I went on a 20 day campaign in the big bush this year. First time devoting a November to it for better than 10 years. Probably closer to 15. There was nothing big on my place, or the other private land I frequent, besides a really nice up and comer that I didn’t even want to chance running into.
My biggest WT has come from the forests that could hide an army. I had around 20 cameras out and was pleasantly surprised with a few of the pockets of deer located. I ended up having the scope on 25 bucks that were rattled in. Another 4 that came but would not reveal themselves. My mind tells me that these are always the largest(not necessarily the case). Despite having bigger bucks on camera, I failed in connecting with any of them. No surprise - I have not forgotten who I am pursuing. I passed a 165” or so mainframe 5x5 with a 6-7” drop tine at 60 yards. He would have tickled or broke the 170” mark. I really wanted to dump him but I have the 160-170” size range covered in spades already. So 1.75 of the 2lbs trigger pressure required was let down and he walked away. Roughly a week later, I rattled in my third buck of that day and it was a deer I had pictures of, but was not able to see any of his extras in the captures. He had a 150” type 5x6 main frame but twin scissor brows and an inline. Great mass and beams wrapped in hard. I had misjudged him by 15” or better off of the photos. He finished at 12 yards. Just a beautiful rattling set. But he is a younger buck. Let him walk off too. Im not sure how much merit there is to letting the bush bucks walk but, we will see how it pans out in years to come.
By complete fluke, two of my cams ended up in or very close to the core area of a typical 6x7 that would gross in the 190s. He snapped off 27-30” of tines quite early. Which made me sick with all the daylight photos I was getting. I’m sure I could have killed that buck, but I feel it would have been a sin with him being broken as he was. Another buck I had several pictures of, I had talked myself out of being on the list. Until I got a picture that really showcased him. Biggest blunder of the season. He was quite regular on two cams in daylight and I squandered all of that potential opportunity not hunting him. A friend of mine had pictures of him from 2020 and he was already big then, but we never made the connection until it was too late. Probably a gross 180” buck,likely 7.5 years old.
All in all, it was a great season. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed chasing them in the big bush. Much more to learn as well as remember things I have forgotten.
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