Well tomorrow is my last day of late archery. I have family obligations on Saturday, so no hunting
. I helped my dad fill his disability tag. Will post that story later. Have my buck tag and second deer tag. Hoping for a double. Wish me luck.
Well I guess it's later and time to post a story and a few pics.
Sorry for such a long wait.
My season starts usually in aug when I start getting my stands ready for late archery.. This year was a little different. Work and many other things( my daughters Utah elk hunt for one) kept me more occupied than normal. Needles to say it was almost time to hunt and I had not yet even thrown one apple or a little corn to see what kind of bucks I could find.
Hurrying up and cramming I was able to locate a few decent bucks and started getting excited. I soon got a pic of a buck I named the unicorn because it appeared he had an antler growing right out of the middle of his forehead. He was a cool buck and my initial thought as he was a young buck. After several more pics I decided he was mature and needed some consideration. Late rifle season and the rut caused him to leave his core area for 3 weeks.
. I thought he was dead and started looking for plans B, C, D, etc. My season started and I was having a horrible year . Very few good buck sightings and I couldn't beat the wind to save my life. Every day I was getting scented.( Many may say that is my fault. Well my stands are 35-40' up and everything I wear is scent lock and all showers are scent free etc. nothing worked). Weather inversions were terrible and winds would shift from the east to south west in an hours time.
I decide to give it a break and go pull trail cam sd cards. Low and behold the unicorn buck showed up the day before and came in during daylight
. He was 1.5 miles from where I expected him. If I have learned one thing in this whitetail hunting, is if a big buck shows up during daylight , hunt that stand the very next day. ( now you all know one of my secrets.
) . If you don't you almost always lose your window of opportunity.
My plans changed. I called my dad and said to get up here! I was his disabled companion and his designated shooter. Once things were set I climbed up the stand and waited . Sure enough here he came with a nice 4x4 in tow. That day I saw 8 bucks from he stand! He cautiously came in and soon offered a 12 yard shot, Almost straight down. I shot and got one lung and heart! He went 40 yards and tipped over
!
He was bigger than expected. And upon further inspection he had damaged his pedicel and that is why he grew a 7" spike . He was 18" inside spread and a clean 5x5 with the 7" unicorn. Haven't scored him but I am sure he will go around 140 or so. I and my dAd were thrilled. He loves to hunt but couldn't this year because of health, but he was thrilled to have the venison. After further investigation of old trail cam photos, I have photos of him from two previous years. Without having a tooth analyzed, we believe him to be 5 1/2.
I hunted hard for my buck and once again my bad luck came creeping back. Soon it was down to my last day to hunt. I still had my doe tag and buck tag. I was determined to at least get my doe. I went south to my Spokane location and soon had a big dry doe down. I was happy but still had a little over three hours to hunt. I sped to my other stand and crawled in at2:30 and had a doe come in, in 10 min. Good sign! A little after 4 deer started funneling in and soon this 4x4 I had passed on earlier begged for my arrow. I probably should have let him walk but he will be great in my annual sausage marathon. ( I usually make 300# of sausage so I needed more venison
) 28 yard shot and a 45 yard tracking job and my season was over.
I love to hunt and love to share it with my kids and friends. Thanks for your time and I hope you all have success next year and have a wonderful Christmas and NewYear!
P.S. photos of doe and 4x were taken next day. My wife says I need to smile more.
