I don't really keep a hunting journal anymore, so this may be a long read. Hopefully someone gets something useful out of it, or enjoys it some!
A group of five of us hunted public land in Missouri last year, and while I had three different nice deer in range, I couldn't close the deal. We made the decision at the end of the trip to return to the same area, so the plan for 2018 was hatched. Around July, after doing quite a bit of map scouting, I decided to give myself an early birthday present. I booked a scouting/hunting trip for early season. We had a much larger group going this year (13 people). I had a hunch if our group grew, we wouldn't be the only ones thinking the area we hunted might be good. I wanted to cover every inch I could and be prepared to dodge pressure, and find good sign come November.
We logged about 30 miles on the September trip, and covered about half the area I wanted to see. I was able to take a doe on that trip, and she provided snack sticks and summer sausage for the crew upon our return. I identified 7 or 8 A+ areas, and 4 or 5 B areas. I sped through a couple C areas as well. We were early enough in the year that last year's rubs were separable from this years. We knew the patterns we saw last year, and combined that with what we saw on the scouting trip.
As cold day after cold day piled up leading up to our trip, I was worried the properties would be hit hard with pressure. I was right, to an extent. There was quite a bit more people sign when we arrived November 1. And probably 4 times as many people hunting throughout our trip. My buddy who came on the September trip got into one of our spots we had scouted, and made a very small adjustment before tagging a nice 135"+ 8 point on the second evening. I bounced around to a couple of the areas we had looked at, but the people sign was heavy and deer sign slim. I moved to an area that we really liked in September, but 3 of our hunting party were in close proximity to. I snuck into the spot, and took 2 hours to set up with 3 does milling around within 75 yards of me. It was painful to say the least. I was able to settle in without spooking any of them. At around 4pm on my first sit, a doe stood up from her bed about 50-60 yards away and fed towards me. I ended up hitting her a little far back. Knowing she was dead, and having cold weather, I elected to let her lie overnight. We anticipated rain late the next morning, so I went into the spot at sunrise for the track. Apparently it rained overnight, and washed away the bloodtrail. I was able to spend several hours looking to no avail. It was a sickening feeling, and I hate losing a deer. Hindsight is 20/20, but had I known there was even a chance of rain overnight, I would've pressed her.
To add to my frustration, I had three hunters within 200 yards of me. I spent the next couple of days hunting and scouting elsewhere hoping to get on sign. I really didn't find what I was looking for, and made up my mind to go back to that area. I intended on pushing in further, as all the discussions, sightings, and terrain pointed to the deer movement being there - just a little deeper. I made a morning hunt until around 9 am with no deer sightings. I pulled my set, ate a sandwich, and packed up for the haul. I was hunting the side of a long straight ridge with heavy bedding cover on the point. Further west were two more ridges that appeared to be the same. The middle ridge was 1.5 miles from any parking area, and I felt strongly the deer we were not seeing anymore had reacted to our pressure and moved further into that area.
My suspicions were confirmed as I bumped at least 12-15 deer as I worked my way through the bottom towards that ridge. The wind picked up to gusts of 25-30mph, so I was getting very close to the deer before bumping. As I made it to the point of the ridge, I turned and looked behind me. I could see 4-500 yards with 270* field of vision. It almost took my breath away it was such a pretty spot. As I looked up the ridge, it got nasty, and nasty quick. I was awful glad I wasn't toting a stand and sticks at that point.
I hit the military crest of the ridge, and immediately stumbled into fresh beds. then more. then more. I stopped, caught my breath, and really slowed down. I hadn't encountered any buck sign yet, but things were starting to look really good. I probably made it another 20-30 yards when a doe stood up 15 yards away and trotted away. As I sunk to a knee, I watched a nice buck stand up and follow suit. It was so thick I could barely make them out for a few seconds. They walked away upwind, and I knew I was where I wanted to be. I had only moved about 4-500 yards from my original set. But the deer were set up on top of by far the thickest patch in this area, and had the wind blowing to them from the main access. If I had come in from that direction, it would have only been a 300 yard walk from the main trail. I know this because that is the way I took the deer out.
They were set up perfect to smell or hear people coming in from the road. They had not yet had anyone come in the way I did. Because they never saw or smelled me, it was the perfect scenario for the bump and dump. I spent 20 minutes identifying the perfect tree. I got set up by around noon. At 3pm I had a doe stand up on a small ridge just upwind and work her way right towards me. There was a trail that crossed the drainage right at my tree. I pulled my camera through as she headed in. This was going to be a 10 yard chip shot. Of course, she came to a dead tree, had to go right or left, and chose left. Left brought her downwind of me. I purposely set up with no shot there as the wind was steady, and knew I wouldn't have a chance. As soon as she got behind me she hit the wall, and bounded off blowing. I think it was fortunate she was so close and so alarmed, because she was about 300 yards away by the third time she blew! I wasn't worried about her stinking up my hunt at that point.
