I just had two great days of big buck encounters. Our late season kicked in Monday morning so I can now hunt with my bow again. As most of you know, I'm pretty selective in what I shoot at. No buck tag punched yet this year. I've had a super season with lots of big bucks sighted, great video footage, passed up some that would make some people break out in a cold sweat and had close encounters with some real studs. Monday started slow. About 3pm I had a 140" class 4x4 step out of some cedars to bed down in a grassy area where the snow had melted about 125 yards from me. He laid there for a few minutes before jumping up. Four more bucks emerged right next to him. A December bachelor group of one forkie, two 2 1/2 year old 4x4s and a 150 class 5x5. The two biggest sparred a bit before they all walked back into the woods. It was a good show. At 4:30pm, a buck I named Chester (after the Gunsmoke dude) walked up the drainage to the south. He has one big antler on the left and a freak antler on the right. Very unique deer. When he looked like he was moving up the wrong drainage, I wheezed. He immediately looked at me, walked over to a tree and thrashed the overhead branch, then made a scrape that made the snow fly. I filmed it. When he finished, I wheezed again. He had to cross an old fence to get to me and showed his laziness and age by hesitating. About that time, a doe hoped the fence and walked right to me, passing me at 15 yards followed by her yearling not far behind. He then hopped the fence but paralleled her and walked past me at about 35 yards. Too far for this guy. I just rolled more film. Yesterday started slowly too. Not much movement in the morning. About noon I had to go into town. When I got back, I discovered a flat tire and had to go back in. Figured I better get it fixed before the holidays. It caused me to run way late. We had a big weather front rolling in and were supposed to have a rare east wind. I wanted to hunt a stand we call Ringside where Barry and I witnessed a wicked buck fight two years ago. I haven't sat Ringside but once in two years due to the rare east winds there. The stand sits on a hillside with a drainage header right in front of it that funnels deer movement. Several runs converge right there. The stand is in a giant heavily limbed red oak that needs a ten foot chain extension. When I got there at almost 3pm, I discovered the wind was out of the NE, not the east, which was bad news for one of the sidehill runs but fine for the others. A half hour later, several does walked downwind to the right of me and nailed me but luckily they just ran back down and didn't snort. A few minutes later I heard footsteps in the crunchy snow that turned out to be a very nice 5x5 buck that needed one more year. I passed him at 14 yards or so but got great video footage. He sniffed a tree for a couple seconds. I thought I was going to film him rubbing the tree but he changed his mind before moving off. As light started to dwindle, I saw moved in the cedars to my left. Out stepped and VERY massive old 5X4 buck. I had a hard time passing this buck up two years ago, and here he was two years older and even bigger. Incredible mass. His bases are like pop cans. His photo is on page 159 of my new book. He walked the run right to me but stopped at 16 or 17 yards, offering nothing but a frontal shot. Then a doe walked up the hill behind him and he did a 180 to follow her, again offering no shot. So close. As light began to fade, again I saw movement in the cedars. Out stepped Hurley, the same buck Barry was hunting over a half mile away in November. He is a grand old NT buck. He too did the slow walk right to me but for whatever reason stopped at the exact same spot on the trail at 16 or 17 yards and offered only a frontal shot. He stood there for what seemed like forever, not jumpy, just cautious. I really don't think he saw me nor smelled me, as I had good cover and a perfect wind. It kept getting darker by the minute. Finally shooting light passed and he still stood there until I could just see his form. About that time, what appeared to be a doe and yearling (one bigger body followed by a small body) walked up the hill behind me and eventually hit my vapor trail. She snorted once and it was all over. I climbed down and got out of there quietly. I really don't think he was spooked that bad so I'm anxious to see if we get a rare wind again starting this weekend. Time will tell. Anything from SE to NE will work. I'll see if my buddy Steve can post some pix for me. Stay tuned. Merry Christmas to one and all on this great site.
Topic: Incredible two days of big bucks (Read 1648 times)
