Fun Saturday

[BrentLaBere]

With September gone and new seasons to come I found my self hunting geese this past Saturday morning with a good friend of mine that was in town from St. Paul. With the migration starting we decided to head north for a morning hunt. With nothing wanting to decoy for us it became a tough hunt. Most of our shots were pretty high (almost sky busting them) but the 3-1/2 s did the trick. In total we shot 8 geese and 3 is all I can really handle to eat so I was quite willing to spare the rest for my good friend .
With the afternoon wide open for me I decided to test my luck and head to one of my stands. As far as trail camera pictures go it has been a slow season for big bucks in my area. Getting tons of action but nothing I was willing to take. One nice 4x4 that has been showing himself every so often but only in the middle of the night. Well, like I said, I have nothing to do so why not head to the stand? I arrive around 3:00 pm and have roughly a 4 hour sit ahead of me. Nice afternoon with very little wind out of the north west I hung my bow kicked my feet off the platform and put my hands in my pocket and decided to relax. About an hour into my hunt I heard some turkeys making their way through the creek bottom. Oh how I wish i applied for a tag! When they finally passed through it was around 20 total that were within 15 yards of my stand.........they get a pass until next spring! My stand was over a good funnel point leading out into some fields. It had 3 new scrapes along it with some rubbing activity picking up on the smaller trees. Sure enough I had 3 younger bucks filtering out early on checking the scrapes. Rubbing their antlers on some small sapling trees and taking turns sparring. These are the same ones I have on camera so it was about what I was expecting for the evening. My left foot was going numb from dangling my feet for so long I sat up to re situate.....that's when I heard 3 deep grunts come from my left. My heart stops as I peer over my shoulder and down below. Not 3 yards away I have the nice 4x4 standing and staring at these bucks that have been making all this noise. You could say I was caught with my pants down...hands in my pockets and bow hanging up! With another spike walking up behind him he turns and drops his head to chase him off. Runs about 15 yards back into the thick timber and gives a soft grunt followed by a wheeze. I heard yet another buck grunting back it him in the timber. Deer are everywhere and I am trying to find a way to get my bow in my hand. I figure he may not stay for long with all of these bucks around so I just got for my bow while he is occupied by the grunting in timber. The smaller bucks spot me and begin to stomp, not much time before they blow out so I drew back and found my window through the brush. 20 yard pin aiming at the offset leg, hes quartering away hard and not minding me at all. I squeezed the trigger off to watch my arrow dive right into his chest where I wanted it. Before I had a chance to stand up to watch him disappear he did a nose dive 30 yards away and expires right in front of me.

Oh man what just happened? Random afternoon not expecting anything and it turns on my that quick! Same stand as last year where I missed a nice buck I had been chasing all year. Then this fall where my 5 point elk ran off never to be found.....I got the monkey off my back. Not the biggest buck but I wasnt about to pass him up. Very fun and exciting hunt.

[pikemaster]

NIce buck!!!! congrats.

[Packfitter.com]

I am jealous! Nice work.

[Triplebhunters]

Nice buck

[Z Barebow]

Great day to be in ND! October is my favorite month.

[flystrait]

Dandy buck! He definatley has some mass. My opener is not until Nov 25th I can't wait

[BrentLaBere]

Thanks guys,
Finished a do it yourself European mount. Used the regular walmart 3% peroxide and think it turned out ok with a little bit of separation from heating the skull. Now onto the pedestal part of the mount for a wintertime project.

[nuevo_eph]

Damn, that looks great! Good job and keep the photos coming.

[Swede]

That was a very nice buck, and now it is an excellent mount. Congratulations.