160” Buck from a Doe Stand

Hey Mike:

_On Saturday, October 27th, Alicia and I hunted our best stand sets on a farm that had produced for us in years past–and it was torn up with buck sign now. Throughout the evening, I rattled and grunted but surprisingly only one doe was seen. With a wind direction change to the south forecast for the next day, we decided to hunt on the opposite end of the property where we’d been seeing mostly does. I didn’t think the rut was quite ready to take off yet, and with the south winds and warmer temps I thought it would be a great night to harvest a mature doe. _

As Sunday afternoon progressed, the does were a no show. I took out my grunt call and rattling antlers and went through a couple of sequences. I heard a deer coming, and it was a 140-class buck. He wrapped around behind us, got downwind and busted out of there.

Alicia and I were whispering about the encounter when we heard another buck about 40 yards back in the brush rubbing on a tree. Once again, I grunted and Alicia ticked the tines together. The buck came in on a string, and hung up at 25 yards. I just knew he was going to wrap around to the downwind side of the tree too, but he surprised us and walked right in front of us.

I drew my Hoyt Vectrix, stopped him and shot him through the shoulders at 15 yards. We climbed down and found the arrow and a lot of blood. He only went 60 yards. A 250-pound whitetail with 13 points that would score into the 160s!

He’s one of the bigger deer I’ve killed in some time, and it all happened in a tree in which I didn’t expect to see much but a few does. Funny how that happens! Chalk up another eventful adventure to the husband/wife Hadachek team!

Thanks, Jody

Jody and Alicia, great job! You’re right, funny how things happen. I tell people: Don’t over-think things and put too much pressure on yourself to go to the perfect stand and kill a big buck. Just go to a good spot, think positive, have fun and hunt hard, with the mindset to maybe shoot a doe or small buck for meat. That is often when something big happens, like you calling in and shooting that 160” whopper.