Hit List Buck Down (Episode 156 Transcript)

This is the video transcript. To watch the video for this episode click here.

GRANT: Tuesday, November 13th. My dad has a great encounter with a big buck we call Cave Crab Claw.

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GRANT: Thanksgiving’s fastly approaching and the Woods family has a huge amount to be thankful for this year. We harvested some turkeys, Raleigh killed her first antlered buck, my dad took a great buck this week, but most importantly, we’re thankful because we know The Creator. We know who created all the Creation we get to enjoy. I hope you take a moment this week as you gather the family for Thanksgiving and reflect on the gift of Jesus Christ as our Savior.

GRANT: Before rifle season opened Saturday here in Missouri, Adam and I had a chance to have some great bow hunts.

GRANT: It seems like we saw bucks each hunt, but one hunt in particular, stands out. As two does passed below our stand, Adam and I both noticed a buck that’s very familiar.

GRANT: (Whispering) That’s a young buck.

GRANT: Pumpkin Face, a three year-old deer that has kind of a distorted face, so he’s really easy to recognize, was, in fact, trailing these does.

GRANT: (Whispering) Watch out. Doe right behind us.

GRANT: We’ve got bunches of Reconyx images of Pumpkin Face. We know this deer well. He’s three and a half years old. But Adam and I both noticed as he was trying to trail these does, that he walked with a very noticeable limp. A bunch of my property is in a county called Stone County and you’ve seen pictures of our food plots – just how rocky it is. It’s not uncommon for bucks to injure their leg, either during fighting or chasing does. In fact, I’ve harvested some bucks in the past that have huge calcified areas on their legs, either from a wound or a snake bite, or some undetermined cause of a fracture to that leg. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a more mature buck following Pumpkin Face and we can’t wait ‘til next year when he moves up to my Hit List.

GRANT: Saturday was the opener of gun season here in Missouri and I got to take my younger daughter, Rae, out hunting.

RAE: (Whispering) We’ve been hearing some acorns drop and, uh we might have heard some deer, so we’re hoping that they’ll come in.

GRANT: Rae thought long and hard about harvesting a doe at the other end of this plot. She opted to pass that doe hoping a buck was coming, and sure enough a little later, a yearling buck made its way across the field.

GRANT: Rae has accompanied me to numerous seminars and has heard me preach time and time again about “let them go so they will grow” and Rae just had a natural inclination to pass that buck waiting for a more mature animal.

GRANT: That afternoon I took Rae to another stand we call Hidden Valley 2 and hunted out of a Redneck Blind. Once again, a yearling buck made its way across the whole food plot. Rae’s up and ready, but opts to pass on this opportunity. One advantage of Rae passing these deers is I get to spend more time with her in the blind. I’m looking forward to more hunts later this week.

GRANT: You got ‘em. You got ‘em.

GRANT: Did you put it right on him?

GLEN: Yeah.

GRANT: Oh yeah. We got him.

GRANT: During the week when my daughters are in school is a perfect time to hunt with my father, Glen Woods. Dad showed up Monday afternoon and we had a strong west wind which was perfect for returning to Hidden Valley 2 where Rae and I had just hunted. I’ve got a Redneck Blind sitting right on the ground on the very east end of the field. And we can approach from the east, slide into the blind, never disturbing the food plot or the bedding areas that are behind the field.

GLENN: My bald head.

GRANT: Hunting with my dad is just as much about visiting and sharing memories; talking about future hunts and fishing trips as it is about being serious about harvesting a deer.

GLEN: What do you want me to say?

GRANT: Whatever you want.

GLEN: Well, I’m 80, going on 83. I’ve hunted ever since I was ten years old. Uh, appreciate the boy letting me come down and hunt on his place. Puts me up in a good blind. I really enjoy myself and I know I couldn’t have done that anywhere else. Thank you for everything, son.

GRANT: We tend to talking quite a bit, but I gotta tell you – when the shadows get all over the field, both of us tend to get serious. I’m adjusting the camera and dad’s got those Nikons up and searching the field waiting for that moment to happen.

