Hit List 2012

Florida late recovery buck

It's only halfway through turkey season, but already my thoughts are straying ahead to September. There's something about deer season that stays with me all year long. Maybe it's the fact that last year was my first hunting season without bringing home venison to feed my family. Whatever the reason, I'm already getting pumped up for this year's season and the chance to go after deer with a vengeance.

I did have a good excuse for last year's fruitlessness. We had our fourth child in the middle of November, which is the time I've historically taken the majority of my deer including all of my good bucks. Between the baby and work I didn't have the opportunity to get up to either of my two leases in Georgia after October. I did manage to arrow a nice 8 point buck on Florida public land in November but didn't recover him till the beginning of December. While I was glad I eventually found him and was able to take home a Euro mount, I'm a meat hunter and this year I'm hoping to fill the freezer with delicious, lean venison.

Big bucks on small lease

Here's my plan: Spend less, hunt more. With the family growing bigger and the paycheck staying the same size, I have decided to give up my big lease in Georgia. That will still leave me with a small 60 acre lease shared by my brother and I. Its a property owned by a farmer and surrounded by thick hardwoods and farmland. The really nice thing is that there isn't a lot of hunting pressure on the surrounding properties. It's an area known to the local old timers for growing huge bucks.

Last year I hunted the property only one evening in September. While I didn't see anything, my trail cams told the true story that there were some really nice bucks working the property. From July through September we captured pictures of a group of about seven bucks including two big ten pointers. My suspicion that at least one of the big old boys survived the season was confirmed a couple weeks ago when a blueberry farm worker found a shed antler from the bigger of the two ten pointers. While these bruisers stayed nocturnal July - September, I'm hoping that they will make the fatal mistake during the November rut; and if all goes well, I will be there to catch it.

I have also done a lot of post season scouting at an area in Citrus WMA, and I am confident that I have a good chance of ambushing one of the nice bucks I've caught on camera there as well. Citrus has a late archery season in November that lasts three weeks and very few people hunt the area I've been hunting. The rut is going on at that time as well. Following the archery season there are two weekends of quota only late muzzle loader and two weekends of quota only late general gun. Other than that, the deer are left alone. This makes for a great opportunity to catch them with an arrow after they've had 10 months to run around free from hunting pressure.

Citrus buck

A good plan helps a lot but it is no guarantee for success. If you go on a hunt that guarantees a kill, it's not really hunting. While I've never gone on a hunt that guarantees success, I think I'm going to start Florida archery season with the closest thing to it I've ever experienced; a private cattle ranch in Zolfo Springs, Fl that offers paid hunts. I've done a lot of hog hunting there with great success and the property is teeming with deer as well. I'm planning on starting my season with an archery doe hunt there and hopefully get this season off to a good start.

That's my plan, and Lord willing, I'll be able to stick with it.