Joseph Rego knew the Bay State rut was on, but the clincher came when his HuntStand app showed conditions were ideal for a favorite stand. Can you guess the result?
Have you ever found a stand site that just screams “successful hunt?” Many of us know what that feels like, but fully realizing a spot’s potential often takes a good deal more than a simple discovery. Trophy whitetails don’t come easy and the game is filled with pitfalls: One of the easiest “hunt rules” to break is hunting a great stand with bad, or even marginal wind conditions. That simply won’t happen if you pay attention to your HuntStand app, and show proper restraint. Joseph Rego did just that last fall, and he claimed a heavy beamed, big-bodied reward. Here is his HuntStand Success story:
“November 1, 2016, was a clear cool day near Westport, Massachusetts, on the private tract of land where me and a friend hunt regularly,” Joseph Rego remembered. “Scattered throughout the front of this property, which is the only way in to the land, are several small grass fields, while the backside of the property features mostly wooded swampland.
“We hunt this tract mostly in the afternoon, and I have two stands situated near a small creek. One is in a large pine which splits about 25 feet up, and here is where my HuntStand Success Story unfolded. I face south in this stand, and before the hunt a check of my HuntStand app forecasted a SSW wind at 5 to 10 MPH, which is perfect for this spot, as the deer usually approach from the west. I knew I had to get out there.
“I consider this stand site a staging area, and that November afternoon I sprayed down with a scent eliminator spray and got in the stand about 2 p.m. My friend did not hunt this day, but I was confident, as I have several game cam photos of several very nice bucks from this area.
“About 5:40 p.m. I heard what I thought was a faint grunt, somewhere behind my right shoulder,” Rego said. “As I turned to my left to grab my bow, what looked like a spike came running out behind my tree, apparently headed to the fields. Behind the deer a large rack soon appeared, and to my surprise, on closer inspection the ‘spike’ was actually a doe. The large buck chased her back and forth in the field, well out of range, but my frustration was short-lived. Shortly after I whispered to myself, please come back, they did…along the same path they went out. This was a good thing.
“I had placed some doe scent out in front of me about 15 yards, and the buck seemed to get a whiff of that scent as it suddenly stopped, back and to my left, about 12 yards away. The buck looked toward the scent, then crossed the tiny creek and stopped again, just as I came to full draw with my Bowtech. I needed the buck to take two more steps to clear some small branches and when it finally did, I released my Beman arrow.
“At the 8-yard, pass-through shot the buck jumped like a mule and took off to his right, behind my tree. He stopped briefly at 35 yards, then took off again. Now it was 5:55 p.m., with just 10 minutes of shooting time remaining, but it got dark quickly. I came back in the morning and found blood about 40 yards out, found my arrow about 55 yards down the trail, and then found the deer. He had made it about 80 yards.
“The buck is my biggest bow kill ever; he weighed 206 pounds field-dressed and I aged his teeth at 4 ½ to 5 1/2 years old,” Rego explained. “This buck is proof that the HuntStand app works for me, and If you haven’t used it, you need to. HuntStand works!”
Congrats Joseph on one brute of a Bay State buck, and thanks for sharing your experience that not only proves the deadly effectiveness of the HuntStand app, but also the savvy to hold off on hunting a favorite spot until conditions are ideal. A smart approach that paid off handsomely.
For sharing his HuntStand app success story, Rego will receive a pair of Arctic Ice cooler packs: One Tundra Series X-Large cooler pack (complete Tundra Series set shown above) and one Chillin’ Brew X-Large cooler pack, a $60 total value.
VIDEO: Arctic Ice Improves Your Cooler’s Performance
Arctic Ice reusable cooler packs are tailor-made for sportsmen, both hunters and fishermen, who want to keep fish, game meat and food/provisions cold or frozen longer, while avoiding the hassle and expense of dry and standard ice. Arctic Ice Chillin’ Brew cooler packs (available in four sizes, Small to X-Large) have been shown to keep coolers under 32°F for days, and can also be used with ice to keep ice frozen up to 50 percent longer than an equal weight of ice would last alone. Tundra Series cooler packs have been shown to maintain frozen temperatures in coolers for days; they’re great for keeping frozen food or frozen game in perfect shape without the need for freezers or dry ice.
