Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Thigpen Hill: Thoughts & Recap (long and pic heavy

When I got chosen for this hunt I was pretty pumped up after I realized that the property had not been leased or legally hunted in about 5 years. Sure enough during scouting days you could just tell that the property was rugged and very little had been done since the last time it was leased. Food plots were overgrown. Roads had 2-3" pines growing in them and hadn't been bush-hogged for quite some time. Zero flagging or any sign of human existence except for some old, rusted ladder stands with trees growing into the metal, trees with rotten 2x4's, and I did find a fallen log with tree spikes in it. Overall just about as untouched piece of property as you will find nowadays.

The property from what I could see was majority 40-60 year old mature hardwoods. There were areas of thickets every so often. Riding down the road you could see 100+ yards down through those hardwoods. I did not see any planted pines on the place. The pines that were there were natural growth areas. Some scattered pines in there were huge but most seemed to be in the 20-30 year range. There was some beetle infestations in some areas that should have been cut a long time ago but as I said, this place hasn't had any timber management in several decades. To my knowledge, there are zero cutovers on this tract. It is an absolutely beautiful place and as I sat my my climber, I imagined this is what Alabama looked like back in the 30's. Maybe this was all farmland back then but I cannot say what it did to my soul to climb a sweetgum tree and see for dang near 100 yards in all directions. Absolutely gorgeous.

Obviously, the scenery was a lot different than it was back in early October when we scouted. Most of the leaves are dropped and you can really get a feel of just how the land lays. The state did go in and bushhog one of the roads in my unit that was almost impassable during scouting days and that was nice. They had planted one food plot on the creek but between the hogs rooting it up and zero rain since planting, it just looked like a disk had been run over it. Only a few sprigs of green shoots were growing.

Thursday around lunch all the hunters gathered at the sign-in kiosk and met the biologist for some last minute instructions and go over any Q and A's. Props to the state on one thing. They built one heckuva nice skinning shed with 2 winches, water, concrete pad, and lights. After getting squared away at the kiosk, we all went to our respective units and the weekend began. Just as I entered my unit (#2), I saw a hog running off. My first task was to make my way back to the little food/dirt plot and put a pop up blind there just in case Janet wanted to come hunt. After fighting with the blind and finally getting it up, I was drenched. 78 degrees just ain't my kind of deer hunting weather! Next task was to walk a climber about a half-mile back into this little area I found back in October. I had no idea if it was a good area or not but it had a pine thicket bordering a hardwood draw with a small creek running through it. It had cover, food, and water so I found a tree, hung the stand and eased back out. By then it was mid-afternoon and if I was gonna hunt, I needed to find a spot. So I drove back up the road and up the trail they bushhogged. I walked about a quarter mile from the ranger and hung my climber on an climber on a hillside overlooking a hardwood bottom. I didn't see a thing and it was getting dark so I lowered my gun down and just as it got to the ground, I heard a deer walking in the dry leaves. I quickly pulled my rifle back up and looked to my left and I could barely make out a doe that had walked in to feed. She hung around to the point that I finally had to just get down and she busted out of there. I climbed down and headed back to the kiosk to sign out and then met Cleckler and GriffinT12 for dinner and a couple of pitchers at Wintzell's. Those are 2 quality guys! Afterwards I headed back to my camp which was only 20 minutes from the property. Got a shower and was in bed by 9. It was a long day.

Woke up Friday to fog and muggy weather. I walked my stand into an area with some mature pines that bordered a thick bedding areas on both sides. I sat til 11am and didn't see a deer but did see a bobcat. I drove back to the kiosk and met my guest who was going to hunt that afternoon and Saturday morning with me. After a quick lunch at the truck, we headed back to the land and be both climbed trees. I was in the same area as the previous day but further up that same hardwood bottom. Neither of saw any action but that was the afternoon Cleckler connected on a helluva nice 8-point! Deer movement was non-existent on Friday for us.

