hoosierhunter

This last buck was a deer that showed up last season late season as well. When he came back this year again he was put on the hit list for being a mature clean 8. I never really hunted him until January. I was holding out for another deer that showed up late last year(after I already filled my tag). Unfortunately that buck is believed to be killed by another hunter on opening day of gun. We had put a great deal of work into preparing the farm for this other deer and the plot this buck was killed in was specifically for that other buck. In fact, we had 9 acres of late season food plots all with him in mind. If you followed the thread you have seen a few updates from my late season hunting. The one interesting part of this equation is that we pull a lot of deer from neighboring farms during the late season due to the quality of food we have. This deer in particular was pulled in from about a mile away and the video is actually from my buddies farm over there. Given my success already this year, we had been trying to get my dad on this buck. He was actually patterned to hitting another plot about 700 yards away which my dad was hunting on that night. I was simply hunting on the presumption that anything can happen on any given night in the late season. That evening of the hunt was the third day of a cold snap and we figured the movement would be great. Movement started early for me with 20+ does entering the field with 2 hours of daylight left. I actually didn’t see the deer coming first. I got a text from my dad that I had bucks entering the field to my East about 300 yards away. He was the 13th deer to enter the field and did so about 5 minutes after the others. I watched him feed at about 250 yards for around 20 minutes. At one point he locked up on something in my direction and stood for 5 minutes motionless staring. Finally that tail flickered and he began the trot across the field in my direction. Interesting he was the last deer out, but he was also the first to move in my direction once he became comfortable. What you can’t see from the video is that he actually got down to my fence row and held up again to let a majority of the others bucks walk out first from the cover. He entered the field about 100 yards from me and that’s when I took the video and pictures waiting on him to turn broadside. When I actually took the shot it dropped him in his tracks. It was one of those scenes you see on the hunting videos where his back legs fold up and his butt drops first with his front legs stiff out straight. He didn’t flinch on the ground. I did pull cameras after the hunt and found out that this buck had just started hitting my plot in the last few days. He was never daylight prior to the night I shot him and I’m the first one to see him on the hoof. So that puts a wrap on my incredible 2019 deer season. I have never harvested two bucks in the same year, let alone three! When the countless hours of habitat work, food plots, running 30+ cameras, studying the data, strategizing for specific deer, putting up stands and overall sweat equity pays off like this it’s quite a sense of accomplishment. Most people struggle to understand the commitment it takes to make all these things come together year after year. It’s easy for people to see the hero shots and assume it’s much easier than it really is. That’s the great thing about this forum, I know the majority of you also work your tails off to make it happen every year to be as successful as you can. Everyone also does a great job on congratulating others on their success. There’s a core group of guys who have been around for quite a number of years and thank you for the dedication. It’s the camaraderie around this deer contest every year that keeps me coming back. It’s like our own little deer camp from around the US. IMG_2117.MOV

He didn’t walk for too much longer after the video I posted! He’s a 5 year old 8 that we have been hunting this late season. Story to follow

Tonight was a good night and my season is officially over!!

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I hunted a different blind last night to change things up. This one sits over a few acres of standing beans cut into a CRP field. I saw fantastic movement all evening, but never had a shooter come out. I’m starting to doubt whether anything will make an appearance before January 31st. Cams aren’t showing anything and usually deer would have moved in by now. We had some decent weather blow in last night that bought a few inches of snow and the temps will really fall this evening and stay cool for a couple days. Either way, I’ll continue to hunt and see what happens!

Tonight was my first time back out since last week. I had great movement all evening just not the right buck came out. I Might give it a shot tomorrow night with a snow storm blowing in about 7 PM. We also have some pretty cold temps moving in next week so I’m sure I will log some stand time. I have u til the 31st so fingers crossed something shows up!

I saw plenty of deer, but only two small bucks. It was a beautiful evening for a sit!

Back at it this afternoon. It’s 30 degrees but wind chill is 16. Fingers crossed that they get up and move

I hunted again tonight. I saw 6 bucks and 4 does. This was the biggest one, he’s just not what I’m looking for to finish out the season. Pretty deer though.

I’ve been out twice hunting in the last week. No shooters have shown up yet, but I am seeing deer. It’s always fun to hunt over food in the late season. You never k ow what will show up!

Yeah I also follow Midwest Whitetail and Growing Deer TV with Grant Woods. I’m a junkie when it comes to whitetail knowledge and data.

