This year marks mine and Taylor's fourth year to chase The Whitetail together. As hunting goes, we've had our ups and downs. Last year, Taylor harvested his first buck on New Years Day. We were hunting off the ground that morning which made for an interesting hunt; however, it was the tracking after the shot that was the most memorable.
Then there was the hunt that took place on the next to last weekend of last season. Taylor and I had a fine buck chase several does in range but we were unable to seal the deal. There are numerous stories I could tell that have transpired over the years but the one that unfolded Saturday, December 24th will be the one that we both will be telling for years to come!
Taylor and I live in Brandon. In fact, we live in the same neighborhood. So, with an hour between us and most our hunting spots, we have plenty of time to talk strategy or, for Taylor, plenty of time to catch a few more winks. With overcast skies and winds out of the north, I had concluded that we'd hunt a stand over looking a 250 yard long lane running north/south through the center of a 3 year old cut over. This spot has been hunted only once this entire season. Over the last month, my trail cameras have shown a couple of mature bucks using this area of the cut over quite often.
We arrived with plenty of time before daylight, gathered our gear and headed toward the creek. The stand lies just beyond the creek which means that we'd have to cross a log in the pre-dawn light. Its a rather large log and I assumed Taylor wouldn't have any problems scampering across. Well, little did I know that Taylor was basically sleep walking behind me. Once I crossed the creek and turned around to watch him, I just knew he was going in the water. You would've thought we crossed on a high wire instead of a 24" beech tree! Thankfully, he made it across without testing the water.
After a short and quiet approach to the stand from the creek, we assumed our position over looking the clear cut. The wind was steady around 5-10 mph and had me and Taylor shivering. I proceeded to rattle, grunt and bleat every 20-30 minutes. It produced no response...that we saw anyway. With Taylor shivering violently and my confidence diminishing, I decided to make a move. It was near 8:45 a.m. and I knew of a spot that we could slip into relatively fast and easy.
Our transition from one location to the next went smoothly. We were now heading to our new location with only a few minutes of time lost. Our new setup is located in a thinned pine plantation. It's a small stand that receives virtually no pressure. Basically, its overlooked. It's on the northeastern most portion of our hunting property and is bordered to the east and south by unusable habitat. I recently put a 12' ladder on a cut corridor only 120 yards off the south line.
As Taylor and I crossed the fence into the pine stand, we bumped a doe that happened to be between us and the ladder. "No big deal", I told Taylor. The doe was upwind of us and simply didn't make that big a deal of us being there. I instructed Taylor to continue ahead to the ladder while I would stay about 70 yards back to observe and call. It was now approximately 9:00 a.m. At 9:10 I grunted and bleated. Soon after a rattled and grunted some more. I watched Taylor through my binoculars as he sat motionless waiting for movement. It was now around 9:25 and I was starting to get antsy. We had to leave the woods by 10:00 so I decided I would slip around to the west and try to bump something out of the nearest hollow over to Taylor. Just as I was moving from the pine stand into the hardwoods, I hear Taylor trip off the rifle! I immediately began moving quickly in his direction. Once I made eye contact with him, I could see he was giving me the thumbs up! I walked to within feet of his stand and asked if he shot one. Taylor said, "yep, he was standing right where you are!" "HE", I asked! Taylor re-confirmed that it was a "HE" and that he was big. According to Taylor, he heard 3 grunts soon after I rattled. Looking back to see if it was me, he realized I had moved. As he turned his head back around to survey the landscape, he caught movement only a few yards off his left shoulder. He literally watched the buck take two steps, shouldered his rifle and fired!
He and I looked but couldn't find any blood at the scene of the crime. Since he was confident of his shot and thought he heard the buck crash, I decided to head in the direction he last saw the buck. Noticing the buck before he did, I told Taylor to come look over near me while I got the video mode on my phone ready. I was able to film him as he found his buck piled up not 40 yards from his tree!
The buck was one that we've photographed for 3 years. We named him Squatty 8 due to his rack shape and tine length. He had been very photogenic the last two years but this year he's been quite shy. It's very likely that he is a 5 year old deer. He weighed 180 pounds, had 10 total points, 18" main beams, 4" bases and a 16" spread.
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