Hunter: Taylor Gravitt
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Crawford
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
Our hunt started Friday evening. This is an annual trip for my wife, daughter and myself. The land owner is my wife's uncle, and we've made this an annual family event. My daughter took her first deer, a doe, on this property. Our first sit in a boxed tower stand on Friday evening we saw several deer. Well after dark we saw a large buck enter the field and chase some does. Saturday morning we saw several does and one spike. My daughter got to witness a lot of behavior that one normally doesn't get to see. We saw a small doe bed down in front of our stand, we saw a buck ( a spike) go to a licking branch and rub his head all over it and lick it, and urinate into a scrape. Then Saturday evening we saw the same small doe that had bedded in front of us, get up, stretch and feed her way out of sight. Several more doe came into the field as well as the same spike we saw that morning. He started chasing does around our stand, it was very exciting to share with my daughter. With the close of our hunt Saturday, it also brought a little disappointment. We still had one more hunt. As predicted, rain had moved in early Sunday morning, which made the decision for my daughter to get up even harder. I have always enjoyed a light rain during a deer hunt, so my excitement level was heightened. With the time changing so did we, we were about 30 minutes behind, making us arrive at our stand as day was breaking. We managed to get into the stand quietly. I had hung a scent rag, drenched with Phillips Outdoors Doe-in-heat, out in front of our stand. An easterly wind blowing the scent along with some rattling, grunting and doe bleats struck a chord of curiosity with a nice buck. He seemed to materialize from nowhere. Holding his nose to the wind, it was apparent he was curious in what he smelled and heard. After getting her nerves under control and patiently waiting for a shot, she sent the round down range toward the buck. She hit him a tad high but still a perfect shot, taking out both shoulders. In our excitement we prematurely pushed him, in an attempt to retrieve him. He managed to get to his feet and run 200 yards and bed down. After talking with the landowner and others that were hunting with us, we reluctantly decided to let him stay put and call a tracking dog. We called David Perez, he and his dogs did an awesome job at locating this buck. This has been the most rewarding experience that I have shared with my daughter. She will always have a seat in my truck any time she wants to go hunting.
