In 2019, I first saw this buck that I nicknamed Scarback. He was 4 years old then and had this huge patch of hair missing from his back. (Thus Scarback). We played a game of cat and mouse that year but I never caught up with him.

In 2020, I saw Scarback again, but less than in 2019. I think we saw him less because his core range was shrinking and behind the house wasn’t part of it necessarily, anymore. These old bucks have a way of getting under your skin. You hunt the individual deer as a challenge because you have a history with him. That history turns into a passion. And that’s why many of us return to the timber each year.

So, in 2021, with so many really big bucks around this year, Scarback took a back seat to all the other bucks. It’s how it goes, these bucks get ignored because another giant shows up. But let’s be frank…Scarback is no whimp. This year our first sighting of him was in our south ditch stand. Amy was sitting there and saw this huge bodied buck work a mock scrape near that stand. A card pull later that week confirmed that Scarback was indeed back.

Most years, between about the 10th and 20th of November, our hunting kind of goes down hill a bit. Sightings become really hit and miss. But, we normally hunt travel routes like fence jumps, ditch crossings, timbered points, etc. right through this time period. This year, we had plans to hunt very close around bedding cover during this time frame. In fact, we hung stands this spring specifically for hunting this time period close to bedding. And it was paying off with sit after sit of mature bucks.

Yesterday, after multiple sits in the stands we had hung already, Forest and I decided we really needed one more stand set up more for a south, or southwest wind. The area, only 100 yards or so from an existing stand, was even closer to the bedding area. We didn’t know if we could get a stand in there, but we figured we’d try. At about 11:00, we snuck in during heavy winds, found a black walnut in the right spot, hung a stand, cut a couple shooting lanes (very lightly), and got out. Forest was sitting that stand that night.

Before we go further…Normally, when deer are on a bed to feed pattern, or feed to bed pattern, trails will be in a very linear fashion between the two. The trails can be huge, very pronounced as deer make their way back and forth. Bed to feed pattern trails are easily identified. They might branch off here and there, but their direction is always to and from food. Now, parallel trails to cover or food are different. A trail parallel to bedding cover, or a road, or an agriculture field or food plot is usually less distinct and is often times used by bucks crossing the more heavily used bed to feed trails frequented by does and fawns. Instead of the trail running between bedding and feeding, they run parallel to either, or both, or any other structure like a deep ditch, or road. Bucks will often use these parallel trails to cross and check every other trail frequented by the does as they scent check for a hot doe. When you find a parallel trails in conjunction with heavily used bed to feed trails—you need to set up on both making sure you can shoot to the parallel trail. This is where you’ll likely get a shot at your buck!

When Forest and I put in the new stand, we not only found huge well defined bed to feed trails; but we also found a very distinct buck trail (parallel trail) that was being used to cross all the other bed to feed trails. The tree we picked out was 30 yards from this buck trail. With Forest standing on my knees and then me holding him up, we cut the one branch in that black walnut preventing a clean shot to the buck trail…then got the hell out.

When we got home, Forest quickly changed and was ready. I dropped him off by his access to the new stand and Amy and I went to a different farm to hunt. It was about 1:00 in the afternoon. Before Amy and I got 15 minutes away in our drive to the other farm we got a text…”Scarback is dead”, “I’ve seen 3 bucks in the first 10 mins”, “4 bucks”, “oh my God you guys need to be hunting here”, “call me when you’re settled”.

Scarback was indeed dead. He came in using one of the bed to feed trails then immediately changed direction cruising the parallel trail checking for a hot doe. When he got to the spot we cleared a shooting lane for he stopped, making his last mistake.