Last Friday was by far the best day of the week for me down in Ohio and will go down as one of the best in my hunting career. Once it got daylight I decided to try rattling. Did a sequence and didn't have anything respond. Sat there for about 30 minutes longer and I decided to amp it up with some snort wheezes, grunt call and then into rattling. Before I was finished I saw a big one coming but he was circling downwind. I lost sight of him for a little while and suddenly he rounded the end of the ridge about 40 yards downwind. He was on a trail that I knew would take him into the bottoms so all I could really do was watch since he was so close but way too much brush for a shot. I tried calling to him a couple times when he went behind trees but he had his mind up. As I turned around I was surprised to see a spike coming into the food plot and started to work a scrape. As he walked across the plot a third buck came into the plot, a nice big 8 point but I decided to let him walk. Soon the 8 started posturing, bristled up, dropped his ears and started making his way to confront the spike. They bumped heads only for a moment before the spike broke to run. Soon they all walked in different directions and soon a fourth buck showed up, a nice 10. I watched him coming and reluctantly decided to let him walk as he passed through two shooting lanes at 20 yards. This day was another all day sit for me, 5th one in 6 days of hunting, and I was optimistic that it would turn out well. By noon I was tired and decided to eat my PB&J sandwich and a couple other snacks and I was happy. A couple minutes went by and suddenly I had to cough so I tried to muffle as best I could. I quickly followed it with several deep grunts thinking there's a chance I could get away with that one. Not 5 minutes later I hear walking from where a gaggle of squirrels seemed to thrive when I realized those were deer feet I was seeing and not squirrels. Sure enough a buck was coming and he was already 30 yards out. Super thick to this side of the stand I waited to see what he would do. He gets directly downwind of me and puts the brakes on and starts sniffing. I thought the gig was up but he then turned and started circling back around to come into the food plot. I recognized this buck from trail cam pics and was another one of those I thought I would pass, that was until I saw how cool he was and what character her had. At 20 yards I let out the classic murrp and settled the pin and stroked the release. He bounded into the sanctuary but only made it about 70 yards before he started staggering and soon tipped over. He's only a 2 1/2 year old and isn't huge but after seeing him in person I just new I had to take the shot. Pretty cool rack in my book.
He was the 4th buck that morning I had 100% downwind of me and did not spook whatsoever. All 4 could smell something but with good camo they dismissed it and continued what it was they were doing. Each buck as they put their nose in the air I kept saying to myself this is it, he's gone but it never happened. Several years ago in this same treestand with a similar wind and using carbon clothing and scent killing sprays I was busted by deer where these were.
Thats great! I have had some good success with deer coming in downwind of me or circling downwind of my calls and I can see them smelling away, but none buggered....pretty amazing! Def a great story (especially involving the scent smoker) and a cool looking buck! Congrats again, Chuck!!!
