Team 1

[hoosierhunter]

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

[Maine Hntr]

congrats Pat, great looking deer. Big body on that guy!

[wtnhunt]

You have had a great season.  Congratulations on another very nice buck.

[MCH]

Congratulations! Great buck!


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[RangerClay]

On 11/19/2019 at 8:29 AM, hoosierhunter said:

Thanks everyone!  

Pat, once again I'm late to the party.  What a great deer and thanks for sharing your story.  Not many people are willing to take the time to type all that out.  Thanks for sharing, it was deeply appreciated.

[wtnhunt]

16 minutes ago, RangerClay said:

Not many people are willing to take the time to type all that out.  

Yep, always enjoy reading other's stories.  I may be an oddball though because I like to share my stories for those interested and don't mind taking the time to write them.  Unfortunately not too many these days here seem to take the time to read and reply.

[Ravin R10 man]

Very NICE buck Pat!  Is there a link to the "story"??... I dont find it anywhere??

[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.

 

 

[wtnhunt]

Thanks for sharing the story Pat, was fun following along your hunts in this thread, and congratulations again on the great season. 

Did your father end up taking a buck?  

[hoosierhunter]

He hasn’t yet and season closes Friday.  We have a few deer that we are on the fence about, but I’m not sure he will make it out again.  
 

Next year could be really exciting!  I just picked up permission on a new farm and we have some really good up and comers alive as well.  It’s been a mild winter which means if we get a good spring these guys will really put some bone on their heads!!

[Ravin R10 man]

GREAT story Pat! YES!..Tons of sweat and time, Food Plots, Cam pics, and still those older bucks are tough to figure out! What I have learned....Between the Rut and late season food..that is the two times you can catch up with 'em.