Steve Puckett

The highs and lows of Whitetail Hunting

My 2008 whitetail season started out a little less exciting than I had planned. I took a pass on my 600 acre lease in the western part of the state because I was planning to go on a Colorado Muzzleloader Elk hunt this fall but didn't get drawn. With fuel nearing $4 per gallon it would have been hard to commit to the 6 hour round trip anyhow. But with my hunting buddy's sending me trail cam pics of this seasons bucks I was beginning to regret my decision. With that all said I planned on making the most of my 2008 season here on my small acreage.

My plan shifted to spending more time in the field to make up for my lack of area to hunt. I know my small 29 acre farm holds a lot of doe and the genetics in the area have a lot of potential. Much of the ground surrounding my small tract gets hunted hard once rifle season starts so I had hoped to get my opportunity with my bow before the pressure starts. I decided to do a few things differently this season. For starters we had another exceptionally dry year so I never got my food plots planted, and they hay fields I replanted in the early spring didn't fair well either. I let about 3-4 acres grow up in saplings and undergrowth and strip mowed it to leave some cover. I have about 15-17 acres of woods that I left of limits since early spring. I made a point to avoid this area at all cost, it's very thick with undergrowth and I have several doe that I believe stay in this small woods. I do run a corn feeder near my back yard for wildlife viewing but I don't hunt the feeder, I like to think it keeps the core doe in the area (be sure to check your local regulations before running a feeder).

Now it was time to hang stands. I used 2 of my stand locations from the previous year and hung one other stand and added a ground blind to my setup. I felt like I could hunt every wind condition if necessary, and had my climbing stand for another option. The toughest decision was to avoid hanging stands in my core bedding area; instead I tried to hang stands in travel routes on field edges. This is a change of mindset to how I've been hunting the past few years. I think this is key to hunting a small area. I'm trying to make every acre count!

Early on in our hot September archery season I focused on the south end of my farm that had a generous supply of white oak acorns that the deer were hitting hard. I spent most of this time just enjoying being able to spend time on stand often. My trail cams were showing a lot of doe activity and 5 yearling spikes that were frequenting my area. By mid October some of the 2 ½ year olds started making appearances. I hope they get to make it until next season, they will be much tougher to pass as 3 ½ year olds.

My plan was to start taking more leave from work as the pre-rut approached. By the last week of October I noticed increased deer activity on my cams and some new bucks making appearances, still no mature bucks appearing. While I was still very excited about hunting I am also getting downhearted that I didn't have one single picture of a mature buck. One thing we all can learn from this, while trail cams can provide a good estimate of the deer on your property they aren't a foolproof inventory.

I stayed out of the stand Halloween night to change gears and hunt for some candy with my children, but the next morning the hunt was back on.

Starting November first it was time to hit the horns and do some grunting. I had tried around a week before and didn't get much response; the next phase was definitely here. I had a couple young bucks come in running to check things out after the first sequence and a 2 ½ year old 8 pointer that I had been getting pics of during the second sequence. The remainder of that day was pretty quiet with the exception of the regular doe appearances.

Now here's where things get interesting November second was a nice cool morning. About thirty minutes after daybreak I hit my first rattling sequence and had two young forkhorn spikes run in and feed around for about 20 minutes before moving on. I waited about ten minutes before hitting my second sequence, this round I tried to be as loud as possible on the horns and the grunt call and finished off with a very aggressive grunt. I had my back to the field but turned around and there stood a beast of a buck at thirty yards. I could see steam rolling out of his nose from his run in to my location. I could tell immediately he was a shooter and began to loose my head! I turned around slowly with my bow and began to size him up. I could see his G3 stuck straight out on the right side and counted seven points on that side. I guessed him on the hoof to score in the mid 150's, by far the biggest buck I've seen on stand in thirty years of hunting. This buck was standing broadside with his vitals protected by one of the limbs in my tree that I had been using for cover. I used this opportunity to calm my nerves.