GRANT: As the shadows settled all the way across the field and things are kind of quieting down, the thermals are taking over and that wind is really pushing down the valley toward our face, I notice Cave Crab Claw in the edge of the field.

GRANT: (Whispering) Yeah, yeah. Put your gun on him dad. Hold on a second. Wait a minute. We’re not ready. When he gets over to the other side of the tree. (Shot) You got him; you got him. You got him.

GLEN: I think so. Is that the same one we seen, wasn’t it?

GRANT: Um, hmm. Did you put it right on him?

GLEN: Yeah.

GRANT: Oh yeah. We got him. Tilt your hat up just a little bit. It’s blocking the…okay.

GLEN: My bald head will show.

GRANT: Okay. Tell me about it.

GLEN: Well, sun went down a little bit. We seen him earlier in the day up the road and, and doggone, if he didn’t show up down there at the end of the field. And Grant said it was okay to shoot him, so I shot him. And, uh, we’re gonna go down and see if we can pick him up. That’d be a nice one for me.

GRANT: Go right up through there. Be looking for it the whole way. Can you see it? See it? There he lays. There’s your big ’un. Congratulations. Give me a hug.

GLEN: Thank you for letting me hunt, son.

GRANT: It’s a short trail of about 50 yards and Cave Crab Claw made it across a little dry creek and laying right on the other side. You made a great shot dad. That’s a big ‘un. That’s a dandy there.

GLEN: He’s been fighting. Look at that horn broke off.

GRANT: Look at all these trash back here.

GLEN: Ah huh.

GRANT: Big ole head on him.

GLEN: All right.

GRANT: That’s much better. Now turn him sideways. As I was trying to film that grip-n-grin interview as we recovered his buck, I was thinking about the hunts that started when I was six years old and making way too much noise for my dad to see a deer and all the patience he shared with me to now on the other side of the coin, where I get the blessing of taking my father hunting and sharing his experiences from his vision.

GRANT: Fine deer, Pops. Very good shot.

GLEN: Ah huh. Thank you, son.

GRANT: Very good shot, dad.

GLEN: But you said, “Shoot him.”

GRANT: Yeah.

GLEN: Well, we come down about two o’clock. Drove down and seen him up on the ridge, limping along a little bit. And we come on down and you said he might come by after a bit and, uh, he waited ‘til just about the sun went down behind the trees, here he come. And Grant said, “Go ahead and shoot him, Pop.” And that’s what I done.

GRANT: It’s a normal celebration at the Woods’ house when someone harvests a deer. Tracy taking pictures, weighing the deer, looking at the antlers and following up, even with making meat when it’s all said and done.

GRANT: In addition to reflecting emotionally, Adam and I go back to the Reconyx software and look at all the pictures we had of Cave Crab Claw there in 2011 and 2012. But for two years in a row, he’d made some sojourns or trips to certain areas of the ranch, same pattern year after year. In addition, this buck tended to move more in daylight to where we’ve got more daylight images than most three year-old bucks on the property. Once Adam and I really reviewed all the data and considered that specific buck, it’s no surprise at all that he was harvested. I’ve talked in the past about not just deer hunting, but identifying a buck that has characteristics that make them harvestable. Of homerange that’s patternable, tend to move during the daylight and an aggressive nature that will respond to grunting or other types of calling. Cave Crab Claw had all those characteristics and was a perfect hunt for my dad and I to enjoy.

GLEN: That is wonderful, son. That’s a good deer.

GRANT: That’s a very good deer.

GLEN: Yeah, yeah.

GRANT: There you go.

GRANT: I hope you have a chance to get out this week, do some hunting and while you’re out hunting, look around at Creation and always take a moment to reflect on The Creator. Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv.

GRANT: Whoo hoo. It’s a big ‘un, Pop.

GLEN: Sure enough, just before dark he come by. And, uh, I couldn’t get him to stop, but he just walking slow, so I just went ahead and shot him. And he piled up about 50 yards.