Whitetail Quest (Picture Heavy)

[Sitkaspruce]

I grew up deer hunting on the island back in the 80’s andearly 90’s with trips to the Gang ranch and Princeton every year to hunt Muleybucks. When I moved the Fort St. Jamesand shot my first moose, deer hunting became a back seat to moose and elk. After all there was very few deer around “The Fort” back then, but some nice winters and very few preds allowed the smallpockets of deer to rebound to a huntable population. In 2001, I shot my last whitetail, a nice 5x7 buck that scored 155. After that, a couple mule deer and blacktails were the only deer I shot.

When we moved to the Peace, all I could think about was my loss of the ocean, the salmon and bottom fishing and chasing the grey ghosts that call the wet coast home. Not much thought went into what the Peace would offer. After a month or so at work, I discovered my co-worker was a deer hunting freak and he talked about the ins and outs of hunting deer in the Peace. He soon had me in game cameras and salt licks; I did my homework on finding crown land and put the boots to the groundon the best locations for seeing game. Over the summer I recorded lots of different animals, including some big elk and a few deer, but not the “Holy Sh*t” bucks I was looking for. My goal for this year was take a decent mature buck, something 4 years or older and learn as much as I could abouthunting these deer.

Sept rolls around and chasing elk takes up my days off (lots to learn hunting these guys!!), Oct results in a good bull moose for my buddy and sees me moving a few cams and taking time off for things to do around the house. Nov rolls around, it’s time....problem is all I am getting is small bucks or young bucks, nothing was showing up that was getting me excited. I had 3 spots set up; The Well Site, The Brush and The Elk Spot, depending on the wind and only one was getting any buck action. Then, like a switch went off, the bucks came out of the wood work.

The Well Site
This site is located just off an active well site, with a mix of brush and conifers. I have over 5000 pictures from this place all summer, with a total of 2 bucks showing up, both mule deer. Lots of elk, WT does and fawns but no WT bucks. The last week of Oct, I moved the cam to a more open area and waited a week to check it out, lots of WT does, but no bucks, but a buck had to show up as those does were a big attraction, waited another week and when I got home to check the card, this guy had shown up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0186_zps90236d50.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0186_zps90236d50.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT1256_zpsfeed77b5.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT1256_zpsfeed77b5.jpg.html)
We named him Crackhead due to his addiction to grain, day or night. He was a regular at the site, along with all those does, so we set up a ground blind and gave it a week to settle down.

Nov 22
My buddy, who has helped me get back into this crazy fun, gets to hunt this blind first. He has his own set ups as well, but there has been no big bucks showing up at his spots, so I offered him first dib’s at Crackhead. At 930, as he looked up, he could see the top of the back of a deer as it approached the site. When it stepped into the open, he could see antlers and most of the deer’s chest, one shot and Crackhead, a great 5x5 buck, was down. He phoned to tell me he had Crackhead; I dropped my chores and rushed over to snap a couple pictures. It was another good buck for him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck1_zps03e129bb.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck1_zps03e129bb.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck2_zps4967f7c2.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck2_zps4967f7c2.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck3_zps52f2288d.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/Corsbuck3_zps52f2288d.jpg.html)


Con't

Cheers

SS

[Sitkaspruce]

The Bush
This is the longest spot away from any road, over a klick away through the bush, but this area gets lots of truck traffic and I did not want anything disappearing. I had tons of picts of moose, elk and deer during the summer from this area, but I had made a rookie mistake and placed my camera and lick in a great place to take pictures, but was too thick to place a blind or even a tree stand, so I moved the set up to a better hunting location. First week showed one cow elk, one WT doe and a small fork buck, left it for another week thinking there is deer here, the old rubs show that there is buck activity in the area and my summer/fall picts showed a couple nice bucks. Had a day off, went and pulled the card, checked in the truck and got very excited. Finally these guys showed up.

