Hunter: Greg Gray
Points: 13 (5L, 8R)
County: Talbot
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
Like most hunters I mostly hunt Friday evening through Sunday morning due to the location of our lease and my work schedule. Unlike most hunters I have only been hunting for five years, and this is only the third deer I have ever harvested. With that being said, I’m always soliciting advice from other veteran hunters like my father-in-law. He has been hunting for more than 45 years. The weekend before the harvest; my 13-year-old son, my father-in-law, and I were out doing some scouting when my father-in-law discovered a muddy deer trail with some fresh tracks. He said we need to move a stand in the pines and hunt this active trail. The following Monday evening, my son and I, and one other member decided to take advantage of the schools being closed for Election Day and travel two hours back to the lease. We arrived at camp Monday evening at 10:00 pm and jumped on the four-wheelers and moved my stand like my father-in-law suggested. The next morning we woke up early around 5:00 am to prepare for the hunt. I always take my son to his stand, make sure he is locked in with his safety harness, hoist his gun up, and this morning I put out tinks69 around his stand. Once he gave me the thumbs up, I headed to my stand 300-400 yards away. Prior to getting in my stand I used about half a can of buck bomb on 3-4 trees and also used some Tinks 69 on two absorbent pads. I was in position in my stand about 20 feet high and locked in with my HSS harness. I was only in position approximately 15 minutes when I heard movement behind me, but it was still a little dark and foggy so I was unable to see what it was. About 30-45 minutes later I noticed a doe moving quickly from the hardwoods traveling toward the pines where I was set up. She never came into the pines, she stopped on the edge of the hard woods in a thicket making it difficult for me to see her. She turned and was headed toward my son near our food plot. Within a couple of minutes, I heard something coming up the hill in the hardwoods coming from the same direction as the doe, it was the buck of a life time. Unlike the doe, he didn't stop at the hard wood edge, instead he continued straight toward the Tinks 69 absorbent pad I had hung on a limb. It was as if he was confused, because he stopped and began to look around with his nose in the air. When he stopped, he was standing broadside looking in my direction. As I pulled the lever back on my 30-30 I had my crosshair on his vitals, and I pulled the trigger. Immediately I knew he was hit, he jumped, kicked, and ran about 30 yards and dropped. About 30 seconds later he stood up and limped 20-30 more yards and disappeared behind some bushes and tall grass. As I sat there in my stand occasionally I could hear him kick and groan. This went on for only a couple of minutes and I could no longer see or hear him. My son began texting me, asking me if it was a buck and did I hit him. I replied yes to both questions. I was excited and eager to get down and check my harvest, but I recalled the advice my father-in-law had given me; which was to give your deer time to expire prior to beginning to track it. He said if you go too early you may push him making it difficult to locate your harvest. I shot at approximately 7:30 am and we waited until 8:45 before we descended our tree to begin tracking. My son and I searched the area for several minutes before discovering any signs of a successful shot. Once we discovered our first sign, my son was hot on his trail. We tracked him for approximately 150-160 yards where my son found him. He had expired in a large ticket full of thorn bushes. My son’s reaction as he located my harvest was priceless and I will never forget his excitement at that moment. Once we were able to get the deer out of the thicket and to a location so we could take some photos, the first person I called was my father-in-law “Bo.” At first he couldn’t believe it, then he said “Your hard work for the past 4 years just paid off. From the off season bush hogging, to the food plots, it has paid off.” I couldn’t have agreed with him more. This was the most wonderful day of hunting I have ever experienced.
