Mutt - Kill Zone Post

[Mutt]

I have been hunting a state forest area for the past 10 years. 6 years ago my wife and I bought a house that borders that state forest, I can now walk out my back door, through the backyard, and into the woods I have gotten to know so well. This state forest is right on Lake Michigan, and is a forest that has grown on the ancient sand dunes from the lake. This creates approximately 15 small ridges that are sometimes 5ft wide to sometimes 30ft wide. These ridges rise anywhere from 2ft to 10ft above the sloughs that run parallel and between all of these ridges. All running a general NE to SW orientation. (imagine and old fashion washboard with a forest grown over it) The low areas between the ridges are normally filled with water, sometimes a couple inches deep and sometimes its waist deep. (We have gotten so much rain this year the sloughs have averaged knee to thigh deep)

Because of this unusual terrain most of the deer sign follows the ridge lines. This generally means I am pick 1 or 2 ridges that I believe the deer are going to travel and set up being able to cover 1 ridge with limited shot opertunities to a second ridge.

3 years ago I was out late season hunting(muzzleloader)/scouting and came across a buck bed in the swamp that runs from behind my house about 1/2 mile to the north. This is an area where the ridges only rise maybe 2 ft above the sloughs and the sloughs are generally pretty wide in the area(20 to 30yards). I had never heard of the hunting beast at that time, and knew nothing of beast tactics. I knew it was a buck bed from the rub on the tree the the bed was right under, and the rub was huge. That bed was only about 150yards from a gravel bike trail that runs through the state forest and maybe 250yards from the parking area at the bike trail and highway that runs the length of the forest. It was a good spot for a bed, as the predominant winds generally were blowing scent from the road and parking lot to the bed, when it wasnt I garuntee he could here anyone closing car or truck doors and would know someone is there. I scouted some possible ways to hunt the area the bed was in, but it was a tuff area.
I attempted hunting that area several times each year since finding that bed with no success. I had seen a nice dark antler old buck on my way to work 1 morning crossing the road and b lining for that bedding area, so I knew there was a good deer using ithe bed or at least that area to bed, but never saw 1 while hunting it.
I tried wading down the slough to get within 50yards of the bed, hauling in my fleet farm special hang on and 4ft long interconnecting sticks(I'm a dad with 3 little kids. I love to hunt, and fish, and cant afford the cost of the gear specially suited for these tactics, but make due with what I have and am able to afford). I dont think it's possible to set that stuff up without clicking or clanking something. Not to mention the ratchet straps to secure it to a tree. So I wasnt to surprised that the only encounter I got in 3 years was 5 or 6 does that moved through and crossed the slough in front of me. I knew time would eventually favor me when all conditions fell into place, but after 3 hunts trying to beast style that bed this year I was thinking it was worn out for the year. I tried walking the bike path in from a parking lot 1.5miles away so I could slip in a back way the deer isnt expecting, I only hunted when the wind was right for me to get in undetected( wind in this state forest has a mind of it's own. I dont know if its water thermals, something to do with the ridges that change or funnel wind direction, or some effect Lake Michigan plays with the wind. The weather app(even the flag in The neighbors yard agrees)can tell me I have a Ssw wind which is great and when I get in the woods the wind is blowing NW. It swirls all the time and is just generally unpredictable)

A couple days after concluding I had burnt that bed for the year we got a good north wind and I decided to try hunting that area 1 more time. Accept this time I would come from my backyard and walk toward the bed area. I knew there were some small ridges a couple hundred yards from that bed and thought those may be good secondary bedding areas if the main 1 is blown. This time I was taking my climber.(I call it beast hunting when I use my climber cuz only a beast would have something like this. It's a rivers edge sit and climb, steel stand, that I covered with neoprene from some old waders and hockey tape to silence it(no more clicks or clanks on this thing). Its a Frankenstien stand, but it works, I have been able to make it quiet and it's in my budget.) I was set up about 1200 on November 10th and was sitting till close. I decided to try rattling/grunting/bleating to see if anything would show interest. Nothing all afternoon. I remember checking the time when there was about 20min of shooting time left and as soon as I looked up after saw a deer coming from the direction of that buck bed area.( I'm at least 200yards from that area but it's at least coming from that direction.) It had to cross about 30yards of thin ice on the slough to get to the ridges I was covering, and he was coming just how I planned a deer might. He hit the ridge and was heading for an opening I had at about 20yards so I drew and got ready. He never slowed at the opening(i tried a mouth bleet and he just kept going) I thought he probably had come looking for the rattling he heard during the afternoon just to check his territory and after seeing nothing was just gonna head back down the ridge away from me. I figured i had nothing to loose so I snort wheezed at him and then made some mouth grunts(burps) He stopped and I saw him lay back his ears. I snort wheezed again and he turned back. He crossed the slough about 30yards in front of me(no shot, cedars and branches in the way). He got on the ridge I was on and was coming right at me. About 15yards out he stopped and pawed the ground and made is show.(still no shot) he started to move at me more and was gonna hit the opening I had at 7yards. He was moving downwind looking for this challenger, but was gonna pass right under me and end up downwind of me if I didnt get him at the 7yard hole. Its getting darker(hindsight it was overcast from the coming weather), but still 15min or 10 min till close. I drew for the shot and as he stepped into the hole I closed 1 eye to focus through the peep. It was to dark to pick a spot, I went back to both eyes open and ensured I was on the body and the front half. I closed my eye again and thought I could see the front leg and shoulder and picked the seem and released. Shot sounded good, deer bolted over 1 ridge then paused. I was grabing another arrow, I felt I got a good shot, but maybe he thought it was a buck that got him and I'm not against using another arrow if it kills him quicker. I snort wheezed again and he crashed through the original icy slough he crossed to get to me bolting away. I didnt hear him keep going and was starting to think the crashing was him going down in the slough not him running away.

