Question – where the heck did deer season go? I’ve been planning to catch y’all up on all of my hunting adventures this fall, but time has absolutely flown by and I have No. Idea. Where. It. Went. And now its over… As of yesterday – New Year’s Day – our whitetail season is officially closed. [Oh hey Happy New Year, by the way!]

Since I did so much hunting from very beginning of the season, I figured it would be easiest (and shortest) to give you a quick rundown of all of the hunts leading up to my [first] success… What a doozy.  

From September 3rd to September 17th, I hunted a total of 49 hours – now I bet you’re thanking me for just a quick recap of all of those hunts! 

Here’s how it is laid out: [date], [hunt time – morning vs afternoon], [ stand hunted], [recap]. These are captions from the little notebook I keep to recap hunts, fishing excursions, and anything outdoors. 

9.2 (Saturday): scout, check trail cameras, site in rifle/scope (this would be my first hunt with the new Tikka / Leupold set up)

9.3:  morning hunt – John Stand: 1 small buck early, pretty morning, good weather

While I was hunting this stand, guess who was visiting one of my other spots…?

I MEAN COME ON… Isn’t that typical? Side note: I’d actually be after this monster 9 point until late November, when he’d be taken elsewhere on the property. At least it wasn’t someone else’s land!

• early afternoon – quick afternoon dove hunt – only took 1 shot, killed 1 bird, and Angus made his one retrieve

• evening hunt – Circle Field – slow, 8pt came out at 7pm but passed –> this is the evening I passed on that nice 8 point I mentioned on Instagram.

Hey, that’s why they call it hunting!

9.4: morning – Circle Field: saw 3 smaller bucks, 1 doe ; glimpsed one quick view of a big buck walking up shooting lane – I only had 3-4 seconds to see & react, so there was no time to shoot before he disappeared.

• afternoon – dove hunt – very slow [only long shots], hot – Angus just panted!

HUNTING TIME SO FAR —> 13.5 hours

9.7 (Thursday): afternoon – John Stand – slow hunt, so I came out of the stand early to prep for the morning and get everything ready to hunt my climber for the first time this season

9.8: morning hunt – Climber, 1st location:  bright moon – 4 bucks, 3 does – 1 buck was nice but it was just a little too dark to confirm who he was (could have potentially shot but didn’t want to risk it)

• afternoon hunt – Circle Field: went back out @ 1:30 based on wind, moon, etc. – saw 1 spike, tall 6 pt, and 1 doe

9.9: morning hunt – Circle Field – 2 deer early (15 min before legal), moon still super bright

• afternoon  – moved climber to a new spot pre-hurricane Irma’s arrival

9.10: morning hunt – Climber, 2nd location – saw a coyote on the road at 5 heading in that morning, but it was a slow hunt in the stand (aside from a humming bird trying to land on my hat – that was pretty entertaining!). By 9:30, I was ready to pack up, but….

• afternoon hunt – Climber – super windy [day before Irma hit], doe, spike, cow horn, and glimpsed a brief look at Lucky (a big buck with a wide rack, but only 7 points – i.e. he’s lucky he isn’t an 8, or he’d be on the wall already!)

9.11: [Hurricane Irma]

9.12: morning hunt – John Stand – one fat little 4 pt still in velvet at first light, then nothing.. But, I did spot a pair of black bellied whistling ducks on a wood duck box when I rode around to check out the property’s damage from Irma.

HUNTING TIME SO FAR —> 24.5 hours

9.15 (Friday – GZ4 doe opener): headed up to hunt after work, but didn’t make it in time to actually get in the stand… Boo.

9.16: morning hunt – Climber – 3 does (including “Hobbles”), 1 tall 6 point (he’ll be a dandy in a couple of years)

I checked one of my cameras on way to another stand. To my surprise, I had more than a few pictures that piqued my interest, but kept quiet about them… It sounds dramatic, but I didn’t want to jinx myself. Typically when I race home to share exciting trail cam photos and make my hunting plans around them, I come up empty handed… I didn’t want to take that chance this time!]

