To say this year has been frustrating would be an understatement. I’m hunting ground behind my new house after receiving permission from the neighbor to hunt his 38 acres and another 6 acre piece as well.

Being relatively open hardwoods without much thick cover, the deer that I am getting on camera have been extremely nocturnal even though there’s very little pressure on them and no one else is hunting the property. The daytime movement I have seen has been on days when I’m not there of course although I have passed a doe with two skippers a couple of times.
I have lots of pictures of some beautiful rack bucks that definitely live in the area, but it seems when I zigged they would zag and up until this week I still have not seen them while in the stand.
With only two weeks left in the season, I decided to stop holding out and hopefully put one in the freezer for the winter.
If nothing else, I was hoping my stubbornness, perseverance and tenacity would pay off.

I was set up in my ladder stand at 2 o’clock, and unfortunately at 3 o’clock. The landowner showed up with a bobcat loaded onto a trailer and started coming up the ridge to do some work. I thought my night would be ruined, but he was merely dropping it off to work the following day. After he left the woods got quiet again and at 4 o’clock a deer came off of the steep ridge towards my stand. Surprisingly, it picked me off out of the tree, even though I wasn’t moving, so we played the game of head bobs, and soft foot stomping before it turned to leave. His mistake was stopping to look back and do a double check and that’s when I took my shot. He was about 35 yards away and was slightly quartering away from me when I released. At the shot he took off up the ridge and I could see him standing about 50 yards away, flicking his tail rapidly and then he took a few more steps over the crust of the ridge and I lost sight of him, but I liked what I saw.
I climbed down and walked back to the house to retrieve my sled, and then went back up to see what I had to go on.
After about 40 minutes since the shot, I started trailing the blood in the snow and found him about 60 yards away, laying under a pine tree.
He’s only a three-point and I have several pictures of him since October but he’ll make many fine meals this winter and I’m thrilled to give him a sled ride down the ridge to the house and into the back of my truck.
He is the first of what I hope will be many more over the years.

Good shotting Jon! Congrats!

Like I've said before. You can't eat he horns anyway. That one will make plenty of great meals. Patience payed off

Nice job being patient and making a good shot.
Enjoy your venison.

Great job sticking with it!

Always nice getting one on a new property as well

Congrats Jon!

Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with the new house and girlfriend.
I like Ct. because most development is on lots of acreage with big Wetlands spaces that hold deer which then can be intercepted on their daily movements. That is how I hunt my brush pile spot except in Zone 11 you can enhance your spot with food which helps in directing deer on the same path each day. But keep those agricultural fields for gun hunting.
I got two more eight pointers in South Carolina on our annual hog hunt. I buy two buck tags just in case and this year that was the ticket. One was an old buck with a heavy body that I whacked at 195 paces which converted was about 165 yards. It was in an old cut pine Grove that was probably three hundred acres and he was working the edge of it on my side. The second eight was a 2 1/2 year old deer. I got two hogs also. I think South Carolina is the best destination for both hogs and deer and the outfitters have literally all of the forests and fields locked up so plenty of land to hunt.

Congrats on the fist of many at your new spot..