If you guys haven’t checked out the DeerCast app by Drury I would highly recommend it. I’ve used it for the last two years and I’m a believer in the indicator for movement. While nothing is foolproof, this gives an incredible amount of information that is useful for making educated decision about when and where to hunt. As for hunting, I’m kicking off my late season effort to fill my urban buck tag tonight. That season runs through January 31st so plenty of time left for me. ODH- if you can fill a doe tag, I have a buck in mind that may put us over the top. Fingers crossed.

Nice job Martin, looks like it was a very productive yea!

I hope everything is ok MCH. Im still hunting and shot a doe last weekend. We have some some does still left to shoot on my farm. I have a few buddies that will be helping me with that. I also have my urban buck tag left so I can hunt until January 31st on certain farms. We moved box blinds around to overlook some late season plots there. The smallest plot is 2 acres of standing beans. The middle plot is 2.5 acres of beans and .5 acres of turnips. The largest plot of 1.5 acres of beans and 3 acres of turnips and winter wheat. Now we just need some deer to show up that are mature and not busted up. When pulling cameras today, two of our mature deer have knocked entire sides off their heads. One is down to the main beam and the other is snapped off above the brow. Time will tell on these farms.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

MCH, that’s Awesome congrats!!! I love those chocolate horns! Public land too!!!!

Congrats on the buck NS!! Sounds like it’s now time to play with the lobsters!

I still have my urban tag left which allows me to hunt certain properties until January 31st. I do have a few candidates in mind for that tag along with a new property I just picked up this year so we will se what happens. I likely will not do much more hunting until trail cameras show my targets are killable. Probably get the kiddos out a few times to enjoy nature along with a few friends.

Hoosierhunter Team 1 Buck-9 storable points

Awesome buck Al!!! You always kill a stud year in and year out. Is it time for an addition in the trophy room yet? You gotta be running out of room!

Thanks everyone!

