I mentioned several weeks ago that at Christmas time I got the nod from the owner of my research site to go after a mature cull buck and a management 8 point (over the hill 8 pt.). To frame the next several posts – this is high fence hunting. All I will say right now is that by setting very stringent harvest standards, restricting your equipment, and taking care to not get spoiled – high fence hunting can be very enjoyable…AND CHALLENGING! (I’ll make a post in a week or two on my opinion of high fence hunting). For now…enjoy the post!
Saturday morning was my 16th hunt chasing a big mature cull buck or a management 8 point. I sifted through the trail camera pictures earlier this year to pick out 4 or 5 of the top eschelon bucks in each category and made them my focus.
In fact, it took me 13 hunts to even lay eyes on one of these bucks. A buck I liked to call the G2 buck. Here is a picture from this summer when we were monitoring deer for darting purposes to deploy our GPS radiocollars.
On that evening, he stood at a safe distance watching 2 smaller bucks posturing within my effective archery range but never got perturbed enough to come over and assert his own dominance that would have drawn him into range.
Saturday morning was a perfect morning for rutting action and the deer did not disappoint. Another of my hit list cull bucks made an appearance but circled downwind when he came in to my rattling antlers and busted me. Probably a 230 pound 5 pt.
I was sitting watching 2 trails – one on either side of a creek – when I heard deer walking in my direction. I glanced through my binoculars and instantly recognized loonnngg back tines – the G2 buck! He was covering ground quickly and by the time I grabbed my bow and stood up he was entering my lone shooting lane to that trail.
I grunted to stop him as I drew my bow,and he stopped with his head and shoulders behind a big water oak trunk. At 34 yards, I settled my pin an inch into the tree bark and touched my release. I can’t overemphasize that you should be intimately familiar with your shooting tendencies. I tend to shoot 2-3″ right at second pin distances and putting the pin on the bark was enough to slip the arrow into the back of his lungs.
After a classic mule kick, he raced up the hill out of sight but I thought I could hear him crash. It happened so quick. Definitely no more than 30 seconds from the time I heard him walking to the time my arrow was launched.
I sat another hour in my stand and was comforted when a yearling buck came down the same trail and found my arrow for me. He sniffed the bloody arrow for a few seconds before blood trailing the buck up the hill. I kid you not – the deer sniffed his way directly up the hill where the G2 buck had sprinted and when he was nearly out of sight started doing a “head bob” dance - hopefully in response to my downed buck.
My confidence is skyrocketing with my Slick Tricks. Even on a mature buck shot high through the back of the lungs, the blood trail was more than adequate. Right where the yearling buck was doing his double take, the G2 buck lay expired.
Here is where the story takes an interesting twist. My buddy immediately remarked that I had shot the “midget” buck. I didn’t know what he was talking about. Apparently, there has been a buck for 2 or 3 years that appeared mature but was noticeably smaller than other adult bucks. This was definitely him.
His live weight was only 143.5 pounds – a full 60-70 pounds lighter than other mature bucks harvested from the property. From head to tail, he was over a foot shorter in length and his legs looked like 6 or 8 inches had been chopped off.
His rack did not disappoint though. Almost 11 inch G2s. Deceptively wide at 17 5/8″ inside spread. 21 1/2″ main beams. Average mass. Can’t precisely age older bucks, but the G2 buck was at least 5 years old – if not 6 or 7.
With my cull buck down, it’s time to take on a management 8 point. Only a week to make that happen though and getting within archery range of an old warrior has been nearly impossible so far. Thankfully, the rut is in full swing and the bucks seem to be responding to rattling on a consistent basis.
Stay tuned…