The buck with the decent 5 on one side and the short 4 on the other we named Clubfoot, as he has a damaged left back leg and this has affected his right side antler. I hope he survives as he might turn into a nice NT in a couple years.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000994_zps4cd27b55.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000994_zps4cd27b55.jpg.html)
The clean 5x5 we named Junior as he is a young buck with great potential, in a couple years he could be a keeper.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000347_zps36f65d60.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000347_zps36f65d60.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000937_zps4b9b3cd3.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000937_zps4b9b3cd3.jpg.html)
The guy I was after we named skyhigh, for the simple reason his antlers reach for the sky. He is a big 4x4 with a small sticker off his right G2. He was coming in during the daytime and at night, was actively chasing does and was, as far as I could tell, the big guy on the block.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK001342_zpsd77c0c97.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK001342_zpsd77c0c97.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000738_zps722dd475.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK000738_zps722dd475.jpg.html)
After seeing these guys, I grabbed the blind and walked back into the area. Set it up at approx. 30yards from the camera as I was determined to take a deer with a bow, brushed it in as best I could and left the area. I showed the deer to my buddy that night and he got very excited; I thought this deer was a good one, but not that good (still learning how to field judge WT Bucks…). He said that is a great 4x4 buck and I needed to kill him.

Con't

Cheers

SS

[Sitkaspruce]

Nov 09
So the next morning,I snuck into the blind for my first day of just sitting, which will be anexperiment in itself. I made it to lunchwithout so much a bird showing up, I was determined to sit the rest of the day, but man is it hard, especially for a guy who is naturally fidgety and loves to walk the timber. I buried myself in a book and waited and waited. At 430, I looked up and I could see antlers coming down the cut line; heart stops…then starts beating way to fast….it’s Skyhigh. I slowdown (at least I think I do), grab my bow and get ready. At 40 yards, in all his glory, he stops and stares at me….and stares. Can he hear my heart…I am all in black to blend inwith the inside of the blind, he cannot possibly see me….what’s he doing?, should I burp grunt at him or doe bleat…..? He then lifts his noses and tries to get my scent but to no avail. He then turns and steps into a clump of brush, showing me his head on one side and most of his vitals on the other, but I dare not move and besides, he is outside my comfort range with the bow, so I wait. After a couple minutes, he turns and trots away…..and I watch him as he stops at 70 yards and stares back at me. Mixed emotions run through me, my thoughts go from stupid bow, should have had my gun to that’s awesome to see abuck of that statute so close and in the wild to what did I do wrong. I sit until just before dark, but I am burned out so I climb out and walk to where he was standing and look back. Now I see another rookie mistake, the blind really sticks out, even though it is in the brush and trees and LOOKS hidden. Obviously the buck saw the blind and knew something was up, it was out of place in the area. Lesson learned the hard way…set it up way before you hunt out of it, let them get used to it. Skyhigh never showed himself again during the day.

Nov 16-17
Sat for 2 days, leaving the blind only to check the camera at The Well Site, which allowed Clubfoot and Junior to sneak in and sample the snacks, as seen on the camera when checked on Sunday night. Another lesson learned, sit ALL day.

View from the blind

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0708_zpsc5306fc8.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0708_zpsc5306fc8.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0710_zpsd270bef9.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0710_zpsd270bef9.jpg.html)

Saw a total of 2 deer for both days; a doe and fawn who would come in and hang around. No bucks showed up. However, this guy did…on camera

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK002196_zps90d19e23.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK002196_zps90d19e23.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK002199_zps99f72f66.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK002199_zps99f72f66.jpg.html)
He is a nice 4x6, and although he has a great frame, we both think he is a younger deer, possibly only a 3-4 yo. New target, so a good reason to head back to the blind.

Con't

Cheers

SS

[Sitkaspruce]

Nov 23
It was cold, -30 with the wind and lots of snow for most of the week. Today was -1, light wind and cloudy skies, a good day to sit and watch the trees. At 745, I hiked in and as the blind was covered in snow, swept it off, zipped open the door and crawled inside. Set up the chair, got my stuff out of the pack and made myself comfortable. I looked at my watch, it was 820, looked outside to see a deer moving slowly through the trees towards the blind. Even in the early morning light I could see antlers, but they were hard to make against the aspen and brush as he moved through them. At the edge of the cutline he stopped and looked away from me. Now anybody who knows, when a buck or bull looks away, their antlers always look more impressive and this was the case. I could see some decent tines and the buck looked mature. He then swung his head my way and looked right at me…or so it seemed. I saw some good tines and a really decent spread, looked like a mature buck to me. He crossed the cutline and I dropped the hammer on him (yup brought the gun this time as this would be my last kick at the cat, hockey all next weekend). At the shot he disappeared, I was looking at where he was standing when I caught a quick blur out of the corner of my eye. I looked at that location and saw nothing, then saw a couple birds in the area. I waited 5 min, walked up to where he was standing and looked and looked for any sign of a hit. No hair or blood and a ton of tracks and trails. Picked a trail and followed it for 70 yards, nothing, went back and picked another one, same thing, went backand thought WTF?? Did I miss him….been known to happen to the best of us. I followed a third trail and as I was walking along I glanced over and saw the blind….ding ding ding, maybe the blur I saw was not birds and actually him, at 60 yards I saw what I thought was a tine sticking up, looked through the binos and could see a few tines….walked up and this what I saw

