My hunt for this buck started in the middle of July when I seen him feeding in a bean field on our farm. I seen him a couple of more nights over the next month but not on a consistent basis. At the end of August I put out a covert cellular camera by deer stand 1.
The next week I got my first pic of him.
Over the next two weeks I had a couple more pictures from the camera. I also have a camera at deer stand 2 which is set on plot mode. This takes a picture every 30 seconds for the first and last two hours of the day. I had 5 days that he either came through in the morning or at night. The night pics were all between 6-6:30. After comparing the pictures with weather data I noticed he was moving through on a NW wind. Opening weekend didn't offer the right wind so I hunted with my girlfriend who just got a bow this year. She got to see some deer both days but nothing close enough. Monday morning (9/15) I finally had my NW wind but I was stuck at work. Around noon I really started getting antsy and wanted to leave early so I tried getting as much done as possible. I finally got done with enough work and left the shop by 4:30. I ran home, changed clothes, and got in the stand by 5:15. On the walk in I seen a doe feeding in a bean field so right away I was hoping I made the right choice and was very excited for the nights hunt. At 5:45 the doe ran across the crp behind me hopped the ditch and went out in the cattails where I assumed the buck was bedded. 25 minutes later I heard that unmistakable sound of a deer walking through the wet cattails. When he finally came around the corner I immediately seen his blood red antlers and knew it was the buck from the pictures. I grabbed my bow and ranged him at 37 yards. He was just a tick further than my second pin so I felt good with the shot. After releasing he bounded forward a couple yards and looked back at me. The shot looked low and back so I quickly nocked another arrow. I ranged him again this time at 47 yards. I could barely make out his body in the cattails but I wanted to get another arrow in him with an iffy first shot. I settled my pin on him and released. After the hit he ran 15 yards, spun around and fell over. The next hour I watched him through the binoculars with no movement. I decided to let him sit the night and look in the morning. After a long sleepless night me and the girlfriend started looking at 7 the next morning. The first shot I couldn't find blood or the arrow so we continued on down his path and found a little blood on the cattails. There continued to be blood but nothing like I expected, just a little here and there. When I got to where I thought I seen him fall I couldn't see him, I turned around to the gf and laying behind her there he laid.
It turns out that the first shot completely missed. My second shot he was quartered away and I hit further back than I wanted, I hit him in his hind quarter.
If I knew that I didn't hit him with the first shot I would have never taken the second shot, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good and this is definitely something that I can learn from. Now I can focus on getting my gf a deer and trying out some public spots to get some intel for next year.
