First I would like to introduce myself..I'm Craig. I reside in the Northeast Georgia area, we moved here from Miami Florida 28 1/2 years ago. I have so far really enjoyed spending time here at this forum.
I got out of the hunting club I was in for the last five years and really didn't plan to hunt this year. My daughter's fiancee Andy (he was her boyfriend at the time) offered to let me hunt on the land he lives on with his father. It is 30 acres and an hour northeast of my home. It is mostly fenced pasture with a creek all along the backside adjoining several hundred acres of neighbors wooded property which the neighbors gave me permission to hunt on. After spending a day scouting the land I found three well traveled areas to set up stands the next weekend.
I set my stand at the bottom point of the property where two ridges intersect across the creek from me. The surrounding properties funnel through here. I found a tree located back off the trails and set my climber in it. In North Georgia it is very thick with underbrush and stays green well into the hunting season.
The first weekend I got to hunt was November 1st & 2nd, well into the season. I had to work and didn't get to hunt Saturday. Sunday I had to work early in the morning. Afterward I went home to rest a little while planning to hunt that evening. Shortly after I got home I got called back to work. I finally got done and left around 2:00 pm. I called my 15 year old nephew who lives next door and told him to be ready. I really didn't want to go that late but I had promised to take him hunting.
We arrived at the hunting land at 3:30 pm and rushed to get our gear together. At 4:00 I was in the stand and blew my grunt set on mature doe. In about five minutes Andy's boxer came down and laid at the bottom of my stand. I though great...what else will go wrong. After he settled in I blew the grunt again. Within ten minutes I saw some movement back behind some saplings. A small six pointer moved out and ambled around about ten minutes. Scooby had all he could stand and went after the deer. The six pointer went over the next ridge. Scooby went down and lapped up some water from the creek them came and layed about ten yards from my tree.
I waited for the calm to return and the squirrels to move again then I blew the grunt twice. After about fifteen more minutes I blew again and immediately hear a grunt to my right. I blew again and it grunted back. When I got turned there was a huge bodied deer 30 yards up the hill at eye level to me. He was moving behind the under brush trying to get down wind from me. I couldn't get the shot on him so I stood up, this was the first time I stood in the climber without a creeking noise. I got turned and rested the gun along side the tree following the deer in the cross hairs. I saw an opening coming up and hoped he would go into it. He continued above the opening the turned down right into it and hesitated. He stepped as I took my shot and I hit him in the shoulder. He turned and ran to the left of my tree nearly running over Scooby and on to the creek and hesitated. I took the second shot from my .270, a good lung/heart shot and he dropped. He was a nice long tined eight pointer. Off to the cooler.
My next chance to hunt was Thanksgiving morning. I talked to Andy the night before and told him we were coming to hunt. Andy said he would hunt the other stand when he got off work around 8:00 am. I joked with him saying I would have two does on the ground by them. Insidently we have seen more bucks than does on this property.
My nephew and I got in the stands about 5:45 am and settled down. I blew the grunt and waited. At first light around 7:00 am I had two young does running around me. I watched them for about an hour before they went up the hill and settled down. I kept hearing a lot of noise over the hill to my right. It sounded like someone cutting brush and also sounded like a plastic bucket knocking against the trees. This racket went on and on and I was thinking so much for seeing any deer today. At 7:45 the sun topped the ridge in front of me. This was the first good cold snap we had this year and the sun hitting me felt warm but blinded me.Within ten minutes it was up high enough that I could see again. I started hearing the racket again and then the same two young does busted up from the creek from my right and stopped to the left of me. I looked again to my right and saw a nice long tined rack behind the brush. I looked to see where the does were then looked back and it was gone. With in seconds the buck came out across the creek forty yards from my tree and stopped. I took the shot and he ran towards me and dropped ten yards from my stand next to the fence. I got down to take a look at him and found a nice ten pointer. Off to the cooler.
I got out of the hunting club I was in for the last five years and really didn't plan to hunt this year. My daughter's fiancee Andy (he was her boyfriend at the time) offered to let me hunt on the land he lives on with his father. It is 30 acres and an hour northeast of my home. It is mostly fenced pasture with a creek all along the backside adjoining several hundred acres of neighbors wooded property which the neighbors gave me permission to hunt on. After spending a day scouting the land I found three well traveled areas to set up stands the next weekend.
I set my stand at the bottom point of the property where two ridges intersect across the creek from me. The surrounding properties funnel through here. I found a tree located back off the trails and set my climber in it. In North Georgia it is very thick with underbrush and stays green well into the hunting season.
The first weekend I got to hunt was November 1st & 2nd, well into the season. I had to work and didn't get to hunt Saturday. Sunday I had to work early in the morning. Afterward I went home to rest a little while planning to hunt that evening. Shortly after I got home I got called back to work. I finally got done and left around 2:00 pm. I called my 15 year old nephew who lives next door and told him to be ready. I really didn't want to go that late but I had promised to take him hunting.
We arrived at the hunting land at 3:30 pm and rushed to get our gear together. At 4:00 I was in the stand and blew my grunt set on mature doe. In about five minutes Andy's boxer came down and laid at the bottom of my stand. I though great...what else will go wrong. After he settled in I blew the grunt again. Within ten minutes I saw some movement back behind some saplings. A small six pointer moved out and ambled around about ten minutes. Scooby had all he could stand and went after the deer. The six pointer went over the next ridge. Scooby went down and lapped up some water from the creek them came and layed about ten yards from my tree.
I waited for the calm to return and the squirrels to move again then I blew the grunt twice. After about fifteen more minutes I blew again and immediately hear a grunt to my right. I blew again and it grunted back. When I got turned there was a huge bodied deer 30 yards up the hill at eye level to me. He was moving behind the under brush trying to get down wind from me. I couldn't get the shot on him so I stood up, this was the first time I stood in the climber without a creeking noise. I got turned and rested the gun along side the tree following the deer in the cross hairs. I saw an opening coming up and hoped he would go into it. He continued above the opening the turned down right into it and hesitated. He stepped as I took my shot and I hit him in the shoulder. He turned and ran to the left of my tree nearly running over Scooby and on to the creek and hesitated. I took the second shot from my .270, a good lung/heart shot and he dropped. He was a nice long tined eight pointer. Off to the cooler.
My next chance to hunt was Thanksgiving morning. I talked to Andy the night before and told him we were coming to hunt. Andy said he would hunt the other stand when he got off work around 8:00 am. I joked with him saying I would have two does on the ground by them. Insidently we have seen more bucks than does on this property.
My nephew and I got in the stands about 5:45 am and settled down. I blew the grunt and waited. At first light around 7:00 am I had two young does running around me. I watched them for about an hour before they went up the hill and settled down. I kept hearing a lot of noise over the hill to my right. It sounded like someone cutting brush and also sounded like a plastic bucket knocking against the trees. This racket went on and on and I was thinking so much for seeing any deer today. At 7:45 the sun topped the ridge in front of me. This was the first good cold snap we had this year and the sun hitting me felt warm but blinded me.Within ten minutes it was up high enough that I could see again. I started hearing the racket again and then the same two young does busted up from the creek from my right and stopped to the left of me. I looked again to my right and saw a nice long tined rack behind the brush. I looked to see where the does were then looked back and it was gone. With in seconds the buck came out across the creek forty yards from my tree and stopped. I took the shot and he ran towards me and dropped ten yards from my stand next to the fence. I got down to take a look at him and found a nice ten pointer. Off to the cooler.