I have to admit my knees were shaking uncontrollably at this point and I could see the limbs of my bow shaking as well. I started repetitive breathing and going over my shooting routine that I always use during practice. I did get fairly calmed down except for my knee's shaking a bit. I watched this deer for around 45 minutes at thirty yards and closer waiting for the perfect opportunity. He was very aware of his surroundings and looked around every time he heard a noise off in the distance at my neighbors farm ½ mile away. He finally started working away from the limbs that were blocking my shot and stopped quartering to me at 15 yards! I was hoping that he would look back toward my neighbors atv that was running. When he started walking he walked directly toward my tree. As he went under my stand I took baby steps around praying my lock on didn't squeak! I could look down through the slats on my stand and could see this impressive deer. I waited to draw at this point and he stopped about 5-7 yards from the base of my tree slightly quartering away. I was at full draw looking at my bow limbs to make sure they wouldn't hit my seat if I released, once that looked clear I leaned into my kisser button and squinted through my peep and my first pin was right on his ribcage. I aimed a little further back because of his angle and hit my release all in one motion.

As I saw the arrow hit and he gave a high kick I saw that I didn't get a pass through but as he ran past I couldn't help but celebrate at this fatal blow. Everything had come together, thirty-five years of the outdoors all into this one moment. I hung up my bow and sat down for it all to sink in.

I felt very confident in the shot and the placement. I called my neighbors that were on their way to work and told them I had just killed a large but and they quickly headed back. I sent several of my buddy's a text that said "I just smoked a monster!", they were all going crazy with anticipation. I got down out of the stand and headed to the house to get out of my ScentLok and get the posse together. I called my dad and told him the news. This was really the opportunity I've been waiting years for.

We waited an hour before returning to the stand location to find my buck. By this time it was around 9:30 and the search began. We didn't pick up any blood initially, however the leaves were kicked up and thrashed for about 70 yards and then we found the arrow. One of the blades on the broad head was bent and it looked like I had 11 inches of blood depth so I still felt pretty confident in the shot. The blood trail began at the arrow and ended very quickly 20 yards away. We decided to go back to the house and regroup and try to call in a bloodhound to trail (again check your states regulations before using dogs). We didn't have any luck finding a tracking dog so I called in some reinforcements and we all began to comb the woods. Seven of us searched from 9:30 am until dark without breaking after that. We covered a lot of ground that day. By this point I'm at the lowest of lows.

For the next 3 days I searched more than I can tell you in words. I double and triple checked areas. Every time I saw a buzzard I would search the area for this deer. It really hurts my pride to think I didn't finish something I started or that this deer was wasting away in the woods. I couldn't figure out just what I did wrong. I kept playing it over and over in my head but felt like I did everything right. I didn't hunt any more until 6 days after the shot. I moved trail cams into the area just in case he was still alive but we all agreed this deer had to be dead.

Remembering back I shot this deer on November 2nd and gun season opened on November 8th. I saw a couple 2 ½ year olds on opening day of gun season but nothing that compared. On November 3rd at 8:00 am my phone rang and it was one of my neighbors that had been helping me search for my deer a week earlier. He said to me "Steve I've just shot your buck", he knew as soon as he saw the right side G3 that it was the deer I had described. He checked the deer's right side and saw the fresh would from my broad head. I just asked him if I had good placement on my shot and he told me it was perfect. He told me to go on and hunt and come check the deer out later in the day but I couldn't stand it after about 30 minutes and had to lay hands on this buck.

He was a beast, a true monster. This was a deer of a lifetime for me and it goes to show that you never know what could step out of the woods at any given time. I have to think that I must be doing something right on my little 29 acre farm for a buck like this to grace my presence. I have to say that I'm proud to think if I couldn't harvest this deer that I'm glad my neighbor did.

This buck GROSS SCORED 180 5/8 NET SCORED 177 4/8

Written by Steve Puckett