I had 3 buck tags (earn-a-buck) and i filled all three!
I decided to hunt only one sit this weekend, as last weekend I shot a very nice buck that "made" my season. I started to get all my gear on and realized i somehow lost my release for my bow, i looked around but never found it. I figured I could shoot "fingers" good enough from bowfishing that I felt comfortable to about 20 or 25 yards. I started the walk out to my stand at about 1:20pm. I was hunting a food plot and as i reached the field i notice two does were feeding. I sat down and waited for them to clear the field before climbing into my stand. After getting into my stand at about 2:30pm i caught movement to my right, in the brush on the edge of the food plot and a small spike appeared. He casually walked past and then it wasn't until about 3:50 that i saw the next deer. It was off in the woods to my left about 120 yards. I grunted and snort-wheezed to try to lure the deer closer. I could tell that it had antlers but it disappeared into thick sumacs before i got a good look. I was hoping he was going to come out to my left near two large trees at the far edge of the food plot, but after 15 minutes i figure he must have just continued on his way through the woods. Then i hear a small crunch of a leaf behind me to my left. I turn around to see a very nice buck walking right towards me. I grab my bow and get ready, he stops at a scrape about 15 yards from my stand and freshens it up a bit, but then it seemed like he caught wind of me. I was shaking like a leaf at this point and i knew that if he presented me with a shot I was going to take it. After about 5 minutes, that seemed like an hour, he started to walk off to my right and i drew back and let the arrow fly when he stopped at 21 yards. The arrow hit back very far, and I immediately regretted trying to shoot fingers. It looked to be a gut shot so I got down from the stand, checked the time, it was 4:06pm, and went to inspect my arrow. I couldn't find my arrow, but the blood trail looked better than expected, a decent amount and very bright red. I waited about 30 minutes, and started tracking with an arrow nocked in case he jumped up. I would take a step or two, stop, listen, scan for movement, repeat. After about 100 yards of tracking a deer took off from about 40 yards to my right, i was scared i had just jumped the wounded buck, I kept following the trail and it kept going straight, not towards the deer I just jumped. Another 40 yards of tracking and the blood seems to start to run out. I take a few more steps and then stop, listen, scan for movement and then I see him. He expired about 175 yards from where I shot him. The shot was even worse than i had thought, and I got incredibly lucky and must have cut an artery.
I learned a good lesson today, don't shoot without a release without practice. Even though I found him today I'll never try that again, and I already put an extra release in my glove box of my car.
He's 16" inside, the G2's are about 11" each, and G3's about 9"
I really like tall relatively narrow racks, and this buck fits that perfectly!
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| Tall 8 point |
OUch that just makes my fingers hurt thinking about it :) At least you were able to find him and it's a good thing because that is another fine buck! Nicely done. Tight Lines
ReplyDeleteGreat blog you have here, I've added you to my blog roll. I like this story. Great looking buck. Also enjoyed your harbor posts. Good to have you on DTA. We should fish sometime next season for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! I'm pretty excited about the last two bucks i've shot, can't wait to see them together on the wall!
ReplyDeleteMark I'm always looking for people to go fishing with! Next summer we'll figure something out!