20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

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20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby hunter_mike » Sat Oct 31, 2020 1:04 am

dan wrote:Start sharing your stories and pictures for the 2020-2021 Big Buck Contest HERE ~ IN THIS THREAD.

**** Please just post your buck stories and pics****
In other words, NO COMMENTS PLEASE!! They will be DELETED!


****As much as we love comments please save those for a different thread / post. That will make things much easier when we all come back here to go thru the posts for VOTING purposes later on****.


After the season, on a date not yet announced, we will invite the 500 club members of this site to vote on whom they feel should win the prizes.....

Voting will be based on the size of the buck, the hardness of the hunt, the hunters ethics, the weapon used, etc...

Please keep that in mind when telling your story. Although big bucks often win, in past years we have seen a young man whom shot a fork horn win, and a button buck shot by a foreigner who traveled all the way across the ocean to hunt our much celebrated whitetails.

So enter every buck you shoot if you like. If you shoot more than one and want to edit your story let me or a Mod know and we can help you with that. All buck deer legally taken are eligible regardless of species ( mule, whitetail, blacktail, etc. )

Good luck to everyone & Congratulations!!


Please remember this thread is for those who joined the contest at the beginning of the season in this thread:
https://thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=56050


If you did not join the contest your story will be move and made into a separate post into the "kill zone" forum.

The essay thread will be closed Monday Morning - February 22, 2021 at which time the 500 club will begin voting on the essays.


“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby Thesouthpaw » Mon Dec 14, 2020 4:04 am

The Beast of Penn’s Woods
I have been archery hunting my Aunt’s property in Bedford county Pennsylvania for the last 13 years. Over that time, I have been bless to take quite a few bucks, and even some really nice ones. Even though Pennsylvania has antler restrictions, the amount of extremely large bucks is not that much different than that of West Virginia. My hypothesis for this, is because of the sheer amount of hunting pressure the state of Pennsylvania receives. Once a buck has enough points to be considered “legal”, it typically gets killed. This is neither good, nor bad in my eyes, as I would like to see a larger sum of trophy bucks, but am also happy to see people enjoy hunting and following the restrictions that are already in place.
Living in Romney West Virginia, a person might think that it would be difficult to spend much time hunting in Pennsylvania, but it is actually quite the opposite. My Aunt’s farm sits about 10 miles from the Maryland line, roughly 20 minutes from Cumberland. Being this close, I am able to spend quite a bit of time scouting, and even hunting after work in the evenings.
In the beginning of August, I started to make the hour drive a few times a week, in order to scour the soy bean, and hay fields that were on, and around the perimeter of the property that I can hunt. Right away, I noticed that for whatever reason it was a banner year as far as large bucks goes. It seemed like every evening spent glassing, I would run into a nice buck, which is certainly not the norm.
Around the end of August, I deployed half a dozen trail cameras onto various portions of the farm, where I had been seeing pockets of nice, shooter bucks. A couple of the cameras that I used were “cellular cameras”, which send the pictures directly to an app on your cellphone, meaning you do not have to intrude into an area in order to check them. This proved to be vital, as I never had to leave my scent in the areas where these cameras were, but was able to get all of the Intel that I needed.
In the first week of September, we had a cold front move through, couple by a pretty substantial rain storm. I decided after school, I would throw my rain suit on, and spend the evening scouting, and hanging a couple of more trail cameras in areas that I have deemed “hard to hunt”. These areas are hard to hunt because of how difficult it is to get into them without spooking deer. I figured that if I could get in, and out while it was raining, I would be able to leave very little scent.
After taking a few hours to scout, it was nearing nightfall, so naturally I decided to make a quick trip around the crop fields to see if any bucks were on their feet. As I was driving down a hard top road, I saw a couple of bucks a few hundred yards away, and promptly stopped to glass. After seeing that none of them were big enough to be exciting, I lowered my binoculars, and what I saw startled me. A mere fifty yards from the road, and absolute giants stood from his bed, and for two minutes we had a staring contest. I watched as the beast wandered off, but little did I realize, I had just witnessed the buck that would paint my dreams for the next six weeks.
After seeing the large buck, I become very focused on my scouting in an attempt to pinpoint the buck’s core area. In mid-September, I began getting very consistent pictures of the buck on one of my cell cameras that was on a trail heading to a bean field, but only on a north to northwest wind. Based off of the scouting I did last winter, I was pretty sure that on that wind direction, he was bedding on the point of an interior thicket, halfway up a ridge, roughly 150 yards off of the corner of a soy bean field.
I watched my cameras for the next few weeks, keeping tabs on every wind directions, and every daylight photo that was taken, and confirmed that it would indeed take a northerly wind in order to possibly get a shot at the brute. The bad thing about this was that a northerly wind would clear about half of the bedding area out, but with a perfectly placed stand, would avoid the area that he was bedding in. many times, I mulled the thought over about going in and hanging a tree stand before the season started, but decided against it, as I did not want to place any of my scent in the area he was moving in daylight. So I decided I would take a stand in with me when I hunted.
Monday evening, October 5th, looked to be the perfect day to slip in and take a crack at the giant buck, as winds were to be out of the northwest, and the atmospheric pressure was to be on the incline, which often results on higher amounts of daylight movement.
The school day seemed to crawl by, and as soon as the bell rang at 3:26, to signal students to go to their busses, I ran to my truck, and headed north. The entire trip, I played the following events though my head, and went through my mental checklist in order to be efficient with my time. Upon arrival, I jumped out, and immediately placed my bow on the ground, changed out of my school clothes (which were ironically pajamas, as it was “get up and go day” for spirit week), then I placed my pack, and my super portable Lone Wolf Assault tree stand on my back, and headed into the area I planned to sit.
As I neared the area I wanted to sit, I looked around for the perfect tree. I found one with plenty of cover, but it had a couple of small deadfalls wedged into the crotch of a few limbs, meaning it would be a royal pain to climb. Even with it being an aggravating tree, I decided to unpack my things, and slowly ascend the tree. After about 25 minutes (it normally takes me only 5-10 minutes), and quite a few acrobatics, I finally settled into my stand.
I positioned the stand to face away from the direction that I anticipated the deer to come from, and decided that I would stand the entire evening, keeping the trunk of the tree between me and the hopeful path of the deer. Anxiously waiting, the aroma of fall filled my nose, as the thermals began to drop, heightening the scent that was being pulled my direction.
At 6:00 on the button, five does emerged from behind me and worked their way directly under my tree. For whatever reason, they simply stood around for 20 minutes, and eventually picked up on my ground scent. They never really wigged out, but they stomped and slowly walked off.
As the evening progressed, I watched deer after deer pour out of the bedding area to my west, which didn’t worry me, as I hadn’t gotten any evening pictures of the brute on the trail cameras that I had positioned on the trails that the deer were moving on. Surprisingly, the only other deer that walked within bow range, was a small four point.
Still standing, facing behind me at 7:00, I saw the unmistakable giant, white rack, 50 yards away, and walking right down the trail that I had anticipated. As he went behind some brush, I slowly lifted my bow from its hanger, and readied myself for the potential shot. The buck stopped broadside at 27 yards, but with it the wind being so calm, and the deer semi looking my direction, I decided to hold off on drawing my bow, and to wait for the better opportunity which came moments later.
He began walking again, and as his head went behind a bush, I slowly went to full draw. The only problem was that he stopped with his vitals directly behind that small bush, for what seemed like eternity, as he turned his head back and forth, making sure the coast was clear. As my muscles began to tire, I forced myself to not let my draw down. Eventually, the buck decided he was safe, and stepped out from behind the obstruction, but instead of walking right out into the field, he began quartering too me, stopping at roughly 25 yards. I decided it was now or never, as I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to stay drawn. I placed my sight pin right on the point of his shoulder, and drove a 550 grain arrow through both lungs and into the heart. The buck whirled on impact, running by my tree at 10 feet, and crashed into a sticker 50 yards behind me. There was quite a bit of thrashing, and crashing, and as quickly as it happened, everything fell silent.
Seeing that I didn’t get a pass through, I decided to sit, and listen intently in order to hear the deer wheezing, or moving, but there were no audible sounds. Around 7:30, I turned my head lamp on, and climbed down to sneak into where I saw the deer crash. After a minute or two of sifting my way through the brush, I walked right onto him.
Upon first glance, I was enamored at not only the size of the rack, but that size of the body as well. He is as big as any of the bucks that I have been lucky enough to kill in the Midwest, body wise. As far as his rack goes, he is most likely my best buck to date, certainly my best here in the east.
As I sit here, thinking about the events that transpired, it is hard for me not to feel a little empty inside, knowing that I may never get the opportunity at another buck of that caliber in WV, or PA, ever again. I am still in shock that everything worked out, and in textbook fashion at that. I was truly prepared to spend a full season playing cat and mouse with this deer, but instead killed him on my very first sit. I have my doubts that a buck of that caliber will ever be that easy in the future, but I look forward to the chess match for all of the bucks to come.
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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby Wannabelikedan » Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:34 pm

A couple weeks previous (Oct), I did a morning sit in this section of public I’ve never hunted nor scouted. Walking in well before light, I’m scanning the wood lots to my left/right and finding several sets of eyes. At one point, I catch a single set just 30 yards in the timber and shine a buck that’s clearly been hitting the crunchy PB hard. Super wide body and neck is nearly non existent. Taking note of the location and time, I figure this buck is probably bedding fairly close so I make sure to move well beyond the area to complete my morning sit.

