S Ga Late Oct Hunt

Made it up to my friend’s south GA farm for the weekend. Always a good time and the place is covered with deer. There have been quite a few true trophy sized deer taken over the past couple decades but I’ve never taken one of those. I did let a huge 12 walk several years back and just took photos. I had unfortunately just shout a nice 9 the day prior and didn’t feel right about shooting another big one the same year. For the past 15+ years I try not to shoot any bucks unless I plan to mount them. Sunday I shot my third wall hanger, although I would have let him walk had I not made a quick time-limited decision….
Saturday morning all I saw was one big 4pt. My buddy saw five does. That evening neither of us saw anything, although we were both in spots that we historically haven’t seen much if any during the later hours. Each day while driving to or returning from my stand I had a deer run in front of the truck.
Sun morning I was absolutely covered up by deer. I’m sure I would have seen several more and the outcome would have been different if I had not starting packing-up my gear and getting back ready to come down to help my friend track a deer…
Right before sunrise and right after, I had deer blowing both in front and behind me several hundred yards away. I don’t think they were blowing at me from that distance and since I had been settled into my stand for 45 min…. Around 8:00 one slipped past that I could not identify. Didn’t see until it was most of the way through my window between thick stuff, and every time I would find in the binoculars it was only the ass for a second. Shortly thereafter I had 4 does come in from south in front of me and 4 from the north behind me. I was busy taking photos of the ones in front when I noticed the ones that had snuck in from behind and were neatly at my side. They got my scent even though I was 30’+ in a tree, and started blowing. The. I had all 8 run g around under me in various directions, nervous, stomping, blowing, and carrying on. They finally moved off in different directions. Twenty minutes later two more walked past and appeared to bed down in a thick patch 75 yards in front of me. About 16 minutes later while they were still there I had another that came from behind, walked under an old ladder stand, posed for photos in front of game camera, crossed the firebreak I walked in on (and didn’t notice any of my scent from coming in) and then walked down into a large ditch that runs through the area. It stood in a puddle of standing water for 10 min taking an occasional sip 20 yards behind me. It finally moved out and began meandering around, nibbling, munching and slowly moving north. Two more walked past from yet another direction around 9:30.
Near 10:00 my buddy texted that he had found blood for a doe he shot right after sunrise in a group of six. He originally had told me he missed it. So, I reluctantly decided I needed to pack-up early and go help him track and retrieve the deer. I was packing up my big camera, binoculars, removed coat, etc, etc. I was standing with my pack in my seat and turned around to remove my gear strap when I saw two deer run past about 150 yards to my front. It’s a path they commonly follow so not sure if they were spooked by my noise and movements or were just run I guess/chasing. Anyway, the lead buck was smaller and maybe the one I had seen the morning prior. The one 30 yards behind had a much larger rack but I didn’t get a good look. They were already past my good shooting windows and into a thick spot before I could start trying to dig out my binoculars I had just packed. Got the binoculars out so I could try to find them and see if they continued straight and out of range, or if they had turned as they often due in the thick stuff that comes down past my stand following the deep ditch/drainage that passes 130 yards past one side before making a turn and coming behind me within 20 yards. During the minute or two while I’m trying to reacquire the position of the 2 bucks, I heard another deer crashing through the brush… This one was coming from the same area as the last two, but was angled more toward my position and on a path that would cut-off the other two if they had turned and started along the thick patch and drainage I thought they would follow. This one I could also see had a nice rack similar to or smaller than the previous larger one. Unfortunately it was also at a run and I wasn’t getting an opportunity for a good look or assessment. It stopped for a split second right before it was about to jump across the big ditch and into the thick stuff. Probably 120 yards away, I had just enough time to throw up my rifle and align the crosshairs and decided to shoot right as it jumped. The impact threw him off and instead of going across the ditch it went slightly to one side and hit antlers first several feet off the ground into a tree trunk.
After shot I saw three more deer off to my side running away.
Turned out to be a decent 8 point that I would have let pass if I hadn’t been rushed into a decision…. I’ve learned that from now on I will not shoot a deer at this farm unless I’ve had plenty of time to take some photos and watch the deer and get it sized-up. This will be the third time, and final confirmation, that the deer always look much bigger to me before the shot or before I’ve had several minutes to count points and really get a good look to assess size. I was also sorta in that “last chance” mode, and had on my mind a huge buck that has been seen in this area the past couple years… Plan to make a return trip in early Dec so may yet see a monster this year.

 

Yeah, always lots to see and watch around there. Fewer and a farther between up in the mountains.