POST HERE **2014** Big Buck Contest Stories / Pictures

[Stanley]

My season started out later than usual do to some health issues. I didn't start hunting until October 30th. Anyway, I was able to do some glassing and snooping early season. I had a few plans of attack some worked some didn't.

I had a nice nine point buck patterned early season on some public ground (5 minutes from home). I had a plan of attack but wasn't able to hunt early season and the right wind didn't cooperate until the rut kicked in and the pastern was no longer good.

On this particular hunt (4 hrs from home, and hundreds of miles North from last years kill) I had some does patterned going to feed/water, in a combined bean field with water in between. I always like to have more than one attractant if possible. Water and food is better than just food or water. The does were staging/browsing on a table flat. The flat was located with a hill side front and rear.

I picked up on this pattern in 2011 when beans were the crop that year. The crops are rotated beans, corn, corn, beans on this farm. Often hunters want instant success when sometimes it may take years to get to a certain objective. I watched/glassed and sure enough the pattern held true to form just like 2011. This hunt was kind of a parallel trail type set up with does coming from the west and the buck traveling perpendicular from the North.

I set up on the south side of the table and needed a Northerly wind (NW that day) to make it work. I used an old API and tree steps on this set up. I didn't want to use my Lone wolf stand and sticks because I was going to leave the stand up and not take it with me. This bench is kind of like a bottle neck “a flat between two hill sides”. The does were bedding to the west and traveling to the east towards the food source and water source. I have provided a drawing of the set up. The topo just doesn't show it very accurately doesn't even show the water hole.

Well, usually it takes more than three minutes of hunting to see action but that is what happened on the 12th of November. I got into the tree at 12.00 Noon got the bow pulled up and put on my release. I see a nice buck coming from the North he is cruising gets to an opening and I put an arrow into him. It is now 12.03 PM.

The arrow made a loud crack almost like a .22. The arrow did not pass through. I see blood instantly. The buck takes off full speed. I'm thinking to myself, this is not what I want, a buck racing away at full speed. A running buck is so much harder to track than a walking buck. I was a few inches farther back than I wanted also. But I was sure liver and one lung as he was quartering slightly towards me.

I gave the buck an hour and went down to see what I could see. I had the wind blowing across from the direction he ran so I was sure he wasn't going to smell me. Had the wind been blowing in his direction I would have just backed out then. I tracked him to the last point I could see him running. I figure it took him 5 seconds to make the last point I could see him.

There was no more blood to be found. It just turned off. I decided to back out for the day and look the next day. This where patience pays off. Too many guys cant refrain from pushing forward and keep going. Once you push a buck and he knows you are on him, he can take off and travel miles.

First light the next day (November 13th) I took up the trail. I did not find one more drop of blood. Totally discouraging. I knew the tracking job would not be easy (it wasn't). I decided to grid search. I sectioned off 100 yards wide by 200 yards farther. No buck. I then had to widen the grid as I did not know his exact direction of travel. I sectioned off 150 yards by 250 yards, no buck. Lucky for me this was all down hill (for a while anyway). I had to expand the grid again 300 yards wide by 200 yards farther. No buck

Anyway I think you get the idea of what I was doing. Up hills down hills I go. I figure he went about 3/8 of a mile. At 12:15 PM November 13th I find him. The Yotes found him also, but took nothing but hair. I may have spooked them off. It took me 24 hours through some very rough terrain, to find the buck but he was in good shape, as it was nice and cold that night about 10 degrees. My knees were killing me for about a week after this recovery ordeal. Just too old for this kind of adventure.



The set up and how it played out. Purple arrow is the route the buck traveled. Blue arrows are the doe travel routes. Wind was from the North West which North is the top, and the buck traveled with a cross wind to it's back/side. I arrowed the buck directly East of me. He bolted and kept going south.



The end result. I am more about sharing how the buck was killed and why. Plus the recovery is also a lesson to share. Much better than posting a bunch of pictures of my ugly mug. Hence one picture is plenty. The crocs and the hat, are to die for I'm told.

[msailor]

This hunt began in May 2014 when I was notified that I had been selected for a job in my home state of Missouri. For the last decade I had lived all over the Midwest and upper Midwest. Since I moved away I had been tested as a hunter. Away from acquaintances, family, friends, etc., I was forced to hunt small private parcels and public ground and earn my deer with sound woodsmanship and hunting savvy. In essence, I was returning back to my old hunting grounds matured and viewing these woods through a different lens. My goal was to harvest a mature buck for the first time ever on one of our family farms.

I spent the summer scouting and running trail cameras but most of the good deer dispersed during the bachelor breakup. The result was a pretty tough early bow season. I killed some does to pass the time, basically. Then comes November...

11/3/14, Mid 40’s, Partly Cloudy, SW winds @ 10mph, barometer falling, Waxing Gibbous.

I had stayed out of a 100 ac farm all season. Truly big deer do not show up on this farm until late October and there was no reason to press the issue too soon. I had spent the previous two days hunting a ridgeline on the southern edge of this property which was experiencing some big buck activity based on some recent trail cam photos; but the wind would be wrong for this day.





I had been on this ridge with a SSW-SW wind before and the swirling is out of control. It hurt to leave an area with big deer activity but I knew better. So I decided to hunt an area I call “the mountain” about a ½ mile north. The top of the “mountain” was ~20 ac of standing corn, bordered by a hardwood ridge on two sides (S and E) and a thick block of timber to the west and wide open row crops and a highway to the north.



My setup was ideal; the does should be feeding late into the morning in the standing corn, trickle out of the food source, drop to the ridgeline and work their way to the thick timber to bed. The bucks would hopefully be moving along the ridge checking feeding area exit trails and harassing bedding areas regardless.




I arrived to the farm early. I entered from the north with the wind in my favor and undetected from any deer potentially feeding in standing corn. It was a short walk through the timber to the stand I had hung in a shellbark hickory the day before. My stand was placed along the interface of the thick/open timber, tucked on the inside corner of the corn field where the hardwood ridge conjoined with the bedding cover. I buckled in and waited for the horizon to light up.

Prior to sunrise I heard something directly under my stand. I looked down and saw a small 3x3 sniffing my climbing steps; not once looking up at me. The little buck hung out for a couple minutes and then backtracked my entry trail. Approximately 45 minutes later I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over my shoulder to the west and saw a button buck walking through the thick vegetation I had at my back. I was intrigued and encouraged, there was not a doe with him…Perhaps there was a hot doe very close and a buck had separated the fawn from its mother. I watched the button buck for another 5-10 minutes and his mother eventually showed up. Dang! But my hopes were still high, I continued to trust in my setup. I was watching the doe and fawn and something had caught their attention deeper into the bedding area. The doe wasn’t acting nervous but there was definitely something trailing her. I figured a buck had to be close behind. Finally I caught a glimpse of antler moving in the timber. I pulled up my binocs and affirmed it was a small buck, probably the same one that was hanging around my stand earlier. Suddenly, a new buck appeared behind this one. I noticed a slightly larger frame but he was merely a 4x1 with a giant spike on his right side.

The doe and her fawn eventually bedded a close distance behind me and the small bucks were rubbing their antlers on some saplings when I heard it; A large crash to the east of me on the ridge. The crack of a large limb breaking was followed by heavy unmistakable footsteps. It was a buck coming directly into my set. It was fairly open timber in front of me but I couldn’t see him yet. Gguerpp, Gguerpp. A couple small grunts and I still couldn’t see him. I reached for my bow and clipped my release. Still out of view I heard the buck vocalize again, GGGRRRRROOOAAAhhh. He let out a bellowing roar/growl that lasted well over a second and echoed down the ridgeline. At this point it got really serious, I wasn’t dealing with an insubordinate buck.

Seconds later the buck appeared. He was 100 yards off walking down off the ridge into the ravine I was overlooking and moving at a steady clip toward the thick timber behind me. He appeared to be a mature animal, a really solid 5x5. I verified he wasn’t the 130” 5x5 that spent the summer on this farm; no way, this deer’s frame was much larger and his main beams reached his nose tip. I turn my attention to the shot and nothing else. I range him, 60 yards…approaching fast. He crosses the ravine in front of me and stops. I range him again, 30 yards, facing me. He makes a scrape and wizzed in it. At this point I know I will get a shot, but how will it go down? My gut says to let him come in point blank.

After marking his territory he begins to ascend up and out of the ravine straight at me now focusing on the other deer behind me. He stops again, 12 yards, severely quartering toward me. I have no ethical shot. Right about this point I have to pull myself together, my nerves were getting the best of me because of the show this buck was putting on. Finally the buck veers off his current line and jumps on a path that would send him broadside by my tree. As he walked behind a large hackberry tree I, now composed, drew my bow and waited for him to walk into an opening. As he stepped into the next sizable opening I grunted. Of course he took another full step after my grunt. He raised his head and looked at the other deer. Unfortunately, the additional step had put a small vine over a majority of his vitals. I held full draw for approximately 30 seconds. I was beginning to tire and knew my shot could be affected if I held much longer. The buck was about 8 yards now and I was confident I could put the arrow in front of the vine and hit the leg crease or blow through his shoulder. I settled the pin left of the vine, in the crease, center mass and released. The impact was immediate. I hit a touch high behind the front shoulder, but since the buck was downhill and close, the severe angle worked to my advantage and the arrow stuck in his off shoulder. A lung shot for sure!

The buck bolted north and west past the other deer and I watched him crash into a deadfall from my stand. What a rush! I couldn’t believe the textbook prerut hunt had just transpired. I gave some celebratory fist pumps and thanked God for allowing me to harvest a mature animal on one of our family farms for the first time hunting this area in a decade. I reveled in the moment for a few minutes in my stand. No texts, no calls, etc.…just me and a perfect November morning; priceless. It’s not too often you can bask in the greatness of a perfect hunt.

