After harvesting 3 does this year I was pretty happy with the way my season went. However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed by the fact I was facing tag soup with my buck tag. In the begining of the season, I would have never guessed that would eventually harvest a buck in the month of January! January 13th to be exact! Everything came together and ended up being a very exciting hunt from start to finish! Late season can be an excellent time to get on a buck! They're easy to pattern, but finding a late season buck is the hard part!
Fortunately for me my buddy who farms 1100 Ac. was gracious enough to put me on a deer he had been seeing in one of his fields on the way home from work. He hung a stand in a fence row in the middle of a 100 Ac. field with the nearest bedding or wooded area at least 300 yards away. As they say, sometimes the first time in a stand, is often the best time to harvest a deer. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. From 300 yards away I saw 7 deer running around in an adjacent field as if it were the middle of the rut. After several minutes of chasing all 7 deer (5 does & 2 bucks) formed a single file line and proceeded to walk all the way in to 20-30 yards of me. They were pawing through the snow in an effort to find some left over beans from the Fall harvest for nearly 20 minutes before I was finally offered a broadside 22 yard shot! With a slight touch on my release a perfectly placed lighted arrow had found its mark. Fortunately with all the snow and the surrounding fields, I was able to watch my buck run off and fall within sight! A unbelievable end to an unbelievable season! Good luck to all you late season hunters still out there trying to get it done! A big thanks to my good friend Mike for puting me on my late season snowy buck!
