When Brothers Go to War in Trees While Hunting Deer
Editor’s Note: We all want to learn how, where and when to take big deer with our bows, but bowhunting is more than just harvesting animals. Some of the greatest memories I’ve ever made have been while bowhunting with family and friends and remembering the crazy things that have happened then. Knowing how much time Mark Drury of Drury Outdoors spends bowhunting and working to improve habitat and food for deer, I felt confident he’d seen and participated in some of the funniest hunts ever. I asked Mark – who probably bleeds Mossy Oak – to tell us about some of his funniest bowhunts. Mark and his brother Terry Drury produce the TV shows “Wildlife Obsession,” “Dream Season,” “Bow Madness” and “Natural Born.”
Some of my funniest hunts weren’t funny at the time, but as we look back on them, we can’t help but laugh. If you have a brother, you know that brothers are prone to disagree. My older brother Terry and I both are strong-willed independent businessmen. Occasionally, these traits create conflict when we’re hunting. One time in the early 1990s, Terry and I were sitting in different trees to film a deer hunt. I planned to be the videographer, and Terry would shoot and call. We set-up over a greenfield, and several bucks started chasing a doe. Two of the bucks’ antlers would score more than 170 points on Pope & Young. Our emotions and adrenaline had risen to a very-high point in anticipation of filming this rutting activity and harvesting one of these giant bucks.
Terry and I have hand signals to communicate with each other while hunting. I gave Terry the hand signal to start rattling. I felt certain if either of those bucks heard a buck fight, they’d come to us and present Terry with a shot. Finally, Terry turned around and screamed in a whisper, “I know what to do. I know when to rattle. Shut up, and leave me alone!” So, we got in this huge argument high up in the trees, with two fine bucks chasing a doe in the field right in front of us. Terry started waving his rattling antlers up and down like he was going to throw them at me, with both of us getting madder and madder at each other. Finally, I told Terry, “Get over here! I’m going to beat your butt.” Terry screamed back in a whisper, “You want me to rattle – well, I’ll show you what rattling is.” Terry started beating those antlers together as hard as he could. He was looking at me and deliberately trying to run the two bucks off.
Terry unhooked the tether on his safety belt and started climbing down the tree to come over and fight with me. We both forgot all about the filming and the two monster bucks out in the field. We both wanted to get in a knock-down, drag-out brother fight. I already had decided I was about to tear my big brother up. While all this was happening, I looked-up and saw the two monster bucks coming right toward us. When Terry got to the ground, I screamed in a loud whisper, “Look, Terry, look.” Terry saw the big bucks both coming straight at us. He got back up in the tree, hooked his safety harness back to the tether and got his bow up. We almost took one of those big bucks. When we didn’t get one, we both sat in our stands and pouted. We wouldn’t talk to each other the rest of that day. Finally, we decided we were brothers first, and bowhunters and videographers second. Today we both laugh about that hunt, but at the time, it wasn’t funny at all.
Tomorrow: Mark Drury – the Fight Before Daylight When Hunting Deer
