With the Wisconsin rut raging, a bowhunter gets a good feeling about a never-used ridgetop stand, and hits paydirt.
Jon Flury of Independence, WI, might be a relatively young 27 years of age, but he pulled a veteran bowhunter move this past November in targeting an isolated rut stand he had never hunted before. Flury knew the maneuver might help him get the drop on a wise old local buck that might feel safe in the area, but the bowhunter was also wise enough to check his HuntStand app to ensure favorable conditions before climbing in. For his caginess that helped him arrow a beautiful buck, Flury nailed down a Week 6 win in our Big Buck ALERT contest that will net him an ALPS OutdoorZ Bino Harness X with Vital X rangefinder pocket, AND makes him eligible for our Grand Prize Drawing: A choice of either a sweet new binocular, OR a cutting-edge riflescope, from hunting optics specialist Leupold (contest details below). Enter now to join the fun!
Here is Flury’s exciting story in his own words:
“I want to share with everyone my story of how the HuntStand Hunting app played an integral role in my November 14, 2018 hunt. I had just finished my ‘seven-days-on’ shift at work, and the night before this fateful day I pulled up the HuntStand Hunting app to check the ScentCone projected at a stand I wanted to hunt the next day, and discovered it was favorable. Game on! I hunt a 300-acre farm on which we run beef cattle year-round, and the property is a mixture of corn and soybean fields as well as pasture.
“The stand that I wanted to hunt was a hang-on that was hung the year before, on top of a wooded ridge on our back 40. All of our stands are accessible by a series of four-wheeler trails that criss-cross our farm. I had never hunted this setup before, and wanted to see what kind of luck I would have. The hang-on was situated right along the four-wheeler trail through the woods—a good strategy in this location because the deer seem to love taking the easiest path through the woods, much like us. The ScentCone projected a wind from the W-NW at 8 mph and sunny conditions, which was ideal for this location as the four-wheeler trail was due west of the oak tree where I would sit.
“The morning of the hunt I drove a four-wheeler to within 100 yards of the stand and hiked the rest of the way. In the predawn darkness (6 a.m.) I used my flashlight to help navigate, but soon I began to stumble over logs and branches near the base of the tree, as I hadn’t cleared a path into the stand. I thought I probably sounded like an elephant in the woods; it seemed like it took 10 minutes to travel the final five yards into the stand. Worse, when I finally arrived I glanced to my left to notice a wide-open path that I could have taken. Frustrated, I quickly attached my Mathews Creed XS compound to my bow rope, ascended the tree, strapped in, and started to pull my bow up. To my dismay, the bow rope had become tangled in several branches and would not budge. I had to unstrap my harness, climb down the tree, and manually untangle the rope. I then climbed back up and re-strapped myself in, pulled the bow up, and nocked an arrow.
“I sat there thinking to myself, ‘Wow, way to go Jon, you’ve made so much noise that nothing will come by you this morning.’ And just then I heard a ‘snap’ in the brush. At this point it was already past 7 a.m. and light enough to see, and I noticed a gleaming shine that turned out to be an antler! A buck was 40 yards away and closing fast, using the four-wheeler trail. Within seconds, he was at 20 yards. I grunted to stop him, and shot. He gave a big mule kick, ran 40 yards, and fell over! My heart was pounding so fast as I sat there in disbelief. Even though I made so much noise getting in to my tree, my hunt was over in less than 10 minutes.
“It wasn’t long before I climbed down to recover my deer, and as I walked up on him, my jaw dropped. It was a buck we called ‘Ty,’ a deer (see image above) we had captured multiple trail cam photos of on the other side of the farm. It just goes to show how much bucks move this time of year.
“All in all it was a great hunt, and now I know that even though a hunt may seem like it might be over before it begins…you just never know what will happen during the rut in Wisconsin. Thank you HuntStand!”
To enter the ScoutLook 2018 Big Buck ALERT contest, simply send us a few clear, high-res. digital photos (three to five) of your 2018 buck (accepted NOW THROUGH DEC. 15) along with a brief story of your hunt that explains how the HuntStand app played a part.
Be sure to tell us if your buck was known to you or a newcomer, then describe the area where your stand sits, or where the encounter took place, as well as the fateful day’s wind and weather conditions, and of course, the blow-by-blow account of the exciting action as it unfolded. Include your full name, age, successful hunt date and state, weapon used, and also be sure to include your mailing address. Your e-mail subject line should read: Big Buck Alert! Send your photo(s) and requested info to: [email protected] 
Team ScoutLook will choose 12 weekly winners that we will share with the extensive HuntStand community; EACH weekly winner will receive BOTH the Bino Harness X (valued at $49.99) AND Vital X rangefinder pocket (valued at $19.99) from ALPS OutdoorZ (see above). 
In addition, at the end of the 12 weeks, all weekly winners will be placed in a drawing for our Grand Prize. The Winner will GET THEIR CHOICE of a Leupold BX-2 Tioga HD 8X42 binocular (shown above, a $389.99 value) OR a Leupold VX-Freedom 3-9×40 CDS riflescope (see below), a $389.99 value. 
Good luck out there this fall from all of us here at Team HuntStand, and let us know when (and how) you score!
