day. The video explains the scouting better than I can in words. Pretty much all of my assumptions on the beds and scrapes held true on the day of the kill. (Skip to 7:15 to see the sign that i decided to hunt over)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO4yVHU4wy8


The basic plan of the hunt was to get into the downwind side of the bedding area and sit over the scrape as a good ambush point. I ended up hunting out there on October 30th in the evening because I was a little intimidated by the access route. It was pretty deep water for much of the way.


Access route:




Well I got in that afternoon and found my tree easily. As I climbed the tree, I suddenly heard a lone deer jump up right in the bedding and run off and bail into the marsh. I was very bummed to have that happen because the deer was right where it was supposed to be, meaning likely a buck bedding in the buck bedding I was hunting. I got settled into the tree and sure enough, the scrape I showed in the scouting video was right in the same spot this year and it had been worked over fairly recently.


Picture of the scrape from my stand:




Panoramic view of the spot:





Because that spot was being actively used, I decided that I would come back the next morning. I got out there nice and early. Later in the morning around 8am I heard sloshing right behind me. I turned around to see a big buck, looked like a steer with antlers at about 25 yards. Since I did not expect deer to walk back there in the water, I did not have a clear shot. I did get drawn back on him and resisted the urge to send an arrow through a very small opening that was unlikely to get an arrow cleanly through it. He ended up getting directly downwind of me, stopped, and trotted out back into the swamp where he came from. It was a beast of a 9 point, mainframe 8 with a sticker point. I was really bummed about that but decided that I needed to just stick this place out for the rest of the day since I knew there were other bucks around and this spot was obviously hot.


A little after noon, I caught movement in the bedding area. I glassed into there and I saw a rack. I watched for a while and I am pretty sure I saw him bed down because he looked like he was down low and all I could see was the back of his head and and rack. After a while I lost sight of him and then saw him again. He was just kind of mingling around. I decided that it was time to give him a grunt. Gave a couple toots on the desperation horn. And sure enough he started wandering my way. I think he heard my calling but not sure. He came to 35 yards and thrashed a tree. I was just watching him rub this tree for a while. Once again i had to restrain myself from taking a shot with one branch in the way. I did get drawn back on him but let down. He started to turn and it looked like he was going to start walking away from me. I gave two more soft toots on the grunt and he lifted his head up. He jumped over the log, grunted a couple times and came to 20 yards and worked a scrape that I didnt know was there. I still had no shot because the licking branch was right over him. He took a few more steps and got to about 15 yards, turned broadside and I let him have it.


He beelined about 80 yards, just out of sight, stopped and then bullrushed right back towards me. He died within sight of my tree. I was so relieved to make a clean shot and have it over quickly.


The tree he rubbed right before it was over:








The drag was pretty tough, although it was only 0.30 miles and a floating deer is pretty easy to drag.




I discovered I did have a trail cam picture of this buck as well:




Final pic:




2016 Central WI Public Land Gun Buck

I was lucky enough to kill this beautiful buck on opening day of gun season in a big public tag alder swamp. To be honest it was not a difficult hunt. There was an abundance of very obvious buck sign coming out of a certain area. I had to cross a knee deep ditch to get to the spot. But after that, the rubline coming out of there indicated a very obvious spot to set up. I made a video documenting that day of hunting, so I will let that tell the rest of the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evvWRiXkeQ0

God is good, this has been my best year of hunting ever. Thank you for all the knowledge shared on here. Many forum members I should be thanking for being trustworthy and knowledgeable and willing to bounce ideas back and forth. stash59 and fishlips in particular. Thanks for reading my story!





I think he is a 2.5 yr old. The rack is small but his body was big. I got 46 lbs of boned and trimmed meat off of him. His skull was big too. His skull was actually bigger than my bow buck.

[url=https://postimage.org]

Thanks for reading and thanks to all who have added their story to this hunting beast thread of pure awesomeness.

