COOLRIDGE, W.Va. — Austin Weis of Coolridge, West Virginia just lately acquired a chunk of property to hunt in Raleigh County. Soon after the acquisition, he put out a number of sport cameras in the summertime. He couldn’t assist however really feel like he had bought slightly nook of deer hunter’s heaven when he noticed the outcomes.
He quickly had photos of a number of very nice bucks, together with a large 10-pointer which he determined was going to be the one he tried to take down throughout the 2023 bow season.
“I had pictures of the buck in velvet back in June and July. He disappeared for a month or two and then came right back in probably the end of September,” Weis defined in a dialog for West Virginia Outdoors.
The massive buck turned an everyday at Weis’ path cameras. You may almost set your clock by him each 4 or 5 days for a daylight look. Austin merely timed the appearances and was in his tree stand on opening day, prepared for motion.
Sure sufficient the buck rolled in as anticipated. It was a large ten level buck. Austin noticed the rack, waited for the shot, and let the arrow fly. It wasn’t till he tracked down the buck he realized it wasn’t the deer he was after.
“It was a main frame nine point. I had him on camera as well. When he stepped out of the woods I thought it was the bigger buck because I saw the side that had the five points,” defined Austin.
The opening day buck, the nine-pointer, wasn’t too shabby with a tough rating estimate on his antlers of round 140 factors. But he wasn’t the massive ten-pointer Austin was after. That buck saved displaying up commonly and so did Austin.
In late October he confirmed up as he at all times did and Austin was ready for him. This time it was the best buck, however the unsuitable sort of luck.”
“I shot over his back and missed him. I was devastated by that,” he mentioned.
The buck didn’t come close to his stand once more within the daylight for one more week, however he was nonetheless coming in. When he lastly confirmed up within the daylight, it was a frosty morning with temperatures dropping into the 20’s. The rut was beginning to attain the fevered pitch. Trouble was, Austin was at work and the buck walked by his stand at 8:15 a.m.
“We’d been playing a game of hide and go seek and he was winning,” he mentioned.
The very subsequent day was one other chilly morning and this time. Austin made positive he was within the stand, which sits on the sting of a woodlot and likewise proper alongside an influence line proper of method. A smaller buck and a doe milled round beneath his stand when he caught the primary glimpse of the bruiser about 150 yards away on the opposite facet of the right-of-way.
“He walked the edge of the field all the way up, about 150 yards, straight toward me. He never hesitated, the rutting activity was getting the better of him. He came straight in and started sparring with that eight point. Since I had 150 yards to get ready, I was ready when he got there. He was facing me, but I waited and he turned right and gave me a perfect broad side shot,” mentioned Austin
This time, Austin’s purpose was on the money and the arrow hit each lungs. The buck ran about 10 yards out into the right-of-way, stopped, and keeled over. He died proper there inside website of Austin’s stand.
The buck had ten factors and an oddity on his proper antler.
“He had a 24 inch inside spread and a knot on the right side from a warble when it was in velvet. It’s a spidery looking knot and the main beams were about 12-inches,” he mentioned.
Although Austin’s property is essentially inaccessible, the buck’s vary would have seemingly taken him far and large, significantly throughout the rut. Austin simply had a sense if he didn’t get him when he did, the massive fellow most likely wouldn’t have survived buck season. Needless to say, Austin has no purchaser’s regret on his new looking property in Raleigh County.
