A few days before September 15th, the New Hampshire archery opener, I went into the Skinny 8’s area to check a few cameras. On my way out, I noticed some white oaks that were dropping acorns pretty heavily. Upon further inspection, I discovered several large rubs and on hemlocks along with some fresh scrapes. This area was a point of a ridge at its base. There was a thick bedding cover further up the ridge and a swamp down in the bottom. I knew this was the early season spot I was looking for that may afford me the opportunity at a mature buck. The problem was, although I had noted the spot during shed season, I hadn’t hung a stand there. The first few days of the season, I hunted elsewhere because I wasn’t going to have a chance to hang a stand until the 18th. On the 18th, I asked team member Rick Sprankle to give me a hand hanging the stand so I could do it quickly and quietly. The great thing about this spot is your access is ideal and you can easily slip in and out of the area without alerting any deer.
The next day I happened to get the funky SE wind I needed to hunt that stand and slipped in. I had several deer move in at dark, but the only one that came into bow range was a 1.5 year old buck that I let walk. My buddy was also in a stand about 500 yards away and he spotted 2 mature bucks, one of which he described to me as a wide mature 8 pointer, the Skinny 8. There was the spot where I had been getting
( Continued from PG 27 )