Father and Son Score from Same Treestand Days Apart

“Whassup?”

In a very satisfied tone, that is how my 17-year-old son, Mason, responded to me when I answered his phone call shortly after 4 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2023. I excitedly asked him, “Did you shoot one?” and he quickly replied, “Dad, I got a nice one.”

Now, it’s a good thing I was alone in my office at the time, because I yelled “Yes!” very loudly. Mason started to tell me a little about the experience, but I told him to wait and that I was on my way to meet him so I could hear the whole story in person. He quickly replied, “OK, hurry up!”

Mason struggled in 2022 to get as much treestand time as he wanted due to early-season basketball practices. In 2023, however, he was determined to invest a serious amount of effort into archery hunting. He chose to continue driving our old car with more than 225,000 miles on it so he could use some of the money he had been saving from his job at a local farm to purchase a brand-new Mathews V3X.

My son fitted out his new bow nicely and spent many hours on the archery range at our home. He and I also invested significant time in stand preparation last year. Archery season in our area of southeastern Pennsylvania starts in mid-September — two weeks earlier than the rest of the state — and we had been out in early August hanging stands, clearing shooting lanes and creating access to our stand sites.

Early-Season Encounters

Mason and I were both fortunate to harvest a doe early in the season, and we hunted consistently over the next month, keeping our eyes open for a shooter buck willing to show himself prior to the start of the rut. We each came close to filling another doe tag a couple more times, but the right shot did not present itself. As is often the case in October, we had not been seeing a great deal of buck activity on the properties we hunt. The temperatures had been warm, and even the doe activity was minimal. However, my two daughters, Mason and I continued to get as much stand time as our work and school schedules allowed.

At one of the properties we hunt, there was a significant amount of standing corn still up on the neighboring properties, and we believe that was contributing to the lack of deer sightings in the timber. On the evening of Oct. 26, my daughter Elyse and Mason went to hunt a spot closer to our house, while I went to the property where the corn was still standing.

I arrived at the property to hear the sound of the combine harvesting the cornfields, and I was excited to see what that would do for deer activity in the timber. It was a warm evening, and after getting into my stand I sat down to cool down from my walk in. I soon heard a faint sound behind me and turned around to see a very nice buck with a doe already in range. I quickly stood up, grabbed my bow and looked for a shooting lane. As hard as I tried, I could not find a clear shot to the buck’s chest through the brush they were standing in. I then watched him push the doe around in the thick brush for the next hour or so. I tried to aggravate him with some grunting and snort-wheeze calls, hoping to provoke his territorial instincts, but to no avail.

The Action Heats Up

Over the next couple of days, the temperatures started dropping, just as we hoped would happen as we closed in on the rut. On the evening of Nov. 2, Mason and I headed back to the property where I saw the shooter the prior week. We typically see more deer activity in our creek bottom stand, where I saw the buck the week before. So, I suggested Mason sit that stand, and I would sit the stand in the middle of the property.

Soon thereafter, we both climbed into our stands and got settled. As the evening progressed, I began to see more and more activity from my stand. I had does milling around eating acorns, while some smaller bucks started cruising through in search of does. I also heard the telltale sounds of a buck chasing a doe through the thick brush above my stand, but I never laid eyes on that buck.

Daylight was quickly fading and I had about five minutes of legal shooting light left. My thoughts had already turned towards packing up when I looked up and saw a big-bodied deer walking at a fast pace about 40 or 50 yards in front of me. He was moving through some brush, but I saw enough of his headgear to know that if given the chance, I would be more than happy to take him.

I quickly grabbed my bow and turned in the direction he was headed. I did not have a clear shot and he was quickly heading out of range. I knew my time was limited, so I grabbed my grunt call and gave two soft grunts with my call pointed to the side of my tree opposite of where the buck was. He came to a brief stop, turned 90 degrees and started walking directly towards me. Everything happened fast and I had to execute a quick shot when he was about 4-5 yards from the bottom of my tree.

When I triggered my release, the buck lurched forward about two yards and collapsed beneath my stand. He was thrashing about, so I quickly grabbed another arrow thinking I might need a follow-up shot, but his movement quickly started to slow, and I knew he was about to expire. The entire experience took about three or four minutes — it is always amazing to me how quickly events can unfold in the whitetail woods.

With my bow still in my hand, I called Mason. He immediately asked if I shot one, to which I replied, “Yes.” He then said he heard the deer crash from his stand.

