*I Finally Did it - Praise the Lord*

[fishfryer]

good job

 

[dwhee87]

Awesome story, and best of all, your dad and son got to be there. Perfect shot. Congrats, man. What a special buck!

 

[BluewaterFever]

Outstanding!

 

[Lumpkin Hunter]

Great story and buck. Congrats on the kill. I fully understand how loosing family land that you cherish not only as hunting land but it just has a special place in your heart. Several years ago I killed the last buck I would be able to take off of land I had hunted since I was a preteen well over 50 years ago. It is still a bittersweet memory of a place I truly loved to spend time on hunting and rambling around on.

 

[Resica]

Way to go Cletus!!! Congratulations!

 

[bany]

What a great day! Nice buck, congratulations!

 

[Cletus T.]

Man what a huntin' tale! Enjoyed the read, and your excitement is obvious as you wrote it.

Nice buck with a cool set of antlers, a fine shot, and I have no doubt that there were indeed FOUR generations of y'all involved.

It don't get much better, man.

Thanks man for the kind words........no doubt there were 4 of us in those woods!

 

[Cletus T.]

Good morning all you fine hunters – I’m still on Cloud 9 from last Thursdays hunt and I really appreciate all the kind words and words of encouragement and the folks that talked about my Granddaddy being there with me – I felt him for sure!

Should be getting the meat back one day this week and if I do I’ll be making a big ole batch of me deer meat cheese dip – it’s top notch!

Thanks again everybody – I know I don’t post as much as I use to too bit GON is family – this place is family!

 

[slow motion]

Congratulations. That's a great buck and a fine story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[DSGB]

Congrats on a great buck that no doubt means a lot to you.

 

[4HAND]

@Cletus T. what's this deer meat cheese dip you speak of?

 

[Cletus T.]

@Cletus T. what's this deer meat cheese dip you speak of?

It’s the normal Velveeta with Rotel cheese dip but instead of ground beef I put the ground deer in there with some special seasoning I use and it’s excellent!

I’ll have a batch made of it for Thanksgiving Day – probably make another batch for Saturday as well.

 

[ASH556]

That's awesome! Thanks so much for sharing the pics and story, and congrats to you on a great buck and an even better memory made!

 

[tad1]

Thanks for sharing and big congratulations!
Enjoyed your hunt!
JT

 

[Waddams]

God's honest truth, I just found this thread and reading it brought a few tears out. I'm so happy for you! You're granddaddy is proud!

 

[Jim Thompson]

Well folks – it’s been a little while since I’ve made a post here on GON and posted a good hunting story but this right here folks is a GooooooooD hunting story! So, I hunt on my family land that is a small patch of woods that is very Suburban. It’s a place called Hillside Farm and it’s been in my family for a little over 60 years. The house I grew up in is still there even though it has been moved because back in the mid-90’s, My Granddaddy sold the land to a developer and it went from being a Farm with pastures and horses and cows and fishing ponds and deer woods to woods behind a Grocery Story with all kinds of other eating places and shops and at the time I was very sad about losing Hillside Farm but we didn’t lose all of it – there was still about 19 acres of woods and some pastures and some of Hillside Farm never changed so it’s nice to go for a walk in the woods and step back in time as certain parts are just the same as it was when I was a little kid growing up down a dirt road.

I’ve hunted these woods very hard over the years and I’ve had so many misses and bad luck and just plain heartbreak in these woods and I was never able to seal the deal on a NICE Hillside Farm buck. We’ve had some dandies running around over there through the years too, but it just never lined up for me. My Granddaddy passed away about 4 years ago at the ripe old age of 94 and he lived a great full life but every time I would hunt over there, I would always stop by his house to tell him about my hunt because in his old age he wasn’t able to get in the woods anymore so he lived through me is what he would say. My Granddaddy was one of those guys who loved hunting and fishing and he would want to get his picture taken with YOUR deer – it was pretty hilarious, but he didn’t care. I so wanted to be able to share a nice Hillside Farm Buck with him but it just never happened before he got called home. Well………that all changed yesterday morning November 21st.

Here's that story………..

