Rhino Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 With the opening of the MO gun season my buddy and I finally have the opportunity to fill our 2nd buck tags. Since we'd both killed good mature bucks during the 1st archery season we continued to bowhunt during the gun season. With the wind right, my buddy decides to hunt a stand we have in an area with heavy timber damage from a tornado this past spring. As bad luck would have it the down timber has the deer using 3 trails west of the stand next to a creek. He has a wild hunt seeing a lot of deer including 2 shooters between 2:00 & dark. Almost all the deer were passing in the 40 yard plus range where opportunity for open shots were very limited...only what mother nature left us. One of the shooters offers a 39 yard shot and my buddy shoots right under him. This is the buck he missed. After he gets over missing this buck that evening he says "your turn", you'll see what I'm talking about with the change in the movement pattern. 2 days later the wind is right so I get in the stand ~1:30. From the stand I try to figure out where his 39 yard missed opportunity had to be. There's 2 long range holes at the closest of the trails. One is close to 45 yards...but a real small hole. The 2nd is 43 yards & a little bigger hole. Figured the deer had to be inside the trail on the 2nd hole to be 39 yards or my buddy may have misjudged the yardage to the closest trail. Around 3:00 I see the 1st deer coming...shooter! Plenty of trial cam pics of him too. He passes through the 45 yard small hole on the trail. As he approaches the 2nd hole I go to full draw. He stops just short of it at ~43 yards. Just 2 more steps please. Then things unravel...he decides to cross the creek going away. You gotta be kidding me! I wheeze at him...he looks back for a few seconds then crosses the creek. I see 4 more bucks that afternoon but no more shooters. Here's the shooter buck I saw...pictures don't do him justice though. That evening we decide the stand has to be moved to adjust to the cards mother nature dealt us. The next morning thankfully we have windy conditions to move it that will cover our noise. We move it to a big oak ~20 yards from the tree it's in that puts the stand anywhere from 25 to 30 yards from the 3 main trails the deer are using. Chore done my buddy decides to hunt it that afternoon. I hunt another stand in the same bottom ~1/2 a mile away. Big boys didn't move that afternoon in the high wind. All we saw were young bucks & does. Next afternoon the wind is still right for that stand but my buddy opts to hunt another stand where we have multiple pics of a bigger buck. He asked me...where you gonna hunt? Well...no brainer...I'm going back to the stand where I saw the shooter...again. Well...wind's right & 3 shooter bucks were seen in 3 hunts and bucks are cruising. 1st bucks are young ones along with the 3rd & 4th bucks I see. At 3:10 I hear a deer approaching off my right shoulder behind me. I cut my eyes to see a different shooter buck approaching...can't move. He passes ~10 yards to the right of me & goes behind brush at ~15 yards to my front/right side. Bow in hand now I go to full draw expecting a chip shot inside the 20. He doesn't give it to me...he eases toward the creek & pauses...still behind brush & limbs the whole time. At this point I'm obviously real concerned he's going to cross the creek with no shot offered. Thankfully he doesn't...he moves to his left into the open holes we have for the same trails we've been seeing the deer using. At ~27 yards I turn my arrow loose...it hit's home! My buck does a 180, trots off & turns toward his right where he came from. At ~50 yards he passes behind a blow down tree out of sight & doesn't come out the other side. He has to be right there but I'm not taking any chances, I sit tight in the stand till 4:15. Easy tracking job to where he went down behind that tree. During the moment of truth I didn't know it was a buck we had on trail cams or not. Turns out it was. Didn't notice most of his left brow tine was broken off but I'm still real happy with him. Gross scored him at 147 3/4". BTW...I put a trail cam behind our lodge, camp...whatever you want to call it, facing toward the camp since we see a fair number of deer passing near a wood line behind it. By stroke of luck a got this pic of the buck I killed the morning of Nov. 15th. Pretty cool with the camp in the background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Great deer. Congratulations. That is cool you got a pic of him right there Al, he follow you to the stand? lol. The 15th was a cold one here, looks like it was a few degrees colder there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhine16 Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Man that is awesome! As I'm sure you know, to a Mississippi guy, that many opportunities at a P&Y in bow range is unbelievable. Can't wait until I get to start going to the Midwest every year! Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 If he followed me to the stand William...he sure was stealthy about it! Got trail cam pics of him in multiple places but not where I killed him. Go figure! It was real cold for an old fart used to temps south of the Mason/Dixon line. Lows ranged from 11 to 22 from the 15th through the 21st. Got above freezing for the 1st time last week (33) Thursday afternoon when I killed my buck. Tuesday morning it was very windy & 11 degrees. With a sustained wind of 25 with gust to 35 I took that morning off and drove to town to get the oil changed in my Suburban. We had 1 day when the wind was calm. The rest of the time it was windy but nothing like it was Tuesday. Got up yesterday morning at 5:15 to drive home & it had warmed up to 46 there...felt good enjoying a cup of coffee outside for a change. It was 73 here in MS when I got home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Whew that farm has produced immediate success Al. Nice bucks this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Very nice deer and kudos for sticking with the bow during gun season even after the close call. Al's got a great place to hunt that's for sure. I've been hunting he Midwest for 30 years and unless you have a large tract of land to manage it's not common to get giant buck activity on a regular basis like Al describes. Now Ohio might be the exception - (just ask Chris - Tominator). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 You're right Pat...3rd season hunting it and we still have a number of shooter class bucks in the area. Expect it to get better over the next 2 years or so too. We have some more habitat improvement plans to implement this coming year. Man that is awesome! As I'm sure you know' date=' to a Mississippi guy, that many opportunities at a P&Y in bow range is unbelievable. Can't wait until I get to start going to the Midwest every year! Great job![/quote'] Yep rhine...in MS you hope for just 1 opportunity at a P&Y class buck going into each season. More often than not that 1 opportunity never happens. Hope you can get your wish soon...the Midwestern deer I've hunted aren't the same animal as the extremely spooky deer we have in MS either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Wow !!!! Another GREAT deer Al !!!!!!! MUCHO CONGRATS to you !!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Wow Rhino, congrats! That is a whopper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Very nice deer and kudos for sticking with the bow during gun season even after the close call. Al's got a great place to hunt that's for sure. I've been hunting he Midwest for 30 years and unless you have a large tract of land to manage it's not common to get giant buck activity on a regular basis like Al describes. Now Ohio might be the exception - (just ask Chris - Tominator). No big deer in Ohio, go to Missouri, Iowa, Illinois or the real powerhouse, Oklahoma! Great deer Alan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Great deer teammate!! Congrats!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Hard work paid off for sure. congrats on a great buck todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKstate Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Congrats! That's a great buck! And a pretty cool picture! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine Hntr Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Great deer Al, a couple dandies this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Congrats Rhino! Another great buck! You boys have some toads running around that farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted November 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thanks everyone...if the season were to end now it sure would be one of the most memorable ones I've had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted November 25, 2014 Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 Great story and pics!!... at one time we could pass on the bucks and let them grow, with all the kids growing up, and land changing hands..it's next to impossible to do any QDM... then add the Wolves to that and it isn't worth the effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerjg Posted November 26, 2014 Report Share Posted November 26, 2014 Congratulations to you on a great buck. Archerjg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smha6784 Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 awesome absolutely awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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