I climbed down and just wanted to check my arrow to secure my thought of a good shot. I couldnt find my arrow. I didnt see that as a big concern as it was a fairly steep angle on the shot, maybe I didnt have a pass through. Texted a buddy who likes to help me track and drag and told him to meet me in 1hr so we could go track. We found blood right away in the ridge where he paused, but nothing in the area of the shot. No big deal, if I didnt get pass through it might take a bit for the blood to start.( at this time it started to snow) we tracked it across the slough and onto the ridge the buck bed is on. It was slow going the snow was so heavy it was covering all the sign.(30% chance of snow with no accumulation. Was the forcast) we mad it 150yards and he crossed an area of private. I decided to back out thinking if he beds I will easily find him the next day after the snow and no point risking pushing him.(plus the wife was rolling her eyes that I might be gone trailing a deer all night, she needed my help with the kids to get things taken care of at home)
When we got back out to my buddies truck on the road another truck stopped and asked if either of us hit 1. I told him I did and he proceeded to tell us he saw it 10min ago in the creek up the road on private looking real wobbly. That spot was 800yards from the shot site, but I thought maybe I only got 1 lung and it could make it that far in that case. We drove up the road to look but saw nothing.
The next morning I had to take the kids to school, but then was free to go look for my deer. My dad was gonna help so i stopped and got permission to search the private land where the deer was spoted in the creek. We walked the creek first, thinking if it was wobbly it was probly gonna bed nearby and hopefully die. We found no sign in the new 1inch of snow on the ground, no blood, no beds with blood, nothing. We geid searched the whole area and found nothing. So we decided to go back to last blood and tey to search following that route. Grid searched that area too and found nothing new. I spent all day till I had to go get the kids searching and came up empty. I was dumbfounded. I felt so good about the shot I couldnt believe I had botched it, but accepted I must have. 2 day later I had a vacation day and spent the entire afternoon wondering the ridges behind my house looking for any kind of sign of the deer and nothing. I figure it was a loss, maybe it was just a flesh wound, I dono but I couldnt find any sign of that deer and there wasnt much left I could do.
So today I drove up to the cabin to get my gun hunting spot ready and I got a message from my buddy who helped me look saying he found my buck. He sent me a screen shot from someones snapchat who found a deer while walking his dog and scouting for gun season. I knew the guy too and asked if he could tell me where it was and I was gonna salvage whatever I could. He told me he would show me when I got back home. So we met up tonight and walked in and sure enough it was my buck. The coyotes had found it and got the rear end and guts, but the front down to the ribs was untouched.. so I cleaned it up a bit and brought it home and tagged it

I'm so relieved to have it found. Im disappointed in the loss of meat, but I just have to make the best of it. I couldnt find any sign of the hit while looking at it tonight. Could have been low liver or the guts as that area was kinda destroyed by varmits. It was about 580 yards from the shot site and 1/2mile from the creek it was spotted at. We think the coyotes could have kicked him outa the creek and cought him and killed him back on the spot he was found it on if he didnt die from the shot I made.

I'm again just so happy to get the buck and now feel better about sharing the story

[hunter_mike]

FYI - I moved this post from the big buck contest into the kill zone for Beast member Mutt. He accidentally posted this in the Big buck contest thread where no comments were allowed instead of posting in the kill zone. Congrats on the buck Mutt!!!!

[Jackson Marsh]

Congrats on a dandy mutt

You did everything you could do to find that buck, and I'm glad you finally got him. It stinks when everything doesn't go as you planned. Good job on not giving up.

Must be pretty darn nice to live next to public land

[Matt Gill]

Congrats on a nice buck!

[muddy]

Congrats.

[Uncle Lou]

Way to go Mutt

[Dpierce72]

Great ending ...thanks for sharing!