Brute Whitetail Encounter..., in Field Journals

Friday afternoon was definitely a hunting trip to remember. Conditions were horrible for being outside, but great for deer hunting. There was a gusty northwest wind and it was raining as I entered my ladder stand.

The rain finally subsided after an hour in the hunt and shortly after a whitetail doe came running across the corn field. Hot on her tail was a 6 pointer. He ran her all over the field for nearly 10 minutes before finally giving up. After about an hour, the same 8 pt buck I saw the week before, showed up. When I first saw him, I grabbed my bow and ranged the edge of the field; 25.5 yards. I was able to watch him very closely as he approached. I had regretted all week not taking the deer. There I was, with the possibility of getting another chance at him. He's a solid whitetail and would look great on the wall, but I just think he needs one more year. This deer will gross right around 130. If he had five, just five, more inches on him, he would be done. He entered my lane, but I decided to let him go, again, am I ever glad I did.
Ten minutes after my encounter with him, another deer walked along the edge of the field. I immediately thought it was the same deer. As I look through my binos, I almost fell out of my stand. This was definitely not the same deer. This one appeared to have the same amount of points, but more mass, longer beams, and taller tines, he was a brute of a whitetail. I think he will easily go 150 Pope and Young. He fed right along the edge of the field towards my opening. As he closed in, he started to veer out into the field. I tried a few grunts, but the wind was hindering my efforts. The closest he would come was 55 yards and he eventually went back on the same path he came out on. He headed along the field edge with the smaller buck towards a corner of timber. Luckily, I was able to sneak out of the stand without spooking either of them. The next day, I snuck out in the rain to check out a food plot and noticed a large scrape on the edge of the small, secluded plot. The scrape was located in the same area the two bucks walked out from, so I moved an infrared camera to it, in hopes of catching him on film. Hopefully my next hunting trip to the area will land him 25 yards broadside.