| Muzzleloader Hunting Kentucky Bucks - A Late Season Story |
| By Brad Blaine |
| It was December 10, 2004 and I was once again heading down Interstate 64 towards the Blugrass state for another chance at a trophy whitetail buck. I was fortunate enough that this was my second trip down to Kentucky this year. The first time, I was hunting the Green River Lake Wildlife Management Area during an early September bow hunt where the weather was hot, miserably and very buggy! Quite the contrast to what I was heading for now. The onboard thermometer of the Jeep was reading right around 42 degrees. Not bad temperature-wise but there was already lots of wind and the weather forecaster's promise of precipitation seemed to be holding true as dark clouds hung over the southern Kentucky skies I was heading for. The week before, I had been talking with a group of guys I had met primarily through an internet forum but also through a mutual hunting organization, about setting up a late season muzzleloader hunt. I had been mostly communicating with a young 28 year old southern gentleman named Ryan Beard. He works as a high school teacher and football coach and is just an all-around great person, probably one of the most unworldly and unselfish persons I've ever met. He kept bragging about all the trophy deer in his neck of the woods and invited those willing to put forth the time, money and effort required to kill a good buck to come on down. So, we did. Though it was late in the season, he said that there were still plenty of deer around and that hunting pressure should be minimal. Late season muzzleloader or archery seasons seemed to be a real good time to hunt public grounds without many hunters around as most folks have already filled their one buck a year tag by now - be it with rifle or bow. After hearing about numerous 140+ B&C bucks being taken during the firearms season, I was excited. I first headed over to Kamper's Cabins which is owned and operated by the Green River Resort Marina. For a mere $20 a night I'd have access to a heat/air conditioned cabin with a set of bunkbeds and a queen size bed along with shower facilities. That's a heck of a deal and more than I'd need for a hunting trip. I got there, unloaded and quickly headed over to a new piece of public ground to do some quick scouting for the following morning's hunt. The public ground I headed to was R.F. Tarter Wildlife Management Area, which is comprised of two parcels, one of which is landlocked and unhuntable, the other which isn't. Total, they equal about 2400 acres of prime deer territory. It really wasn't that much different, landscape-wise, than the places I've hunted in West Virginia - rolling hills, green pasture fields and woods. The exception is that there's quite a bit more agriculture in the area than the Ohio River Valley foothills that I typically hunt. I headed out a long windy country road which led to the main entrance. Not wanting to waste any more daylight, I packed my maps, blaze orange, and other scouting gear and headed out. I started up a long valley about 1 1/4 miles in length and didn't really start scouting until I was about 1/2 mile in. My logic being that most hunters would focus on the easy pickings - green field corners and short, easy walking distances. I had in mind to cover about 1/3 of the property that day and didn't waste much time trying to be quiet. The week before I had done some "table-top" scouting and picked out some topographical features that I thought would concentrate deer travel movements - long ridges, saddles and spur junctions. I concentrated more on topography as the vegetation seemed to be consistently the same througout the property according to the aerial photographs I looked at. I've always said that straight line distance is always the shortest though perhaps not always the easiest and as I was literally scaling up a draw, I was reminded of this. Through birch saplings, a waterfall and yes a few of those lovely briars I approached my first spot to check out. I no sooner topped the shelf of the ridge when I started noticing a good rub line and trails. "Perfect! Brad, you did a good job on picking out a spot, sight unseen" As I walked out the ridge a distance, looking for more sign a huge doe jumped out not 30 yards from me! I couldn't believe everything was coming together so well having never set foot on this piece of ground before ever! But alas, all good things come to an end! As I watched the doe jump down into the next draw, a hunter approached and all sorts of profanities started to fill my head with disgust! I spoke with the gentleman, who was indeed very friendly. He told me of the buck that he had killed during gun season, not on this property but a nearby one, that was a 140 class buck. He then told me where some other good bucks had been taken off the property we were now on which were several - all of which were bookers, which though seemed unusual wasn't exactly unheard of especially for this area! We exchanged scouting notes and our plans for the next day. He was tagged out so he was going to let take his son the next day and try to get him one. Classy character he was, we exchanged handshakes and headed outr separate ways. I went further out the ridge but didn't see much in the way of sign so I dropped down into the draw where I had seen the doe go into. I jumped her again but wasn't too worried as she just sorta half-hopped into another thicket, clearly filling safe in her choice of sanctuary - a good thing. I finally ended up back in the head of the valley I had started going up and decided I'd take a look on the opposite ridge that nearly marked the boundary of the public land. What laid in store, I would have never believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. |
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