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Got Lucky On A High Elevation Buck
- Thread starter Sautee Ridgerunner
- Start date
Buckman18
Senior Member
Congratulations, great looking buck!
Great buck , congrats !
PAW-PAW BUCK
Senior Member
Nice Big Buck. Congratulations!
Back40hunter
Senior Member
That’s a hoss right there! Congratulations.
Mr Bya Lungshot
BANNED LUNATIC FRINGE
The way the rack looks I bet he was fast!
Congratulations for sure!
Congratulations for sure!
splatek
UAEC
Great buck
Congratulations
Congratulations
Duff
Senior Member
Yeah man! Looking forward to more pics and story! Congratulations!!
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
Congrats!
Cant wait for the story
Cant wait for the story
Sautee Ridgerunner
Senior Member
Ill leave out the name of my partner on this one unless he’d like to chime in. For ease of storytelling sake, let’s just call him “Kbogg”.
Anyway, saw the weather forecast for wednesday and figured I had to take a day off work. I’ve been pretty much exclusively a traditional archery guy for years but nothing has been working out for me this season. I had some great encounters with bears in September and October but was foiled by wind at the last second on multiple occasions. Switched to deer in middle GA in mid October and never saw a good buck or even got a shot on a doe.
A few weekends ago I took my 5 year old daughter up to our cabin and we spent two days running some ridges and checking a bunch of cameras I keep out. I found some pretty solid deer sign and good bucks around 2000 feet but was blown away when we walked a place high up. That cam had bears on it nearly daily and some nice deer too. But the ridge reminded me of bow season with the sign. Fresh piles of bear scat every 20 yards or so. Matted up piles of leaves where they lay down and rake acorns. I knew I had to get back up fast.
That was on a saturday so I came back up on wednesday with my next door neighbor. Hes a new hunter. I put him in the low elevation place and he saw a bunch of does. I went high and bumped a big bear off the ridge in the dark and then listened to one feeding just over the lip of the ridge for the first 30 minutes of light.
That afternoon we both went to the higher place and I set him up 250 yds from me. I had barely pulled the bow up the tree when his gun went off. He texted me “I think I got a bear”. So down I go and actually bumped two deer between us. I spent an hour searching some nasty laurel looking for blood but confirmed a miss. But, in that laurel I was pretty blown away by the buck sign. Lots of fresh scrapes and some big rubs.
So, another week later I decided the freezer was too empty and finally dug out my 30-30 and found some bullets. My buddy “Kbogg” was going to be up hunting too so we talked about meeting midday. I drove up at 4:30 am and froze until 11 in the lower elevation place seeing nothing. “Kbogg” ran into some other hunters where he went and bugged out early. We made a plan to double team the higher spot for the evening sit. We flipped a coin for who would go where and I drew the spot further out the ridge. Now “Kbogg” is one of these maniacs using one of those silly saddles. He showed me how it works but I figured I could rebuild a truck engine before getting all those pulleys figured out. Anyway, he was still up monkeying with that silly contraption when this buck emerged from the laurel head and saw him setting up. He wasnt spooked but just eased back lower and started feeding out the ridge.
I was already up and settled in a climber (like a normal person) 250 yards past him. As soon as I was set up I heard a deer come through the thick stuff behind me and realized I had a white pine obstructing that direction. I had to turn my stand 90 degrees and do a yoga type lean to reach the pine but after a few minutes of sawing I had a hole to shoot through. I hadnt even put the saw away when I heard this deer walking. Im pretty sure he heard that noise and figured it was a buck rubbing but for five minutes he alternated between looking and feeding my way on red oaks. As soon as the shot was there, I dropped him with a high shoulder/neck shot.
“Kbogg” and I talked briefly and I decided to stay up the tree a while before getting down, gutting the deer, and slowly dragging his way. Not ten minutes later, I heard his gun go off. Wierdly enough, he ended up missing the same bear that my neighbor had the week before. I had another quick encounter with a bear or hog I never saw before climbing down and getting to work.
Neither one of us had meat packs so it was a long drag but man, what a feeling! Ive never spent a lot of time chasing deer up here but in the last few years Ive made it a priority to learn some places and run a pile of cameras to figure some stuff out. I wouldve thought the world to kill a good buck on any piece of NF land but to drag one out off a high elevation ridge deep in the wilderness is unreal to me. Especially because my daughter helped me do the scouting and my buddy helped with the drag.
I sure wish we wouldve doubled up last night but that stuff happens. Good luck the rest of the season everyone. Bucks are moving and the bears are the most active Ive ever seen them this late.
Anyway, saw the weather forecast for wednesday and figured I had to take a day off work. I’ve been pretty much exclusively a traditional archery guy for years but nothing has been working out for me this season. I had some great encounters with bears in September and October but was foiled by wind at the last second on multiple occasions. Switched to deer in middle GA in mid October and never saw a good buck or even got a shot on a doe.
A few weekends ago I took my 5 year old daughter up to our cabin and we spent two days running some ridges and checking a bunch of cameras I keep out. I found some pretty solid deer sign and good bucks around 2000 feet but was blown away when we walked a place high up. That cam had bears on it nearly daily and some nice deer too. But the ridge reminded me of bow season with the sign. Fresh piles of bear scat every 20 yards or so. Matted up piles of leaves where they lay down and rake acorns. I knew I had to get back up fast.
That was on a saturday so I came back up on wednesday with my next door neighbor. Hes a new hunter. I put him in the low elevation place and he saw a bunch of does. I went high and bumped a big bear off the ridge in the dark and then listened to one feeding just over the lip of the ridge for the first 30 minutes of light.
