Public Land Hammer Buck

 I should of charged guide fees this year. I would do research find a new spot take a friend and watch them shoot a nice deer or catch the big fish. I not bitching though its been a great year and The nephew's and I started it out right this pass weekend. It was late shot gun season in Maryland and we were tired of the public land we usually hunt being over run with people so earlier in the week we started hatching a plan to try some where new. We decided to hunt some heavily hunted land on the eastern shore. Having never set foot there except a few fishing trips I began dig into google maps to try and get a lay of the land to set our point of attack.I was off Friday and had intended on doing a little hunt scouting before Saturday but life got in the way as usual. With no boots on the ground we would be going in blind. There was a impending snow storm which was good news The 4 to 6 inches forecast would keep mostothe fudds at home and the area we were planning to hunt was deep in past where average hunters will walk. So my Nephew Ryan his friend Matt and my great Nephew Dillon saddled up at 4 am for the drive to the shore. We hiked in and set up on a ridge overlooking the river bottom that I scouted on the map and watch the snow fall as the sun rose.The nephews would hunt together and Matt and I spread out across the ridge. at 9am little man Dillon was freezing as temps barely rose above the low teens. So Ryan decided that they should walk to the river warm up and maybe jump something down to us. Well they did jump something and I guess in time he might had made it to us but his trip was shortened by a 3" copper solid. Nice Shooting Ryan even though little man was the one who spotted him.

Needless to say I was a proud Uncle when I saw the size of this hammer from over hunted public land whereIwas told deer like this don't exist. We tagged and drug this big boy about a mile and a half back to the truck checked him in dropped him off ate a great lunch and went back for an evening hunt. The snow piled up and the temp dropped to single digits, we held out until dark with just a couple tiny does seen. Another buck (known only from his tracks in the snow) crossed my path that evening a few yards from where I sat down after tweaking my bum ankle. Unfortunately I was facing the wrong way and never heard his sneaky ass in the snow. Like I said a great way to start 2017. Livin The Dream.