Back Leg Buck

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Bigb
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Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Bigb » Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:32 pm

Unfortunately its been a busy fall with family/work and a couple trips with the family and finally getting a few minutes to post my buck from this fall.

I unfortunately live in downtown Chicago and my main hunting spot is about 3 hours away. With a one and three year old at home, I really have to utilize my time away and mainly stick to a private piece of land I've been hunting for almost 10 years now. I find that really honing my skills on this piece of land, since I have pretty good knowledge of it, is my best bet to kill a good buck as well as fill the freezer.

I'll be the first to admit that on this property I mainly hunt from fixed stands. The good thing is that I honestly find a lot of fun in hanging stands (as well as finding deals on stands and sticks) so we currently have about 35 stands up so myself and two buddies have a lot of options to hunt for most conditions. We have one stand we call "boneyard" because I killed a pretty nice 2.5 year old the first year I hunted there and my buddy got a nice mature buck a couple years later. We've also had a grew encounters with good bucks out of this stands and normally can see at least a few deer every sit. This stand is just north of a nice doe bedding area and west of a pinch point between two ag fields. The problem was when I was in this stands I'd see a fair amount of deer but I also would see a air amount of legs of deer that I could never get a look at and I know that some were mature bucks by the body. This spring I finally convinced my buddy (whose cousin owns the farm) that we needed to put a stand about 50 yards to the west to overlook the end of this pinch point and still be downwind of the bedding with a Northwest wind. Although he was hesitant he trusted me and we found the only tree that would really work and put the stand so it was about 25 yards from the trail on the pinch point and still looking over a small opening in the bedding area.

We finally had some time in April to put this stand up and really the highest we could go was about 7 feet in the air. You always hear about people talking about how high they should go but this was the opposite case. 7 to 8 feet up and the foot platform was in some cover from the oak I was in and also the stand had a cedar behind it as well. Being this low has its advantage to. From about 6 feet and down was wide open in this area in from of the stand but above that is was a bit thicker. I loved the set up for only being 7 feet in the air at the platform. Funny thing about this stand is when we had the stand hung we started the chainsaw to cut a few branches and unknown to us there was a big boar coon about 20 feet from the stand in a old squirrel next 20 feet in the air. As that chainsaw turned on he FLEW out of that squirrel nest. We never knew he was there until his jump! After that, we named the stand "flying coon"

Well, I really held off using this stand until the perfect conditions. I made a halloween trip down to hunt but i really wanted to wait until the rut was going to hunt this stand. I did hunt the stand right by it (boneyard) and saw a few does and fawn but the whole time I was in that stand I was planning my attack for the first day I would be able to hunt that stand.

Well November 6th I checked the weather after 3 solid days of hunting and saw what I was looking for. High pressure and a NW wind, the time was right to hit flying coon. Only problems was the corn was still in where I hunted so the walk in was going to be over a mile weaving around the corn field. It wasn't going to be a fun morning walk in the dark but I knew it had to be done. Luckily my buddy was hunting a stand about halfway to mine so we'd walk in together. For some reason when I walk in with someone else I tend to walk a bit slower and take a few extra breaks so I don't sweat plus its nice to strategize on the walk.

I made it to my stand about 30 mins before shooting light. The stand was actually only about 30 yards off of a small food plot but the path I cut to the stand was a little tough to find in the dark. After a minute of looking I made my way to the stand and up and ready to go.

Soon after first light I had a nice mature single doe come in, the one you like to take for the freezer. If I was in another stand, I probably would have thought about it but I knew this stand was a good one and patience was going to pay off. About 30 minutes after her a four point uses a path about 20 yards from me between me and the bedding area. Nice to see a little bit of movement, that is for sure. A few minutes later, here comes a nice basket rack 8 point from the neighbors property. He walks by at about 20 yards and disappears in the bedding area. I'm quickly learning that there is one path the deer are using over there and it crosses the funnel path that I thought the deer were using. Around 815 I spot a few more deer. This time its 2 does and 2 fawns. They start working the path on the funnel and all pass within 25 yards and never know I'm there. What a beautiful sight to have 4 does, sitting 8 feet in the air, with blue sky all around. Even if I didn't shoot, it was going to be a successful hunt. Those does walk by and all of sudden I hear a grunt behind me. Not knowing what it was I stand up, grab my bow and see a little 4 point walk by at 10 yards with all eyes on those does. He chases them through an uncut bean field as I set back down.

It got pretty calm after that. Around 930 by buddy calls on the radio and I tell him lets wait until 10A and then we'll head down. At 10A he gives me a call and for some reason I told him I thought I heard something (I really didn't) so wanted to wait for a few minutes. I don't know why I told him that but I did. I was getting cold but wanted to give it a few more minutes, while I was cold, I did want to sit out a bit longer.

Five minutes later I happen to look to my right and there is a deer standing 30 yards away. I see antlers and know he's at least a 10 point. He's close enough that all I can do is grab my bow and take a seated shot. I get my bow without spooking and he makes it to 20 yards broadside as I draw. I take aim and my release goes off. I immediately know its back. I am pissed as I watch him run off. I know I'm going to have a long wait on my hands.