[yungbuck]

November 3rd I shot the biggest buck of my life. My wife and I have three kids 3 and under and so my time in the woods is not what it was when I started hunting 5 yrs ago, but I have been applying beast tactics and scouting like crazy to make up for less time in the fall stand. I scouted in the winter and estimate a logged around 25+ miles shed hunting (to which i found 0 haha) and winter/spring scouting. I put tons of miles on boots and finally located a couple more primary bedding spots. These are big woods public land and like many of you know they are overlooked spots that hold the big deer. I was pretty sure i knew how the buck would use this bed but didnt run trail cameras and didnt have time during season to sit an observation stand. i quick scouted it in the summer and saw the size tracks, poop and rubs I needed to confirm it was a big deer hitting the area.




so back to November. i had scheduled time off of work for the rut and spending a lot of time in the woods before the orange army invades. I hunted the opener (skunked) and killed a doe my next sit in mid oct. I was skunked again trying to setup on a primary bed (but ran into 6 guys who who were farther back than most hunters i run into found out they had been walking all over the place trying to trail a shot buck) but confidence was low because i knew they had messed up the area and i kept wondering if they shot the buck whose bed I was sitting. it was over a mile to my setup and i knew they hadnt gone that far so i sat anyway seeing yotes, possums, coons, squirrels and a turkey but no deer. going into my 4th hunt of the season i was fired up to be hitting the timber in sweet november. I took a week vacation time to get on some deer prior to the orange army. I was running really really late due to some family time stuff and didn’t get into my stand until 2pm. The parking lots were full of big diesel trucks and my little car looked completely out of place J I had never hunted (but was confident from the scouting trips) this spot but I had the perfect wind and access. the wind was right for the buck and I threw up the miracle to sit very close to his bed. Before I got to my intended kill tree the sign was too strong. I had planned on moving in a little further but I passed a fresh scrape, broken licking branches and I could see up ahead big rubs in what I knew was a bucks bed. Put on the brakes set up my LWolf. The wind was perfect and I knew it was a great start to my rutcation. I had been practicing the order of my setup throughout the year and honestly had the most quiet and flawless setup with my LW todate. I dont pretend to be fast setting up but the attention to detail paid off with my rock harness modification (DIYsportsman), lineman belt modifications, and simply practicing setting up in the off season so things are smooth and in order. no more than 40 minutes later I look to my right and see a nice buck coming my way. caught me off guard because instead of getting out of his bed he was freaking coming back to his bed so i was somewhat facing the wrong direction. By the time I stand up with the bow and clip to the d loop he is at 12 yrds and he is coming straight for my tree and I am at full draw. he is walking at a good pace and i am doing everything to keep my cool and keep my top pin on him. . He comes literally within a few yards of my tree and I give him the classic burrp. he is now ppassing my tree heading to the bedding area. He didn’t hear the first one so I get a little louder- a little louder and at 7 yds he stops, looks my direction and the let the arrow fly through the top of his back through the heart and lung and out his brisket. The arrow penetrated to the fletchings and I knew it was a great shot. he bolted straight for his bed and ran in a half moon, turned around at 75 yds wobbled and toppled over. I was besides myself. I sat down and just kept saying “are you serious” “are you serious”. I could not believe that after 5 long years of bow hunting and learning and falling short I had laid a truly mature buck on the ground, and for my standards a giant. Time slowed down and I just started thinking about all the messed up sets, all the miles in hilly and and swamp lands, all the work and thought and map review and it came down to this moment. moments like this help you reap the reward of the journey we call hunting, an addiction that infects us 365 days a year but is truly a noble and worthy adventure. I felt so blessed. I had killed the best buck of my life within the first 2 hrs of my rut vacation. God was looking down upon me! I took my stand and bow back to the car and began the longest 4 ½ hrs of my life pulling a big bodied buck from the woods with no sled or cart. Of course I forgot water so it added to the experience. I had to admit how out of shape i was because i could only drag him by standing inside his antlers, picking up his head and neck and back pedealing about 15-20 steps at a time. that .80 mile drag kicked my but and i discovered a dehydration my body had never known so I have named him Thirsty :) besides the fact it was well after dark when I got home and my family thought I had gotten lost or hurt hahah it was a great day!






saved the best for last!!



hindsight:
My guess is this buck was scenting does mid day and coming back to bed mid day. I am not pretending to have it all figured out and I by no means was hunting a specific animal, but i think a lot of scouting and playing the wind and using a good access helped line up for another deer miracle in the great outdoors. I have played the hunt a hundred times in my head and with the wind he was heading perfectly into his J hook to bed (but this is all theory right). Grateful for this buck and grateful for all the guys on this site who contribute and pave the way creating a truly awesome place to learn and understand the art of deer hunting. Thank you dan and all fellow beasts!
lessons learned:
bring water!
buy a deer cart/sled and phone a friend
finding primary beds is tough, knowing how to access and hunt is even tougher but its difficult work and worth every ounce
access is not about convenience its about keeping my wind off his nose
can honestly say I scouted 10 times more than I hunted this season and I need to keep scouting (actually sore today from a recent scouting trip which I covered 6 mi)
learn from every hunter you can (often its what not to do but its still helpful)
O and don’t mind the white fluffy dog or the baby doll in the “hero” shot hahahah
that morning my oldest said "good job daddy good job, when I get older I am gunna get a buck"- proudfather!