Move ahead to the 27th, I’m out scouting and checking cams in other locations since a strong, wet cold front made it very unlikely for me to make a sit with my recent positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Just wasn’t worth getting pneumonia on my annual hunt-cation. So I walk a large north facing ridge looking for fresh sign to drop a cam on and maybe find some intel on the buck I shined a couple weeks earlier. Sign was lacking just about everywhere. As I make my way out of the bottom at last light I find a large annual rub in the draw and a massive fresh scrape right on top. I couldn’t have missed this buck by more than 30 minutes. It’s fairly thick on top so I just assume he has to be bedding very close. Once out of the timber 10 yards later, I realize I’m at a split in the access road. I do some pondering overnight and decide that I don’t have anything to lose throwing a sit at the scrape the next day with identical conditions.

Next day on cue, rain for half the day and it stops shortly after noon and I’m walking in at 3. Does already on their feet feeding on acorns. I get to the intersection of the access road and slowly creep in. The scrape trail is in some pretty short timber and quarters are tight. I notice an older scrape at the timber edge so I find the best option to shoot the timber edge and the scrape trail just in case. I’m only 50 yards from the road and all I can think is if someone sees me sitting here they’d laugh. Platform is probably only 7-8’ due to the timber height. Not very ideal with such a tight shot window. I’m still not positive if this buck is bedding to my east or my west. Just hoping the scrape is what buys me an opportunity to get it right. 5:35 a doe comes from the east and she’s met at my 12 by two bucks. A smaller 8 is in front and she walks by him and the back buck which looks like a shooter. He follows her out and they never show again. Almost an hour passes and I’m a little defeated thinking she threw a wrench in my plan. 6:25 I notice a body at the timber edge to my east. At first I’m thinking doe. After a better look, I’m thinking this “doe” is a little too large. Then he lifts his head and it’s kill mode. He takes a few steps closer and starts racking a tree to shreds and I’m getting excited at this point. During the sit, I’m constantly dropping milkweed and most times it’s blowing directly where I walked in at. On occasion though it parallels the timber a few yards before exiting so I’m a little worried. Hoping he comes to the scrape inside the timber would put me in a lot better shape. He keeps to the timber edge so I’m drawn waiting for him to hit the one opening before he hits my ground scent or my scent stream. Thanks to the Big Guy Above, it’s dead calm during the last 10 yards he comes my way. He begins to gallop and I stop him at the opening. Slight quarter to I rest it as far forward as I can and let him have it. He wheels towards me and screams back down the trail he came. It’s wet out so listening intently I’m 98% certain I hear him crash. I give it 45 minutes before I check the arrow. It’s soaked slimy like a liver exit but I can’t tell if there is any guts involved. Side effect of COVID-19 is loss of smell and taste so I’m SOL on that front. I find two drops of blood around impact and nothing is turning up down the trail so I’m just following his running track. I make it 50 yards down the trail trusting what I heard and saw since I still have those senses operable. Look up with my light and I see a white belly 20 yards in front of me. Stone cold in 70 yards. Let the celebration begin. Autopsy revealed I center punched the right lung and clipped both the liver and front of stomach on exit. Intestinal fat plugged the exit and the shoulder mass covered the entrance. All blood loss was internal and it was far from disappointing. 700 grain arrow with a large SHARP COC single bevel was more than enough to get the job done on my best public land buck to date.
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Yellow circle is stand. Scrape is marked with icon. Blue is wind direction. Pink line is buck travel with shot site at Red X. X icon is crash site.
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Scrape
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Pointing to shot site. Lines are milkweed travel during sit. Very lucky on no wind during his approach.
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Road 50 yards behind me
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As he lay. Exit mid body
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Entrance
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Happy sight at the end of the day
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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby G3s » Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:24 pm

2020 hunting season was another fantastic season giving me plenty of battles with a couple of successes thrown in. Michigan was a tough go from the start of it. I dont know why the deer just seemed to be one step ahead of me. I had some real dandies on camera, they seemed to move chosen bedding areas frequently and without rhyme or reason. I would get a line on a few big ones and poof, they were gone again. It would take me a few days to a week to locate them again and set up on them just to do the same disappearing act all over again. Finally on October 25th I was able to catch one slipping. He was late to get back to bed and I caught him slipping through the russian olives a bit after 8 am. Buck #1 was on the ground, he ran a short 35-40 yards after the shot and was down for good.
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I headed south to S.E Ohio on October 30th to get after the giant bucks that call that thick, steep terrain home. Every year I find myself in a battle with deer there that are a different breed of animal. They are part billy goat it seems. This year was a whole different story. I was putting in a ton of hours on stand, abundant sign was there but little to no deer movement at all the first week of November. Election day has been my day there the past few years. This year that day came and went with nothing to show for it other than a blue squirrel. I dont know what he got into to turn himself blue but he stuck out like a sore thumb.
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I was really questioning my hunt plan with over 60 hours on stand the first 5 days. I decided to give it one more day before changing areas and getting into some different areas of the timber. I'm glad I decided to stick it out one more day, at a bit after 7 am on November 5th I had a big bodied mature buck closing the distance. He was slow and methodical about his movement, I really cant figure out what had him so on edge. He finally go into an opening broadside at 26 yards and I let it go. He ran about 25 yards back the way he came and stopped for a second. His rear end dropped to the ground and he crashed off the side of the ridge and all went silent. He had died there and slid down the ridge about 15 yards until his antlers wrapped around a downed tree. It was awesome to finally have gotten in the right spot and capitalized. It was another rewarding trip south with plenty of old lessons relearned. This buck was a brute, huge neck and very heavy antlers. It was a tough and mundane hunt with very very little movement, but perseverance paid off. Luck o the Irish i suppose :-)
P.S. Not sure why its scattering pics and double posting them, I cant seem to make them go away.

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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby muddy » Sat Jan 16, 2021 2:54 pm

First I apologize that some of the pics might be fuzzy... not sure why they are but if you click on them they pop up crystal clear. The aerial looks much better if you click on it also, I had to do the editing on my phone so I think that's the issue. Anyway... onto the hunt

This story starts in 2019. I was scouting some land locked public and an adjacent landowner was nice enough to not only let me access the public, but also let me hunt their little 20. I threw some cams up and it wasn't long before I got pics of a couple good bucks. One had, what appeared to be, an arrow wound in his shoulder.

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Once summer rolled in, I deployed cams again and the arrow wound buck reappeared now quite a bit bigger. He quickly became "The One" I planned to target the hardest.

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Come this fall my kids all wanted to get a crack at him. Since I was still learning this new property, I didn't want to start throwing blinds up and risk spooking him off. I ended up taking the kids to another place I know pretty well and they all ended up having great seasons.

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Once my fatherly guide duties were complete it was finally my turn to climb a tree. I did a few observations hunts to get an idea of the land and how deer adjusted to the thermals and a topographic drop off/bench. I'm glad I did because the hills were tricky. The winds were never as predicted, often times a N wind would feel like it was out of the S or E... it was very frustrating. One rainy day I found "the stroke zone" up on the back side of a pine planting. It was high enough hill that a S wind would be consistent if I had good thermals. I wanted to make a weird wind work because I felt deer had adjusted to other hunters in the area as they hunted it on "perfect" winds.

There were two long stands of pines with old access roads between and around them. Between the pines had REALLY grown up but around the bottom of the south pines the road had turned into a beaten down trail. This trail stayed right on a topographic bench feature all around the side of the pines. As the trail came to the east side of the pines it turned and dropped off the bench and into the bottoms. As soon as I found this spot I knew it was where I needed to be. Most guys would want a straight W or NW wind, but I found that the steep hills made those winds extremely swirly. A straight S wind looks bad from the aerial, but rising thermals on the steep slope seemed to rise to the west as the creek valley went.

