The last week and a half to two weeks has been nothing short of chaos in the whitetail woods. Not only for our team here at bowhunting.com but for so many other hunters around the country.
Action ranged from bucks creating and checking scrapes, to bumping and pushing does around the field edges and into the timber. Just about every hunter witnessed some sort of pre-rut action these last few weeks, and it has led to more impressive bucks hitting the ground!
November 5th found David in a tree on the edge of a cut cornfield in Illinois. After watching this mature 5-year-old buck posture aggressively toward a few smaller bucks, David was able to take a shot at this deer from 30 yards!
Blanton watched this buck take off across the field and crash into a thicket 100 yards away, Blanton sat back and enjoyed this amazing moment in sweet November.
It’s no surprise to see Taylor sitting behind a great buck, but what is surprising is the story behind it all. After acquiring a new farm, Taylor learned of this buck which was nicknamed “impossible” due to his ability to evade previous hunters.
Taylor found it not so impossible after all, to harvest this beast of a buck on October 31st. After looking back at the history of trail camera data, it is believed that this buck is somewhere in the 9 to 10 year old age range! A truly ancient whitetail.
“If I could design a deer of my dreams, this is what he would look like!” There is probably no bowhunter in their right mind that wouldn’t agree with what Warren had to say about his stud of a whitetail buck.
Warren was able to arrow this deer on November 3rd and considers himself very fortunate to be able to chase a buck of this caliber, much less put a tag on one.
October 30th found Mike Reed in a tree on a 16-degree Iowa morning. With several years of history with this buck called “DK”, Mike knew it was only a matter of time until he got his chance to harvest him.
That chance came, and Mike made it count. DK ran about 100 yards after a solid shot but did not make the recovery easy on Mike. With the river in the background, you can guess where DK ended up.
When he’s not chasing wins on the tournament archery trail, Chance is hunting whitetails. November 5th found Chance in Illinois, where he had been during the summer hanging stands and preparing for this exact moment.
After rattling just before 8 a.m. this beast of a buck worked his way into 25 yards giving Chance the perfect shot opportunity. Needless to say, the arrow hit its mark and Chance was able to wrap his tag around the biggest whitetail of his carrier.
The Chaos that is November has only just begun, and many hunters have already filled tags. The 2023 season has been nothing short of incredible, with bucks on the move and hitting the ground. We can’t wait to see what the next three weeks have in store, if it’s anything like the last two, we are in for a wild ride.
