I’ve been fortunate to hunt this particular property for the last 5 years, and every year it seems to get better and better the more I baby it. The neighboring farmer decided to call it quits on raising cows this year, so he turned the old cattle pastures into field corn. I was in one of my stands last November when he started to disk the top pasture, and I knew that fall of ’15 was going to be dynamite for deer hunting.
I recently moved to Hayward, WI after getting married last July. I knew I wanted to continue hunting down at my spots in MN, but it wasn’t going to be easy planning my weekend trips. I started running cameras at the end of July, and I first got pictures of a buck I call “Cote”, after one of my buddy’s deer (It had a missing G3 on the left side) in early August. Cote wasn’t my #1 target buck as I had pictures of a 135-140” 8 point with 6-7” brow tines that I was hoping to get on. As usual, however, he disappeared at the beginning of September soon after he shed his velvet.
Opening weekend wasn’t eventful in MN, and I had to go back to Hayward Sunday night in preparation for the workweek. I didn’t return to MN until Thursday night, October 1. I checked my cameras after hunting Friday morning and to my surprise, Cote showed up during daylight during the last quarter moon on September 22 @ 5:50pm, and during the full moon on September 27 @ 6:30pm. I hunted the “Killing Tree” the evening of October 2nd on the wrong wind in hopes of seeing Cote during the daylight. I figured it was, “now or never” and took every precaution to get as scent free as I could, but of course he didn’t show up. Unfortunately, I had to unexpectedly go back to Hayward that Saturday morning for a work-related issue.
For the next two weeks, I was constantly thinking that I missed my chance at Cote, and it was difficult getting through each and every workday without daydreaming about him! I didn’t return to MN until Thursday, October 15. I anticipated that the weekend of October 17th was going to be my best chance at seeing Cote because of September’s activity that I kept track of and the moon phase. I spent the week mentally preparing myself for the encounter, practiced shooting at 30-40 yards and anticipated shot angles.
Friday morning I hunted the Killing Tree on a decent North wind. At 7:30am, one of the bucks I had many pictures of came out of the woods and was heading right for me. I stood up, grabbed my bow, and got ready. He was a 9 point that had a history of running with Cote, and I decided to let him walk because I believe he’s only 2.5 years-old. He walked by me at 38 yards and went out of sight. That was the only buck I saw that morning. After I got down, I went to switch out my SD cards in my cameras, and then left. I checked the cards when I got home, and while I was in Hayward, Cote showed up 3 out of 4 days in a row during shooting time. He showed up on the 13th at 7:20am, 14th at 7:25am and 15th at 6:30pm. Before my hunt on Friday evening, I prepared myself to kill this deer. I got to the stand about 3:45pm. At 4:45, 5 does came from the south, but seemed skittish. The wind was coming from the North and they knew something wasn’t right. Thankfully, Nose Jammer did the job and they slowly worked their way cross-wind and along the corn. The coyotes were howling in every direction that night, so my best guess was that the deer were too anxious to move out of the bedding area. Cote never showed himself that night, and I was thinking, “Is it ever going to happen, what should I do to get a chance at him?”
Friday morning I had a WNW wind for the Killing Tree which isn’t good for a morning sit. The forecasted wind for the evening was NW, perfect for the Killing Tree. I was planning on checking the Pines camera on my way in to the Killing Tree to see if Cote had moved during the AM hours. On my way in to the stand between the upper and lower corn fields, I kicked up a 1.5 year-old and he ran in the direction of the Pines camera. I thought, “I’m not going to screw up my chances at Cote by checking the camera”, so I went directly to the stand. On my way in, I noticed a few new scrapes along the edge of the corn. I had no idea which buck was making them, but I soon found out who.
I brought the antlers with me because Cote had been sparring with a few of the subordinate bucks when they all gathered at this particular corner. I expected him to show at 6:30, so I was going to rattle at 6pm. His pattern in the evening was either coming from the North and going South, or NW going SE. I anticipated 3 spots of where I would shoot him: 36, 28 or 26 yards. I also had a spot on the other side of the fence along the corn that was 32 yards, but had to be careful to not shoot the fence….
It was a slow night other than seeing 1 hen and 6 polts. I said to myself, “rattle at 6pm”. I was sitting in the stand at 5:45 looking down when I looked North at the corn, I said to myself, “There he is”. I slowly stood up, and the straps from the stand were really squeaky. It was dead calm that night so every sound carried. He stood at the corner of the corn looking and listening for a few minutes. I grabbed my bow and positioned my feet, but with the squeaking noise of the straps. I thought to myself, “he’s going to spook all because I didn’t switch out the straps”. He made his way to the East, but heard the squeak as I positioned my body for a shot. He then came back to the West and stood at the fence opening for about 5-10 minutes. I didn’t have a shot, but watched him yawn, lick himself and listen for anything that made a noise.
I kept thinking to myself, “36, 28 or 26”. I’ve been through this situation before and knew that I had to focus on my form and yardage rather than “OMG he’s huge, He’s big” etc. He finally turned and started heading East, but slowly. My shot was going to be at that 32 yard leaf that I had ranged earlier in the hunt. If he was beyond the leaf more closer to the corn I thought, “35”. I drew my bow and made sure the sight was level. I saw him enter my sight and let out a subtle “Meehhh”. I told myself, “35 yards, squeeze the trigger”. I shot and watched the arrow center punch his lungs. He did the classic death run followed by several bounds before stopping. I couldn’t see him, but everything went silent. I then heard the sound every bowhunter dreams about after arrowing a deer: the breaking of sticks and rustling of leaves as the deer tips over.
I had killed a buck I knew too well and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time! The pressure was off, anxiety lifted and feelings of victory rushed through me. I called my brother and then wife to tell them the news. I got down about 10 minutes later after I gathered my nerves and thoughts. There was a 1.5 year-old standing right by him trying to figure out what just happened. I followed the blood trail to see what it looked like even though he was dead.
One of the coolest parts about that night was that my Covert captured Cote coming out of his core area at 5:20pm before he made his way along the corn and to me. Little did he know, that was the last time he’d sleep there! If I had checked that camera by the Pines Stand, I wouldn’t have killed him, and could have possibly ruined any chances that I had at him. He scores 135 7/8” as a 4.5 year-old with 5” bases. I can’t wait to try it again in WI. I’m hoping I can take another mature buck this fall, but I can’t complain with killing 3 mature bucks that I patterned in the last 3 years.