Trophy Buck Profile
June
By Eric Brannon
As the old adage goes," persistence pays off". I was beginning to wonder if the saying would ever apply to me. After years of hunting a farm in Logan with minimal success a good friend and I decided to focus on the farm areas around our home. The inability to keep a close eye on the Logan property resulted in several trespassers and poaching. It was literally something different every time that I went up there. Once we started to focus our attention home, things started to work in our favor. Feeders and trail cameras placed in several areas throughout our area started to yield some decent deer. A few seasons passed and several thousand pictures later it was my time.
On Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 it was a cold and calm morning. Several does funnel past me all morning long with no sightings of any shooters. This was a surprise to me because of the time of the season (rut) and the prior bucks that I have seen in this area. After several rattling and grunting sequences this buck emerges from the brush at about 100 yards dead up-wind from me. I reach for my bow and stand up to prepare for the shot. After only a few seconds, he was directly under my stand. His demeanor to me was that he had heard the rattling prior and was there for a fight. Walking all stiff-legged and ears pinned back. He stops briefly and I take my shot. The Rage broad head did its job! He ran only a few yards before expiring.
I send the "buck down!!!" text to my brother and a good friend who was hunting with me that morning. I picked them up from another spot where they were hunting and went to retrieve my prize. I couldn't think of any other people that I would want to share this experience with. So many days spent hunting, camera checking and feeder filling finally proved to me that persistence does pay off!!!