This year like most years had it ups and downs, this year I made it a goal to shoot a buck on public land. Opening day I got set up for the afternoon hunt and not more than 45 minutes I had a 140" 10 at 26 yards. I settled my pin and let one fly, the hit looked good but after 700+ yards on private land later no deer. I still don't know what happened to that deer but I couldn't keep going back on the private land to look for. Come sweet November set up on public again I had a doe and a 150"+ buck come in, long story short I missed judge the yardage and shot low. I started to get a little frustrated but kept after it and saw the second buck 2 other times but could never get him close enough for a shot. Fast forward to this morning. We got some snow on Sunday so I got a bunch of work done so I could hunt on Monday. After a 2 hour drive I got set up before daylight on one of our leases, the set up was on a food plot we put in. At first light I saw him feeding to the south of me he was working his way to me. At first look I wasn't going to shoot him, he was just a bit too small. We have some good bucks on this farm and really wanted to hold out. As he worked toward me he got to right under my tree and made a scrape and that's when I saw the hole. I always wanted one just because it's something different. The shot was under 10 yards he ran about 80 yards and bedded down. I waited 3 hours and went to get him. Here he is. Special thanks to Matt (Rick James) Jason (Raceway) Mike (Dukemicheals) and Jeremy (Justin's BIL) It was a good team effort from securing the land to food plot prep and stand hanging.
Congrats on the character buck! I got one with a hole in the horn a few years ago. He was no where as big as your buck, but I love looking at the rack all the time! Good job man
I'm on two leases but I mostly hunted public and one of the leases is a mile away from the public I was hunting.
Understood. Congrats on the work putting yourself in position to have opportunities on the public bucks and getting it done on this one. That's a good season.