[Outdoor814]

I joined The Hunting Beast last December. I can't even remember how I stumbled upon it but once I discovered it I couldn't stay away from it. Still can't. I've learned more on here in the last year than I have my entire Hunting career. Dan and the members on here have done a great job of educating members on how to better themselves in the field.

I've said it before and I'll say it again now. Thank You. Without the information on here I would not be the hunter I am today.


So now I'll get to my 2016 archery season. 2016 was a year for a lot of firsts for me.


First year hunting mobile. I did side jobs over the summer and picked up a lone wolf alpha. Probably one of the greatest hunting investments I've ever made.

First year hunting with a compound bow. The previous 2 years I used a wicked ridge crossbow I won at an American legion gun raffle. That's what sparked my interest in archery season. After successfully harvesting a buck and doe the novelty wore off and I was ready to step up to the challenge of shooting compound.

First year scouting/setting up/ hunting Beast style. I spent hours upon hours in the off season scouting new areas and collecting stand sites. I spent a lot of time shooting as well.

First year I saw/passed multiple bucks almost every sit. Before I was lucky to see a buck within shooting range let alone even see it before it was running away from me. This year I saw at least 1 buck each sit and passed on them. Before I would have shot the first legal buck to give me the opertunity.

First year i tried filming my hunts. Although I didn't get my kill on film I got a lot of footage of bucks I passed up.

Now for my hunt. I had been cyber scouting a section of swamp close to the area I was parking my work truck. I had looked at it several times before I had made the decision to hunt it.

It was a Monday after work. I remember it was a sunny day not to warm and a light breeze. I got out of work at 3:30. It was only about a 5 min. Drive to where I would park to enter the woods. I started walking the transition between hardwoods and swamp grass. The hardwoods were made up of mostly oak and maple trees with black cherry here and there. And mostly red brush and grass on the swamp side.

After sneaking up the transition line for about a half hour I started gradually moving up into the hardwoods and jumped a bedded buck. I couldn't tell how many points he had but he was sporting impressive head gear.

Right then I made the decision to set up. I picked a maple tree that was overlooking a brushy area and some oaks. I sat the remainder of the day without seeing anything. With light dwindling I decided I would start to pack it up before it got completely dark. I got my camera put away and my camera arm off the tree and in my pack. I took my gloves and release off and put them into my coat pocket. Just as I was about to put my arrow in my quiver I hear crashing out in front of me. I look up and watcha doe come running threw the brush directly at my tree and right past me. Seconds later I hear grunting.

My heart starts pounding and I fumble threw my pocket trying to find my release all the while keeping my eyes on the direction the grunt came from. It's getting louder and closer. Just as I get my release on and attached to my string I see him pop out of the brush about 20 yards to my right. By now I swear I can hear my heart beating like it was between my ears.

He keeps his nose to the ground and starts to walk right out in front of me. Once he started moving I drew back and centered my pin. He stop broadside 15 yards directly in front of me and I released my arrow. I heard the impact then he let out a grunt and took off. I watched him run for about 30 yard and he just stops. Now I'm shaking like a leaf and adrenaline is pumping. I watch him for a few seconds wondering what's going on and why he hasn't dropped. Did I miss him? What's going on! Then I see him start leaning to one side, he does a chest bulldoze for about 5 feet and hits the dirt.

At that moment I almost fell out of the tree fist pumping and celebrating my success. I sat down and made a few phone calls to my best friend and dad.

I'm unsure of the weight and age but guessing he was close to 200Lbs and probably 2.5. I could be wrong. I also have not scored him yet. He's my biggest buck to date.
















Sorry the pictures are bad. I don't have a PC so I tool cell phone pictures off my camera.


I hope you enjoyed my story and thanks again to everyone on here for making 2016 my most memorable season.

