THIRD TIME’S A CHARM

By Darek Hilty

Hunting for Ohio whitetails is my passion and a hobby I have become absolutely obsessed with over the years. I became involved in the outdoors as a young boy of eight years old with my father as my teacher, over the years I have learn what works and what doesn’t.

Hunting for Ohio whitetails is my passion and a hobby I have become absolutely obsessed with over the years. I became involved in the outdoors as a young boy of eight years old with my father as my teacher, over the years I have learn what works and what doesn’t.

My favorite time of the year to hunt mature whitetails is in late season elements. My last five buck kills have been in the months of December and January. It takes a different mindset and tactics in order to be successful in getting the chance at your target buck during this time of year. Little did I know this winter was going to be one to remember for years to come. The summer months of 2019 involved running Hog County Whitetail Supplements mineral/feed and multiple cameras to see what bucks were on the farms. Countless hours glassing from the truck, checking cameras, and setting up tree stand locations in hopes of finding that one special buck. As season opened here in Ohio, I had several good bucks on camera, but I was waiting for something bigger. I elected to stay out of the woods as much as possible until a shooter showed himself. I took off a week vacation to hunt the rut but no luck on big buck sightings. I was starting to question my tactics and losing hope of finding a mature buck to pursue. On November 26th, I received a notification from my Covert Wireless trail camera. I opened the picture and instantly I knew that was the buck I wanted to go after! The trail camera captured a heavy main frame 10 point, and when I say heavy, I mean HEAVY. I elected to name this specific buck “Moose.”

I game planned for hours from the computer using google earth and onx maps in order to narrow down his travel pattern. The particular farm I was hunting was by no means a huge parcel, but it was unique due to having 12 years of history bow hunting it. The farm is roughly 40 acres, but its biggest asset is that it’s all thermal cover with prairie grasses mixed in, the perfect recipe for holding late season bucks. Since there is no mature timber, tree stand locations were limited so I elected to strategically place a ground blind in where I thought would give me the best opportunity to harvest this buck. With everything in place, I sat back and waited for the right time to go in after Moose.

Fast forward to the morning of December 5th, when I received another wireless picture, it was Moose standing 15 yards with a doe right in front of my blind. I was in disbelief! I checked the weather forecast and knew it would be a good night to make my first sit. I knew since the area I was hunting had dense amounts of cover that he would most likely stay in the area and I had high hopes that he would show himself. I geared up for an evening hunt and my nerves were at an all-time high. “Is tonight the night? Is my setup going to work?” were a few of the questions running through my mind as I slowly worked my way through the thicket trying to remain undetected. With the blind in eyesight, I said to myself, “I made it.” However, that changed in a split second as I heard nothing but the rack a buck hitting branches as he ran through the trees and away from me. My heart instantly sank, I just spooked Moose and blew my chance! He was bedded 50 yards from my setup. I decided to sit the evening out and didn’t see a single deer. On the long walk back to the truck, I played it over and over in my head. There was no mistaking the distinct sound of big antlers hitting saplings. I got home and felt like I had just been hit by a truck, I blew my chance. I sat on the computer that night studying the aerial maps that I have well memorized. My wife walked into the room and said, “Honey, just be patient, you will get him.” Those words were the little hope that I had since, from experience, I knew that once you spook a mature whitetail, your chances drastically decline. For the entire week I had no pictures of Moose and my spirits were at an all-time low.

That all changed when I got a picture of him on Dec 10th, he was back! I couldn’t believe it; I was like a kid on Christmas morning! Sadly, he was nocturnal for the next couple days on a different camera location but my mind was at ease since I knew he was back in the area. After studying the trail camera pictures, I paid attention to detail and noted the wind, time, pressure,

temperature, and moon phase. There was no consistency with his patterns but what I did pick up was he was always with a single doe when he made an appearance on camera. Dec 16th at 11:30am, Moose made a daylight appearance with the same doe and put a show on for the camera. I knew this was the only buck I was going to persue the rest of the season. I elected not hunt that evening due to a bad wind and didn’t want to risk spooking him for the second time. Looking at the forecast that evening there was a big cold front and snowing in the works. As I drove to work the following morning on the snow filled roads I got another notification. Sure enough, Moose daylighted once again at 8:00 am! At that moment I knew I had to get in the blind. It was 22 degrees and dropping when I left work, pressure system of 30.51 and northwest wind. These were the perfect conditions for my setup that I waited for all season. I texted my wife and said, “Moose day lighted!” Her response was, “Tonight is the night, go hunt!” I wasted no time and geared up for the evening hunt.

