Bucks in the City – Hunting Metro Whitetails
What a terrible afternoon! Two horseback riders had ridden by down the neighbor’s property line and now the other neighbor’s boy was out on his ATV tearing up the ground. He was buzzing by so close I had to turn my face because the breeze was blowing the dust in my eyes. Disappointed, I was about ready to get down out of my treestand when I saw a slight flicker of antler in the sunlight. My binoculars picked out a massive buck bedded down within 100 yards. Now I couldn’t move, nor did I want to!
The afternoon went on and I cursed the ATV. It was amazing…that buck was bedded within thirty yards of the ATV trail and it never seemed to bother him. Finally the sun dropped behind the trees and the ATV sounds stopped. A couple does popped-up from their beds and ambled by. There were dry leaves but I could hardly hear them, because even though the ATV noises had stopped, rush hour on the highway sounded like flies buzzing in my ears.
My binoculars stayed glued on the buck. At long last he finally rose-up and stretched. He did a good scent-check of the area, waved his nose in the air and started browsing in my direction. To make a long story short, I drove an arrow through both lungs when the buck reached 22 yards and he expired seconds latter about 100 yards away.
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It was prime-time for rattling so I proceeded to impersonate my best rendition of “two bucks fighting over a hot doe.” Glancing left, I noticed a wary doe and her fawn that I hadn’t seen and all I had done was alerted them to my position. Since she was only twenty yards away, I immediately stopped and became a “statue” of some goofy dude with a bow. She started doing that high-step walk in my direction (which I think in the whitetails’ world means, “I know something is awry but I’m going to play along anyhow) to gain the advantage of the wind. She came within inches (literally) of the blind and stood behind it. I could hear her breathing, but wanted to see.