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First Buck From My Web

kyler1945

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
6,877
Location
Willis, TX
I purchased the Guido's web two seasons ago, and for the majority of the year, it's too warm in Louisiana to hunt from this thing. However, I knew from the first time I sat facing the tree tied off from the front, I needed to find a way to do it for the whole season.

I joined the site looking for advice on which direction to go on a lighter saddle that wasn't covering my entire back and legs, and decided to go with a sit drag.

On my first hunt with the SD, I wanted to stalk in at dawn, and do some scouting, but also try out the sling. I decided to sneak into a creek bottom in the interior of the public land tract that I hunt. It's surrounded by an atv trail, mostly on tops of the ridges dumping into the bottom. It's very very thick, and from past experience I knew bucks were following that creek bed to scent check does that are bedding on the tops of the ridges that had good cover. I had an encounter with a really large deer two seasons ago in the spot where I decided to drop into the bottom. No sooner had I gotten into this area did I jump a few deer bedded on a ridge on the west side of the creek. I had a favorable wind, and was anxious to try the sit drag, so I jacked up and made my first sit. no more deer moved through, and a couple hours later, I decided to finish scouting further south. Well, I got turned around in the thicket, and ended up on the ridge I jumped those deer which rose up to the west side of the atv trail. Sometimes getting lost is a good thing - upon getting up on this ridge, I found it was very very thick, and had faint trails shadowing it on either side about halfway down. We were just getting into the pre rut phase, and I instantly knew bucks were scent checking that ridge. I hung a camera and pulled out.

I made three more hunts in that area - all trying to get in close enough for bow range, with a favorable wind, and each time I bumped deer off the ridge before I ever got there. I decided it wasn't worth buggering up the spot until the rut was closer, and had better weather which would put the deer on their feet more in daylight hours.

On Monday January 2nd, we had a front with heavy rains come through, and I knew there would not be a lot of folks hunting, and the deer would be moving. The rain let up around 2pm, and I was slipping through the woods to this spot. I got about 75 yards from where I wanted to set up, and paused to look for a tree to hang in. As I'm standing there I hear a deer trotting up the ridge towards me. A doe stops 50 yards away and picks me out, before trotting off. I'm excited as she didn't blow or wind me, and hoped any other deer wouldn't get spooked. I hunted without seeing a deer, and swapped the card in my camera and headed back to the truck.

My suspicions were confirmed - I had a doe work through the scrape my camera was over, followed by four different bucks over the next couple of days. I was very excited, and had very cold nasty weather predicted for the end of the week.

A good friend of mine who is ex military and has a young family doesn't get to hunt much. I basically forced him to hunt on Thursday of last week. With the wind out of the northeast, we accessed the ridge from the southwest. I got him to the base of the tree, and backed up across the bottom about a hundred yards away. I was hopeful to watch him get a shot, and if any deer got downwind of him, I was on their escape route.

At around 8am, a doe came out of the thicket acting very nervous, but moving slowly down the ridge above my buddy. he couldn't get a shot on her before she dropped into the bottom. She looked like she was coming my way, so I flipped on my camera, and swung around in the sit drag to hopefully get a shot. All of a sudden, a nice buck working the downwind side of the ridge caught that doe's scent and comes trotting right to the base of by buddy's tree. He draws as soon as he heard the footsteps because he knew he'd have to act fast. The deer trotted another 20 yards and froze broadside. He let an arrow fly, but the shot was at a very steep angle down the ridge. His lower limb hit the bar on his climber and affected the shot. it looked like he hit high in the shoulder and angled out the brisket. We trailed the deer for about 400 yards before he clotted up. With bad thunderstorms coming in, we called in a dog, and he trailed the deer out of the bottom and onto private land - we felt pretty good he was going to be fine considering the distance he covered and the dog's disinterest in continuing to track him.

I got the whole thing on film, but the shot was just out of frame as I had the camera on the doe, anticipating getting a shot.

Friday I was able to hunt in rain, then sleet, and eventually snow (my first time ever hunting in snow). I used the inclement weather to cover me while I did a little scouting in a different area. I didn't really find anything great, so I decided to get back into that spot for the whole day Saturday.

I had some obligations early Saturday morning, and wasn't able to get in the tree until 10am. I brought in the guido's web, as I knew I wanted to be comfortable. I didn't see a deer all day, and about 45 minutes before i'd have to climb down, I started hitting the grunt call. I typically don't like to call much, but I knew if there were bucks in this bedding area, or scent checking it, I had the right setup. Sure enough, after my third sequence grunting, I could hear a deer moving towards me. The trail it was on would put him downwind in a hurry, and directly behind my back. I placed the outside of my right hip against the tree, planted my feet on the xop platform, and rotated into position. It was getting pretty dark when he came into sight, but I could tell it was a buck. I drew back when he was behind some canes, and when he cleared them he was about 12 yards. I let out a soft grunt to stop him as he was walking briskly. I put the shot right behind his shoulder. He jumped and ran about 15 yards, stopped, and died on his feet.

With the temperature hitting 20* that night, and no food and enough water, I decided to return the next morning to get him out. I had a really peaceful morning taking my time quartering him up and packing out.

It wasn't the biggest deer by any means (7 point, 150lbs), but any buck on public land in Louisiana is a treat. I included a trail camera screen shot of the deer my buddy shot as well. He was a real wide spindly 8 point.

IMG_0449.JPG IMG_0456.JPG IMG_0428.JPG

In all, the sit drag allowed me to be mobile enough to locate the spot, and hunt with minimal impact until we could really close in. And the web allowed me a shot that I likely wouldn't have been able to make in my lock on, as the deer would have been downwind of me before clearing the tree I was sitting in.

Looking forward to dialing in the system over the summer, and being ready to run and gun next season.
 
Congrats! It sounds like you're hooked on the saddle! :D
 
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