Palmated buck
After Jeff Annis of Wilton, N.C. got a few interesting photos last year on the trail cameras located on his Granville County hunting land of a mature, non-typical buck with a little palmation on its rack, he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the deer in person. His trail cameras caught two night photos of it this year, and it had grown quite a bit.
He killed the buck on Nov. 3, after he finally saw it in the flesh while perched 25 feet high in a Loc-On stand during an evening hunt. The rack is more impressive than it was last year, and he heard it before he saw it.
“When I heard it coming, it was like paddles hitting against trees. It sounded like something you’d hear while moose hunting,” said Annis.
The hunt began with Annis getting all his gear, including a video camera, situated in his stand. He was hunting along the edges of a pathway leading to a corn pile, and it wasn’t long before he saw a few deer, but nothing worth drawing his bow for. But one little buck began staring toward the path that deer often travel down, and that’s when Annis heard the telltale sound that something out-of-the-ordinary was moving along the tree line.
Annis was understandably happy to see the deer, which had a total of 19 points (14 scoreable), but it was the beginning of a grueling 12-minute wait as the buck stood with his back facing the hunter in a way that offered no clear shot.
Finally, the buck turned left, and gave Annis a hard quartering shot at 23 yards. Once it dropped its head, Annis released his arrow which found its mark. The deer took off running, and ran a loop into the trees.
“I could hear him thrashing in the trees about 80 yards away. I heard him cough, then it sounded like he was done,” said Annis, who called his dad to bring his tracking dog, which is part of Annis’ Low to Ground Tracking and Deer Recovery.
“I’ve been training a young dog to do some blood tracking and he’s found several deer this year. I think people need to utilize blood tracking dogs more often. It’s a big help in recovering deer. When a hunter’s sight-tracking efforts are unsuccessful, other alternatives for tracking need to be considered so we can give the animals the effort they deserve. Scent tracking with trained tracking dogs is a very useful tool when tracking gets tough.
“I felt like I could probably find that deer, but I wanted to give my dog some more training. Plus, using a tracking dog shouldn’t be a last resort. So I waited until my dad got there. The dog got excited immediately, and found it quickly about 80 yards away,” he said.
Annis took the buck to Duke’s Processing. It weighed 192 pounds and was over 5-years-old.
Need help locating a deer, but don’t know of anyone with a tracking dog? Annis said it’s easy to find one in your area at unitedbloodtrackers.org.
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