B. Wehling “Mountainside Script to a T”

Hi Andrew! Can’t thank you enough for how WEI contributed to my first ever successful public land buck harvest. Here’s the quick and dirty…

It has been four seasons since moving to Georgia from the Midwest, where I formerly had access to private land with the habitat, agriculture, and protection to produce monsters. With no private access in Georgia, public was the only option. 

My first season in Georgia, I was unable to hunt to due to 3-months of residency requirement. The second season, I saw two deer…the whole season. Two. Needless to say I was scrambling to learn—thermals, vast forest, competition tactics—and adjust my approach (and expectations). The third season I researched and scouted other public access around Lake Allatoona, but was quite limited by the combination of distance, terrain, water, and other hunting pressure. That said, I was able to harvest my first doe, proof that I could adapt to public after all. 

My fourth season, this past year, I acquired a plastic jon boat and old motor from the 60s, to reach out where I knew deer were but couldn’t get there and back, should I successfully harvest. And my recently acquired mobile setup, consisting of the WEI Berserker and 4 Stepps, made it possible for me to scout, hang, and hunt in a tighter cadence as new sign was discovered. 

After a failed mid-November hunt where a bass boat pushed off a locked-down buck and doe otherwise headed my way, I got down, found new sign near a thick-cover ravine with creek. There was a hard path leading into the thick cover, buck sign all around, and a gnarly tree down slope from that path about 20 yds. That spot was now my next morning plan. 

The next morning was cold for Georgia. The 29° air made for a still morning, where cold temps collided with thermal movement. I docked the boat at a point not 200 yds from the target spot, walked the shoreline then directly up the hill to my tree. My steps allowed me to hit 20 feet, which put me just above eye level of the path above me. I was up, hanging, comfortable, and quiet with about 30 minutes until shooting light. 

The sunrise that morning was breathtaking and Fall colors picturesque. He walked in from the north, right down the path and headed to cover, as I had hoped he would. I saw him at 85 yds, and he wasn’t stopping. I had ample time to pivot around the tree bracing my foot on the WEI step as I swung to my weak side. He kept a consistent pace, stopping only twice, before stepping beyond the last obstructing tree. I stopped him at 23 yds and let it fly. It was perfect. 

I called my wife, nearly in tears, about what I had just accomplished: yes, a successful buck harvest, but one as a new Georgia, public land hunter. 

I found him in a giant brush pile not 30 yds from me over a ridge just to the south. He wasn’t a big, but he was a big deal. I dressed him quickly, dragged him downhill to the shoreline, and boated him to the ramp smiling and fist pumping and thanking God the entire way across the lake.