About 5 minutes later a button buck followed her path and did the exact same thing, only blowing once. I did have a brief moment of worry thinking the deer may not come from where I'd seen them. But looking around, I was as far off the ridge as I could be without dropping into the bottom. I felt 100% confidence from the time I began my walk up the ridge, and now was not the time to waiver. At about 4pm, the wind began to lay down. I did some blind grunting in the lulls. On the third sequence, I caught movement about 100 yards up the small finger the doe came off of. I could see a racked buck making his way up the ridge to the point where it and the ridge I was on met. I waited until he hit that junction, and sent a couple grunts his way. He looked in my direction, and I could tell he was committed. I knew instantly he was coming in range. In the video you'll see him about 75-80 yards out. I hit him with one last grunt, and he began making his way right down the pipe. I feel confident I would have gotten a 10-15 yard shot and all on video if the 3 other deer didn't enter the picture. He was very committed until he stops, and looks into the thick on top of the ridge I'm on. I hear a soft grunt, and a doe, yearling, and small forkhorn come out of the brush. The buck trots towards the doe until he catches the small buck entering the picture. He turns to meet him, and this is where I first draw. He's at 30 yards, and very occupied. I let out a soft burp, and he stopped perfectly broadside. Only problem is the 8" tree covering his vitals.
He lowers his ears at the young buck, and right as I think he's going to push him off, he just relaxes, and turns his attention back to the doe. You can see the forkhorn even give him a little guy nudge. Pretty comical. As he starts pushing the doe, I bleat several different times as he entered openings and couldn't get him to stop. Finally he stopped at really the last opening I had before they got downwind. I framed his vitals with the EZV and released. Heavy arrow and sharp cut on contact broadhead zipped through both lungs like butter. He trotted forward about 20-25 yards and stopped. As I reached for a second arrow he tipped over.
The hunt was a culmination of a ton of hard work. He's by no means a giant, and I've killed bigger. But with all the pressure, and the lack of fresh sign, I was not going to be too picky. I worked by butt off to implement a plan, and he was the closing act to that plan. It felt great to put it all together, and catch the action on film. I walked a total of 8 miles that day through very rough terrain - 1.5miles of that with him quartered on my back. I hunted very hard the next three days, and did not have a single buck larger than him within range - so I have no regrets. He appears to be at least 3.5.
My gear worked great, my scouting paid off, and I enjoyed the hell out of the time with good friends. I hope you guys enjoy the video!
A group of five of us hunted public land in Missouri last year, and while I had three different nice deer in range, I couldn't close the deal. We made the decision at the end of the trip to return to the same area, so the plan for 2018 was hatched. Around July, after doing quite a bit of map scouting, I decided to give myself an early birthday present. I booked a scouting/hunting trip for early season. We had a much larger group going this year (13 people). I had a hunch if our group grew, we wouldn't be the only ones thinking the area we hunted might be good. I wanted to cover every inch I could and be prepared to dodge pressure, and find good sign come November.
We logged about 30 miles on the September trip, and covered about half the area I wanted to see. I was able to take a doe on that trip, and she provided snack sticks and summer sausage for the crew upon our return. I identified 7 or 8 A+ areas, and 4 or 5 B areas. I sped through a couple C areas as well. We were early enough in the year that last year's rubs were separable from this years. We knew the patterns we saw last year, and combined that with what we saw on the scouting trip.
As cold day after cold day piled up leading up to our trip, I was worried the properties would be hit hard with pressure. I was right, to an extent. There was quite a bit more people sign when we arrived November 1. And probably 4 times as many people hunting throughout our trip. My buddy who came on the September trip got into one of our spots we had scouted, and made a very small adjustment before tagging a nice 135"+ 8 point on the second evening. I bounced around to a couple of the areas we had looked at, but the people sign was heavy and deer sign slim. I moved to an area that we really liked in September, but 3 of our hunting party were in close proximity to. I snuck into the spot, and took 2 hours to set up with 3 does milling around within 75 yards of me. It was painful to say the least. I was able to settle in without spooking any of them. At around 4pm on my first sit, a doe stood up from her bed about 50-60 yards away and fed towards me. I ended up hitting her a little far back. Knowing she was dead, and having cold weather, I elected to let her lie overnight. We anticipated rain late the next morning, so I went into the spot at sunrise for the track. Apparently it rained overnight, and washed away the bloodtrail. I was able to spend several hours looking to no avail. It was a sickening feeling, and I hate losing a deer. Hindsight is 20/20, but had I known there was even a chance of rain overnight, I would've pressed her.
