Dream season hunter’s advice: play the wind and control your scent.
The 2012 deer season didn’t start well for James Diesfeld of Sanford, but when it finally got going, it quickly became one he will never forget.
Diesfeld, who describes himself as an avid deer hunter, was working a lot of overtime and didn’t have time for a single hunt during archery season. He didn’t step into the woods until the last few days of October — a lot of frustration for a man who said he usually spends a lot of time in the woods hunting and looking for rubs, scrapes, and the trails to and from bedding and feeding areas.
When he finally got a break, his season progressed quickly, maybe even magically. Between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10, Diesfeld killed four really nice bucks: two had more than 150 inches of horns, one had almost 140 inches, and the smallest about 110 inches. Diesfeld’s hometown taxidermist, Charles Dycus of Plank Road Taxidermy, wound up with enough of Diesfeld’s shop to pay a year’s worth of power bills for his shop.
Diesfeld’s three biggest bucks were officially scored at the Dixie Deer Classic: 153 1/8, 150 4/8 and 136 6/8 Boone & Crockett points. Diesfeld didn’t have the smallest one measured, but he conservatively estimated it at 110 inches. That’s better than most hunters do in an lifetime, but Diesfeld’s magic took only 11 days, with the four bucks killed in different locations.
The two biggest bucks came from Moore County, the third-largest came from Chatham County, and the smallest came from Lee County. All were taken from private land, in areas with small sections of hardwood ridges and bottoms that are surrounded by pines. Diesfeld shot the three large bucks with a Benelli Vinci 12-gauge shotgun and 00 buckshot through the modified choke tube and the smallest one with his Thompson-Center Encore muzzleloader.
Diesfeld’s largest buck was a typical 8-pointer that gross-scored 159 2/8 and netted 153 1/8. The deer was shot Halloween afternoon in Moore County. Diesfeld had hunted the same stand that morning and had several does around feeding on acorns. He hunted until around 11 o’clock without seeing a buck, and after taking an extended lunch break, he returned that afternoon.
“I had been on an oak ridge that morning, and with all the activity and the wind being right, I eased back to the same tree that afternoon and climbed it with my Summit Viper X5 stand,” Diesfeld said. “About at 4:45 a large-bodied deer passed in the brush to my left at about 25 to 30 yards, but I couldn’t see its head or back. I knew it was large, so I shouldered my Benelli and got ready in case it was the right deer and gave me a shot.”
Diesfeld said the deer kept milling around, and he finally he got a glimpse of the top of its antler tines at about 50 yards. He said the rack looked wide, but he only got a glimpse and wanted to be sure before he shot. Then, as big bucks often do, the deer disappeared before he was able to get a good look.
“Now I was really wondering if he had slipped away or just moved a few yards,” Diesfeld said. “I had been holding the shotgun at ready for about 10 minutes, and my hands were getting numb, but I was afraid to relax the gun and move, wondering if he might be looking at me.
“After about what was probably three minutes — but seemed like much more — I heard a stick break, and when I turned my eyes that way, I saw his rack move,” Diesfeld said. “I couldn’t believe he was that wide and thought I was seeing limbs move. He turned to go back into the brush, and I got a good look and shot. It was about 50 yards, and he dropped in his tracks.”
Diesfeld was ready to shoot again, but the big deer didn’t move. He began looking at it through his binoculars and began to realize how big it was. After calming down and waiting about 10 minutes, he climbed down and headed to the deer.
“You know usually when you walk up to a deer you get some ground shrinkage,” Diesfeld said. “With this deer, the closer I got, the bigger the antlers got, and I said to myself, ‘Wow, what a deer!’ I called my dad to come give me a hand getting him out of the woods. Really big wasn’t a good-enough description for my dad, but when I told him it was by far the largest deer I had ever shot, he said he would be right there. When he saw it, he said, ‘Boy, you really do have a nice one there. Look at that big son of a gun.’”
Diesfeld’s second trophy hit the ground two days later in Lee County. It was the smallest of the group, and he didn’t have it scored, but he estimated the 8-pointer at approximately 110 inches. He said he almost passed up the buck after shooting the large one only two days earlier, but it was a little larger than the deer he usually sees in that area, and he was hunting to stock his freezer, so he pulled the trigger.
Diesfeld’s third buck, the second-largest, was killed on Nov. 8; it was a typical 10-pointer with a split brow tine. This deer, which gross-scored 158 6/8 and netted 150 4/8, was a reward for helping a friend.