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Fast forward to the hunt. The weather forecast called for a low temperature of 15 rising to 50 by noon... PERFECT scenario to play the wind and use the strong thermals to my advantage. I got in early, put the Lone Wolf up and was ready by 0550. The action was immediate and constant all morning. Around 0940 I was texting a buddy congrats on his mornings kill when the hair on my neck stood up. I froze and cautiously looked behind me. The One had snuck into 40 yards and was just standing there. I had no idea where he came from, but I knew I was gonna do my best to give him a truck ride

After a few tense moments he finally broke and walked in to 15 yards and froze only 2 more steps before entering my shooting lane. Earlier in the morning I had a doe acting spooky in that location and I dont know if he sensed her nervousness from earlier but he FROZE. I dont recall how long he stood there, but it seemed like forever. My heart was pounding so hard my glasses were moving and I could FEEL my pulse hammering in my eyes. Things were rapidly escalating when suddenly he spun on the hoof and was quickly walking away from me. I drew, aimed, and murped all in one morion. As I murped I touched it off fully anticipating him to stop. To my horror he LURCHED forward and I ended up hitting him way back. Mentally I sunk but after 3 bounds the arrow popped out and blood fountained out in a crimson geyser. He went 40 yards, stopped, did 2 circles with his mouth open, then collapsed. His head was up and he let out 2 loud bawling grunts and then died. The femoral artery works.

It. Was. Insane.

I lost it. I tried calling my buddy but couldn't manage a coherent sentence. Then I started dropping stuff and decided I had better sit down before I fell down. The shakes were the worst I've ever had, but eventually I came back down to earth and eased out of the tree and down to him.

It has been a good long while since I've dealt with ground growth, but with each step his rack got bigger and bigger. As I paused to pat his neck I couldn't stop smiling at how the morning had played out. After snapping a few pics for quick texts, I simply sat down just so I could soak things in.

The set up and arrow.

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The One

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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:43 am

Ain’t no slump
when you hit ‘em with the bump and dump!
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Hit 'em with the Chris Kyle
at just over a quarter mile!
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Snuggled up to the fat chick
For a rack that’s extra thick!
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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby Tsom » Sun Jan 31, 2021 1:22 pm

Babies Birthdays and Bucks


Archery Buck

I'll start out by saying that I wasn't expecting much out of my deer season this year after learning my wife was due in October with twin girls! And as is common with twins, they often come early.
Our NH archery season opened on September 15th. I made it out hunting the opener after work and one Saturday before the twins decided it was time to come on September 24th. Healthy Mom, healthy 36 week girls! We thank the Lord for that!
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Fast forward to Columbus day weekend. Two of my wife's nieces flew out to help out with the twins so I ran the idea past my wife to go hunting Saturday and Monday evening and she ok'd it. Saturday was a bust. Monday the 12th was our 8 year old daughter's birthday. I had some things to get done and I brought her out for ice cream, and before I knew it, it was 4 o'clock and the sun sets at 6:09. I had an idea of where to go with the east wind that was forecast for the night.
I had run across some bedding on a wooded hillside choked with mountain laurel with interconnected logging roads running all through it while snow tracking 2 seasons ago...more on this later. I've walked through the area a couple times while hunting since and found some good tracks. I finally got around to scouting it early September with my 11 year old son and got a kill tree picked out about 130 yards from one bedding area and about 200 yards from another.
I raced out the door at 4:20 and drove the 3 miles to the public land. After speed walking most of the mile and a quarter back to my tree I set up my sticks and stand and sent my wife a text at 5:25 to tell her I was at my destination in the tree. After checking the wind my milkweed was dropping about 5 feet to the left of my best shot window... Right where I was expecting a buck to be coming from, and opposite the predicted wind. I was set up in an oak in a triangle shaped "island" of laurel with log trails on three sides so it wasn't my only shot option. Also the trail to my east and south had trails tying them together further up the hill and figured I still had a chance I decided I'd sit it out. I said a quick prayer God would send me a deer and I'd make a clean kill.
After sitting for about 25 minutes I heard something coming from the southern trail which split in front of me. I saw antlers and immediately knew I was going into kill mode as anything other than a fawn was in my radar with a few tags and especially since I figured this could be my last sit for a while.
He took the east trail right toward my best shooting lane but towards my scent also and walking at a slow pace. I put my 20 yd pin on him as he rounded the corner to head up the hill on the east trail with a perfect quartering away shot and let it fly as he walked. Wow 27 minutes after I got settled in the tree! I almost didn't go out because of time constraints!
After texting my wife I hit a buck I called beast member dagger who was hunting a half hour away and he said he'd be coming.
I climbed down and checked my arrow and found the broadhead end with 3/4 of the arrow with good clean blood and a decent blood trail. I packed up and hiked back the same way I took in to avoid where the buck ran. Dagger brought his son along and picked up my son also and met me where we were closest to where my stand was to the unmaintained road. After a fairly easy track job down the same logging trail he came in on, he cut off into the laurel after about 200 yards and headed downhill towards a pond. We found him about 30 yards off the trail. It was a double lung hit. I didn't realize till about a month later that the spot where I marked he was dead was in one of the beds I had marked on the onx app.
We got it gutted out, took a few snapshots, and started the 550 yd drag to the truck.
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I got to give credit where it's due...To God first, to the wife and nieces for letting me slip out and to dagger and the boys for help dragging! Also thankful for the good hit because it started raining around midnight and dumped rain the whole next day. He weighed in at 163.7 and had 7 points.