Since I had a buddy with me Saturday, I decided to hunt my climber that I walked in on Thursday. It was right at a half mile from the nearest road where I parked the ranger. I figured if I shot something back there at least I'd have some help getting it out! Saturday morning was still muggy and foggy but enough moisture on the ground to allow me to slip in a little quieter despite the forest floor being covered in hardwood leaves. I made some crunching but not like it would have been later in the day once the sun dried everything out. I had flagged my way out on Thursday so I had plenty of markers to guide me to my stand. I got there and got up and settled just after 6am. Just after the sun started peaking up I could hear some turkeys yelping a few hundred yards away and some owls going off. The wind was slight but out of the west which is what it had been the entire trip. My stand was the white maker with the blue dot. You can appreciate the thick pines just north of me and the Ranger was parked the lower orange marker. It was a good walk in! My buddy was sitting where the lowest green marker is.


Things got interesting about 7:35. I heard the faintest crunch of a leaf back to my extreme right (about at my 4:30 direction). When I turned I could see a deer's body and within a few seconds I could tell he had a rack. He had slipped out of that pine thicket and was feeding on acorns. He was only about 30 yards away and boy, I started getting nervous pretty quick! I slowly turned my body toward him and already knew it was going to be a left-handed shot due to where he was. As time slowly ticked by, I was reminded of just how slick an older buck can be. He would only move a step at a time, ears constantly moving and alert to any slightest noise, and looking up frequently to assess his surroundings. My body and neck were starting to get strained from being in such an awkward turned position but I was trying to fight through the pain! The deer was just feeding calmly but I never could get more than a glimpse of his body or his rack. My nerves were about shot because I knew all it took was the slightest swirl of wind and he'd be gone in an instant. A shot just wasn't there. But finally, after 15 agonizing minutes of watching this buck at 25 yards, he made his move.

I had already taken my safety off and it's a good thing. That buck decided he was going to come toward me and the path he was on was going to bring him almost under me. I knew I couldn't let him get that close so I picked out the first decent opening and when he hit it, I touched the trigger at 7:55. It was an extreme downward angle, left handed, and CLOSE. I later walked it off and he was 12 steps from the base of my tree when I shot.

At the shot, he buckled and and ran. I could tell he was hit pretty hard but he got out of there pretty fast. As I jacked another shell in, he crossed in front of me and then crossed the little creek and ran straight away from me heading back into his sanctuary of the pine thicket. I could see his rack as he ran and giving me a good view of just how wide his rack was. Within a few seconds I heard a crash just out of sight. Oh boy!!!! I was like "Please God, let him be dead!" That's when my body went into crazy mode! Whenever I shoot something, I get this adrenalin dump and start shaking, coughing, and even get the dry heaves! I had to wait about 10 minutes before I could even attempt to climb down safely! I was trying to sip some water out of the bottle and my hand was shaking so bad I could barely drink it without spilling it all over me! It's crazy! Pic below is my view. The buck was on my side of the creek to my right and then crossed it and ran in the direction between my gun barrel and the dark tree.


Finally I was able calm down enough to lower my gun and ease my climber down. Once I got back on terra firma, I reloaded and started easing toward where I heard him crash. I found where he crossed the creek and started looking for some blood. I didn't find any initially but finally spied a small drop, then another, then another. It looked bright but I it was sparse. I started looking up through the woods trying to spy that white belly we all look but I didn't see it! I knew he had to be in here someplace so I just kept following the little blood drops and looking up through the woods. Suddenly, my eye caught something a little out of place . IT WAS HIM!!! He had turned when he fell and was facing me. I could see that head rack and OMG....I'm 55 years old and I was on the verge of tears, I'm telling you! I don't know that I've been that excited about a deer in a long, long time! I could tell he was dead but nevertheless, eased my way to him on full alert. He had made it just inside the sanctuary of that pine thicket. I was absolutely overcome with joy, relief, excitement, and was just in awe how it had all happened. Then another round of adrenalin dump commenced so here goes another 10 minutest of heaving and coughing! You can see where the bullet exited on the belly due to the downward trajectory of my shot. Probably also why I didn't have a great blood trail.