I made a wide loop around the downed buck to ensure he would die where he crashed. I raced back to get my wife so she could photograph. I ask a lot of my wife and she seemed kind of annoyed but she obliged. We loaded the camera and my 1 yo daughter in the truck and headed back to the farm. I told my wife to hang back while I made sure the buck was dead. I snuck forward to the kill site and caught a glimpse of tines in a brush pile. I was finally able to get my hands on him, I love getting close and admiring these mature whitetails, so much character. We snapped some great pictures and I would spend the rest of the day caping the buck and processing meat with a smile on my face.









I keep reflecting back to the roar that this buck let out as he was approaching my setup. Given his location, he had no way of knowing for certain there were deer in front of him when he made that vocalization. To my knowledge this had to signify he was a dominant buck about to terrorize a doe bedding area. Any buck that was in his way was going to get beat down and any doe not wanting to be bred was about to feel severely violated. It was his calling card to any resident does or inferior bucks that he was about to make an entrance into their bedroom. What a unique experience to witness first hand!

[ozzz]

[Trailcamaddict]

The story of the October Lull Buck – started on November 3rd, 2012 when an unsuspecting two and half year old buck got his picture taken in an excellent rut saddle area by my Bushnell trail camera. When I pulled the card and found the picture of this buck I mentioned to my wife that I got a really cool picture of a buck that wasn’t big enough to shoot yet but looked like it could be a good one in the future.

Later that year my wife found the picture stored on our computer and made a framed picture of the deer as a gift for me, with, what would come to be a very fitting phrase.

“Sometimes you don’t know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”



During the 2013 season I did not see the buck hunting or on camera in my hunting area and though he may have been shot or relocated. I though he was gone until another photo of him was captured by my Covert camera on September 7th, 2014 in another area only a forty away from the original picture. Because the picture wasn’t very clear; I wasn’t completely sure this was him, but this deer had the same type of split brow tines as the 2012 buck so I was hopeful it was him, only now he was a shooter. He was also the only shooter buck out of only three bucks I had on camera over a three month period.



The next portion of the “October Lull Buck’s” history with me was again in the form of trail camera pictures. The deer showed up in the corner of a field that I had placed my Covert on for surveillance. This time the photo was in the dark but I had a much better picture of him and knew for sure that he was the same buck from the 2012 picture that my wife had framed for me. He was carrying the split brow tine and split G2’s that gave me reason to be excited for the 2012 buck to grow up. Now I knew he was at least in my area.



The next chapter in “October Lull Buck’s” story started on Saturday – October 18th, 2014. That night I had some conversations about the October lull with my brother on the phone. We were talking about deer hunting and I mentioned that I was getting up at 4:00 A.M. to drive to my hunting property and was going to do a morning hunt. My brother said I was “nuts” because it was the “October Lull” and he doesn’t ever see anything at this time of the year (we don’t hunt in the same areas). I was described to him that I have always had good deer hunting throughout October and was trying to convince him that there is no lull!

4:00 Sunday morning arrives and I drive to my property where I have decided to hunt a spot I haven't hunted in 3 years. This area has been good in the past and especially good in the middle of October. There are a mix of hardwoods (maple and oaks) and the deer typically feed in the area at the bottom and left side of the diagram in the mornings. There are a series of fingers which are maybe 20 ft higher in elevation that create several small terrain funnels which direct deer movement in the direction of my stand (I say stand - but really I always just bring in my stand to a specific tree). I hadn't hunted this spot in 3 or 4 years and noticed that in the last couple of years the deer were really starting to relate to an edge created by the explosive growth of some evergreens along the bedding area. I figured with the S.E. wind I would be able to sneak into the area in the morning for a hunt without spooking any deer out of the morning feeding area.



Light Green = Bedding Area
Black = Terrain
Pink = Buck Trail
Red Star = Stand
Black Star = Dead Buck
Purple = Doe Path
Dark Green Dots = Thick Evergreens

After a slow 25 min walk onto a hardwood (oak / maple) ridge bordered by three sides by swamp, I set up my Lone Wolf Alpha and four sticks to get up as high as I could. I was in my stand about 45 min before legal shooting hours. The first deer I saw in the morning were a doe and her two fawns which worked the southern edge of one of the small ridges right to me. Unfortunately, she ended up going just downwind of me and proceeded to freak out! As soon as the mature doe hit my scent she ran directly away from me to about 100 yards downwind and stood there for like 20 min. blowing and stomping. Then she went into the bedding area very near the same trail I walked in on. Her fawns ran to the South and Southwest but didn't snort or blow. I figured after all of this my morning hunt was over, but figured I would sit it out until at least 8:30 in this spot. It turned out to be a good choice. About 20 - 30 minutes after the commotion with the doe and fawns I catch a glimpse off to my left and notice a large bodied deer with antlers making it's way slowly to me along the hardwood / evergreen transition. I watched him intently until he came into good view and decided he was a shooter! He followed the transition line coming directly for my stand like it was out of a game farm hunting show! Then when he was closing in on 20 yards he started to turn towards where the doe was. My mind quickly turned to panic because I knew that if he took 10 more steps in that direction he would likely catch my wind (milkweed seeds earlier in the morning show exactly where my safe zone was ). I decided then that I had to take a shot. He was quartering to me, but I was relatively high so I knew if I drilled him right along the spine I would take out at least one lung and the liver with the angle I had. At 18 yards I let the arrow fly and just like in practice, it hit exactly where I was aiming The Buck quickly turned around and went to the same spot he just came from. The sound of the blood churning in his body cavity as he ran away is a sound I will never forget - I knew for sure this was a dead deer!

As the buck ran away I could not see him as he ran around a small knoll. Knowing that single lung shots are not ideal I decided to find first blood and then return to my car taking back my treestand and calling in dragging reinforcements. I was able to find first blood about 10 yards away from the shot. There wasn't much but it was bright red and looked like "good" blood. As I was walking I heard a commotion right around the other side of the knoll but could not see anything. I knew then that I needed to leave the area before making any more noise or worse getting spotted!

I walked back to the car, took care of a few trail cameras I had out in other areas and then called my father-in-law to see if he wanted to help track and drag.

We went in after the deer about 2.5 hours later and found the buck lying dead just on the other side of the small knoll were I had heard the rustling earlier. He hadn't made it more than 100 yards from impact!

Upon coming up to the deer I realized that I had shot a better buck than I initially thought. He was the 2012 buck with split G2's and a split brow, making his typical 8 pt frame into an 11-pt. He was also one of my biggest bodied deer to date in WI (nothing compared to the ones I have shot in Canada). I wasn't able to put him on a scale but I can say he was a horse.





The final chapter in the story of the “October Lull Buck” is the road to my living room wall. I have made a small hobby of trying to do the taxidermy on my own deer. Simply because I enjoy doing it and it feeds my passion for deer hunting. The “October Lull Buck” is the seventh buck I have mounted and is the best in terms of final quality of the mount. The eye details are looking good, the ears turned out well and the painting turned out very realistic.

The “moment” in 2012 that turned into this “memory” of the "October Lull Buck" now occupies our living room along with a few others.

[GRUD]

The Mercy Buck

*** CAUTION *** NO BEASTLY TACTICS WHATSOEVER WERE USED IN THE TAKING OF THIS BUCK , READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

With great emotion I tell this story.

My 2014 season started out well but with some challenges. I had used up all my vacation time back in April as my wife and I adopted our second baby. Although I did not have vacation time, I was able to secure a depredation permit to begin hunting in late August and I was drawn to hunt the early bow season on a piece of Public draw only land. I took one doe late August, another two days after our urban zone opened, which earned my second buck tag, and I took a nice big doe opening weekend of the state archery season. Things were looking up and the freezer was getting filled. I was on a high with it only being October 4th and having two buck tags in my pocket! Under the surface though a storm was brewing. Late in September my wife noticed a lump on my neck. She was worried because I had a battle with cancer about ten years ago and wanted me to get it checked out. It was not very large, at least not abnormal size so I told her if it did not go away in a couple weeks I would go to the doctor. Besides, I had just had my annual checkup in early September and everything was normal. Actually, for the first time in ten years my blood counts were in the normal range for everything. I was feeling better and stronger than I had in years. A couple weeks went by and nothing changed so I went to the doctor. He said it was strange but thought it could be and infection or bug bite. He said come back in a couple weeks and we would keep an eye on it. I was scheduled to see him again on Halloween. By then the swelling began to get worse so he ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed extensive lymph node swelling but the nodes did not look abnormal, just swollen. Anyhow, within a couple days my neck was so swollen I went to the ER because my trachea was being pushed over. I was very uncomfortable and beginning to have difficulty swallowing. A high steroid dose brought the swelling down but a CT scan showed even more swelling with nodes as large as lemons in my neck and shoulder area. A couple days later I had an appointment with an ear nose throat specialist and scheduled a biopsy for November 5th. The biopsy went ok but they had to do it with local anesthetic because I ate breakfast, OUCH!. Not fun getting a chunk cut out of your neck under local, you still feel stuff. For the next week or so the steroids kept thing somewhat under control but I was still very uncomfortable. I managed to get out and hunt a couple times in the next week before my results came back but nothing showed. On November 11th the call from the doctor came with my results, T Cell lymphoma, a rare blood cancer. I was crushed being diagnosed with my third different type of cancer knowing what would follow. I remember thinking to myself , in some small way, that this must have been how Moses felt after leading the Israelites out of Egypt only to find himself trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea thinking they would all be slaughtered. When I read the passage, Moses tells the people to "be quiet", or to "hold their peace", so I thought it would be best to hold mine and not complain or be angry. Even though I sacrificed so much to adopt my two boys and bring them out of a bad situation, I now faced a life threatening disease and some huge medical bills. All I could do was throw up my hands to God and trust Him. If he could part the sea with the breath of his nostrils, he could sure deliver me from some rogue, illegal cell activity in my body.

