The most interesting thing is, I had planned on not shooting this buck. There is a much bigger one that I have chased for 2 seasons. But today, I had a reality check and decided I was crazy to pass up a chance to kill this buck...IF HE EVEN SHOWED. So going in, I had plans of shooting him if I saw him.
Its 1:45 in the morning right now. What a long night. I shot this buck tonight at 5:00pm. I got pics of this buck last night in daylight ...I also got pics of this buck today, early in the day..in daylight. With a SSE wind, I have a pre hung stand that is PERFECT to hunt both beds. I had a pretty good idea that buck might be bedded in either bed...and just maybe he might come back to the apples tonight. Mind you, I have NEVER seen this buck do 2 things in a row...not once since season opener.
Shot him out of my new XOP air raid. I hung that stand the other night and the wind shifted, so I got down and moved to a stand I hung so that I could hunt in there mornings if I wanted. Decided I would come back for the XOP later. Wind was blowing hard...stand is all hung. My access is spot on. This is my 4th or 5th time hunting this spot. But the pics keep showing daylight every so often, so I keep hunting it.
That buck came in at 5:00 and the fog rolled in...I was really concerned about the wind shifting. I had a couple windows of opportunity. So when he gave me a baseball size hole, I drew, watched my pin to see how much it was floating in the hole. I was rock solid. THWACK! I saw the hit. Dead deer running! Got down. Could not find my arrow. But did find first blood. Grabbed my gear and waited for my buddy Dallas to arrive.
We took up the track and the blood was everywhere. Easy blood trail...and it kept going...and going...and I was starting to panic. Then we came to a bloody bed. From the looks of it, it looked like liver blood. I could also see what looked like saliva with blood in it where it looked like he was bleeding out of his mouth. At this point, it had been 1.5hrs. We never heard the deer spook.
After the bed, it was pin pricks of blood. We totally lost it 50yds past that bed. Told Dallas, the deer has to be dead we just have to find it. I asked him if he knew any reputible tracking dogs. He made some calls. And we had to wait.
The woman asked 100 questions and she ended up showing up around 10pm. I could tell this woman KNEW her trade well. Classy girl. Well trained dog. It was a black lab. She also has a wire hair dashund pup (whatever you call it) in training. Took the dog to first blood...we were off like a rocket. Dog trailed us right to the bloody bed...then the doge started trailing to the next spot of blood and then took off in a big loop...and backtrailed. At that point I was like "huh?" We started find more blood on our own lol while the dog was off doing something else.
What I discovered was the dog is a perfectionist and she was just learning more of the deer scent because eventually, she came back, picked up the trail again and took us to another bed. Then another bed. Then another bed. FINALLY she found the deer!!! Deer was stone cold stiff. Coyotes had all ready started to get a piece of it.
What we suspect is the coyotes may have bumped that buck out of his first bloody bed. What makes no sense? The shot looked DEADNUTS perfect. Slightly quartered away, arrow exited in the off side arm pit. We got lungs, center punch liver, guts...none of the innard injuries even made sense. The deer went 550yds. Without the dog, we would have never found him. So many times your shot might be right where you are aiming. The deer may be dead but because you dont find him, you figure you did not see what you thought you saw. Good learning experience.
I have pics of this buck last year...I have him in velvet a bunch this year. He just showed completely different this year than last. More daylight pics. I also had some more scouting in on this piece of ground and found this overlooked spot. I killed this buck 50yds in the back of peoples houses. 100s and 100s of acres these bucks could be and this is my highest percentage area??
I will post up more pics tomorrow...but tonight I am beat. Thanking the Lord above that I found him. My season in Maine as far as killing, is over. My son has youth day. We may take some time to chase some fall turkeys. Then its off to hunt NE public ground in November.
Another great buck and thanks for taking the time and energy to post the story!
