Very exciting Evening yesterday gents. I went out in a light rain/mist and was settled in what I call the "far back stand", have not hunted that stand since it was put up a month before season open. Around 5:30 I see movement straight in front of me in the thick brush/trees at 60 yards, I stood there and did not move a muscle. After a few minutes a nice "guestimated" 130 class 8 point pops out at 45 yards and is slowly feeding along the thick brush.
He starts making a rub and suddenly I see movement behind and about 10 yards to his right. To my amazement it was a perfect 10 point that I would also guess to be upper 130 to low 140's. Both deer feed and move within 40 yards but I do not have a clear shot, then eventually feed away and I lose sight of them heading towards the northern swamp area.
Now I am standing there thinking " Hmmmm, two large bucks moving together, I would have thought the bachelor groups would have broke up by now. So what does this tell me?..........it tells me there are even bigger more dominate bucks in the area and guess what? I am RIGHT............................................. .... !!!!!!
At 6:10 I look to my left and see nothing but rack coming through the woods, It is Hightower " Buck I have been hunting for three years" and he is massive, easily 150 class buck with a huge body. He turns and follows almost the same trail that the other two bucks used. At one point he gets to a point that if he took 2 to 3 more steps I would have had an easy 30 yard shot. He decides to turn slightly right and move behind the thick brush and slowly feeds away towards the swamp just like the 8 and 10 pointer.
Folks, you just do not see deer of this caliber on a regular basis down here. So what does this tell me? That I am doing something right, have hunted this property seven years and have passed on 100-110 class deer, four years ago I set a rule in my head of 120 or bigger and let them go and grow policy, I believe for this property it may be paying off.
Dave