My adventure actually began in 2008. I had booked a hunt with Montana Whitetails and had a slot for the first week of November. Keith had advised me to be prepared for weather from 0 to 70 degrees. Well, he was right! We experienced the 0 and about 50! We hunted hard each day and managed to see many deer, many bucks and a few very serious wall hangers. Unfortunately only the younger guys seemed to wander close enough for a shot. I finished that week without pulling the bow back, but very excited about the possibilities!
Convinced that success would be a product of persistence, I booked again with Keith for the 2009 season, except this time for the second week of November. I also made some adjustments to my equipment. I switched to a release and drop away rest. I also added a better site. Importantly, I spent a lot of time shooting! November rolled up incredibly fast as I was very busy at work and also spending time tweaking my new set up. I was ready in every way for my hunt.
November 7th found me in Bozeman airport gathering my stuff and looking for Bill. We quickly connected and after some food shopping made the trip out to home base. I was surprised to see only a single other hunter in camp! This created lots of options for stands. Sunday morning arrived and was a brisk 15 degrees. Well before first light Keith led me to a stand about 20 feet up in a tree. It was a perfect set up sitting in a sliver of trees between bedding and feeding areas. Just as I could begin to make out details in morning light an 8 point buck walked by at about 20 yds. 15 minutes later a 6 pt followed in the first's tracks. Then a couple does went by in front of me. That set the tone for the day. I saw a total of 10 different bucks! One nice 8 point bedded down about 60 yds away and a decent 6 point buck bedded down about 5 yds from the stand while his buddy, an 8 pt, walked about in and out of bow range for 30 minutes or so. This day was probably the most exciting day in the stand I've ever had even though I never pulled the bow back (and thats saying a bit as I've been bowhunting for almost 40 years!).
Well, the next morning found me in the same tree stand watching the stars and moon light disappear into a fine crisp morning. Early on, under the cover of moonlight, I could hear footsteps in the leaves, close! Finally a shadow appeared, then a deer. It was only 6:30 am. As daylight began to take over I could see that this deer was the 6 pt from the day before. He was content to stick around the tree stand and feed. Around 6:45 it was getting light out and as I looked over my left shoulder I could see a nice deer working a scrape about 50 - 60 yds away. He looked my way and saw the 6 pt and decided he needed to investigate. Just about as he decided to investigate, I decided he was a shooter and carefully began planning my shot. He walked in almost directly under the tree stand but presented no shot. No way to work an arrow through the understory below the stand. Suddenly the two deer mixed it up and my shooter dashed off, right onto the farmer's path which I had already measured at 22 yds. There he stood broadside and looking away. I drew and shot; bullseye with a rage 3 broad head. 50 yds later I saw the deer crumble and go down. All by 7:00 am! I was expecting Bill or Keith check on me around 10:00. It was the longest 3 hrs of my life! It wasn't dull, I saw 3 more bucks, one which was a nice 8 pt, definitely meeting the minimum camp standard of 115.
What a hunt! When all was said and done, Keith had measured him at 140 and 3/8 with 12 points. My nicest buck ever and an adventure I'll never forget. A great big thanks to Keith and Bill for making this hunt a success. Persistence pays off!
Cheers,
Ross Lobell
(Editor's Note: Attached is a photo taken of the tree stand just after we put it up in April, 2009)
