The week started off with my guide, Guy McMahon, taking me on a tortuous climb up a bluff to a stand he promised could produce a huge buck. We just had to beat the deer to the top as they returned from the fields below – no small feat! We made it up there and then had to scale our way up into a 32 foot high treestand. Very scary in the dark.  Guy had raked a path to the stand so our approach was totally silent except for my huffing and puffing.

After about an hour Guy said he could hear them coming. The first buck was a 135” eight pointer who came up and bedded down 35 yards away. He got rousted out shortly by the one we were looking for as he came up the hill. He was a massive 24-25” wide twelve pointer. Both bucks looked like they were coming right by us. Guy had the camera rolling and I was ready to shoot. Unfortunately, they just followed the lip of the ravine around and headed away from us. They were too far to shoot the whole time. They didn’t respond to our grunts and slowly walked away. It was a very exciting sequence that we got on video. We were hoping he would work his way back to us but he never did. A short time later a non-typical with three main beams and a lot of trash around his bases came right into the shooting lane. He was probably not a 140” deer so we just filmed him and let him pass. All in all in was quite a morning!

The first evening was the actual return to 13 Point Ridge. We got into the same stands as last year where I got the 168”  thirteen pointer. We were able to film a massive eight pointer that was just out of bow range. We got him responding to the can call and almost coming our way. We would see this deer later in the week. We guessed he was a 150 class buck as an eight pointer – definitely a shooter!

We spent the rest of the week hunting from a great selection of stands. Each one was classic Midwestern deer cover. Each one made the hair on my neck stand up. The countryside is the most beautiful deer country I have ever seen.

Wednesday found me back on 13 Point Ridge by myself that morning. I saw the massive eight again and he had a 135” buck with him but no shot. There was not a lot of evidence that the rut was on but surely it must be by now. There were does bedded close by the stand but I was able to sneak out for lunch without spooking them at all. When we quietly snuck back in for the evening hunt, we jumped a buck laying right under the stand. He moved off but still didn’t spook those does. Pretty amazing – they must be very confident in that bedding spot. We saw lots of deer that afternoon but no shooters.

On Friday, the last day of the hunt, Guy forgot the camera and sent me in to the stand by myself. Little did I know this would have a drastic effect on the outcome of the hunt.  I was sitting down as the light came up. About 7:15 I stood up to stretch and looked over my shoulder. I almost swallowed my gum! There was the massive eight walking down the woods trail away from me. He came in behind me and I never heard him. If Guy had been there he would have heard him coming and we would have been ready. Guy doesn’t miss a trick – he could hear a mouse at 100 yards. By the time I got the bow off the hanger and ready to shoot, the buck was down in some slashings too far away in too much cover to shoot. Very disappointing but it was neat to see him up close like that. Isn’t it amazing how the smallest details (like forgetting the camera) come back to bite you in the butt?

We finished out the last sit with no more action and the hunt was over. I truly enjoyed the whole thing. From Guy’s company and expert assistance to seeing and almost getting some giant whitetails, the hunt was a tremendous amount of fun. I can’t remember when I had more fun on a hunt.

I highly recommend Carter Outdoors if you want a truly memorable hunting experience. Their people and their hunting grounds are their strong suits. If you go, I know you won’t be disappointed.