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First Trip with my Z7 NY whitetail
Guys I gotta tell you i love my new mathews Z7 just got back from a 7 day public land hunt in long island NY, and i scored a nice buck. I got lucky because the false rutt happend to hit for 3 days while i was on stand. learn more about this phenomenon in my book The Whitetail Hunter’s Blue Print
Anyway, i saw a lot of deer throughout my trip but i had seen what i was looking for i knew there was a good buck in the area and the last morning before i was suposed to leave the buck i had been patterning finally showed himself, i had been working his rub line for 3 days. So i extened my trip for 3 more days becuase now i knew i was on him for sure. The last evening he came in chasing a doe and I let him have it at 22 yards dropped 40yards from my stand.
Now that was gratifying, but what made it extra special was, we had a noreastern come in which is gale force winds and rain . All my hunting buddies were telling me i was crazy that deer don’t move in weather like this. well my experience and more importantly my gut told me otherwise so yes i went and sat in a tree with 30mph winds (not the safest idea I know). i had set my stand down in a bottom where there was some shelter form the winds( i knew deer would seek that area) and set my stand that most of my shots could be taken from a seated position the night before. That morning, i was running late so i opted to hunt my back up area by still hunting because i knew the winds and rain would mask my movement and sound. After seeing some does and turkey, I was able to get within range of a nice 7 pt buck but he wasn’t what i was looking for so i let him see another season. I called it quits about 10am because i wanted to get to my stand by 1pm.
i sat for several hours with out seeing even a squirrel. Right about 4pm i was feeling very wind beaten and wanting to give up, but memories of foul weather bucks kept me in the game. No sooner then my internal pep talk 10 turkey walked into the bottom, an that made me feel more confident i was gonna see some deer.
Sure enough, within 2 mins of the turkey a doe was standing bellow me, then another and another before long i had 5 does bedding down in the brush bellow my stand seeking shelter form the wind.
Well an hour goes by and i spot a big bodied deer chasing another deer 75 yards from my stand and coming in my direction. I thought could this be the swamp donkey I had been chasing ( Oh i was sitting 30 yards from a swap edge too) I had some trail pic of him and some other bucks that were shooters as well, plus i has seen him 3 morning ago and he was burned in my skull. Because I had almost had him that morning he was 3 steps away from receiving my crimson talon in his bread basket when a squirrel ruined my chances.
I could not make out his rack because he kept hiding it in the trees. they stopped chasing as soon as the hit the bottom, the doe began to feed 15 yards away from me in a perfect shooting lane and I thought wow this is gona happen that buck is gonna go right where she is standing. well he didn’t do that instead he hung up 30yards behind some thick brush for 15-20mins. i was losing light i had maybe 10mins left before I would not be able to shoot, Then she moved closer to me in fact directly under my stand. This was it… hes gonna come. well he did come out of the brush but still was not offering me a shot, i was losing my mind… was he ever gona give me an opportunity? final he turned broad side standing between two trees and with a thin branch in front of him. I had practiced this shot countless times i knew i could make it, I drew back and…..smack!! right behind the shoulder.
Well he was not the biggest buck i had ever shot but one of my most gratifying because I stuck to my blueprint and i made it happen in NY on public land.
