Lee Howard Claims Another Deer with his Smokepole!

November 3, 2012. I left the house with high hopes and headed toCaswellCounty. It was early in the morning and I was eager to get to the stand before the sunlight broke the horizon.  Ha!  This sounds like the makings of a country song. Well, I’m not a country singer by far but I do value myself as a pretty good outdoorsman.  I’ll stick to what I know!

I arrived in the dark and put out the Golden Estrus scent dispenser. I then got situated in my deer stand. All the great wildlife was starting to wake up. The sun was creeping over the horizon when I noticed two small deer poking their heads out of the tree line. They slowly crept out with their noses to the ground; while working on all that sweet goodness that I had planted for them earlier this fall. I eased my binoculars up to get a better look and noticed two small bumps on the top of each one of their heads. They continued to feed for the next hour and I had hoped there presence would attract more hungry deer to the field. I stayed patient but I needed a good stretch so I decided to stand for a moment. I looked to my rear and in walks another yearling buck with four points on his head. Being that it was so early into the hunt and the rut just starting to kick off, I opted to let these young bucks walk that morning.

During lunch, I got a phone call from one of my good friends whom were checking in to see if I had any luck that morning. I proceeded to tell him about my hunt and during our conversation he told me of a great buck he had killed. I asked how it went down and he said that he had heard one buck fighting another buck in the woods. Once their fight was over, that buck stepped out into the field and gave him a great shot. I congratulated him and said that I was looking forward to seeing the pictures.

The evening hunt started out slow but I felt very confident in my stand location and I knew that deer were using this field for there food source. While walking in, I had placed more of the Golden Estrus a little bit closer to where I had seen the deer emerge that morning.  I was hoping the scent would be carried to a nearby waiting buck. An hour came and went and the sun was starting to sink. I hadn’t seen a deer and was wondering if I would.  During this lull in the hunt, I was thinking about what my buddy had told me during his hunt that morning. He had heard two bucks fighting. Then it hit me! I stood up, readied my gun and broke out my set of horns. I banged them together and really worked them together.  Then I took a second to look around with my binoculars. It had worked! I  caught a glance of a huge buck skirting the corner of the field on the opposite side 200 yards away, but he really acted as though he was scared and didn’t want to challenge another buck. I was confused because of his size and really thought he would have been the dominant buck in the area. Oh well I thought; at least I got to see him. Ten minutes pass and hadn’t seen anything else so I decided to try and rattle the horns again. I banged the horns together and stopped to take a look when two bucks made an appearance. One had six points and the other had seven points. Without hesitation, I grabbed my muzzleloader and steadied my shot over the shoulder of the larger deer. Boom! When the smoke cleared the buck was on the ground but hadn’t expired. I quickly reloaded and put another one in him. Unfortunately, I was out of quick loads so I quickly jumped down from the stand and finished him of with my hand gun.

What a great hunt! One I won’t forget! He was not the biggest buck I have ever taken but a great buck none the less. The freezer is starting to fill folks, but still I still have a few more tags to fill. Please continue to follow us at www.704Outdoors.com and our Face Book  page because  I’m sure we will be bringing you more great stories.

Lee Howard