sureshot
The Hunt Never Ends....
Well, I think I will begin back in April of this year. I was blessed with gaining permission to hunt a new farm from another fellow bow hunter who had quite a few farms in the area. Originally I had planned to use this new farm as a 'backup plan' in case hunting wasn't going well on my 'main farm.' Little did I know at the time how lucky I was to acquire permission on this new farm, as it turned out to be a 'life saver' for me.
As I have in past years, I ran cameras hard during the summer and was fortunate to have some great deer in the area. I had the majority of my cameras set up on the outskirts of my 'main farm', but decided to put one on the new farm as well. In late July I checked the camera and a buck, who I later called Gimpy (will explain later), showed up. Gimpy didn't seem to be a regular on the new farm, and only showed up on occasion.
Gimpy in July
Gimpy in August
Before shedding velvet, Gimpy disappeared off of the new farm and I assumed that he had relocated to another area, however, there were still some good bucks on my 'main farm' and I had high hopes of catching a few off-guard during the rut.
In late September I received a call from a friend who explained to me that the farm that I mainly hunt had been sold. My heart sank. I had grown up hunting this farm, and had multiple years of trail cam documentation of many of the bucks. I was truely saddened at the loss of this farm, but realized that I didn't have time to sit around and feel sorry for myself. This happens.....it's part of hunting. On a side-note, I was happy to find out that the new owner is a fellow hunter who will get many years of enjoyment out of the property and will make it better than it was before he purchased it.
Like I said, this occurred in late September. My work schedule was hectic, and I only had one day off from October 1st-14th, so I used that day to take down treestands. I took my time taking the stands down, and thought back at all of the great memories I had on the farm. To be honest with you, taking the tree stands down was harder for me than when I originally was told that the farm had been unexpectedly sold.
The last drive out;
After taking down my stands, I drove to the new farm that I had acquired permission to hunt and put up a Cuddeback on a trail. I checked it a few weeks later and had gotten one picture of Gimpy.
October 13th, 2010
The Hunt
October 28th rolled around and it was day #1 of vacation for me. Because of the fact that I had so many days off (3 weeks), and not much knowledge of deer movement on the new farm, I decided to setup an 'observation stand' that wasn't far off of the road. The stand sat high on a hill, and I could see the two main draws on the farm to my north as well as a large standing bean field. I watched from 300yards as deer filtered out of the draws and towards the standing beans. Just before dark I watched a good buck with a bad limp walk into the field. I immediately recognized the buck as the one that I had photos of, and because of his bad limp I decided to call him Gimpy. I was excited to see my first shooter of the year, and decided that the following evening I would attempt to kill Gimpy out of my double bull in the standing beanfield.
October 29th
I found myself sitting in my double bull over the standing beans with cold temperatures and a strong wind.
At about 6pm does started to filter out of the draws and into the beans, and it wasn't long before I heard grunting and saw Gimpy chasing a doe. He ran her into the field and crossed in front of my blind at 60yards before chasing her back into the draw. I didn't see him again that night, but decided that the next evening I was going to sneak into his bedroom.
October 30th
I didn't have any stands hung on the new farm, so I arrived there early in the afternoon and packed in my lone wolf. The CRP was tall, which gave me good access without being seen. I slowly made my way to the draw that I had witnessed Gimpy use while going from bed to feed. I found a good creek crossing as well as a good tree and hung the lone wolf. After doing some quick trimming, I was ready to roll. The wind was perfect, and I was confident. At 5pm I heard the crunching of leaves and turned to see a good 9pt buck walking down the trail before crossing the creek and passing by me at 12yards.
It wasn't more than 30 minutes later that movement caught my attention on the edge of the CRP. 200 yards out, I saw Gimpy walking down the draw. He was rubbing trees and making scrapes while walking towards me. When he got to 140yards Gimpy dropped down into the draw that I was sitting in entered a creek bottom where I could no longer see him. My wind was perfect, the night was young, and I decided to sit tight and hope that he would come my way.
At 5:50 I again caught movement directly in front of me at 80yds. After pulling up my binos and realized that it again was Gimpy working a scrape. I watched him for approximately 5 minutes, and soon realized that he wasn't coming my direction. I pulled my grunt tube from my pocket and gave a short grunt. He immediately looked my direction. I then gave one more short grunt, and he turned on a dime, gave a few grunts, and was heading my way.
Gimpy came into 12 yards but was quartering too hard. I knew better than to take this shot, and let him walk past me and enter the CRP field. Once in the field, Gimpy entered an opening at 29yards and I 'burrrped' him to a stop. I settled my pin, focused, and slowly squeezed the trigger. The shot felt great, and I watched as my arrow zipped right through his boiler room, entering just in front of his last rib and exiting behind the opposite side shoulder. Gimpy ran 40 yards, stopped, did a little dance and fell on the edge of the draw that I had watched him 2 evenings prior. I looked down at my watch and it was 5:57PM.
While skinning Gimpy out we noticed a large amount of scar tissue on his rear left leg. I'm not sure what happened to him, as there was no visible injury before skinning him out. Maybe he was hit by a car?
Gimpy gross scored 158 7/8 which surprised me, but he had 25in mainbeams which helped him out.
