On the morning of Nov. 12, I walked in at daybreak. I hunt a 40-acre parcel of land that is connected to the pasture area of my cousin’s farm; it’s about 17 acres of field and the rest is made up of mostly pines with a few deep oak/hardwood ravines. There are two reasons why I walk in as it is getting light; the first is there are 40+ head of cattle (including bulls and one buffalo) that pasture in the first section I must travel to get to the 40 acres I hunt. The cattle do not much care for someone dressed in camo walking through their territory, especially when they have calves with them. So, I like to see and know where they are at all times. The second reason is when I first enter the 40-acre piece, it’s an agricultural field and because I’m walking in, I’m blowing deer off the field rather than simply bumping them had I been on an ATV.

 

My hope was to be on stand by 7 a.m. with the intention of sitting all day. My stand is a Stump 4 Banks blind which is elevated. I had planted a Honey Hole Antler King food plot, which was about an acre in size. This was my first attempt at a food plot. I have several (43) Browning trail cameras throughout the property, so I have a pretty good idea of what is cruising through the area.

 

 

I saw several deer that morning and a few midday but nothing that I was “looking” for based on what bucks I had on camera. At about 3:40 p.m., I looked left and saw legs of a deer walking through the pines from the north heading south. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be good antlers as it walked through the pines. I put the binos down and grabbed my grunt call and sent out a quick burrrrap. He stopped instantly. I followed it up by giving two more, and I watched as he turned and started coming, but he was circling downwind. I got my crossbow ready as I tried to anticipate where he was going to come out of the woods. He walked out almost directly across the plot from me and was looking for the other deer. He started to angle away and head back toward the pines. I settled the crosshairs and shot. Everything happened so fast and the bolt hit something so loud that I knew I must’ve hit a big pine tree. He ran off unfazed. I was bummed, but it was super exciting. On the plus side, I still had over an hour to hunt. I did not even get down and go look, that’s how sure I was that I missed, and I didn’t want to disturb the last hour of hunting. Who knows maybe he will come back, right?

 

I saw a few yearling does and a small buck to conclude the evening. I climbed down and walked over to see if I could find the bolt. I did not find the bolt, but I found some hair laying on the snow. I followed the tracks for maybe 10 yards and there was no blood and light was fading quickly, especially in the pines. I walked home replaying the events in my head and thinking about a lot of things. There was not a lot of hair and zero blood. I would come back in the morning and look for my bolt and check my trail cameras as long as I was going to be on the property.

 

The next day I walked to the spot of the hair, and I looked for the bolt to be sticking into a pine tree. I thought at least maybe some fresh damage where it glanced off, but nothing. I have no idea where this bolt went. I started following the tracks where the buck had ran. The section of pines is about 15 or so yards wide before it opens up into a deep oak ravine. The tracks went down the main trail into the ravine. When I started down the trail, I saw what appeared to be a faint misting of red in the snow; the sunshine definitely helped me see it. I crouched down and sure enough it was blood! I continued on the track and larger drops of blood were more easily identified. As I started up the other side of the ravine, I saw where he had stopped, presumably to look back. There was a small puddle of blood. It then broke off the main trail and headed toward this downfall. I walked the 10 yards or so to get around the downfall and there he lay! He had slid down the ravine hill, but a tree prevented him from sliding all the way down into the bottom. (Thankfully!)

 

 

As I stood there and looked back, I could see my stand through an opening in the pines. There were two beds with blood in them where he had been laying watching his back trail before expiring. I have no doubt he saw me walk to the edge of the pines the night before looking for the bolt.

 

I remember looking up to the sky and thinking THANK YOU. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but you need to do your part as well. You need to be prepared out there. As I reflect on this hunt, there are a few things that stick out:

I know some people would say I got lucky and perhaps I did … but I was prepared and that matters.

 

 

I took several photos and I called in some assistance to get the buck out of the woods and back home. Speaking of photos, (you can never take enough in my opinion) I checked my trail camera cards of the ones I had pulled prior to finding the buck. It became a fantastic piece of the hunt. I had the buck on camera basically following my tracks in that morning 15–20 minutes after I had walked in. I had him visit a scrape near the north property line. I had him crossing back into the 40 acres from the west after bedding down during the snow we received that day. You can see the snow resting in his antlers. He is about 80 yards from my stand when he crossed that fence line to go up the hill into the pines where I first saw him. I have another pic as he enters the food plot across from my stand as I am getting ready to shoot. 

 

 

 

I’ve been blessed to shoot several nice deer. There will be 13 shoulder mounts in my home when he returns from the taxidermist. They all have their own unique story and all are very special to me. There are no so called “giants” or “Booners.” The biggest one would score 135, but I don’t hunt for score. Sure, I want to shoot a nice buck, but quite honestly the unwritten rule of the farm is “if you shoot a buck you must intend to mount it.” I hunt for a lifetime of memories that are priceless and the venison it provides my family.