bowhunterfanatic
Well-Known Member
Started out Monday morning before work. I had seen 9 or 10 different bucks before 8 when I absolutely had no choice but to get down and head to work. The best of the bunch was a 3.5 yo 8 point that absolutely put on a show guarding a doe, he just wasn't quite what I was looking for. Went back Monday evening and saw the same 8 point plus a couple other small bucks. About 4:30 I decided to slip out of the overgrown pasture I was in to go shoot a doe. Snuck back to the truck and eased up the road a ways and snuck to a field edge that I knew should have deee in it. It ended up being loaded with deer and to my surprise there was what appeared to be a very mature 4 or 6 point in the field. I did everything in my power to kill him but as fate would have it about the time I went to click the safety off he ran across the field chasing a doe and I never was able to get close enough for a shot after that. Tuesday morning I saw the pretty 8 point again still guarding what I assumed to be the same doe. Friday afternoon one of my best friends and a buddy of his came and joined me for a meat mission. We actually didn't see much rut activity but we did kill 7 deer that evening between the 3 of us. The friend of a friend hadn't been able to hunt anything but public land the last two years so he was thrilled to actually get to see a pile of deer and pull the trigger a few times. Saturday morning started a touch slow. I saw one big group of does together and started thinking maybe the rut was finally tailing off, but it didn't take long for my mind to change. I saw this deer
At roughly 350 yards pestering some does. At one point he started working my way up the edge of the pasture but he must've ended up finding a doe up in the small patch of timber he was on edge of because I never saw him again. Not long after him disappearing I turned around behind me and noticed 4 does had come up out of a creek into an open bean field about 700-800 yards from me. I noticed one of them looking behind her but after a few minutes they just went to feeding. I watched them for a minute then went back to focusing on the pasture. I turned around maybe 5 minutes later and the does were working across the field my way. I also noticed a 5th deer had come up out of the creek and was following them from a distance. I got him in the binos and instantly thought it was a deer I might shoot. I got down out of the tripod and snuck my way down to the edge of the bean field the deer were in. I looked the buck over good and decided he was a rut roamer that we had 0 pictures of and that I'd shoot him given the chance. He slowly worked across the field and I shot him at roughly 170 yards. I knew he was a little smaller than the buck in the trail cam picture but I was tickled with him. He capped off the best week of rut activity I've personally ever witnessed.
Hopefully this afternoon I can finish up my season with a sure enough wall hanger!
At roughly 350 yards pestering some does. At one point he started working my way up the edge of the pasture but he must've ended up finding a doe up in the small patch of timber he was on edge of because I never saw him again. Not long after him disappearing I turned around behind me and noticed 4 does had come up out of a creek into an open bean field about 700-800 yards from me. I noticed one of them looking behind her but after a few minutes they just went to feeding. I watched them for a minute then went back to focusing on the pasture. I turned around maybe 5 minutes later and the does were working across the field my way. I also noticed a 5th deer had come up out of the creek and was following them from a distance. I got him in the binos and instantly thought it was a deer I might shoot. I got down out of the tripod and snuck my way down to the edge of the bean field the deer were in. I looked the buck over good and decided he was a rut roamer that we had 0 pictures of and that I'd shoot him given the chance. He slowly worked across the field and I shot him at roughly 170 yards. I knew he was a little smaller than the buck in the trail cam picture but I was tickled with him. He capped off the best week of rut activity I've personally ever witnessed.
Hopefully this afternoon I can finish up my season with a sure enough wall hanger!