• afternoon hunt: Circle – slow until 7pm – “Hobbles” hobbled out right in front of me, followed by tall but narrow 6 over my right shoulder – he started to play with bigger 6 that came out… I sat late w/ the Thermal Tracker and saw 10+ deer around me and on the way out

HUNTING TIME SO FAR —> 49 hours

9.17: morning hunt – John Stand – the day before I’d leave for Texas with Remington – this would be my last hunt for several weeks, and I could only sit until about 8 that morning. 

Based on my trail camera photos in the area, I knew I would either see a nice buck right at daylight (I’d seen 3 different shooters there at that time), or nothing at all. Quietly I snuck into the woods and was in the stand by 5:15, knowing I had only a small window to sneak in and be seated before the action started. 

I settled in to wait with my LTO-Tracker in my lap. It was already warm, with 95 percent humidity, and the air around me was thick and muggy. Around 5:50, I heard rustling to my right. I slowly raised the tracker and caught a brief glimpse of a deer’s form as it moved out of sight. My heart rate spiked.

At 6:10, I noticed faint movement ahead of me. It was still too dark to really see much, but a quick peek with the thermal tracker confirmed that I had a deer in range – a big deer. Its antlers weren’t illuminated, but it was clear to me that I was either looking at the biggest doe in the state, or [hopefully] one of the bucks on my hit list.

For the next 15 minutes I waited in torment, willing the sun to rise faster so I could count tines and pinpoint exactly who I was looking at. I kept tabs on his movement while he meandered in an out of cover, alternating between the tracker and my riflescope as I prepared for action.

By 6:30 I could make out enough antler to know I wasn’t going to let this buck walk – my boy “One Niner” had paid me a visit. Now, if only he would take a few steps one way or another. He was facing away from me in a little cluster of trees (actually directly in front of my trail camera), and I just didn’t have a clear shot. I kept switching between my binocs and scope to keep watch, but had to keep putting them back down because of my excitement (& that buck fever-induced shaking). Finally, I kept my rifle raised and the buck in my crosshairs. 

An agonizing 10 minutes passed before One Niner finally made a move. At last, he took 3 steps to the right. I took a deep breath. Exhaled. And squeezed the trigger.

The buck fell just behind the cluster of pines, and I actually thought I missed him at first – he disappeared as soon as I shot. Quickly, I shucked a new shell and peered back through the Leupold again – I saw legs, horn and a head move where the deer had fallen, but I couldn’t be sure of my shot placement through the tall grass & trees. This particular stand is nestled right between gator-filled pond and thick swamp so, since I was hunting solo and didn’t want to track a wounded buck alone (aside from snakes and gators), decided to take a second shot to be sure. I zeroed in on the buck’s neck (the best option I had) and shot again. Unfortunately, he dropped his head in the last millisecond before impact, so the bullet went through the his ear cartilage, across the back of his skull, and into his antlers. The less-than-ideal result was a missing brow tine and a nice chunk of main beam blown off… So technically he’s now a 9 point… Maybe an 8.5? 

But, he didn’t move again. 

It took me a full 10 minutes to calm down enough to climb out of the stand and hike over to my prize. My excitement nearly doubled when I walked up on this buck – I knew he had a nice rack, but didn’t think it was that big for a 10 pt (relatively speaking, of course). It turns out his body was part of the deception – this guy was a big, brawny 170 pounds of healthy whitetail. For a coastal deer in South Carolina, he’s definitely one of the bigger bucks we’d get in our area. 

As it turns out, my second shot wasn’t necessary… At all. My shot placement was spot on, piercing both lungs and lancing the buck’s spine on the way through. The “movement” I saw after the first shot was just nerves / muscles seizing – he was probably dead before he hit the ground.

Filling the freezer is so much fun, isn’t it? Don’t worry – that’s not the end of our deer season adventures. Stay tuned!

You can also read about this hunt, and learn more about Leupold’s LTO-Tracker, over at Women’s Outdoor News – just click here.