“I had planned on leaving that day around 1 o’clock. to go Chatham County to prepare a hunting area for my kids and then climb a tree to blackpowder hunt,” Diesfeld said. “A friend called that morning and asked for help hand-trimming some shooting lanes and setting up a stand for the weekend. We ran late enough I didn’t have time to get to Chatham and set up properly, so my buddy said I should hunt one of his spots near Cameron in Moore County.”
Diesfeld was smiling when he got to the woods. The wind was in his face for the hike in, and he was hunting a hardwood funnel surrounded by pines — much like where he had shot the big eight a week earlier.
“I was feeling good about the place and took my time walking in as not to alert any deer,” Diesfeld said. “I found a tree in a good spot, with pretty good visibility, and I climbed it. About 4:30, a doe eased by about 80 yards off but didn’t stop. A little later, she came back, but something was happening with the weather, and the wind was swirling.”
Diesfeld said the doe raised her head like she had gotten a whiff of something she didn’t like, and he was afraid she had winded him. He said the doe obviously realized something wasn’t right as she stomped around in a circle and then headed back into the pines. His stomach was in a knot knowing he had been busted.
“I believe it was the same doe that came back a little after 5 and began feeding on acorns,” Diesfeld said. “By now, the cloud had passed, so the wind was again in my face, and she acted unconcerned. While watching her, I noticed there was a larger deer behind her, but I couldn’t see enough to tell what it was.
“While I was trying to make out the deer behind the doe, I heard noise to my left and looked up to see a deer approaching through the brush with its nose on the ground,” Diesfeld said. “I looked back at the doe and the larger deer behind her and then at the new deer. This time I saw his massive rack. It was wide, with long tines and lots of mass.
“I couldn’t believe it as the buck eased out of the brush and was only about 40 yards away,” Diesfeld said. “It was standing broadside to me and looking at the doe, so I eased my Benelli up and slipped off the safety. When the bead was right behind his shoulder, I squeezed the trigger. He bucked and ran about 60 years before piling up.
Diesfeld knew it was a big buck, but he couldn’t really see its rack until he got close. He said he was amazed and maybe a little in shock when he walked up to the main frame 10-point with one split brow tine. The rack was 20 ¾ inches wide with two long tines on each beam, but the buck didn’t have a particularly large body. Apparently, most of the protein it had digested had gone to building antlers, not a larger body.
Diesfeld’s final buck of the season, taken Nov. 10, was his third-largest. It was a deer he tried to get his wife to shoot, but the deer never gave her a shot she was comfortable taking. It gross-scored 147 7/8 and netted 136 6/8 inches. It was quite a deer, one anyone would be proud of. It just happened to be taken in the year Diesfeld was redefining deer-hunting.
Nov. 10 was a day when things certainly started on the wrong foot. Diesfeld had planned to hunt with his wife, but from individual stands. When he got home, her hunting clothes had not been washed, and he insisted on washing them in scent- neutralizer before going. This made them late, and the plan switched to hunting from a double ladder stand in Chatham County. While the stand was in a good location for deer movement and the wind, it faced the west, and the glare of the setting sun was in their eyes.
“It was just after 4 when we got settled in the stand,” Diesfeld said. “After the three deer I had shot in the past 10 days, I figured I had used up all my luck and might be holding her back. We watched the squirrels eat and play for a while and suddenly, we heard something big walking through the dry leaves. I whispered to her it was a deer, and it sounded like it was coming from behind us on her side.”
Diesfeld said the deer approached from his wife’s side of the stand, and he could not see it. She said it had nice anthers, and he told her to be ready to take the shot as soon as she was comfortable. At one point, it was eating acorns so close he could hear them crunch. When he finally saw the deer, it was moving toward the stand and was so close his wife was having trouble finding it in the scope on her .243 rifle.
“About the time I saw him, he realized something was up,” Diesfeld said. “He didn’t start running, but turned to head back where he came from. I whispered to my wife, and she nodded approval for me to shoot. I quickly stood and shot, and he bucked like he had been hit, and I shot again. We listened as he ran a ways and then there was a large crash, and the woods went silent.”
Diesfeld said time crept by slowly as they sat in the stand and waited for 20 minutes before climbing down to go look for the deer. During that time he thought back over the previous week-and-a-half and how fortunate he had been.
“We found him about 80 yards away, and I was stunned by how large his rack was,” Diesfeld said. “This was the third extremely large-racked buck I had shot in 11 days, and the smaller fourth one was larger than anything I had shot until this year. After dinner, my wife helped me measure him and we came up with a gross score of 148. I had to pause and take a deep breath; I couldn’t believe my luck.”
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