Post by Buckfever on Nov 26, 2006 21:13:15 GMT -5
SW wind perfect for the Osage tree setup, the bedding area for the ugly 12 is due west 75 yards. 45 minutes to go, legal at this park is 15 minutes after sunset, I'm standing. I hear movement from the south, here he comes fast and edgy, stopping right at the foot of the staging area(littered with rubs), looking all about, the bone white ten. I saw this deer as an 8 pointer last year, this year he's a 10, maybe a 3.5 year old deer, no more, to put this in perspective a 125-130 class deer. If I had brought my bow scouting I could have shot him on the ground 10 days ago.
I grab my bow, it makes the slightest bit of noise against the rubber coated bow holder, I look up and he's trotting away. He didn't flag. He either saw the movement or heard the noise or both and the game was over.
I waited till the end of legal. I didn't tear the setup down, but I did pull my stand. I walked over to where he was and looked at my setup and I was completely back lit.
None the less, just a couple observations, seems I have a penchant for needing to eat my words from time to time. The buck was 30-35 yards away, I was 22 feet up, the wind was right, I setup in the right location, when I first saw him I was calm and actually thought that I'd get a shot at him. If that's all it takes to lose the game, is a little bit of movement, a little bit of noise, I grossly underestimated what it would take to pull a book buck, let alone a mature buck from highly pressured public land, at a time other than the rut.
I talked to my hunting partner for 40 minutes on this, on the way home. He has nearly 60 kills over a long period of time and possesses a good bit more experience than me. One of the key points, I took away, is that for the first hour in the morning and the last hour in the evening, he stands with the release attached to the bow and resting the bow on his leg, ready to go. A good portion of the rest of the time, he is seated with the release attached to the bow and the bow resting in his lap, while he's holding the grip, so that all he has to do, is stand up at the sound of movement.
I must say that these are words that I had heard before, from him and as soon as I saw that buck trotting away, I recalled them and understood them. We spoke about that again tonight and he shared examples.
Obviously I'm not killing that buck out of that stand. I looked for a different setup and another setup revealed itself which has excellent cover and one that I saw before, but passed on it because it's a honey locust and I have to trim all those stickers going up and last year I damned near put one through my hand. That's one setup I'll make and I'll consider another closer to the thicket where he came from and see if I can get high enough so that I am above his line of view by the time he gets there. There is a tree with a fork that might work, I'll check it more thoroughly, next time, which unfortunately won't be till the 5th at the earliest.
I think that this sort of crystalized why it is that I cannot reconcile myself to trophy hunting alone, on public land. For one, it would drive me insane, to put so much time into something so fleeting as this. Secondly, I do not have anywhere near enough kills on public land. This is a completely different experience.
Gone are the days where a good 8 pointer comes in follows the climbing sticks up to me, looks at me, passes the scent trail, jumps back and like a dog goes right to my mock scrape, broadside at 12 yards. Gone are the days where I'm passing book bucks holding out for a Booner. Hell a 2 year old educated doe isn't easy, on highly pressured public land.
I think that's the compromise, that makes sense for public land. Setup to hunt the buck, if it comes it comes. But otherwise, everything dies.
I need a better game than my A game, so I'll need to work on that. And a little luck wouldn't hurt either. ;-)
Man I love this!!!
I grab my bow, it makes the slightest bit of noise against the rubber coated bow holder, I look up and he's trotting away. He didn't flag. He either saw the movement or heard the noise or both and the game was over.
I waited till the end of legal. I didn't tear the setup down, but I did pull my stand. I walked over to where he was and looked at my setup and I was completely back lit.
None the less, just a couple observations, seems I have a penchant for needing to eat my words from time to time. The buck was 30-35 yards away, I was 22 feet up, the wind was right, I setup in the right location, when I first saw him I was calm and actually thought that I'd get a shot at him. If that's all it takes to lose the game, is a little bit of movement, a little bit of noise, I grossly underestimated what it would take to pull a book buck, let alone a mature buck from highly pressured public land, at a time other than the rut.
I talked to my hunting partner for 40 minutes on this, on the way home. He has nearly 60 kills over a long period of time and possesses a good bit more experience than me. One of the key points, I took away, is that for the first hour in the morning and the last hour in the evening, he stands with the release attached to the bow and resting the bow on his leg, ready to go. A good portion of the rest of the time, he is seated with the release attached to the bow and the bow resting in his lap, while he's holding the grip, so that all he has to do, is stand up at the sound of movement.
I must say that these are words that I had heard before, from him and as soon as I saw that buck trotting away, I recalled them and understood them. We spoke about that again tonight and he shared examples.
Obviously I'm not killing that buck out of that stand. I looked for a different setup and another setup revealed itself which has excellent cover and one that I saw before, but passed on it because it's a honey locust and I have to trim all those stickers going up and last year I damned near put one through my hand. That's one setup I'll make and I'll consider another closer to the thicket where he came from and see if I can get high enough so that I am above his line of view by the time he gets there. There is a tree with a fork that might work, I'll check it more thoroughly, next time, which unfortunately won't be till the 5th at the earliest.
I think that this sort of crystalized why it is that I cannot reconcile myself to trophy hunting alone, on public land. For one, it would drive me insane, to put so much time into something so fleeting as this. Secondly, I do not have anywhere near enough kills on public land. This is a completely different experience.
Gone are the days where a good 8 pointer comes in follows the climbing sticks up to me, looks at me, passes the scent trail, jumps back and like a dog goes right to my mock scrape, broadside at 12 yards. Gone are the days where I'm passing book bucks holding out for a Booner. Hell a 2 year old educated doe isn't easy, on highly pressured public land.
I think that's the compromise, that makes sense for public land. Setup to hunt the buck, if it comes it comes. But otherwise, everything dies.
I need a better game than my A game, so I'll need to work on that. And a little luck wouldn't hurt either. ;-)
Man I love this!!!
. If you can drop a doe close by sometimes that acts like a decoy and draws them out early, they can't stand smelling her there . public deer over 3 years old are wiley some bitches 