I have several good bucks that have been hanging around our property most of the season, but I got excited about a new buck yesterday. After the hunt, I pulled a camera card from a camera at the intersection of 2 strip food plots, where there is a big scrape. At lunch time, I checked the card, and on that card was a picture of a real stud that showed up for the first time all year at 2:40 am on Thursday morning. This might be the biggest buck we have gotten on camera on this property. We are not in a big buck area of the state, and there is considerable hunting pressure in the area. Immediately, I knew this buck was at least a 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 year old buck.
The other bucks I've been chasing are 3 1/2, and I knew this guy was in a different class. I began thinking about saving my last tag for this bruiser. With a little more excitement than normal, I hit the woods for the afternoon hunt settling in a ground blind in some planted pines since it was so windy. About 4:30 came a text from genesis27:3, "Dad, who never hunts, hit this buck coming home last night (Friday) on Hwy 49 at 10 pm." Now, his Dad lives right next to him in Concord, almost an hour away from our hunting property. The general location he said that he hit it is 15-20 minutes away, so I didn't think much of it. I look at the picture and think, "Man that's a nice one!", but as I study the rack, sitting on the tailgate, my heart begins to sink a little. 5 on the right, 4 on the left. Wide. Some blading on the end of the beam. Good brows, and that one even has a little crook on the end just like.... Oh CRAP! I pull up the 2 photos and begin flipping back and forth, and sure enough, it's the same deer I had just viewed a picture of for the first time hours before. I asked him some more details about the exact location, and sent him the picture, and he confirmed that's the same deer. genesis27:3 had the rack in his possession, so I called him after the hunt and asked him if he would put a tape to it. His green score came up with 141" gross and 135" net, 19 5/8" inside.
This morning I'm still shaking my head. What are the odds? Of the thousands of people that drive Hwy 49 every day, and of all the hunters in the woods, and of all the deer roaming millions of acres, what are the odds that his Dad, who lives an hour away hits THIS buck and he sends me the picture within a day of me getting him on camera? That's the shortest-lived excitement over a buck on camera EVER. He said he had just told his Dad, "Some hunter has this buck on camera somewhere and is going to be disappointed." He had to call him back and say, "Hey Dad, you know when I said that some hunter probably has that deer on camera? Well, I found him!" I'm not sure the exact location of where he hit him, but it has to be about 1.5-2 miles from where I got the picture on our property a day and a half before. He wasn't living on our property, he just roamed through, just like he roamed across 49, but it still got me excited for a few hours. Now is the time to catch a bonus buck roaming - get out there if you can.
The other bucks I've been chasing are 3 1/2, and I knew this guy was in a different class. I began thinking about saving my last tag for this bruiser. With a little more excitement than normal, I hit the woods for the afternoon hunt settling in a ground blind in some planted pines since it was so windy. About 4:30 came a text from genesis27:3, "Dad, who never hunts, hit this buck coming home last night (Friday) on Hwy 49 at 10 pm." Now, his Dad lives right next to him in Concord, almost an hour away from our hunting property. The general location he said that he hit it is 15-20 minutes away, so I didn't think much of it. I look at the picture and think, "Man that's a nice one!", but as I study the rack, sitting on the tailgate, my heart begins to sink a little. 5 on the right, 4 on the left. Wide. Some blading on the end of the beam. Good brows, and that one even has a little crook on the end just like.... Oh CRAP! I pull up the 2 photos and begin flipping back and forth, and sure enough, it's the same deer I had just viewed a picture of for the first time hours before. I asked him some more details about the exact location, and sent him the picture, and he confirmed that's the same deer. genesis27:3 had the rack in his possession, so I called him after the hunt and asked him if he would put a tape to it. His green score came up with 141" gross and 135" net, 19 5/8" inside.
This morning I'm still shaking my head. What are the odds? Of the thousands of people that drive Hwy 49 every day, and of all the hunters in the woods, and of all the deer roaming millions of acres, what are the odds that his Dad, who lives an hour away hits THIS buck and he sends me the picture within a day of me getting him on camera? That's the shortest-lived excitement over a buck on camera EVER. He said he had just told his Dad, "Some hunter has this buck on camera somewhere and is going to be disappointed." He had to call him back and say, "Hey Dad, you know when I said that some hunter probably has that deer on camera? Well, I found him!" I'm not sure the exact location of where he hit him, but it has to be about 1.5-2 miles from where I got the picture on our property a day and a half before. He wasn't living on our property, he just roamed through, just like he roamed across 49, but it still got me excited for a few hours. Now is the time to catch a bonus buck roaming - get out there if you can.
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