So I got into the woods about 6:15 AM and it was still plenty dark so I settled in and got all set up and STILL. Very Still – and waited for the sun to come up. It started getting light about 6:40ish where I was sitting and it was cold too. It was 38 degrees in Sugar Hill when I walked into the woods according to my truck thermostat. But by 7:30 I had not seen a single deer and or even a squirrel or a bird….it was weird. Woods were DEAD. But I sent my wife a text at 7:32 that said “I HAVE NOT SEEN JACK” and when I hit send on that text I looked up and saw a good size buck moving briskly down in the bottoms from my left to right with his head down to the ground and I had to turn him………so I broke out the ole grunt call and hit it a few times and it stopped him in his tracks and here he came! He came right to me on a string……BUT….I couldn’t get him to stop and he wasn’t running but he was moving at a brisk pace and I could not stop him and get him in the crosshairs. So……I had to let him pass and a good shot never presented itself. As he went up the hill behind me, I noticed there was two more bucks there, one was a super long brow-tine 6-pointer and the other a 4-pointer. He started pawing the ground and grunting at them and they turned and went the other direction. I was so shook up and thought I had just missed my Golden Opportunity on a good looking 8-pointe r that just walked right in front of me (22-25 yards) so I bowed my head and said this prayer…….. “DEAR LORD…….PLEASE LET THAT BUCK COME BACK TO ME AND PRESNET A GOOD SHOT…AND MAYBE IF IT’S NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK – SEND A DOE OVER HERE TO GET HIS ATTENTION AND BRING HIM BACK – IN JESUS NAME, AMEN”



So 20 mins go by and I had lost sight of the big 8-pointer that came by but then all of a sudden I saw him reappear down in the bottoms with the 6-pointer and he was just nosing around and not really looking in my direction but then I caught movement to my right and it was a doe coming right to me and it wasn’t just one doe but two doe were making their way right to me. Once that buck looked up the hill and saw that doe he came marching right up and this gave me time to get the crossbow shouldered and get ready for a good shot but he was once again moving at a good clip and I couldn’t get him to stop and I finally stopped him with a “MAHHHHH” and as soon as he stopped I sent the arrow his way. It made that “SMACK” sound he jumped a little but then ran off to my left and stood up on the hill for about 5-seconds and I was looking at his rear end and I thought I might have seen blood dripping but I wasn’t sure and then he bolted up the hill and took off running fast through the thick pines and he was lowering his head and I thought for sure he was about to crash but he never did.

Now the 2 – doe were still right under me, and I didn’t want to get down yet so I gave them time to ease off and it took about 20-mins, but they finally did and then I got down and went over to where he was standing and there was good blood there. Then I followed the trail a little bit and there was blood everywhere, so I felt good about it, but with our property not being a very big tract I didn’t want to push him off the property and potentially losing him so I backed out and gave him time to expire. I gave my buddy Tavis a call who has a tracking dog business and knows his stuff (Freddy Found It) and he advised me to give the deer time and back out, so I listened to the professional.

I walked up to my truck and took off my safety harness and started making other calls. I called my Dad and he was already on his way to Hillside Farm to do some grass cutting so he was in route. I then called my son Hunter Jack who has fully moved to Athens now (He’s a Full Time Firefighter up there) and he said “I’m coming” and then I had another buddy who said he’s on his way too so I had plenty of help to track and drag him out.

So, when Hunter Jack arrived, he said let’s go get your Buck Dad. It was almost 2 hours after I had shot by now and I felt good about it so off we went. Once we got down into the bottoms and I showed them where I hit him, and we began tracking and this was a blood trail that Stevie Wonder could follow. After going up the hill he was laid up about 30 yards away. I was overcome with Joy.

The fact that my Dad and my Son were there with me was special. I only wish my Granddaddy was there with us but I’ve got a strong feeling that he was there with us….he’s the one who sent that buck back my way…..or he at least helped with that. This has been a long time coming……21-years as a matter of fact. This is only my 2nd buck ever and my first one that is a pretty nice one. This buck was never on camera, and he’s got a pretty a wild crooked horn so that is what I’m calling him – ole crooked horn.

I’m blessed beyond belief and so grateful and thankful for this Hillside Farm Deer. I’ve put in the time in the Deer Woods and I was finally rewarded with a good buck. Sad news is – it’s looking like my family land is going to sell and this is more than likely my last deer season getting to hunt it. So the time was now and if I didn’t make it happen now I may have lost my opportunity to seal the deal – but I sealed it right up yesterday morning.

Thank you God for your many blessings and tell Grandaddy that I finally did it!



Cletus

Proud for you Cletus! Great story and fine fine deer!

Also it's perfectly fine for you to post more often.

 

[Triple C]

Great story! Great day! And a great buck!!!

 

[elfiii]

Outstanding buck Cletus and if the family land is to be sold it's a fitting way to end a long legacy. Great story too and I would agree, your granddaddy sent that buck your way.

 

[01Foreman400]

Congrats again!

 

[Gut_Pile]

Way to go Cletus!!

Enjoyed reading the story