Bittersweet Redemption

[Autiger]

On Sunday, November 7th, I ran errands with the wife and had just a small window of opportunity to get out. The spot I had in mind is an hour away from home but if I hustled I could be in a tree for the last 90 minutes of daylight. I was hunting public land, setup just outside of what I expected to be doe and buck bedding. I had my stand on the backside of a tree and was facing the tree when I looked up from my phone and immediately knew I was looking at a shooter. He crossed the opening I was watching and when he appeared to clear the red brush, I let an arrow fly. Low, clean miss at about 35 yards. My heart sank as I watched him trot off. Shaking from the excitement, I text my wife that I just missed a stud. I look up and he was looping around and coming on a path closer to my stand. I nock another arrow and try to get it together, still shaking from the miss. I draw back, he steps out at 20 yards and that’s when things went bad. I pull the trigger on the release but must have looked for impact before the release even opened its jaws the whole way. I gut shot him and he bounds a few yards and is tail flicking. I messed up and I know it, but I have one more arrow in the quiver and if he hits a small opening in the buckthorn, I might be able to put a follow up shot on him. The buck works towards that small hole and I send another arrow. Crack and off he goes full speed. Knowing the first shot was bad, I back out and immediately go to one of the two property owners that border the public and try and call the other. I get ahold of one and he claims he also leases the other parcel(no home on the land). The owner does not want me to get a dog because he felt that it would booger up his land by chasing after every deer print in the area, but instead he wants me to wait for him to be on stand in the morning and then drop down and wind bump to see if anything comes out. After I don’t hear from the property owner for an hour past our agreed on time the next morning, I start looking for sign on the public. No blood and no arrow from the follow up shot until I reach a drainage creek and instead of crossing to private, the buck appeared to travel perpendicular to the drainage and eventually onto the leased parcel. All I found was a few small drops of blood. I wait for the owner/leasee to get back to me since he never got up to hunt that morning and we take up the trail, but only 50yards on his lease he decided that he didn’t see enough sign that the deer would be dead yet and that he needed to hydrate after a night of too many beers(his words) and that the deer was probably miles away. Deflated, there was nothing I could do. If he didn’t want me on the property, then I had to leave. I called and spoke to the neighboring property owner since it appeared like his direction of travel was heading that way, but even though they don’t hunt, I was unable to get permission to look. We never really had more than a few drops of blood and some stomach matter in 250 yards from the shot. Not only did I lose the only mature animal I had seen all season, but if pained me knowing that he would suffer.

I took a few days off of hunting to work on my form. I didn’t need to make any sight adjustments, I just needed to work on the ME aspect. During these few days out of the woods I had to make a decision, I could consider my tagged filled or I could try and redeem myself. The consideration wasn’t taken lightly, but in the end I decided that I did everything I legally could to recover that deer and would have done more if I had been allowed. So I made sure I was confident in my ability to make a clean kill and waited for the next cold front.

Friday, November 12th and the temp drops 15-20 degrees from the day before and we have snow in the forecast. I contemplated a 1.5mi walk to an island in a cattail marsh, but I hadn’t been there yet this season and didn’t know what the accessibility would be like.my alarm went off at 4am and I just couldn’t get up. My wife was going to have a busy work day so I opted to sleep in and take care of some things at home for her. When it came time to pick a spot for the afternoon, I knew the spot I shot that buck the weekend before held a slew of does and just the weekend before they still had not come into estrus, I decided I would give it another sit. This time, I brought a decoy. I got out there around 1:00 and sat deerless for 3hrs.

In the same tree as Sunday, my stand facing north, my body facing south, I spend my time reflecting on the poor shot the weekend before, listening for crows that might give me a clue to if he was dead nearby and checking the “live from the field” thread for everyone’s updates from the day. No crows, just turkeys roosting. I’m getting cold, the snow from earlier had melted and everything was soaked. I’m looking at my phone when I hear some movement to the east, I look over and I see tines through the buckthorn and he’s definitely spotted my decoy. I rush to get my warm gloves off and my phone stuffed back in a pocket. I grab the bow and watch as a good buck postures up and begins to side step towards my decoy. There is only one problem, I was expecting all movement to come from the south and the decoy was blocked by red brush and I didn’t have a shot. I drew back when the buck was just a few feet from the decoy. I was certain he was going to pickup my scent when he started sniffing the decoy, still no shot. Then all of a sudden, ears pinned back, neck swollen and bristled up, the buck lowers his head and rams my decoy, sending its head flying(last photo) and knocking the body off the stand. Startled and not understanding what had just happened, the buck stops in almost the exact spot of the buck I failed on the weekend before and offered a quartering away shot looking back at my decoys head laying on the ground. I put the pin slightly further back behind the shoulder, squeeze off the shot while keeping my eye trained through the peep and I watch the lighted nock and single bevel broadhead zip right through him. The buck bounds 10 yards and then starts to slowly walk off. I grab for another arrow just in case and when I look up he’s gone but I thought I heard gurgling. When I got down and found the arrow, it was covered but I didn’t see the bubbles I was hoping for. In fact, there wasn’t a lot of blood on the ground either. Doubt ran through my mind, should I back out and get a dog?? This time he was heading south which was deeper into public land so I was less concerned. However, I knew my shot was on the money so I went the direction I saw him last at and only 40 yards from impact there he lay. 10 yards before I got to him there was blood everywhere. I have read that single bevels don’t always leave the best trails but often put them down quick and that was my experience.

This buck is my second largest to date. Though he wasn’t what you could call mature, I expect that he was either a great 2.5yr old or just a solid 3.5yr old. The show he put on with the decoy made it too hard to pass up.

I understand that getting back out there after losing a deer may not be the most popular of actions and in some states violates the law, but I followed my states laws in regards to doing everything I could to recover it and at the same time I did right by working on the only the things I could control that week which was my form and my confidence that I can make clean shots. In the end I got back on the horse and filled my tag on a good buck, but the redemption is bittersweet as the sting of losing one still remains.

[Jackson Marsh]

Congrats on a dandy autiger!

I'm glad you shook it off and got back out there. We've all had it happen. Well done.

[mipubbucks24]

Congrats, it’s always tough to lose one, but you kept grinding and got it done!

[Ognennyy]

What a beautiful deer. And way to stick it out and get back in the saddle.

[hunting_dad]

Way to get it done. Popular or not, you did everything you could to recover that deer, and then worked on making sure you were prepared for your next opportunity. Sometimes things just don’t work out in the hunting world. Congrats on a great buck and hold your head high. You earned it.

[john1984]

Gr8 buck

[JAB]

Good job of staying after it and getting a really nice one, well done.

[backstraps]

Congratulations Autiger! That's a nice one.

[Matt Gill]

Awesome buck, way to persevere!

[Dewey]

Losing a buck sucks but sticking with it after such a low point shows some character. Great job and great buck. Congrats.

[muddy]

Congrats

[Bonecrusher101]

Congrats!

[Jmitch]

Congrats man way to get back on the horse. Great buck

[Prairie Sasquatch]

Nice deer!

[Edcyclopedia]

Bucktacular!