The Hunt is On!
WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HUNTING WHITETAIL DEER. IF THIS OFFENDS YOU, I AM SORRY BUT PLEASE QUIT READING NOW!!!
OK now that, that is out of the way.... Here in Kentucky it is modern gun season. One of my favorite times of the year. Not only because I get to go hunt the animal that I am so passionate about, but because I have a reason to be in the woods more to see what effects my management program has had on the deer.
I happen to get lucky this year. I live in the city limits of Logan county Kentucky. I had a job hauling lawn mowers for repair. I happen to run into a guy that has a good chunk of land in absolutely prime deer country. The deer are larger there than they are where I am from. And not to mention it is not too far of a drive from my house. I spent the first few months after I received my hunting privileges to this property scouting the property for deer. After a month of this I realized I had a great piece of hunting ground. The owner told me of a massive buck he has been seeing walk out of a bean field and into the area I was going to hunt. Then by sheer accident I happen to be talking to one of the owners of an adjacent property and he informed me that he knew of the buck that his neighbor was referring to. But he has seen a buck that is even bigger than that buck. Both of these men told me these bucks are BOTH staying primarily on the property that I am hunting. At that point I got a little bit skeptical. Mature bucks don't spend a lot of time together. At least that is my thought on it. Until one day in late October. I was sitting in my stand bow hunting. I had a small doe walk right in front of my stand. I looked her over and decided that she was not a shooter. So she milled around and moved out without knowing I was there. It was about 2pm and I was considering getting out of the stand when I heard crunching leaves. I froze and to my surprise this behemoth of a buck stepped over the ridge on the far side of a holler, looking right at me. He was about 150 yards away. As I sat there in pure awe of this buck standing 150 yards from me. I heard a fairly loud snort. This snort was close, real close. I started scanning with my eyes, and saw nothing. then the behemoth buck snorted. Again I heard a snort even closer than the last time. As I slowly look down my eyes find the top of a rack. Then the top of the head, then the monster of a buck. He was standing directly beneath my stand. Only shot I had, would of been through the grate in the bottom of my stand. Not a shot I was willing to take. I have no idea how he got that close to me without me hearing something, anything for that matter. So now I am sitting there looking at two world class bucks, and can not get a shot at either one. Next thing I know the Buck that was at 150 yards blew the whistle and was bolting out of sight. At the same time the one that was beneath my stand was hauling tail in the opposite direction strait behind me. On one hand I was absolutely sick, two bucks that close and could not shoot at either one of them, but on the other hand I was astounded and very thankful for getting the opportunity to lay eyes on the two biggest bucks I have ever seen. At that point I realized that the two men I was talking to truly did know what they were talking about.
No I have not got a shot at either of those bucks to this day, but I am not giving up on it. With the rut in full force here in Kentucky I am sure those busks are thinking about something other than seeing little ole me that day. I have been studying how some of the pros pick out a certain buck and go after that buck and only that buck. The one disadvantage I have is I have to maintain a full time job in order to pay the bills. They make their living hunting. No I'm not a hatter. I'm strait up jealous.
Now this leads me into a question for anyone reading this. Has anything of this nature ever happened to you. If so, How did you handle it?
visit :http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/1314fallhuntingguide.pdf : for more information on Ky hunting dates, regulations, and harvest results.
Until next time this is Mike Williams. Happy hunting and may the fever be with you!!
