Down to the wire.....BUCK DOWN!!!

[SplitG2]

I will try to make this short but no promises.

Last year my seat time was very limited due to building a new house. My season last year resulted in me shooting a solid 4 year old in his bed November 19th but after making what I was certain was a lethal hit, the buck survived the one lung hit and I later found his sheds.

2019 season, again time limited as I am due to go under the knife December 4th and I would be down all winter. I hunted my tail off October and November and had one of the best and worst seasons I’ve had. I had unbelievable luck seeing good deer and getting them in bowrange but once inside bowrange it was always something. A creaky stand, no good shot angle, couldn’t get them to stop, interrupted by dogs or was pinned down by other deer. In the month of November I had 7 deer that ranged from 130” to 180” and I had nothing to show for it.

Fast forward to December 3rd, one day prior to surgery, my final morning to get it done. Daybreak brought nothing but squirrels but I figured with the day long rain we had the day before that maybe he might feed later than normal in the morn before heading back to bed. He did just that and at 8:10 I saw antlers peak over the ridge about 70 yards above me. I was certain he was heading right down to me and over to his bed but he had different plans this morn with the low wind speeds. With the low wind speeds he bedded closer to the ridgetop and of course, facing me. Ugh!!!

For the next 5 hrs and 14 mins I waited for him to get up and make a move. The best I got was 2 hrs in he stood up, circled 3 times like a dog and bedded right back down in the same spot. Still facing me but now with a tree in between me and his head so now I could move some body parts that we’re going numb and stiff. For 3 more hours I sat there trying to tell myself no one spot and stalks a mature buck that is above them and bedded facing them. It’s impossible to pull off, just simply getting down outta the tree would be impossible.

So the 5 hour mark hits and I decide I simply can’t do this any longer and I decided once he fell asleep again I would use the branches on the backside of the tree to climb down(could not use sticks as they were on the side of the tree and it would make me stick out too much). So 14 mins later he falls asleep and I make my move. I hit the ground and devise my path up thru the brush keeping specific things in front of me and I begin my climb towards him. I knew I would have to cut off at least 45-48 yards before we could see each other due to the terrain and all of this would put me in his lap so I needed to be on top of my game.

Long story short I pulled off the incredible(at least for me) and I stalked him, up hill, facing me. It took me an hour to crawl 43 yards, I got to within 12 yards of him, I was on all 4’s and I heard him stand up and when he did I came to my knees and I drilled him with a head on heart shot. He made 2 big bounds and was dead in 10 yards.

The buck was 7 years old this year. I have pics of him from when he was 2 til this year. He had a very small core area and between the age of 4 to this year was nearly impossible to figure out but I’m more stubborn than he gave me credit for. Lol!

[backstraps]

VERY NICE!! Congratulations

[AfootTrack56]

Way to make things happen! Congrats.

[Lockdown]

Now THAT is a cool story. And awesome buck congrats!

[Jackson Marsh]

Phenomenal buck and an even better HUNT....crazy how you got it done. Congrats!

[Lowcountry]

Man what an aggressive move, congrats!

[Dewey]

Good job. Great buck.

[Jdw]

Congratulations on a great buck. Sounds like an awesome hunt.

[bh bowhunter]

Awesome story, nice buck! Congrats.

[mheichelbech]

Been cool to have that on video! Congrats!

[headgear]

Epic hunt and a great buck!

[PK_]

That is awesome. It’s like the old saying...

Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re probably right...

Great story.

[seazofcheeze]

Awesome story and great buck, congrats!

[Arrowbender]

Wow!
Congrats

[Edcyclopedia]

Spectacular!