Rifle buck

Now back to the snow tracking on the 16th of November in the 2018 rifle season. When we got our first snow storm, I figured I'd try snow tracking for the first time so I grabbed my winchester model 94 30-30 and headed for the woods. I put about 4 miles on looking for a track. On my way out of the woods I picked up a good track. I believe it was the same buck this season, going off the hillside he was bedded on, and the one straight on view I got of his head and rack. I ended up seeing him 7 times pushing him another 4.5 miles. I almost shot him 4 times but didn't have a view of his head to be sure it was the right deer. I ended up shooting a different buck a few days later on the 20th, which was a bad shot and had to go back in and finish him off the next morning on our oldest daughter's birthday.
The 2019 season I was tied up with other areas. I didn't put any effort into this area other than trying to track with our only storm we had in early December which amounted to 3 feet and proved very fruitless.
So on to this season. The night before our muzzleloader opener October 29th brought an early thin blanket of snow. I like to adapt my hunting style to the conditions at hand so tracking it was. I planned on getting to the same area just at daybreak and try to pick up a track. I hadn't even got to where I was going to park and caught a good track crossing the unmaintained road so I parked there and took it. He ended up picking up a doe and must have dogged her all night in an old cut because the area was loaded with tracks running everywhere through all the thick laurel and saplings. Soaked from the snow and not able to sort out the most recent tracks I gave up on it and crossed the road to find something different and to check the area I kicked up the buck in 2018. This was also where I shot the bow buck. I picked up another real nice track near the bed I'd found him in, in 2018 and follow it unknowingly past a friend's cell cam which caught the buck an hour ahead of me.
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He bedded on the side of the ridge where I bumped him, and slowly follow his running tracks about ¾ of a mile up onto a mountain side, trying to give him time to settle down. I found what looked like the same track doubled back walking down the hill. Assuming it was the same buck and since my knees were growing weary from the miles, instead of figuring out the track further up the mountain I took the downhill track and caught up to him at the bottom coming out of a small pot hole swamp. He bumped but stopped sharp quartered away with a tree cutting across his midsection at about 40 yd and head and neck was concealed by a snow covered hemlock branch. I put the scope of the cva wolf where I thought the vitals would be and quickly yanked the trigger. After the smoke cleared I found a tuft of hair, no blood, and 4 or so running tracks that stopped mixed in with a few sets of walking tracks. Assuming I just got hair I followed a few sets for a ways and nothing seemed like a wounded deer. Physically beat and beat by the buck I headed to the rig and finished out about 7 or 8 miles of walking. The next day dagger and I went back to the area to search just in case it just hadn't bled and was laying somewhere, but came up with nothing.
Fast forward into our rifle season after finding a climber and camera close to the bedding on the hillside I thought he probably wasn't using that area much. November 14th I decided to take our 11 year old up to a saddle the buck was headed towards when tracking with the muzzleloader, hoping to catch some cruising bucks crossing the mountain ridge. He brought along the trusty 30-30 and I was using my ruger m77 30-06. We got up just above the military crest just as it was getting light and side hilled towards the saddle. We bumped something that didn't blow and sounded big, running off uphill. Setting my son up near the saddle I sat 50 yd or so away for an uneventful few hours and packed it up after he got too cold.
So come Saturday the 21st, our oldest daughter's bday again, I figured with the same wind I'd get up in there earlier and bring my summit climber along. I got right up to where he'd busted the weekend before a half hour before legal and sat on a log cooling off from the mile and a half hike up the mountain. In the dark I could hear something moving off toward the saddle maybe 150 yards. I got changed into some warmer clothes. Then, I took into consideration the saddle, the possible bedding area I bumped him from and the top of the mountain and tried to find a nice tall oak suitable for a climber with a shot toward all 3. My plan was to hopefully get up 30 feet and let the prevailing wind take my scent up over any eventual rising thermal. Slowly still hunting that direction I picked my tree out and took a few hasty steps towards it. I looked up to see at least one deer bound off. I immediately dropped down and slid the summit off my shoulder so it was standing up and knelt down low in front of it. Looking through the scope on the m77 I searched and saw the white of an antler through the pine saplings and blow downs maybe 60 yards out. As I heard the deer stomping trying to get me to move, the next sight picture I got was of a doe, so I knew I had to be careful what deer I was going to shoot. After a few minutes of them both slowly stomping towards me and the 06 getting heavier and heavier, the doe finally came out at 40 yards into the clear with the buck just ten feet behind. Not being fussy as my time is limited whatever stepped out with at least 3" of legal antler was going to get lead.
As he stepped out, my focus was strictly on putting a bullet in the shoulder and not on the rack so as soon as he cleared a sapling coming downhill and quartered to me I let him have it just in front of the shoulder.
Both of them bounded out of view and I jacked another cartridge in. I heard crashing around and blowing. After waiting a couple minutes I made my way up to where the buck had been and found the bullet hole in the ground that seemed a bit low from where I'd pictured he'd been. So standing there thinking it may have deflected off something closer to me, I looked around me for blood or hair in case I was off on where the buck was standing. Nothing.
I looked out about 20 yards and start looking around to see anything and after a bit I saw his antler sticking way up off the ground not 20 yards away! He's right there! I walked up to him, and he was as dead as a stump. The bullet exit was a little higher out the other side and took out both lungs. I made a few calls to my wife and others and snapped a few pictures.
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My brother in law was willing to pick up our 11 y.o. and come help drag as the boy demands if I shoot anything, I have to get him to come track or drag. I snapped a few more pictures and left the tagged buck there with my pack and vest on it. And hiked the mile and a half out to meet them at the truck. After hiking back up, we gutted the buck, snapped a few more pictures and started the long drag out. Thankfully it was ¾ downhill but still not a walk in the park.
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He weighed in at 167. I eventually got around to putting a tape to his antlers and measured 145 ⅜ gross. He's an 8 with one scorable sticker on his left base. Certainly my biggest buck by far! After hanging him in the tree at home I was looking around for missing hair or something to see if it was the muzzleloader buck and sure enough there on his neck is a fresh bullet burn!
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Pretty neat to finally get him! This was my 4th season since hearing about beast tactics. The bow buck was my first success in "bed hunting". The beast has taught me a lot about being mobile and different tactics in general.
All in all I'm very thankful for the success this season, for healthy,happy baby girls, awesome wife, helpful family, and knowledge from this forum to put myself in spots to kill these bucks.
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Re: 2020 -2021 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays

Unread postby Swampbuck » Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:08 am

Solo trip to Montana! This was my second time there and it was much tougher than last year. The rutting action seemed to be late and the bucks were tough to find. Covered a ton of ground driving, walking, glassing. Wound up settling on a place that the roads became to nasty for people to drive so i was able to hike in a couple miles and glass an area that wasn't getting pressure. I was down to my last 2 days and had glassed a couple bucks and had watched them for awhile back and forth between a couple blocks of woods. A big one had popped out to survey the field at one point and i had was strategizing on how to setup for the evening with hopes he would return. Saw this buck bedded down in the sage and decided to go for it, if it failed i would be where i needed for the evening. I stalked through the woods about a mile and was able to get to a spot keeping some high ground between us. By this time he was on his feet with a couple does. I was surprised i had made it this far, the snow was so crunchy i didn't think i would be able to pull it off, but spot and stalk is so much fun. . There was a couple bushes i had made note of to try to get to for the ambush. I bumped a doe on the way and thought i was had, but she didn't alarm them much and i was able to crouch/crawl my way to the bush and get settled. Once they settled down, he headed to where i figured it was now or never. Took the shot and he buckled! Spot and stalk is so much fun and Its a strange thing because the whole time you are hoping to just find something to go after, then when you do its a double edged sword because you know how much can go wrong and then you are back to square one. As i was walking up I was still surprised it all came together, its a surreal feeling, out in the wilderness when the silence is broken there is almost an deep serenity in that moment. Hard to describe but its something i haven't experienced elsewhere. Then that is super-ceded by the awareness of the work about to begin! Took me two trips to pack out, 2 miles each way. It was a tough trip but the scenery is unmatched and stalking is a blast!

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Back home to the public land swamps in S. Louisiana! I won't go into detail on the stud that i saw from a distance, which was the biggest deer i've seen here, and i planned to spend the season after him only to learn he was killed later that evening :cry: :violin: . I had another area I had scouted pretty hard late last season and knew there was a good deer in the area. Had to work a half a day to get to it and the first trip in i made an evening hunt. As i approached the tree i was starting to second guess whether i should climb or push in a bit further as i knew i was right on the edge of doe bedding. As i was standing at the tree contemplating, a nice buck jumped about 80 yds from me. So i climbed up thinking he may return. No dice. But i returned early the next morning. Right before daylight i started hearing that awesome sound of a deer walking through the water. I thought i heard a grunt so figured it was a good buck, it was still pretty grey but as he got close i could see it was a decent buck, but in the back of my mind i was hearing more steps than i was seeing. Once he got to about 20 yds i was looking all over for another and then he appeared and could immediately tell he was the better one. He was following the same path and when he got to about 20 yds i dropped the hammer. Pretty sure it was the deer i had jumped the evening prior so it worked out perfect!

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Tufrthnails
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Tufrthnails » Mon Feb 08, 2021 1:50 am

Jan 26, 2021
Private land
North west Florida
Rifle

So this is gonna go down as one of my most memorable hunts for a couple reasons. One is because so much of the stuff I’ve learned here following you guys.

Back ground: Me and buddy hunting family farm. All week wind was bad. We spent one day on public land that is only open weekends for muzz hunt. Had a blast canoed into spot. Great hang and hunt.

The rest of the week leading up we stayed out of the bedding no cam checks no driving around at all. We hunted out of blinds or stands way off found observation hunts which is how this hunt starts.

The am hunt I set an observation blind. Slipped out to do some things that needed done then grabbed some early lunch and rain was coming so I told my buddy wind is switching I’m gonna take my LW and hang in an area we had a good encounter last year on a NW wind on the east fence. I got soaked to the bone. He went to a box blind not far from where I was overlooking the feeder. I don’t know what my problem was but I had to adjust my Alpha three different times I just couldn’t get it right. And instead of getting frustrated I was so stoked about this hunt each time I took my time to be as quiet and move as slow as I could. It was a long sit but it finally let up on the rain around 3:30pm. I was getting pretty excited. Not to long after the rain stopped a fork horn came through north of me on the other side of the low spot north of me.

5:30 I’m still feeling good, but it’s starting to creep in the back of my mind it’s not gonna happen. Few minutes later I look up and a buck is working down a trail that is new this year. (The neighbors put up a huge raised box blind just south of where I hung and deer are skirting it now, which really made my buddy mad. But I showed him back in September where I had found some heavy trails where deer were now avoiding that blind and now crossing in the bottom where heavy cover was.) I see the frame of the rack and know it’s a shooter but not sure if I’ve seen it or got any pics of it. I catch the brow tines as he turns his head and know which buck it is. Let him turn a bit more and get a nice broadside shot at 35yards. He runs 45 yards and piles up. Took us a few minutes to find him in the nasty stuff.

This is my biggest FL buck to date and I owe a ton of it the the beast and the amount of info shared here.

