Tristate
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 8,859
Well I thought I would give yall a short story. Last weekend while people sat around being angry on their googlers I went hunting with an old friend. He's 82 now. He has tracked buff in Africa. He has chased Wyoming elk. He has hunted whitetail every way imaginable. He wants a truly giant axis buck.
I told him we could find one. Truth is I had seen a giant while guiding a kid the first week of January. We hunted a baited area. We were on a field of oats that has a corn feeder and a protein feeder on the edge of it. The first morning we didn't see a single axis. I don't get it. All the guys on MM say the animals don't stand a chance if I have bait. That evening something amazing happened. Over 50 axis came to the wheat just before dark. Close to 20 bucks of all sizes. 3 were as big as any axis I have ever seen. I told my friend he could take any one of the three he wanted. He said that he didn't want to shoot one in velvet. Okay. He asked if any of those three were the one I saw last month. No they weren't. Okay. We watched them until it was to dark to see. We hunted the next morning but only saw a nice hard horned buck all alone. He asked if this one was as big as the other one from last month. It wasn't.
We drove home Sunday. He said he thought it was the greatest hunt for an axis he had ever heard of. He wants to come back in a few weeks and try again. I told him we would. Maybe we could do it when turkey season opens so we could call turkey in the mornings and hunt axis the rest of the day.
So guys what do I need to do different? I mean I baited but the monster we were after didn't show up???? Maybe I need to try apples.
Man its nice to hunt where we can bait. Its a lot easier for an 82 year old to keep going. It's also a lot easier to just watch and study game. AND IT AIN'T A GUARANTEE.
Keep hunting fellas. But take time to take kids and some elderly folks into the outdoors too.
Cheers
I told him we could find one. Truth is I had seen a giant while guiding a kid the first week of January. We hunted a baited area. We were on a field of oats that has a corn feeder and a protein feeder on the edge of it. The first morning we didn't see a single axis. I don't get it. All the guys on MM say the animals don't stand a chance if I have bait. That evening something amazing happened. Over 50 axis came to the wheat just before dark. Close to 20 bucks of all sizes. 3 were as big as any axis I have ever seen. I told my friend he could take any one of the three he wanted. He said that he didn't want to shoot one in velvet. Okay. He asked if any of those three were the one I saw last month. No they weren't. Okay. We watched them until it was to dark to see. We hunted the next morning but only saw a nice hard horned buck all alone. He asked if this one was as big as the other one from last month. It wasn't.
We drove home Sunday. He said he thought it was the greatest hunt for an axis he had ever heard of. He wants to come back in a few weeks and try again. I told him we would. Maybe we could do it when turkey season opens so we could call turkey in the mornings and hunt axis the rest of the day.
So guys what do I need to do different? I mean I baited but the monster we were after didn't show up???? Maybe I need to try apples.
Man its nice to hunt where we can bait. Its a lot easier for an 82 year old to keep going. It's also a lot easier to just watch and study game. AND IT AIN'T A GUARANTEE.
Keep hunting fellas. But take time to take kids and some elderly folks into the outdoors too.
Cheers
