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King of the Woods Hunting Contest
 

Beasley Brothers 2007 Hunts are brought to you by:

  
 
                
  
           
 
  Waiting for the Right Time   

-- By Kevin Beasley --  

Careful attention to the wind and not getting in too close was the price Kevin had to pay to harvest this 150 class 12 pointer. Despite lots of sign and trail cam pictures of big bucks, he waited until Thursday morning of the second week to hunt this property. 		 
 
    The 2007 deer hunt was one that we had really been looking forward to. This year we had trail cameras out more than ever and were excited about the good quality deer on them.
    The first night out with the bow I saw more deer then I had ever seen from a treestand before. None of them came in range, but it was still an enjoyable first night. The early bow season came and went and the only deer that I had within range were a few yearling bucks.
    One of our properties is really difficult to bowhunt due to the layout of the land and the difficulty of hunting it without spooking deer, so with a few exceptions, we saved this property for the gun season. In previous years, we had found success with this strategy by taking a couple big bucks and were confident we could repeat those results. With this property virtually untouched, it was one that we had all wanted to go to.

  
 


These two videos, taken from our trail cameras in the summer, show two nice bucks that frequented the area in the summer months but were never seen during the hunt. The buck in the top video was caught on camera many other times but never seen in person.		  
 
    We walked the property a couple times during the day and the area was littered with scrapes, and not just little scrapes; there were scrapes that were about 4 feet in diameter. This was enough to get us really excited to get into this property.
    This year we started hunting out of TreeSaddles and we really noticed an advantage. TreeSaddles give us way more flexibility in choosing stand locations and we can hunt out of some trees with little or no time spent in preparation. There were many times this year that we walked into a spot and chose a tree we've never hunted out of before and we were up in it and ready to hunt within 10 minutes. This kind of flexibility allows us to more effectively hunt the wind and adjust to changing travel routes of the deer. The first thing we do when we choosing where to hunt is to check the wind direction and then pick a tree from there. Unfortunately, this property is set up in such a way that during the first week of the gun season there was no good wind, so it received no pressure. Also, the way that we decide where the four of us hunt depends on who has shot the most recent deer; this allows the person who has waited the longest to get first pick. This year, that was Paul, and then me.
    The first week of gun season went by with us seeing a couple of respectable deer, but only one we were willing to take. We had also found that the rut was not completely in full swing. But then on the Sunday, I went for a morning drive around a couple properties and at 8:10am I came across a monster 8 point in hot pursuit of a doe. I was able to watch them from the road for a good ten minutes and they crossed the road right into our property. After sharing this information with Keith, Paul and Dad, we now knew where we needed to put our attention. The next day, the three of us were situated in a way that we felt we covered the property the best. That morning Keith was able to kill a big 8 point that was not the deer I had seen the morning before. That same morning Paul had seen another large 8 point after Keith had shot, but it was too far for him to get a shot. The next day, we were there again and this time, Paul was able to harvest a big nine point. The following day, my dad killed his buck, hot on a doe, on the property next to this one. At this point, it was my turn to pick first and with the wind finally blowing in a perfect direction for the property we had saved, there was no doubt in my mind where I needed to be. I arrived there about 15 minutes before light but I never left my car until I could see in the fields. We have done this for the past six years because we found that we were spooking too many deer when walking into the fields. We have found that this has really helped us minimize pressure on the deer on our properties.

  
     
 
    Finally it was light enough that I could see in the fields and I was off. I had not seen anything until I rattled at 9 o'clock. Not more then 2 minutes later, a little button buck came out in the field to investigate. The fawn stayed with me for about 45 minutes and then went back into the bush. I stayed for another 45 minutes and then went for lunch. I went back there that night and saw absolutely nothing.
    That night, I was a little discouraged about the property, but I knew that the scrapes were still being used and the wind was still right, so I decided to go back the next morning.

  
  Even with trail cameras on the property, and having hunted it for several years now, we had no clue this buck existed until the morning Kevin shot him. We knew other good bucks were in the area but this heavy-beamed brute was a pleasant surprise.

  
      Again I arrived just before legal light and waited until I could see in the fields. As I entered my field, I pulled out my Zeiss binoculars and scanned the field. There was nothing, so I continued on to my spot. As I arrived at my spot, I was just getting situated when I looked up and there he was, just coming out of the woods. At this point he was about 200 yards away looking in my direction. He stared my way for about a minute and then continued on his way straight to his scrape and while doing so, closing the distance between him and I. I let him continue his approach until he was about 75 yards away. At that point he was slightly quartering to me and stopped. I raised my muzzleloader, settled the crosshairs of my Zeiss Conquest scope and squeezed the trigger. When the shot rang out he folded up right on the spot. I then sat there in disbelief and was so excited to have just harvested such a beautiful buck. After retrieving my buck there was no ground shrinkage for me, I was just amazed by the solid mass that he carried. He had a typical 6x5 frame with one nontypical point on his right side making him a 12 point buck (7x5). He is at Advanced Taxidermy being mounted so we've not been able to score him just yet. It was a morning I will never forget.