I wait a few minutes and get down and grab my arrow and back off. I see no blood at the impact spot so it does worry me. I head back to the cars and show the other guys. I hate to say it but I know its going to be a 24 hour wait on this one. Its going to be cold enough so I'm not worried about the meat, I just don't want to be chasing the deer for miles.

The next 24 hours were LONG. I was almost sick to my stomach most of the time but made it through. The next morning after my buddies are done hunting we're going to take up the trail. Luckily I have an ace up my sleeve. My buddy has a 2 year old dog he's been working with trailing deer so I know he's going to help. We get out there and go immediately to impact, not one drop of blood anywhere. I know this is going to be a grid search so out of the four of use, 3 of the guys spread out and kind of grid search the way the buck ran. My other buddy with the dog is going to trust the dogs nose and see what he can find. We start walking and about 10 minutes in I'm pretty worried. I'm about 120 yards away from impact walking a small creek. No sign of a hit deer at all.

Then, all of a sudden, I hear some yelling. Were in a pretty hilly area so I couldn't make it out but my one buddy is about 50 yards away so we quickly make it to each other and ask if we can hear what he is saying. We can't make it out but head up that way. When we get closer I yell "find someone?!" He yells back "We got him!". I probably more floated up the ridge to it than ran. When I got there, here lies my buck, a nice respectable 14 pointer. I was so relieved and couldn't stop smiling. Lots of high fives and smiles. I asked how he found him and my buddy said he was working the dog below and all of sudden he whipped his nose in the air and went straight for the deer. My buddy said it was like a bird dog, the second be smelled the deer he knew the dog was onto it. Success!

The buck really old ran about 120 yards and may have died within seconds. Tough to tell but there were no beds and no blood. I have zero doubt that backing out was the best thing to do. The hit was far back (just in front of the hind quarter by 6") and after going back to the stand I think I hit a branch with my bow limb that i didn't see. Anyway, the drag out was tough, up and down a couple small ridges and though a lot of rose bushes. When we got him out to the food plot, the beer we had in the cooler sure tasted good. From the food plot, the side by side was going to do the rest.

Overall, great buck with a great story. Funny thing is that my buddy hunted that same stand opening evening of shotgun season in Illinois. Got in the stand at 1:50 (when we all went out) and at 2:20 I hear him shoot. I get a text saying he was "resting his eyes" and opened them and there was a buck 25 yards away. Grabs his shotgun and shoots a very nice, mature 135" buck. 2 sits out of that stand and two taxidermy bills!

We'll here he is, not a giant by any means but a nice buck with a great start behind him. Also we call him the back leg buck because he had a back leg with a swollen joint for the last year. Not sure what causes it but it still had a bit of infection in it when I skinned him out. I cut the leg off a little high but didn't see any ill effects on the meat.

Sorry of the length story, hope you enjoyed!


Image
[img]http://photos.thehuntingbeast.com/albums/userpics/10797/normal_2018_Buck.jpg{/img]


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Bigb
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Bigb » Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:33 pm

If someone can help me with the image (and maybe explain why it won't work) I'd greatly appreciate it!
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Jackson Marsh
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:49 pm

Fixed it for you.

Congrats on a dandy buck! :clap: :clap:

Good job on being patient, it's hard to wait. Really enjoyed the story. Awfully nice to have a buddy with a tracking dog. Well done.

Must be a great stand location.
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby muddy » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:27 pm

Congrats!
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:37 pm

Nice buck !!
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Mossyhorns » Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:39 pm

nice
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Net Guy
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Net Guy » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:24 am

:clap: :clap: :clap:
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Edcyclopedia
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:48 am

Best thing for this site this year!!!

Congrats and always... SPECTACULAR BigB!!! :clap:
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Drenalin
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Drenalin » Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:29 am

Congrats!
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stash59
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby stash59 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:04 am

8-) :clap:
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Tennhunter3
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:21 am

:clap: Way to go.
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby freezeAR » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:42 am

Congrats on a nice buck.
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Bigb
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Bigb » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:26 am

Thanks guys, I do appreciate it. I truly do love this stand spot now and have a feeling its going to pay off in years to come. Need to do a touch of work to open up two shooting lanes that just need a couple small branches cut. Also want to put a bow arm in front of me but its going to have to be a 34" one. I want by bow in front of me rather than have to reach behind. Second sit of my rut hunt I had a nice buck heading up a ridge to me and had a small screw in bow hook to my side and somehow hit my stand with my bow. It was the slightest of "tings" but that buck heard it and knew something was up.

Here is a picture of the stand. My buddy is in it while my other buddy is on the ground. I'm actually standing in the exact spot I shot the buck a few months later and my buddy shot his buck after it walked this path. Just shows you that higher isn't always better!

[img]http://thehuntingbeast.com/copper/albums/userpics/10797/normal_stand2018.jpg/[img]
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Wannabelikedan
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Wannabelikedan » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:03 pm

Bad shots are going to happen if you hunt long enough. Aside from that, it seems you played every move correctly. Congratulations! Great buck!
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Re: Back Leg Buck

Unread postby Wlog » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:07 pm

:clap: :clap: :clap:
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