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

GRANT: January 3rd 2012, and we’re wrapping up a great deer season but we’re not finished yet and we’ve got a plan for one last buck.

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GRANT: Earlier this week I took my father muzzleloader hunting, once again, in the comfort of a Redneck Blind.

GRANT: My dad is a super easy guy to take hunting ‘cause he enjoys being outside so much.

GLEN: My boy’s brung me down, put me in a stand, got me all ready. I sure appreciate it. I love hunting. Nothing like it. Whether you see one or whether you don’t. It’s a thrill. Still love it, every day. Thanks to him, I get to do it.

GRANT: And although, once again, we did not see a deer we wanted to harvest, I had a great visit with my dad and reflect on what a huge blessing it’s been to be raised in a family that enjoys the outdoors and puts a value on taking care of Creation.

GRANT: I also had an opportunity to take my 13 year old daughter, Raleigh, hunting as she was gonna have some time over Christmas break. At a field we call Across The Creek, a couple of our mature bucks have been cutting through there with some regularity. About mid-morning, we had a large button buck at about 130 yards. Now my dad and I had sighted that muzzleloader in at 150 yards, so no problem for Raleigh to make the shot. But Raleigh’s heard me give so many seminars about passing up young bucks or button bucks, she opted to pass. Once again, I was almost nudging her, wanting her to take a shot, but she’s holding firm in her hunting convictions and that’s a sign of a great hunter to come.

GRANT: As we settled in for the afternoon hunt and Raleigh’s doing some reading and setting tight, I just felt right. The wind was pretty steady. Things were good and I knew we were gonna see some deer.

GRANT: Close to dark we had another button buck come out at about 80 yards or less. Gave us a quite a bit of time and I talked back and forth to Raleigh. Almost again trying to talk her into it, but not pushing her too hard. And about the time she settled on taking the shot, the button buck got wind of all that movement and me going back and forth talking to Raleigh and left the field.

GRANT: Missouri has a late youth season this coming weekend and I’m gonna do my best to get one of the girls in front of a deer.

RALEIGH: Today is December 30th and as of the third trap we came to we found a opossum.

RAE: And I bet mom’s gonna be glad cuz it’s by the chicken house and it eliminates one more beast to not take away her chickens.

GRANT: There’s not many outdoor activities that are funner for a family than trapping. These little Duke cage traps make it so easy and inexpensive. Anyone can do it. Easy to catch something; you get a reward; kids don’t have to sit still and be quiet like when you’re deer hunting. We love trapping and like to do it as a family. Plus the pelts you get are great for the kids to take to school and talk about food chains and all kinds of biology lessons and there may be a few more turkey poults this spring for us to enjoy another outdoor activity. Get some traps and take your family trapping. I tell you, it’s a better way to start children enjoying the outdoors than taking ‘em deer hunting and saying, “Sit still, shut up and don’t move for three hours.” Check out trapping. Start a couple of traps on your property; bag of dog food; get some fur for your household to play with.

GRANT: This last week, the only two mature bucks we picked up using our Reconyx cameras was Pitchfork and Last Lick 10. Now, we have a lot more mature bucks on the property, I think, but we’re not seeing them. And I think I figured out the reason why. As Adam was out working on the property, he found the shed of Giant 8.

GRANT: Adam found Giant 8’s shed on Cave Ridge. We had two stands set up on Cave Ridge specifically for Giant 8. Our plan was right, but once again the drought bit us here. “Cause of the stress of the summer, some of our mature bucks are dropping earlier than they have in the eight years I’ve owned this property.

GRANT: We found both sheds of Giant 8 last year and the similarities between 2011 and 2010 make it almost certain that this is the same buck.

GRANT: What impresses me the most is Giant 8 actually put on about five plus inches during 2011 versus 2010. And that’s given the wicked, wicked drought conditions we had in 2011. No doubt in my mind, the beans we had this summer and the Antler Dirt, the Trophy Rock and our whole management program is paying huge dividends when these bucks can add inches of antlers in those horrible conditions we experienced this past summer.

GRANT: So, Adam and I are moving in on Last Lick 10. His antlers are still on his head and we think we’ve got a pattern.

GRANT: Adam and I have been after a buck we call Last Lick 10 all season. And we’re honing in on his pattern.

GRANT: I love the MapView software by Reconyx. To me, it’s just as valuable, if not more valuable, than the cameras, which are great. It allows me to analyze all the data very simply and in a graphical way that I can apply to my hunting in real time. I noticed that Last Lick 10 is going from this little kill plot by the bedding area – probably using the bedding area – up to this big food plot we call Big Boom. What’s really interesting is Giant 10, a deer that was harvested recently on a neighboring property, uses somewhat of a similar pattern. We found both of his sheds during our shed hunt right here last year. Right where all these lines are crossing. And we’ve talked about in last week’s episode is when you remove one big really dominant buck, another buck, not quite as dominant, but almost, will move right into that pattern. There’s a reason that dominant buck has that pattern. Safety, food, access to does; all the things to make the year-round range of a dominant buck. Use that to remember, ‘cause if we don’t harvest Last Lick 10 this year, we’ve got a huge head start on him for next year. Right now it’s a race – whether he sheds his antlers first – or we figure out the pattern and get our stand just right.

GRANT: With time running out, we took a stand next to what we call the 50 Acre Glade, a huge bedding area, that we think Last Lick 10 is using. We weathered several hours of rocking in that tree like we were surfing the high wind. And in western Kansas, 30 mile an hour wind is almost typical. But here in Missouri, a 30 mile an hour wind makes everything move and shake that doesn’t normally move and shake and deer are scared and tend to lay in their bed all day.

GRANT: That afternoon we went to the very east side of Big Boom – another area where we’ve been getting several images of Last Lick 10. About 30 minutes before dark, two fawns came out in the food plot and we could see in the distance. And you could tell they were antsy, even from 100 yards away. The fawns had to look through 50 yards of timber to see us; the wind’s in our favor and we approached through the back door. We hadn’t been where the fawns were. So I don’t think there was any reason that we would alert the fawns. They were just antsy the whole time and left the field early.

GRANT: (Whispering) There they go.

GRANT: Adam and I spent some time really intensively studying the pattern on Reconyx’s software of Last Lick 10. We think we’ve actually found a chink in his armor. There’s an area on a ridge top where the wind will be more stable and not as likely to swirl where he’s passing by. It also offers us the advantage of kinda coming in the back door, so we can get there without alerting him. And it’s only 50 or 60 yards from the edge of a major bedding area. A lot of things in our favor. We think we can slide in there. I’m really hoping that we’ll have Last Lick 10 on next week’s episode.

GRANT: I’ve received a bunch of emails of people wanting to watch GrowingDeer.tv on their iPhone or iPad. I think Santa must have delivered a bunch of those “i” devices all across the United States. It’s easy question to solve. Just download the app Skyfire and you can watch GrowingDeer on those devices whenever you want.

GRANT: No matter what device you watch GrowingDeer on, just stay tuned ‘cause we’re really hoping we have a great encounter with Last Lick 10 next week. Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv.