12-18 IST

Headed up to Tensas parish later this morning to hunt until Friday afternoon. Weather conditions are be looking good and hopefully we get some action.

Area 2
58° SW wind
28 nosler

Giving my little rut funnel one last try. Confidence is at an all time low. Somebody snuck in here yesterday evening and set up probably around 150-200 yards from me and shot about 10-15 minutes before dark. Scared the hell out of me. My camera only picked up a hog last night, which doesn’t mean anything, but I’m just not feeling it.
I’ll be headed to my camper mid morning to grab my rain gear then going sit on a pipeline from around 1 till dark.

Didn’t see anything this morning. Made a run to town for some Copenhagen and a redbull then came back out here. Sitting a pipeline in the rain, hoping it stops soon. Not normally a big pipeline hunter but I figure with the rain the deer will move and if I can see a long ways, maybe I’ll see something.

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Marlin 336 30-30

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How do you like the Marlin? I’m considering buying new.

I ended up having a pretty awesome hunt this evening. I didn’t kill, but I easily could have. Had a doe pop out on the pipeline about 200 yards down, I hurried and got my rifle shouldered and a nice buck followed. Took the safety off, and was mid trigger squeeze when he looked my way and I noticed he was missing one side of his rack.
About 10-15 minutes go by and I catch movement on the wood line about 50 yards down. The same doe and buck got in the woods after crossing and turned and came my way. They crossed again, to the side they were originally on, about 20 yards in front of me.
I was on my little stool in the middle of the pipeline, back against a plastic pipeline pole, upwind. The doe saw me, she didn’t sense a threat apparently, and the buck had one thing on his mind. Not gonna lie, if I had my bow, and for some insane reason was in that setup, I would’ve shot, but I let him walk. Being damn near face to face with a mature buck definitely got my heart pumping, and kept me hyped up the rest of the evening.
I was able to sneak my phone out my pocket and video him. Here’s a couple screenshots from the video. 2nd picture is to show his ~potential~ width.

Real nice buck you got to watch. That's the best kind of deer hunting outside of the broken antler.

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Why’s he hiding his face in 2nd pic?

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It was the best shot he gave me looking in my direction. He only looked once or twice. The rest of his attention was focused on that doe in front of him. He gave 0 shits about me or anything else lol
I’ve been here for 3 weeks with a 3 day break for work after the first week, and I’ve hardly seen any bucks. I really really wanted to pull that trigger. I told myself I’m only shooting if I plan to put him on the wall, and I’m sticking by that. Unfortunately, being public land, he’ll probably make that mistake in front of the wrong person this weekend with the cold front coming through.