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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Drenalin » Sat Feb 13, 2021 5:04 am

Thanksgiving Week 2020

My 2020 season culminated with my two best bucks ever during the week of Thanksgiving. But before I get there, a little background:

I 2018, I found the Hunting Beast forum and started working on changing the way I hunt. It's been a process. I'd been seeing some progress, but coming into 2020 there were still some major weaknesses in my game. I knew that I was still overhunting properties, I wasn't mobile enough within the areas I was hunting, and I wasn't scouting in-season like I should be. I decided to make one big change to help address all three of those issues - I became strictly a ground hunter. I sold or gave away every treestand I had and all the stuff that goes with them. I decided I was going to cover more ground than this season than I ever have before, and I wanted to be moving light. I didn't want to get overly committed to any one spot - I wanted to move until I got on good sign and then figure out a setup from there. Both my bucks this year came on small private properties of 40-60 acres. But in past years, I would have found a likely looking spot - probably based on terrain or even a single deer sighting - and then hunted the fool out of it until I ran out of time. This year when I hunted those properties I bounced around on them based on sign, sighting, and conditions.

My first buck of the season hit the ground on November 21st, but the hunt started about a month before that. I had gotten permission to hunt this place in early October, and a couple of weeks later the landowner was telling me about a good buck they had seen right at dusk on a field edge. He's not hunter, but told me this buck was so "big" and so "pretty" that he kind of wanted to shoot it himself. I had been on the property once already, but with this news I started really working on breaking it down. I dove in one Saturday and scouted it thoroughly, and started doing low-impact hunts/observations from a distance from there.

Every year, I take the week of Thanksgiving off and hunt my tail off. This year, it timed out perfectly that rut activity was outstanding for the last couple weeks of November. The afternoon of the 21st, I went into this property and walked edges looking for fresh sign. A trail had popped up just inside the treeline along a field edge, and two rubs had opened up coming onto this property from the direction of a bedding area. I had seen does moving along this small finger and entering a secluded field to feed on red oak acorns and grasses, so I recognized the trail as a parallel trail. I backed off about 80 yards and set up in a blowdown where I could watch the field edge and parts of that trail. Here's a map of setup. The red lines are three strand barbed wire fence, and I was set up in the blowdown to the west.

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With 10 minutes of legal light left, a doe finally entered the field moving from my right to left. I scanned the treeline with my binos, and a great buck stepped out behind her. As she moved quickly across the field and back into the treeline on my left, I stood to give myself a clear shot at the buck. He was at 74 yards when I fired, and he dropped at the shot. The way he hit the ground and started to struggle back toward the treeline, I was worried I had spined him, so I sent another round and anchored him for good. As I walked up on this buck, he just seemed to get bigger. I couldn't believe what had just happened.

Here he is as he lay when I walked up on him:

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He was a mainframe 8, but one of his brown tines was broken off. Here he is after I got my hands on him:

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A few days after this hunt, I got a text that a good buck was pushing does around near another property I had permission to hunt. I went in there the day before Thanksgiving to scout it out. The property was clear cut last year and is just loaded with deer. They seemed to be everywhere, and there was a lot of sign of them using the logging roads. One spot in particular got my attention though. I watched a coyote, four does, and a spike move through a saddle with a three way intersection of logging roads. When I walked into it to get a closer look, I noticed a few things that convinced me I had found the right spot to hunt on this property. First, the smell of rutty buck was almost overpowering. There were tracks everywhere. And there was a 4" maple across the property line that had been rubbed from the ground up to about belly height, with a well used trail coming off that property toward the saddle.

I got back in there the day after Thanksgiving on a still, cool morning. Wind direction was a little risky, but it was so calm that I expected thermals to be strong enough to overcome the wind direction. I waited for gray light to go in and set up about 100 yards above the saddle, watching down the logging road. I wasn't there long. A half hour after legal shooting light I spotted movement on the neighbor's property to the south. Through my binos, I watched a good buck work that rub for a few minutes before heading right to the saddle. He hopped the fence and turned to the east, where I dropped him at 95 yards with a quartering away shot. Here's a map of the set up:

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The buck was another 7 pointer, and another good one for the area:

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Here is he loaded on my pack, ready to head home:

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At the beginning of this novel, I mentioned these are my two best bucks. And yeah, they're definitely my biggest. But what makes them my "best" bucks to date is the work I put into scouting, the decisions I made on when and what to do, the application of tactics, and seeing all the effort of the last few years come together like it did this season. I tagged both these animals inside of one week, and I'd have been extremely happy with either one of them this season, let alone both. For me, this was just a phenomenal year. I owe a lot of that to the folks here who are so generous with their knowledge and experiences.

So thank you!
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Huntoholic » Sun Feb 14, 2021 2:57 am

The last 3 years I was on Marine Corps recruiting duty working 80+ hours a week and the two years before that I was stationed in Japan. So since joining the Beast on 2015 I've been anxious to try out all these strategies I've been reading about but I’ve had very limited time hunt and almost no time scout. 2020 was my year to change that, I had a month of terminal leave to use in February and after I joined the Massachusetts Air NG full-time . They had me working every other week from March until June due to Covid so I got more scouting and preparation done than I ever had in my entire life. I had a lot of confidence that I was going to have a great season in New England. Then mid August I get a curve ball and find out that I'm shipping out Texas for the next four months for training. So August 27th I arrive at Sheppard AFB in Texas and I'm just thinking "Hey I'm in a big buck state and on the boarder of another, Oklahoma, lets do this!"

Immediately I got on ON-X and the Texas and Oklahoma state wildlife pages and I started doing my research. I found Several pieces of public land within an hour and a half. Over the next week I drove around the public land to get the lay of the land, I burned a lot of boot rubber, and I did a lot of glassing which was really fun because we don't have much for glassing opportunities in New England. While glassing one evening I found a great piece of public land that had 5 nice bucks bachelored up on it to include two nice ten pointers. A week after I glassed them I went into the 40 acre chunk of woods that they were bedding on during a heavy rain to scout it out and figure out how they were moving through. The center of the woods was super thick to point I was literally low crawling under thorny vines just to get through some sections. It was too thick for an archery shot and with the season only two weeks away way it was too late to trim shooting lanes. So I would have to hunt the edges. I picked out a nice thicket of thorns about chest high that I could set up in. I observed that these bucks were coming out to feed in this old pasture on a southeast wind.
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The second day of the season I got the southeast wind I wanted so I set up to try and take a crack at one of those tens. I had a really close encounter with the two ten and two other nice bucks as they did a big circle around me at 60-100 yard for almost an hour just feeding together. Over the next three week I encountered them several more times but I was unable to seal the deal, including a 15 yard encounter where they stood on the private contemplating on whether or not to jump the fence until the wind swirled and they took off.
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Then on Tuesday October 27th I had training canceled due to an ice storm so I was able to pull up to my spot at 1:30 in the afternoon. Just as I am pulling up to the edge of the public I see a doe pop out in the road from the private and then a huge buck that I’ve never seen before jumps into the road after her. He sees me and jumps into the public. I try to get around the doe to the parking spot but she decided to run next to my truck for 200 yards before squeezing through the fence. Knowing that I had just separated the buck from his doe I knew I had a great chance to catch him. The only problem was he entered the public at the very south corner and I was parked north of him with a north wind blowing right to him. This property goes around a lake so I decided to get on the edge of lake and hope that the wind would take my scent over the water and my milkweed confirmed that it did.

As I got to the south end of the lake I came up to a break in the cattails where I could slide into the woods and just as I’m looking for a spot to tuck into I see his tail pop up and he bounds away. I knew he hadn’t caught my wind and only my movement through the brush so I decided to try calling. After 20 minutes I followed in after him and now I had the wind in my favor and with the steady rain I could quietly creep through the thick brush. A 100 yards later I cut his track and knew that I was close so I kept creeping forward. Another 100 yards later I look up and there he is at 60 yards. He hadn’t seen me but I didn’t think that I could cut the distance without getting busted so I crouched down and low crawled behind a big brushy tree and tried doing a few doe bleats knowing that he was probably still looking for his doe. After 15 minutes I realized that this buck wasn’t falling for a call so I kept creeping forward. After another 50 yards I jumped the doe and moved to where I could shoot where she was and waited in case the buck circled back on her trail. After about 15 minutes I started creeping through the brush again and was able to cut his track again. I followed him across an access road into the 40 acre piece of woods where the two tens had been bedding.
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I figured he most likely went to bed down for the rest of the afternoon but would likely go back out the way he came in about three hours around dusk to go find his doe. So I set up on the edge an overgrown field in the closest shootable spot to the known bedding. I made a little make shift blind out of branches under a hemlock tree. I sat motionless for three hours in the drizzling freezing rain on my tripod swivel stool ready and excited. As light was quickly fading I was scanning to my left and suddenly I heard something to my right. I look over and see this big high heavy horned buck quickly coming out of a brush thicket at ten yards. Before he can disappear into the next thicket I swivel around and draw my bow in the same motion with no other choice since he is about to exit my shooting lane. He catches my movement, turns around and bounds away to 35 yards and stops broad side. I had my slider set at 25 so I held high and let it rip. Instantly I heard the arrow hit bone and in two leaps he disappeared into the brush.

