ON BUTCH'S NIPPLE

 Savage's motto is "Those who stick get." The deer hunting guru swears by climbing in your tree stand and waiting for that target buck to show....no matter what. Day after day of empty woods are to be met with resolve and persistence. Eventually the tactic will pay off. For Savage it always seems to work. It's hard to argue with a man who spends the entire season not seeing deer only to shoot a ten point on the last day. I wish I had the patience. But hunting to me is more strategy and tactics. I like to switch it up. Those who creep may get meat. So yesterday with wet, quiet woods I decided to still hunt around the farm. 

   My morning started at 8:00 am (late) behind the schoolhouse. I kicked two does out just this side of the late Extension Road John's house. Then I saw the back of a deer. It was a buck. Wouldn't it be nice to shoot a slammer while still hunting and prove the guru wrong? When the deer raised his head two little spikes came into focus. Ugh. Another teenager. But, the tactic was working. I was on deer.

   By noon I'd only made it half way around the ridge. I hadn't planned an all day sit, but when a half dozen does busted I knew would put in the daylight hours at a spot I call Butch's nipple. I crawled under and through a tangle of laurel and set up on top of a fifty foot ledge, a rocky nip that gave me a view four hundred yards into open woods. No sooner was I settled than I saw a deer move. It was a four point at the outer edges of my panoramic vista. A good sign.

At 2:30 I saw movement coming from my left. A flash of antler brought the gun up. Could it be the ten? No. But it was a nice main frame six and maybe an eight. The scope fogged as I strained to see brow tines. My thumb found the safety. Unable to grow tines on that six I lowered the gun. I was so far back in the woods that shooting and dragging out any deer would require help. I couldn't very well assemble the troops to help me drag out a little six point. A full court press could only put on to drag out a shooter on the ground. Then, at 3:00 pm that buck bedded down 100 yards in front of me. As turkeys gobbled across the river and squirrels frolicked that buck went to sleep. Sitting stock still for hours on end is a kind of endurance performance. I'd like to see Marina Abramovic try sitting still in the cold without spooking a buck staring her down. 

    The six point was still bedded when I crawled out of that laurel patch at 4:45pm. No other deer showed. I walked home in the dark. It was a great day's hunt. The time passed quickly and I'd seen nine does and three bucks. Savage may be right. His tactic may be the best. But, when all's said and done I need to move. I'm going back to same spot today. It's already daylight and the wind is blowing 30 mph gusts. Whether hunting Butch's nipple, John's nob or the Majestic taint, I like to mix it up. I'm trying to be one step ahead of that ten. All he has to do is make one mistake.....