Hunter: Tavis Franke
Points: 14 (8L, 6R)
County: Coweta
Season: 2018-2019
Hunt Story
I knew I was going to hunt this morning for a week. All the numbers lined up; game forecast had major movement from 6:30-8:30 AM, temps were going to be in the low 3os and a blue bird sky. It all looked great on paper. It was my first hunt all season at my buddy's farm in Coweta County. I knew there hadn't been a lot of pressure out there, and with the rain earlier this week I just had a good feeling about getting on one. I felt like the rut starting to trickle in last weekend here, but I had a feeling this was going to be the week. I scouted last weekend and found a couple fresh scrapes and a decent rub right off an old timber road. I wasn't sure what all was in there but knew at least one buck was back there. I hung my climber on Tuesday afternoon in the rain, hoping to keep my scent down in the area. Trimmed up some limbs and got out of there as quick as I could. I was hunting a pretty thick area but had a decent opening down the road in front of me and to my right. I got to my climber and was up in the tree at 6:30 AM. Waited till good light and hit my grunt call (softly) one time and put it away. I feel like I have over called in the past and wanted to make sure I didn't make that mistake. As the say, sometimes less is more... 7:25 AM the buck silently appeared 20 yards from me. He came right out of the thick stuff where the rub was. I knew right away he was a shooter and I was ready for him. I already had my gun in position for him to come out from there, and when he did, it didn't take long. He was facing me when he came out, put his nose up in the air and then started to ease down the road away from me. He went behind one tree and started to cross the road. As he was quartering away from me, I pulled up on him, put my crosshairs right behind his shoulder and laid the hammer down. I knew I made a good shot, he ran about 20 yards and I heard him crash. Even as I write this, I still can't believe I took that him.
