The Virginia Ghost Buck
Virginia is a state that is not known for producing large bucks. The state of Virginia has many hunters and it is legal to hunt deer with dogs, so it is safe to say the state receives a lot of hunting pressure, which makes it nearly impossible for bucks to reach their full potential. David Slaybaugh, a Virginia resident, was one deer hunter who was able to beat the odds. He recently killed a buck at a hunting club that he’s a member of that scored over 160 inches. “When people think of a hunting club, they think the hunting is easy, but that is not always the case. At our hunting club, there is a lot of hunting pressure so my brother and I had to work extra hard to get this buck,” Slaybaugh explained.
Slaybaugh has had the buck he eventually killed on camera for several years but the buck was notorious for only showing himself at night. “We knew where this buck bedded so we decided we would put in a food plot close to his bedroom in hopes that he would come out into the food plot during daylight,” Slaybaugh noted. “We didn’t get the food plot in until the middle of September so it was late in the year for putting in a plot, but it worked.”
Food plots often end up being a food source that attracts does more than bucks and that is ok, especially during the rut. “Most of the pictures that we got of the buck were in the middle of the night and he was always following a doe. He would never walk out in the food plot during the daylight. I knew he was often working the edge of the food plot so I decided to change to a different treestand the night I killed him. It paid off.”
The night Slaybaugh killed the buck he was using a bleat can and a Wyndscent unit. “Here in Virginia, we can use doe urine so I was using the Wyndscent unit with Synthetic scent. It really worked well,” Slaybaugh said. “I was bleating when the buck showed himself and I could see his lip curling because he was smelling the Wyndscent unit. The buck could hear a doe and smell a doe so he was standing there looking for a doe. This gave me time to get my gun ready for the shot. Eventually I was able to make my shot. There is no question the Wyndscent unit helped me get this buck. I wasn’t a big fan of having to use synthetic scents but they do work well.”
When trying to outsmart big bucks, paying attention to all the details and setting a trap can help increase the odds of success. Mock scrapes, deer scents, rattling, bleating and grunting are just a few of the things hunters can do to bring a buck out of hiding during daylight when he would typically never show himself. In this case, the bleating and the Wyndscent unit were a deadly combo.
More states are making it illegal to use real deer urine when hunting. Synthetic urines are a great option and the P7 synthetic estrus is a great choice for hunters who have a Wyndscent unit.
