Posted By Camo on December 31, 2008

“Bumps” was only seen twice in 2007. I passed him due to a lack of good mass, even though he was long tined with his distinctive “bumps” on his G-2’s. He stuck his head and neck out at 17-yards for Col. Hill, but instinct took over and he backed away into the brush. Trail camera photos showed he had gotten more mass and still maintained his length and his bumps. I decided to take a closer look at him this year. Easier said than done– he was only seen a few times by other hunters and never presented any shots.  I first saw him around December 1st, coming to a feeder, but it was too dark. I pursued him daily around the various feed areas, but he never showed up, for me or any of the other hunters.
On December 12th, I looked at our aerial map. It was a full moon and the wind was blowing over 30mph. Where would a hungry, post rut, heavily hunted, near nocturnal trophy buck be in this wind?
I decided it must be in the valley at the far back end of one of our large wheat fields. There was a brush blind built under a large spreading live oak in this back corner. I went in, spread some corn and hunted. 35 deer came onto the field and to my corn, but not him. There were some good bucks, just not “Bumps”.
I thought about hunting elsewhere, but I knew my strategy was sound. I came back next evening, spread my corn, and waited. There was not much activity; the wind was howling. Six does and some yearlings finally came in about 5:00. I knew I had not been spotted the day before and these deer were unaware of my presence due to the well constructed brush blind. Suddenly, four big does came out of a steep, tight little valley bed area and ran onto the wheat field. Their actions made me believe at least one of these does was coming into the second phase of rut. I was watching where they came from when out of the cedars came “Bumps”, following them. I grabbed my video camera while he was 150-yards away and started filming. He paused, looked around, and then broke into a run straight toward me. Enough video! He stopped abruptly on my first corn line at 22-yards, eating hungrily. I waited for several hours (actually about five minutes), with him head on toward me before he started to turn. I drew, and he promptly turned right back head on eating. I let down and waited, heart pounding, until he finally turned broadside. I had him ranged at 22-yards, came to a full draw with my Matthews Switchback XT and delivered a Carbon Express Maxima tipped with a Spitfire mechanical right into his lungs. He ran off the field, circled through some cedars and back onto the open field before stopping on the edge at 150-yards. He calmly laid down and then laid over on his side with me watching through my Zeiss binocs. I had hunted him hard and stuck with my belief on where to find him.
I had “Bumps” on the ground. He scored 140 ¼ inches with almost 12-inch G-2’s.
Great buck with a bow. I aged him at minimum – six and a half years and can’t wait to see his sons.

Category: Deer, Hunting Stories
Tags: whitetail