[Lockdown]

Since joining the Beast I'd had some slow seasons. I was bound and determined to change that in 2016. Work was slow so I got in a ton of spring scouting... over 70 miles logged and 20 some brand new sets prepped. In essence I almost felt like I was preparing for war I go to SD every other year and luckily '16 was a year I got to head West. I had high hopes that my luck would turn around.

I spent a fair amount of time summer scouting. Shining and observing. I had a good line on several nice bucks, but one was my focus. A true MN monster that I named"The Hulk".

~ How the Hulk came about ~
In late December 2014 I got a couple late night pictures of a nice 3.5 year old buck in my by permission rut grove. It is a farmer's home residence that is worthless outside of rut. I filed the pictures away and hoped he'd show during season next year.





I had a good season in 2015. Late October The Hulk showed up on cam a field edge scrape. He absolutely exploded as a four year old. In fact I didn't even realize it was him at first. The small patch of hair missing on his right shoulder gave it away.







Due to the fact that I had a 7 month old daughter at home, the wife was putting pressure on me to hurry up and kill something. The only pics I had of this deer were at night, so I thought my chances were VERY slim. I ended up tagging a decent buck not long after the night time pics of The Hulk. Then this God forsaken buck started blowing up my trail cameras! I had three in the grove, and I had him on the doe bedding cam 3 times in daylight. One of the days, I'm pretty sure he had a hot doe in there and he was fending off other bucks because I got a bunch of mid day pics of him.


He was taunting me and being from MN, a one buck state, that meant I was done for the year! I even got a pic of him Jan 5th letting me know he made it through the season. Problem for me, I had no idea where his home range was. I knew nothing. I had to rely on a doe bringing him across the wide open chizel plowed fields to the little grove. The only other option I had was a small 20ish acre piece of low land 1/2 mile away. It was WIDE open. Hardly a tree out there.




I knew he must spend SOME time there, so I scouted it. I had two hunches: A lone tree amidst some shatter cane, and a dry bank of dirt used to create a man made duck pond that jutted into some cattails. "If he's here, I think these two spots are my best bets."




Summer and early fall of 2016 was great, but Hulk-less. When season started I passed a few does and some small bucks, and hunted/observed the lowland property twice. Dad went there once. No sign of The Hulk, not even on trail camera. Landowner hadn't seen him. Neighbors hadn't seen him. Nobody had all year. I only had one blurry IR pic (mid summer) that I thought MIGHT be him.



Then Tyler and I headed to South Dakota to chase mulies October 8th. We hunted the nastiest country we could find and at one point found ourselves 2.96 miles from the truck amidst some crazy badlands country. I made an incredible stocking footed stalk on a velvet public land 5x4. It ended with a VERY intense 15 minute stare down, and me SOMEHOW getting to full draw with the buck staring at me 38 yards away. With the stare down + crazy slow draw my left arm was mush. I settled the pin as best I could but my arrow went high and hit him in the shoulder blade. Here are some pics:


(I snuck up on him behind that big rock on the right hand side with 7 other bucks bedded in a satellite fashion around him.) Not recovering him was a big hit to my morale. It would have been the 2nd biggest buck of my life, and more importantly got me out of my slump. The way everything worked out it was a hard pill to swallow.

Back to MN

The pre-rut was upon us, I got over my big buck blues, and re-focused on The Hulk. He FINALLY showed up again on October 24th I saved the grove for rut and hit it hard. (I can pressure it pretty heavy because they're used to human intrusion here.) I had a couple good hunts, but more frustrating hunts. It was definitely an off year there! Not only was The Hulk missing in action, so was everything two and older I hadn't seen squat for rut action. I decided to grab a gun and go after him. I hadn't shot a MN gun buck since 2005. The result was just more of the same.


Its the last weekend of gun season. After a morning hunt and seeing does with a relaxed demeanor, my gut said he wasn't in the grove. "What are the chances he'll come across these open fields in daylight??" I figured they were slim, but God forbid he show up in that grove and I'm not there. It almost made me anxious to not hunt the grove, but I decided to try the lowland. Since I'd sat near the lone tree beds I headed for the dirt bank since it was fresh. I wasn't my usual stubborn and determined self. Stand access was louder than normal. I was frustrated and mentally checked out. I fidgeted some as I waited.



