CROFT GRIFFIN
SADDLE GEAR: H2 saddle, Tethrd Predator Platform, WE steps.
LOCATION: Kentucky
11/14/2019 is a day I will never forget.
I left on 11/13/2019 for Kentucky, planning to hunt until Sunday. This was my 4th consecutive year hunting the rut in Kentucky, but the first year being in a saddle. To say I went all in was a lite understatement. After I sold all my deer stands I had no other choice. Now, I can’t see how or why it took me so long to make the change.
The 1st hunt of the trip took place on the morning of the 14th and I knew exactly where I was going to be sitting. This was a spot that I had sat before, but was set up differently to give myself the best possible chance at seeing a shooter. I got in super early and had plenty of time to let the woods calm down from my not so stealthy walk in, which was in a dusting of snow. Shortly after getting setup, I had a shooter chasing 2 does at around 7:15 but he shadowed every move they made and didn’t give me any shot.
There was no action for the next hour and a half until I heard grunting and a doe running from my downwind side. She ran right by my tree like she was in the Kentucky derby! The time was approximately 8:40. On her tail was the biggest buck I’ve ever seen, let alone flung an arrow at. He came right by my tree and I practically had to yell at him to stop, which he did at 27 yards directly behind a tree letting me only see horns come from around each side of the tree and this buck’s breath in the cold air. He took two steps left giving me a broadside shot, I drew my bow and made a weak side shot, which I admittedly hadn’t practiced. Some how, some way, I composed myself long enough to make the shot. I sent my arrow and got a complete pass throug.
My first thought was that my shot was a touch back and that it wasn’t fatal. After a few phone calls to my wife and buddies, I was able to get down the tree without killing myself to see the snow covered in a crimson blanket of blood. I was instructed to back out to my truck and wait for my backup to arrive, which made me even more antsy than I already was. After giving my buck plenty of time to expire, and going to recover another buddy’s buck that he had shot that morning, it was finally time to go back in and search for my buck.
The time was now around noon. Myself, Clayton Bahn, Trey Childers, and Justin Holland went in and followed a blood trail that left me full of emotions. We started down the spine of a ridge and I spotted horn and a giant body. We had recovered my 13 point monster!
Memories that I have from that day will forever be engrained in my heart and mind! I couldn’t think of a better group of guys that I would have rather had with me that day. After 4 years I made it happen after only sitting in a tree for less that 4 hours on the 1st day of my rutcation. Blessed is a huge understatement! God gave me this harvest after asking him to allow me to get a shooter that morning! Green score of 145″, this was my biggest buck and 1st saddle buck ever!