January 12th, 2002

While driving back to the camp from the evening hunt my hunting buddy (David Cook) and I planned a strategy to hunt the next morning together and try to rattle up a buck in an area we knew pretty well, that bucks had always been in the past.

We arrived at our planned location right at daybreak and briefly discussed our plan. I would do the rattling and use the grunt call and he would initiate the Primos Estrus Bleat Can if needed, all the time thinking that this all sounded pretty silly.

At approximately 7:30 a.m. I had just finished a series of rattling, when at about 150 yards the buck mysteriously appeared in an open hardwood bottom. He seemed to be looking for the action but not moving. I told David to try the bleat can and see what happened. At the sound of the bleat the buck came to full attention and I told David to try it again. At the second bleat the buck started pawing the ground and twisting his head from side to side. Then he started coming right at us! At about 80 yards, he stopped. I made one grunt call, and he started coming again. At 30 yards, he realized something wasn't just right and stopped. I already had the crosshairs on his neck and squeezed the trigger. The deer went down right there and the hunt was over. The best part was when David said, " I was so close to shooting that when you shot I thought I shot!"

When is the last time you teamed up with a buddy to outsmart an old buck? Even if you don't take a deer, the hunt is a BLAST!