I’ve devoted my time hunting in Michigan this fall to trying to help Jacob get his first buck, and…we came soooo close yesterday!!
I picked him up from the bus stop and we hurried home to change. I’d hung a couple stands in a good spot earlier in the afternoon, but I still needed to hang the portable shooting rail that we use with his Kodabow crossbow. So, I climbed up first, hung the rail, then raised the Kodabow up with the rope. I whispered down for Jacob to clip in to the lifeline and start climbing up. That’s when I heard it… crunch, crunch, crunch. I immediately thought, “Ugh, Oh!”
I looked up to see the nice young 8 pointer we’d been trying to get him a crack at walking right on the trail I’d hoped he would…25 yards! About the same time I saw him, he looked up to see my 9 year old son climbing like a squirrel up the side of the tree! I knew we had no chance so I wanted to make sure Jacob saw it before it ran. In a loud whisper, I yelled down as I pointed, “Jacob, buck!”
Jacob, the buck, and I entered a stare down for a couple minutes. The wind was good, so he couldn’t smell us. He started to try circling down wind and then a red fox distracted all of us as it came across the food plot towards the woods we were in. That was enough to make the buck even more uncomfortable, so he turned and left, not to return that night. We sat the evening hunt anyway and had a few does and fawns come by, but the 8 Jacob wants continues to elude us. Maybe next time!