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0721_zpsedb28029.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0721_zpsedb28029.jpg.html)
He is a good looking 4x5 buck with a 21” spread and 22 inchmain beams; and a new buck to the area. When I called my buddy, he asked if I had the 4x4 or 4x6 down and when I told him I shot a 4x5, he was sure I had killed a small buck that had been seen a couple times in the area. Nope, it is a new one with good main beam and spread and we have not seen him before.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0736_zps9989df60.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0736_zps9989df60.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0728_zps2a28f429.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0728_zps2a28f429.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0738_zps3bdf4b15.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/Hunt%20and%20fish%202013/IMGP0738_zps3bdf4b15.jpg.html)
That night, after getting him hung up, I sat down to review the pulled cars and saw my buck show up that week and chase the doe around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK005230_zpsfb7fb0dc.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sitkaspruce/media/2013%20Game%20Camera/EK005230_zpsfb7fb0dc.jpg.html)
We had a meat cutting day on Wed as the guys I hunt with all killed deer last week. We ended up witha 7x5, 5x5, 5x4, 4x4 and 5x3 for bucks. Took us a few hours; between the drinks and crib games we managed to get them cut up. My buck ended up yielding 80 lbs on meat and was aged at 4 years old.

Con't

Cheers

SS

[patbrennan]

Nice bucks, and great writing.

[Sitkaspruce]

I only sat in The Elk Spot one day as all I was getting there was a decent 5x5 and PITA 4x4 muley who would sleep on the grain all night, filling half my card with video of him sleeping. I would have taken him with a bow if he had been a day time buck, but he never showed his face during the day time. After sitting, I pulled the card and took it home, expecting to see the same two bucks plus some does fill up the cards. Of course, when I pulled the card, these 2 had now shown up....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/th_PICT0262_zps3af76f4f.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0262_zps3af76f4f.mp4)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/th_PICT0261_zpsd70d359b.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0261_zpsd70d359b.mp4)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/th_PICT0162_zpsd9ea8d27.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0162_zpsd9ea8d27.mp4)


Two bucks for next year, although Fat A$$ would have gone down if I had seen him. He will be ont he hit parade next year if he does not become wolf scat. Droptines will be good in a couple years, hopefully with lots of junk.

Here is the Muley

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/th_PICT0074_zps9dd89f35.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/2013%20Game%20Camera/PICT0074_zps9dd89f35.mp4)

The cams will stay out until Christmas to see what shows up after the season.

It has been a blast this year, learning a whole new way of hunting a deer that I never really concentrated on before.

A great thanks goes out to my buddy, who took a rookie wt deer hunter and showed him the ropes!!! Plus to all those on HBC who took the time to pass on some wisdom about hunting these deer and showing us their successes, Thanks

Oh yea, still not the grey ghosts of the coast, but still fun....:wink:

Thanks for reading, can’t wait for next year!!!

Cheers

SS

[snareman1234]

Great work! Awesome read!

[Whonnock Boy]

Great story! Thanks for taking the time to share. Cheers!

[d6dan]

Awesome pictures Ken. Crackhead was definitely a shooter. Nice buck for yourself also. Good season for you. Thanks for posting..:-D

[ru rancher]

great story and nice bucks what trail cams do you use?

[sawmill]

Great story and pics!!! And,of course,BEAUTY BUCKS!!!

[Ourea]

Love it.

Nice to see that you are getting ample daytime opportunities.
That certainly keeps a guy's motivation up to hold out.

Great thread.

[HarryToolips]

Wicked good bucks guys

[GoatGuy]

Awesome job Ken, looks like a ton of fun.

[Blainer]

Great share
Great pictures!
Awesome!

[dana]

Ken,
Way to go! Good job on the whitey! It takes some serious dedication and patience to acheive success that way. I think I have way too much ADHD to sit in a blind, but with how the whiteys are taking over, guess I'm going to have to learn to sit one day.