I waited 10 minutes and by that time it was almost completely dark. I go look for my arrow and I’m disappointed to find very little blood and a bunch of fat on it and the rear 6” snapped off. I look in both directions that he could have gone and I can’t find a single drop of blood anywhere and it’s raining pretty good at this point so I don’t know if it’s just getting washed away or if the shot wasn't as good as I thought it was. Since It was too dim to see where the arrow impacted and little evidence on or around the arrow I decided to back out and call a tracker. One agreed to meet me first thing in the morning.
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The next morning we get out to the impact spot and the dog starts sniffing around and I’m just thinking the worst. After a few minutes the dog wonders off and starts to beeline for the edge of the woods. We didn't even make it 80 yards and there the buck was laying in some tall grass at the edge of the woods. At this point I’m jacked, I’m jumping around and hollering, I’m just so pumped.

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After gutting him I found the fletching's in the chest cavity. While skinning and quartering him I realize that even though I center punched him he was dropping and rolling so hard at the shot that the arrow took out a chunk of his spine and exited his offside scapula high on his side and his scapula snapped the arrow as he was dropping. This has been a crazy exciting season for me so far and I’m so grateful to of had so many awesome experiences this season.
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I definitely would not of got this buck if it were not for all of the great tactics that I've learned from Dan and all the other Beasts on this forum. I also have to give some credit to the THP crew because there was a lot of times that their videos came into mind. Before discovering the Beast I use to sit the same tree stand all season and was apprehensive to get aggressive. Now I feel like a completely different hunter. Thank you Beasts for for all the great tactics and an awesome forum!
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Swedishbowhunter » Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:05 pm

So my 2020 season started out in mid August with a trip to Wyoming for an archery antelope hunt with my 2 oldest daughters(13 &15) and my good friend and his teenage sons. We had a phenomenal trip where the weather was hot and dry, perfect for hunting water holes. My 15 year old got her 1st antelope with a compound bow, and my 13 year old got her 2nd antelope ever with a crossbow. Everyone in the group was tagged out and I had 1 day left to hunt. The last hour of my hunt I had a good antelope present a broadside 18 yard shot. Everything felt perfect with my shot but it ended up being a single lung hit and I had to stalk it to take a follow up shot.
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I was upset as the last 4 animals I have shot had a weird arrow pass through. Entry was almost always perfect but the exit hole was always not where it should have been. I had written this off to a case of target panic I was getting over. When I got home I decided to double check my bow so tried to paper tune my bow to make sure it was not the problem. I couldn't get it to paper tune so I went to the archery shop for help. After an hour of checking most everything, we still could not get my bow to paper tune. We finally took the drop away rest off and put a whisker biscuit rest on which immediately allowed my bow to paper tune perfectly. The arrow rest was not dropping away consistently causing the arrow to come off my bow very erratically. I started shooting like I had several years ago!!! I could consistently hit exactly what I was aiming at, I have to believe what I thought was target panic, was nothing more than a faulty arrow rest, resulting in my confidence being extremely shaken up.
A week after returning home from Wyoming I took off to NW Nebraska public lands with an old high school friend. Neither of us had ever hunted or scouted this area of Nebraska, but I had spent a considerable amount of time map scouting and speaking to local wildlife biologists about the area we had selected to go to. I also had multiple conversations with a couple of beast forum members who had hunted this area & who were nice enough to answer my questions and offer advice. We arrived 2 days before the season opened and had some time to scout and glass several areas. We were never able to “get on” anything we wanted to pursue but we kept looking at different areas. We started hunting mornings and afternoons, and spent most of the day scouting different public lands. We finally found some public that was holding some good bucks but wasn't being heavily pressured. Several small bucks were passed the next few days, but the weather turned extremely hot and humid and daytime sightings stopped. We kept scouting and moving cameras around. One day it was just too hot and humid to hunt so we took a mental health day & a break from beating the brush. We spent the last hour of daylight glassing some public that I had picked out map scouting that I felt the bucks would funnel through heading to the private irrigated fields. No deer were seen that night and we had all but given up hope. The next day(our last day to hunt) I went back into the public we glassed the night before to retrieve a camera I had placed, and it showed some good bucks funneling through right where I had guessed while map scouting. While getting the camera I realized that we could not see this area while glassing like we thought we could!! We grabbed our stands and went in for the last sit of our trip. The only tree I could get in was ¾ of the way dead, but it had a bunch of green 10’ high brush around it that would provide excellent cover. My buddy set up 150 yards away choosing to hunt from the ground. As I sat there that night watching the sun set on our trip I couldn't help but feel fulfilled as I reflected on the trip, it had been an excellent experience.
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I took a picture of the sunset and began making plans to return again when I spotted a buck moving quickly towards me. I pulled back and could have taken a 30 yard shot but I elected to pass as I figured he would either give me a closer shot or end up in front of my buddy. He disappeared from my view due to the thick brush I was encircled by, but he soon emerged just 8 yards from my perch, quartering away perfectly. I pulled back, took my time going through my shot sequence, & when I released my arrow, I knew I had “smoked” him. I saw him run about 45 yards into the crp where he flipped over and died!!! It felt so good to finally have my arrow do exactly what I wanted it to do after 4 years of dealing with my target panic/faulty drop away rest. It was pretty dark by the time we got the buck back to the truck and with the heat we did not mess around trying to get good photos.
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We left for home in the morning, but spent most of the way home rehashing the week's events and making plans to return again next year.
So now onto my 2020 Wisconsin buck story, and it began back in 2017 when I first became aware of beast tactics. I had been your typical sit the same stand hunter for my entire life, and honestly the HB opened my eyes and helped put a lot of pieces together in the big puzzle for me. I started to realize I was my own worst enemy over hunting a lot of the property I had access to, & I started to scout the public near my home. I remember hearing that you can expect at least 3 years of “HB'' scouting and hunting before it starts clicking & you experience success, so i wasn't too optimistic about the process. The spring of 2018 found me off of work for 6 weeks and I scouted every day I could. I scouted properties up to 3 hours away from my home base. That fall I ended up bowhunting some public but was basically hunting spots that it turned out everyone else was. It helped me because I ended up reducing the pressure on the private I hunted so I ended up shooting a 154” 10pt that year. So I lost my permission to this property and knew I had to step up my public land game. I scouted like mad, but now after studying as much as I could about scouting, map reading, internet scouting, etc I was scouting much more efficiently, and not just stumbling around looking for sign. The fall of 2019 I had a lot of close encounters, every time I was one tree off, or the deer was just out of range. I had a blast, I had never seen this many “shooter” bucks in one year before in my life. My season came to a close getting busted by a doe raising my bow to shoot a nice buck. All I could do was laugh it off as that is how my entire season had gone, close but no cigar. I was not upset, depressed, or even distressed that I hadn't been able to harvest a mature buck, I was oddly filled with satisfaction that the year was successful. I knew I was doing the right things to improve my chances and began scouting for 2020.
When covid hit my job was basically put on hold, so I signed up to work as a door screener for the hospital on 2nd shift. It was very slow,so I had all night to organize my past scouting trips, and internet scout new areas that I could walk on weekends. 2020 archery season couldn’t come soon enough, I was stoked, I had lots of places all mapped out ready to hunt, based on wind, time of year, & pressure. My younger teenage girls got bit with the bowhunting bug and wanted to hunt every chance they had, and with them not having any school sports (due to covid) we could hunt every night and weekend. I spent almost every chance to hunt sitting with my 13 year old and helping my 15 year old get into good spots. My 15 year old shot her first buck with a vertical bow and we were both very stoked!!!
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I was still trying to help my 13 year old get a buck but we were just not having much luck. On the night of Oct 27 she didn't feel like going, it was colder out and she hadn't seen a buck the last 3 or 4 sits. I grabbed my bow, stand/sticks and headed for some public near my home. As I pulled into the small parking area there were two younger fellows just getting ready to walk in to hunt. This area is small and I knew we couldn't all hunt there so I boogied down the road thinking hard as I drove, deciding what spot would work for this wind? I was kicking myself for not having the binder with me that I had made that listed all the spots for each wind. It then came to me, a spot I had scouted in 2017 and had looked at again this spring was just down the road and would set up perfectly for this wind. I got to the land, loaded up my stand and sticks, grabbed my bow and started in. I immediately started seeing some good rubs, and beat down trails, I remember seeing an exceptionally big track going the same way I was going. I guessed that this was probably late night sign being made on the way back to bedding. I kept moving slowly and right before I entered the water heading for the island I wanted to get to, I found the same big track on the runway heading towards my direction of travel. I made it about 35 yards into water/cattails when I heard the HB voice say “don't walk past good sign.” I stopped and looked at the ½ mile of water and cattails that awaited me on my trip to the island. I thought to myself that as quiet as it was, every deer near that island would hear my approach. I turned around and walked back out of the water to the first huntable tree. I looked around and I could now see like 6 different edges all connecting to this one spot. I could almost see my vehicle parked on the road and thought “no one in their right mind would be caught dead hunting here!!” This is the “fat girl”, I thought. I quickly and quietly put sticks onto the giant oak tree. Had I not modified my sticks with longer amsteel straps I never could have hunted this tree. When I got to about 16 or 17 feet up I finally had a spot to hang my xop air raid. I couldn't have sat any lower as the factory strap was maxed out. I settled in and started ranging the trails I could see, and there were a lot of trails all intersecting within 25 yards of my stand. I now looked back and could just make out my car through the little bit of woods behind me, and again thought to myself, “I hope nobody comes past me and sees me here!!!” The trail I had turned around on in the cats appeared to come out of the cats and follow along the edge out to private crop fields, other trails were just along the edge of the cats that would hide most traveling bucks and give them a one jump get away from predators or hunters. It was right then I knew this was going to happen. I remembered Dan saying he goes into every sit thinking this is going to be the sit he is going to shoot him!! About a ½ hour before dark I had a small buck come out on the very trail in the cats that I had turned around on. He came past me perfectly. I practiced drawing and aiming at him till he had worked his way past me. I often do this just to help reduce over excitement when it is actually time to kill. 5 minutes later I heard the unmistakable sound of a big deer splashing down that same trail towards me. I immediately identified him as a shooter and began my plan to kill him. I remembered that right before the smaller buck had come out of the cats he dropped into a depression and tall grass, I knew that when this buck got to that spot I could stand up undetected. I did just that, he came out & stopped. I thought “oh no he is gonna smell where I walked.” But I don't think he did, he turned and started walking towards me and then he stopped at 28 yards. He stared directly ahead of him checking everything out thoroughly scanning for any irregularities for about 5 minutes(which seemed like forever). The devil on my shoulder said “shoot him straight on, you can do it.” My common sense said “just wait, you have the wind advantage, you will get a better shot”. He finally took 5 steps then turned broadside, I drew my bow and simultaneously made a “baa” with my mouth. He stopped, my pin settled right behind his shoulder. I was telling myself “take the extra second,” I slowly squeezed my release and my arrow looked like it hit perfect, but he spun right after it hit him retreating right down the trail he had come in on. The splashing was so loud and soon after he was out of sight(I could only see about 50 yards) I heard a huge splash followed by a few light splashes. I believed he traveled out of range for me to hear him any longer, but I listened and watched until dark. I took everything down as quietly as possible, packed up my gear and hiked out to my car. On my way home I got a hold of a friend that I could trust to take with me to help track this buck. He was excited to grab his waders and come help me. As we were walking in to where I had shot the buck, I remember telling him, “now don't laugh when you see where I was sitting!” We immediately found blood, followed by the arrow. The arrow looked excellent so we kept following blood out into the cattails. The blood trail was easy to follow, but we lost it after about 45 yards. We backed up to the last blood and started in his direction of travel again, where we quickly found that had made 1 jump off the trail & was laying there dead!!!
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I have been fortunate to have harvested bigger bucks than this with my bow, but this was my 1st big buck off of public land with a bow. I was more proud/satisfied with this buck than any others I had harvested. He grossed 137”!! Which is quite awesome for an eight point. He was 20 ½” wide inside, weighing close to 200 pounds dressed. I have already started my scouting for next year & can't wait.
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4 days after this I headed to SE Nebraska with a good friend to bow hunt some public and private that I had permission to access. Long story short, we both got Covid the 1st night there, & my buddy shot a 135” 12point a few days into the trip.
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I was so stoked about him getting this buck as it was shot off a spot I had looked at last year while map scouting and in-season scouting. I spent the next 8 days passing up 130 -140” deer. I would see some much larger bucks(160’s-170”) but they never ended up giving me a good shot. I ended up returning home to finish my quarantine.
5 days later we went into the Wisconsin gun season where I spent the majority of it hunting with my 13 year old. She ended up shooting an 8 pointer with her ruger youth model 243. Our entire hunting group ended up having a great year, either passing up small bucks or in my dad's case, missing a couple bucks.
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The things I learned from the Beast that helped me, summarized: 1. Spend more time scouting than hunting. 2. Hunt where others don't. 3. Hunt the edge. 4. Hunt hot sign, don’t walk past it. 5. Use quality equipment (had I been using regular stand/sticks I couldn’t have hunted the tree I was in) 6. Wait for a good shot. 7. Hunt the wind 8. Don't tell anyone where you shot your deer. 9. Understanding maps & how to use them to find hunting locations. 10. K.I.S.S.
I cant wait to see what 2021 has instore for us!!!
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Eddiegomes83 » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:27 am

