Trail cameras 100% killed this deer. Because of my cameras, I knew everything about this deer. lots of small details that would take forever to post, but once I studied all the pictures I had of this deer and decided to target him, I was very confident I would kill him in the exact spot I did. It's crazy what the rut does. Zero daylight pictures from July-November 1st. But he moved in daylight every day from November 2nd-8th. I could not have been happier with how my bow season ended. behind me in the picture is the creek bottom where I killed him.
That is absolutely insane that you consider a slow day as seeing 7 bucks. 34 different bucks in one day?? Dude.... Congrats on one hell of a season. I hope you create a new thread for next year or continue to update this one. I have really enjoyed following along this year!
Interestingly...his story was not quite over. On November 9th, I was driving a combine harvesting soybeans about 250 yards from where he died, and I spotted a beat up shed antler in the field where I had just done my previous pass. I hopped out and threw it in the combine. When I got home I started looking at it....It is Doublewide's antler from 2016! All the tines were busted off by the disk in the Spring...but no question that its his. I also had a couple pics I found of him last year.
I did not hunt again until 2nd shotgun season when I took my wife out. We hunted 6 evenings, and she had 2 close calls on mature bucks, but one never came within range, and the other it got too dark for her to shoot before he turned broadside. Was definitely a bummer. Both were super old mature bucks that needed to be taken off the farm.
December 18th was opening day of late muzzleloader season, and I finally had another tag. Opening night I got home from work at 4:15 and saw a pile of does out by the food plot behind my house. I grabbed my muzzleloader and threw on an orange vest and snuck down the field edge. I got within 150 yards of the group and saw there were no bucks. But I had not taken any does yet this year so I decided then was the perfect time. I settled on one and drilled her.
December 19th was pretty much the same story. Got home and saw deer behind the house. This time I snuck all the way back to my tree stand and climbed up. I ended up passing several doe fawns as they came through in the last 20 minutes of light.
December 20th was the weather I had been waiting for. Clear and the wind had switched out of the south. I took off work early and drove down to my biggest property. Being pressed for time I drove my truck further back in than I normally do and parked 300 yards behind the hill form one of my hay bale blinds. The blind is set up about 250 yards south of the blind where I killed my opening day buck. There is a waterway that connects with a tiny triangle of timber, which connects to a huge cedar thicket on the neighbors where all the deer like to bed. This is the same spot where I killed my muzzleloader buck last year on January 9th locked down with a doe fawn. I was in my blind at 4:03.
There were 5 doe fawns 200 yards to my south. I thought to myself "that would be sweet if a big bucks came to check those fawns out." The fawns worked out of sight by 4:15. At 4:20 I saw a big body coming through the cedars in front of me. even at 100 yards I could tell instantly it was a very mature buck. HUGE body, especially for late December. He was cruising like it was early November. He stopped in the tiny little triangle of trees and I got my gun ready. He stood there for a couple minutes, which was good because it gave me time to calm down. He started walking again, slowly. I had my scope pointed at an opening in the trees. As soon as the crosshairs touched the front of his chest I squeezed. I heard a thump and he jumoed straight up into the air, hopped the fence and ran back into the cedars. I was pretty certain I had made a great shot, so with about 20 minutes of light left I walked over and started tracking him. I only walked maybe 10 yards past where I hit him before I saw him piled up. He ran only 40 yards. Shot was perfect.
After going back through all the pictures the last 2 years, I have zero idea where this buck came from. I had never seen him before the day I killed him. Clearly he was super mature. 6 7/8" bases, and almost 40" of total mass. Scored 150" despite only being 15" wide and having very short brow tines. My taxidermist and I both agree he is 6 1/2 minimum, maybe 7 1/2, based on teeth. Perfect buck to take on this farm, as there are some superstar 3 year olds that I don't want to get run off. Super happy to take him to finish my season
That’s an exciting season you’ve had. I agree with one of the other posts & hope you will do this thread again next year. I find it very interesting that the timing of our rut here in NY is almost identical to yours. The past 2 yrs in a row my brother killed his bucks on 11/5 & 11/7. I had unfortunately taken vacation the last week of October. Not next yr!