It was still plenty light when all of the sudden notice a deer's hind end on the dirt bank, behind one of the only scrub trees on the property. I move my shooting sticks and ready for a shot. "It's gotta be a buck... its good sized. What are the chances its him?"

After 15-20 seconds I see its tail rapidly flick side to side. Tail wagging? TAIL WAGGING! I remembered seeing The Hulk do that in some scraping video that I had. It HAD to be him! I wanted to shoot but there were too many sticks in the way. I saw a flash of antler... A LOT OF ANTLER. Now I knew it was him. My heart was pounding and I wanted to shoot SO bad, but I knew it was best to be patient. 3 years of history does NOT help buck fever when he can potentially disappear in an instant. He finally turned slowly and offered me a 75 yard shot. BOOM!! He dropped!

I had a bit of a scare thinking he was wounded and escaping through the cattails, but he was spine hit. Merely feet away, I raised my gun to put him to rest as he struggled. It was such a bittersweet ending and hard to put in to words. Part of me felt bad knowing I was going to take the life of such a magnificent animal. Part of me didn't want the chase to be over. Another part felt euphoric and couldn't believe what had just happened. I fired the final shot and couldn't believe it when a doe jumped out of the cattails less than 10 yards away.

I stood there in silence and let him expire. I walked over and lifted his rack... I was in awe. I then let out the loudest "WOOOOO!!!" that I probably ever will in my lifetime. My throat hurt afterwards After 22 years of deer hunting I'd finally killed my first TRUE giant. I've killed some old bucks that were past their prime, but never one like this. He is 5.5 years old, scored 162 5/8", and dressed 190 lbs.

I finally got the monkey off my back!!











To put icing on the cake, I was fortunate enough to take a SD public land doe on January 15th as well. I often can't get doe tags in my area of MN, and this is my first archery doe since 2008. The fact that I killed her in a county I'd never hunted, on the last day, on public, from a natural ground blind in the cattails TEN YARDS AWAY... that made it pretty memorable for me. She also accomplished a major mile stone for me. Lifetime deer #50.

[Huntoholic]

In 2014 while reading Field and Stream I first came across an article by Dan. The article had me quite intrigued as it was focused on public land hunting. I was often frustrated while reading magazines and watching most hunting shows as they were often out of touch with your real world public hunters. Again in early fall of 2015 I came across an article of Dan’s and noticed the mention of the Hunting Beast Forum. I decided to check it out and discovered the wealth of the knowledge the Beast contained and so many things started to make sense. My only problem was I was only six months in to my two year tour in Japan with the Marines. Since I was unable to get out and hunt I decided I would do the next best thing and read every thread, watch Marsh Bucks and Hill Country, and do lots and lots of cyber scouting. With the knowledge I learned from the DVDs and the many awesome tactical threads, I was finding a wealth of new hunting opportunities I never would have thought of. Using resources like Cal-topo, OnX-maps, GIS Tax Maps, and Google Earth I was able to locate hundreds of potential public land opportunities from 7,000 miles away.

Finally on December 10th, 2016 I step of the plane back in the good old U.S.A. in Western Massachusetts. Monday December 12th was my fist hunt and since I spent the morning at the vet with my dog for her checkup, I was limited to a less desirable local hunt down the road. The previous night had brought a few inches of snow so I decided to do some scouting. After several hours all I found was a few doe tracks, barely any sign at all.

The next day I drove out to a spot that I thought looked the most promising. It was a chuck of woods that was about 2 mils long and a mile wide. There was a valley that ran right down the length with a nice brook that had lots of swamps and beaver ponds jutting off of it. It was a good mix of swamp and hill terrain. I found lots of potential spots while studying the aerials but there was this one small hill where the brook split around the 50 acre hill and created some nice swamps on either side of the hill. The swamps were mixed with both cattails and brush. There was this one particular spot west north west of the hill there was a bunch of trails crisscrossing through the cattails with some classic points and micro islands in the cattails. The place just screamed BIG BUCK BEDDING.
I Started hiking out about 10:00am and the hike out looked promising. There were tracks in the snow everywhere and one set looked to be of a good buck chasing a doe back and forth all over the trail. After about an hour, I was over a mile in from the public parking area and within 200 yards of my intended stand location. I stopped to take a break and put on my warming layers. Once ready I started to creep as slow as I could, the snow was super crunchy and it sounded like I was walking on nacho chips. Finally two hours later, and the slowest 200 yards of my life, I was at my intended location. I approached from the east and the wind was out of the south west. I wanted to get a little further over the hill but due to the loud snow, I decided it was best to hang back about 100 yards from the edge of the swamp.

