My family moved up to PA this year so I had to find a spot to hunt. Enter PA public land. I scouted about 20% of the property and narrowed down my focused hunting area to about 100 acres. I saw one really good buck at 75 yards in mid October and had about a 130 inch 10 pointer within range last Sat but could not close the deal. Last night I saw a decent buck drop off down a hillside, slide down into the wet creek bottom, and walk past me at 30 yards without offering me a shot. I waited til dark, adjusted my stand by about 80 yards, and got out of there quickly. My view this morning of where he walked.... This morning around 7:30am that same buck I believe cut through a little swampy area and gave me a 10 yard shot. Everything felt great until I realized I jumped the gun and shot him quartering toward. I heard a loud "thwack!" when the arrow hit him. I looked down later and could not find my arrow anywhere, and not any blood at the point of impact even though there was snow on the ground. Not looking good for me at that point. I got down 1 hour later and found my arrow 20 yards from impact, broke in half with red blood on a little bit off it. But no blood on the ground. At that point I knew I did not have an exit hole and the sound I heard was it hitting the offside shoulder or leg. I backed out. I came back in about an hour later and began looking for blood. I literally found a drop or two every 10 yards, then a little misting of blood. The sun began to melt the snow and a lot of my blood evidence was washing away. I followed the blood trail another 20 yds and it stopped. I lost blood for 30 minutes. I kept going back to last blood but could not find anything else. I began to feel sick. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled until I found more blood! Then I lost it again after 10 yds and could not pick it up. Lucky for me he died in a massive pit, surrounded by rocks and steep terrain. I checked all downhill trails, yet they were clogged up with all kinds of deer tracks. I started to get nervous again. I got mad at myself for taking that risky shot. I did another sweep of where I last saw him run and cut his tracks, big tracks, but no blood. I looked uphill and I could not believe that sucker, mortally wounded, charged uphill on a steep slope. I had to crawl up the hill, following drops of blood until reached the top. I found him dead in his bed. The arrow never exited, yet upon gutting him, I found the front half of my arrow inside of him. It cut the snot out of him, causing buckets of internal blood and chunks. The arrow shredded one lung, ripped into another partly, and tore tendon in half in his offside shoulder. I bet he was dead within minutes or less. The crazy thing is, he barely bled on the ground or even out of his mouth for that matter. His body literally filled up with blood and that Magnus Buzzcut chewed him up on the inside. Not a monster rack wise, but I bet he was pushing 200 lbs or so on the hoof. We just don't see deer like that in Virginia. In fact, I may have only killed one deer close to that size in all of my years of hunting. He was huge. It took me 3 hours to drag him a half mile. I had to leave him 200 yards from my truck because I could not physically drag him up the hill anymore. I tried over and over but couldn't do it. The hill is no joke and if you saw it via a topo, you would know what I am talking about...filled with rocks, dead falls, etc. He had 4 broken tines, including his main beam. Don't know how old he is because at some glances his face looks shorter and body huge and sturdy, but at others he looks like a 2.5 year old. Not sure. He may score 90-100 with all the broken tine stuff, but I don't care. I earned him. I hunted 11 out of 12 days to get a shot at something, averaging only seeing about 1 deer a day.
Congrats on a nice buck!! Doesn't it make you wonder how many times people have walked away from a deer they were tracking and they could have only been a few yards away? Way to stay on it!!
Thanks guys. My back and legs are cramping. I am off to Walmart to get a sled to drag him out. Ughhhhh
Congrats man! What unit? Just curious what section of the state you are in. I really wanted to hunt today while we still had snow, I just couldn't get away to go.
You earned it Brett, Congrats! And welcome to the world of dragging 200+ pounders, you may want to get a deer cart. It can be a SOB
Congrats Brett, I have been anxiously awaiting a post like this. I have been hunting all week and things are rocking, saw 19 doe and 4 buck tonight, one of which is a 10 point with a droptine that I have been after. Had him at 85 yards headed for me when a doe came out of the corn and he took off after her. I knew it was only a matter of time for you, that area has some good hunting for people who are willing to work for it! Congrats again!
Brett you did indeed earn that one! Congrats man its a good one! Made me tired thinking about the drag LOL
