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mg]In late August I got some pictures of him about 400 yards away at the bottom of the valley he was using earlier in the summer. He was near a middle sized creek.
I had set a stand next the creek back in May and I started picking him up travelling along the creek, as it got closer to hunting season.
I got a few daylight pictures of him the first week of the season but was not hunting at the time.[i
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g]It is private property and the other bow Hunter filled his buck tag the first time out so it would qualify as a low hunting pressure area, so I decided to observe as much as I could before diving in.
I saw him at daylight on the first cold snap in October sparing with another buck.
The 3rd week of October I hunted the creek stand and watched a 9 point and 3 does work their way down the hill out of their bedding area. Right at dark a big buck came down from the leeward point I thought he was bedding on and started sparing with the 9 point.
The stand was set up for a S or SE wind and it was the last week of October before I got things lined up for another hunt. I was accessing the stand by walking down the creek about 400 yards instead of crossing the field. The place where I thought he was bedding was looking down on the field and a trail that was the main hunter access to that patch of woods.
The evening I set up, the woods were loud, I sat in the 20 yard wide strip of willows and brush watching the corner of a narrow crp field.
With 20 minutes of light left I saw him coming down the hill about 100 yds. away. He slowed way down when he approached the crp field then he started coming my way. To say I was excited would be an understatement. He was inside of 60 yards and I thought I was going to have a shot opportunity. He was sneaking slowly through the crp and stopped in some brush, for so long, I was starting to wonder if he was still standing there. He finally started moving again but instead of coming in the direct route he hooked around and stayed in the cover. Finally he stepped into one of my shooting lanes at about 30 yards. I drew and settled the pin as good as I could under the circumstances but it had gotten so late that I did not feel confident with the shot so I let down, hung up my bow and watched him for quite a while through my binoculars.
Let me say it was eye opening to watch how cautious and methodical his approach was and it prevented me from getting an ethical shot. Not to mention if I and been fidgeting or not paying attention.
I continued hunting him after that and sat the creek stand several times when conditions were right, I passed a 9 point that was bigger than any deer I had killed up till then. I also did several hang and hunts near where I thought he was bedding to see if he was leaving from another direction but did not encounter him.
I did a camera check on the field edge near the creek stand and he was still active in that area right after dark.
We had a cold front on November 4th and I took my 9 year old son to a blind I set up for my wife and he killed his 1st deer!
[img
][/img]On November 8th. I was planning on doing another hang and hunt, but my father in law needed some help.
By the time I got done it was after 2 pm so I decided to give the creek stand one more try since the trail camera showed he was still using the area.
On the way in I fell in the creek and got wet almost up to my waist. I got in to the stand without anymore drama, I wrung out my socks and got settled in. The wind was out of the SW it was moving down the creek but the milk weed was staying on my side (the field side) of the creek. It was dry and noisy in the woods. I was listening to squirrels.
At about 4:45 I turned to my left and saw a buck at 40 yds. and closing he was walking up the creek bank through the weeds and willows just off my wind and not making a sound. I looked at him long enough to tell it was my target buck and then concentrated on getting ready for the shot.
He stopped at 30 yards behind a willow and I considered taking the shot through a small hole, but I have learned the hard way that I need all the help I can get when It comes to shot placement on a big buck I held off. After what seemed like an eternity he flicked his stump of a tail, I drew my bow, took a deep breath settled the pin and pulled through the shot and watched the arrow until it disappeared.
It was a double lung hit, a little back and high of the 10 ring but a vast improvement over the other big bucks i have shot at. At the shot he turned and ran back the way he came. He made it to the bottom of the hill and it looked like he was slowing down. After about a minute I heard a horse cough I got down on my knees and looked under the willows and saw his belly.
It started raining before I could get down, I called my wife and she and my 2 children came to help with the recovery.[i
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To add to the target panic thread. It helped me to pass the shot and watch the buck the first time he came in, instead of trying to force it. I missed a big one about 6 years ago under similar circumstances and did not want to repeat it.
I was a little less shaken up the second go round and that helped a lot.
I spent a lot of time thinking about passing the first shot opportunity, in the two weeks between the time I passed him until the time I killed him.
I determined I could live with myself for passing a less than ideal shot, even I never saw him again, but could not live with myself for taking
a low odds shot and wounding such a magnificent animal.
