Hunter: Skip Fite
Points: 13 (6L, 7R)
County: Bleckley
Season: 2023-2024
Hunt Story
Had killed a smaller buck 4 days before and was not planning to hunt at club in Bleckley Co the weekend after Thanksgiving. Was at my aunt's house on Thursday Thanksgiving day. Of course always checking my game cameras. Right before we sat down to eat I was showing some deer picks to my nephew as he was wanting to get into deer hunting. Some small bucks had been seen earlier. As we looked at my phone a picture of a very large Buck ( not the one I shot) showed up on camera chasing a doe. Was a good 8 p. That kinda gave me the itch to head back down there After dinner and on my way back from Huntsville to Carrollton Ga. Got another pick of the big 8 about 6 that afternoon. I decided to drive back to Cochran to our club early the next day but was not able to get into the woods till about 4:00 pm. I had to carry my climber about 250 yards to get to my spot. Was sweating pretty good when got to tree but afternoon was real pretty. Very little wind. Took my Ravin crossbow instead of my rifle because had been seeing some pigs and wanted to shoot one of them if got a chance. After being in stand for an hour, had a big and small doe come in. Big doe looked like she was maybe coming in heat Black hocks and tail stayed up a lot. About 10 minutes later had a nice 8 p come in and start pushing the big doe. About 5 minutes later a bigger 8-point came crashing in. Passed on both 8. About 5:15 I herd another Buck grunting in thick pines to my left. I heard him do a growl real low as he got closer. Felt like he was the big boy. He showed to my left in edge of thicket and then turned and I never got a good look but knew he was big. I could still hear one of the 8 p chasing the doe off to my right in set pines. At about 5:30 The Big Buck showed up right in front of me. Had not heard a sound in that direction. When first saw him saw it was a giant was looking straight at me. Froze out for I bet 3 to 4 minutes and he didn’t make a move. Finally he flipped tail and started to walk direction doe went. Was not able to use rangefinder and had to guess distance. He came in an open and I estimated about 30 yards and took the shot. I could tell it was a good hit the way he ran off. After I got down to check arrow saw it was a pass-through. As I was checking arrow I heard something walking pretty loud about 50 to 60 yards to my right. Was on phone with my nephew. At first thought it was one of my hunting buddies but didn’t see a light. I soon realized it was a good size bear. My light was going out so I decided to yell a few times as my nephew recommended. The bear didn’t run off but slowly started to circle where I was at. At that point I decided to head out towards the truck at a fast pace. Fast as a 68-year-old can go. Left my hat so could find arrow. Came back with about 4 of hunting buddies about an hour later with some big lights. After trailing blood we found deer about 60 yards away. Was a blessed hunting afternoon.
