LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
If there ever was a buck that I would love to get an opportunity to have 20 feet below me and 20 yards out….. This is him.
A velvet photo showing a broken tine hanging down still attached by velvet.
In hard antler.
My first sighting of the double beam buck was summer of 2007. I was glassing a bean field adjacent to a dried up swamp that is now a tall weedy bedding area. He exited the tall weeds and followed a ditch East along the backside of the bean field. He drank from the ditch and then waded into the beans. I glassed him numerous times in the beans last summer and also had quite a few trail cam photos of him. He quit being active during daylight hours in mid to late August. From there on out I had no more sightings or photos of him while the sun was up. I did however get trail cam photos of him after dark into early September. Mid September on I had no confirmation that he was still around, no sightings, no trail cam photos, nothing.
As October turned to November, I found myself sidelined with a shoulder injury and missed the rest of the season…. Game over for the year…. The rut came and went as did our shotgun and muzzleloader seasons. Was he shot by another hunter? Did he leave the area? Had he been hit by a car? None of the other guys who hunt this farm had laid eyes on him either, he seemed to vanish. I had all of these questions, but no answers…. That is until one evening last winter I was out shed hunting and came across a familiar sight a few yards ahead….
There laid the double beam side of the buck I had all those questions about and thought so much about…. It felt good to know that he was still alive and in the area…. Although, many more hours never turned up a find on the other side. The non-typical side is all it took to get my enthusiasm rejuvenated for another round with this whitetail.
This year has started no different than last year ended… I have not saw or got a trail cam photo of him this year. But what's new? Persistence payed off last year with this shed, hopefully, it will again this fall with an opportunity at the buck I covet so much.
