I shot this buck on September 28th, 2017. I had gotten pictures of him on trail camera a few times during the last two summers and a friend of mine had seen him next to a small patch of woods (1.5 acres) feeding in the beans back in July. On Sunday September 17th the farmer saw a big buck in this same field on their way to church in the morning. That evening I snuck down the edge of the beans as close as I could without bumping the buck from where I thought he may be bedded and sat on the edge of the beans and tall weeds hoping he would come out. About an hour before sunset he came out and fed. He was approximately 60 yards away a majority of the time and seemed to be on high alert. He would put his head down for a second to grab a mouthful of beans and then pop it back up and was looking around. The closest he got was approximately 50 yards. Around sunset he headed back into the woods. I was shaking and hoping he would come back out and feed closer to me. I could hear him making some rubs and walking around, then I heard a few big branches break and a few seconds later he was running north on the other side of the road a few hundred yards away. The wind was good so I am not sure what happened but I was crushed. I kept wondering if I should have done something different to try and get a shot. Fast forward to the evening of the 26th, the moon was good for the 26th – 28th and a cold front had pushed through dropping the temperatures a lot from the previous weekend of upper 80’s to low 90’s. My friend saw this buck out feeding on his way home on the 26th, when the wind was again out of the west. I returned home from a work trip on the afternoon of the 27th and drove past his overlooked hideout but didn’t see him. With the wind out of the west northwest again on the 28th I was going to give it another shot. I left work around 2pm to go home and grab my gear. I parked down on the very south end of the field and walked north to the ditch crossing. I went into stealth mode from there and it took me almost an hour and 20 minutes to go the approximately 250 yards to the small patch of weeds where I thought he was bedded. I pushed another 10 yards closer and found a small spot and cleared it of the noisy bean leaves and settled in for another on the ground hunt. It was very quiet until about 15 minutes before the end of legal shooting light when he stuck his head out and started eating. I ranged him at 39.7 yards but had no shot as all I could see was his head. After about 5 minutes he finally took a few steps out into the beans and was slightly quartering away. I drew and settled in with my 40 yard pin. Everything looked and felt good upon the release. I heard a few bean stocks rattle and then the sound of a hit but not a chest hit. The buck took a few bounds back into the woods and all went silent. The geese west of me then started honking and flew away. I figured he was headed that direction but couldn’t see anything and I didn’t hear anything in that direction. I sat still wondering what just happened and what was going to happen. I grabbed another arrow and knocked it. I could hear him walking around in the tall weeds just north of me but couldn’t see a thing, but he was getting closer. A few seconds later he popped about 25 yards away from me headed south east. I drew and then stood up so I could see him over the beans. He saw me and stopped. I settled in and released and heard the unmistakable sound of a solid chest hit. He took off and ran about 25-30 yards and fell over.
He weighted 216 pounds dressed.
2016 trail cam pic:
2017 pics:
Friday afternoon I went back out to find my arrow and look for his bed. I found it right in the tall weeds about 30 yards away from where I had set up.