On our opening day of gun season came and I found myself getting my PET scan to see the extent of the disease. The following week I saw an oncologist and being so uncomfortable told him that I couldn't wait to start treatments! He agreed we needed to get started right away and had all my baseline tests scheduled within the next few days. The disease had spread extensively and the doctor said he would not give me any statistics because this was a rare case. I don't pay too much attention to these stats anyway because they do not measure the will of a person to live. I began treatments November 19th and figured my season was over. I studied my calendar to see how the spacing of my treatments aligned with the rest of deer season. After a treatment it takes a week or two to regain strength. I noticed December 6th was a day I might be strong enough to get out. The day came and the hunt was a bust, did not see a thing! So I settled for sitting at home looking out the back window, a pretty lame tactic but it was all I had left. There is a field behind my house that deer come through from time to time. I saw some does but had not seen a buck since early October in the field. I really had no desire to shoot another doe and besides, they were my bait for a late season buck. This brings us to this weekend. Saturday was looking to be a really beautiful day, cool and calm. I saw nothing out back in the morning and I was feeling pretty good. I decided to phone a guy I know from one of my jobs who sort of invited me out to shoot a deer. He owns about 15 acres in the middle of a large wooded area and doesn't normally let anyone hunt. He said come on out so I decided to give it a shot. When I got there I was licking my chops, no one had been in his woods all year and a half picked corn field was on the hilltop just downwind of the woods. He told me they just picked half that field the day before and he saw a bunch of deer in it the previous evening. Wow, a sanctuary with a fresh pick corn field next to it. I thought this was my chance! I slipped back in the woods and set up on a main ridge leading to the corn with some trails. The trails came from where I thought the deer would be bedded with the wind direction so I set up my sticks and assault. I struggled a bit strength-wise but took my time and was set up perfectly. Within minutes I saw some does but they were actually bedded in the corn, not in the woods. I sat till dark hoping a buck would come and check the field. Nothing showed up so I packed up and headed home. Although it felt really good to be in the woods again and to get some fresh air I was sort of down because the next day was the end of our muzzleloader season. Sunday morning came and I was up early watching the back field drinking coffee. I had my muzzleloader handy since I left it loaded from the night before. I watched a doe mill around. As she stood broadside at about 100 yards, I was tempted to take a shot. I just couldn't find the desire to shoot another doe so I just watched her till she bedded down. I thought to myself, well, that's it for the season. I did not want to shoot anything in the evening because I did not want to end up tracking and gutting anything in the dark. I hung up the muzzleloader in the garage thinking I would unload it later. I took a nap and got up a couple hours later to eat a late lunch. After eating lunch, I was putting my dishes in the sink and just happened looked out the back window. I did a double take as I saw a deer really close to our hillside. I watched it for a moment thinking it was a doe. It had its head down and back scratching or something. After a moment it picked up its head and I saw it was a buck! My heart leaped and I quickly retrieved my muzzleloader. I ran back upstairs and slipped out on our deck as quiet as I could. As I slipped up to the edge of the deck I could see the buck below me, a mere 25 yard chip shot. I pulled up on him and pulled the trigger, it didn't move. I pushed on the safety and pulled again, the trigger didn't move. I pushed on the safety again and pulled the trigger, it didn't move. I finally looked down at the safety and it was still engaged so I pushed harder on it and it finally moved into the fire position. This time I got him in the scope and the gun fired. The shot was true and he went down within about 40 yards. I could hardly believe what had just happened. I felt like God had just had mercy on me bringing this buck to my doorstep on the last afternoon I could legally take him with my gun. I have lived here for ten years and not had chance at a buck out back, and it was 2pm? As I walked down to check him out I found that he was actually standing in front of my gun target when I shot him. I think the bullet actually went through the buck and hit my railroad tie backstop. As I approached the buck, I was humbled as I noticed that the buck had a severely broken back leg. God not only had mercy on me, allowing me to harvest this buck, but he also had mercy on this buck, putting him down quickly and sparing him a long painful death.

As I ponder all that has happened, I am reminded that no matter what we face in this life, God is good and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, and he works all thing out for good for those who love him. We may not understand why things happen and why there is suffering, but through trials like I am facing we find out not only that God is there, but he is way bigger than we ever imagined him to be. And there is always Hope, no matter what we face or how late in the season it may be. ;-)

May the good Lord bless you as we celebrate his Incarnation this Christmas, the miracle of God becoming Man. He has already blessed me with an early gift! Godspeed my fellow beasts, pressing on in my fight. And who knows, I still have one buck tag left till the end of January, you never know! I may have another entry!







Where the buck was standing, target in the background



The horribly broken back leg



Even though severely injured, he was still rubbing trees

[Arrowbender]

The following story is pretty much the same as it was posted in the Kill Zone the day after I killed this buck. I am reminded of the emotion that I was feeling at the time. It is something that we all have felt I am sure.

The heavy wind didn't hinder me or the bucks from our normal early November ritual.
This hunt actually started on the the 1st of Nov. I sat an "all dayer" and saw good deer movement mostly during morning and evening with 15 deer viewed overall. Only one buck; a yearling; and not in rut mode at all. The doe were all moving text book food to bed/bed to food.

At dark I struggled with the decision to leave my stand and hunt it again in the morning. I reasoned that none of the deer suspected anything abnormal about me being there and one more day closer to peak rut may be all that is needed to get some good bucks traveling this particular funnel.

I was back in my stand 20 minutes before legal light on the 2nd of Nov. The wind was unbelievably strong for this time of day. I actually needed to hang on to the tree while standing. It was one of those wind/tree combinations that gives the stand a little "buck" every now and then. It was a tad unnerving!

My stand was facing due west. Normal morning deer traffic was east to west. Most mornings while I hunt this funnel I can easily hear all deer approaching. That wasn't going to happen today. I would need to stand and watch my six. This is counter to most of all of my hunts. I never stand. Never.

My decision to monitor the eastern approach was rewarded early as two fawns were seen burning towards me. They stopped to feed near my local. I had seen these two with a doe the day before, and was hoping their mother was carousing with one of our target bucks not far behind them.

Within 20 minutes my hope was confirmed and here came the doe; ears back and greyhounding it straight towards me. I needed to decide which side of the tree she was going to pass me on. I knew there would be a buck in tow.

He appeared. He was also making good time directly to my position. The doe passed me on the South side; my "good" side. I was not sure how I was going to stop them for a shot.

I needed to quickly decide if this was a buck I wanted to kill. I was searching for I.D. of a target buck but nothing was clicking. I could see he was tall enough. I looked for G-4's as an 8 wasn't going to cut it this early in my rut vacay. Not only did the did the ninth and tenth points appear; but they brought along some hefty beams ta-boot.

He would get an arrow if given the opportunity.

I am not sure why the doe stopped. I am glad she did. It would make this a lot easier.
The buck also stopped; but was edgy, and nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
But...he was in a shooting lane a mere 12 yards from my tree.

I shot. It sounded awful. He mule kicked, but the sound trumped what I saw.
He ran straight away from me and stopped at 45 - 50 yards.
I sat down.
I grabbed another arrow.

He looked like he may tip over, and I thought; maybe it WAS a good hit. (You don't look a gift horse.........

I put my 40 yd pin right on his exhaust pipe and raised just a tad.

He jumped like he was hit again, but I did not see the arrow impact.

He ran down to the bottom of the ravine.

I was now shaking badly. I F'd up a chip shot on a really good buck.

I was going to be sick (or so it seemed).

IDIOT!!!!

I got out the binnies and searched the opposing hillside for movement. I was so lucky to see him. He was moving very slowly but deliberately trying to climb. He fell a time or two. I was pretty sure if he just laid down he would die right there.

I watched him off and on for the better part of a 1/2 hour before I lost sight of him.
I gave him about 4 hours and went in after him. I searched for him very slowly with head craning and arrow nocked. It took a while but I finally saw him laying back in the bottom of the ravine.
His head was down on the ground. I was 20 yards in front of him. I grabbed my binnies to see if I could see his chest move to breathe. It was still but his eyes; though still; seemed alive to me.

I snuck back above him to get broadside. I used the terrain so he could not see me. I knocked an arrow and slid into an opening on the bank overlooking the ravine. His eye followed my movement. As I drew back his head snapped up and he looked at me. Before he could spring to his feet, I fired.

Finally it ended. A way too emotional of a roller coaster to what should have been a chip shot.

Upon inspection, the 1st arrow was indeed back in the paunch. It exited in his farside rear leg groin/"armpit". It was bleeding pretty good and what was probably immobilizing him some.

The 2nd arrow missed his "tail pipe" by 3". It was also high. It was a 40 yd shot, not 50. It hit his left side rump bone, then sliced some skin along his left side but nothing lethal.

The 3rd arrow was lungs and heart.

Sorry for the graphic description. It is what it is......hunting-killing. I wish all of my hunts were slam dunks. They are not.

Anyways. Here he is!
An Awesome animal with so much character!

Under my tree in November of 2013:



Kill site:


Woodpile pose:http:


Although I still feel very fortunate to have killed this great buck, I did actually do a few things right to make this happen. These lessons will surly be reflected on while setting up on future hunts as well as retrieving arrowed animals.

[Bowhunter4life]

Started out my year with several pictures of a nice 10 point that I figured would go in the up 140s. I planed to target him but bounce around and hunt different public properties in the process. Was pretty slow the first few weeks of season as i saw a few young bucks but nothing I would take. Took a day to go put new batteries in my camera I had deep in on the public land. Used a creek to access this camera. As I'm heading in on the bank of the creek I saw a giant stand up and take off. I knew right then and there he was the buck I wanted! He was bedding near a cornfield and it had just been cut. I went in after a cold front passed through and set up on a pinch point that should funnel him right to me heading to the corn. He ended up showing but came from an unsuspected bed. Stayed out of range that evening as he headed for the corn. Just minutes later I had a very solid 8 come by which I elected to pass after seeing the 12 again. Here's the 8 I passed.

