Friday Nov. 13, 2020 in Rockingham County (Stokesdale NC). I climbed in a tall ladder stand I have overlooking a powerl ine around 5:45 a.m. Around 6:45 a.m., I saw this deer two hill tops over at around 650 – 700 yards crossing them. I knew it was too far with a muzzleloader and could tell he was a older mature deer with the size of his body.
So I grunted a couple of times and got his attention. The deer, after 10-15 seconds of standing there and licking his lips, throwing his head up in the air which I was watching with the binoculars, he disappeared in the woods. About two or three minutes later, he appeared walking up an old road bed on the next hillside beside me. He stood 225 yards — just out of my comfort range with the muzzleloader for about 20-30 seconds. He was looking around for where the grunts came from.
He started to walk across, so I grunted three or four more times and did a deeper grunt at the end. He immediately stopped and picked his head back up, looking around for five to 10 seconds, and walked back into the woods. I thought this time he was gone and that he had either seen me, or the deeper grunt was too aggressive and he was leaving.
Disheartened, I sat back in the stand replaying it, thinking if I did anything wrong or if I could have done anything different. So I sat there for 45 seconds to a minute, just in deep thought, still while watching both ways. And then all of the sudden, he walks out of the woods about 115 yards away and walks right to an active scrape at the edge of the wood line. He stops again, then throws his head up and looks my direction, still looking for what is making the grunt calls.
I scanned him one last time with the binoculars. And as I sat them down and positioned the muzzleloader and placed the crosshairs behind the shoulder, he began to walk back into the woods. I made a grunt noise with my mouth. He stopped and looked my way and I pulled the trigger.
Smoke filled the air and he was gone. But I could hear him running in the woods away from me. I called my uncle and dad to let them know. Then waited about 45 minutes. I went to look for blood and didn’t see any blood for about 30 – 40 yards. Then down on a creek bank, I found where he had crossed and found a great blood trail after about another 100 – 125 yards.
I seen the buck laid over against the base of a tree. The deer weighed over 200 pounds. The processor and taxidermist said he was probably 4 1/2-years-old and I am guessing he will score 135+ inches.
I will get the official score in a couple of months when he is finished drying and can be officially scored. Probably one of the most exciting hunts I have been on where a deer reacted to a grunt call and came from that far away to a call.
Tyler Gardner — Rockingham County, N.C.
Be the first to comment