Big Bucks Come to Those Who Never Give Up

whitetail buckcam dateline: Friday, May 12, 2006 at 12:08 am

The last deer I shot is the perfect example of why it pays to never give up. I was in Louisiana on January 9th, 2005. I had already stored 225 pounds of venison in the freezer that season, but I continued to hunt; I was looking for another wall hanger, big whitetail buck. I had a nice buck on the wall from the previous season, a 110 inch two and a half (2.5) year old; but I found another blank space on the wall of the library requiring accessorizing. I'd received authorization from the boss (my wife) to fulfill the requirements, so I found myself on the deer stand twenty (20) hours every weekend from mid-November to the end of January.

I started deer hunting in 1997 at the age of 39 (late bloomer), and one thing I learned during the next 4 whitetail deer seasons: There is no substitute for time on the stand (TOS). If you want to shoot a big whitetail buck wall hanger, then TOS is the way to go. I figure I put in 300 hours TOS every season now. That's almost two (2) weeks of TOS! The pay-off of high TOS is normally a freezer full of venison and a whitetail buck wall hanger.

Anyway, I was sitting at home that January 9th. I had hunted all of the previous day and was really burned out from long hours of TOS, so I took the Sunday morning off and slept-in. What a great day to sleep-in; it was a foggy, foggy morning. I woke up and I finally was ready to go deer hunting around noon.

I drove the one (1) hour trip to the camp, set-up and was in the deer stand by 3 pm. It turned out to be a quiet evening with nothing going on, but I am always determined to sit it out until the end of shooting hours. Sure enough, with two (2) minutes left, I faintly spied a whitetail buck at 200 yards. I tried grunting him in, but he just kept on walking broadside at 200 yards. I couldn't get him to turn in or stop and I new I was