Following evening the wind had switched and I setup 200 yards east of my previous set. On the way in I located some good fresh sign so I felt good about my set. Evening started out with a couple of young bucks feeding around my stand. About a hour later I heard noise in the thicket I was hunting near but never saw anything. Minutes later as I'm scanning the area I caught some movement. This buck had came in and bedded 34 yards from my stand. I was in disbelief! Had a shooting lane to him but did not want to take this shot with him bedded down. I decided to grunt softly. He stood up and I drew back. He was quartering away so I settled the pin and released the arrow. He kicked and ran about 30 yards stopping to look back in the direction he was bedded. He then bolted on into the thicket. I gave it some time then went to check for blood but there was hardly any at all there. Only option was to give him the night even though I was very concerned with coyotes in this area. Around 11 that night it started raining. Had contacted a buddy and we headed out around 12 30 cause I couldn't take it anymore. Searched and searched for several hours as my buddy headed on out. It had been raining most of the time on us. I finally stumbled up on him and bumped the coyotes off him. They didn't leave much of him but I was able to get the horns off him as this was my best bow kill to date.



Since I lost the meat from this buck I went out a week later and was able to arrow a doe for some meat.

Rifle season came around and I was heading to some public I had not been able to scout much but knew pretty well. I set up where the bucks like to come through and check the does out. Had some good action and watched a great buck fight. Nothing showed that I wanted to take though. 3rd day of season, that morning I decided to make a a 2 plus hour drive to some different public land. It's a property loaded with does but not many bucks till the rut. The bucks like to bed in a thicket about 200 yards from a good doe bedding area. I have watched many bucks in the past come out of this bedded area and check the does out. No action until 3:30 when out comes a nice buck doing what I've seen so many in the past do, checking on the does.



Late bow season i didn't have much confidence in as i had not been seeing a lot of movement with the warmer than average temperatures. Hunted a lot but just nothing but does. I had watched one decent buck come out of a bed so went in on him days later with no luck. On the way out I decided I needed to do some scouting for fresh sign and figure out where these bucks were and what they were doing. Wasn't finding much until I neared the parking lot and I cut a big set of tracks since the fresh rain the night before. They were headed into a nasty thicket near the parking lot. I decided to slowly follow them and as I enter the brushy thicket I heard a deer bust out of there. Went on in and found his tracks where he looked to be entering and exiting a lot. Following day I went in and set up early but he came through in the dark. I got down a few hours after light and planned to set up a little farther in on him. As I neared the tree I planned to set up in he stood up. Several minutes of him staring in my direction and stomping his foot he slowly walked off. Following morning I set up and he got by me again. Frustration setting in as I knew I had been in his area a lot and wasn't gonna tolerate much more if any intrusion. Xmas eve I headed in real early and set up 50 yards from his bed near an erosion ditch. He showed just after first light as he came right near the edge of the erosion ditch putting him 20 yards away. Very thick but I found a pocket and slipped an arrow through. He took a few leaps toward the bed and now was facing almost directly away from me. Knowing my first arrow hit good I wanted to get another one off and did hitting him in the hind quarters. As he took off I could see he was bleeding good from the first shot. Gave him a few hours and found him a couple hundred yards later.



This was my best season for harvesting good bucks and for it to all have been done on public land is a season I'll never forget.

[ Post made via Android ]

[whitetail4ever]

Well, I am very fortunate to be able to post in the Beast big buck contest again this year. However, after a challenging bow season without a buck harvest, I got it done with the 30.06 on opening day of the 2014 gun season. Before I get to it, I'd like to congratulate everybody who was able to harvest a buck this year, with a bow or gun, small buck or big buck, public or private. Every buck harvest has it's unique story. Some happen after a ton of hard work and preparation, some happen when you are in the right place at the right time. The story I am going to share with you is a mixture of a little bit of both. Obviously with a gun, it makes the kill seem a little less "worthy" in some peoples eyes. In my eyes, any time a hunter has an opportunity to harvest a mature buck, they are blessed and have accomplished something that many hunters don't in a particular season. I am very thankful...

I hunt a small plot of private land of about 80 acres, with much of the woodlots bordering agriculture fields other private parcels. According to how the land lays, with one point coming off of an east/west running ridge, there are not many opportunities to ambush a buck Beast style. I know of several very established doe bedding areas, but I have not figured out where the bucks are bedding at this point to be confident enough to go beast style. I have done a lot of scouting and reconnaissance on the area, and the buck bedding sign just isn't evident to me yet. I am also still learning how thermals work during the various times of the day and how deer use them. So, I have learned to lay low until the rut gets going to start hunting this ridge. I did harvest a doe in the middle of October, and also brought my nephew out for the youth hunt to introduce hunting to him for the first time. He also ended up harvesting a doe and had a blast. Needless to say, I think he is hooked! Other than those few hunts, I stayed patient and waited to enter the woods until October 25th.

Here is a pic of my nephew with his doe from this years youth hunt:



Here is a pic of East/West running ridge, with red dot being one of my stand sites on a NW wind. I mostly worked the north side of the ridge on a south wind, but only have access to one spot (marked red dot on topo) on a north wind. The south side of that ridge is land I cannot hunt. That makes access very tricky because I can only come in from the north.



During the 2013 bow season, there were two bucks that I was interested in, that I did not have trail cam activity from until October. That was partially because I had my trail cams and time tied up in bear hunting so I didn't get my cams out until the middle of September. I did kill one of those target bucks during the bow season last year (140 class). But, I did not see the bigger of the two from a tree stand last year at all. Here are a few pics of the bigger buck from last year, which I estimated to be about a mid 150 class buck. (named him Godzilla)





Once I harvested the smaller of the two target bucks, I was hoping that I would encounter the big boy during gun season, but I didn't have the luck I needed. I was hoping that he made it through the gun season so I could have a crack at him in 2014.

Luckily, one of his sheds were found late season, and he could grow to be a massive buck for somebody to pursue in 2014. Of course, I was going to be one of the hunters in the area to try and bag this buck. But I knew I would not be the only one.

Here is a pic of his shed, on the right.



So, on to 2014.

I had several different trail cameras out on this property, but I did not get the results that I had hoped. I had a few nice 2 1/2 year old bucks give me their mugshot, but that is about it. I knew that Godzilla was still out there, but I didn't have any evidence of it on cam so I just stayed positive. I glassed and shined a bit during the summertime and did not see any shooter bucks, let alone Godzilla. Again, I knew I had to stay positive and patient and that Godzilla was out there.

During the bow season, as I previously mentioned, I harvested a doe in mid October. One the rut came, daylight buck activity picked up on the trail cams, but it was the same 3 or 4 young bucks. Once October 25th hit, I entered the woods for the first time on a southeast wind, set up on the top 1/3 of the ridge. As the thermals heated up at about 9:30, the woods just came alive. I had more rutting action on that day that I think I ever have. Deer were running everywhere and I actually witnessed a buck breed a doe. I have only seen that once before. With all of the deer activity, I did not see a shooter from the stand during my first sit. I did, however, see 7 total bucks that day. Pretty awesome hunt.

Overall, I put in about 5 all days sits on this property during the rut, which I know is max for the size of it. It was a very eventful, challenging bow season that did not end in a buck harvest. I did get out a few times during the late season, but mild temps and no weather systems moving through, it kept the deer movement nocturnal for the most part.

So that leads me into the 2014 gun season. I most definitely prefer bow hunting over gun hunting, but gun hunting has a special place in my heart because my brother and I hunt together and it is our time to "bond". My brother is a bit older (54) and over the years he has not had many opportunities to harvest a mature buck. Every year I try to put him in the "best spot" so his luck would start to change and last year he finally shot a very nice 10 point. So, he wanted to hunt in that very same spot again this year and I was fine with that.

So, opening day is here and we are both set up on the top 1/3 of the ridge about 150 yards apart from each other. I was very confident that I was set up in a great location because it is a natural escape route with thick cover and such. Hopeful (as we all are on opening day), I waited it out through the morning in my Lonewolf hang on. At 9:00 I hear my brother shoot, and he lets me know that he shot a doe. About a half hour later, he shoots again and eventually tells me that he took out a management buck that looked to have poor genetics and was limping pretty badly. His decision. So, by 10:00 he is tagged out and I have yet to see a single deer! At about 11:00 he texted me and said that I should make my way over to his location because he has had a lot of deer activity by him and he was also hearing a lot of action on top of the ridge, about 50 yds up from where his ladder stand was. I hesitated to move, because I like to sit all day and stay put. However, at 12:00, I decided to get down from my Lonewolf set-up and head his way to discuss where I was going to set up for the afternoon. He mentioned that I should get up on top of the ridge and hunt out of a hang on stand that I haven't even touched this season. Once again, I hesitated, but I took his advise and headed up there to set up. I got set up at about 12:30, and not even 15 minutes later I was getting does moving through. At 1:15 I decided to shoot one of the does for some meat in the freezer. Then about 45 minutes went by and it got to be about 2:00. I called my brother quick to ask him what he thought about wrapping it up for the day, because we had 3 deer to gut and drag out of there, which was going to be about 2 hours worth of work before dark. I knew I would have to do most of the work because my brother has a bad back. As we were talking he said "Well, if we leave now, you won't be able to shoot Godzilla." As he said that, some deer movement occurred about 60 yds in front of me, a buck and a doe, and I knew the buck was a good one from the size of the rack. Without even hanging up the phone (I just put it in my pocket), I raised my 30.06, shot the buck and down he went right now. I had no idea that the buck I shot was the 2014 version of Godzilla, but as my brother and I walked up to him, I was in awe and knew right away that it was him. My brothers jaw dropped and I fell to my knees admiring how beautiful this buck was. What an amazing feeling to be able to harvest a buck of that size, and one that was on my hit list from last year. There is no feeling like it. Here are some pics of the buck:











The buck green scored 176 (gross) with a 19 inch spread. It is by far my biggest buck yet and after the drying period I am hoping that he makes Boone and Crockett, although it will be close.

