Early Season Giant with Recurve
- MOBIGBUCKS
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Early Season Giant with Recurve
Hey guys,
I killed my biggest buck ever Thursday night. I went in for the first hunt of the season to try and kill him or another that was in the area. I went in at 2 pm with my mobile setup and positioned myself close to the bedding area I knew they were using. Around 5:30 pm, I seen a tail flick and I noticed two bucks working my way from a different direction. All of a sudden, I hear this crashing noise coming from how I entered to get to my tree. It was the bigger of the two bucks I was hunting. He came by me at around 10 yards, but I could not get drawn back because of a dead limb. He wandered off a bit and seemed on alert. I'd say he got some of my scent as this wind was marginal like it has to be to hunt these big deer close to bedding.
A few minutes later he walked back my direction and gave me a shot at 17 yards quartering away. I drew my Recurve back, put it on the offside leg and expanded through the shot. The shot felt good but i watched in horror as my arrow hit him way farther back than I had intended. My thought here is that he turned into the shot as I released the arrow. The buck took off up the hill and I noticed I did get really good penetration going into the bucks body. My arrows are around 35" with a broadhead on the end and this arrow buried to the fletching.
I waited an hour in my tree with a lot of emotions going through my head. I got down and looked for any kind of positive sign. I had no blood, no arrow, and not much of an idea where he went because of the cover. I decided to back out and come back in the morning with no sign to go on.
15 hours later I was back to look for this buck. I walked almost 4 hours before I found where he bedded up. It was the only blood I found throughout this story..I continued to look and grid search for a total of 8 hours on Friday. I came back and walked another 4-5 hours Saturday and still no sign...I gotta admit after Saturday I was in a bad place and was really bummed out. I woke up Sunday morning and had a renewed sense of optimism for some reason. I decided I was gonna give it my all no matter what happened and I would know I gave it my 110 percent trying to recover him.
I got a late start on Sunday morning being exhausted from the previous 12-13 hours of looking I had already put in. So around 10:30 I got to the area and that is the time of day the thermals start to rise up. I noticed vultures in the air close to where I lost blood a couple days prior. My initial plan that day was to do some more grid searching in an area I thought he might have went. Seeing the vultures changed my plan entirely so I shot back to that ridge FAST. I sat and watched the birds and just listened and watched. I eased into an area and got a slight smell of something; I instantly marked my spot and started doing circles in the thick cover. I found him not 50 yards away and a whole lot emotions hit me quick!!! After looking for that buck for so long the experience of finding him was almost like a dream at times.
He's my biggest ever. Grossed out at 177 3/8!!
So let's talk about how he was bedded for a second. I came in and used an entrance route over a giant long peninsula of old rock ruble. It's full of tall grass, ragweed, etc. Their bedding was area even lower and much thicker. I went in early that day at 2 pm for a reason. When you go after these big deer at their bedding you better get in early because things have to settle down in my opinion. He literally came off that hill not feet from where I accessed my tree. he was bedding up on that peninsula somewhere fairly close to how I walked in. He threw a wrench at me bedding that way. It's amazing I didn't bump him coming in, but that's the key to going in early and SLOW.
I'm including some pictures. ****Full transparency*** I obviously lost the meat and cape due to the elapsed time. I had to take the head and didn't get the best field photos. i had a friend help me "photoshop" a body on to my buck for personal memory pictures. It's not ideal but it works. HaHa The plan now is to use a cape I kept off my big buck last year.
Thanks for looking guys and remember to never give up on a hit deer!!! Anything is possible with hard work.
I killed my biggest buck ever Thursday night. I went in for the first hunt of the season to try and kill him or another that was in the area. I went in at 2 pm with my mobile setup and positioned myself close to the bedding area I knew they were using. Around 5:30 pm, I seen a tail flick and I noticed two bucks working my way from a different direction. All of a sudden, I hear this crashing noise coming from how I entered to get to my tree. It was the bigger of the two bucks I was hunting. He came by me at around 10 yards, but I could not get drawn back because of a dead limb. He wandered off a bit and seemed on alert. I'd say he got some of my scent as this wind was marginal like it has to be to hunt these big deer close to bedding.
A few minutes later he walked back my direction and gave me a shot at 17 yards quartering away. I drew my Recurve back, put it on the offside leg and expanded through the shot. The shot felt good but i watched in horror as my arrow hit him way farther back than I had intended. My thought here is that he turned into the shot as I released the arrow. The buck took off up the hill and I noticed I did get really good penetration going into the bucks body. My arrows are around 35" with a broadhead on the end and this arrow buried to the fletching.
