The
Eleven point buck
Scored 143 B&C
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Our normal ritual of
trying to get everyone ready to get set out on
watch was no different this morning. For me the
mornings are the best times of the day and with
continuing on what I call farmers time. I am up
and going by 4am every morning 7 days a week.
A fresh blanket of snow
had fallen through the night leaving a couple of
inches of new fallen snow. So far this year the
weather had been on the warmer side and there
had been a number of days where hunting in a
light jacket had been the norm.
This morning it was
around 19 degrees with a light wind coming from
the north. I knew exactly where I was headed as
I had placed out a group of three drip bags in a
scrap line row not two days earlier and there
had already been some buck sign.
I had used code
blue hot doe estrus in two of the drip bags and
tinks 69 in the other. The way the drip bags
work is when the temperature changes...warming a
few degrees, the bag will allow the fluid to
drip out.
Basically like the
sun coming up in the morning and warming the
woods, causing the buck to change his habits of
looking for that hot doe, first thing in the
morning. |
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I had to use a flashlight
most of the way back into where I was going to hunt.
Coming to the first of three drip bags holding the code
blue hot estrus...something caught my eye that looked
out of place. Right directly under the drip bag lay at
least a nice 8 point buck and it didn't take him long to
get to his feet and run in the opposite direction
blowing as he went.
I continued on to get
into the stand location thinking that any deer in the
area was now alerted to my presence. Daylight slowly
started to emerge and gray squirrels could be seen
playing along the ridgeline collecting their winter
food. It was going to be a nice day; the sunlight
crested the hill and cased a sparkling effect on the
snow covered ground.
As I looked around I
could pick out at least 7 trees that had been rubbed by
a buck, I knew this was an area that the bucks had used
in the past and hoped they would use it today. Eight
o’clock came and shots could be heard off in the
distance, somebody was getting some action. Fifteen
minuets later, a breaking of a branch caught my
attention. It sounded like it came from the top of the
ridge where the squirrels had been. I caught the
movement of a grayish brown body of a deer but it was
headed in the direction that would miss my location.
I pulled out my grunt
call and gave it two quick blows that caused the buck to
stop in his tracks. At that point all I knew was this
was a large deer and I had yet to get a look at his
head. One more low grunt caused the buck to come running
in my direction, with his ear tipped back and the hair
on his back standing straight up looking for a fight
with what he felt was another buck in his territory.
That was when I got a
look at his antlers, it was unbelievable. The buck had
to tip his head from side to side to negotiate the brush
and limbs. He came to a full stop sixty yards from my
location, looking for the other buck trespassing in his
domain. He stayed within the think brush not presenting
me with any kind of a shot.
Time passed and it now
became a stand-off between me and the buck. I didn’t
want to give another grunt for fear he would spot me and
spook. I looked for any opening in the brush that might
allow me to slide the 150 grain 30-06 bullet to its
target. He started to take a couple steps turning
broadside with only his neck in the open. I had decided
this maybe my only chance and put the cross hairs on his
neck region, pulling the trigger.
The gun roared and the
buck flinched, now running in behind the backside of the
ridge. I felt it had been a good shot but held my ground
thinking that I would have a shot if he tried to move
either direction from the backside of the ridge. Time
passed and nothing; there was no sign of the buck. I
proceeded to take a couple steps in his direction when
out of nowhere the buck appeared.
Now standing thirty yards
away the buck presented a clear broadside shot. The
30-06 roared again and the buck crumpled in his tracks.
I ran the thirty yards to make sure the buck was not
going to get up again. It took awhile to finally
register that I had just killed the largest white-tailed
deer in my life. With the buck now mine, I proceeded to
give out three yahooooooo’s and high five myself.
Nine o’clock came and I
turned on my radio. The guys were asking who had shot
and was anything down. I went on the air by telling them
that yes I had shot and that I had a five point down. As
the group approached I lifted the large mass of antlers
for the guys to see, they were as excited as I was upon
seeing this buck. The next two and a half hours were
spent trying to drag the deer to the closest four
wheeler trail.
Of course we had a great
time back in camp that night retelling the story of the
hunt. It was great that I was able to share the
experience with others; they were as much a part of the
hunt as I was. That’s what it’s all about, spending time
with others doing things that we all enjoy… that being
hunting. Our wives comment that they have no husbands
from September 27th till the second week of
December.
The New York Hunter
