2008 Hunts are brought to you by: Click on a logo to visit the sponsor's website                                                 2008 6-Pack -- By Paul Beasley -- The last evening of a three day hunt proved to be very eventful as Paul arrowed a mature 6 point buck and a doe within 30 minutes of each other.         The weatherman was predicting cold night-time temperatures and moderate day-time temperatures for the second week of November in Middlesex County. We have a two week shotgun season in my home WMU but I left my guns in the cabinet and packed up my Hoyt Katera XL for the second week and headed southwest to hunt with our good friend, James Vanos.     It was 1pm when I pulled into his neighbourhood and the first property of his that I drove by had a doe bedded on the edge of a corn field with a 130-140 class 10 pointer standing over top of her. I love to be in the woods at any time of year but there's no question that being in the woods when bucks are running all day long in search of does can produce some of the most exciting hunting experiences ever and I didn't realize it at the time but this first sighting was a great indicator of what was to come.     My first evening in the stand was slow. Despite my attempts at getting into my stand quietly, I bumped a group of 4 does and fawns who were bedded nearby. I saw two does and two fawns that evening and though I had an extra antlerless-only archery tag in my pocket, the hunt was still too young to fill that tag just yet.     We met up at the barn after the hunt and James replayed the story of a nice buck that he had in range that evening but passed up for another year.     The next morning was nice and cold and the action around my stand started before first-light. I was set up along the edge of a narrow strip of woods bordered on one side by a river and a corn field on the other. I could see and hear movement out in the corn field and the increasing light finally revealed a young 8 point buck with a couple antlerless deer feeding along the edge of the corn field. They were over 200 yards away but nonetheless, it was enjoyable to have something to watch. The buck was certainly interested in the does but they had no apparent interest in him. He took turns chasing each one of them around until they finally got sick of him and headed into the timber. All alone now, he walked the edge of the field, heading in my direction, and cut into the trees about 150 yards away from my perch.     As the sun began to peek over the horizon, several more does and fawns filtered through the harvested corn field on their way to the woods down by the river where they would likely rest from a night of feeding and being harassed by eager bucks. I sat in that stand from before day-break until about 9:30am and I had deer in front of me almost the entire time. One nice doe walked in and presented a shot that was almost too perfect to pass up but she seemed so spooky that I decided not to risk the chance of her jumping the string and making a poor shot. I also had a nice young 8 point respond to my rattles and came right in to investigate.     Below is a video of a doe and young 8 pointer that Paul passed on during the morning hunt. Note: This footage was taken with a small, handheld camcorder so it is shaky and low resolution.             On our way to breakfast we saw a spectacular 150-160 class buck crossing a field where James hunts. The buck was heading into a woodlot where he would have to cross in front of one of James' stands so he quickly headed towards that stand. As he was creeping in, he could see a buck meandering through the trees ahead of him. He let the buck walk off and quickly climbed into his stand before hitting the rattles in an attempt to lure the buck back into range. He did rattle in a smaller buck but the big guy never showed up.     On our way back from breakfast we saw another mature buck crossing a field. These sightings were all a good sign that bucks were on the move through all hours of the day and that we needed to park our butts in a stand and wait as we'd never kill anything from the truck.     I headed into my stand early that afternoon and bumped a 130-140 class 10-pointer from his bed just 80 yards from my stand. He looked to be the same buck that I had watched tending the doe at 1pm when I arrived the day before.     I climbed into my stand and before I was settled in I heard some noise not far away. I look behind the tree and saw a small doe-fawn, only 35 yards away that had just arisen from her bed. She had no idea that I was there and spent the next 10-15 minutes stretching and cleaning herself.     Out of nowhere, 6 does and fawns came charging through the bush right into the area around my stand. I have no idea what spooked them but I saw nothing on their tail and they settled down quite quickly. I had the 6 of them plus the doe-fawn mingling around my stand for the next hour or so which provided some nice entertainment to help pass the time. As darkness approached, a couple more antlerless deer filtered through the trees on their way out to the corn field but the only buck I saw was a small 1.5 or 2.5 year old 8 point that came and worked a scrape just 15 yards from my stand right at last light.     I was back in the stand by the river for the morning hunt and again the temperature was cold and the weather was perfect.     