Let me start out by saying that GON had the rut map for Gilmer NAILED (peak on 11/20). I'm on vacation this week and have been hunting some private property that joins Rich mtn. wma. There are several ridge leads that come together from 3 sides to form a funnel that comes down from the high tops down thru the back side of landowners property toward his cow pasture and small stream.This set-up has gotten me some pretty good success in the last few years (an 8, 2-6s, a 5, and a 4).
I had killed the 4 on 10/20 and had been back a total of 5 times w/o seeing a single deer. Although I was finding really fresh scrapes and rubs, I was starting to get pretty bummed that maybe the spot had played out. Yesterday morning, I took my 6 year old son along and it was just his second time in the stand with me (he's not ready for a gun yet, he just wanted to see what it's all about).We got settled about 6am and at 10:00,I stood up in our 2-man ladder stand and looked to my right at the opposite ridge finger and saw a deer's rump and tail from behind a group of 3 poplars about 80 yards away. I told my son I had spotted a deer and started maneuvering for a shot. I watched thru the scope and finally got a look at the head and neck (a nice 8). He wouldn't move from behind the trees and I pondered on taking the neck shot but I didn't feel confident. So, I took my eye off the scope to check the string and feather I had tied to a bush to see if he smelled us (BIG mistake). When I looked back, *poof*, he was gone...real quiet like, just as he had appeared.The good thing was that the wind was in our favor. I searched and searched the ridge-line thru the scope but he had apparently slipped off down the back side. I remembered my grunt call in my pack and started trying to employ it (I'm not all that good w/ it- I have no idea of frequency, intensity or duration). While I'm trying to come to terms with my screw-up and not puke over it, my boy says "Try your horns daddy." Well, I'm not any good w/those either, as I've never been able to use them w' any success, but I decided at this point I didn't have anything to lose and maybe he's just circling us to get the wind and may re-appear. I began alternating my grunt and rattling w' just 5-6 short bursts from the grunter than maybe about 30 sec. of rattling (at this point the wind had shifted and was now carrying sound from us to him) after about 15 min and the third cycle of my pitiful calling and rattling, we hear him coming back.....fast, as in a dead full run. I see him bust over the top of the ridge and start heading down it in front of us. I yelled but he wouldn't stop, so I tried 2 shots from my Browning BAR.270 and apparently missed. I guess he figured the mock-fight was down the hill from us? I sat for a moment to settle down and then I wanted to go down to the bottom to check so I told my son to just sit tight and I would come right back for him. When I stood, a doe with a spike right behind her came crashing over the ridge from the same area the 8 point had re-appeared. They came with-in 20 yards uphill of our stand and I was going to shoot her as a consolation in case I had not hit the 8 but she began zig-zagging up the mountain and there was no way I could get a shot w/o trees getting in the way. So I get down and walk to where I last saw the buck when I fired and as I'm scanning the ground, I hear something and I look and the buck has doubled back and is standing in the middle of an old logging road not 40 yards in front of me, totally un-harmed. The whole thing apparently has him perplexed. At the same time I raise my rifle, he bolts and runs down the road and jumps up on the bank and into some thick laurel, but I can still see his neck and head and as I am much closer now, I finally drop him. Whew... I had to walk all the way back up and gather the boy and our stuff and then drag the deer back down to where the truck was parked at the landowner's house. I was wiped out and busted, but it was worth it. Pics below. So thankful my son got an eye-popping adventure to tell his little buds about and cherish forever. He was fascinated at how everything happened so fast. He was apparently very proud of the fact that his little tip about the horns turned the day for us.
I had killed the 4 on 10/20 and had been back a total of 5 times w/o seeing a single deer. Although I was finding really fresh scrapes and rubs, I was starting to get pretty bummed that maybe the spot had played out. Yesterday morning, I took my 6 year old son along and it was just his second time in the stand with me (he's not ready for a gun yet, he just wanted to see what it's all about).We got settled about 6am and at 10:00,I stood up in our 2-man ladder stand and looked to my right at the opposite ridge finger and saw a deer's rump and tail from behind a group of 3 poplars about 80 yards away. I told my son I had spotted a deer and started maneuvering for a shot. I watched thru the scope and finally got a look at the head and neck (a nice 8). He wouldn't move from behind the trees and I pondered on taking the neck shot but I didn't feel confident. So, I took my eye off the scope to check the string and feather I had tied to a bush to see if he smelled us (BIG mistake). When I looked back, *poof*, he was gone...real quiet like, just as he had appeared.The good thing was that the wind was in our favor. I searched and searched the ridge-line thru the scope but he had apparently slipped off down the back side. I remembered my grunt call in my pack and started trying to employ it (I'm not all that good w/ it- I have no idea of frequency, intensity or duration). While I'm trying to come to terms with my screw-up and not puke over it, my boy says "Try your horns daddy." Well, I'm not any good w/those either, as I've never been able to use them w' any success, but I decided at this point I didn't have anything to lose and maybe he's just circling us to get the wind and may re-appear. I began alternating my grunt and rattling w' just 5-6 short bursts from the grunter than maybe about 30 sec. of rattling (at this point the wind had shifted and was now carrying sound from us to him) after about 15 min and the third cycle of my pitiful calling and rattling, we hear him coming back.....fast, as in a dead full run. I see him bust over the top of the ridge and start heading down it in front of us. I yelled but he wouldn't stop, so I tried 2 shots from my Browning BAR.270 and apparently missed. I guess he figured the mock-fight was down the hill from us? I sat for a moment to settle down and then I wanted to go down to the bottom to check so I told my son to just sit tight and I would come right back for him. When I stood, a doe with a spike right behind her came crashing over the ridge from the same area the 8 point had re-appeared. They came with-in 20 yards uphill of our stand and I was going to shoot her as a consolation in case I had not hit the 8 but she began zig-zagging up the mountain and there was no way I could get a shot w/o trees getting in the way. So I get down and walk to where I last saw the buck when I fired and as I'm scanning the ground, I hear something and I look and the buck has doubled back and is standing in the middle of an old logging road not 40 yards in front of me, totally un-harmed. The whole thing apparently has him perplexed. At the same time I raise my rifle, he bolts and runs down the road and jumps up on the bank and into some thick laurel, but I can still see his neck and head and as I am much closer now, I finally drop him. Whew... I had to walk all the way back up and gather the boy and our stuff and then drag the deer back down to where the truck was parked at the landowner's house. I was wiped out and busted, but it was worth it. Pics below. So thankful my son got an eye-popping adventure to tell his little buds about and cherish forever. He was fascinated at how everything happened so fast. He was apparently very proud of the fact that his little tip about the horns turned the day for us.