After getting quietly setup it was about 1:00pm. The next few hours were very cold and uneventful, barely a squirrel. As the light was quickly fading I looked down at my phone and saw there was 9 minutes of legal shooting left. About two minutes later I heard the unmistakable crunching of a deer coming from behind me. I slowly stood up and got pointed in his direction. He was moving at a brisk walk and my shooting windows were quickly passing by. He was almost directly downwind so opted not to stop him, as he passed one of the last shooting windows at 50 yards I took the shot with my muzzleloader and MISSED! Lucky for me he ran right to me, stopped 20 yards out and just looked around while I quickly and quietly reloaded my muzzleloader. As he was facing directly away at 25 yard I shot again and this one was true. It took out his spine; he took one leap and piled up. After two or three kicks all was silent.

After climbing down I took a few pictures, sent them to my Dad and a few other hunting buddies and called my Dad to tell him the story. I was reluctant to ask for help as my Dad lives an hour and a half away in New Hampshire, but after he repeatedly offered I was knew he was very enthused to share in the excitement with me, so I gladly asked him to come help me with the drag. He was on his way! I then gutted the buck and dragged him the first few hundred yards down to the brook to clean him out and cool him down. I then made the mile hike back to my truck to drop off my stand and grab my drag kit. Once my Dad got there we hike hiked back to the buck and dragged him over a mile and up a few hundred feet of elevation. Having my Dad help truly made the night special and memorable, especially after being in Japan for two years.

The buck ended up weighing in at 144lbs; he had 21 inch main beams, 4inch bases, a 16.5” spread and roughly scored about 100”. I boiled his skull and upon inspecting his jaw I suspect him to be at least 3.5 years old. A week later I processed him myself and had some of the best venison I’ve ever had. I treated my Dad to an awesome venison steak dinner to say thank you.

I owe a big thank you to Dan, Carol, Dan Jr, Stanley, Mario, Dewey, Buckey, Joere, Singing Bridge, Bighunt and may others. The tremendous amount of knowledge on the DVDs, the forum, Podcasts and Youtube videos has helped me so much. THANK YOU EVERYONE!


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[Tufrthnails]

Well I was holding off on posting, because I was hoping to be posting about a FL public land 8pt buck I been chasing on the heaviest pressured land I have personally ever hunted. But he is smarter then me and gets a to live through this season at least by me.

So on to my 2016 KY rifle buck. A little background on my KY hunt season. I hunted the last week of bow and the first week of gun season purposely. I wanted to experience KY public land (Which the two WMA's I visited are not even close to the pressure I see in walk in public land in Florida). I spent 5 days on public land and passed a lot of bucks with one definite shooter and one maybe shooter that I passed. Truth be told although I am stoked with the buck I killed I am kinda kicking myself for not killing the public land shooter.

I had 5 days left to hunt and that evening I was sitting 200 yards off a saddle doing an observation sit due to the wind being wrong for where I wanted to sit. Right at last light I seen a large bodied buck in the tree line on the neighbors property. I through up the binos and seen a large heavy beam. I watched as he worked his way down the tree line never stepping foot out. I decided this was probably the buck I wanted to kill, but wanted to get a better look.
The next morning the wind was perfect to sit the windward side of the saddle on the property boundary. I loaded my LW and snuck in early in the morning. Sure enough here he comes back through the treeline heading back to a little ridge on the neighbors property and I was hooked I wanted that buck. I pulled up caltopo and started trying to figure out exactly where I thought he was bedding on the wind. Sat most the morning until lunch got down met the family for lunch and to help process 2 does my brothers had killed. Got back to the property a little late and as hard as it was I didn't want to rush in and blow everything out so I sat a little tiny finger 600 yards from the hilltop of the saddle and I happy I did. I could see better into the neighbors property and managed to glass the buck in his bed.

Day 3 the wind sucked and I hunted the family farm and passed on a super wide super heavy 9pt that I could not get and angle on the see the rack because of the sun until the buck was over 400 yards away. The evening I shifted to doe patrol on one of the food plots and got a cool vid of an 4pt walking right up to me and catching a whiff of something it didn't like and jumping off 30 yards then heading to my brother in his stand and he watched him dog a doe for 20 min.