This area is home to a buck named, Lawnboy. He's 7.5 to 8.5 years old and carries a clean 8 point rack that would score in the high 140's to low 150's. James has been passing him up for many years in hopes of him "blossoming" at some point into a more spectacular rack but with the exception of growing a few inches in mass each year, his rack has remained almost the same since James first spotted him 4 years ago.     I was really hoping to see Lawnboy this morning but instead I saw a pile of does and fawns and a 1.5 year old 6 point. It was another exciting morning with a lot of deer sightings but still no signs of Lawnboy.     The pictures at the top show Lawnboy in 2006 while the others show Lawnboy in 2008. Photos by James Vanos         After breakfast, we decided to do a little bit of scouting and as luck would have it, we found Lawn-Boy and a 7 pointer in a small woodlot along the edge of the river. Unfortunately, I was not armed with my bow at this point so we headed back to gear up and I spent the rest of the day camped out on an exit trail from that woodlot.     It took me a long time to sneak into position as the woodlot is quite small and I was afraid of busting them out the backside. I was confident that Lawnboy would come out before dark, the only question was going to be which trail he chose to come out on.     I finally found the spot that I felt presented the greatest chance of getting a shot and before I could even get settled, in walks the 5 point that I had seen with Lawnboy earlier. In a moment, my heart beat started to race as I expected Lawnboy to be following. The young buck walked to within 40 yards and then bedded down. This was not good as I was not yet fully set up and I was concerned that he would see or hear any movement I made. With the utmost care and attention, I slowly eased myself into a position where a good size tree was blocking the line of sight between the buck and I.     The discomfort of not being able to move or get comfortable was really wearing on me but I knew that spooking that buck could blow the entire hunt if he took Lawnboy with him. After 45 minutes he finally arose and casually walked off. It was still early in the afternoon but knowing the rut was on I decided to see if I could get something happening so I pulled out my rattling antlers and grunt tube. After a short calling session, I soon caught a glimpse of Lawnboy walking through the timber about 100 yards away. He wasn't acting aggressively so my hopes of him charging in were dashed but I still hoped that his interest would be peaked enough to come and check me out. I sat for almost an hour with no sign of him. Off in the distance I could see a 130-140 class 10 pointer with a couple does entering a corn field so I knew that deer were starting to move for the evening feed.     A short time later, the 7 pointer stepped out of the woodlot and started walking towards the corn field. Sure enough, Lawnboy was trailing about 30 seconds behind him. As the 7 pointer angled towards me about 70 yards away, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked right past me. Knowing that I hadn't moved a muscle I was confident that he had not seen me and before my thoughts could progress any further, he turned and loped back into the trees, snorting along the way. He ran past Lawnboy, who stood there looking confused, but finally trusted the young buck and followed him into the security of the timber. I looked around to see what had spooked them but there was nothing in sight. I grabbed a milkweed seed that I keep in my pocket for judging wind direction and threw it up into the air. It floated down just as I expected it to do and just as I was about to rule out the wind as the cause of spooking the buck, the milkweed seed turned abruptly and blew right towards the spot where the buck once stood. Impossible to judge from my position, the contours of the land and trees were causing the wind to swirl. I was confident that Lawnboy had not been spooked badly and that he would come out again before dark but with the knowledge of the swirling winds, I had no choice but to back off and try to come at him from a different angle.     I slowly eased out of my position and dropped way out and around and crept back into a new position, only 100 yards from where I was earlier. I knew that it would be harder to get him into bow range from here but at least he had no way of winding me.     Sure enough, about 15 minutes before the end of legal light, two does and two fawns emerged from the same trail that Lawnboy and the 7 point had used just 30 minutes earlier. With only a few minutes of light left, Lawnboy emerged from the exact trail that I had been sitting over all afternoon. Had the wind not been an issue I would have stayed in that spot and been presented with a shot under 20 yards at the mature whitetail. Instead, I had to sit and watch him chase a doe around the field during the last few minutes of light. I was excited to have been so close but disappointed just the same.     The next morning was slowest yet. James and I hunted together and passed on a young 8 pointer but it was quiet beyond that.     Below is a video of a young 8 pointer that Paul and James passed on during the morning hunt. Note: This footage was taken with a small, handheld camcorder so it is shaky and low resolution.         