So basically, it all goes back to what I have learned on the Beast about how deer use the ridges. Had I not known that, I would not have any of the stand spots that I have on that property. Secondly, I have my brother to thank as well for offering me great advise that day and I am so glad I was not stubborn moved from where I originally was set up that morning.

Hunting really is being in the right place at the right time. We can increase our odds of encountering deer by all the hard work that we put in, learning from our mistakes, and listening to advise from other hunters even if we don't agree with it. I am still on cloud nine and thank god for blessing me with this buck.

Thank you Dan, Carol and sponsors for offering such an awesome contest. The Beast has changed the way I hunt and it is also because of all of you members. It's an awesome "family".

[tcop7]

I found this site in late spring and it really made me think about my hunting style and what I could do differently to have more success like many of the members on this site. Well I started reading a lot of different posts here and kept reading about everyone being a "mobile hunter." Before this site I had never heard that term in my life. My family has always hunted out of fixed stands which we had decent success with. My family has killed quite a few deer this way but at times during the season it seemed like it didn't matter what stand we would go to, we just wouldn't see anything. I now know that those deer are purposely avoiding our fixed stands because they knew that we would sit there. This site helped me realize that my family over hunts our properties and since there is no public close to us, this summer I got permission from some new properties so that we weren't over hunting our own land so much. I read what being a mobile hunter consisted of and the success guys on this site were having using that method and thought I would give it a try. So this summer I did my research and bought myself a nice Lone Wolf Alpha II treestand, 4 climbing sticks and even got some stealth strips and yak grips to silence it. It was probably the best hunting purchase that I have ever made! This summer I also bought my first compound bow (mission riot) which I love as well. Because I found this site too late to scout for beds I based where I would hunt each night off of previous encounters I had with bucks and where I thought they may be bedding off of topo maps. Well that turned out to be harder than I thought not seeing any antlers until the day before I killed this buck although, I had seen quite a few does and harvested one by this time as well. I'm sure it's something that will come with experience and it will help to get out and scout for some beds this spring.

The weekend before I killed my buck I decided leave the Lonewolf at home and sit in one of our fixed stands that none of my family had sat in yet this year. This stand had always been a good spot for during the rut because it's downwind of some close doe bedding and we always seem to get a lot of doe action around there. Well Saturday, November 1st I had 2 does come through close to dark hoping a buck would follow but nothing. On Sunday, November 2nd I had 5 different does all around me, one of them about 25 yards behind me started bleating and bleated about 20 times. I thought for sure this would bring a buck in, but once again nothing. This got me thinking how I had seen posts on here saying how deer would avoid fixed stands if they had been there a while. Some members even said how they would actually place their stands where deer were moving around the other hunter's fixed stands that they would find on public ground. So I took this information and applied it the next time I went out on Saturday, November 8th. I went back to being a mobile hunter and went out with the Lone Wolf on my back. I went about 75 or so yards downwind from our fixed stand and found a spot where I couldn't see my stand anymore between a small ridge and the creek that runs through our property. With rut movement in full swing at this time here in Ohio, I thought this would make for a great rut funnel and a great place to set up, and boy was I right. That night around 30 minutes before dark I heard something behind me and to my left, I slowly looked around my tree and there was a nice 10 point with really dark antlers about 35 yards away making a scrape on a tree, I instantly knew he was a shooter. He had come around some really thick brush and was able to sneak up on me pretty fast. He ended up walking right behind me and swinging around to the right side of me. Unfortunately I was unable to get a clear shot and he eventually went downwind of me once he caught a whiff of me, he was across the creek and gone. It was one of those encounters where you were so close to sealing the deal that you just had to smile because you put yourself in the right spot but just couldn't get a shot! Well after the close encounter, I made the decision that I would keep my Lone Wolf stand there for the night and hunt there again the next night, knowing that it was the rut and anything could happen.

On Sunday, November 9th I was able to sneak back to my LW treestand in the early afternoon without making much noise at all. I had a good feeling about my spot based on the night before and felt like it was going to be a good night. Well at about 5:15 I heard something behind me. I slowly looked around my tree and there stood a different buck than the night before, I knew instantly that if given the opportunity I wouldn't hesitate to shoot this deer. He came right down the same path that the buck the night before took but instead of looping around my right side he started walking right towards me. When I saw this I turned back around and put my back against the tree and got my bow ready hoping he wouldn't see me or catch any of my ground scent. Each step he took seemed to get louder and louder as he walked closer and closer. He ended up walking right under my treestand which is when I realized how big he was. He got about 10 yards in front of me to a big path where I wanted him to turn right, well of course he turned left. I quickly found the only hole in all the brush that lay between us that I could shoot him through and drew my bow and waited for him to step into the shooting lane. Once he did I let the arrow fly! The arrow was sticking out of his left side as he ran off and I was very discouraged when I saw, what looked like, I had hit him further back then I wanted to. I think he took another step when I went to shoot, causing me to shoot him a little far back. I watched him run as far as I could see and then I thought I heard the worst thing possible....it sounded like he crossed the creek. My family doesn't own on the other side of the creek and with a bad shot I thought it was going to be a long night. We decided that since I thought he had crossed the creek that we would find the blood trail and follow it to the creek and then leave him lay for the night since I hit him back further. Well my dad and I started looking for blood. We went around 30 yards down the trail he ran without any luck but then all of the sudden we had some good blood. We were able to follow it another 30 yards or so when we looked up and there he was laying on the edge of the creek about 30 yards ahead. He had stayed on our side of the creek, he ran through a low spot that was kind of flooded with water and must have been what I had heard. He looked dead, and we were only 30 yards away and he wasn't moving at all. But we decided to still play it safe and mark our position and go home and wait a little while just to be sure. Well 3 hours later we went back and there he was laying in the exact same spot! I was pumped! When we field dressed him we found that the arrow actually hit his vitals and he must had been quartering away from me enough that it was actually good that I shot him further back (not that I tried to). When we got him back to my grandpas we weighed him with the scale and he weighed 181 lbs field dressed. He is a 10 point with a couple little kickers and a lot of character! Half of his right ear is ripped in half down the middle, he has a wound on his face, and a broken tine, all from fighting with another buck we suspect! This is my first buck since becoming a mobile hunter and by far the biggest buck that I have every harvested. And also my first ever buck with a bow! Words couldn't describe how I was, and still am feeling!

I love this site and have learned many new tactics to use during my hunts and can't wait to see what else I can learn. If it wasn't for taking the ideas/tactics that I have read on this site and applying them to my hunts I would have been sitting in one of our fixed stand again that weekend probably about 80 yards from great bucks but never would have known because the bucks were avoiding those fixed stands. I have always dreamed of a hunt where I harvested a mature whitetail and I am just glad that I was blessed to have it happen the way that it did this year!



Green Dot = Fixed stand
Red Dot = LW stand
Blue Path = 1st Buck path
Orange Path = 2nd Buck path
Black Dot = Where I shot him









Thanks for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed it!

[Brad]

Here is my 2014 Archery buck story:

As many of you know I am cursed when it comes to mature bucks and putting the pope and young caliber buck down with a bow, killed several with a gun and muzzleloader that were well beyond that but never with archery gear. That all ended yesterday when I arrowed my personal best buck with a bow who just squeeked into the minimum 125. I had this buck on camera several times through out the summer along with several other good bucks. I told myself it was gonna be a pope and young or I was not shooting this year, I was tired of juuuuust missing the benchmark.

I decided Fred here was to be my #1 on the hit list for this year followed by a tall tined buck that I think is the son of a buck I killed 2 years ago. I waited for the right conditions a few weeks ago and went in one morning on a Friday and set up just downwind of where I believe he was bedding. I did not see him but did have an encounter with a small buck. I liked the spot as I had killed last years buck there and it was a tree I could get way up high in my climber and blow my scent over the thernal tunnel so it was perfect for an all day sit due to being 30-35 feet up.

I went back in yesterday morning on my first day of my 3 week vacation I took (I work 4-10's with Fridays off so technically it wasn't a vacation day). I got there around 9 or 930, got set up and comfy. There was a huge fog blanket covering everything and I could barely see 50 yards which made for awesome entry conditions. I sat and was gonna sit all day even though the rut shouldnt really start up for a few more days, but I was also in the mood for a doe if a good one came by so I thought what the hey, and it was a nice day to sit.

Around 11:45 I noticed a small 1.5 year old crusing the ridge where I had pictures of Fred and the others. I had my camera arm and camcorder so I thought why not play with him a little and get some film. I grunted at him and did a few can calls. He locked right on to my area and just stopped and stared. I video taped the stand off until he got skittish for no reason and looked over his left shoulder back towards the cedars where I suspect Fred lived. He turned and trotted off semi afraid but not snorting. I thought nothing of it and figured the wind might have switched briefly.

About 10 minutes later (now right at noon) I notice a big buck walking just below the edge of the ridge cruising my direction coming from the cedars. I knew he was a shooter at first sight, and I instantly thought he was the tall 8 point I missed 2 weeks ago to the day further down the ridge. I got some video footage of him coming into my set up, and then I had to move the arm to try and get the shot and I flat out had to guess where to aim as he was quartering down the ridge at an angle and darn near in bow-range. I guessed wrong but I had a bow mounted action cam and got the shot on tape as soon as he stopped out from behind a tree. The arrow buried into his lungs straight up the leg bone and stopped, not a pass through. He took about 5 jumps and the arrow flew out and I could see blood just spraying everywhere. I was concerned about the shot as I figured I hit shoulder at first. He went about 50-60 yards and flipped over and barrel rolled down the hill about 5 yards.

