Click Here to Read About the Mason Neck Buck Hunting Experience.

Mason Neck Buck George Lewis 20 November, 2014 A fantastic game and refuge management staff, deliberate scout, safety in mind and a little technology, combined with the cooperation of the area’s dominant buck, all led to an unforgettable hunt in a little known park nested in otherwise congested Northern Virginia. My son, son-in-law and I are lucky enough to be able to find time annually to hunt on my parent’s farm between Point of Rocks and Brunswick, MD, where we have a healthy deer population and have harvested some respectable bucks over the past decade. With a new job in Northern VA, I though wanted to find opportunities to scout and hunt closer to my home. Living and working in Northern Virginia doesn’t offer many hunting opportunities and where they exist, most are exclusively for archers with urban permits. I came across information advertising lottery management hunts on Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a peninsula on the Potomac river 8 miles south of Washington DC that was established as the Nation’s first American Bald Eagle refuge and the location of Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason. Hunting on Mason Neck takes a bit of work. You must apply through the mail and if lucky enough to be drawn, hunters must attend a safety brief, purchase a special permit, qualify with your firearm and ammunition at one of several local ranges, scout the area during a designated day, have your firearm, ammunition, license and permit inspected on the morning of your hunt, park in a designated area, and if you successfully harvest a deer, you must have your game checked by wildlife official at the Mason Neck game check. Despite the necessary hassle ahead of time, I must say that the Mason Neck cadre are all wonderful, helpful and very professional. They make easy what otherwise would be frustrating and overly cumbersome. Once drawn and meeting all of the prerequisites, my son Kristopher and I were able to scout our area on 2 November, 2014. We saw several other hunters and realized that there would be a bit of pressure on the morning of my hunt. My son and I spent half of the day walking the woods and marshy shorelines, covering a very large area. Finding a plethora of sign (rubs, scrapes, trails and bedding areas) and food sources (loads of acorns, many from white oaks) we were very optimistic. Knowing I wouldn’t have another opportunity to enter the area and anticipating more than a few hunters on the morning of my hunt, I choose a strategy that would allow me to enter the woods swiftly without stirring up the area unnecessarily, be in a good position and hunt safely. Using my Garmin Rino, I plotted numerous scrapes and rubs during our scout. Finding a very large rub on a juniper, I backtracked the rub line, scrapes and game trail along a ridge until I found a saddle and bowl area with bedding to the north, a large scrape beside a large holly bush and clear shooting lanes. I plotted with my GPS a tree that I could easily set my climbing stand on. This was because I decided that I didn’t want to be on the ground with the number of hunters I expected in the area, especially ones possibly pressured by the fact that this might be their only opportunity of the year. I then left the area recording my track on my GPS that would allow a quite and quick approach to my chosen position. 20 November came and it was a beautiful morning. I arrived very early at Mason Neck to ensure I was near the front of the inspection line. The management staff were very efficient with their duties and I was able to arrive at my designated parking area and head into the woods before other hunters began to flow in. I tracked back along the path my GPS displayed, ascended my tree with my Summit Viper climbing stand, and was able to set up early enough to listen to the woods return to normal (and even grab a short nap) before legal shooting hours. At day break there were several shots to my north east and the woods awoke. I watched several nice sized does, some with yearlings, run through my area following the sound of distant shots, but they seemed to settle down in my vicinity. I knew then I had chosen a good location. At about 8:00 AM I saw movement to my north west and noticed a large buck moving along the game trail and rub line I had scouted. I watched for him to come into an opening in the trees and saw that he strode and carried himself like a confidant dominant buck. He slowly but deliberately plodded along, moving from my right to left along the side of a low ridge line and towards the juniper rub I plotted during my scout. I looked ahead of him and identified a shooting lane, which I set up on by bracing my gun against the tree trunk and checking my optics. As he stepped into my shooting lane I grunted lightly … he paused and raised his head long enough for me to find his left shoulder and, at approximately 80 to 100 yards, I squeezed off my shot. The buck leapt and stood on his front legs momentarily before bolting forward along his game trail. To my surprise, within minutes of my shot and where I thought I would find my buck … I heard three shotgun shots! I waited about 15 very nervous minutes before descending from my tree and moved to where I had shot at the buck. I found hair and blood immediately and began tracing the buck’s path towards the juniper rub and where I heard the three shots. As I approached a cut in the woods on slightly higher ground I heard a voice call out from behind a tree “are you on blood?” I looked up and seeing another hunter step out I answered “yes”. He asked what I was following. I told him I shot a large mocha color antlered mature buck, He said “I was hoping no one would claim him … he’s over here”. And there laid my buck, shot through from left to right. The hunter said he was watching several does and had shot at them when my buck stepped out of the trail, staggered, and fell over dead. He knew he hadn’t shot my buck, but was hopeful no one would track it or lay claim to him. I recommended to him where I had seen other good sign while scouting, he complimented my buck, congratulated me and walked off into the woods. I bid him good luck and began the process of recovering my very handsome Mason Neck Buck. I encountered several hunters while leaving the area so was glad that I had got in early and choose not to hunt on the ground. At the game check, the management team and wildlife biologist commented that they had not seen a buck like him harvested in recent history. It was a great hunt and a great experience. I was glad that I was able to share the scout with my son and then meet up with with my father at Tim Pry’s on Needwoods Farm near Burkittsville, MD to process my deer, before taking him to our favorite and trusted taxidermist … Meran and Mary Kline. Of note, I began the day a bit disappointed because work obligations had kept me from joining my best friend (Dan Baird) and my son (Kris) for a special week-long management hunt on Sapaelo Island off of the Georgia coast. But, after texting them a photo of my Mason Neck Buck and learning that they had not been so fortuitous, I was very happy that I had endured the prerequisites of hunting on Mason Neck wildlife refuge. If you are interested in hunting on Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge the following link will provide more information. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Mason_Neck/Visit/deerhunt.html. Equipment used for the hunt: Garmin Rino 655t GPS Summit Viper climbing stand Mossberg 695, 22” rifled bore 12 GA shotgun Nikon ProStaff 2-7x32 BDC shotgun scope Hornady SST 300 gr FTX shotgun slugs for rifled barrels (sabots)