Steve Bartylla will bring you along as he bowhunts Wisconsin's Bluff Country Outfitters

Bowhunting Bluff County Outfitters

Day 3
 

Although I feel a fresh snow eliminates my greatest assets – my ears – there is something special about experiencing nature’s grandeur on days like this.

Morning:
With temps in the mid twenties and an inch of fresh snow having fallen during the night I returned with high hopes to the stand I repositioned the morning before. At 7:57 I heard a pawing sound behind me. Whenever I hear deer behind me I always turn to make an attempt to see them. Occasionally it costs me, but over the years it has resulted in far more shot opportunities that I would have otherwise never had. Slowly turning my body and positioning my bow I picked him out at less than 20 yards.

Everyone up here loves snow because they can catch movement so much easier. Although I find few things in this world as beautiful as the woods after a fresh snow, I personally could live without while hunting. That is due to the lack of sound a deer makes as it meanders through the woods. My ears are easily my greatest asset and alert me to more deer than my eyes ever had. In this instance the 2 ½ year old 8 point would have slipped by me undetected if it weren’t for stopping to paw at acorns. The thing that has always amazed me about Buffalo County is that the 2 ½ year old would have scored in the high 120ies or low 130ies. That same buck at my place would have been a 90" buck if he was really lucky. Another thing to mention was that he spent a good 20 minutes feeding within bow range...Directly down wind the entire time. Not once did he give any indication of smelling something abnormal. It just shows that if you go the extra mile you can beat their nose.

The only other deer I saw that morning was at 9:32. I spotted a lone yearling buck eating acorns as he worked his way along. For a year and a half old he sported a fairly impressive little rack. It was a fun morning.

Evening:
I hunted stand #3. I needed to talk to Tom that afternoon and doing so made me Arrive at my stand a bit later than I should have. The result was that I kicked several deer from the field. About 20 mins before shooting hours were over I saw a large and small bodied deer together in the distance. As I strained to see if it was a buck and doe I heard something flying down the trail. Turning to look I caught a doe running at full bore. Directly behind her was monster that would have made B&C easily. They whipped past my stand at 12 yards, the doe tearing out like it was Satan himself on her tail. He continued to chase her across the field and up the next ridge. I would love to see that boy again.

I have been lucky enough to have had a handful of encounters with bucks of this magnitude. To have one of these monsters within bow range is a feeling that is hard to put to words. For me, the draw of bowhunting has always been playing the scouting game. If I can pick a piece of land apart, analyze it and correctly predict, based on sign and the phase of season, where I can intercept a mature buck, I feel as if I have won the game. I lose the game far more often than I win, but today, having the doe lead that monster through the funnel I was covering, I won.

Ron headed up to the very top of the ridge again and pulled an all dayer. Unfortunately the buck weren’t moving up there. He saw a few does and fawns from his stand.

Tomorrow: More hunting and a glimpse into my philosophy on stand placement & in season scouting.

| Scouting | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |
  For those looking for every advantage in understanding whitetail deer, Steve Bartylla's column Becoming A Student Of Whitetail Deer is a must read.