Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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Tim H
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Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Aug 11, 2021 5:03 am

This past weekend during DeerFest, Tyler(Bighunt) and I had some plans to glass/shine some deer in the local fields. Friday night we were pretty tired and hungry so decided to do it on Saturday after the show at 7. We thought we could catch the bucks coming out in the fields while it was still light out. Maybe even get some good footage.

Well at 7 when the show ended the weather had other plans. A huge storm was strolling through just blasting us with wind, heavy rain, and lightning. At the time the concession stands had free food for us so we ate and watched the radar while feeling the thunder shake the building. It looked like it was going to clear up and pass by around 9:30 but we weren't sure. Well around 8:30 they kicked us out of the place so we grabbed our stuff and headed out. As we stood in front of the parking lot watching the storm I looked at Tyler and asked him what he thought. He looked at me and said "let's give it some time and check back in an hour". At the time it was raining good and still thundering hard. As I hurried out to the car carrying a beast stand on my back I thought, damn this isn't the greatest idea! I got 7 lbs of aluminum strapped to my back in a thunderstorm. :lol: Well I made it and I'm still here to write this.

I headed back to the hotel pretty exhausted from the 9 hour show and only 5 hours asleep from the night before. A part of me just wanted to go to bed. I thought that it's going to be awhile until something moves and gets to the fields. Well after an hour at the motel while I was recharging my batteries, Tyler messaged me and said he'd be there in 10. We stopped at the gas station for some energy and water. The lady at Kwik Trip looked at our items and said "wow that looks like the start of a fantastic road trip!" I thought to myself that I sure hope you're right.

The storm had cleared up while we made to the country with only a few drops of rain here and there. We could still see the lightning in the distance. For Whom the Bell Tolls was on the radio and it was an amazing light show! It was like the rock song was a part of the storm! A really cool experience!

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The first field we hit Tyler said "this is the area a big 8 lived and usually is around". Well he wasn't there. Only a couple of does so we continued on. The next field had a few deer. One was a decent buck. Probably a 2 year old. He had a tall narrow rack with really high brow tines. A decent buck. On the way to the next spot we saw two deer moving fast bounding through the CRP on some private. A couple of yearling 6 pointers. Decent size for young ones for sure. At the time the rain started to pick up. I was checking the radar and it wasn't looking good. A giant cell of red was to our north and heading our way but it was too late. We were already committed. As we checked a few new fields all we were seeing was does and fawns, but it was still good to see deer knowing that they were out even in the storms. At the time I was wondering if the big ones were going to be out a lot later into the night as it was just before midnight. Another 20 minutes rolled by and we got onto our first bachelor group. There were at least 4 different bucks together in a bean field just on the edge of high grass. At least 3 of them had potential to be shooters. It was great to know that some big ones were out and it was good information that they were in bachelor groups. While I kept checking my phone at the radar I noticed we were headed towards the storm. The rain started picking up and the lightning was constant. At times we couldn't even see the road it was coming down so hard! Well one of the last fields we were checking finally had some big boys in it. A small bean field with another 3 shooters in it. One had really good mass. As we moved slowly down the field another 100 yards a flash of lightning hit and to my right 50 yards in on private was a huge buck! Without the light I knew he was a shooter. At that moment I scrambled in the dark cab of the truck trying to grab my shiner quickly. I yelled to Tyler that there's a good one! We got lights on him for 10 seconds through the pouring ran and Tyler yells, "That's a tank!". As he headed off in the distance we thought it was so cool seeing a stud buck in pouring rain in a light storm! That pretty much wrapped up our night but I was stoked that we went. Even though the weather might not seemed favorable for us (in this case a huge thunder storm) the bucks are not always doing what you think they would do. Don't talk yourself out of scouting or hunting. You never know when it's gonna turn out good.
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greenhorndave
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Re: Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby greenhorndave » Wed Aug 11, 2021 5:31 am

Pretty cool!
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Re: Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby Wlog » Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:41 am

Cool story! Thanks for posting.
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Dewey
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Re: Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby Dewey » Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:57 am

Not surprising to see big bucks during bad weather. Consistently over the years the biggest bucks I saw while glassing, shining or hunting have been in terrible weather. Not sure what it is but older bucks seem to be at ease in that stuff and on their feet much more often. Seems the opposite with younger deer.
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Re: Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby BigHunt » Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:24 am

Had a blast
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Re: Shining Bucks in a Thunderstorm

Unread postby BigBrutus11 » Sun Aug 29, 2021 5:03 pm

Thank you for posting this thread. Just got back from shining between thunderstorms, after reading this thread. And saw 15 bucks between only 2 fields. Minimum of at least 6 shooters 2 of which were absolute giants. All on the edge of public land!


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