So day 4 is killing day. I knew I had the perfect WNW wind in the evening and after all the different encounters I thought this just might be the chance I need to get him in the open. I snuck in at 4am and got a blind setup on the windward side of the saddle for the evening hunt then snuck back to a little bowl and watched the does on the hilltop all morning along with a small buck that pushed them around for a few minutes then went to eating. Which worried me a little they were my bait. I sat all day until 4:15 waiting for the wind to turn. I felt it turn and eased down toward the blind. Got in and setup right as light was starting to fail and right on time the does jumped the fence and were eating on the hilltop. The Nanny doe kept looking down toward the bowl to my left and across the saddle to my right. She was getting antsy. With about 20 min of shooting light left she locks up staring across the saddle. Here he comes and he's not back in the treeline he is on the fence. He jumps the fence and starts across the saddle he stops for a moment nose in the air licking his nose and I let loose on him. He dropped like a sack of tators. I swung to the nanny doe and she was froze watching him. I let loose on her and in 20 seconds I was tagged out after 4 days of patience trying to do everything right it all fell together and I owe it all to the Hunting Beast.

The taxi guy aged him at 5.5+ by his teeth. I'm not great at aging by teeth, but on the hoof I knew he was 4.5+ at least.

There is a lot of other stuff that goes into the story leading up to it with my cousin and convincing him to adjust the sits out there by the wind and shift stand sight, because of what I was seeing with the thermals and milkweed, but this is long enough.

[rizzo999]

Mike’s 8

This story began late Winter/early Spring of 2015 on a large tract of IL public land. My hunting partner thought I was crazy for taking off a Friday to head to southern IL to scout for an extended weekend. During that weekend I located, what I thought were, buck beds in classic areas of topography. Also, scouted some obvious and some not-so-obvious terrain funnels. From the 2.5 days, I marked a total of 5 locations that I felt confident in seeing a mature buck as long as the conditions were right when I hunted. The most remote bed required a 1.25 mile hike while crossing a rather steep ravine that I knew would eliminate 80+% of other hunters, if not more.

My buddy and I hunted that public land for 4 days in October and 6 days in November of 2015. We had encounters with some 2.5 yr old bucks, but hardly any does and no mature bucks. I needed a West wind to hunt that remote buck bed and never got it during the 10 days I was fortunate enough to hunt during the 2015 season on this property which was frustrating not to hunt a spot that was scouted.

Fast forward to 2016. I gained access to two new private properties here in northern IL so my Spring scouting revolved around getting to know these properties better. I was hoping my intel from scouting the year prior would still help me. I hunted 4.5 days over Halloween and experienced the same issue with wind direction. It was either South or North so I again passed on the remote buck bed. I passed numerous bucks including a 3.5 yr old 8 pointer and a 10 pointer that I estimated at 130”. When I reviewed the Tactacam footage later I underestimated the 10 pointer. He likely would have grossed 140-145”, but hopefully is still walking. Hunt ended with only a coyote harvested with the bow.

My Dad drew a gun tag for this property so we arrived to the property the day (Nov 17) before to set-up some blinds for him. We got two pop-up and one natural blind erected by 1:00. After all of the miles hiked that day, I was exhausted and my 72 yr old father was ready for a bed to pass out! I had brought my bow and had carried it the entire day just in case a rut crazed monster buck walked out in front of us. As I was packing up my bow to go check into the motel 40 minutes away, my Dad was trying to convince me to bow hunt the remainder of the day. Even though I finally had the West wind I had desired for 2 seasons, I did not want to shower, hike back out, traverse that ravine, hang a stand and then reverse that procedure in the afternoon before the orange army takes over.

I finally caved in and decided against showering as it was so warm I would’ve sweat thru my cloths heading out anyway. Truthfully, I believe my old man just wanted the truck to himself to take a nap! As expected, I did indeed sweat profusely on my journey out to hunt the edge of the point that held a lot of hope based on the previous sign. As I get to the area I want to set a stand I realize that there is very little, if any, buck sign around. Not to mention, the area is thicker that I remembered. Seems like it would be a perfect place to find some deer bedded, but my shots would be very limited to a portion of one trail at a time in the woods. It was now almost 3:00. There was a small picked corn field coming off of the point that I wanted to hunt. This 20 acre (approx.) field had more tracks within it that I have ever seen. It is getting later and I’m ready to just sit down on a log and take a nap. Instead, I found two heavily used trails coming out of the thick woods off of that same point. I found a tree that was split into three trees that would hide my outline, but would require a lot of raspberry bushes, branch and vine removal just to get in and up it. Lazily, I decided to go with a tall straight oak tree that was right on the field edge. Within minutes I had the Lone Wolf sticks and XOP hang-on in tree. Minutes after that I climbed my fatigued body up into the tree.

