Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Got lucky

Monday morning I had to drop the kids off at school so I didn’t pull up to my land until 830. Haven’t had a deer on camera all year I’d shoot but who knows what can show up during the rut and I just wanted to sit and hunt all day anyways. Walking to my stand I looked at my phone to silence it and check the cameras. A buck was on one of the cameras behind a doe and I knew i hadn’t seen him before. They were east bound along the river our land borders. I couldn’t tell much on horns but could tell he was much more mature than we had seen in a while. I thought I’d go get 1/4 mile east of him and sit down and maybe they will come by.

I cut down a fire lane through some thinned pines and headed to my stand. But I stopped when I heard the sounds of a buck chasing a doe in the thinned pines. Crashing through brush, grunting, running wide open then stopping, but it’s so thick I can’t see. Control burn was scheduled for last June but they didn’t make it so it’s THICK. Bad news though as they were already east of me. I backed out and literally ran about 250 more yards east down a lane in an attempt to get to a stand in front of them where I could see. Well they beat me to my spot and I see his horns headed over the top of a hill straight away from me through a food plot. He was heading back toward the river. So I just followed him. They got back into some cutover and he continued to chase the doe within 50 yards of me and at one point I catch a glimpse of the doe and him. About a minute later she ran past me heading back the way I came in from(north) but I didn’t see or hear the buck. I just sat down on the edge of the plot and was watching a fire lane to my south bw two cutover thickets and a large river bottom hardwood block and the plot they’d already crossed.

All the sudden the big sucker walks into the fire lane headed west where they came from. He’d left the doe. I was ready though and popped him in the lungs with a browning a-bolt 2 I bought off here last year. 243 with a hand loaded 95grain partition. He ran 50 yards and piled up. The smell of the smoke upon cycling the rifle on a frosty morning is maybe my favorite part of hunting.

Have had 8 cameras up since July and never got a picture of this deer until the day I killed him. I don’t know why he left the doe. Maybe he bred her, maybe another buck ran him off, or maybe he got spooked but he left her. He was 1/2 mile as the crow flies from where the picture was taken 40 minutes prior to me shooting him.

Biggest deer we’ve taken on our farm (red clay, poor dirt, hill deer) so far. 135 with a 13.5 half inch spread. I’ll take it

Mighty fine buck man. Congrats! The blood starts pumping when we hear chasing.

He's a dandy brother!

Beauty of a buck! Congrats!

Sure, luck factors into a lot of this stuff but, just like playing the lottery, ya still gotta be playing for lady luck to shine upon you.

Thats gettin after it! Congrats nice buck!!

You did well!!! Congrats on a very nice buck!!!

👍👍👍

Congrats on the buck! Nice darned deer!

Nothing gets your adrenalin pumping (at least mine) like a chase going on during the rut.

Congrats on a fine buck!

Right place, right time.

Nice deer.

Dandy buck, congratulations.

Nice! What county is your property in?

Luck ranks right up there with old age and treachery sometimes. You did good. Now find a casino and clean em out. You must be living right!

Really nice! Congrats

Very nice!

The end of our rut is my favorite time to hunt. We will often see "new" bucks with their guard down as they are scouting for the last does that are still in season. As somebody told me a few weeks ago "You prefer to shoot somebody else's bucks." I say "Yep!". Most of my nicer bucks have been ones that didn't even show up on cameras until the day they were shot.

Exactly what JPro said.

Congrats that's a Fine Buck. It makes it even better that you had work to get him. Good story.

That’s a nice one.

I just saw the first scrape of this season day before yesterday. Also seeing a few does without their fawns and fawns being kicked as they try to get close to a doe that I presume is their mother.

Super looking buck man! Congrats! Great account of the events leading up to the shot. I’ll tell you why he left the doe…because it was meant to be for you to get him. 😎

Real good one! Congrats!