Hello all. I'm new to the forum, and this is my first year hunting with traditional equipment.
I had an awesome morning! A few days ago I took off from work at lunch time to do a little scouting in one of my public hunting areas. I found some well-used game trails deep in the hunting area where I'm pretty positive the deer are pressured very little, and being mid-October, I brushed out a mock scrape along one of them to see if I could trigger a buck in the area to reveal himself. Then as I walked down into a draw, I realized I had just stumbled into a deer super highway with sign everywhere! I backed out and decided I'd be back soon.
This morning I had a couple of good hunting hours available before work, so I took a climbing stand in there and climbed a tree with good shooting lanes all around in the middle of the draw. Just as it was getting light enough to shoot, I catch movement to my left. Upon closer inspection, it is a big-bodied deer. Can't see antlers in the low light yet, but I know it's a buck, and he's slowly working his way in my direction. I start to see wide, tall antlers. This boy is much bigger than any I've ever harvested! Before long, he is broadside at 10 yards in a wide open shooting lane, and looking the other direction. I draw, hold for a second to pick a good aiming point, and then he must have caught movement out of the corner of his eye, because he suddenly jumped about another 10 yards away and stood staring at me. I could maybe have made the shot, and he was quartering away, but he was looking right at me, and I did not want to botch a shot or spook him right out of the country, so I let down slowly and just stared him down until he trotted off.
About 5 minutes later I had a group of does walk through just out of range. Good news is, I think I found a little honey hole that may put some meat in the freezer this year, and I don't think that big boy was too spooked by the way he trotted off, so he'll be back.
Topic: So close! (Read 260 times)
