Move the Stand

You will learn from your mistakes or you will repeat them. This sums up how I harvested a nice Illinois nine pointer this year. The 2016 bow season was filled with errors and mistakes for this hunter. I had not put in the proper preparation and I paid for it dearly.  Close does not apply in our sport. It is all or nothing to celebrate success.

I was determined not to repeat last year so I made a physical list and began step by step to improve my program. The first thing I did when April rolled around was move a stand. I had seen many deer fifty yards to the south from the stand I was hunting. Few came into range. With some good conversation and scouting, my friend Doug Althide and I found a mature tree near the local watering hole. We made short work putting up the stand and cutting out the shooting lanes.

The second thing was to re-work my bow. I had it re-strung. I purchased new arrows, and switched over to a mechanical broad head. Lastly, I decided to purchase Luminox nocks. Having the ability to more effectively track deer, was critical moving forward. I dialed in my bow in the off season with more practice than usual. I was ready to hunt.

 On the first Thursday in November, I set up shop in my new spot. With some rattling and buck grunts, I called in a button buck and a six pointer. After fifteen minutes of watching them under my stand, I decided to take the button buck. This provided deer for the freezer and I was excited about what was next.

I decided to go out again on the next Monday evening. It was a great hunt where I had 6 doe under the stand  at  four o' clock for about twenty minutes with no hint that I was sitting on top of them. No shots were taken.  I was looking for a mature buck and seeing all the doe, I was ready to come back, knowing a big buck would be in the neighborhood.

The very next night I got in about three o' clock. The wind had shifted to the north. It was quiet and no movement at all. As four p.m. approached I noticed a buck approaching me from the fence line to the north. He was a big bodied deer with an adequately sized nine point rack. He was not trolling but rather just meandering toward me. As he came right in front of me and stopped, I drew back and delivered the perfect heart shot. He jumped and ran down into the woods to the east of the stand and dropped.

It was as easy as it gets. I wrote the story last year as I began to plan for this year. It happened just like I planned. I had learned a ton from a very unsuccessful year last year. If you will learn from your mistakes, you will not repeat them.