Dad and I’s trip to Mississippi was one last gasp of relaxation before hitting the spring semester full blast. Our friend’s property where we hunted was located in the Mississippi River bluffs near Yazoo City. One can’t imagine how steep the hills are that close to the Mississippi River Delta, but the ravines and ridges were dramatic to say the least.
The property is intensely managed and the whitetails have to be brutes to meet harvest criteria. 140″ for 8s and 150″ for 10s. Trophy management for sure.
My first evening was spent in this tripod called “Turkey Ridge”.
Sure enough, I heard turkeys but also had some great deer action. 30 minutes into the hunt, 3 doe fawns exploded out of the draw to my right and crossed the plot just 10 yards away. Hot on their heels was an 8 pointer about 16-17 inches wide with great brow tines. He was in the 120″ range at least, but still a ways from being a legal shooter. The evening ended with a few does coming out at dusk to feed on the food plot.
The next morning I scaled this steep finger ridge down to a loc-on only 2 feet off the ground, but a loooonnngg ways from the creek bottom below.
After the sunrise had warmed things up a bit, I had a 3 year old buck come down the drainage. I couldn’t be sure of his size before I did some bleating and he came closer to investigate. Definitely too small and perhaps a cull buck, but I didn’t want to make a mistake. Instead I shot him repeatedly with my camera and video camera. For 15 minutes, he made circles below staring up to find the “doe” that was calling his name.
Can you find him?
I would never pass this buck up in Alabama, but being able to sit and watch him was an awesome experience. Awesome body of that joker.
The next 2 evenings and 1 morning went too quickly and the bucks were harder to come by. I saw a few yearling bucks and plenty of does, but 3-4 weeks postrut was definitely a challenge.
I was convinced there were still some monsters running around on the property though. .30-06 clip laying beside a monster track. Walking, no slipping. On level ground. PIG!!!
Definitely easy to lay off the trigger when you know some monsters are lurking around.
Dad had a great hunt as well and actually may have encountered one or two shooter bucks. Unfortunately, they were feeding onto green fields right at last light and to be sure they were legal would have taken another 10 minutes earlier of daylight.
All told saw in the neighborhood of 60 deer and 9 bucks – 5 of which were better than 105″ and 2 of which were easily in excess of 125″ that dad saw.
What an awesome trip spending time with dad doing what we love – deer hunting!
So, 15 days later in Alabama’s hunting season. I’ll probably get out a couple more times, but the light is at the end of tunnel. 2009-2010 is rapidly coming to a close. What a season so far! With a little luck (no, maybe a lot) I’ll get one of my tags on a good Alabama buck.