Well once again my boys and I were fortunate enough to have another really successful public land season here in Florida. While Florida is known more for its giant bass and excellent turkey hunting, big bucks and large deer numbers do not come to mind at all when they think of Florida.

I never see this as a handicap but more of a rise to the challenge to put down a respectable mature buck in Florida. I scout almost non stop all year. And all the scouting has been paying off. The last 3 or 4 seasons i have been able to up my personal best Florida public and this year was no different.

I started the season off thinking that i was going to have a rough season. I didn't really get drawn for any quotas or special opportunity hunts. This left me stuck hunting public land that didn't require a quota. This means even more pressure. I started off with a doe just to get some meat in the freezer. I then shot a 6pt at the end of a bow hunt on a particular WMA. I wasn't seeing much and took advantage of what i did see.

Well from there things really changed. I then shot a alright 8pt and then a couple days later i shot a real nice 8pt that would score in the lower to mid 90s that i wasn't able to recover until a few days later. I know that isn't much everywhere else but that is real good here in Florida, especially on public. I was now 1 tag away from being tagged out.

I spent all summer scouting a new WMA that was opening this year. I thought i had a chance at a muzzleloader permit but failed to get drawn. During this hunt, I was lucky enough to catch a redraw for general gun and used all that scouting knowledge to get my biggest buck to date as well as my son a buck from there and set a friend up on a monster Floida buck that was almost 23in wide and scored 136 and weighed 176lbs.

If that wasn't a good enough season. My second oldest started hunting for the first time this year. Not only did he get is first buck with a bow. He shot 3 bucks with his bow. A great first year for him. My oldest son had a great year as well.

My bucks this year

My biggest buck to date 8pt scores gross 121
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Another 8pt i shot and found days later. Euro mounted it
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8pt
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My 6pt
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My doe
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My oldest sons bucks

1st of the season
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2nd of the season
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3rd of the season
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2nd oldest first hunting season

1st buck
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2nd buck
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3rd buck
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Our season in a nutshell
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"Am I the Only One" - Aaron Lewis

EGOutdoors youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UClk54pzxS6MsnSTCOtTvKJg
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby isitseasonyet? » Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:54 pm

"A Buck for Grandpa"

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A few years ago, Grandpa was a few years retired from hunting and decided it was time to pass on his main hunting rifle. A Marlin 30-30 that to many is nothing special. But to me is the most valuable firearm in the world. It had been my Grandpa's faithful companion for over 50 years and had helped him take 86 deer in that time frame. For him to tell me that he knew that I would "know what to do with it" was a great honor. With every ounce of my being I wanted to get a big buck for him with his rifle. He is 90 now.

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For those who want a short version: Grandpa tells me about big buck, I hunt him down and shoot him with Grandpa's rifle. For those who want more, the following is the long version. As hard as I tried to catch up with this buck with my bow. Im glad it happened the way it did.

