Buckeye360
01-30-2013, 12:24 AM
Hey Everybody!
I was able to connect on a big buck for 2012 Sunday night. I have had had my cameras out since June 1st all over the farms I have permission on. I put together a nice hitlist of big mature bucks, BUT..... We were extremely busy all of 2012 with the babies and building our new home. I wasn't able to set foot in the woods until the rut kicked in, and that would only be less than a handful of times. Well, we finally moved into our dream home the Saturday before Christmas, and then it was just a matter of time. I was kidding throughout the early fall that January 1st would be the beginning of my deer season, and as it turned out it pretty much was. This is a month that I honestly never bowhunt in, unless we get a little warm spell like 2011. Finally around the end of the first week of January I was able to get out with some consistency. I made every hunt count. I always hunted the hottest stand with the most recent big buck activity. Checking and moving cameras with the kids, baiting, moving stands, scouting, everyday I would try to do something that would increase my chances. In January the weather reports are a real serious consideration. We had two snowfalls that would prove to be instrumental in keeping the deer on my corn piles and on the winter wheat.
One of the big bucks I really took interest in was a 9 point buck I named Boxee 9. He showed up in some beautiful summer camera shots, and gave me some hope for early season IF i were able to get out. I continued to get shots of that Box looking 9 point all year. I would end up having an early morning encounter with him by a pond during the first day of gun season. Of course he turned 90 degrees at around 50 yards in brush because he didn't like what he saw. I eventually moved that stand but never had another shot at him. In the middle of January, a friend of mine sent a picture of him a couple of miles away which was kind of a bummer, until I saw on camera that he was back a few days later.
I kept at it through January, begging my wife to let me out on those nights when the wind was perfect! I had my top 3 hit-list bucks all on camera AFTER all 3 gun seasons. As the month started to wind down I focused on 3 spots at 3 farms. I created little hot-spots that would get a lot of use especially when the 2nd snowfall came. On the second to last weekend, I decided to hunt each farm according to the wind conditions. I would hunt my funnel stand in the morning. It leads to a hot spot I created. I get up to the top of the climbing sticks and have to clear out some of the leaves that accumulated on the stand. I 'm thinking there might be a squirrel or something in there, so I didn't go into it totally blind. Well, of course it was a huge raccooon. Clawing and hissing right in my face! I flew down the sticks and just stood thinking why me, why now. This is not how i wanted to start one of my last weekends to hunt. I went and hunted a different stand with plans to go back and visit with the bandit after the season ends....perhaps with my Glock.
Fast forward to Sunday night and a classic "backyard hunt." Yep, that's all this was. You just read all that for what would be a simple evening hunt in a pine tree:) Typically the does come out of the pines from under me at night and feed their way across the feild. My wind was blowing slightly back that way. I was hoping I 'd be okay. With one week left, I was getting concerned I wouldn't even get a doe much less a buck. On the camera that was right in front of me that night, I had pictures the previous two nights of 5 does at around 5pm, so this was looking like the perfect night to fulfill my promise to the kids. Of course 5 o'clock rolls by and nothing. Then I spot a doe coming up the hill in front of me upwind. Right behind her is Boxee. His rack is blazing white as ever! They start their way around a little pond toward me on a string. Suddenly deer behind me start snorting. Greeeeaaat! This is gonna be ugly. Fortunately the doe still continued on to my stand, and he followed. Once they get under me its virtually impossible to see me up in this pine tree. They are hands down the best tree stands around. I managed to draw and shoot the Hoyt as he passed in the first of my two windows below me. The Slicktrick blew through high but down through his right lung. I packed up and went home to help my awesome wife with the kids. She wasn't too excited about letting me out. But I knew freezing rain, warm temperatures, and high winds were in the forecast all week. This was THE night I had to get out, and It was unbelievably going to pay off if I found him. I went back 2 hours later with a couple buddies, and we had a great time tracking him in the snow about a 150 yards. There is nothing better than seeing him down and out for the count!