I about fell out of the tree at that point as I knew this was by far the biggest buck I had ever killed with a bow, and I got to see him go down. I made some phone calls and sent a ton of BBD texts to my buddies. I still at this point figured I had killed my big 8 and did some explanation videos from the tree of what happened. I climbed down and self filmed the recovery as I walked up on him, none of that post recovery garbage where they had long since found the buck and the emotions are faked.

I could smell him before I found him, the tarsal glands are absolutely rank. I got to him and instantly I realized he was far bigger than I originally thought, both body wise and rack wise. I tagged him and started taking pictures and then went and got my arrow which actually was the hardest part of the whole ordeal.

I had my dad and father in law come help me as the soybeans were still up so I couldn't get my truck to him like in years past. I was looking at a long pull with the deer cart and even though It was downhill I was not looking forward to it. My Father in law decided to sacrifice some soybeans to make the trip easier and we got him in the back of the kubota utv and got him out.

I took him out to my buddies shop and local watering hole for celebration and to skin and half him and cape him out. He weighed 220 lbs field dressed, stood 39" tall at the front shoulders and has the biggest head and neck Ive ever seen on a buck, pictures do not even begin to do this buck justice. We all guessed him at 5.5 + based on the body appearance and shape. I am going to send in a tooth for official aging and see what he comes back as. We did a quick score and came up with 129 7/8 gross and 128 3/8 net. When you see the rack in person youd swear he would score way more than that but its so tough with an 8 point. I am absolutely on cloud nine and still loving every second of it.. He is going to the taxidermist this morning and will be returning on a Joe Coombs 5700 wall pedestal left turn, same form different direction as last years buck

Here are some photo's of him





The tree I shot him out of :









Out at the Friday and Saturday night hangout during hunting season :







Him and me, and I am 5'10 235 lbs



The scale reading 220 field dressed

A close up after caping





me and my buddies bucks!








Here is my 2014 Rifle season buck story :

I went to my usual gun spot I hunt on the in laws farm with high hopes of getting a crack at a real tall tined 9 point that I missed on October 10th with a bow. I missed him in the same location though further up the hill on the ridge. I prepped a tree a few weeks back with screw in tree steps so I could use a treesaddle a buddy from the beast loaned me to try before buying. I put in steps to get me up about 15 feet which is plenty for this spot. I was looking forward to trying a gun hunt out of the saddle.

I got out there well before daylight and got set up and right off the bat I knew I was in trouble, I was having a heck of a time getting my gun in the tree due to my pull up rope getting caught on a tree peg and getting knotted up with the other rope attached to my camera arm. I ended up having to toss down the camera arm one to get my gun up so I was already frustrated since I wanted to film. Anyway long story short I got snow in my gun barrel in the process and also managed to bang my gun against the tree a few times on the way up as part of the misery I was experiencing. I sat there with the gun unloaded trying to get the snow to melt and finally I got it cleared and verified it by making sure I could see daylight through the barrel as dawn approached before loading it.

To make matters worse I had my ameristep base not positioned right on the cherry tree I was in and my feet were not comfy at all which as anyone knows who has used a saddle, is critical. I also had the rope not quite right so I was leaning back to far putting stress on my torso and making it hard to breath and not comfy. I ended up opening up my linemen's belt a lil to keep me more upright but still keeping as much pressure off my feet as possible. It was bearable but barely.

I sat like this for an hour or two and was getting miserable, even more so knowing that my lone wolf climber sat in the back of my tuck 250 yards away down in the field, and I was getting darn close to fetching it, but hated to get down.

I sent my wife a text at 730 saying enough was enough and I was gonna get down in a few minutes to go get my climber. I forced myself to sit a little longer. Around 7:35-7:40 I looked over to my left and saw a deer headed towards me at 11 oclock position. I grabbed my binocs and confirmed it was a decent buck and appeared to have a lot of points. I decided under the current state I was gonna take him if I could get him a little closer and in a little less brush. I watched him walk for around 50 yards or so and he got to about 100 yards away and I decided I could take him. I put my scope on him which was hard with the angle of the tree strap from the saddle and forced me into an awkward position. I had him quartering too and I said better take him now in case he gets nervous and goes up top as I am basically on a transition line between heavy brush on both sides of my stand and there is a fairly open spot to allow shots, but deer get skittish when they leave the brush here. I fired and i saw him jump and hunch up and run around 30 yards. He stopped and I reloaded and fired another shot at him with my 30-06 dropping him in his tracks. I was very happy as I had killed a buck out of the saddle and could get down and be comfortable again. I got down and went to him and noticed he wasn't as good as I thought but still decent.

I originally thought he might be a 10 point I saw one time before out in the cut corn field about a mile away but he ended up being an 8 point. I am happy with him but I would have passed him if I knew then what I knew now. I looked him over and figured he was an exceptionally large 1.5 year old and would have been an absolute giant in 2 more years, so I feel bad for not letting him reach his potential. I did however accomplish one goal I have wanted to do for the last several years and this allowed me to do that. When I was a young kid and not old enough to hunt I would ride around with my grandpa in his truck and see where all the neighbors were hunting and see if they had got deer and such. We would also stop at grandpas old farm and look up into the woods to see if dad had shot anything as we could see him sitting on his spot from the driveway. That was in like 1992-1996 so it had been awhile since I stopped doing it once I was old enough to hunt. We would typically burn up a whole tank of gas just driving back roads and then a lot of times I would end up helping dad drag deer out of the woods etc. I was talking to my buddy the other night and I said if I ever got a buck early I would love to do that again except this time I would drive grandpa around. He is 91 years old and starting to go downhill fast, as is my grandma, so I knew by killing this buck that just gave me my opportunity. I snapped some pics, field dressed him and headed to grandpas.

I walked in and he was in his garage working on some small project of his and didn't hear me come in until the door closed. he turned around and saw it was me and grinned and said what are you doing here so early, did you get your buck. I told him I had and he came out to look at it. I then told him of my plans and asked if he and grandma wanted to go along and drive the roads out by where they used to live and where I played on the farm as a kid. They liked the idea and pretty soon we were out doing what I used to love to do so much as a kid, it was like stepping back in time. We only stayed out about an hour or two and stopped to visit some buddies of mine (Dreaming Buck's relatives) and grandpa and grandma got to see some of their old neighbors kids and had a ball talking about the old days for a few minutes. When we got back to town and I dropped them off grandpa gave me his hunting knife that he bought 40 years or so ago that has never field dressed a deer since he only hunted once and missed his deer and never really went again. I will forever treasure that and told him I would try my darndest to kill a deer to use it on yet this year.

The buck is not huge and from a management stand point should have been let go for him to reach his true potential, but this buck also let me make yet another memory with my aging grandparents that I may never get the opportunity to do again, so for that I overjoyed that I killed him, I will forever remember this morning and the awesome experience we shared together.


Here are some pictures of him:




















Now if you excuse me, I have a 40 year old knife to go get bloody in 2015!

[bowhunter15]

My 2014 deer season didn’t start out as eventful as I had hoped… It didn’t help that in September and October I had gone to the Boundary Waters bear hunting and to Colorado elk hunting. The links to those hunts are:

[bbvideo=425,350]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChBn281ZHVY[/bbvideo]
[bbvideo=425,350]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NYmNftgDj0[/bbvideo]

That took away from my whitetail hunting and scouting, but each hunt was a blast! I spent a good amount of time scouting a public river bottom area close to my apartment in the Twin Cities metro. I made one huge blunder. There was a well used parking lot I had no idea existed. Over the course of my scouting I found several spots that appeared to be hard to get to… accessible only by water or hip boots. Then, after seeing 8 other hunters on the 400 yard walk back to my kayak on the opener, I figured out my mistake. Since that area consumed most of my scouting efforts, I felt more comfortable spending my time hunting familiar land in WI.

Even that was unusually slow. I had a couple deer within range in early season, but nothing I could get a shot at. Since I used up all my paid time off for Colorado, I had only four days to hunt the rut… two in Wisconsin and two in Minnesota. I missed a chance at a doe on a beautiful November morning in WI. She was being chased by a yearling buck. Up in northern MN, I spotted only a spike and button buck. All the sign and trail cam pictures were there. I just didn’t have enough time to make it happen. In those woods, the more time you spend on stand, the better your odds are. My biggest buck ever came after six all day sits up there.

Fast forward to the Wisconsin Firearms opener. I decided to go to a public land area I’d hunted three years prior. Not having scouted it for the past couple seasons, I was a little nervous. My fears were relieved as my flashlight lit up heavy deer trails in the snow all around the tree I planned on hanging my stand in. Sure enough, not seven minutes after legal light, a buck appeared through the fog and the pines. I touched off a shot at 40 yards as he walked through an opening. The shoulder shot buck only went 50 yards before crashing. As much as I would have like to get the shot on film, the speed and way he came in made it seem like an either or scenario. Either get the footage or get the buck. With the heavy canopy and fog, the footage would have been dark and grainy. Plus, after drawing blanks on bear and elk, I was just ready to put some meat in the freezer! I consider this year a big success. I learned a ton. In addition, next year will be the third year I’ll be hunting the Wisconsin public land. In my experience, it takes about three years of hunting a place before you really start figuring it out, despite how much you may have scouted.

Entire Deer Season Video
[bbvideo=425,350]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv121mkn9fM[/bbvideo]

Gun buck strategy segment -[dropshadow=blue]START AT[/dropshadow] [glow=red]2:13[/glow][dropshadow=blue]to avoid repeated footage from the last video[/dropshadow]
[bbvideo=425,350]http://youtu.be/7Vn1C5AeiDw?t=2m13s[/bbvideo]

Next year I plan on heavily scouting a 30,000+ acre public marsh in Minnesota to do much of my hunting in. Hopefully I’ll save a few extra PTO days too!

