There is an old saying that "If he roots
around enough, every once in a while, even
a blind hog gets an acorn,!" Given the
validity of this sage old advice, one might
deduce that a couple tenacious hunters rooting
around various sections of Bernheim Forest
for 8 seasons it is reasonable that one or
the other would shoot a nice buck…eventually!
However when it finally
happened this past
season that my hunting
partner, Clint Blackburn
and I both took exceptional
bucks minutes
apart on the same ridge,
we came to believe
that the sweet smell of
success might have
wafted up from a small
bottle of deer scent.
While most of KY deer hunting
is done on
the nutritionally advantaged
agricultural
lands which grow large
fat deer, hunting
the pristine 12,000-acre
research forest
area of the Bernheim Estate
is a whole different
experience. It is pure
deer hunting, very
close to the way Daniel
and Davey experienced
it when they first came
through the Cumberland
Gap.
Likewise it has many of
those same challenges
that kept the pilgrims
lean. Huge forested
tracks, abundant browse
and mast, flowing
creeks and springs, hills
and valleys a plenty
provide the type of habitat
that doesn't
bode well for those looking
to pattern the
elusive whitetail buck.
There are no crops
or mowed fields in or adjacent
to most of
the areas and the deer
seem to wonder aimlessly
from any one of the endless
number of sunny
hillsides to the next,
mainly following the
sun and the wind to keep
the odds of survival
in their favor.
Mike Ohlmann's Buck
 |
To add to the challenge,
at Bernheim, each
group of hunters is assigned
an area by draw
about 2 weeks before the
season. Also because
of its various public uses,
the hunters are
only allowed to set up
their stands or scout
1 week in advance of the
short, 8 day hunting
season.
When we were first invited
to hunt at Bernheim,
years ago, there were obvious
signs of over
crowding and over browsing.
Those fist years
there were significant
efforts to reduce
the doe numbers and as
a part of that effort
my partner Clint and I
and had taken a good
number of mature but very
small does. In
the more recent years it
seemed that successfully
the numbers had come into
balance with the
land and while shot opportunities
had dwindled
somewhat, the remaining
deer were notably
larger and healthier and
with the previous
years of heavy hunting,
as wary as ever!
Throughout the past seasons
Clint and I had
passed on young bucks opting
to save our
statewide "single
buck" tags for
later efforts elsewhere
and continued to
harvest several plump does
each year. While
we had both seen signs
of and/or glimpsed
nice bucks in our assigned
areas no shots
had presented and we were
still basically
rooting for "a real
keeper in the big
woods."
KY oaks produced an unprecedented
mast crop
during the 2005 growing
season. There were
bushels of acorns under
every tree consequently
the deer could find plenty
to eat anywhere
they went. As the season
approached the generally
warmer than average temperatures
did not
encourage deer movement,
so it seemed deer
weren't traveling far or
often. We also realized,
as the season approached,
that we would have
to contend with an unusually
bright full
moon and clear night skies
were predicted.
Thus it was not looking
overly promising
for this to be "our
year" as the
short season approached.
As it happened, earlier
in the summer I had
made the acquaintance a
deer farmer in Pennsylvania,
who was the owner of Stonycreek
Whitetails.
In our many conversations
he learned of my
interest in whitetail hunting,
so John sent
me some fresh samples of
his products; BuckDraw
dominant buck urine, MaximumDraw
doe in estrus
urine, and the TotalDraw
"clencher lure"
about a week prior to our
hunt which happened
to coincided with our first
day to scout
our assigned area.
From the numerous archery
hunters that stopped
by our shop, we knew the
woods report was
that rut was gearing up
and in the agricultural
areas trails were heavy
with sign. We arrived
at our assigned area to
discover the leaves
falling heavily in the
forest, and finding
scrapes to be extremely
difficult. We were
able to locate several
rub lines which we
followed and ultimately
located a very promising
ridge with good prevailing
winds, close to
what appeared to be a logical
bedding area.
The various rub lines seemed
to indicate
several buck's trails intersected
the ridge
on two adjacent saddles
approximately 200
yards apart. Though only
one small fresh
scrape was found, the size
and number of
rubs and other signs made
us feel the area
held promise.
Due to our time constraints
and the arrival
of the fresh supply of
highly touted "lure",
we decided to hang scent
drippers and see
if the lure would help.
We placed one on
the located scrape and
the 2nd at a point
about 100 yards away on
a particularly good
rub line where we built
a mock scrape. We
further added our own rubs
on a line between
the two saddles hoping
to further increase
traffic at the 2 intersections.
We also spread
a bit of the scent during
our work.
When we returned 5 days
later we wore scent
pads on our boots and also
used a couple
draglines to sweeten the
area. There had
been no precipitation and
the earth was powder
dry and the leaves were
deep and crisp. It
appeared that turkeys had
used the real scrape,
as a dusting area but there
was also some
new sign of buck activity.
Our mock scrape
had been visited and there
were now 4 more
scrapes on our mock rub
line and two other
scrapes on the primary
natural scrape/rub
line. With the considerable
increase in activity,
we were now feeling encouraged
as to our
prospects, so we freshened
our scrape and
alternately placed MaximumDraw
and BuckDraw
in the natural scrapes
and added one more
mock scrape on an adjacent
line between the
two spots we had decided
were the spots to
hang our stands.
Though we would be hunting
less than 250
yards apart each stand
held views of separate
open forested ridges and
each had a good
view of one of the saddles
containing the
scrapes. The ridge between
us serves as a
safety buffer and allowed
each of us a 360-degree
shooting area as long as
the targets were
well below the skyline.
