The Stalk Was On!
Cover Story- By Lee Blankenship
Scouting in July and August in 100 degree heat for“ THE ONE” is tough. The usual bachelor herds were almost nonexistent. The deer were spread out and the bucks were in tiny little groups, sometimes solo. The bucks I was finding were small or just not what I was looking for. I had three weeks to find a buck, pattern his daily routine, figure out his watering areas and his bedding area. I was getting nervous.
It took us a couple hours to locate the buck but when we did we were not disappointed. He was without a doubt, a buck that I was going to hunt. My father in law nicknamed him“ Lefty” because of the trash on his left antler. We snapped some pictures of him and backed out.
Being short on time we set up several trail cameras to figure out Lefty’ s travel route and watering hole.
The next three weeks were very disappointing. I couldn’ t find Lefty anywhere. My trail cameras had several pictures of the buck he was with and several other bucks but no Lefty. With only a week left I was starting to get really
On my 10th scouting trip, my father in law Duane and I were sitting on a ridge glassing a small bachelor herd of buck and for some reason I got the urge to turn around. On the ridge behind us, about 1000 yards away right on the sky line were two bucks, one of them didn’ t need a second look. He was almost three feet wide, with a few extras. I scrambled to get my scope on him and got a short video of him as he went over the top. We picked our jaws up off the ground and headed in that direction. nervous. I was sitting in front of my computer looking at trail camera pictures when my wife Chelsea came in and put her hand on my shoulder and said“ He is there, he is just camera shy.” My wife’ s support is one of the reasons I have success bow hunting year after year. I know all the early mornings and the late nights, coming home exhausted, with sweaty cloths and dirt rings around my nose and eyes has tested her patience, but she knows hunting mule deer is my passion and that is what gives me peace. Needless to say, she is the reason for most of the success in my life.
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