Lucky Eight
- Jackson Marsh
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Lucky Eight
Lucky Eight
I had a lucky hunt the morning of 11/16/2017, saw 6 deer, 5 of them bucks and slipped an arrow into one of them from the ground.
I waited until light to walk into my stand. I knew about where I wanted to be and was going to let sign and terrain dictate my final tree. When I entered into a transition area of timber and flooded marsh grass I heard multiple deer bust out about 100 yards away. One of the deer blew, which really irritated me, I know they didn’t smell me and would have been surprised if they could see me in the tall grass.
I assumed it was a group of does and decided to head to where they were bedded, thinking that a buck would come by to check the beds later in the morning. I quietly crept 60 yards and heard grunting. Looking to the North I saw a decent rack floating over the marsh grass 50 or 60 yards away.
When I spotted the buck he was about 30 yards past the pool of water.
I quickly crouched down, dumped my stand and sticks, fumbled to get my bow sling off and quickly knocked an arrow. While I was fumbling around I could hear the chasing and grunting looping around to the East and getting closer. I peaked above the grass and saw a doe standing in an opening at less than 20 yards away. A couple of seconds later a buck appeared. I drew my bow while crouched, stood up and watched my lumenock bury right behind the bucks shoulder.
Buck and doe were standing right in front of this tree when I shot.
I watched the two deer run off and quickly lost sight of them, but did see the doe in a tree line 70 yards away. 5 or 10 minutes after the shot I hear crashing in the grass and gurgling/coughing (it sounded like a person coughing with severe chest congestion). This flopping around in the grass went on for a few minutes and then silence.
The buck was quartering to when I shot and the gurgling sound told me I at least got one lung and probably liver/guts as well. I was thinking he bedded down and didn’t want to bump him to check my arrow. An hour after the shot the doe came back through a little farther out and had no buck on her tail. While I was waiting 4 other bucks came within 10 to 20 yards, all of them spikes. After 2 hours I decided to sneak up to where the buck was when I shot and check for blood.
No blood, hair or arrow was found at the hit site. Marsh grass is notorious for swallowing up arrows and not spitting them back out, regardless of lighted nocks (especially on a ground shot). I snuck down the trail, with bow ready, and found lung blood 20 or 30 yards away. The trail forked and I knew the doe took the right fork, the crashing and gurgling sounded like it was on the left fork, so that is where I went with very little blood found.
After a short distance I spotted a deer’s hide and found my buck about 60 yards from the hit site. Buck down!
The arrow entered the buck behind the front shoulder and exited the rear guts just in front of the opposite ham.
This was poor shot selection, my mind was in overdrive with adrenaline pumping through my veins as I was hurriedly trying to dump my stand and nock an arrow. If I had been in a stand I think I would have kept my cool a little better (I usually do). I was very thankful for a short tracking job; long tracking jobs in the marsh are an absolute nightmare. I got lucky.
Dewey offered his dragging services, which I was not about to turn down . We had the buck out of the marsh in 2 hours, with plenty of breaks to talk about bucks we’ve killed and areas we’ve hunted
I look forward to helping Dewey drag out a late season slob when the marsh is frozen solid
I had a lucky hunt the morning of 11/16/2017, saw 6 deer, 5 of them bucks and slipped an arrow into one of them from the ground.
I waited until light to walk into my stand. I knew about where I wanted to be and was going to let sign and terrain dictate my final tree. When I entered into a transition area of timber and flooded marsh grass I heard multiple deer bust out about 100 yards away. One of the deer blew, which really irritated me, I know they didn’t smell me and would have been surprised if they could see me in the tall grass.
I assumed it was a group of does and decided to head to where they were bedded, thinking that a buck would come by to check the beds later in the morning. I quietly crept 60 yards and heard grunting. Looking to the North I saw a decent rack floating over the marsh grass 50 or 60 yards away.
When I spotted the buck he was about 30 yards past the pool of water.
I quickly crouched down, dumped my stand and sticks, fumbled to get my bow sling off and quickly knocked an arrow. While I was fumbling around I could hear the chasing and grunting looping around to the East and getting closer. I peaked above the grass and saw a doe standing in an opening at less than 20 yards away. A couple of seconds later a buck appeared. I drew my bow while crouched, stood up and watched my lumenock bury right behind the bucks shoulder.
Buck and doe were standing right in front of this tree when I shot.
I watched the two deer run off and quickly lost sight of them, but did see the doe in a tree line 70 yards away. 5 or 10 minutes after the shot I hear crashing in the grass and gurgling/coughing (it sounded like a person coughing with severe chest congestion). This flopping around in the grass went on for a few minutes and then silence.
The buck was quartering to when I shot and the gurgling sound told me I at least got one lung and probably liver/guts as well. I was thinking he bedded down and didn’t want to bump him to check my arrow. An hour after the shot the doe came back through a little farther out and had no buck on her tail. While I was waiting 4 other bucks came within 10 to 20 yards, all of them spikes. After 2 hours I decided to sneak up to where the buck was when I shot and check for blood.
No blood, hair or arrow was found at the hit site. Marsh grass is notorious for swallowing up arrows and not spitting them back out, regardless of lighted nocks (especially on a ground shot). I snuck down the trail, with bow ready, and found lung blood 20 or 30 yards away. The trail forked and I knew the doe took the right fork, the crashing and gurgling sounded like it was on the left fork, so that is where I went with very little blood found.
After a short distance I spotted a deer’s hide and found my buck about 60 yards from the hit site. Buck down!
The arrow entered the buck behind the front shoulder and exited the rear guts just in front of the opposite ham.
This was poor shot selection, my mind was in overdrive with adrenaline pumping through my veins as I was hurriedly trying to dump my stand and nock an arrow. If I had been in a stand I think I would have kept my cool a little better (I usually do). I was very thankful for a short tracking job; long tracking jobs in the marsh are an absolute nightmare. I got lucky.
Dewey offered his dragging services, which I was not about to turn down . We had the buck out of the marsh in 2 hours, with plenty of breaks to talk about bucks we’ve killed and areas we’ve hunted
I look forward to helping Dewey drag out a late season slob when the marsh is frozen solid
- BradC36
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Re: Lucky Eight
Great hunt and story, sounds like an awesome morning, congrats!
- Hodag Hunter
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Re: Lucky Eight
shooting them from the ground is cool. Congrats.
- oldrank
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Re: Lucky Eight
Nice buck JM !!! You put yourself in the right spot at the right time. I would say alot more skill involved than luck.
- Ragingun
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Re: Lucky Eight
NICE!!! I had the same type of scenario happen this year with a massive buck but couldn't finish the deal. Man what a rush! I'm sure you were pumped and it all happens so fast! Congrats!!!
Dogs have many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues.
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Re: Lucky Eight
Congratulations again JM, you've had another great year!
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Re: Lucky Eight
You had a good year! How many hours of hunting time do you have in so far
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Re: Lucky Eight
Congrats!!!! That a nice buck! He has 2 complete ears!!!!!
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: Lucky Eight
Zonk54 wrote:You had a good year! How many hours of hunting time do you have in so far
This was my fifth hunt I think
- headgear
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Re: Lucky Eight
No luck there JM, just a great set of moves by wise old beast hunter, well done.
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Re: Lucky Eight
awesome JM congrats!
- Edcyclopedia
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Re: Lucky Eight
cool hunt
- Kraftd
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Re: Lucky Eight
Sweet, ground kill like this is on my Buck-et list! Congrats
- csoult
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