We returned 2 days later,
in the predawn
quiet, for the hunt. To
avoid a mile climb
up hill, Clint had to pass
directly through
the area to get to his
stand so he wore scent
pads with the BuckDraw
lure and dragged a
pad with TotalDraw to mask
his presence.
As discussed he stopped
at 4 scrapes and
freshened them with MaxDraw.
Being the statewide opening
day for modern
weapons and due to our
"non hunting
schedule friendly"
profession, as taxidermist,
we could only hunt until
noon before scurrying
off to a full shift at
the shop. So with
the significant sign, and
since this was
primarily a management
hunt and each hunter
had been strongly encouraged
to take several
does, we had determined
to take does that
morning if the opportunity
presented.
Clint Blackburn and his buck
 |
By 9 am I had 2 does down
on the opposite
side of the stand from
the rub line. They
has had meandered through
the open woods,
casually picking acorns
and seemed oblivious
of a rut or anything else.
Clint had shot
another that seemed to
be alone and unhurried,
though shortly after the
shot a young buck
appeared nose down, following
her trail.
Several other does moved
through his area
along our mock scrape line
without presenting
shots. From this we deduced
that Clint's
stand needed to be moved
a bit for a clearer
view. We accomplished that
task before we
refreshed our scrapes and
left the woods.
On the way out we noted
a number of new rubs
and confirmed that two
scrapes had been worked
over very thoroughly. Accordingly
we moved
one of the drippers to
another scrape and
hung several scent strips
along our scrape/rub
line.
One positive aspect of
the Beenheim situation
is that our area is ours
alone so with the
amount of disturbance we
had produced retrieving
the 3 deer, moving the
stand etc. we opted
to skip the following morning
to let the
area rest while we worked
extra hours at
the shop to make up for
our opening morning
indulgence.
We returned Monday morning,
day 3. The temperature
had finally dropped,(from
the mid 40's all
the way into the teens)
and Clint commented
through frosty puffs of
breath, that "he
really felt like luck was
with us" on
our predawn hike into our
stands. His masking
scent seemed to have worked
as none of the
animals seemed to have
detected him on opening
morning so again he dosed
up and made scent
trails between our stands
and freshened the
scrapes as he passed.
In the first light of dawn
among the chirping
and other usual sounds,
I could hear what
sounded like a buck thrashing
a tree in a
low thick brushy draw far
left of my stand.
This draw had good wind
off of my mock scrape,
As the light ever so slowly
increased, my
patience waned, and my
first grunt calls
were immediately answered
with more severe
thrashing of a cedar. Luckily,
it took 15
minutes for the buck to
finally work his
way up the draw and he
appeared 20 yards
below my scrape, nose up,
lip curled, sampling
the air. His head was cocked
back so that
I could see almost no horn.
After a moment
or two of testing the air
he dropped his
head and stepped up and
out into the open,
with his head down and
an impressive rack
leading the way.
Instantly it became obvious
that he was among
the few large racked deer
I had seen in this
forest in 8 years. I quickly
changed out
my binoculars for my scoped
rifle. As I was
finding and steadying him
in the scope, he
moved forward to trail
intersection where
Clint had passed less than
45 minutes before
with the scent pads there
he immediately
swapped directions, but
instead of bolting
he bowed up and bristled
in obvious irritation.
By now I had steadied the
crosshairs and
had cranked up the power.
I could see kicker
points on a main frame
8 pt rack. His total
focus was the scent trail
and he shook from
head to tail with either
excitement or rage.
No time for his psychoanalysis,
I focused
on my breathing, confirmed
his shoulder and
applied right index finger
pressure. The
7mm slug passed through
and he ran only 30
yards before nosing in.
My first thought was that
of the considerable
number deer I have taken
over the years and
I had never seen one more
thoroughly distracted
and excited on a scent
trail. I lamented
not having waited to see
what he would have
done next. Of course its
easy to ponder what
if's when you have a nice
buck in the bag!
Since my buck was down
in plain sight, and
lay between Clint and me,
I decided to wait
a bit before moving up.
I didn't have to
wait long. Less than ten
minutes after my
shot Clint's 7mm rang out.
It seems that
a 2nd buck had been working
his way up towards
our scrape line from another
draw and a 3rd
buck was coming in from
the far end of the
ridge. Clint reported his
buck was grunting
and stomping out of the
bottoms when my shot
rang out. Though the shot
didn't seem to
bother him the 3rd buck
moving down the scrape
line did and when the two
started towards
each other they crossed
his trail just below
our mock scrape #2 and
keyed on the scent
line. Both bucks were worked
up and trailed
nose to the ground directly
under his stand.
The larger passed at a
good pace, headed
towards the scrape and
Clint put a bullet
through his shoulders.
He said the 3rd buck jumped,
ran 10 yards,
crossed the scent line
again and went right
back to it. He worked the
area for several
more minutes before finally
wondering over
the hill. We had put two
great "big
forest bucks" on the
ground in a10 minute
span and less than 200
yards apart.
The 2 bucks ultimately
were the largest taken
out of the forest for the
season and in the
top 5 taken in all the
time that the management
hunts have been conducted.
You can see from
the photos that they are
of similar genetics.
My 2.5-year-old buck weighted
140 and measured
133 6/8s while Clint's
132lb. 3.5 year old
scored 137 5/8ths. Not
what you call "down
on the farm monster bucks
" but in my
book definitely "big
woods trophies"!
I still believe that when
it comes to hunting
you can't beat tenacity
and luck but I have
added Stony Creek's Suredraw
scent products
to my rooting repertoire!
|
|
|
|
|
