I ran a trail cam starting back in June. The second week I had it out I got a couple of pics of a buck who was starting a split G2 on his left side. I named him Splitty and he was a real camera hog. I got more photos of him that any other individual deer over the course of the summer.
I picked up a couple of landowner early mz tag last Friday during my lunch hour. Saturday morning found me sitting at our farm in the dark. I saw seven deer in the morning, but they were all extremely skittish and none offered a shot. I decided to relocate a ladder stand in the mid day lull. I thought it would be better placed about 200 yards north on the same fence. This new position placed the stand between a ten acre wetland and a standing corn field. There is more standing corn on the other side of the wetlands. With the stand moved, I went to watch my Hawkeyes lose to Indiana.
The evening hunt found me down at the creek bottom. I saw two deer at different times, but no shots were presented. It got really cold down in the bottom, with frost on the top of my vehicle. I almost left the Lone Wolf in the tree, but decided I'd hunt the ladder stand Sunday morning.
I got to the ladder stand at 6:30 am Sunday. Just getting situated, I heard a fish or a muskrat splash in the water. The loud splash startled a deer that was on a trail just 15 yards from me. I could barely make out the white tail as it whirled and ran away. I'm thinking great, not even shooting time and the deer get run off. It slowly starts getting light and with the added visibility I realize that I'm basically alone, no deer. I hear honking of geese in the distance, growing louder by the second. Five Canada geese come in, circle once, then splash down fifty yards from me on the wetlands. I'm thinking to myself that this is pretty cool. The geese paddle about, reaching for the bottom to feed, showing me their "white tails".
I'm scanning the distant soybean field that luckily was harvested last week. There is a big valley down the middle of this 75 acre field and I see a deer running down the far side. I crank the scope to 7X and take a quick peek. Yup, it's a buck. I loose sight of him as he hits the bottom of the valley. There is a waterway in the bottom and he can follow it north or south, he can head straight east which I have seen countless deer do, or he can follow the Y in the waterway up to the dam of the wetlands. I kept scanning every direction I thought he might go (that I could see) and it seemed like an eternity until he materilized on the far side of the wetlands. As he paused along the corn field on the other side of the wetlands, I put the cross hairs on him and squeezed the trigger. At the time, I did not know it was Splitty. I knew it wasn't the biggest buck I could encounter, but everything just felt right.
Kind of a bittersweet day, shooting a young buck a person has watched grow all summer. I'm happy how the events unfolded and I am really pumped to get back to bow hunting!!! When I got home, my son asked me if I got a deer. I told him I shot a buck. He asked which one. When I said Splitty, he groaned. When am I going to learn that once you name something, (whether a cow, pig, etc.) it becomes a pet.
I continued to hunt this week as I had three landowner antlerless tags to fill. Tuesday morning things were slow, so I decided to "make my luck" and take a stroll. Jumped a huge buck that was bedded next to a pond. He slowly trotted away with very little urgency. I'm going out today to hang a bow stand and if I don't find him during bow season, maybe he will show up during shotgun.
I picked up a couple of landowner early mz tag last Friday during my lunch hour. Saturday morning found me sitting at our farm in the dark. I saw seven deer in the morning, but they were all extremely skittish and none offered a shot. I decided to relocate a ladder stand in the mid day lull. I thought it would be better placed about 200 yards north on the same fence. This new position placed the stand between a ten acre wetland and a standing corn field. There is more standing corn on the other side of the wetlands. With the stand moved, I went to watch my Hawkeyes lose to Indiana.
The evening hunt found me down at the creek bottom. I saw two deer at different times, but no shots were presented. It got really cold down in the bottom, with frost on the top of my vehicle. I almost left the Lone Wolf in the tree, but decided I'd hunt the ladder stand Sunday morning.
I got to the ladder stand at 6:30 am Sunday. Just getting situated, I heard a fish or a muskrat splash in the water. The loud splash startled a deer that was on a trail just 15 yards from me. I could barely make out the white tail as it whirled and ran away. I'm thinking great, not even shooting time and the deer get run off. It slowly starts getting light and with the added visibility I realize that I'm basically alone, no deer. I hear honking of geese in the distance, growing louder by the second. Five Canada geese come in, circle once, then splash down fifty yards from me on the wetlands. I'm thinking to myself that this is pretty cool. The geese paddle about, reaching for the bottom to feed, showing me their "white tails".
I'm scanning the distant soybean field that luckily was harvested last week. There is a big valley down the middle of this 75 acre field and I see a deer running down the far side. I crank the scope to 7X and take a quick peek. Yup, it's a buck. I loose sight of him as he hits the bottom of the valley. There is a waterway in the bottom and he can follow it north or south, he can head straight east which I have seen countless deer do, or he can follow the Y in the waterway up to the dam of the wetlands. I kept scanning every direction I thought he might go (that I could see) and it seemed like an eternity until he materilized on the far side of the wetlands. As he paused along the corn field on the other side of the wetlands, I put the cross hairs on him and squeezed the trigger. At the time, I did not know it was Splitty. I knew it wasn't the biggest buck I could encounter, but everything just felt right.
Kind of a bittersweet day, shooting a young buck a person has watched grow all summer. I'm happy how the events unfolded and I am really pumped to get back to bow hunting!!! When I got home, my son asked me if I got a deer. I told him I shot a buck. He asked which one. When I said Splitty, he groaned. When am I going to learn that once you name something, (whether a cow, pig, etc.) it becomes a pet.
I continued to hunt this week as I had three landowner antlerless tags to fill. Tuesday morning things were slow, so I decided to "make my luck" and take a stroll. Jumped a huge buck that was bedded next to a pond. He slowly trotted away with very little urgency. I'm going out today to hang a bow stand and if I don't find him during bow season, maybe he will show up during shotgun.