I waited an hour in my tree with a lot of emotions going through my head. I got down and looked for any kind of positive sign. I had no blood, no arrow, and not much of an idea where he went because of the cover. I decided to back out and come back in the morning with no sign to go on.
15 hours later I was back to look for this buck. I walked almost 4 hours before I found where he bedded up. It was the only blood I found throughout this story..I continued to look and grid search for a total of 8 hours on Friday. I came back and walked another 4-5 hours Saturday and still no sign...I gotta admit after Saturday I was in a bad place and was really bummed out. I woke up Sunday morning and had a renewed sense of optimism for some reason. I decided I was gonna give it my all no matter what happened and I would know I gave it my 110 percent trying to recover him.
I got a late start on Sunday morning being exhausted from the previous 12-13 hours of looking I had already put in. So around 10:30 I got to the area and that is the time of day the thermals start to rise up. I noticed vultures in the air close to where I lost blood a couple days prior. My initial plan that day was to do some more grid searching in an area I thought he might have went. Seeing the vultures changed my plan entirely so I shot back to that ridge FAST. I sat and watched the birds and just listened and watched. I eased into an area and got a slight smell of something; I instantly marked my spot and started doing circles in the thick cover. I found him not 50 yards away and a whole lot emotions hit me quick!!! After looking for that buck for so long the experience of finding him was almost like a dream at times.
He's my biggest ever. Grossed out at 177 3/8!!
So let's talk about how he was bedded for a second. I came in and used an entrance route over a giant long peninsula of old rock ruble. It's full of tall grass, ragweed, etc. Their bedding was area even lower and much thicker. I went in early that day at 2 pm for a reason. When you go after these big deer at their bedding you better get in early because things have to settle down in my opinion. He literally came off that hill not feet from where I accessed my tree. he was bedding up on that peninsula somewhere fairly close to how I walked in. He threw a wrench at me bedding that way. It's amazing I didn't bump him coming in, but that's the key to going in early and SLOW.
I'm including some pictures. ****Full transparency*** I obviously lost the meat and cape due to the elapsed time. I had to take the head and didn't get the best field photos. i had a friend help me "photoshop" a body on to my buck for personal memory pictures. It's not ideal but it works. HaHa The plan now is to use a cape I kept off my big buck last year.
Thanks for looking guys and remember to never give up on a hit deer!!! Anything is possible with hard work.
- DaveT1963
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Stud buck with trad gear.... congrats!
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- Jackson Marsh
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Absolute monster buck! Congrats on an awesome early season trad kill
It stinks you couldn't find him initially and save the meat...but stuff happens, great job keeping after him.
It stinks you couldn't find him initially and save the meat...but stuff happens, great job keeping after him.
- MOBIGBUCKS
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Jackson Marsh wrote:Absolute monster buck! Congrats on an awesome early season trad kill
It stinks you couldn't find him initially and save the meat...but stuff happens, great job keeping after him.
Yeah that was rough man. The way that shot was there was no blood. He was no doubt done that night as the arrow pierced the diaphragm. With the early cover it makes it even tougher.
- Dewey
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Great buck. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Bummer losing the meat and cape but glad you kept at it and found him. That had to be one heck of an emotional roller coaster.
Bummer losing the meat and cape but glad you kept at it and found him. That had to be one heck of an emotional roller coaster.
- muddy
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Those brows will make some sweet knife handles for ya? :)
Congrats, that's a giant.
Congrats, that's a giant.
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- muskieman
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Nice Buck!!
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
congrat's, way to execute AND way to follow up
- greenhorndave
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Great, great job.
Great you found him and I appreciate the details in your recap.
Great you found him and I appreciate the details in your recap.
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Great looking buck!! Congratulations and nice job on the hard work of finding him.
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Congrats on a deer of a lifetime! Those brows.... Nicely done.
- Grizzlyadam
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Beauty! Congrats! Way to keep at it and follow through on the recovery.
- Arrowbender
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Congrats MBB!
I’m nauseous just thinking about your multi-day downer!
Glad you got him.
I’m nauseous just thinking about your multi-day downer!
Glad you got him.
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Re: Early Season Giant with Recurve
Congrats all the way around!! Beautiful buck and way to stay after it finding him!!
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