After driving 5 hours early that morning, hiking all of the place for hours, setting up 3 blinds and then hiking back out to hunt I decided a doe would get a pass. A buck would have to be “decent” to get an arrow as the drag out would be a really long one. After about :15 in the tree I notice movement in the woods across the field and the ravine. Two other guys were walking a ridge at around 3:45. I’m thinking, “really, at this time in the afternoon?”.

At this point, I have yet to see a deer. My mind starts wandering thinking of how good a warm, fresh cooked meal would taste at this time. I then look in my backpack to see what the “Moon Guide” is predicting for PM movement. “3:08 PM in a transition area”. I roll my eyes and think to myself there is probably not even a buck using that bed any longer. I put the “Moon Guide” away and look back over the field and behind me into the woods. Whoa, there is a wide buck coming straight towards down the edge of the picked corn field from that point. Bow is in my hands and the release it attached.

As he gets closer, I notice that he just seems to be out looking for a bite to eat. He doesn’t have his nose to the ground. He gets to around 30 yds and I’m able to count his 8 points. He then turns 180 degrees so he is facing the opposite direction and begins feeding on some of the fallen corn the combine missed. After what seemed to be an eternity, he turned what I thought was broadside, but was slightly quartering to me actually. Arrow released. “Thunk” from my broad head shattering rib bone echoes across the field. He runs directly away from my to the other side of the field and disappears. I’m hoping and Praying that he did not go down a draw on that side of the field.

When the adrenaline subsided enough to contact my Dad and climb down, it was only 4:00 and there was still an hour of light remaining! My dad had no idea how to get to me so he remained at the truck. I climbed down and raced over to my arrow with nock lit in the field. Blood was sprayed everywhere so I jumped on the blood trail leading to the edge of the field. There he was, only 6’ off of the field edge!



I tagged and dressed him out right there. I made the decision to leave him over night and get him opening morning of IL gun season. I left a sweat soaked long sleeve shirt on top of the buck hoping that would keep coyotes off for the night. It did! The pics were taken the following day. I had a very long morning getting him out, but was well worth it! Measured 143” green. Was an enjoyable drive home with him on the back drawing lots of attention from other motorists!

[moog5050]

I have been fortunate to take a few deer with the recurve this year but never expected to kill this NY bruiser, although he was on the radar. Was really hoping for a good 3 year old.

Anyways, we named this buck the Monarch in 2013 when we first had him on camera as a likely 4yr old. Been chasing him ever since to no avail. The morning of Oct 29, I almost slept in since Phade and our friend David couldn't hunt. Pulled an all day hunt the day before and I was tired. But I eventually convinced myself that time in the stand is one of the biggest keys to killing a good buck and dragged myself out of bed.

I sat an oak flat downwind of doe bedding that has a trail in between where bucks cruise scenting does. Didn't see a deer early and started to grunt a bit. About 10 minutes later, I caught the smell of a buck. Slightly encouraged I waited a bit and saw nothing. Then another whiff. No buck to be seen still so I did 3 short grunts like a buck pushing a doe. Sure enough, I see a big body and tall tines to my right a few minutes later working his way though some brush. He was perfectly positioned upwind and working his way towards my shooting lane. I slowly stand and turn around in my stand to shoot to the right. Put my tab on the string and start to get ready and, oh NO, my arrow is stuck in the arrow holder and the nock comes of the string. I hold it together enough to release the arrow from the holder and nock the arrow again just as he is just starting to enter my lane. Guessed yardage at 25 and as soon as I could see full body I focused on that pocket and let it fly. I thought it was a good shot but wasn't certain.

Backed out and went back with my buddy David to track. The buck ran 60yds uphill, collapsed and slid back down. Heart shot! I had no idea it was the monarch until recovery.

The Lord blessed me. First big buck with a stick bow and one we had so much history with.



And my buddies sharing in the excitement with me!