[Yumi]

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l53 ... efa0d.jpgI harveted this buck early november. It was a perfect evening on the bluffs of Mn. I left my lost camo gamehide hat, so i was hatless up on a tree, I placed out my boss buck decoy on a open alphalpha field. the corn was cut down but sadly the neighbors didnt cut down the corn. as the suns starting to go down, I started rattling the HS heavy horns and grunting the hs true talker for minutes. I saw a small7 point running out from the timber to the alphalpha field. Its a good thing I spread evercalm on my boots. It didnt smell me when my wind was blowing to my decoy. as he walked away I was grunting and snort weezing and as i looked SW of my lone wolf stand, I said to myself SHOOTER. He saw the decoy and stomped the ground loud with his front feet, he was walking to the boss buck decoy, by the time he looked away at 27yds broadside I drew my bow, as he looked up I released a maxima red with a rage 2blade chisel and wacked it on his soft shoulder blade. as he was running, I grunted and rattled the buck to stop, it stoped and stared back at the decoy as he was slowly dying. as it got real dark, I tried to track it,but no blood,so i decided to drop my decoy on the farm road and go to where he was bedding down by the cut corn. As I hear coyotes howling, theres no way there getting to him before i find him, And I found him. As I put him on my vehicle. I showed it to the landowner and his family. they were very happy to see that I got a nice buck down. I see more bigger bucks than him, but im happy enough to end my season in MN with him.

[Boo]

I was fortunate enough to be able to go up to Kodiak, Alaska on a blacktail deer/Mt. goat hunt back in October. I have always wanted to hunt in Alaska and this trip was awesome! There were four of us including me. The first leg of the trip was from Minneapolis to Anchorage. We had a few hours in Anchorage before we were on our way to Kodiak. We arrived in Kodiak around 10 pm, gathered our things and stayed in a hotel the first night. The next day we organized our gear, purchased our licenses and a few other miscellaneous things before we headed to the dock to catch our float plane.



All of our gear sitting on the dock waiting for the plane.



The town of Kodiak as we were leaving.




Once we arrived at our chosen destination we were pleasantly surprised by a camp cook tent. This turned out to be very nice because it was very very windy a few days. We set up the tent and situated our gear and ate some supper.



The pilot taking off to leave us in the bush for a week.

The next morning we split up into two groups. I went south looking for the mountain goats we had seen on the flight in the previous day. We hiked and hiked and hiked until we finally got to the cliffs we had seen them on the previous day but could not find them. We went out to the edges of the cliffs a few hundred feet above the ocean and figured they were hiding in some caves or tucked up tight against the cliffs. It was terribly windy that day.



We decided to head back towards camp and deer hunt on the way. We had seen a few does and smaller bucks on the walk out. About half way back to camp I was just cresting a peak and noticed a buck feeding ahead of us. We stopped and watched him awhile and I decided I would like to try and get closer for a shot. So I dropped down on the side of the mountain and hustled toward him. When I got to the saddle he was below I dropped my pack and grabbed my gun and snuck towards the top. As I peered over the edge I could not find the buck. I looked and looked. So I dropped back down on the back side and went a little farther. When I looked over the top this time he was feeding 60 yards away. I got my gun up, aimed, shot and he dropped. And then he started rolling and rolling and rolling. He wouldn't stop! Finally, about halfway down he stopped. We went back and grabbed our packs and then went down to him, took a few pictures and cut him up.



My first blacktail!

After that work was done we headed back to camp. As we neared the top we stopped for a break and looked back down the mountain. There was a group of does staring at what was left of the buck.



We made it back to camp a little after dark and were ready for a warm meal.

We decided everyone would go hunt the direction we went the first day since we saw quite a few deer on the way back the first day. So we packed up our sleeping gear, enough food for a couple of days and the two small tents we brought and headed south. We again split up into two groups when we were about halfway to where we were going to set up our spike camp.



This fox was curious what we were and decided to come and check us out. He came to within about 6 feet of us.

After glassing all afternoon we had a plan for the morning and went and set up camp.

The next morning we woke up to 25 degrees and frost all over everything. It was a little chilly in our mesh screen tents!
Since we were halfway to the mt. goats at our new camp two of us decided to go and see if they were more cooperative. As soon as we got to the cliffs we spotted a goat. It was a nanny and her two kids. We again searched the rest of the cliffs but could not find any billys.



This nanny and her two kids were the only goats we saw.



View of the ocean while taking a break.

After exhausting the goat search it was back to deer. We dropped down to the bottom and started glassing. There were lots and lots of deer from a few hundred yards away to miles away. We found one that looked good and the stalk was on. We got to about 120 yards away and since I shot first, it was my brother in laws turn on this one. The shot was good and there was no tracking involved. We took some pictures and then started cutting. After everything was de-boned we headed back to spike camp to meet the other guys. They had seen lots of deer that day but hadn't shot anything.

The next morning found us glassing the same area we had been in the previous night. I spotted a couple of nice bucks a ways off and decided to go closer for a better look. It appeared one was in full velvet. As I got closer it indeed was in full velvet. I have always wanted to shoot a buck in velvet! So we dropped our packs and the stalk was on. As was approached the 120 yard mark I set up and waited for a good shot. I took the first good shot and he ran a few yards and was done. So we got busy cutting it up and packed it back to the spike camp.



My first velvet buck!



The other guys had also had success that day and we shared stories back at camp while eating.
The fourth morning we hunted a little around the spike camp and then packed it up and headed back to the main camp. On the way back we spotted a nice buck and two of the guys put a stalk on it and got it. So we cut it up and hauled what we could back on our already full packs.
The fifth day was a pack out day. Three of us headed back to where we had left all of the meat and heads by spike camp. We loaded up all of the meat and heads and made the long journey back with heavy packs! The fresh backstraps tasted excellent and the camp mat felt even better that night!

The sixth and final day we could hunt found us headed north. We split up again into two groups. Two of the guys had one deer tag left each. We walked a couple of miles without seeing hardly any deer and wondered if we had made the right decision about going this direction. We kept walking further and further and finally found some deer. Both guys were able to fill their remaining tags the last day. We were getting pretty good at cutting the deer up and packing them out!



Last pack out of the trip!

We made it back to camp and had a big supper! It was a great trip and seemed like it went so fast. The weather was beautiful! It rained early one morning while we were sleeping and that was it. I never saw a bear. Two of the guys saw four, but they were miles away.
The last morning we were up early and ready for the plane to pick us up at 9-9:30 am. It finally arrived at 1 pm. We loaded our gear up and were headed back towards civilization. Once in Kodiak we headed to the laundrymat for showers and some clothes washing. The warm shower was great! We grabbed a bite to eat and got on the ferry to Homer.




The plane to pick us up.

In Homer we were able to go fishing one day before we had to head home.



Black Bass



MN Buck

I shot this buck on October 31st, 2014. After I had hunted this farm a few times early season without seeing much for deer but I was getting lots of pictures at the trophy rock site. I know there is a buck bedding area just north and west of this spot and the wind was right so I decided to sneak in and hang my lone wolf. All was quiet until right before sunset when I could hear a deer walking and grunting. It was in a thick area and I couldn’t see it. The wind was perfect blowing from it to me so I grunted a couple of times and turned over the can call. I put the calls away and picked up my binoculars. I could see that it was a buck but I couldn’t see much else. He heard the calls and started making his way towards me. He stopped a couple of times and made some rubs and a scrape. The buck stayed in the brush the whole time so I was still unable to see him until he finally came out at about 10 yards. I drew back, got settled in and stopped him. The release was smooth and the arrow hit its mark. The buck took three bounds and stopped. He stood there for about 10 seconds and tipped over. There was no tracking necessary. I sat down and thanked God for what had just happened! This definitely was not the biggest buck but it was a fun exciting hunt and one I will always remember.

[muddy]

I had often joked to my Dad.... "YOu know, if that bow is going to kill a buck I'm going to have to do it"

Sadly my dad Died shortly after that hunting season and the bow never shot a deer.... In 2013 I tried very very hard to fulfill that quest and couldn't get a shot at a buck worthy (In my opinion) of an arrow. I spent 14 all day, sun up to sun down sits with several partial days and ate my bow tag. I don't have any regrets, I just wouldn't shoot a young deer. Fast forward to this fall and I had some GREAT bucks to chase.







I was really pumped up to get hunting when all of a sudden mid October I got pictures of a giant, and I MEAN A GIANT typical 12 with stickers that was just a once in a life time buck.




I made a decision to actively pursue ONLY that buck and after 10 days of all day set hunting... only managed to sight him once. In the meantime I had passed 3 deer over 150 and 1 over 160 in hopes of this true Iowa Monster. As November wore on all my buddies were knocking them down and after one bud tagged out we were chatting and he said "if you're still after one in a week let me know, come on down". I didn't put much thought into the offer but he was sincere and after Thanksgiving I sent him a text and we quickly arranged a hunt on Saturday afternoon, the 29th. Now I'm pretty confident in my abilities to find deer and I really like to do things on my own... but after a brutal 2013 and with 2014 season done in a few days it was time to take that extended helping hand. The weather had been cold and the deer were pounding a secluded radish/turnip field and that's where I was going to be. Unfortunately Saturday dawned warm... and as I was climbing into the stand it was in the low 50s. The afternoon was pretty slow, but one thing I do have is optimism for each and every set that I climb into. I had bumped 6 deer walking in, been winded by a dink around 3 pm and was desperately trying to not get picked out of the tree by 3 gobblers at 20 yards. The stupid birds walked off and around 430 I knew I was down to the nuts and bolts of my season. A small button buck showed up by himself and I thought to myself... "Why is he all alone?" Was the doe road killed, shot by a hunter.... or... late bloomer in the rut?

