Have been chasing this buck we called Tito for the past couple of weeks. Pigs and javelina were a problem, and the stars never lined up.
Saw him last Sunday morning, but he turned when I was at full draw and did not present another opportunity.
Decided to come down for a couple of days this week, as my schedule was pretty light yesterday and i'd be able to hunt both morning and evening. He had been showing up every morning, but work got in the way of hunting the mornings during the week. I had high hopes.
Yesterday morning feeder threw, and sure enough here he came. Was still too dark, so i closed my eyes and mentally walked through my shot process over and over. All of a sudden i hear all the deer run off all at once. I dont even need to open my eyes to know the pigs have shown up. I clapped at them and they ran off, and i settled back in hoping he'd return. He didn't, but 2 of the pigs did. They got a a rock thrown at them. Didnt shoot one bc I didnt want to cause too much commotion over there. Few does and young bucks came back, but Tito had other unknown plans.
Since he didn't stay long, I felt good about my odds of seeing him in the pm.
Got to the stand at 5:45, and there was very little activity early. About 6:30 deer started to pile in, mostly does and young bucks.
at 6:45 I smell javelina, and sure enough here come 2 down the road about 5 yards to my left. Im like "great, another sit down the drain". I told myself if they spooked the deer and ran them off I was going to dust one. A couple of times the deer scattered, but they always came back.
At 7:10 I look up, and here comes Tito, about 35 yds approaching from my right.
I knew that I didnt have a ton of time left. I hit record on my phone, and he made his way to where I had corned the road. At 25 yards he turned broadside... I drew my bow and bleated to get his head up, but he was unfazed and turned straight away from me.
I let down and waited for him to turn again- I had like 7 min of shooting light left. He worked his way into a slight qtr to position, put his leg forward and I drew and bleated again. This time the doe next to him picked her head up, and turned and stepped right in front of him. He was, once again, unfazed. The doe walks off and looks up at me again, and he picks his head up. By this time I've been holding for a while and cant get the pin settled. He puts his head back down for a second, and as soon as he picks it back up I get my pin settled right behind his shoulder and let it fly.
I knew it was a good shot, but watched him run about 70 yds before disappearing. I went to check the footage and was able to breathe a sigh of relief- He was smoked.
80 yds later and he was mine. Biggest buck to date, and have to say that the shot on diddy was causing me to question my mental strength. This was a sweet redemption; no dogs required
Saw him last Sunday morning, but he turned when I was at full draw and did not present another opportunity.
Decided to come down for a couple of days this week, as my schedule was pretty light yesterday and i'd be able to hunt both morning and evening. He had been showing up every morning, but work got in the way of hunting the mornings during the week. I had high hopes.
Yesterday morning feeder threw, and sure enough here he came. Was still too dark, so i closed my eyes and mentally walked through my shot process over and over. All of a sudden i hear all the deer run off all at once. I dont even need to open my eyes to know the pigs have shown up. I clapped at them and they ran off, and i settled back in hoping he'd return. He didn't, but 2 of the pigs did. They got a a rock thrown at them. Didnt shoot one bc I didnt want to cause too much commotion over there. Few does and young bucks came back, but Tito had other unknown plans.
Since he didn't stay long, I felt good about my odds of seeing him in the pm.
Got to the stand at 5:45, and there was very little activity early. About 6:30 deer started to pile in, mostly does and young bucks.
at 6:45 I smell javelina, and sure enough here come 2 down the road about 5 yards to my left. Im like "great, another sit down the drain". I told myself if they spooked the deer and ran them off I was going to dust one. A couple of times the deer scattered, but they always came back.
At 7:10 I look up, and here comes Tito, about 35 yds approaching from my right.
I knew that I didnt have a ton of time left. I hit record on my phone, and he made his way to where I had corned the road. At 25 yards he turned broadside... I drew my bow and bleated to get his head up, but he was unfazed and turned straight away from me.
I let down and waited for him to turn again- I had like 7 min of shooting light left. He worked his way into a slight qtr to position, put his leg forward and I drew and bleated again. This time the doe next to him picked her head up, and turned and stepped right in front of him. He was, once again, unfazed. The doe walks off and looks up at me again, and he picks his head up. By this time I've been holding for a while and cant get the pin settled. He puts his head back down for a second, and as soon as he picks it back up I get my pin settled right behind his shoulder and let it fly.
I knew it was a good shot, but watched him run about 70 yds before disappearing. I went to check the footage and was able to breathe a sigh of relief- He was smoked.
80 yds later and he was mine. Biggest buck to date, and have to say that the shot on diddy was causing me to question my mental strength. This was a sweet redemption; no dogs required
FJB
