Charlie Reade

Disclaimer: Any advice given in this blog is strictly based on my experience in the field and is my opinion only. I have a lot to learn still but enjoy sharing what I have so far.

We’ve all heard it. Heck, most of us have likely said it at one point or another! But how many of us follow through with it in the moment of truth?

This article is primarily intended to discuss some of the advantages of the “Let em Grow” philosophy.

I want to start by saying. I am in no way, shape or form against hunting for meat. In fact, for the past two seasons, I have taken young meat bucks with my bow after not having an opportunity at my target deer. Some people shoot the first legal animal they can every season, and that’s totally fine by me. Listen, we all hunt for our own reasons and while ultimately food is the goal, some of us crave more than that and the thrill of the hunt. Some of us want the additional challenge of selecting a specific animal and putting a plan in place to take it down!

That is currently where I am at with bowhunting. I have had some successes and many failures at this point, and I know I am ready for the next challenge of selecting one of 2 or 3 specific deer – and taking one of them down!

In July of 2017 I got my first picture of this buck, not the above photo, but a blurry nighttime photo I deleted. After loosely determining that it was likely only about a 3.5 or 4.5-year old deer, I decided to start investing a little more time and effort into this property.

I added some trace mineral and salt blocks to the area and a few more trail cameras trying to get a better glimpse of him. When I did, I quickly decided that this guy had potential and would get the pass for this year. He was young, he had good height, decent mass and solid main beams for a 4.5-year-old. But most importantly, he was safe on private property. Season came and went that year without any sightings after the velvet was gone. But he had left me hopeful for the next year.

2018 came and went and I didn’t even hunt the property once. But I had no intentions to. Based on my cameras from the previous season, he wasn’t going to be around for September anyway and my wife just had a major surgery, so I wasn’t going too far from home that fall. He did however repeat 2017 and took off into thicker cover around the first week of September. That told me that I was only going to have about a 1-week window to hunt this deer during bow season. During the last week of August. This year he showed only small gains over its 2017 rack. That said, the gains were in the areas I was hoping for, main beam length and height. He also widened out.

Again, in 2019 I didn’t hunt this property. I acquired permission to hunt a huge section of private land that showed a ton of potential, so I was investing a lot of my time and resources into scouting that property heavily. I did leave a camera in the same spot once again though just to verify that he was alive, and that he made more gains to his antler size.

True to form, August 2019 rolls around and like clockwork he appeared in the distance, just catching my eye while skimming through photos quickly.

I knew it was him almost instantly and my heart skipped a beat.

He brought his younger brother this time!

Three seasons in a row this buck has been daytime active in the exact same spot in the exact same week.

Like shooting fish in a barrel you’re thinking, right? Man, I wish.

I know that I’ve done the things that I needed to do to make a plan on this guy next season, but will it work out? Will the conditions be right? Will the wind be in the right direction? Will they be cutting the nearby Alfalfa field that week? Did a more dominant buck run him out of town? There are so many variables that come into play when you are chasing after one mature deer.

Maybe that’s what I love the most about it? I know one thing. I know where I’ll be at the end of August 2020!

Like I said earlier, I’m all for hunting for whatever reason you like and with whatever you want to use within the regulations. It’s just great to be out hunting in my opinion. I just happen to really enjoy the challenge of setting a specific goal and trying my best to stick to it. And even though I haven’t been successful in harvesting the buck I set out for at the beginning of a season, I have knocked goals off my list every year since I started trying. Every season I am stepping up my personal goals and learning a ton of new stuff. Even when it means passing deer like the one in the link below to try and make it to my ultimate goal of shooting a 170” deer.

https://www.facebook.com/charlie.reade.9/videos/10156878106013871/

I really hope you enjoyed this article and keep checking back in to follow my Search for 170. It’s a slow time of year for deer hunters, but shed season is right around the corner and before you know it, we will be hanging cameras and stands again.