Wonderful morning in the stand...
I got in my stand Friday morning with GREAT anticipation. I’d seen a LOT of activity at one scrape….and I was anxious to see who was the culprit. I only began deer hunting this year….and I’d yet to see a buck while in the field, this season (Started hunting in mid Oct…..hunted 7 times). I checked my watch on these….so this is the truth: 1) 7:05…biggest doe I’ve ever seen starts making her way towards me. I watch her for about 10 minutes….and she’s slowly heading my way. When she gets within bow range I realize….I was mistaken. It’s a half-rack 3 (3 points on one side….other antler broken off). I quickly knew I wasn’t going to shoot this deer…and decided to simply take in the moment and watch. He made his way over to the scrape…..I watched him lick the branch…..and THRASH his head in the plumage of the overhanging limbs. He then pretty VIOLENTLY scraped out his “V”….and milled around the opening I was in. 4 does had made their way into my set by now…..and he started chasing them all. 2) I then heard my first grunt in the wild. I had purchased a grunt tube on THURSDAY…lol…and it was amazing that it sounded just like the tube! I had been a bit skeptical. Well….he chases all the does away (eventually)….and chases one completely out of site before returning. He then only has one doe in the field. He’d chase her (not hard, though)….and when he’d turn his back….the doe would kinda run after him. I didn’t notice he wasn’t grunting until later. The little doe…then goes over to the scrape….and stands on its back legs to lick the branch. It then scrapes kinda halfheartedly and makes its way over to me (Well….my stand was exactly NINE yds. from the scrape). I could tell, then, that it was a button buck. Now I’ve seen 2. All of this action took 30 minutes to unfold. 3) At 8:50….I hit my grunt call. At 9:05 (I looked at the watch, again)….a deer starts making its’ way across the field in my direction (approx. 110yds away). When it gets to about 60 yds….I see that it’s the half-rack. When it gets to 50 yds….I realize it ISN’T the half-rack….but a NICE 6 pt. He comes over to the scrape and goes through the ritual…actually jump-kicking as he thrashed his antlers into the same limbs. I’d decided I was gonna take this deer if he presented the opportunity….and I started to draw back (He was PERFECT quartering away, slightly). When I got the arrow about 12” through the whisker biscuit….the sound startled him. He didn’t bust me…but he knew something wasn’t right. He lumbered over to the right of me…and again presented himself in a perfect way for me to take a shot. He’s 6 or 7 yds, now….and again the noise of the biscuit got his attention in the wrong way. He kinda trotted off…..not fully knowing of me….but a bit spooked. 4) I was kind of mentally drained after that…lol….and I sat down for a bit. @ 10:05 (Yes…I looked, again)…I hear a sound from behind me that I KNOW is a deer coming. Problem is….this deer had to come from about 110 yds right through the woods….but it was on top of me before I heard it. When I finally saw it…my knees buckled. He went past…I stopped him with my best “TV” “Baaaa”…..and he froze. Wow. This stuff works. Problem is…he didn’t freeze for long. He squatted….and started off to his left…..off the trail. I could never get a clean shot. He was an OLD, BIG….at least 8 pointer. He was FULL GROWN.
The good I can take from this is …..heck….infinite. I gained some experience….I saw things that MANY will never witness…..and I didn’t get my stand blown out. I didn’t harvest an animal….but I had a WONDERFUL hunt.
Good luck, guys………Jeff