I hesitate telling you guys this because I don't want for anyone to think we're hunting an enclosure or something. Actually it's three adjoining farms owned by three good friends who allow us to hunt. And by the way, there's not a single food plot on any of the farms. We're just hunting the structural terrain. I know you guys appreciate hearing this stuff so I'll relate what happened today. As most of you know I got a big buck last weekend and although I have a couple doe tags I'm mostly just taking video footage. This morning at 9 AM I had the one we call Holyfield (because of the chunk out of his left ear) come by at 10 yds. He was a 7x6 last week but he broke off a point so he's now a 6x6. Gene and I both decided he was only 4 1/2 so we took him off the hit list for another season. I already passed him up last week. Got some great footage in the sunshine though. Then this afternoon I sat a stand we call Ol' Yeller. At 4:20 here comes three does running right to me followed by Hurley, the big non-typical I want more than any of them. He's absolutely stunning in real life. The trail camera pics just don't do him justice. The wind was out of the SE and they were NE of me. The does got to 30 yds. and I felt the wind shift out of the SW. They busted me before I got the camera on, then I couldn't move. He stood there at 42 yds. (the high-tech boys would have got him) for a full five minutes but I couldn't blink because of the does watching me. Finally one of the does snorted and he took off to the NW. I got a few seconds of footage just as he topped out the pasture. Very frustrating in that he stood there in the sunlight for five minutes in all his glory and I didn't get a lick of film for everyone to enjoy. Before I finish this I forgot to tell everyone last week (while I still had my tag) I sat the same stand I sat this morning. It was a hard frost that morning, but I had stuff I needed to do so headed out about 10 AM. As I slipped out along a skid road the frost had melted and it was quiet going. As I rounded a bend there on the logging road 50 yds. from me was Hurley standing in a scrape doing the overhead branch thing. I saw him before he saw me. I back-stepped three or four paces and knelt down in a little cedar. Here he comes right to me. If he continued on the skid road when he rounded another tree he was going to be 15 yds. But he only got 1/4 of the way and took a left down into the hardwoods. I didn't want to wheeze because he would have just circled downwind and busted me, so I let him walk away and quietly slipped out. Then I realized when I saw him he was working a big scrape right in front of one of our trail cameras. On pulling the chip we found out the camera wasn't working. I wonder what Walt Larson would say about that since it was a Cuddeback? Anyway, back to this afternoon. At 5:55 here comes seven does followed by a huge bodied non-typical. His left antler is stunted and his right has a couple long N/T points. I got some footage of him. Then five minutes later here comes four does and a spikehorn. They all crossed the fence and walked right under me. Behind them was the giant we call Picket. He's a standing 6x6 typical that will push the 180's. I got some poor footage trying to maneuver the camera from auto to manual focus so it wouldn't focus on the twigs between us. Here he comes. He stops at 20 yds. behind and under a leafy overhanging branch and worked a scrape. Now, as I said in my book, weird stuff seems to happen to me. I'm sure he's going to walk right under me. Just as he's ready to come to me my cell phone in my shirt pocket goes off. Yes... I had it on vibrate but he heard it and locked up. It buzzed like a dozen times and he just stood there. It stopped ringing and everything was cool... until the chime thingy goes off to tell me I have a message. That's all it took and he ran the other way. Granted, I only have doe tags but I was still a frazzled wreck. I wanted to share this because it's not often one sees THREE Boone and Crockett class bucks in a single day. Here's hoping this will give you guys the confidence to hang in there because you never know when it'll happen. Best of luck to all. BW
Topic: Three Booner Day (Read 1108 times)
