Hunting with a decoy - One man's adventure

SUCCESS STORY
by Zack Below, as told to Dave Hurteau

I took this 130-class buck on a farm about 10 minutes from my house in central Wisconsin. My dad and I had found a partially cut cornfield that a lot of deer had been visiting. It was a perfect place to put out a decoy, so we hung a stand and waited for the right opportunity.

Two days later, while I was in biology class at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, my dad left a message on my cellphone: “The wind is perfect. Today’s the day.”

After classes, I went back to the field, set up a buck decoy on a highly visible knoll, and climbed into my stand at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Only 15 minutes passed before a couple of does showed, and I started rattling and grunting. After a while, two more does saw my decoy and moved in to investigate, but they stopped short and stared in my direction as if they’d made out my silhouette. It wasn’t long before they were stamping their feet, and I thought my hunt was about to be over.

But suddenly, something big started crashing through the swampy cover over my shoulder. The does turned their attention to it, and I drew my bow. I saw the buck at the edge of the swamp. The buck saw my decoy. And he instantly charged right past my stand.

I released my arrow as he jogged by broadside. I knew I’d made a good shot, but it all happened so fast I had to sit down in my stand, hold on tight, and take a few deep breaths. This was the first buck I’d ever taken over a decoy, and I don’t think I’d have gotten him without it.

My dad, uncles, and I are a tight-knit family of hunters. The first thing we do when one of us gets a buck is call the others to help track. Before long, my dad and I found the deer less than 100 yards back in the swamp. Though I’ve taken a number of bucks in the 120 to 130 class, this is one of my bigger ones and the rack has great character. There was a lot of hugging and high-fiving in that swamp just then. It was great.

source "Field & Stream":