OK it’s time to get this one started again, What are you seeing, observations on mast, any fresh rubs or scrapes or anything else you want to chime in on!
Congratulations ! The November rut causes another patriarch to make a mistake and fall !This season has been so busy with work and a new house, that this last Thursday and Friday were my first real times hunting so far. We've been building a new house so over the summer I spent some time trying to get access to some properties near by. Fortunately I was able to score a farm about a half mile down the road from the new house. I figured I'd give that spot a sit Friday evening.
Around 4:30 someone walked up to my stand and started a conversation. He left by 5 and I figured my hunt was done. But within a few minutes I looked to my right and here's this guy standing no more than 10 yards below my stand. I had about a 10" hole to shoot through between all the branches and ended up hitting lower than I hoped, nicking the bottom of the lungs. He ran into the field in front of me and stood still for about 5 minutes. Of course my mind is racing wondering if I hit him at all, swearing I had seen blood pouring out of him when he first ran, but he looks fine... what's going on?!?!
And then... finally... he wobbled and fell over. He wasn't dead yet but couldn't stay on his feet. He tried getting up a few times but kept falling back down. When he fell in a direction facing away from me, I was able to get out of my stand and sneak over to get a 2nd arrow in him (which is what you see in the picture).
I took him to the taxidermist today who scored him at 143" and aged him at 5.5 yrs old. I know he's not a record breaker by any means, but he's got such a unique rack, I still feel he's worth mounting. It's the first time I've had a buck mounted, so the next 8 month wait is going to be a bit tough. But, it'll be nice hanging on the wall in my new house
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