So you could say that this is not the typical trophy story. I don't post on here much anymore ever since I joined the Marines back in 2011 because frankly I don't ever have a chance to bow hunt anymore, and you guys just make me jealous! However, on Thursday the 29th I got back to North Carolina from training out west, after a couple hours of briefs on Friday the boss told us to take a long weekend and not to return until Wednesday, good deal considering we hadn't had a day off in a couple months. I was considering what to do with my time off when it occurred to me that I could probably sneak back home and bow hunt for a day or two. I haven't been able to bow hunt in three years so needless to say it took me about 10 minutes to come up with a game plan and I was on the road, made it home around midnight that night. I spent that Saturday getting together my gear, buying a hunting license, and shooting my bow. Now I must throw a disclaimer in here, I am well aware that it is good practice to shoot your bow regularly all year, especially leading up to season, unfortunately that is not a luxury that I have. Prior to that day I hadn't shot my bow since sometime in May, but I've been shooting archery equipment for about 12 years now so its like riding a bike, i just had to knock the dust off. Once i shot a good many arrows on Saturday I was fully confident in my ability to arrow a whitetail deer, otherwise I would have not hunted at all. Now that that is cleared up, next comes Sunday morning. I knew exactly where I was heading, a small creek at the base of a ridge on our hunting property is about the deadliest place I've been, Helmand Province excluded of course. There is no "classic deer set up" about this spot, it just happens to be a place in the middle of the woods where all the deer trails come together. Between my buddies and I we have taken 5 nice bucks out of this spot in the last 8 years, it is money when the time is right. I got settled in about 20 minutes before first light, happy beyond belief that I was finally in a tree stand again, it felt better than I remembered. My expectations were low, I was only giving myself that one day to hunt, I knew it wasn't very likely that I would see a nice buck, let alone get a shot at one. First up was a lone doe, I was looking to arrow a doe if I had that chance, no need to be greedy, but she stayed out of range and ended up bedding to my west, up on the ridge. After that there was no movement for a few hours so my buddy and I were fixing to go get some breakfast then return for the night sit. He was sitting a couple hundred yards from me and mentioned that he saw a small buck and a doe coming in my direction. Once we cemented our plans for breakfast I decided I'd scan the woods one more time before I packed up, I looked towards where he said the deer might be coming from, nothing. I kept scanning and about a hundred yards up the creek, towards my west, I had antlers fill up my bino's. The rest was textbook, he made he way down the creek toward my stand and I stopped him once at 35 yards but a tree covered his vitals, no bueno. I had to let him angle away from me a little bit and stopped him again at about 40 yards, I had a 3 foot lane to shoot through but that was all it took, i squeezed off the shot and he did the mule kick and ran back up the creek. I watched him stand in the same spot for about 5 minutes not moving, then he just disappeared into a brush pile, I wasn't 100% sure about the shot, it all felt good, but you never know. I figured it was best to give him some time. We followed through on our lunch plans then went back to the spot of the shot and picked up the trail about 3 hours later, I was relieved when we found first blood about 20 yards from the point of impact. It was an easy trail to follow and we ended up finding him right at the spot I last saw him through my bino's. When he tipped over he just went down in a little hole that I couldn't see from my stand. The shot ended up going in a little back, but he was quartering away so i got the liver and one lung. he only made it about 100 yards total. It goes without saying that I was ecstatic, 4 hours in and I was tagged out with the biggest buck I've ever taken, the icing on the cake was having two of my best buddies there to help me out with it. Let me be honest here, I wasn't the guy busting his butt all summer hanging stands and checking trail cams, I was just the prick that came home and shot a buck the first time in the stand, I owe it all to my friends back home, I was really just the hired gun here. But to clarify, I don't feel that bad about it!
NY, outstanding buck! Great that you got some R and R and can now really kick back and heal up. Thanks for all you do for all of us.
You jerk! Haha heck of a deer, congrats and thank you for your service! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congrats, no shame in that game. If I only had one day to hunt a year I'd shoot them like that every year
Beautiful buck, congrats. You deserve it! Thanks for your service! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
You definitely arent the guy sitting at home on the couch while his buddies do all the leg work. I deal with one of those guys. Always an excuse. Your excuse is serving the country. I dont think theres a better excuse a guy could have. Thanks for serving and congrats on a well deserved Buck.