[Sofa King]

great deer.
lots of work put in, that's for sure.
amazing what shows up when nobody is around.

[Salty]

Holy hell SS you aren't wasting any time learning the ropes up there dude, thanks for the awesome pics great write up congrats on a great buck. **** man, you guys are on to some wicked WTs for yrs to come!

[Sleep Robber]

Thanks for the excellent thread SS !!!

The great read and quality pics from your cams make it top notch bud, congrats on the success, and hey !!, you can always drive down and hunt the ghosts some other time still.

Thanks again for taking the time to share part of your season with us.:-D

[BiG Boar]

Awesome thread. A great read. Nice buck too. Got it figured for sure.

[coach]

Outstanding thread! Great pics and a ton of knowledge shared with the rest of us. Thanks for taking the time to post. Great stuff and congratulations on a successful season. Looking forward to hearing what your post season intel reveals.

ps - By keeping your stations going into January you have a good chance of picking up some decent sheds - might be worth consideration.

[srupp]

awesome photos and writeup Ken...thoroughly enjoyed it..jeeez its colder up there than down here shiverrrrrr..

steven

[Sitkaspruce]

Outstanding thread! Great pics and a ton of knowledge shared with the rest of us. Thanks for taking the time to share. Grey stuff and congratulations on a successful season. Looking forward to hearing what your post season intel reveals.

ps - By keeping your stations going into January you have a good chance of picking up some decent sheds - might be worth consideration.

Coach

I will have one going in a thick stand of spruce and pine, but most of my places are decidious and brush, the deer will move out of there as soon as the rut is finished or the snow pushes them out. I have covered a lot of ground this spring and summer and found not one shed in any of the areas where I hunt. Need to find their wintering areas.

Cheers

SS

[sobirch]

Great post, good stuff to learn here. congrats man great deer

[nature girl]

Great story. I like how you told the story and then added pictures and so on and so on. Then my eyes didnt get all crazy from reading one long story. That was a great way to do it.
Congradulations on your deer.

[landphil]

Top knotch story with bucks to match, thanks for posting!

[Salty]

Need to find their wintering areas

I'm thinking somewhere out of the wind with feed nearby. Sorry, that's all I got. lol

[Hillbros_96]

Great stories and pictures as well.

[~T-BONE~]

Excellent write up and hunt! Takes lots of patience to hunt those critters, don't think I could! Congrats!!

[pescado]

Well done.lots of fun. Pleasant read.

[leadpillproductions]

Awesome pics and thread

[jaeger]

Well done SS looks like a nice area to hunt inn! Also looks like you put in your time scoutingEnjoy the rewards.

[guest]

TERRIFIC Thread with a Dandy for results ! Congrats !

CT

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Excellent thread SS!!!
was wondering where that pic in the "as they lay" thread came from.

Congrats!!
SSS

[kennyj]

Awesome bucks. Cool way to hunt.
kenny

[DawsonCreedmoor]

Great Buck Ken!

Gotta love whitetail baits!

[Rattler]

Great thread Ken. Thanks for sharing....

[5 spike]

Very nice ss and great story and pics.Sounds like your having fun in your hunting spots congrats.

[hunter1947]

Them trail pictures are as good as you can get them fantastic trail cam shots them two bucks that had been shot are very nice bucks ,,,I know the time it takes for in order to get all the pictures off the trail cams and onto the computer then up onto the HBC forum one thing I have to say Ken is thanks for sharing all

and big congrats to you getting this nice WT buck as for your partner your WT buck has a very nice spread to him I love there winter coats at this time of the year,,,,,,thanks for your story was nice to read looking forward to seeing more trail cam pictures in the next few weeks ,,question Ken for you how much longer are you going to leave your trail cams out ???.

[nap]

Thanks for taking the time to share your hunting with us, writing, pictures everything, awesome of you all the way around!!!

[MacMtnHunter]

Congrats! Couple up an comer's there as well! It's great to see guys achieving success this way!

[BUCKJR]

Great thread, great deer!

[Sitkaspruce]

great story and nice bucks what trail cams do you use?

RU

I have a mix of cams; Bushnell, Spypoint and Simmons. All are working well so far, knock on wood. We have tried WGI and Moultrie with mixed results. The WGI is basically and POS, although when it does take pictures, especially at night, they are nice. But it misses so much and is very finicky when it gets cool, never tested it when it was cold as it went back. The Moultrie does Ok, but again misses pictures that even the cheap Simmons picks up.


