Another Amazing Hunt Tonight - No Shots Though

I arrived this afternoon at about 2:00.  I had a few chores but I ran around and changed the camera cards. I also moved the turkey blind directly under the apple trees against the fence.  There was a northwest wind which is perfect for that blind location.

I took a look at the camera cards.  The Stealthcam took 6 shots and then died saying that the batteries were dead (again).  I wasn't sure if the batteries that I had put in were fresh so it may have been my fault.  The Bushnell (under the apple trees) had 91 shots and the Moultrie (near the driveway stand) only had 25.

I'll make another post when I get home with more photos.  I'm on a cell card out here at the farm and it's not the best for uploading photos.  But here's a few:

This buck has been a bit of a phantom.  We haven't captured a clear shot of the whole rack yet.  But here's one side with the backward tine.  I guess we'll call him the backward buck.  He's got some pretty massive brow tines and 6 points on the side with the backward tine.  I wasn't sure if his G-2 was broken off but I thought that if it was, there must be a real bruiser out there.

Hard to see much on this guy other than he's big.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen this guy live a couple of times.

 This one looks pretty high but not that wide.

Out at 10am - he's pretty young, that may be why.














Anyway, I looked at the activity on the camera and it appears that the chasing phase of the rut is in full swing.  The best food on the property is the soybeans, brassica, and apples all right by the barn.  The wind was right so I decided to sit in the turkey blind in the orchard.

I got in the blind at 4:00 and nothing had happened by 5:00.  I got cold so I ran back to the barn for more layers.  At about 6:00, I looked up and there was a buck walking thru the soybeans about 50 yards out.  He was a typical 8 point with (I'm guessing) a 20" spread.  Nothing spectacular on mass or tine lenght but definitely a shooter.  He walked directly across the soybeans from the driveway to the new orchard at 50 yards from my blind. He wasn't in a hurry but he didn't stop either.  He just kept cruising and went into the treeline on the other side of the field.

Two does were directly behind him.  They stayed and grazed in the soybeans.  They were soon joined by another pair of does.  One of the does got into the brassica and grazed its way into 10 yards from me. 

I was nervous about the doe potentially busting me but it never did.  I kept glassing the treeline that the 8pt disappearred in but he never emerged.  At some point I turned and glassed down the driveway and there was a beautiful buck standing under the pear tree on the driveway.  He had a massive main beam and I could see 4 big tines on his left side not counting brow tines.  I had to be careful moving around to glass him because I had a doe 10 yards in front of me. He was beautiful but I couldn't see anything on his right side.  Eventually, he came from the pear tree up into the soybeans and I found out why I couldn't pick up his right antler - there wasn't one.  He was a mature deer with a massive left rack with 5 main points but there was nothing on the other side.  I have no idea if it was knocked off in a fight or if it's a genetic thing and it never grew.  Maybe he tangled with the backward buck

Anyway, I was starting to lose light.  A fifth doe came out into the field and the one-sided buck wandered off.  Luckily, all 5 does wandered off toward the highrise stand and I was able to get out of the blind without spooking any deer.

I'm going to hunt the same spot in the morning and then I'm heading back to Mason - Amy is visiting this weekend with Ridley and Zulu.