After I calmed back down, I took a few moments to admire him and just relive the past 20 minutes or so. Man, what an amazing morning!! His antlers were the darkest I'd ever seen on any deer I'd killed. His body was healthy and heavy. He was just an awesome deer to me! After snapping a few pics I drug him back to the edge of the creek and then packed up my stand and made my way back to the Ranger. Since I had zero service (Verizon, you suck), I had no choice but to drive back to my buddy who was still in the tree. By then it was about 9am and he climbed down and we headed back to go get my deer. I was able to drive the ranger about halfway back there by running over some saplings and down an abandoned logging road. Once we got to the deer and started to drag, we quickly realized that it was going to be a royal PITA to get him out so we decided that somehow, someway we were going to get the Ranger back to this deer. So we trudged back to the ranger and with him in front of the machine moving logs and cutting a couple of the bigger trees I could not run over, we eventually made our way back to the buck. I winched him up in the bed and we made our way back through the woods and to the road and back to the truck. And yes, I pulled all my flagging out as we went. I ain't doing anyone else's scouting for them!

Got back to the kiosk and recorded my harvest and weighed and measured the buck. He weighed 175lbs and was a 7pt with a 16" inside spread. Not bad for a buck that most likely has never seen a corn pile or a food plot or had any supplemental feeding program. When I dressed him, all that he had in his belly was acorns and a little browse. I took him back to my camp (20 minutes away) to clean him and hang him in the cooler and take the jawbone. After all this, I decided to call it a day. On the way out, I caught up with Cleckler and GriffinT12 to show them my deer and they were kind enough to snap a few more pics and I'm grateful for that! Also, them cold beers were good too!! After cleaning the deer at camp, I headed back home to watch the SECCG with my wife. We had given our 4 tix to the kids when I was chosen for this hunt. After killing this buck, I definitely had ZERO regrets of missing the game! The fact that Bama stomped UGA was just a perfect ending to a perfect day!




Sunday, Janet and I got up and headed back to the land to pull all the remaining stands and let her see the place. She was amazed at how gorgeous the land was as well! We met back up with Cleckler and Griffin as they were winding up their hunt so that was nice to see them one last time.

Overall, my impression of Thigpen Hill was great. The land was amazing. The biologist was very helpful and knowledgeable. And even though I saw only 2 deer and glimpsed 1 hog, I had a great time. I also got to meet some really cool Aldeer members which was a bonus! I will say that whoever gets chosen for that SOA during the rut better hold on and keep their head on a swivel. That place will be on fire and I can just imagine the studs they are going to pull off that place in January.

I must say in closing that this is one of the most special deer I've ever killed. I just worked so darn hard to give myself a good opportunity to kill a good deer and against all odds, it just all came together. I have no shame is saying I earned this buck! Foster's taxidermy is going to mount the rack on a piece of barn wood and I'll post that up when I get it back. Thank y'all for giving me a little leeway in this story and for taking the time to read it. Bless this site and all the folks on here!

Cool story and thanks for sharing.

Good buck too.

Awesome story and buck. I have been putting in for the SOA's since their inception and was blown away at how hard the guys work to make the places what they are. Congrats!

Well done Doc! That’s a nice buck and great story!

Nice read

Thanks for sharing, nice story.....

congrats on a nice buck.
And great photos!

Congrats and good story telling

Congrats Doc, cool story and nice buck !!!

Awesome story and thanks for sharing ! Congrats!!

Well composed!....congrats on a fine hunt!!

Great story. I enjoyed reading it.

Enjoyed reading that story.

Congrats on the buck.

Congrats Doc

Great read!! Congrats Benji

Great story Doc!
Congrats on a fine buck!

Awesome recap Benjy! It was great meeting you and your wife. Hopefully, we can do it again sometime!

You lucky mug in a jug doc..... Congrats man that is a Jim dandy right there and well earned....

Yes sir ree

Congrats!