Well, I got lucky this year and I finally drew a buck tag for my area after 6 years of no luck in the statewide lottery! Its kind of ironic because I was holding out for a general area tag so that I could hunt wherever I want in my area, when I could have gotten a landowner tag every year but only be able to hunt my own property.
I ended up spending the entire 16 days hunting strictly on my own property anyway because that's where the area monster had been sighted earlier!
I have a bunch of does that inhabit a certain area on my farm, and they are always there. I decided to just wait it out and hopefully the big boy himself would show up to visit a few of the girls?
My hopes were dashed after about a week into the season, as my neighbor was lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time. He bagged the biggest whitetail buck that has ever been seen in this county in all of my 69 years!(first picture below)
I just about gave up because I was so disappointed but something told me to keep going and finish out the season because one never knows what might show up at any given time!
It was down to the last day and I had been sitting in the same place every day and decided to go there again. I was about 2 hours into it, with only about another 90 minutes of season left when this nice 5 by 4 stood up and stretched, at about 100 yards!
I had to give it a few minutes to be sure he was big enough, but when he turned and faced me, I was positive that he was wide enough and tall enough for me to harvest. One shot at 100 yards with the 7MM mag and the season was over for 2017.(2nd picture below)
I think I will build a tree stand in that spot next year and just apply for a landowner tag. I'm getting too old to be traveling all around the area anyway. Besides, it will be nice to get out of the wind to watch for the "Big One". I'm sure there are more this size around with the genetics we have and the excellent food source. Maybe next year I can outdo my neighbor! LOL
