What a great Evening with dad! Where do you hunt when it's 95 degrees in CA? Near water! Had some good sign near a water hole we hadn't hunted much yet this year and went saturday evening with nothing coming in until well after dark. Sunday evening (10/5) I went outside the house about 5:30pm and spooked 2 does and 3 fawns from under an oak tree by the house and thought, maybe tonight would be the night. These deer are out a little early so the others just might be out early too. We hopped in the truck and were at the water hole in about 15 minutes. Had a good set up with almost no wind to speak of and saw 3 does moving our way about 30 minutes before dark. The does were looking behind them very intently at one point and then went back to eating so that was good news. Few minutes later, one buck shows up. Then a 2nd, then a 3rd and then a 4th! I thought holy cow, if they all come this way which one do I shoot! All had decent antlers but one was clearly better than the rest. They all came over, big boy (tall 3x2) leading the pack. He was pretty cautious coming in and as my luck would have it; stood straight in front of me facing right at me with only about 10 minutes of daylight left. My heart was pounding! I was focusing on breathing like a new mother giving birth! Then the other bucks followed and took up positions to get water. I waited a few more minutes, heart still pounding, but big boy stood right where he started not giving me anything but his chest. I drew hoping he would turn but he never did. The buck on the right was a decent 3x3 and gave me an almost perfect broadside shot. With light fading fast and thinking this might be the best chance I would have this season at a buck, I put an arrow right off the 3x3's left front shoulder. He jumped about 4 feet in the air and took off like a bullet. He shook out the arrow pretty quick which was interesting. Finally he went about 50 yards and I saw his back end stumble real hard. He got his feet under him again and only took one more step before he fell over completely. He never moved again! We gave him about 30 minutes and went to retrieve my arrow. I knew then why he shook it out; he broke it in half about 14 inches from the nock! Entry broke a rib and didn't get a clean pass through but the BH did just exit the other side. I think when he jumped, he pinched the arrow between the rib and shoulder causing the break. When I walked over to him I saw a pretty good size patch of bubbles coming from the small exit hole so I knew the shot was good! Man what a rush! I really wanted the bigger buck but I knew a straight on chest shot was not the one I wanted to take so I put a little pride to the side and made a great shot on this guy! My dad was really happy and so was I! Great father son experience and one I'll remember for a life time! (If my dad looks familiar, he shot the big forkie I posted about a month ago).
I seriously question whether it gets any better than this! Congratulations on the awesome experience, maturity as a hunter passing on a shot you knew was high risk, and then putting an awesome shot on this one! Just awesome, congrats!
Awesome! Congratulations. My favorite hunting stories were with my dad. He can't hunt anymore so cherish every minute you get with yours. Nice buck
