A bittersweet ending to an awesome hunting season! - Deer Hunting - Deer Hunting

With a pheasant hunting trip planned over the final weekend of rifle hunting season and mother nature willing ice fishing starting immediately after that the past weekend up in Malmo was most likely my last chance to close the deal for 2012.

After having an awesome season putting into practice experiences from the previous years and many new things that I’ve learned from all of you here on IDO, 2012 was a smashing success as I grew by leaps and bounds as a hunter. There is no doubt in my mind that my interactions here on IDO have helped me to grow and as a result I have gained more knowledge this year than in any season past. Thanks guys!

My year started way back in spring when I set up several mineral sites using Nutradeer. Although most of my locations turned out to be a somewhat of a disappointment, in that I only found mature bucks on one location, they helped me immensely to understand deer movements on our property. Unfortunatly a lot of what I learned is that the mature bucks are mostly living on the state land next to our farm

I was however, able to locate and begin to pattern 2 very nice bucks (both living on the state land) and ulitmately a good friend was able to take the #2 buck on the hit list on opening morning of rifle season. Unfortunately for me though, even with the entire week off prior to rifle season I wasn’t able to put an arrow in my #1 buck before gun season and even though I thought having my stand up on his scrape line over a half mile back from the nearest road would be deep enough when the sun came up on opening morning I looked around and could see blaze orange in 4 other trees around me. To top it off one guy had no idea I was there and ended up less than 30 yds away cutting off a perfect funnel between two swamps It was actually a bit humorous when he realized I was there and gave a little courtesy wave almost like “Sorry, my bad.” At least he seemed like a decent guy. After watching these guys take out anything that moved (doe, fawn, spike, and fork all went down) I quickly tucked my tail headed back onto our property hoping to catch a visitor moving into chase the does who hang out to take advantage of the over 100 acres of alfalfa.

I was able to pass on several 1.5 to 2.5 year old bucks and does over the rest of the weekend but with the rut starting to kick off I decided to head to our cabin property for weekend number 2 where we have a snowmobile trail cutting through the property and a stand set up that covers 300 yds in each direction.

In spite of the relentless 15-20 mph winds Friday and rain/drizzle all day Saturday I was able to make it from sun-up to sun-down both days. Combined I saw close to 30 deer and a couple younger bucks who were starting to chase, but with the rut approaching and especially the wind everything I saw was moving and most of them faster than a brisk walk so I knew that I was only going to get a few seconds at most to make a decision. Finally on Sunday morning I saw a large bodied deer sneak through the brush and slip into a group of evergreens a few hundred yards away… I had a good idea where he was going to pop out again and less than 10 minutes later I saw him emerge from the pines at a brisk walk coming across my shooting lane just over 200 yds out. As I pulled up I could tell immediately he was an 8 with decent height for our area but I wasn’t sure how wide he was… I decided to shoot, put the crosshairs on his vitals and pulled the trigger. At the crack of the gun he turned and ran towards me and as soon as I could get the scope back on him I realized immediately that he was one that I had passed earlier during archery season and my heart sank. Maybe spending 25 hours over 2 1/2 days made me a bit quick on the trigger, but after waiting a few minutes I went down and paced across the trail at a brisk walk and it was less than 5 seconds from the time he emerged to when he was gone so I’d guess I had less than 2 seconds once I had the scope up and on him. Am I a bit disappointed that my split second decision hadn’t gone the other way? A little, as I know if I had a chance to get a good look I would have let him walk, but as I found him at only 30 yds away I was also very happy to have made clean shot in a difficult situation as 200 yds with a deer on a brisk walk with perfect shot placement is something to hang my hat on. While the end game was not exactly what I had hoped for I was extremely happy with my 2012 hunting season as I no doubt finished the year as a much more knowledgable and better hunter!

And I’m already excited for next year!

Great deer Will, and congrats on spending so much time out there and being dedicated to it!

Tell you what, I’ve been on both sides of that deal, and would always prefer to be in your shoes. I kill few mature bucks where I hunt, and opportunities at them on a consistent basis are rare. I have “passed” on two or three deer in the same situation you mention. Not great looks at the rack, have to make the decision quickly, etc., only to find out soon thereafter with the deer out of range that they far surpass my standards for a “shooter.” You’re sick about it for a long time.

It’s a personal decision, and these are only my opinions, but I’d enjoy the meat, remember it’s only a deer, and get ready for ice fishing season!

Joel