The temps were scheduled to drop 30 degrees in 24 hours at our Ohio farm, dipping into the single digits by the gun opener, so we got extremely excited. At this point in the season we had only taken one buck off the property, an old 7.5 year old warhorse in early November by Burlap Jeff, so we looked forward to the opportunity of shouldering a slew of 350 Legends the weekend after Thanksgiving.
In camp with us for the opener was our friend Scott Lubeck from our patners at Stanley Black and Decker, Burlap Jeff Schuster, Chris, Casey and our Busch Light Hunt Giveaway winner Matt Boettcher. Since September we had worked with Busch Light to promote and give one lucky hunter a free gun hunt on our farm, and it just so turned out that Matt was an Ohio resident and Cincinnati Police Officer, so he made the three hour trip up to join us.
A stiff west wind met us as the sun rose on the opener, and with a windchill in the single digits we expected big deer movement. Throughout the first day we had significant activity, heard plenty of gun shots but didn’t catch up to a mature buck. The morning of day two was much of the same but we held significant optimism for the evening hunt.
I was nestled down in a food plot we call the Intersection, a location on our farm that always seems to provide us with consistent mature buck activity. I was self filming for this hunt. We had cameras with Chris, Casey and Matt, so things could get interesting, as they always seem to when I film myself hunting. With the wind still howling, the Intersection drops down significantly below the open field up top, giving deer a nice reprieve from the conditions. Over the last three seasons we had taken three great bucks during gun season at the Intersection, so the confidence was pretty high.
At 3:30 the food plot started to fill up with does and young deer. At 4pm a few bucks cruised through…and at 4:15 I caught movement in the timber to the west, a place mature bucks always use to sight check this food plot on a west wind during the month of November. They can scent check the bedding areas below while visually scanning the food plot for potential targets. As he slowly worked his way to the food plot, I knew exactly where he was planning to come out. I also recognized this buck as a deer we call “Back Patch” or “Meat Unit”…a big bodied mature deer that was on our radar.
He continued to work through the timber as I got the camera dialed in and the crosshairs ready for him to step into the clearing just up top from the food plot. For five minutes he stood in the thick cover, two steps from exposing his vitals for a shot with the 350 Legend. I continuously checked the camera making sure exposure and framing was still solid. Finally, he eased out from the cover, I centered the crosshairs behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger. The Winchester Copper Impact found lungs and the buck ran off up and over the ridge that surrounds the food plot. I was fairly sure it was a fatal hit.
I texted the guys and we met up at the blind after dark. We made the short 40 yard track and found “Meat Unit” expired in the very timber he avoided his fate at least twice before. In late October, Jeff sent an arrow over his back from a millennium treestand just 20 yards from where he was standing when shot him…and Chris had him at full draw while self-filming in Trifecta a few hundred yards to the west, but he snuck away when he got just out of the camera’s frame. But his charmed life had come to an end and there was no better time to do it than with a camp full of friends.
We loaded him up, hopped in the Tracker and drove the mile back to the Skinning Shed…a place where time stands still and the Buch Lights flow after a successful hunt. We’ve spent so many fall nights listening to music, skinning deer, drinking a cold beer with the occasional swear word or two…it’s a tradition unlike any other. Stories with the same cast of characters, new additions to the crew and the usual visits from Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, Grady, Griff and Tab…the family that makes these memories possible each deer season. We’ve hunted their family farm for almost a decade now…they’ve become family to us.
For a few months each fall we spend weeks chasing deer on the ground that bears their last name on a map. For that we owe them so much. For the opportunity to create memories in a place as special as this one, it’s so hard to put into words how much it means to us…and in the end we hope it means just as much to them. Deer camps around the country are special places that are indescribable…and before you know it, the calendar turns and the season is over. But when it’s all said and done, the stories created with friends and family have no end date…just close your eyes and you’ll be there, back to the Skinning Shed, where camp laughter echos through the hills and the dull glow of rafter lights flicker deep into the night.
AUTHOR: Jason Brown
