Well...after all of the asking questions about public land hunting, it turns out that we wouldn't need it. We met some very nice people while there and were lucky enough to acquire numerous acres of private ground to hunt. We made some wonderful new friends and will hopefully be able to return next year for another greatbowhunt.
Now on to the hunt...
After spending Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday scouting in the 80 degree heat, I decided on a small creek bottom full of white oaks and tons of deer sign. I hung a stand and planned to hunt it Monday to observe and go from there. Turns out Monday was the only day I'd need! After seeing some smaller bucks and does (and being lifted away by mosquitoes) Monday morning I decided to tough it out andgo back to the same stand that afternoon. Temps were in the mids 70's and very humid so I wasn't expecting alot of activity. I climbed in about 3pm and it didn't take long for things to get going. About 3:30 some does began filtering through the bottom and the bucks weren't far behind. Several smaller bucks fed through the area including a nice 8 point but he wasn't what I had driven 700 miles to take, so I let him pass. About 4:15 a group of 3 bucks came in behind me. The first two came into the bottom feeding on acorns with the third lagging behind. Because of where the first to bucks were standing I couldn't turn to get a look at the third buck for fear of being spotted. I caught a small glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye as he walked in behind me and bedded in a downed tree top at 50 yrds. I could tell that he was larger than the other two but that's about it. From my stand I could only see the lower half of his body and eyes and anoccasional glimpse of antler ,but not enough to determine his size. So...I sat patientlywaiting and watching the other deer as they fed around me for the next hour and a half. About 6:15, when most of the other deer had fed away, I heard a buck grunt across the creek bottom. I picked up my grunt call and gave two short grunts to try and pull him my way. As I did,the buck behind mefinally stood from his bed (where he had been for the last 2 hours)and started into the bottom towards me. He hit a well-worn trail and passed by me to my right at 20 yrds. This was the first good look I had gotten of him and he was, by far, the biggest deer I had saw all day and biggest bodied deer I had ever saw, (remember... I've hunted Alabama my entire life!) After a small thought of letting him walk b/c of it being the first day of the hunt, I decided to take a shot. I just couldn't chance driving 700 miles and going home empty handed when I had this guy standing in fromt of me! So, with him walking broadside at 20yrds, I gave him a bleat. He stopped dead in his tracks and Isettled the pin and released the arrow from my new DXT (first day in the woods with it BTW).My arrow disappeared behind his shoulder andI watched him run about 60 yards and go down. After sitting in the stand another hour to calm myself, I climbed down andwent back to the truck to meet my two hunting partners. After filling them in on the events of theafternoon, we went back in the woods to recover this guy!
141 1/8
Mybiggest to date with a bow! Can't wait for Missouri next year!!
Back From Missouri w/ BBD pics!!