Our stands are probably about 70 yards apart, but we cannot see each other. Mason told me he would pack up his stuff and come over, so I waited until he got there before I looked closely at the buck. Mason picked the deer’s head up and said, “What a toad!” It’s funny how words are used — I believe that’s the slang term some like to use to describe a nice buck these days.

The two of us then went through our normal routine of picking a spot, clearing some of the weeds and positioning the buck for some good pictures. As we celebrated in the light of our headlamps, I told Mason that we had to get the deer out of there and that he should plan on coming back to hunt the spot. There were plenty of does around, and more bucks would be cruising over the next few days.

Going Solo

Mason’s next available time to hunt was that Saturday morning, and he decided to sit in the same stand I had due to the heavy activity we were experiencing through the center funnel on the property. His morning started slowly, with only one small buck and a couple of does sighted, but around mid-morning he heard some crashing up on the hill in front of him. Mason looked up to see a big buck dogging a doe so hard that the doe almost fell over at one point.

Mason grabbed his bow in preparation for a shot and the buck started chasing the doe towards him. They quickly came into range and Mason started bleating loudly with his mouth while at full draw to try and get the buck to stop. The buck slid to a brief stop at 15 yards with a bush completely blocking his vitals. Mason told me later that, “One step back or one step forward and I would have had a perfectly clear shot.” The buck, however, went from his standing position to a full sprint after the doe, never offering a shot. They were gone as quickly as they had appeared.

Amazingly, that wasn’t the end of the excitement. Following behind the big buck were four more bucks coming single file down the hill on the same trail that the buck and doe had just come through on. I asked Mason if any of those four were shooters and he told me the last one was borderline, but he was still hoping the bigger buck would chase the doe back through again. So, he decided to wait.

Although Mason was not able to hang a tag on a buck that morning, it was clear from the way he told the story that it was one of the most memorable hunts he had had so far. I asked my son how big the big buck was and he said, “I am not sure how many points, but, Dad, it was definitely bigger than yours!”

Mason was now committed. The weather was cold, the rut was picking up and he had one more week to hunt hard before mandatory basketball practices began. My son finishes school early on Mondays, so on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 6, he was back in the same stand with high hopes of seeing the same buck or another nice buck cruising through.

The evening started slowly, with only some doe sightings. So, a little before 4 p.m., Mason decided to do some rattling. A few minutes after he finished a rattling sequence, a small yearling came in and started eating acorns about 20 yards in front of him. Mason was watching the yearling when the deer quickly lifted its head to attention and stared intently in the direction of the creek bottom.

Mason looked and saw a large-bodied deer moving in his direction through the brush. The deer lifted its head and Mason immediately knew it was a shooter. Within seconds, the buck was passing by on his right, only a few yards from his tree. Mason let him walk past so the buck would not notice the movement of him drawing his bow.

After Mason came to full draw, the buck stopped broadside at 10 yards and looked at the yearling. Mason knew he should aim slightly low due to the shot angle on a close shot like that. All his hours practicing with his new bow paid off, and he executed a perfect shot. The G5 Megameat broadhead did the job well, causing a short but massive blood trail as the buck did a semicircular run in front of Mason before faltering and tipping over only seconds after the shot.

Making Memories

Getting back to the beginning of this story, I got to Mason’s location as quickly as I could to hear him excitedly tell the story in detail. Elyse met us at the property as well so we could all celebrate this awesome moment with him. The Lord rewarded Mason’s hard work and persistence with a very beautiful and unique Pennsylvania 10-pointer.

The right side was typical and carried 5 points. The left side carried 5 points as well; however, it was quite different in appearance. That side was a typical 4-point frame but sat much higher off the buck’s head, with a wild, 15-inch G2 that had a 1.5-inch kicker on the front. We soaked in the moment as we went through our photo process to preserve the memory for Mason.

As I write this, almost two months have passed. However, Mason and I are still riding high on the blessings we got to experience by striking gold twice from the same stand within four days of one other.

The author resides in Pennsburg, Pa., with his wife, Cindy, and enjoys all things related to the outdoors, especially hunting with their three children, Kaylee, Elyse and Mason.

Author’s Notes: For my hunt, I used a Hoyt Pro Defiant 34 bow, Easton Axis arrows, Rage broadheads, Carter hinge release, Fuse Archery quiver, IQ Bowsight, Leupold rangefinder and Realtree camo clothing. My son, Mason, used a Mathews V3X bow, G5 arrows, G5 Megameat broadheads, Tru-Fire release, TruGlo bowsight and Cabela’s rangefinder and camo.

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