Hunter: Vic Hunter
Points: 13 (6L, 7R)
County: Decatur
Season: 2019-2020
Hunt Story
This deer was a regular on cameras during bow season in 2017, but one that we really wanted to let grow. After archery season closed, he just seemed to have vanished. Hurricane Micheal devastated our area in October 2018 and made much of the property impassable. We were able to clear most of the roads and had to harvest several large areas of timber after the storm, however he was never seen during the 2018/2019 season. When he finally showed back up, there was no doubt that he was #1 on everyone’s list. The deer started showing up on camera in an area that was on the edge of woods still severely tangled from the storm, and I figured that he was bedding in this thick area and wasn’t venturing far. It was in an area that was more difficult to sneak into than I like. I had placed my climber as far as possible from the feed to avoid spooking him while walking in, and had to wait for a north wind, thinking that he would come from the north as he always did in the trail cam pictures. On Saturday morning, I parked my truck further than I normally do to hunt there so that I could slip in quietly. About 7:30, a doe and a fawn came from the north, on the very trail that I expected the buck to come from. They walked by the corn and came into the small area of planted pines that I was sitting in. They browsed around and just kinda stayed in the area. They made their way all the way to my tree and then walked over to the logging road and acted like they were headed back the corn. All of a sudden the doe acted spooky and kept looking behind her, toward the south. I quickly turned my rifle and started looking for what had disturbed them. I saw the deer walk out into the road, but initially I thought that it was a deer I had been letting go, a much smaller 7-point with a broken tine. As the deer made a few steps toward me, I saw his rack and realized that it was the deer that I had been looking for. I already had the rifle pointed his way, slid the safety off and shot him at about 40 yards. He fell immediately. It was probably less than 5 seconds from the time that I first saw him to the time of the shot. I called my Dad and my Father in Law and told them that I had shot “him” and climbed down to go look at him. All the times that I played the situation out in my mind, I never expected him to be out in the open woods like he was. I am extremely glad that the wind was not a northeast wind on this day, as it had been on several of my prior hunts in this tree. I fully expected him to come in from the north and it just goes to show that when you think you have them figured out, they can throw you something unexpected.
