OT: Smokepole success

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DuckHunt
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OT: Smokepole success

Post by DuckHunt »

My honey hole has been a sour patch this season due to lack of acorns. Prior to this morning I had been out sixteen times and only seen a deer on three hunts. I've only seen eight deer all season and four of those were yesterday around 4pm while on my last archery hunt of the season. Unfortunately they came no closer than 100 yards. I haven't seen a deer in the morning all season and I haven't seen a single deer out of my primary stand. I've only got one 6pt buck picture during daylight hours on Thursday and everything else has been nocturnal still. I found it difficult to crawl out of bed this morning given the hunting conditions I'm dealing with this season.

But, that's why we call it hunting so I was up and at'em early enough to be in my primary stand thirty minutes before shooting hours. I did this despite having not seen a deer in the morning all season and nothing at all from this stand. I've always had good luck during the muzzleloader season, and this morning was going to be our coldest yet. It was 29F degrees when I climbed into my stand and I thought I'd need moonglasses. I was throwing a shadow. Here was the crazy bright moon.
Image
I checked a trail camera on the way in and there were no photos from last night. :thumbdown: Couple that with the very bright moon, and my expectations were low.

At 7:30am, still 8 minutes before sunrise, I heard something behind me. I turned around to see that the sound was a sapling shaking back and forth. There was the 6pt buck standing near it, but he wasn't the one shaking the sapling. It didn't take long to realize the shaking was another buck making a rub. I could tell it was a larger buck, but not much else because the saplings were in the way. Eventually he stepped through the saplings and I could see that he was the bigger of the two bucks. I had already turned on my Tactacam as soon I laid eyes on a deer, so all I had to do is pull back the hammer and make the shot. Here is the footage: https://youtu.be/2QBkkuNjlCU

The CVA dropped the buck in his tracks. The 6pt ran down closer to me and hung around until I ran him off more than five minutes later. While the buck was obviously making a rub, seeing bucks traveling together leads me to believe that we're still a bit early for rut action around here. But, the colder weather certainly had the deer up and moving this morning. As I was prepping to drag the buck, another deer blew at me from just out of my view. I also saw a half dozen along the road on the way home.

Here's the buck...
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While there may not be any acorns in my woods, this buck was nice and fat. He had plenty of corn in his system.

The drag out was made a little easier by the heavy frost on the grass.
Image

It's been a long slow season so far, but once again everything changes once our muzzleloader season starts. It just happens to coincide with when bucks start getting the itch and change their patterns enough to get seen.
Last edited by DuckHunt on Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
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new xbow hunter
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by new xbow hunter »

Congrats. Great looking buck.
xcaliber
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by xcaliber »

Very nice buck, congrats!
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longbow joe
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by longbow joe »

Nice buck .glad you had success gun or bow its a nice buck.
I'm seeing a real lack of acorns in South East Pennsylvania
This season also.
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Boo
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by Boo »

Quite the nice fat buck! Congratulations and thank you for the story!
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mr meat
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by mr meat »

Nice buck and video congrats
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gunboy203
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by gunboy203 »

Very nice Buck... Congrats!!
gerald strine
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by gerald strine »

Wonderful buck nice neck on him, Congratulations !
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AJ01
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by AJ01 »

Nice Buck!! Glad to see ya turn things around!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
He is a "chunky" fella!! :lol: :lol:
Congrats!!

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Hester0305
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by Hester0305 »

Congrats on your buck I'm glad you decided to get out of bed and not give up we never know what the Lord will send our way.
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by Lucky-Dog »

Awesome story, pictures, and buck.
Big Congrats
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Reinyrooster
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Re: OT: Smokepole success

Post by Reinyrooster »

Nice buck....gotta love that minimal tracking required.
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