Monday, November 28, 2011

Who needs a gun!



Well my season sure had started out slow. With work and home projects, I was only able to get out in the woods twice to hunt prior to our trip to Illinois in late October. Although we had a great time in Illinois, I left a little disappointed with the results. I had a solid 130-140 inch 8 point at 12 yards and was not able to seal the deal. Although I managed to land an arrow in him we were unable to make a recovery. Needless to say I was anxious to redeem myself and get back to hunt one of my favorite spots in Maryland. On the Friday before the opening day of gun season Mike and I hunted this farm and had a close encounter with a mature 8 point tending a doe at 70 yards. Later that day, Don and I returned to the same stand and watched the same buck in another field running a doe. Throughout the whole day we saw close to ten different bucks out cruising and watched one buck breed a doe about 150 yards from the stand. We new this farm was on fire and we had to get back in to hunt it. After filming Mike at one of his spots on opening day we decided to get back in this stand to try our luck again the following day. This stand is set on the inside corner of a pasture right up against the wood line. There is a section of fence that is missing that is exactly 30 yards from the stand where the deer love to cross. For this reason I decided to take my bow along with me too so that given the opportunity I could redeem myself. At around 7am I looked across the pasture and caught a glimpse of a deer walking up the fence row about 200 yards away. I pulled the binoculars up and saw that it was a mature buck and he was heading the opposite way from our stand. I looked down for my grunt call but it was buried in the bottom of my bag. I told Mike, quick hit your grunt call. With the first crack of his grunt call I realized why Don had named it the "fog horn". The buck stopped, looked our direction and then kept heading away towards the road. We did this three more times along with some doe bleats and each time the buck would stop and look then keep walking. Once the buck reached the top of the hill I said " hit it one more time". This time the buck stopped looked our direction and decided that he had enough. He turned and started heading on a B-line straight at us. As he closed the gap and i got a better look at the deer I confirmed that he was definitely a mature 7 pointer. Although I had the old Thompson Center in the tree with me, I decided that I would only take this deer with my bow if he came within range. After the long trek across the pasture, the buck jumped the fence and came down in to the woods looking for the action. He turned and crossed under the fence 30 yards from the stand. I drew the bow, looked back and got the nod from Mike that he was on him then stopped him at 28 yards broad side. The rest is history, the double lung shot made for a short tracking job to the 200lb+ deer. The deer did not have the biggest rack in the woods but was definitely a good management deer to take off the farm and keep up with or QDMA efforts. I'd like to thank Mike for his great calling and filming that day and helping me drag the "slundger" up out of the woods.

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