Since the actual story of the hunt takes about 3 seconds to tell, I'll go back to last year where the story really starts. I'd gotten permission to hunt a sweet spot with lots of deer and the potential for nice bucks. The 1st night I hunted there I was full draw on a big one and had another close encounter with him, never to seal the deal. Jump ahead to this year, I had not really had the opportunity to return to this spot all season until 11/14, the day before our season closed. I have had a pretty rough season so far, not seeing many deer at all despite a good bit of time spent in the woods. I was very excited to be back in this spot. I arrived and made the short walk into the area I was going to hunt, picked out a good fallen log to provide cover & a comfy seat and was set. At 2:08 PM I texted my friend that I was all set to go. By 2:17 I'd texted him that I shot a pig, and that was after 3 attempts to call & get him to pick up. No sooner had I settled in I saw this buck cruising thru the brushy field off in front of me. He was headed to go down the hollow and never closer than about 75 yards. I hit my grunt call just once. His head swung around quickly and after a few seconds he slowly and deliberately started making his way right to me. As he closed the distance and made it inside the woods I feared he would keep walking straight at me and not give me a good broadside shot. At 12 yards he turned and that's all I needed to to send the bolt (yes I was using an Xbow) thru his chest. Off he ran, for maybe 50 yards before stopping and tipping over within seconds. Now I will never know for certain, but as best my 40 year old memory serves me this buck looks exactly like the one I almost killed last year. The racks are both big 10 points that are similarly shaped, they both came right in to a grunt call, its the same exact spot. The only hang up is that he looks to have stayed almost the same size.
That's awesome brother congratulations!! Great buck and gotta love them short sits, especially when its cold out! Do you hunt in city limits of pitt? I know it can be crazy good there.
Congrats man. That's a nice buck. It amazes me how easily we could miss out on opportunities like that.
Ryan - Again, congrats on an awesome deer. That's a good one for anywhere in the country, but the fact you killed it in PA makes it even more awesome!
