Meet Mr. Big

Three nights ago I finally got my first glimpse of an Ohio buck. It was my first night in the stand that it DIDN'T rain, and with pre-rut kicking in I was pretty excited to get out there. I was alone again since Mike was working on our house, which really didn't bother me all that much since I just wanted to get out there.

As I sat there in my stand, the sun directly in my eyes, I couldn't help but think that so far this year was kind of sucking. I hadn't seen any good deer so far, and from the way Mike talked about Ohio deer, I figured I would be at least seeing lots of does.

There were deer tracks under and around my stand so I knew they were there...but the trail camera wasn't exactly doing its job so that wasn't really helping out. Mike has Wildgame cams set up, and they don't really work that well in my opinion. If it gets too cold or rainy it just plain doesn't take any pictures. Or it takes lots of pictures and they're all just black. I'll stick to my moultrie.

I had brought my grunt tube with me, and every hour or so I would use it. About 5 oclock I heard a buck grunt in return, and the crunching of leaves. Something was coming my way. Fast.

It was behind me so I stood up in my ladder stand and face backwards. Really, I wasn't sure how I was going to get a shot this way since there were so many vines hanging down, but I could certainly wait and see. 

The next five minutes happened fast and slow at the same time. A big buck walked into the clearing, looking around for the other buck that had made the grunts. My heart pretty much stopped. In the back of my mind I remembered I still had my gloves on. Using my teeth I took the glove off my right hand and dropped it onto the seat of my stand, then tried to clip my release onto the loop on my bowstring. And tried. And tried. The buck started rubbing a small tree in the clearing and pawing at the dirt. I valiantly tried to get my release on my bow and after a few minutes of shaking I managed to get it. 

This is what happens to me when I see a deer and I know that there's a good chance I will get a shot. It doesn't even really matter if its a buck or a doe, I just start shaking. My legs were wobbly as I watched the buck, only 20 YARDS AWAY!!!! And the vines were hanging down directly in my shooting lane. I wasn't sure I could do anything to bring him closer, if I blew on the grunt tube again he would probably bust me. He would have to come around the other side of my tree in order for me to get a shot.

The buck continued to work the scrape, and I waited impatiently for him to do something. I suddenly remembered my camera hanging around my neck. Slowly I moved my hand up and turned it on and held it out away from my body and snapped a picture. I had no idea if it would turn out or not, or even if the buck was in the frame but I didn't want to move around too much just in case he saw me. 

The buck only stayed there for about five minutes before once again scanning the field and turning and heading down hill. Away from my stand. Out of my life.  Noooooo!!!!!! I waited until he was about 50 yards into the brush and softly blew on the grunt tube again. He stopped and looked back but it wasn't working. He was gone. 

On the bright side, he wasn't spooked. He had a fresh scrape that looked like he had been using fairly often. There were two other shooter bucks we had on trail cameras at this same spot. All was not lost.

I sat back down in my stand and I couldn't stop shaking. My knees were wobbly and I was starting to get  cold.  I waited about 20 minutes before I sent out a few text messages to Mike, Sarah, and a few of my friends. And I checked out the picture on my camera; it had come out beautifully. The buck was an 11 point (I never think to count points when the buck is right there, I just judge the mass and tine lenght/width), he was an old deer and a definite shooter. 

That night is the best one I have had so far, and it made me that much more excited to get out there again. I've been out to the stand again in the evening and had some coyotes scare away some deer that were coming in. The rut should kick in the end of this week/beginning of next week. I'm going to be hunting alot over the next few weeks. It's all I can think about, I just want to be out there 24/7. Mike and I put another stand up this week that we will be hunting together Tuesday and Wednesday. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll see (and kill) a shooter buck this week and it will make it alot easier to concentrate on filming Mike shooting some deer. 

Just Another Rainy Day

Last night I went out hunting again, and of course it was raining. Mike had some work to do on the roof of our house since he goes back to work tomorrow, so he was at the house with the kids and I was finally able to get out in the woods again.

Driving down the road to the property I was going to hunt, I suddenly felt free. I was going hunting in the evening and was going to be able to stay until dark; I wouldn't have to worry about being home for the kids or to make supper or anything. It was like "the old days" when I hunted every day and it didn't really matter how late I stayed in my tree or if I would be home by suppertime. Really, it was nice. I didn't even mind the rain.

I brought two cameras with me, the one I use to film Mike and also my small handycam that I used for the past few years to film myself. If the rain continued I was just going to bring my small camera so the big one wouldn't get wet.

By the time I was walking to my stand it was pouring rain. I stopped by our trail cam and checked the memory card...some pictures of two different shooter bucks certainly made me all that more excited for my evening hunt.

I got situated in the tree and turned my phone on silent and settled in for the next few hours. I was sitting in what I always considered my "lucky stand". It's an old metal ladder stand that I've sat in and killed pretty much every deer I've shot in the past few years, including my big 8 point from 2009. Sitting in that stand pretty much makes me feel like I'm at home.

After about an hour in the stand the rain let up a little and some does came out to feed behind me, then walked along the edge of the field and over the hill. If I had stood up in my stand and knelt on the seat I probably could have shot one of them, but not having a place to hang them right now, Mike and I don't want to shoot any does this week. If it was a monster buck, it wouldn't have mattered. He would have had to die, whether we had a place to hang him or not.

The evening turned out to be pretty quiet. The sun came out right around dusk, which made for a beautiful sunset. It was cold enough that I could see my breathe, and it was so still I could hear the birds walking in the leaves. I wanted to hold my breath it was so quiet.

I was pretty sure I was going to see some more deer, and was really hoping to see a buck, but it didn't happen. It got dark and I climbed down and went home to make supper for Mike and the kids.

Tomorrow I'm headed back out to the woods in hopes of seeing a nice buck, and on Thursday and Friday Mike will be coming along with me. I'm going to start hunting every day since it's pre-rut and the deer are moving.  I don't have the time to hunt that I used to since I got an instant family over the summer, so I need to make the best of the time I do have, and try to put a big buck on the ground!!!