Cross-posted from January Giants at Grow the Hunt
-By Brandon Wikman
When Joe Nawrot and I, began packing last week for our final whitetail-hunting trip of the season, our family and friends gave us a puzzled look. January is a time for celebrating New Year’s Eve, working on those pesky resolutions and kicking back to enjoy Winter Break. Right…?
Nearly the entire country has shutdown deer season until next September. Many bucks have been already casting their antlers due to severe stress from not only an exhausting rut, but also the frigid temperatures. The weather conditions during this period of time make a mind and finger-numbing experience. We cannot forget the last and most important point that keeps many hunters astray from their tree stands facing Jack Frost; most January giants have turned completely nocturnal from the last 4 ½ months of continual hunting pressure. So, needless to say, I couldn’t really blame them for their skepticism.
All I could do was attempt to prove my point and replenish my hunting’s passion, which is to never give up on the relentless pursuit of trophy game! The deer season isn’t over, until the rulebook says it is. In this case, January 31st for the buckeye state. I was bound and determined to shoot a buck in Ohio with my good friend, Ty Mccombs of Whitetail Outfitters of Ohio.
I knew the only way of coming back to Wisconsin with a buck was to have a few variables working on my side, which often times seems too much to hope for. When hunting animals, there’s no control over them. Automatically, they have the upper hand. The weather needed to be extremely cold. Deer must eat to survive, especially when temperatures teeter in the teens. Whitetails live by their stomach; so hunting over a quality food source is critical. With the combination of a weather system brooding its way into Ohio and a standing cornfield, a good bet was dealt that deer were going to be on their feet before dark. They were going to be scrounging up any last kernels of corn before the storm plowed through.
The very first evening Nawrot and I hung twenty feet high, literally. We overlooked a thick bedding area where we anticipated intercepting a buck on his way to a cornfield. We anxiously waited the magical minutes of last light, when deer slink their way cautiously en route to dinner.
As the last, luminous glow of sunbeams sparkled upon the snow, the frozen woods thawed with life. I heard a continual step-by-step crunch from behind us. As I tossed my binoculars to my face, antler emerged from the snowy pines. The buck’s hooves cautiously broke into the ice-crusted snow. His ears pressed forward and eyes scanned the winter wonderland.
My eyes were fixed upon his gigantic antlers, just like I’ve always been told not to! Buck fever kicked in within seconds as I gawked in amazement. Thoughts shattered like broken ice in my mind as I began realizing my fortunate fate. I kept thinking that this could be the largest buck I’ve ever killed with my bow! As I drew my bow, my ice-chilled bones popped and crackled. Squinting into my peep sight, I managed to align my fiber pin with his chest. I inhaled my last breath of frigid air as it stung my lungs with bitterness. My frostbitten finger punched the trigger and I sent an arrow into the vital of my best bow buck by far.
The beginning of a year and an end to a season couldn’t have been written any better. As each year passes, we gather an insightful amount of hunting information about deer that television, books or magazines will never teach, but only tell. Experiencing the hunting venture first hand is the only way to really grasp the reality. I owe much gratitude to my good friend, Ty McCombs, for teaching me firsthand that big bucks are killable during one of the most underrated months of the entire year. If you have what it takes to squeeze into another layer and bust out the hand-warmers, hunting January just may put some venison in the freezer.