Three years ago began the story of the deer I harvest yesterday called Scoop. He first showed up on my trail cams in the summer of 2017. In early August my neighbor and I snuck out into the standing beans to glass for shooters about a mile away from my farm. Little did we know that Scoop would come out and walk within 40 yards of us in those beans. It was an awesome encounter and it’s the night he got his name due to his tines curling inward. He was approximately a 120-130 inch 8 at the time and I believed him to be a 3 year old. Because of his age, I made the decision to put him off limits during the 2017 season. Even though scoop spent considerable time on my property that year all the pictures were at night and he was never seen from the stand by myself or the neighbors. My neighbor was fortunate enough to pick up one of his sheds right across the road from my farm that winter so we confirmed he has lived. In 2018, there was plenty of big anticipation to see what Scoop looked like in the neighborhood. He didn’t disappoint blossoming into a beautiful 9 that we believed to be in the mid 140’s and 4.5 years old. 2018 also happened to be the year I implemented a tremendous amount of habitat work in my farm. Due to all the work happening through November of that year, Scoop was never seen or photographed on my farm although he lived right across the road. 2018 was another year where nobody saw him from the stand although he did show up daylight on a few cameras for the neighbors from time to time. Once the season ended, we did pick up Scoop traveling over to my property after he shed his antlers to feed in my plots. This gave my hope that 2019 would lead to a return to my farm. As the summer of 2019 progressed, we were able to pick Scoop back up in the same area where we glassed him in 2017. He didn’t appear to grow much, but as a minimum 5.5 year old deer pushing 150 he was the top target. I had already begun setting the plan for how to kill him if he came back to me that year and on October 5th that became a reality with his return. From the 5th until late October, he was intermittent on my cameras only showing up about 5 times. Little did that when I pulled cards on October 24th that a major shift had just happened in Scoop. While I was busy getting ready for my Illinois trip and hunting another deer on another farm, Scoop would make my farm home. I made a conscious decision before leaving for Illinois on November 2nd to not check my caverns because I didn’t want any distractions thinking about home while on my trip. When I returned on November 6th I jumped straight into a stand. It was an awesome sit with plenty of action but no Scoop. I proceeded to check my camera after dark and I was floored with the results. Scoop was everywhere and daylight active!! From November 6th through the 11th I hunted him everyday without a sighting yet I knew I was close. On the morning of November 12th that all changed. I pulled open the blinds and to my surprise he was bedded 150 yards behind the house with a doe! This was the first in person sighting of this deer in two years and here he is chilling out 150 outside my window! I hunted him that evening and the next day to no avail. The night of the 13th I pulled cameras and found that Scoop has moved to the back of my property upon dropping that doe midday on the 12th. With the gun opener fast approaching on the 16th I was forced into a very tough decision. As many of you know, I’m a diehard bowhunter. I wanted nothing more than to arrow this buck, but due to his daylight behavior it was painfully obvious that he likely wouldn’t survive more than a day if he left my property after Friday. The decision was two fold, do I hunt him on the 15th and risk pushing him elsewhere and do I put the bow down and pick up a gun? I made the decision to let the property sit the day before the gun opener and I was also going to use a firearm Saturday morning. I had a very good idea where I felt he would be as his core area was literally 10 acres on me. I also asked my dad to come up and hunt where he was last seen as well. The plan was set! Saturday morning arrived with temps in the low 20’s and an extremely heavy frost on the ground which made it sound like a bull in a china shop walking in. My dad and I got to the stands and were set 90 minutes before legal shooting light. I felt it was imperative to get in ahead of the neighbors and let them move deer to us in case he wasn’t already here. As light first cracked, the ominous sounds of gun shots from neighbors started ringing out. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had already caught led. About 7:30 two does came and bedded down right where I expected Scoop to come from. Then about 8:00 AM one of my 3 year olds comes out into the clover plot staring South. Then a big crash happens and a doe comes flying through the swamp being tailed by another 8 and nearly runs over top of the 3 year old 9. This was very exciting because I had a very hot doe running around is Scoop’s core area being tailed by two inferior bucks as compared to him. I felt that if he was anywhere close, he would not tolerate this intrusion in his core area. Around 8:20 the 3 year old came back over to check the two does I had bedded by me and one appeared to be in estrous! Talk about getting lucky to have two does in jest this close to my stand. The nine proceeds to bump the doe further to the north out of site around 8:30. About 10 minutes later I see a doe crest the hill coming back to me. Then through the brush I see a rack. It’s instantaneous recognition, it’s Scoop and he’s here!!!! Even though he’s at 80 yards I don’t have a shot because he’s in an area where I did a ton of TSI work. For 10 minutes I’m forced to watch him move only 10 yards while keeping an intentful eye on my shooting house through the thick brush. At this point I know that I had to walk by him into the stand this morning and I’m terrified that the gig will be up at any moment. The entire time I’m searching for any hole that I feel I can get a bullet through and it just isn’t happening. Then he slowly starts to turn and quarter towards me with an opening only a few steps away. He pauses with just his head in the opening and looks directly at the shooting house as if his 6th sense was kicking in. Then he takes that fateful step and looks away. I put the crosshairs right on the front shoulder and touched off the Tikka. Scoop buckled up but didn’t go down. I’m also partially dazed from the .300 win mag scope connecting with my forehead in grand fashion. As I jack another shell in, I can’t believe I just shot this deer straight through his shoulder and he didn’t drop. Next thing I know he’s gone, but I believe I hear a crash. As I sit back in my chair, I’m replaying everything in my mind. What happened? Why didn’t he go down from that shot, did I hit him bad? Everything felt great, but I’m still a little unsure. I give him about 20 minutes and I couldn’t take anymore, I had to go check. I ease up to where I last saw him looking into the woods. I only get about 10 steps in and see his rack laying on the ground!!! As I approached him, I’m in awe of the history I’ve had with this animal. Not only was there three years of personal history, but he’s the first buck I’ve shot off my farm since we bought it in 2016. All the hard work, the man hours, the deer passed, the time away from my family chasing these majestic animals. I think about how proud my grandfather would be and the fact it get to share this moment with my dad. As I lay my hand on Scoop’s forehead and thank him, I’m overcome with emotion. While I’m extremely grateful to harvest this animal, I’m also sad to see him go. So while this chapter closes on what is by far my most memorable deer, I can’t help but wonder to the future of who will be the buck that tries to take his place on my farm.....

Thanks Al!!! I was also very fortunate this morning to kill my #1 buck in Indiana!!!! upgrade and pics coming!

Congrats Ranger. I’ve been hunting hard for one of my target deer in Indiana. He’s been giving me the slip so far, but I feel like I’m in the game for him. Time will tell and firearms opens this weekend as well.