This was a fun hunt. It was definitely interesting hunting these suckers in the trees. Although once you have some spotted, the trees definitely help you close the distance.
Spotted this sucker the day before opening day. at one point, he was about 15 yards off the main road. Figured he would be a goner first thing opening day. He was also right on the border of a small piece of private land. With those two things combined, we figured better off just focusing somewhere else.
I guess from what some of the other hunters were saying, there weren't many bucks in the unit this year. Even hunting the more well known prairies, we only saw a few bucks total, and only a couple of those were worth taking a closer look at. So after a couple blown stalks in the wide open country, we drove by to see if anyone had killed the big guy right off the road. We were shocked to see him alive and well, and a good distance off the private property.
Dad was able to stalk thru the trees and get about 150 yards away. Well, he got a bad case of buck fever and missed him clean (we looked for blood for about an hour just to make sure)... Needless to say, he was pretty bummed about that. They all scrammed into the trees, and that was that.
Hoping someone else gets a shot at him. I would love to see some good photos of him on the ground.
He was by far the best buck we had seen. As luck would have it, as we were wrapping up our afternoon, we decided to take a walk thru a small patch of trees in the direction that we had seen a group go earlier in the day. 15 minutes in, and we see a nice single file line of about 5 does, and this guy bringing up the rear. 150 yard shot through the trees, and just like that the old man redeemed himself. Not as big as the other buck, but still a decent one. And from the looks of it, seems like harvest rates were going to be lower than previous years for the unit. So needless to say, we were happy to get it done. Another great hunt with dad and grandpa.
I have some good video I'll post soon.
Spotted this sucker the day before opening day. at one point, he was about 15 yards off the main road. Figured he would be a goner first thing opening day. He was also right on the border of a small piece of private land. With those two things combined, we figured better off just focusing somewhere else.
I guess from what some of the other hunters were saying, there weren't many bucks in the unit this year. Even hunting the more well known prairies, we only saw a few bucks total, and only a couple of those were worth taking a closer look at. So after a couple blown stalks in the wide open country, we drove by to see if anyone had killed the big guy right off the road. We were shocked to see him alive and well, and a good distance off the private property.
Dad was able to stalk thru the trees and get about 150 yards away. Well, he got a bad case of buck fever and missed him clean (we looked for blood for about an hour just to make sure)... Needless to say, he was pretty bummed about that. They all scrammed into the trees, and that was that.
Hoping someone else gets a shot at him. I would love to see some good photos of him on the ground.
He was by far the best buck we had seen. As luck would have it, as we were wrapping up our afternoon, we decided to take a walk thru a small patch of trees in the direction that we had seen a group go earlier in the day. 15 minutes in, and we see a nice single file line of about 5 does, and this guy bringing up the rear. 150 yard shot through the trees, and just like that the old man redeemed himself. Not as big as the other buck, but still a decent one. And from the looks of it, seems like harvest rates were going to be lower than previous years for the unit. So needless to say, we were happy to get it done. Another great hunt with dad and grandpa.
I have some good video I'll post soon.