My favorite time of the year to hunt mature whitetails is in late season elements. My last five buck kills have been in the months of December and January. It takes a different mindset and tactics in order to be successful in getting the chance at your target buck during this time of year.

Walking out I had extremely high hopes but at the same time I had my doubts due to last attempt resulting in a failure. As I slowly approached the blind and got settled in, I said to myself, “I made it, all I need now is for him to show.” 4:00PM rolled around and I caught my first glimpse of a deer, it was a doe. She slowly worked her way through the thicket when I heard the distinct noise that I heard two weeks ago, antlers hitting saplings. It’s so thick in the area that visibility is limited to 40 yards and my shooting windows are limited to 25 yards. As I listened to antlers hitting the trees the doe stopped in my opening and squatted down on her hind legs and urinated in her tarsal glands. It all made sense, Moose was on a hot doe on Dec 17th! The sound got closer and closer when all a sudden I finally laid eyes on him, my jaw dropped. He stopped at 40 yards, not letting that doe out of his sight. With my eyes fixed on him, I caught a glimpse of the doe take off, trotting and he wasted no time as he ran past me at a mere ten yards with no shot opportunity. My heart once again sank as my opportunity passed by me! I sat there in the blind in absolutely disbelief and disappointment.

Ten minutes went by when I caught movement coming from the way they ran, it was the same doe and Moose was right on her tail! She entered the same shooting lane and stood there looking back at him as he maneuvered his impressive rack through the brush. My heart was beating a mile a minute as he closed the distance, 50, 40, 30, then he stopped, looking head on. He stood motionless trying to find the doe he was pushing around. All I needed was for him to turn left or right, sadly he took off trotting for the second time in fear that he lost his doe. That was two times I had him within shooting distance but no shot was presented. At that point I thought it was never going to happen. I set my bow down as my hope of letting an arrow fly diminished, but before I could even set it down all the way the doe came running past again! Moose was crashing through right behind her and just before he entered the opening at 20 yards he stopped. I thought to myself, “Third times a charm.” He walked into the opening with steam coming out of his mouth from chasing and I let out a “bra” in order to stop him, it didn’t work as he was fixed on nothing but the doe, “Brap” once more, no response. I knew it was now or never and decided to release an arrow. It felt as if my arrow was in slow motion as I watched my lighted nock enter the buck, but sadly it was farther back then I wanted. I watched him run off and lost sight after 40-50 yards. “Did that just happen?!” I began play the shot over and over in the head, “Did I get him?” I called my Wife Meghan breathing heavily, “I just shot Moose!” Her response was, “I told you tonight was the night!” I met up with my Dad Craig and two friends Chris and Dan. I waited five hours before tracking the deer of my dreams. We made it to the point of impact where we found very little blood, we proceeded to go another 40 yards following blood where we stopped and knew that we had to make a decision.

“His rack held nearly 50’’ of mass and 16 scorable points!”

The question was should we back out until morning or keeping moving forward slowly? I made the decision to back out but just before leaving my head lamp caught a glisten 20 yards ahead, I thought I was just a snow reflection on a branch but as I stumbled closer to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me, I caught the greatest view. It was a deer eye glistening and he was down! Moose was dead and the celebration began! I held his rack in complete awe, I finally had him in my possession. Never did I imagine that I would have a rut hunt in the middle of December. His rack held nearly 50’’ of mass and 16 scorable points! I got the share a very special moment as I got back to the barn with my one year old daughter Harper, she absolutely loved the deer and held the massive rack in her small hands as she babbled “daa”(deer). Too me that what it’s all about, sharing the outdoors with family and friends! I hope one day she can share the same passion for this great sport that was introduced to me by my father.