A lot of you guys saw the pics of this buck yesterday in the Live From the Stand thread but I will try and post a little bit of the story. My buddy Mike and I have hunted together for about 8 years now but usually not on the same property. We take a trip to Ohio every year but when we are home the farms we hunt are about 20 minutes apart. This year he has had very little time to hunt after starting a new job and having another little one last year so we canceled our Ohio trip. The farm I hunt is killer in early season, it's a haven for does and fawns but does not hold mature bucks. The farm that Mike hunts has more big woods, ridges and thick nasty creek bottoms. Well I have been off work all week hunting hard. Spent all all day on Saturday in the stand and the only buck sighting was before daylight in the full moon. About 20 minutes or so before dark a little doe presented me with a chip shot and I took it. Another doe in the freezer but still no horns for the wall. Sunday morning brought more of the same, spike buck and a few does. After getting down early Sunday to go home and cut up my doe Mike calls me and asks me to meet him at his parents house which is on the farm he hunts. When I get there he tells me he has had quite a few different bucks cruising the thicket by the creek and wanted to know if I wanted to hunt it with him that afternoon. We drove down the driveway so he could show me the best way to access the spot I would be hunting and as we are standing looking across the field a big 8 and a doe jump the fence two or three times right where I'm supposed to walk in! So I grab my stuff and head to the woods around 12:00, he had some things to do and planned on being up the ridge from me around 2:00. I sat until dark only seeing one lone doe, however I'm getting text after text about the action Mike is seeing just 200 yards away. The text that has bearing on this story is when he tells me " I just shot at a big 10!". Notice I said "shot at" not "shot". He said the buck was quartering away and he hit a branch causing his arrow to deflect. We found his arrow and it was clean with the exception of a few hairs. No blood on the arrow or the ground. Mike then tells me that since he has to work all week and I am off, I should be back in there as much as possible trying to get either the 8 or the 10. Most people won't give you the county they hunt in much less put you in their spot. I can't thank him enough! That brings us to yesterday when I climbed back in the same tree as Sunday afternoon and saw the same 1 doe at 200 yards out. I sat for over 7 hours feeling like I was wasting my time. Trying to stay positive but having a hard time of it when I saw movement coming down the hill. It was a doe, a tiny one at that. But I grabbed my bow and stood up all the same. And I'm glad I did because 5 yards behind this 90 pound doe was horns. I wish I could tell you I knew what deer this was but all I saw was horns and went into auto-pilot. The doe hit a clearing at 15 yards and stopped, no shot on him there. When she moved he shadowed her and I knew when she left the clearing he was mine. Wrong again. The only time he didn't follow her step for step was when I needed him to, he took a higher path that put him at 20 yards but behing a bunch of branches. He was getting away, 10 more yards and he was in the creek bottom. When he got to the big red oak I saw my chance and drew. Just past the oak was a 2' x 2' window. I don't remember shooting at all, I just remember him clearing the oak and then hearing the arrow hit. Slightly quartering away at 25 yards. He tore into the creek bottom and piled up on the other side of the creek. All done he ran about 50 yards. I'm tired of typing now but wanted to say thank you one more time to a great friend and hunting partner. Most people wouldn't be good enough to give a friend this kind of opportunity.
Ruger, outstanding buck man! It looks even bigger than the pics should from yesterday. Very happy for you.
