Post by Buckfever on Nov 15, 2006 18:17:16 GMT -5
are alive and well, with some changes. Having taken a few deer and having limited hunting opportunities going forward I decided that except for some recreational hunts I'll get in with my brother in law, I'll devote the rest of the hunts to, pursuing a specific animal. So I crossed the river and went to the thicket where I saw a medium 8 and an ugly 12 come out of. I call him an ugly 12 because while the rack was big it was spindly and kinda ugly because of it.
In my infinite wisdom I didn't bring my bow as my wife is out of town and I only had the time that the kids are at school and I figured with the rut surely the boys won't be home when they can be tending girls. As I aprroach the corner of the thicket along the bluff I can clearly see cluster rubs and I pause a moment to observe all the rubs, fresh since I was last there weeks ago. And then I smell him. I take another step and a deer crashes out from the side of the bluff, I turn and drop to my knees as he comes up and stops at 20 yards broadside. Bone white rack, same character as last year, only this year, he's not a medium 8 he's a full blown 10, he stays there a while trying to locate what made the sound that made him bolt and then he starts to come in, gets to 15 yards and then decides to trot off. He never flagged, and went to the woods on the dept of forestry land that is closed to hunting, same place I saw him go to last year. If I had my bow, I could have shot him, I had at least 30 seconds, with him broadside. I definitely would not pass on this deer I'm sure he'll make book, but he's a year away from being magnificent.
So anyway I just figured he was there watching for does, I'll take advantage of it as planned and go into the bedding area and scout it. Again another supremely intelligent conclusion as we shall see. From the cluster rubs I follow what is a ridiculously profuse rub line and another set of cluster rubs then another rub line, then another set of cluster rubs at the other corner and find a new way in and a creek crossing but it takes me right past my setup. Then I decide to check the way in that I cut that I couldn't find, and a rubline had been laid along the way I cut in. Then I went to the staging area that I setup on off the Osage tree and there are 3 times as many rubs and one had fresh shavings still on the foliage of the adjacent foliage. So I'm like good, I'll bet he beds over in that thick stuff, I'm going to go check it. This is about 75 yard from my setup, just stupid thick, big deep tracks winding trail, making my way about 65 yards, the Ugly 12 busts out of there 10 yards away from me. Now I can't say for sure that it was the 12 but it's the same dark rack and I was so blown away by the thickness of the main beams, that I couldn't think to count points. He's wide and he has thick, thick beams.
Put a fork in me, I'm done.
I went into his bedding area. To make the final 10 yards, I fell three times. How secure is this animal in there?
The rest of the scouting went well. I followed all his trails out, I found the third set of cluster rubs that Full Draw talks about to complete the triangle, selected the three trees for the different winds and got my pathways in set, so that I can get in undetected.
Probably the most amazing thing though was how I came to the last set up. I followed one of his main paths marked with a rubline and was amazed how he skirted the big timber, just 10yards inside the thick stuff and was able to see all the trees without ever revealing himself. Just amazing to observe.
I won't be able to get after him till after Thanksgiving and I won't be able to get that many hunts in, but that's the hunt the rest of the way.
He ain't ugly no more.
In my infinite wisdom I didn't bring my bow as my wife is out of town and I only had the time that the kids are at school and I figured with the rut surely the boys won't be home when they can be tending girls. As I aprroach the corner of the thicket along the bluff I can clearly see cluster rubs and I pause a moment to observe all the rubs, fresh since I was last there weeks ago. And then I smell him. I take another step and a deer crashes out from the side of the bluff, I turn and drop to my knees as he comes up and stops at 20 yards broadside. Bone white rack, same character as last year, only this year, he's not a medium 8 he's a full blown 10, he stays there a while trying to locate what made the sound that made him bolt and then he starts to come in, gets to 15 yards and then decides to trot off. He never flagged, and went to the woods on the dept of forestry land that is closed to hunting, same place I saw him go to last year. If I had my bow, I could have shot him, I had at least 30 seconds, with him broadside. I definitely would not pass on this deer I'm sure he'll make book, but he's a year away from being magnificent.
So anyway I just figured he was there watching for does, I'll take advantage of it as planned and go into the bedding area and scout it. Again another supremely intelligent conclusion as we shall see. From the cluster rubs I follow what is a ridiculously profuse rub line and another set of cluster rubs then another rub line, then another set of cluster rubs at the other corner and find a new way in and a creek crossing but it takes me right past my setup. Then I decide to check the way in that I cut that I couldn't find, and a rubline had been laid along the way I cut in. Then I went to the staging area that I setup on off the Osage tree and there are 3 times as many rubs and one had fresh shavings still on the foliage of the adjacent foliage. So I'm like good, I'll bet he beds over in that thick stuff, I'm going to go check it. This is about 75 yard from my setup, just stupid thick, big deep tracks winding trail, making my way about 65 yards, the Ugly 12 busts out of there 10 yards away from me. Now I can't say for sure that it was the 12 but it's the same dark rack and I was so blown away by the thickness of the main beams, that I couldn't think to count points. He's wide and he has thick, thick beams.
Put a fork in me, I'm done.
I went into his bedding area. To make the final 10 yards, I fell three times. How secure is this animal in there?
The rest of the scouting went well. I followed all his trails out, I found the third set of cluster rubs that Full Draw talks about to complete the triangle, selected the three trees for the different winds and got my pathways in set, so that I can get in undetected.
Probably the most amazing thing though was how I came to the last set up. I followed one of his main paths marked with a rubline and was amazed how he skirted the big timber, just 10yards inside the thick stuff and was able to see all the trees without ever revealing himself. Just amazing to observe.
I won't be able to get after him till after Thanksgiving and I won't be able to get that many hunts in, but that's the hunt the rest of the way.
He ain't ugly no more.
. you know how it works 