Sunday 9/27

9AM ish? Got some scouting in on Grandpas Woods, got some good intel. A big buck had been through, I followed him back to a known bedding area. I believe he only beds there as an “opportunity” rather than often. It is adjacent to a bedding area. I’m gonna hit this spot right before the guns come out. He bedded under a large blowdown, in an area where I have bumped big bucks before. Never really decided to go in and investigate until now.

Quite frankly I didn’t give a rip if he was home. I wanted to know what was happening...

Here is the track...

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Thursday 10/8

Thursday evening Grandpa called me VERY excited and told me that a big one has shown up, and that it might be the one leaving the big tracks! (Grandpa was right) I got him on camera!! (From this point on, every move in the chess game with this buck was called in before and after to keep Grandpa in the loop. He knows this woods like the back of his hand, and loves to hear the adventures!)

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10/17

Passed on a 100" 8pt, told grandpa, he told me I was CRAZY, maybe crazy enough to get the big one, maybe crazy enough to get nothing. Cross off bedding area #1

10/18

Crossed off bedding area #2, Passed two spikes.

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Saturday 10/24

I got my eyes on the buck grandpa had seen from the stand. Great chasing and fighting/ pre-rut action out in the small field. Narrowed it down to bedding area #3 or #4.

11/1

Big Buck sighted in the ditch near where I parked, time for a new approach! Cross off bedding area #3 did not see him from stand.

Saturday 11/7

Rifle Opener. It was my girlfriend's first year hunting with my family, and she told me she would be happy with ANY deer, so she was up to bat! We snuck into a great bedding area and got situated, she has been scouting with me and practicing her shot. Girlfriend scored on her first deer! I was very proud!

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Sunday 11/8

The wind shifted, and we had a HUGE temperature drop!! What a great way for the deer hunting gods to show me kindness, time to hit the final bedding area for Grandpa's Buck! Everything was right, the wind, the rut, gun pressure. I kept this card in my sleeve all season and it was time to play it!

We snuck in to the bedding area, and set up on the ground tucked into a deadfall.

Shortly after getting set-up, I hear my Dad shoot. (Turns out he missed)

About 30-40 minutes later I hear a grunt and then some leaves crunching behind me. I knew in my bones to get turned around and ready to party. I see the buck's antlers coming into the back side of the bedding area on his "J Hook" route. As soon as he hit the trail I had an open shot and sent one into his chest, he took a few steps and I got another opening and put one into his shoulder. He keeps heading for the bed, but he did not make it. I heard him crash.

I got up and RAN over there. Shaking like a leaf. As I walked up on him, I hit my knees, thanked GOD, and gave Grandpa a call. I did not even say hello, just "I got him."

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I gutted him, loaded him up and drove him over to Grandpa's. I backed him right up to the window for Grandpa to confirm it was the one.

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As soon as I got in the house he said. "It's not bigger than mine." He was right, its not.

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Grandpa was very proud and really got a kick out of his recliner in the woods!

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This was a TANK of a deer, and weighed 280 dressed!! Definately my biggest buck (SO FAR) and extremely special, for me to use Grandpa's 30-30, in his woods, and hunt him down. This buck tought me SO much about big bucks. I had just enough luck as well.
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Re: 20-21 Season - Big Buck Contest Essays (Feb 22 Deadline)

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:43 am

I started the year chasing my dream buck. A nice ten point with a drop tine. After shining him multiple times, several uneventful observations, some invasive in season scouting, and a hopeful trail camera deployment, I finally put the pieces together on this deer. My third hunt for him wound up being an incredible hunt, resulting in a heartbreaking end. I got an arrow in him and hit him too high. Fortunately, the buck survived. I now know he made it through the season, so that story isn’t over.

Shotgun season rolled around and my Dad and I had the pleasure of taking my nephews out. They are 15 & 12 and flew in from Washington. Maddox and I had some tough luck and let multiple bucks slip through our fingers. His first buck would have to wait. Parker had better luck and Dad helped him get a shot at his first whitetail ever, a beautiful 11 point two year old buck. My by permission “old faithful” 10 acre rut grove paid off yet again. 8-)
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The very next weekend I headed for western SD for my first rifle hunt out there since 2012. I drew an area that I have bowhunted quite a bit. I knew I was heading WAY back in there. It held some giants, but I would have to work for one. I told myself “mounter or nothing.” As it was just too much work to pack one that far through rough terrain unless it was a special deer.

On day one I hunted with the rest of the crew. The wind was blowing 25+ and I wanted to be mentally prepared for the remote area. Day 1 I logged 13 miles. I woke very early day 2 and made the trek back to the nasty area. I was on the mulies right off the bat and even stalked to within bow range of a smaller 3x3. Here he is dogging a doe (pic through the spotting scope).
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I cleared a couple ridges and headed toward the next when behind me a nice buck came running in. I panicked not knowing if the he was worthy of the effort. I reluctantly held off but felt good about it. As soon as he disappeared a 2nd, SLIGHTLY larger buck ran through on the same path. I yelled at him to stop him and he swung his head my way. He was pretty wide and had real nice 4’s. I ended up dropping the hammer! :dance:

I did experience a little bit of ground shrinkage, but am still very happy with him. Although he wasn’t the mega giant I had set out for, he was a beautiful public land buck no doubt.
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And now the work began. Somehow my out of shape 38 year old self was able to pack the entire deer out 4.02 miles in one trip. I later weighed the meat, pack, and all my gear and found it was 88 pounds. As they say, slow and steady wins the race! I took breaks often, and was never more glad to see the truck!! From the time the pack was loaded to reaching the truck it was 6 hours.

Later in the trip I brought one of my friends to a spot I scouted the evening of day 1. It was remote and looked REALLY good. I saw several potential shooters there. 1st time in we made a move on a buck but he disappeared on us. However, we were able to make it happen the next day! Another public land dandy.
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Back to MN...


With a buck and a doe tag still burning a hole in my pocket, muzzleloader season was upon us. I’d finally put a Leupold on top of my CVA Optima. Time to do some killing with it! I’d only ever killed one doe with a muzzleloader prior to this season. Luckily, I put the pieces together on some overlooked bedding near home. Sign looked good... plenty of fresh tracks. After work one day I caught two does and a fawn exiting one of the public cattail bedding areas. It is just 200 yards off the road. I had a nice easy 60-70 yard shot and put her down. I had my Dad bring my girls out to help get her out 8-) start them young!
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Trying to fill my buck tag, I gave a good effort on my public lands. There was lots of hunter sign that wasn’t there during bow season. Pressure was 5x what I’ve seen in the past and it was obvious most areas were ghost towns. I was on a few does and small bucks, but it was tough sledding. I knew my chances for a 3.5+ weren’t very good without being able to scout a bunch.

I decided to hit up some private ground I had access to. It’s a CRP field with very little structure. Rather than sit in our heated box blind, I bundled up and sat on a hillside that overlooks a fence line that sees somewhat consistent movement. I felt it was the right move, but it certainly wasn’t the more comfortable of the two options.

It was a very eventful morning, and the last day of muzzleloader season. I had eyes on a pretty good buck that looked to be a 110-120ish three year old. SHOOTER. I had just about put him to bed (I could tell he was very close to laying down) and had a game plan for that night to ambush him when a group of does came in behind me with a “smaller” buck. They came right down the pipe on my fence line trails. “He’s just a six pointer.” But he had a decent body and some width. Upon closer inspection I felt he was a pretty darn good buck, he just had terrible antler genetics. The outside of his rack was past his ears.

I’ve always wanted to shoot those inferior genetic bucks in the past, but usually happen upon them too early in the year and don’t want to burn my lone MN buck tag on them. With the lack of snow I didn’t have a lot of faith for late season archery. I decided to let the bigger buck have a pass to next year, and I settled the cross hairs on the 6 pointer.

I cracked off a shot and he took off with an obviously broken front leg. I was a little worried I pulled my 100 yard shot too far forward and low. I saw the buck disappear near some shrubs and I approached as if he were still alive. Sure enough he blew and took off as fast as he could on 3 legs. :shock:

“You’ve got one chance at him Ryan, don’t blow it!!”

He was running mostly away with a slight quarter. BOOM!! I ended up dropping him. :dance:
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He was bigger bodied than I thought and thick necked. With a post rut dressed weight of 173 lbs and no fat on him, I’m pretty certain he’s a 3 year old buck. His inside spread is 17”.

It was a great season. I brought 106 lbs of trim to the locker plant, had them grind up a bunch into burger, make snack sticks and brats. Along with that the freezer is full of backstraps and roasts. Life is good.


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