Early Season Buck Down

This past Sunday (Oct 20) I headed up with my dad to my grandparents farm for a day of bowhunting. I spend a lot of time up there in the summer and was able to watch a lot of velvet bucks in the soybeans throughout the summer and narrow in on some targets for this year.

So Sunday morning we arrive at the farm, get our stuff ready to go and head to our spots. I am approaching my stand about 45 min before dark very slowly and quietly. I get to the base of my stand which overlooks a 1/4 food plot and hear a deer blow and bound into the bush. Before I can even get all the way up the stand the deer is back in the plot. At this point it is dark and I can make out the deer but that is all. I took probably 10 minutes to slowly get my gear ready, sit down, and pull my bino's out. The deer starts to eat again and relax. After pulling the bino's up I can make out antlers and based on my location, observations, and previous trail cam pics I have a good idea which buck it is.

At this point it is still too dark to see any details unless I have my binoculars on him, despite him only being 30 yards away. So begins the wait until legal light in hopes that he sticks around. Finally it gets light enough and I am able to firstly confirm which buck it is and then put the range finder on him to confirm he is 28 yards away. Because I had already watched him for quite awhile I was able to stay calm and put a great shot on him. The arrow went through both lungs and he made it less than 40 yards (albeit out of sight) and I heard a big crash.

I sat until the sun was fully over the trees then climbed down to have a look. I had a great blood trail to follow and walked up on this nice early season 8 pointer right away. He weighed in at 185 lbs. It is definitely nice to get one in the freezer this early. I will continue to do some party hunting the rest of the season and hopefully get out for some waterfowl hunts as well.

Lessons Taken Away from this hunt:
- I really think my slow, quiet approach in the dark helped a lot (it was a very calm morning). The buck did notice something as I approached my stand but I think if I had of strolled right in, or if it was already grey light, he wouldn't have came back out.
- This was also my first hunt of the year in this stand. I waited for the right conditions to hunt it and it paid off. Coincidentally, my brother shot a nice 8 pointer from this stand on its first sit of the year just last year as well. I also have tried to scale back the frequency of checking cameras the last couple years in an effort to minimize ground scent in the areas I want to hunt.
- Just last week I mentioned to my wife that the freezer was getting pretty empty so she said well you better get one soon. A little lady luck and encouragement always helps.

I wish everyone luck the rest of the season. It should only be getting better over the next month or so.Attachment 39100Attachment 39099Attachment 39101Attachment 39103Attachment 39102

nice looking buck congrats

Great buck and story....thanks for sharing

It's nice to hear and see that you were able to sit and stay calm until legal light. I know myself and most likely the majority of us wouldn't be able too . Even after some 40 years of bow hunting my heart starts to pound when in a stand and see a deer or bear come within shooting range.

Congrats on a nice deer and for sharing the story and the photos with us...

Nice story and deer congrats

Nice deer .
My first (and only) sit this year I was almost to my stand for an evening hunt and there were 3 does staring at me.. they stared for about 45 seconds before one sounded the horn. I still climbed up for a sit, but they never returned.

Nice buck! Congrats!

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Nice buck and a great story. Thanks for sharing

Very nice !! Your slow approach is exactly what you needed to do. Deer hear you coming, so walk like a deer. Unless they see you or wind you, they have no idea what you are. I walk slowly, and stop often. I’ve had deer literally follow me to my stand!
Great job !! Now you can fill your Dads tag !! Lol

Congrats, well done. Great buck and story. And thanks for sharing

Nice looking deer, great story too
Congrats on the success

Awesome story. Great shot on a nice Deer. We have lots of debates about going in before legal or after, for Deer, Bear and Moose, I try to be in stand an hour before legal. I just love listening to the bush waking up. Like Rick says if everything is right you can sneak in and get set up quietly. I agree that a lot of people contaminated their spot scouting and checking cams before the hunt even starts. Great observations. My wife keeps reminding me freezer is empty. HaHa

good lessons to take away too. especially the last one. when the wife mentions and empty freezer, you do something about it!

great job, congrats

Good job. Congrats on the successful hunt.

Great write-up. Good job staying calm. Not an easy thing to do. Nice buck!

Well done. It sounds like you did everything perfectly. I completely agree about the importance of going in extra early.

nicely done!

WTG nice buck for sure

Nice shooting, and nice buck

Good job !