Boxee 9 is actually a 10Pt. He has a sticker point where the G-4 should have grown. Unlike last year with Big-14, this year I had a little history with this guy. I would have loved to have seen him next year , but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take him this late in the year. I couldn't be happier with what little season I had to work with, and I have learned a ton about late season tactics. It's never over until it's over!1002310027100241002510026
I was able to connect on a big buck for 2012 Sunday night. I have had had my cameras out since June 1st all over the farms I have permission on. I put together a nice hitlist of big mature bucks, BUT..... We were extremely busy all of 2012 with the babies and building our new home. I wasn't able to set foot in the woods until the rut kicked in, and that would only be less than a handful of times. Well, we finally moved into our dream home the Saturday before Christmas, and then it was just a matter of time. I was kidding throughout the early fall that January 1st would be the beginning of my deer season, and as it turned out it pretty much was. This is a month that I honestly never bowhunt in, unless we get a little warm spell like 2011. Finally around the end of the first week of January I was able to get out with some consistency. I made every hunt count. I always hunted the hottest stand with the most recent big buck activity. Checking and moving cameras with the kids, baiting, moving stands, scouting, everyday I would try to do something that would increase my chances. In January the weather reports are a real serious consideration. We had two snowfalls that would prove to be instrumental in keeping the deer on my corn piles and on the winter wheat.
One of the big bucks I really took interest in was a 9 point buck I named Boxee 9. He showed up in some beautiful summer camera shots, and gave me some hope for early season IF i were able to get out. I continued to get shots of that Box looking 9 point all year. I would end up having an early morning encounter with him by a pond during the first day of gun season. Of course he turned 90 degrees at around 50 yards in brush because he didn't like what he saw. I eventually moved that stand but never had another shot at him. In the middle of January, a friend of mine sent a picture of him a couple of miles away which was kind of a bummer, until I saw on camera that he was back a few days later.
I kept at it through January, begging my wife to let me out on those nights when the wind was perfect! I had my top 3 hit-list bucks all on camera AFTER all 3 gun seasons. As the month started to wind down I focused on 3 spots at 3 farms. I created little hot-spots that would get a lot of use especially when the 2nd snowfall came. On the second to last weekend, I decided to hunt each farm according to the wind conditions. I would hunt my funnel stand in the morning. It leads to a hot spot I created. I get up to the top of the climbing sticks and have to clear out some of the leaves that accumulated on the stand. I 'm thinking there might be a squirrel or something in there, so I didn't go into it totally blind. Well, of course it was a huge raccooon. Clawing and hissing right in my face! I flew down the sticks and just stood thinking why me, why now. This is not how i wanted to start one of my last weekends to hunt. I went and hunted a different stand with plans to go back and visit with the bandit after the season ends....perhaps with my Glock.
Fast forward to Sunday night and a classic "backyard hunt." Yep, that's all this was. You just read all that for what would be a simple evening hunt in a pine tree:) Typically the does come out of the pines from under me at night and feed their way across the feild. My wind was blowing slightly back that way. I was hoping I 'd be okay. With one week left, I was getting concerned I wouldn't even get a doe much less a buck. On the camera that was right in front of me that night, I had pictures the previous two nights of 5 does at around 5pm, so this was looking like the perfect night to fulfill my promise to the kids. Of course 5 o'clock rolls by and nothing. Then I spot a doe coming up the hill in front of me upwind. Right behind her is Boxee. His rack is blazing white as ever! They start their way around a little pond toward me on a string. Suddenly deer behind me start snorting. Greeeeaaat! This is gonna be ugly. Fortunately the doe still continued on to my stand, and he followed. Once they get under me its virtually impossible to see me up in this pine tree. They are hands down the best tree stands around. I managed to draw and shoot the Hoyt as he passed in the first of my two windows below me. The Slicktrick blew through high but down through his right lung. I packed up and went home to help my awesome wife with the kids. She wasn't too excited about letting me out. But I knew freezing rain, warm temperatures, and high winds were in the forecast all week. This was THE night I had to get out, and It was unbelievably going to pay off if I found him. I went back 2 hours later with a couple buddies, and we had a great time tracking him in the snow about a 150 yards. There is nothing better than seeing him down and out for the count!
Boxee 9 is actually a 10Pt. He has a sticker point where the G-4 should have grown. Unlike last year with Big-14, this year I had a little history with this guy. I would have loved to have seen him next year , but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take him this late in the year. I couldn't be happier with what little season I had to work with, and I have learned a ton about late season tactics. It's never over until it's over!1002310027100241002510026