Good luck, hope you get a shot at him and enjoy your hunt!
Matt
Theres a small opening right beside the tree that the camera is on into some pine woods, the edge along either side of the camera is fairly brushy, so naturally as they stop before going into the woods or between the corn and woods they tend to look inside. Conversely I get a lot of pics of them stepping out of the woods and stopping there or coming up around the corner of the corn where it meets open field and stopping.... just an obvious camera location, and 2 very, very lucky captures!
Hunting at that location is likely not going to pay off (have only captured him there 3 times in that time span, 1 time at night), and would be surrounded by deer so inevitably get busted before he shows up. Its right in the hub of all the action but super exposed to get to or from.
Now go let the air out of him.
Good luck to you.
NY has the worst deer management program in the country, bar none.
Pat, deer of his size aren't too uncommon in WNY, I know I've said this before. But his age however is a small miracle - this area will see a deer drive on opening morning and each week following, with guys toting ammo belts lined with slugs (I'm dead serious). In 10 years of hunting it I've seen 2 make it to 5 or 6, and they do it by vacating the area, retreating to a large sanctuary a mile away, I'm almost certain.
T- Roy you asked for progression pics.... I guess I'll play. ;-)
In 2021 I did scout that property a bit. And captured some up close footage of him in the soybeans one evening. Again come fall my attention was elsewhere on another biiiig buck (got poached in end of firearms). But I saw this buck late one morning while driving around after my morning sit. He was alive into the first week of gun, chasing a doe onto the property this farm owns where I hunt. I did not pursue him that year either.
I made this initial post a few days ago of the comparison pics not knowing truly where he was bedding or if he was even in the area, as I hadn't seen him since the 10th, and had seen nearly all the other bucks I know of on the property since then.
I haven't seen any real evidence of a (nearing) hot doe on this property but was seeing it on nearby properties. Nov. 1st was slated for a SW wind between 6-7am switching WSW by 8am. Leaves were damp from light precip the evening before. I decided to give my pre-set in the timber a shot for my first morning sit on the property. I also decided to access from the East entrance parking further back than normal so not to round the bend into view with headlights. Plan was to glass my way in and even though it was dark I'd be able to make out darker deer blobs against the wheat stubble if they were there. Under a very calm and clear sky, I made my way along the driveway then down along the corn and eventually up over the hill down to the woods. Conveniently the farm just tilled between the crest of the hill and woods for about the last 100 yards, so my approach to the woods edge was dead silent. I didn't see or hear a single deer bust me as I tip toed very slowly into the timber. All was quiet (except 500,000 squirrels gathering hickory nuts) until around 730 when I had a 3yr old junky racked buck move through along the east edge. I passed the test as he never busted me.
9am. Oddly I had just responded to a friend's text after he asked how the hunting was going as of late- with something like "rather uneventful, besides the turkeys out in the field and squirrels". So I began to count turkeys through a gap in the trees behind me when I realized a sound, which would be in front of me (I was spun all the way around), was actually a deer walking by. I turn to see a different 3yr old 8 cruising by. Followed up by a dink. They continue along the transition between logging rd and bedding out of sight to my NE but I know they aren't far since I lost sight of them about 15 yards away haha. Then the dink loops around back into sight and comes down wind of me which is now WSW and worrisome with how light and variable the air flow is. I think he may have been on to me as he approaches the base of my tree. Meanwhile all of the turkeys begin to filter inside the woods behind me. Some have already spotted me and are nervously walking around feeding and semi-putting.
925ish am. Suddenly a doe bounds in from the SW heading into the thick of it along the SE edge. Another dink and a 2yr old 8 show up from the direction she ran in from. The same 3yr old 8 suddenly reappears coming back from the N. He eventually ends up at the base of my tree to the W, while another dink is standing at the base to my N. It would appear as if a standoff is beginning. 2 dinks size each other up on while the 3yr old 8 is just standing there for minutes. Suddenly another deer is entering the rodeo, looping in from the NW. Its him! - See red dotted line. I shove my phone into my pocket (had been videoing the action up until then).
No buck is moving as they watch him approach. He's clearly the boss.
He stops at 25ish yards and it seems like he's facing and looking directly at me, but he's actually facing the 3yr old 8 - likely the one whos ass he's gonna kick if he gets in the way of him and the doe! I have no shot and haven't drawn but bow is in hand. I realize he's either going to loop around and intercept the doe (going down wind of me where It's too thick to shoot), or he's gonna break up this party and go directly to her which will take him right by me. The preferable choice takes him through all of my best shooting lanes directly to the W. I watch him make his decision as he stands there surveying the situation. What a sight! He's a glorious creature with a commanding presence. The other bucks skirt around him as he begins his approach.... he's not here to play around.
He begins to walk, I draw, and at 15 yards I attempt to stop his walk, he doesn't in the 1st lane. 2nd one he does (left of bow limb pocket). I release. Shot looks high back lung - I was off my mark a little in the heat of the moment, or he wasn't fully stopped, either way it's gone now. He bounds directly west of me where its nothing but buckthorn leaves. I see him slow and he moves just out of sights. Mind you all the woods came alive in that moment with possibly 31 turkeys, 6 deer, and oodles of squirrels scattering! It was hard to keep track of individual sounds. But I thought I heard him go down... but it was more of a lay down vs a crashing type sound. I wait. Nothing appears to have moved from the vicinity where I last saw him, but turkeys and deer begin to walk about again. I ponder if I caught lung or diaphragm/ liver area. I can see blood from the tree near my arrow in the leaves.... great sign!
I climb down slowly around 10:30, glassing with each step down I take, hoping to get a glimpse though the understory. If he's still alive and I can see him first, I'll back out like a sloth. I glass from ground level and can't see him but I can see to the area I last saw him about 60 yards away. I pick my way to the arrow and hit sight. Good blood. I can see blood spray on the leaves ahead. Glassing with each move I take it up slowly.... I'm fairly certain its not a liver hit. A few yards later I see antler through the binos. There he laid in a depression which is perfectly in line with a stump and a bunch of buckthorn from my tree point of view. He was dead in seconds.
With a little luck on my side, I just bested a master at his own game.... I'm one happy and thankful bowhunter!
Matt
Congrats and thanks for sharing with us!
Deerhunter72- I actually killed him the next morning after starting this thread! Has been a busy few days processing him and catching up on work. But then I realized a great opportunity to spin off of T-roys question about progression with the hunt recap.
Congrats on your success!
Thanks all!