That afternoon we both went to the higher place and I set him up 250 yds from me. I had barely pulled the bow up the tree when his gun went off. He texted me “I think I got a bear”. So down I go and actually bumped two deer between us. I spent an hour searching some nasty laurel looking for blood but confirmed a miss. But, in that laurel I was pretty blown away by the buck sign. Lots of fresh scrapes and some big rubs.
So, another week later I decided the freezer was too empty and finally dug out my 30-30 and found some bullets. My buddy “Kbogg” was going to be up hunting too so we talked about meeting midday. I drove up at 4:30 am and froze until 11 in the lower elevation place seeing nothing. “Kbogg” ran into some other hunters where he went and bugged out early. We made a plan to double team the higher spot for the evening sit. We flipped a coin for who would go where and I drew the spot further out the ridge. Now “Kbogg” is one of these maniacs using one of those silly saddles. He showed me how it works but I figured I could rebuild a truck engine before getting all those pulleys figured out. Anyway, he was still up monkeying with that silly contraption when this buck emerged from the laurel head and saw him setting up. He wasnt spooked but just eased back lower and started feeding out the ridge.
I was already up and settled in a climber (like a normal person) 250 yards past him. As soon as I was set up I heard a deer come through the thick stuff behind me and realized I had a white pine obstructing that direction. I had to turn my stand 90 degrees and do a yoga type lean to reach the pine but after a few minutes of sawing I had a hole to shoot through. I hadnt even put the saw away when I heard this deer walking. Im pretty sure he heard that noise and figured it was a buck rubbing but for five minutes he alternated between looking and feeding my way on red oaks. As soon as the shot was there, I dropped him with a high shoulder/neck shot.
“Kbogg” and I talked briefly and I decided to stay up the tree a while before getting down, gutting the deer, and slowly dragging his way. Not ten minutes later, I heard his gun go off. Wierdly enough, he ended up missing the same bear that my neighbor had the week before. I had another quick encounter with a bear or hog I never saw before climbing down and getting to work.
Neither one of us had meat packs so it was a long drag but man, what a feeling! Ive never spent a lot of time chasing deer up here but in the last few years Ive made it a priority to learn some places and run a pile of cameras to figure some stuff out. I wouldve thought the world to kill a good buck on any piece of NF land but to drag one out off a high elevation ridge deep in the wilderness is unreal to me. Especially because my daughter helped me do the scouting and my buddy helped with the drag.
I sure wish we wouldve doubled up last night but that stuff happens. Good luck the rest of the season everyone. Bucks are moving and the bears are the most active Ive ever seen them this late.
ddd-shooter
Senior Member
Love the tree saddle shade. ?
Great story, great job. Now go cut some shirt tails off...
Great story, great job. Now go cut some shirt tails off...
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Nice buck!
Pig Predator
Useles Billy’s Fishel Hog Killer ?
Great deer and story.
bany
Senior Member
Gotta love stepping into a mountain hot spot! Great buck, congratulations!
Whit90
Senior Member
AWESOME deer!
twoheartedale
Banned
Kbogg sounds like an upstanding guy. Did he massage your feet and back later that night at the cabin sippin on hot cocoa?
Congrats!
Congrats!
Sautee Ridgerunner
Senior Member
He drinks ovaltine
jbogg
Senior Member
That’s a great story. I almost thought you were talking about me, except that I never miss. ? The true story is my partner who I will refer to as Wauteewidgewunner had been whining about his freezer being empty and he was so desperate that he was going to put down that pathetic little stick and string that he normally hunts with and actually pick up a rifle. Literally the second I sat back in my saddle I noticed a deer slipping through the Laurel and it had horns. I got my gun up but it was just too thick for a clear shot. As he started angling down the far side of the hill I quickly grabbed my grunt tube and scared him straight to widgewunner. Probably less than 10 minutes later I heard him shoot.
Seriously, that was a great day on the mountain and a fine mountain buck. We are never too old to learn, and the lesson I learned yesterday was to be familiar with your weapon. I was hunting with a fairly new rifle I purchased last year. I had changed out the trigger myself, and the new one was set a good bit lighter than what I was used to. I had shot the rifle a handful of times, but never with gloves on, and not recently. I saw the bear down the ridge at about 100 yards obscured my brush. It was feeding away from me, but towards a small opening. As I tried to find the clearing in my scope I touched off a warning round without even having the bear in the site picture. Looking back I now realize I just did not have the familiarity with this new rifle that I needed to. My old model 70 that I hunted with exclusively for 25 years fit like a glove, and I think I may have become a little complacent and did not spend enough time getting used to this new one. Anyhow, lesson learned. All I know is somebody promised me a backstrap, so I’ve got that going for me.
Seriously, that was a great day on the mountain and a fine mountain buck. We are never too old to learn, and the lesson I learned yesterday was to be familiar with your weapon. I was hunting with a fairly new rifle I purchased last year. I had changed out the trigger myself, and the new one was set a good bit lighter than what I was used to. I had shot the rifle a handful of times, but never with gloves on, and not recently. I saw the bear down the ridge at about 100 yards obscured my brush. It was feeding away from me, but towards a small opening. As I tried to find the clearing in my scope I touched off a warning round without even having the bear in the site picture. Looking back I now realize I just did not have the familiarity with this new rifle that I needed to. My old model 70 that I hunted with exclusively for 25 years fit like a glove, and I think I may have become a little complacent and did not spend enough time getting used to this new one. Anyhow, lesson learned. All I know is somebody promised me a backstrap, so I’ve got that going for me.
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