Daybreak on opening morning of gun season found me sitting in a homemade tent blind looking down a ten ft wide shooting lane that ended under a big white oak 50 yards. away. I could see a little corn left from the 2 5 gallon buckets of corn I had poured out the evening before on the Davy Crockett national forest floor. The sound of an occational acorn falling transitioned to the sound of distant and not so distant gunshots. After all, I was hunting in the most highly pressured area of the DCNF intentionally. I was sitting only 35 yds inside the worst overgrown clear cut you can dream up, with a small stream immediately in front of me, and the only white oak for miles. I had cut this small opening in July when I realized there would be a whiteoak acorn crop.
The sounds of the wild became abundant as the morning progressed. An old log truck rattled past my hiding spot on the road 35 yards behind me and truck doors slammed as hunters gave up early and headed for camp. A glimpse of antlers caught my attention at 8:52 a.m. A decent 7pt walked boldly into the corn trail and started eating. Long before antler restrictions, this was a very legal deer yet I knew my hunt was just starting. He threw his head up and stared behind me and to my left. Shortly I could hear boots walking on the paved road and hunters talking as they walked past. The deer returned to eating.
By 945, the gunshots had ceased yet the road behind me had a steady stream of traffic. The 7pt bolted and in walked a nice 8pt followed by a small 6pt. Over the next 30 minutes 8 different bucks showed up to grab a bite of corn or acorns and established pecking orders with a bigger 8pt allowing most to eat. Suddenly every one of them looked North. The 8pts posture changed and he cowed down. I eased my rifle up and rolled the scope to 4 power just as a heavy horned 9pt walked in. 7 year old brute in the mid 140s and it didn't take me long to shoot him dead. 10:32 a.m. and there was no way in heck I was going to be able to load this deer so I left him there and drove to a small store a few miles away where I knew hunters would be gathered and a big buck contest was going on.
There was a huge crowd there and maybe a dozen deer in the cooler. Almost all were does and 1.5 year old bucks. I walked up to a group of hunters and the entire conversation was about how poor the year was with only does at their feeders. The feeling was unanimous that the buck doe ratio was horrible. Now keep in mind that I had just seen 9 deer, all of which were buck and all but 3 were over 3 years old! I was going to ask for help but decided against it and went to get a friends help instead. I sure hated to show him that spot.
The sounds of the wild became abundant as the morning progressed. An old log truck rattled past my hiding spot on the road 35 yards behind me and truck doors slammed as hunters gave up early and headed for camp. A glimpse of antlers caught my attention at 8:52 a.m. A decent 7pt walked boldly into the corn trail and started eating. Long before antler restrictions, this was a very legal deer yet I knew my hunt was just starting. He threw his head up and stared behind me and to my left. Shortly I could hear boots walking on the paved road and hunters talking as they walked past. The deer returned to eating.
By 945, the gunshots had ceased yet the road behind me had a steady stream of traffic. The 7pt bolted and in walked a nice 8pt followed by a small 6pt. Over the next 30 minutes 8 different bucks showed up to grab a bite of corn or acorns and established pecking orders with a bigger 8pt allowing most to eat. Suddenly every one of them looked North. The 8pts posture changed and he cowed down. I eased my rifle up and rolled the scope to 4 power just as a heavy horned 9pt walked in. 7 year old brute in the mid 140s and it didn't take me long to shoot him dead. 10:32 a.m. and there was no way in heck I was going to be able to load this deer so I left him there and drove to a small store a few miles away where I knew hunters would be gathered and a big buck contest was going on.
There was a huge crowd there and maybe a dozen deer in the cooler. Almost all were does and 1.5 year old bucks. I walked up to a group of hunters and the entire conversation was about how poor the year was with only does at their feeders. The feeling was unanimous that the buck doe ratio was horrible. Now keep in mind that I had just seen 9 deer, all of which were buck and all but 3 were over 3 years old! I was going to ask for help but decided against it and went to get a friends help instead. I sure hated to show him that spot.