Some hunts are destined to happen in a certain way, and I can’t help but think this one was meant to be.
I’d been hunting whitetail deer in middle Georgia for a few days and had seen a number of smaller bucks, but nothing that I’d call a shooter. Then came a dry spell due to crazy high winds and a bunch of weekend hunters… but come Monday, the wind disappeared along with the weekenders, leaving us with a peaceful forest to hunt.
Monday morning’s hunt didn’t even show me an animal, but one of the first thing a hunter learns is that it only takes a second for things to change in a big way, so I kept up my faith.
Taking a Camera’s Hint on Where to Hunt
On that same morning, my friend Richard retrieved the SD card from one of his game cameras, and it had a pile of pictures of deer. As near as we could tell, we had photographic evidence of eight does and nine bucks with racks. It was hard to tell some of the bucks apart, but we determined there were no fewer than 6 or 7 rack bucks in the mix.
Most of them failed to impress, but there was one that caught our eyes. As near as we could tell he only had 7 points, but we thought his rack looked tall and heavy. And that afternoon, I headed to that food plot with a pop-up blind and some other gear.
I found a nice spot for the blind, where I could set it up with some light brush between it and the plot, but still be able to see most of the plot. I prepared a spot by clearing away some leaves and thinning the brush a little, and while that was going on a heard some commotion in the woods to my right. It was too thick for me to see anything over there, so I got back to setting things up while staying as quiet as I possibly could.
By 2:39 PM, I was sitting comfortably on a folding chair inside my blind with my rifle propped up on my Bipod Shooting Sticks, awaiting the arrival of the trail-cam 7-point — or a bigger buck.
Making the Connection
Confidence is a huge part of hunting, and mine was high. The pictures of the buck I was after were four days old, but this plot was popular with bucks… probably because it was one of the only plots without a permanent stand. I felt good about my chances.
I got myself a snack from my pack just after 3:00 and soon…