Them trail pictures are as good as you can get them fantastic trail cam shots them two bucks that had been shot are very nice bucks ,,,I know the time it takes for in order to get all the pictures off the trail cams and onto the computer then up onto the HBC forum one thing I have to say Ken is thanks for sharing all

and big congrats to you getting this nice WT buck as for your partner your WT buck has a very nice spread to him I love there winter coats at this time of the year,,,,,,thanks for your story was nice to read looking forward to seeing more trail cam pictures in the next few weeks ,,question Ken for you how much longer are you going to leave your trail cams out ???.

Wayne

I will leave the cams out until Christmas, then set up a couple in some area I suspect are wintering areas, as long as access will allow.

On another note, for those who think that putting out some grain and sitting in a blind is like shooting deer in a barrel, think again. I sat for around 46 hours and saw 6 deer, including the one I shot. It was a trying time for me, I had to learn to sit still, sit for long periods of time, sit in damn cold weather (-25 was the coldest, thanks to my Little Buddy Heater, it was bearable), pi$$ in a bottle, watch leaves fall and snow fall. My buddy sat for 40 hours and saw 7 deer, incuding the one he shot. I honestly expected to see more and would possibly see way more bucks, it was a learning experience for me. Maybe in the states it would be a busy way to hunt, but not up here.

Cheers

SS

[huntcoop]

Nice to see the Stanfield up in FSJ, well done!

[BCrams]

Heck of an adventure to read this morning and thanks for sharing!!

[coach]

RU

On another note, for those who think that putting out some grain and sitting in a blind is like shooting deer in a barrel, think again. I sat for around 46 hours and saw 6 deer, including the one I shot. It was a trying time for me, I had to learn to sit still, sit for long periods of time, sit in damn cold weather (-25 was the coldest, thanks to my Little Buddy Heater, it was bearable), pi$$ in a bottle, watch leaves fall and snow fall. My buddy sat for 40 hours and saw 7 deer, incuding the one he shot. I honestly expected to see more and would possibly see way more bucks, it was a learning experience for me. Maybe in the states it would be a busy way to hunt, but not up here.

Cheers

SS

Ha ha. A big X2 on that one. 5 part days in the blind for me this year and all I've seen are a couple does. Tons of nighttime action on the cams though.

[Ambush]

Nice work and great buck!! Finally the "Rats" are getting some respect!

You and few others are doing a good job of conveying the excitement and challenges of this kind of hunting. Some folks watch a few episodes of Wild TV, US whitetail hunts and figure " yep, real sporting, fish in a barrel". These guys have not spent the many off season hours of prep and in season scouting, sitting switching up and reading the game and terrain. No "canned" hunt here or guaranteed happy ending. And some of these same guys never shoot anything more than spitting distance from a truck.

As a bow hunter I'm very familiar with the challenges of hunting late season deer here in the north. Crunchy snow conditions usually make a stalk or still hunt next to impossible with a bow. A blind or tree stand is the only answer and that means that you better know your area and why animals travel where they do.

Last year I sat somewhere between 16 - 20 full days in a tree stand before a shooter buck made a mistake. Several of those days were in the mid minus twenties. This year I got lucky and the weather was warmer and I only had to wait four days [of actual hunting] I think. I had also set up a blind, in September, with the thought of making my hunt more comfortable in the late cold season. Well, a bear ravaged the blind, so it was back up in the tree with the wind and weather. Not really the shirt sleeves, slam dunk hunt many think.

Two years ago I spent the the last part of October and all of November waiting for a particular buck to give me the chance I needed. My season ended, at dark, on a bitterly cold November 30th, with that mulie buck still living.

The type of hunt you described burns up more fuel, time, energy, hiking, preplanning and strategizeing than most hunts anyone will do. And like you said, you're not done after the trigger is pulled.

And I have to say that all the pre-season work and trail cam adventures are becoming just about as much fun as the actual hunt. You are still trying to out think the critter on his own turf. And that really is what it's all about!!

I'm gonna go today, pull some cards and get a jump on next year's season!!! :-D :-D

Great effort, great story and great buck!

[deer nut]

You connected on a great buck! Cool to see all the trail camera photos - that must be addictive! I think I have to sit more and walk less for whitetails!