Post by LongSpur39 on Sept 12, 2010 2:55:01 GMT -5
I was hunting a ridge in probably the biggest expanse of hardwoods I have ever hunted. The property was in northern Pennsylvania. I set my stand on the back forty two days prior. There were a lot of acorns and rubs,the deer were tearin it up. The first time I decided to hunt was an evening hunt. Figured I could catch deer headin to the agriculture fields. The problem was it was quite a ways from the night feeding grounds. And as i walked in around 11:30 am,my suspicions were answered. I'm so glad I had the binos. The deer were up and moving all over this ridge. I literally had to sit and watch them mill around my stand til 1:00 or so. Finally they moved off,and I was able to get to my stand. I glassed several small bucks,and was hopin with all the scent on the ground a larger one would eventually move through. I sat til dark without a seeing a deer. Heard some walkin around below me at last light. The next morning i could hunt first light. So I slipped in well before light. As it broke light I could hear a couple bucks goin at it,down in the thick cover. By the sounds they had some good bone,as they smashed head gear. Then I'd hear running deer,but saw nothing. I sat for another 3 hours,and only saw a couple of yearlings. At 10:30 i took out the calls and decided to try and coax one out. I did my usual grunts waited a few minutes and then threw out a snort wheeze and some grunts. Then went quiet for 20 to 30 minutes. After waiting I let out another snort wheeze followed by some agressive grunts. Within 30 seconds i heard a grunt down in the thick cover. Wasn't sure so i grunted twice. i heard some twigs snap ,and here he came. Problem was he was comin straight on. At 30 yds he thrashed a sapling,and turned angling to my left. At 15 yds i came to full draw and he spotted me. Thankfully he had no clue what I was,and gave me time to get the pin on him. I made a good double lung shot and he bounded 25 yds and dropped in his tracks. It was a big bodied 3 1/2 yr old 8 point. His rack was all busted up. He was a good one to take out of the herd.Didn't have the size of rack you'd want on a 3 yr old. Actually it was kind of typical for a big woods Pa whitetail. The thing is most of the guys down there don't keep at the calling. If it doesn't work the first series they put em away. I found most big woods deer take a long time to come to calling. Or they just stand and pretty much ignore it. And as always they try to get downwind of your calls. And being in cover they could be circling and you'd never see em. I've gotten busted more times than i can count. Had a buck slip in on me one morning. I had no idea he was there. I hadn't called in 10 minutes. I reached around grabbed the rattling horns, Smacked em together and there he was 15 yds behind me. Was not good. But anyway hope ya enjoy the adventure. cool to relive it.