To add to my frustration, I had three hunters within 200 yards of me. I spent the next couple of days hunting and scouting elsewhere hoping to get on sign. I really didn't find what I was looking for, and made up my mind to go back to that area. I intended on pushing in further, as all the discussions, sightings, and terrain pointed to the deer movement being there - just a little deeper. I made a morning hunt until around 9 am with no deer sightings. I pulled my set, ate a sandwich, and packed up for the haul. I was hunting the side of a long straight ridge with heavy bedding cover on the point. Further west were two more ridges that appeared to be the same. The middle ridge was 1.5 miles from any parking area, and I felt strongly the deer we were not seeing anymore had reacted to our pressure and moved further into that area.
My suspicions were confirmed as I bumped at least 12-15 deer as I worked my way through the bottom towards that ridge. The wind picked up to gusts of 25-30mph, so I was getting very close to the deer before bumping. As I made it to the point of the ridge, I turned and looked behind me. I could see 4-500 yards with 270* field of vision. It almost took my breath away it was such a pretty spot. As I looked up the ridge, it got nasty, and nasty quick. I was awful glad I wasn't toting a stand and sticks at that point.
I hit the military crest of the ridge, and immediately stumbled into fresh beds. then more. then more. I stopped, caught my breath, and really slowed down. I hadn't encountered any buck sign yet, but things were starting to look really good. I probably made it another 20-30 yards when a doe stood up 15 yards away and trotted away. As I sunk to a knee, I watched a nice buck stand up and follow suit. It was so thick I could barely make them out for a few seconds. They walked away upwind, and I knew I was where I wanted to be. I had only moved about 4-500 yards from my original set. But the deer were set up on top of by far the thickest patch in this area, and had the wind blowing to them from the main access. If I had come in from that direction, it would have only been a 300 yard walk from the main trail. I know this because that is the way I took the deer out.
They were set up perfect to smell or hear people coming in from the road. They had not yet had anyone come in the way I did. Because they never saw or smelled me, it was the perfect scenario for the bump and dump. I spent 20 minutes identifying the perfect tree. I got set up by around noon. At 3pm I had a doe stand up on a small ridge just upwind and work her way right towards me. There was a trail that crossed the drainage right at my tree. I pulled my camera through as she headed in. This was going to be a 10 yard chip shot. Of course, she came to a dead tree, had to go right or left, and chose left. Left brought her downwind of me. I purposely set up with no shot there as the wind was steady, and knew I wouldn't have a chance. As soon as she got behind me she hit the wall, and bounded off blowing. I think it was fortunate she was so close and so alarmed, because she was about 300 yards away by the third time she blew! I wasn't worried about her stinking up my hunt at that point.
About 5 minutes later a button buck followed her path and did the exact same thing, only blowing once. I did have a brief moment of worry thinking the deer may not come from where I'd seen them. But looking around, I was as far off the ridge as I could be without dropping into the bottom. I felt 100% confidence from the time I began my walk up the ridge, and now was not the time to waiver. At about 4pm, the wind began to lay down. I did some blind grunting in the lulls. On the third sequence, I caught movement about 100 yards up the small finger the doe came off of. I could see a racked buck making his way up the ridge to the point where it and the ridge I was on met. I waited until he hit that junction, and sent a couple grunts his way. He looked in my direction, and I could tell he was committed. I knew instantly he was coming in range. In the video you'll see him about 75-80 yards out. I hit him with one last grunt, and he began making his way right down the pipe. I feel confident I would have gotten a 10-15 yard shot and all on video if the 3 other deer didn't enter the picture. He was very committed until he stops, and looks into the thick on top of the ridge I'm on. I hear a soft grunt, and a doe, yearling, and small forkhorn come out of the brush. The buck trots towards the doe until he catches the small buck entering the picture. He turns to meet him, and this is where I first draw. He's at 30 yards, and very occupied. I let out a soft burp, and he stopped perfectly broadside. Only problem is the 8" tree covering his vitals.
He lowers his ears at the young buck, and right as I think he's going to push him off, he just relaxes, and turns his attention back to the doe. You can see the forkhorn even give him a little guy nudge. Pretty comical. As he starts pushing the doe, I bleat several different times as he entered openings and couldn't get him to stop. Finally he stopped at really the last opening I had before they got downwind. I framed his vitals with the EZV and released. Heavy arrow and sharp cut on contact broadhead zipped through both lungs like butter. He trotted forward about 20-25 yards and stopped. As I reached for a second arrow he tipped over.
The hunt was a culmination of a ton of hard work. He's by no means a giant, and I've killed bigger. But with all the pressure, and the lack of fresh sign, I was not going to be too picky. I worked by butt off to implement a plan, and he was the closing act to that plan. It felt great to put it all together, and catch the action on film. I walked a total of 8 miles that day through very rough terrain - 1.5miles of that with him quartered on my back. I hunted very hard the next three days, and did not have a single buck larger than him within range - so I have no regrets. He appears to be at least 3.5.
My gear worked great, my scouting paid off, and I enjoyed the hell out of the time with good friends. I hope you guys enjoy the video!
