The 2024 Tennessee velvet buck hunt is in the books! The traditional August temperatures in Tennessee – around 90 degrees – made for a sweaty sit in the treestand again this year, but for a number of hunters willing to ride it out, success came in the form of velvet antlers in the back of the truck.
As for my crew, the hunt was an absolute bust. The bucks we had been watching disappeared the week before season. Bean fields turned into ghost towns. It was a weird deal that left us scrambling for Plan B, C & D. I talked with other hunters that were experiencing similar results.
One of my early season options is a persimmon tree that routinely gets lots of love from the local deer herd. However, this year, a couple coyotes had moved in and taken over at the persimmon tree. The deer disappeared when the coyotes came in and began to hang out at the tree, checking for dropping fruit nearly every hour throughout the day.Â
When I saw it playing out on my trail camera, I made a plan to go in and put a stop to the madness. I slipped into the blind at 4:00pm on Saturday afternoon. At 4:45 a coyote appeared and began to look for the fresh persimmons it had just heard crash through the leaves as they fell to the ground.Â
I grabbed my bow, eased back to full draw, and lip-squeaked to stop the coyote as it walked across the opening by the tree. The shot was 25 yards and the arrow smacked him good. He tumbled and growled his way just 20 yards down the trail before it all went quiet again.
I had traded in my velvet buck opportunity for a coyote kill – and I didn’t even feel bad about it.Â
For others, the hunt was a big success. My longtime friend, Jon David Johnson, had the chance to punch his tag on a beautiful buck on Day 2 of the hunt. His hunt was a testimony to the fact that you’ve got to hustle to make things happen and not be afraid to make a move when you know you’re not on the X.Â
“We moved an unproductive set midday on Saturday,” says Johnson. “I moved the stand to an island of trees on a bean field and overgrown pasture edge along a fence line. I had no camera there and no history with the setup. It was just a spot that felt right and had a favorable wind. After watching does and some small bucks early in the evening, a buck popped out at 140 yards just before dark.”
“I never thought I was going to be in the game with him due to the distance and time left of shooting light. However, rather than browsing beans, he came right down the fence edge, straight to me at almost a jogging pace and presented a shot at 24 yards. The speed at which I went from thinking it was over, to having a shot, shook me up as bad as I can remember! It was so much fun.”
Another good buddy, Blair Moody, is a champion archer, YouTuber, and all-around good dude. He killed his first velvet buck ever on the last afternoon of the weekend hunt.Â
The hunt capped off a weekend of cat-n-mouse maneuvers on several shooter bucks Moody had his eye on over the 3-day hunt.Â
Take a quick scroll through the Tennessee Deer Hunters Facebook page and you’ll see a wide variety of bucks taken during the hunt from hunters of all ages.Â
Here’s a look at a few of the bucks we found on the Tennessee Deer Hunters page the last few days.Â
A big congrats to all the successful hunters that notched a tag during this year’s Tennessee velvet hunt. As always, the hunt was a great way to kick off the fall bow season, and we’re already looking forward to the regular season coming in September 28th.
Be sure to send in your photos, and keep us posted on your hunts this season.Â