1 Photos
Like most Virginia hunter's, John Ballard of Albermarle County's hunting season started the same way. He had seen very few deer during the first week of the October bow season and had few nice deer on his trail camera.
Due to the lack of progress John decided to ditch his fixed stands and move around the property using his climber. During the second week of bow season John discovered a rub line and hunted it for a few days passing on some smaller deer as well as a 17inch 8 pnt buck.
While continuing to move around the property John came across a well worn, beaten down trail through a small hedgerow heading into a field. He decided to place a trail camera at that spot to see what was wearing the trail out. Several days later he returned to get his sd card and hurried home to check the pictures out. As he made his way through the pics he came across a real nice 8 pnt buck that was both wide and tall with a unique split G2.
John decided he would move his climber to this spot and give it a try. He quickly discovered that there were no trees close to the hedgerow to climb so he found the next best place in a tree about 70 yards away from the camera. After all, he had not hunted that spot before and had no idea where the deer were coming from.
On the afternoon of October 17th John climbed into his stand around 5pm excited about what he might see. It wasn't long before deer started to appear heading right to the hedgerow feeding on a tall skinny plant that John couldn't identify. Just after 6pm lots of fog started rolling in limiting John's visiblity to less than 40 yards. He seriously contemplated getting down and heading home but something told him to hang in there till dark.
A short time later he heard some twigs snapping behind him, he grabbed his Hoyt Vulcan bow and prepared himself for what he thought was a bear due to the noise. As the noise got closer, out of the fog appeared two deer one of which was the beautiful split G2 buck.
The split G2 buck continued directly toward John and when the buck presented a solid shot at 12 yards he let go his arrow tipped with a thunderhead 100 grain broadhead. The arrow met its mark perfectly behind the shoulder and the buck took off into the fog.
John wanted to give the buck some time so he climbed down from his stand and headed back to his truck and called a friend to help search in the fog. When they returned to the spot they located the blood soaked arrow and easily found the vast blood trail. The Albermarle monster buck was found only 50 yards away.
Having a little time to reflect on the hunt John couldn't believe what had transpired. He only had 2 pictures of this great buck that were both in the middle of the night. It's safe to say that John has chose the perfect spot and like many big buck harvests he was in the right place at the right time!
Like most Virginia hunter's, John Ballard of Albermarle County's hunting season started the same way. He had seen very few deer during the first week of the October bow season and had few nice deer on his trail camera.
Due to the lack of progress John decided to ditch his fixed stands and move around the property using his climber. During the second week of bow season John discovered a rub line and hunted it for a few days passing on some smaller deer as well as a 17inch 8 pnt buck.
While continuing to move around the property John came across a well worn, beaten down trail through a small hedgerow heading into a field. He decided to place a trail camera at that spot to see what was wearing the trail out. Several days later he returned to get his sd card and hurried home to check the pictures out. As he made his way through the pics he came across a real nice 8 pnt buck that was both wide and tall with a unique split G2.
John decided he would move his climber to this spot and give it a try. He quickly discovered that there were no trees close to the hedgerow to climb so he found the next best place in a tree about 70 yards away from the camera. After all, he had not hunted that spot before and had no idea where the deer were coming from.
On the afternoon of October 17th John climbed into his stand around 5pm excited about what he might see. It wasn't long before deer started to appear heading right to the hedgerow feeding on a tall skinny plant that John couldn't identify. Just after 6pm lots of fog started rolling in limiting John's visiblity to less than 40 yards. He seriously contemplated getting down and heading home but something told him to hang in there till dark.
A short time later he heard some twigs snapping behind him, he grabbed his Hoyt Vulcan bow and prepared himself for what he thought was a bear due to the noise. As the noise got closer, out of the fog appeared two deer one of which was the beautiful split G2 buck.
The split G2 buck continued directly toward John and when the buck presented a solid shot at 12 yards he let go his arrow tipped with a thunderhead 100 grain broadhead. The arrow met its mark perfectly behind the shoulder and the buck took off into the fog.
John wanted to give the buck some time so he climbed down from his stand and headed back to his truck and called a friend to help search in the fog. When they returned to the spot they located the blood soaked arrow and easily found the vast blood trail. The Albermarle monster buck was found only 50 yards away.
Having a little time to reflect on the hunt John couldn't believe what had transpired. He only had 2 pictures of this great buck that were both in the middle of the night. It's safe to say that John has chose the perfect spot and like many big buck harvests he was in the right place at the right time!