A noon-hour scouting trip again produced a sighting of Lawnboy but this time he was across the river and we watched as he chased a doe into parts unknown. With no way to predict when he would come back to this side of the river, I made the decision to go after "6-Pack" for my last evening hunt.     6-Pack is a mature 6 point buck that I first laid eyes on two seasons ago. He was 2.5 years old at the very least back then and more than likely 3.5 which would put him at 4.5 or more than likely 5.5 years old this year. He's always been a 6 point which earned him his name. This year however, he grew one little sticker point off his left G2.     James had seen 6-Pack on this farm a lot this year and he was always acting really aggressively towards the other bucks which told me that he should respond well to rattling.     James' son Clayton accompanied me on the hunt both for company but also to run a little handheld camcorder in hopes of catching the hunt on tape. There were some deer in the field already when we arrived so we had to bump them in order to get into the stand. Bumping them obviously had no ill-effects as we were in the stand less than half an hour when a 4 pointer stepped out of the woods and into the field. He was followed closely behind by none other than 6-Pack. The two of them were feeding about 100 yards away so I pulled out my grunt tube. Lifting his head to acknowledge the sound, 6-Pack showed no interest in checking out the source of the grunts. After two different calling sessions, I decided to pull out my rattles. I only had to bang them together a few times before both bucks turned and started coming our way.     The 4 pointer was in the lead and he walked past us at 20 yards. 6-Pack was on a line slightly closer so I estimated him to be right around the 18 yard mark. Everything played out perfectly as the two bucks walked right in as if we had them on a track. I let 6-Pack get just slightly past me before grunting him to a stop and settling my pin on the pocket behind his right shoulder. My Easton Full Metal Jacket arrow was soon on its way and the G5 Striker broadhead tore through his vitals like a hot knife through butter and buried into the ground on the opposite side. 6-Pack gave the tell-tale donkey-kick and tore off down the field. We watched him run for about 70 yards before losing sight of him at the tree-line.     Excited about the shot, I turned to Clayton and asked if he'd caught it all on tape and immediately realized that in my haste to end this hunt, I hadn't checked to see if Clayton was ready and unfortunately he was facing the wrong way. The bucks came in so fast that he had no time to turn so he was unable to get the shot on video.     With about 40 minutes of light left we stayed in position, both to give 6-Pack time to expire but also to see what else might unfold.     About 15-20 minutes later some does and fawns entered the field and began feeding. A small fork-horn came out and scattered them all over the field. He continued to pester them and eventually one of the does that he scattered walked right in to about 16 yards. Anxious to try out the new G5 Striker Magnum, a fixed blade broadhead with a 1.5" cut, and with a doe tag in my pocket, I couldn't pass up such a great opportunity to do my part in doe management.     She stopped broadside and my arrow was released and the sound of impact was intense! I had not accounted for the heavy winds and my broadhead struck her right through the shoulder blade. Amazingly, the arrow blew through her shoulder and I still achieved full penetration and pass-through. I could see the blood pouring out right on impact and this experience was a testament to the value of quality equipment making up for mistakes that sometimes happen. The combination of extreme power generated by my Hoyt Katera XL, accompanied with a strong, hard-hitting Easton arrow, and a super-tough, extremely sharp broadhead made the most of what could have been a bad shot and brought that doe down within 50 yards.     Blood-trailing wasn't necessary as she died within sight but the blood trail was enormous.     Knowing she was dead, we climbed down immediately and went to retrieve my arrows. We tagged my doe and then headed back to the house to meet up with James and Al Arnold. After swapping all the stories of the evening hunt and enjoying a fantastic dinner by James' wife, we headed out to find 6-Pack. The blood trail wasn't great at the beginning but it was short. We found him laying in tall goldenrods right on the edge of the field just barely past the spot where we last saw him from the stand. The shot was perfect and I was thrilled to have a great buck on the ground.     It had been a very action packed three days and though I wasn't heading home with Lawnboy, I was happy to have 6-Pack in the back of the truck as a great memory of a fantastic three days of hunting with good friends.     The mature 6 pointer came in to Paul's rattling antlers and the doe strolled through 30 minutes later making for a very exciting evening on stand. Below is a video of 6 Pack and the doe. Unfortunately we were not able to get footage of the kill shot on 6 Pack. Note: This footage was taken with a small, handheld camcorder so it is shaky and low resolution.     Return to 2008 Hunts Page