The Day Sit Buck

Thursday November 7th I took the afternoon off to begin some serious rut hunting. I had already put in some hard time, but was determined to get this far. Nick and I trekked back into the deepest darkest abyss on a public property. It was a trial run for the next day in which we would be sitting all day with a climber stand and too much gear. This hunt was a sweaty horrid walk that ended in a small tree far from where I figured I would end up. Despite this, the last 20 minutes of light was the craziest thing I have encountered in the woods. At one point I grunted in 9 different bucks, all of which grunted the entire way towards me. I had a shot at a rather nice buck, but it was already too dark to see well enough to shoot. After legal light, I looked behind my tree to see a giant cinder-block on legs. He was best described as growl/snort/coughing. I snort-wheezed at him and this only pissed him off more. He postured up and walked my direction. I decided it was time to be done with these games and get out of there before I was gored by a rut-crazed buck.

Friday morning, I arrived at Nick's place a little before 4am. . . . . .

We decided with the time we had we were going to sit all day at a property we had permission to hunt near Guthrie Center. I got set into my tree and Nick faded into the darkness to do that same. The temp was going to be mild, but rather windy, and I climbed into a wet noodle of a tree.

Not ten minutes after legal light I saw a decent buck. I told myself I would pass a deer that was right on the edge of shooter and this one had a tight frame, but not huge. After watching him pace around my stand for 5 minutes, he wandered off never to be seen again.

As the morning progressed I heard a deer running through the timber behind me. I stood up because I knew what that meant. Of course, the buck caught my movement. He was a definite shooter dogging a doe. She ran past my stand, literally ramming the tree I was in. He stood back at 25 yards broadside behind a tree. He ended up facing me at 8 yards and there was nothing I could do about it. He wigged out and turned on a dime, again, never to be seen again. This kind of thing went on all morning even with the wind whipping my tree around like coffee swizzle. After 1pm I did not see another deer.

 As the evening progressed, updates from Nick told me the deer were up his way. Oh well, I was not moving. Nick and I had been texting back and forth all day.
At 4:30pm I got a call.
Again, I grabbed my phone, stared at it, and let it ring a few times before answering.

"Jon, I just smoked a bruiser! He's like a 160" eight pointer and I smoked him."

I had to verify the shot and he told me it dropped about 40 yards from his stand within sight. Things can happen fast during the rut.

I asked if he wanted me to get down and help and he told me to sit tight and shoot a deer. At this point I just wanted out of the damn tree. I had been sitting there all day trying my best to maintain my nerves with the wind and a climber stand I am not 100% comfortable with.

He called back 20 minutes later apologizing that he was going to have to bust my hunt, and he was coming to get me.

Finally.

I was almost at ground level by the time he got to me, and he was a mess. It was rather enjoyable to see Nick tied up in a knot. We got to the truck and then stopped by the landowner to inform of a dead deer and inquired about using their ranger. Within minutes we were on the way up the hill and then standing over a huge buck.

We field dressed him and got out of there with what little light we had left.

This season has used up a fair amount of good karma as both Michael and now Nick have cashed in!


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