Well, this was the last 30 minutes on the last night I could hunt before gun season opened and deer were scattered hither and yon, it was either going to happen or I was going to "let Dad down" again and eat my tag.

I glassed the area and at 4:40 I rattled lightly. I set the horns down and started glassing the hard to see areas and I'll be dipped if there wasn't a giant in the corn field chasing a doe! I grunted a few times softly, yet loudly enough to grab his attention and grabbed my bow. By the time I swung back he was quick marching to me. AT 100 yards he stopped and INTENTLY scanned the food plot and surrounding area. He KNEW there was another deer there and wasn't going to make a mistake. Not seeing anything he did what all mature bucks do, circled down wind. He hit an access path and I thought it was a done deal and he would march on in, but he 180'd at the last moment and started behind me. I knew he was 3 or 4 steps from winding me as I had mentally marked where the dink had caught my stink earlier so I drew my Dads bow back. THe back side of the stand was untrimmed and it was a desperate move but I murped him and he stopped in his tracks in the only shooting hole there was. I settled the pin and told myself "You can do this, calm down and kill him" and touched the trigger. The arrow caught him right where I was aiming and angled back thru and came out low and back as he was quartering too me a bit.

ENtrance is about C2 and Exit is about H / I 5


He bolted out of there and stopped at 125 yards. I expected him to go down but he started running off again but his hind end sagged down for 3 or 4 bounds. He went another 150 yards and stopped yet again, he took off with his flag up but I caught his tail "cork screw" 3 times as he went over the hill. I knew he was dead, but it'd take a few hours.

My buddy and I met up and went to a bar to calm me down and discuss the hit. I tracked him till the point blood was coming out both sides, but it was super dark blood and had corn in it. LIver and or stomach. DEad deer given the time. We came back the next morning and when we got out of the truck a bald eagle flew up out of the timber and lit in the tree. Dead right there. We walked the blood and found the buck laying right under the eagle. This is where things get emotional for me. My Dads favorite bird is Americas bird, the Bald Eagle. That eagle stuck around for awhile and as I drove home I saw 30 or so eagles just hanging out in fields and roads, but they weren't on dead hogs or deer. It was as if Dad was saying congratulations the whole drive home. This buck means more to me than any other deer I've shot. I finally got to use my DAds hunting knife, the one I gutted my first deer with, and the emotion running thru me today is just unreal. I'm very proud of this deer, but I am so humbled by the sequence of events it took to get here over 2 seasons that I almost didn't want to post pictures.

This year I hunted 18 full sets over October and November and many half sets. November 29th is the latest I've ever tagged a buck with the bow and gun season looms in a few days. I didn't mean to disappear from the Beast but it is what it is in the pursuit of a trophy, and this deer is my greatest trophy. People always say "IT can happen in the blink of an eye" this time of year, it truly does. I have done it, and I did it with my Dads old bow. Dad, I miss you dearly, this buck is for you.

[yungbuck]

2014 public land buck I call 8mile (sorry for being long winded)

2014 was really a turning point season for me. I had been following the hunting beast for a full year and recognized the importance of winter scouting, finding my first sheds and buck beds. I recognized constantly I have learning to do but slowly pieces were starting to come together. Pretty big 180 from someone who was vegetarian for 3 years (as a protest to the pharma/chemical driven meat industry). It was hunting that brought me to connect with something deep inside and to discover I was made to hunt- I cannot fathom it not being part of my life and could not be more proud of this buck. season was the best of my vast 3 year hunting career (excluding my first season which was 5 sits with a ML on the ground in silly spots now that I reflect on them). Urban season opened and I took a mature doe on my birthday (great start to the season). Oct. 1 rolled around and our regular season opened with a miserable at 84 degree day. I saw nothing. My days hunting are becoming more and more limited with having a growing family so I ended up scouting about 4-5 days for every day in the tree (thank you beasts for that advice). From mid October until Halloween I made 8 evening sits and saw 11 deer some of which were small bucks (a first for me to pass a buck, considering last year I killed my first deer, which was a 1.5 yr old 6pt bow buck). I also decided to take my first rut vacation. Early November came temps started dropping and my sits became slow- I had over hunted a private property based on the fact I had some summer trail cameras of a good deer. That property had hundreds of acres of corn standing on all sides and literally not one rub opened up on this place (was seeing bucks but they were spikes and forks and a small 2.5yr old-plan B. Nov 8th hunted a public property I scouted and killed a doe at first light watched her go down within 30 yds of the shot. Turned around nocked an arrow and got full draw on another doe at 9 yds but a limb was in my way as I used my knee to raise my lone wolf seat lower to my knees and leaned into the tree for the shot all while at full draw (came close but never happened). Sat a public land marsh and passed up the best deer I had seen in my life he was at 15 yards walking directly away and I thought any moment he would turn broad or quartering- watched him leave. Snort wheezed for fun and watched him book. I had been bouncing around to different properties and hunting nearly every day of my 10 day rut vacation and it was coming to an end, since I had to be back at work in 2 days. Nov 14 we had the coldest temps of the year( 13degrees + wind) and I knew it was time to make my move. Found a spot from aerials and topos that was just at a mile (.97 miles according to google earth) from any road, parking or hunter access. It was wet and nasty and looked perfect from Google earth. Made my way back to spot in the dark and did my best to pick THE tree- as the sun rose I was actually floored by how solid my setup look from the stand. I had doe bedding to my north and a steady N NW wind so my hope was to catch one cruising. Because it was a mile hike I was pretty sweaty by the time I made it to stand so I had not put on all of my layers for the first couple hours. I decided at 9am to get down throw on my wool shirt and a fleece layer. Got back in the stand and as I was digging for my breakfast bar, I see a buck coming along. He was small but he came perfectly into the setup no idea I was there and never caught my wind- perfect! I was hoping sooner than later a big boy would follow the same path. Nope! at 1220pm I see a buck about 80yds to the North heading south (opposite of the first deer). I knew he would not catch my scent because the wind was at his back, so my setup was bulletproof. 80 yds becomes 50 yds and I could tell from his body and antlers he was a shooter for me. 40 yds 30yds and before I know it he wasn’t following the small bucks route he is heading right for me. 20 yds 15yds 5 yds. I have my release ready and I am looking right at him and he walks back around the S side of my tree and he stops. All I can see are his hind legs. So much for bulletproof. Not sure if he is looking at me or away I had this clear thought “do I stand still or do I try and move my bow around the tree for a shot”…time stood still and I remained motionless. He stood there for awhile and starts back pedaling I knew he had caught some of my scent and it was about to get real. He turns around takes three steps in the direction he came and looks away I draw back settle the pin and thwack. I watched the arrow smoke him right behind the shoulder up to the fletching. He mule kicks and runs off with his back bent in I just throw my arms in the air and I kept whispering to myself “did that really happen”? This was the third shooter I had seen this season and certainly the most mature deer I had every drawn on. I watched him run out to 60 yds and start looking for me and slowly trotting away. He is done- in fact I was so sure of it I was disappointed he didn’t pile up insight like the doe had the week before. I sat down thanked God for that encounter and just reflected on it all. I realized after the shot that I was probably more calm and collected with that deer than I had been ever before-on any deer. I felt good about it and I knew I had better back out and give him time. Packed out and went home for an hour or two. Went back to the shot site and couldn’t find the arrow I knew it punctured through the other side because I saw it hanging out the other side when he was running but it didn’t fully pass through. Blood was immediate. Trail was easy to follow and then boom nothing. I searched and searched even walked up on another buck still nothing. After passing scrape after scrape and tons of rubs I was getting nervous. After 2 hours of walking I bump him in a thicket creek bed…I trailed after him hoping I could keep the blood flowing. Found blood again and bumped him. I knew he was hit badly because he would just walk out of sight and lay down instead of getting out of dodge. Around sunset I knew I had to back out and do what everyone has told me is the right thing but a hard thing- waiting over night! I was confident he was dead but I was nervous about yotes and no blood trail happening again. My gps mapped me at 6.2 miles walked on nov 14…gun opener for IN is nov 15th so instead of hitting the woods with a shotgun I was taking my flashlight- water-knife- tags-and phone gps. Grid searched the thick briar I bumped him in the day before, for 3 hours and didn’t find a thing, but man I got tore up. Hit that moment where you ask yourself should I really be hunting deer with a bow? Why am I doing this? There is no way you will find him in this stuff! I was hopeful but man I was tired from the 2 days and so I started over hit a logging road I used in the dark coming in and BAM blood I had missed. He had back tracked and I followed the blood to a shrubby thick ravine…blood ….blood…blood… I looked over my right shoulder and saw that big white belly-I just fell to my knees. Gazing at him for a while, I was simply utterly grateful to have recovered this magnificent public land beast. 23 hours after the shot I put my hands on his antlers and thanked him for what he meant to me and what food he would provide my family. Cleaned him up and saw my arrow blasted his liver (which was not a surprise to me due to his ability to live so long) and one lung. Blood was pooled inside and he smelled, memorable. By the time I drug him up the ravine and to a logging road I was beat. Bigger deer are a lot more work getting out and I actually started thinking about how Dan’s drug out slobs (300-400lb deer) and I thought I am not sure I ever want to have to drag a slob ahhah. By the time I made it to the truck I was spent and will certainly be working on my cardio and health for next deer season! Between the grid search and the drag my gps read 2.43 miles. I walked and tracked 8.63 miles for this buck and I would have done it over again to put my tag on ol’ 8 mile. It was a humbling hunt and my respect for the animal has only deepened. I must say lots of you have given advice or shared experience on this site and I have soaked up as much as I can, so thank you fellow beasts. He is my biggest buck and truly a great end to an emotional roller coaster of a hunt.