This past Sunday was a sunny, yet chilly afternoon. I had hunted a bottom with a few fresh scrapes in the morning, and left to get lunch around 11:00. While eating I decided I was going to take my mobile setup into an area of I have never hunted on a property I've been hunting for more than 15 years now. At 1:00, I was getting my gear out of the car and headed out to look for a place to stop and set up along an old logging road. This logging road ended up being littered with over half a dozen scrapes in a 100 yard stretch, so I decided to set up at the end of this scrape line.
Now to give you an idea of this location, this logging road starts near a road just inside a property gate. The logging road takes a sharp turn up the side of a draw that comes off of a main ridge. I wanted to hunt this road to look into the draw and be able to see the other side of the draw. The spot I selected for a stand was where a ditch (almost like a draw on the side of the draw) ran off my side of the draw and connected to the logging road. I thought that deer would funnel out of that when entering the draw from my side. Something I would soon regret about my setup is that I set my sticks so I was facing the bottom of the draw and completely turned my back on the ditch that was now behind me. To add insult to injury, the ditch was on the weak side of my saddle setup. Nevertheless, I was settled in and ready to hunt by 1:45. As I was settling in, just like I do every time I hunt a new spot I got on the mapping system I use to mark this new setup. As I was doing this I heard a "CRACK" behind me. Close behind me. I waited until I heard the cause of this sound start to move again and I slowly turned around. Body and rack. WOW! 2:15 in the afternoon and a buck that was at least 3.5 years old with a beautiful 8-point rack that reached for the sun was standing broadside at 40 yards. The buck was looking right at me and the bridge of my saddle was blocking my pocket which was preventing me from sliding my phone back into my jacket. Keep in mind, if this buck gets across this logging road I won't have a shot unless he takes a 90 degree turn down the draw once he's below the road. The buck continued walking down the hill again. I got my phone into my pocket, and grabbed my bow. He stops again with only 15 yards to go until he's on the logging road. I can't get my bow over to the weak side of my saddle until he's moving and can't see me. He finishes his march down to the logging road, and during this time I'm able to get my bow over. I get a range, 36 yards. He gets to the edge of the logging road, one step from walking out of my life and stops as I draw. No sooner than I was able to steady my bow and begin to aim, he takes that step I was dreading, trotted down through the draw and up and over the other side right out of my life. Had I set up properly, and been focused instead of on my phone I would have punched my tag on November 3rd. Instead, here I am writing this on November 5th knowing that I won't be back in a tree until the 10th. That's a lot of time to sulk in the misery of a missed opportunity. The deer will be behaving much different the next chance I get to hunt, so I may not be able to hunt that deer in a similar fashion again this year, but wherever and however I hunt him I can promise I will be prepared. Good luck to everyone and I wish a happy and fun filled rut to all!
0 Comments
|
AuthorAaron Miller Archives
November 2019
Categories |