RE: Did you achieve your goals?
I was fortunate enough to fufill my ultimate goal for the year, and it was a quest of a particular buck in which I had to start from scratch.At firstthought it seemed to be more of a pipedream, but aslast season progressed I became obsessed with the harvestof that buck.
Several times last season I saw an extremely nice deer much closer to home than I normally hunt and he really gotstuck in my mind. I saw him numerous times throughout last fall and winter and I thencommited tosee if I could find a place to hunt him somewhereclose to his home range. Most of the properties were of the no-hunting variety, butI was fortunate to secure permission on a verysmall parcel next to the woods that I believed to be his core area. I scouted the area throughout spring and summer. At the first of this season, I passed up a very nice mature130" ten point at ten yardsalong with several other bucks throughout the first couple sits. In late October Iwas lucky enough to harvest the particular buck I was after and have since seen three other extremely nice mature bucks from the same stand. I also filled an antlerless tag out of the stand last week.
My only downer for the year was that my daughter shot her first deer ever with a bow from my stand a couple weeks ago, but after an exhaustivemultiple day search we were unable to recover that buck. Truth be told, I'd easilygive up my success this season to have her have recovered her first buck. We were both heartbroken and it was the last thing I wanted to have happen on her first deer, but it is a chance you take anytime you release an arrow and she understood that from day one. She is quite the trooper and I am as proud as can be of her in the way in which she has handled the situation. That night in the stand with her will be forever embedded in my memory as it was truly one of themost excitingmoments of my life.
I still have gun season coming up next weekend and regardless of the outcome, I've already surpassed my personal goals for the year. Bow hunting is my primary interest. Gun hunting is more of a social event with friends.
Next year's goal has already been implanted as any of the three bucks at my new spot should easily fit the bill at harvesting a 150" deer, but first and foremost I'll look forward to helpingmy daughter getting a second chance.