I cannot express how fortunate I feel to be allowed access on this new farm (or any farm for that matter). You never truely realize what you have until it's gone, so take advantage of each and every sit on the properties you hunt. You never know when it will be your last one.
Good luck to those of you who still have tags left. It's only going to get better from here on out. :way:
As I have in past years, I ran cameras hard during the summer and was fortunate to have some great deer in the area. I had the majority of my cameras set up on the outskirts of my 'main farm', but decided to put one on the new farm as well. In late July I checked the camera and a buck, who I later called Gimpy (will explain later), showed up. Gimpy didn't seem to be a regular on the new farm, and only showed up on occasion.
Gimpy in July
Gimpy in August
Before shedding velvet, Gimpy disappeared off of the new farm and I assumed that he had relocated to another area, however, there were still some good bucks on my 'main farm' and I had high hopes of catching a few off-guard during the rut.
In late September I received a call from a friend who explained to me that the farm that I mainly hunt had been sold. My heart sank. I had grown up hunting this farm, and had multiple years of trail cam documentation of many of the bucks. I was truely saddened at the loss of this farm, but realized that I didn't have time to sit around and feel sorry for myself. This happens.....it's part of hunting. On a side-note, I was happy to find out that the new owner is a fellow hunter who will get many years of enjoyment out of the property and will make it better than it was before he purchased it.
Like I said, this occurred in late September. My work schedule was hectic, and I only had one day off from October 1st-14th, so I used that day to take down treestands. I took my time taking the stands down, and thought back at all of the great memories I had on the farm. To be honest with you, taking the tree stands down was harder for me than when I originally was told that the farm had been unexpectedly sold.
The last drive out;
After taking down my stands, I drove to the new farm that I had acquired permission to hunt and put up a Cuddeback on a trail. I checked it a few weeks later and had gotten one picture of Gimpy.
October 13th, 2010
The Hunt
October 28th rolled around and it was day #1 of vacation for me. Because of the fact that I had so many days off (3 weeks), and not much knowledge of deer movement on the new farm, I decided to setup an 'observation stand' that wasn't far off of the road. The stand sat high on a hill, and I could see the two main draws on the farm to my north as well as a large standing bean field. I watched from 300yards as deer filtered out of the draws and towards the standing beans. Just before dark I watched a good buck with a bad limp walk into the field. I immediately recognized the buck as the one that I had photos of, and because of his bad limp I decided to call him Gimpy. I was excited to see my first shooter of the year, and decided that the following evening I would attempt to kill Gimpy out of my double bull in the standing beanfield.
October 29th
I found myself sitting in my double bull over the standing beans with cold temperatures and a strong wind.
At about 6pm does started to filter out of the draws and into the beans, and it wasn't long before I heard grunting and saw Gimpy chasing a doe. He ran her into the field and crossed in front of my blind at 60yards before chasing her back into the draw. I didn't see him again that night, but decided that the next evening I was going to sneak into his bedroom.
October 30th
I didn't have any stands hung on the new farm, so I arrived there early in the afternoon and packed in my lone wolf. The CRP was tall, which gave me good access without being seen. I slowly made my way to the draw that I had witnessed Gimpy use while going from bed to feed. I found a good creek crossing as well as a good tree and hung the lone wolf. After doing some quick trimming, I was ready to roll. The wind was perfect, and I was confident. At 5pm I heard the crunching of leaves and turned to see a good 9pt buck walking down the trail before crossing the creek and passing by me at 12yards.
It wasn't more than 30 minutes later that movement caught my attention on the edge of the CRP. 200 yards out, I saw Gimpy walking down the draw. He was rubbing trees and making scrapes while walking towards me. When he got to 140yards Gimpy dropped down into the draw that I was sitting in entered a creek bottom where I could no longer see him. My wind was perfect, the night was young, and I decided to sit tight and hope that he would come my way.
At 5:50 I again caught movement directly in front of me at 80yds. After pulling up my binos and realized that it again was Gimpy working a scrape. I watched him for approximately 5 minutes, and soon realized that he wasn't coming my direction. I pulled my grunt tube from my pocket and gave a short grunt. He immediately looked my direction. I then gave one more short grunt, and he turned on a dime, gave a few grunts, and was heading my way.
Gimpy came into 12 yards but was quartering too hard. I knew better than to take this shot, and let him walk past me and enter the CRP field. Once in the field, Gimpy entered an opening at 29yards and I 'burrrped' him to a stop. I settled my pin, focused, and slowly squeezed the trigger. The shot felt great, and I watched as my arrow zipped right through his boiler room, entering just in front of his last rib and exiting behind the opposite side shoulder. Gimpy ran 40 yards, stopped, did a little dance and fell on the edge of the draw that I had watched him 2 evenings prior. I looked down at my watch and it was 5:57PM.
While skinning Gimpy out we noticed a large amount of scar tissue on his rear left leg. I'm not sure what happened to him, as there was no visible injury before skinning him out. Maybe he was hit by a car?
Gimpy gross scored 158 7/8 which surprised me, but he had 25in mainbeams which helped him out.
I cannot express how fortunate I feel to be allowed access on this new farm (or any farm for that matter). You never truely realize what you have until it's gone, so take advantage of each and every sit on the properties you hunt. You never know when it will be your last one.
Good luck to those of you who still have tags left. It's only going to get better from here on out. :way:
