I've only taken 1 deer so far with my bow this year, but it's been such an awesome season. On my first sit of the year on October 3rd I was able to take a doe. I didn't hunt much until this past week when some vacation time finally kicked in. As some of you know from an earlier thread (and later the blog), my dad harvested his first deer with a bow since 2002. (Here's the link for those who didn't catch the story: http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php/76110-A-deer-story-that-is-so-much-more-than-quot-Just-a-button-buck-quot Over the summer during all the Cecil the Lion fuss, I told one of my buddies over some drinks one night that the first good buck I got on camera I was going to nickname "Cecil". It wasn't long, and a fitting buck for the name said cheese for one of my trail cams. I would get a couple more pics of him, and eventually narrowed down his core bedding area, an old grown up hog pasture. I slipped a camera in there a few weeks ago and awaited perfect conditions to check it. The season wore on, and finally this past Friday I was able to get some vacation time to get some all day sits in. I headed out that morning and dropped my dad off at a blind and headed into my stand. I saw some small bucks, and climbed down to for a quick camera check and to get pops in for a bite to eat. While eating and checking my camera pulls I saw Cecil was up and active in this thicket that week, and was in front of one of my stands the day before, and I had the right wind to go in to it. Me and dad piled back in the Ranger and off to our evening perches we headed. That weekend ended with no Cecil sightings, and I headed back to work this Monday and Tuesday before getting back in the stand Wednesday morning. The south wind let me hunt the same stand I killed my '12 buck out of, and at first light a mid 140's 10 pointer came on a beeline to me and with a slight wind swirl when he was straight on at 5 yards he stopped. I was at full draw for nearly 2 minutes as he stood motionless not offering me a good angle. He quickly bounded back a few yards and slowly walked out never giving me a clear opening to get an arrow in to. I sat until dark, seeing some other small bucks. This morning dad said he wanted to hunt his food plot blind. Since his stroke, morning hunts have been something he usually sits out, but when he feels up for going we make it happen. He insisted on just dropping me off and driving himself to his blind and just leaving his Ranger there, so we did. I got nestled in my stand and at 7:30 I hear the Ranger start up and head back to my parents house. I text my mom to call him and see what's up. She replied that he had shot a big buck and needed help. I climbed down, and he was waiting for me where he had dropped me off this morning. The buck had followed a doe into the food plot at 7:00, and dad let him have it at 25 yards. We took a quick look and I found some sporadic dark blood and I backed out thinking it was a liver hit. A local guy has a blood dog, and I tracked down his number and after talking it over with him, we decided to give the buck plenty of time. It was a very slight quarter towards angle, so our fear was maybe pure gut shot. The bolt had lodged in a tree down the hill, and was soaked with dark red blood. I went ahead and hunted this afternoon. Right at dark, the same 10 pointer from yesterday hung up at 60 yards. I snort wheezed and got him fired up as he responded with some grunts and thrashing several small saplings, but despite the awesome encounter he walked away once again. At 7:00, Doug and his blood dog Cash were at the farm. We headed back to the food plot, and right away Cash took the trail down over the hill about 100 yards. He lost it for a few minutes, and lead us up a hillside for a bit, and after getting him back to the food plot, he was able to get the trail pinpointed a little better. It wasn't long before small drops of blood were turning into large pools of blood and we found the bucks 1st bed. Not 20 yards away, we found the bucks second and final bed. There in the bottom of the most terrible, hellish, brushy hollow lay Cecil. I couldn't have been happier. Pops had caught 1 lung, some liver, and guts with his bolt. Cash was amazing working the blood trail, it was a blast watching him work the trail. We got back to the top of the hill and I was able to tell Dad the good news. His largest buck ever with archery tackle was dead. Congrats Pops, you earned this sucker!
Congrats to your dad and to you. That would be a great season for anyone but with everything that your dad has been through and to have a season like he has is even better.
Congratulations to your Pops. He looks extremely proud (as he should be)! A great season for him, indeed.
Congrats to you and your Dad!! Funny about Cecil, we named on on our farm this year for that same reason.......hah.
Not sure what's better - the fact that your dad killed a great buck or that you named him Cecil. I know at least 3 or 4 people with "Cecil" bucks running around their property this fall. Great job and congrats on a heck of a season!
What a great conclusion to a great season you two had together. That's what it's all about. Congratulations to you both!
One of the best stories I've read all season. Good pictures too. I've usually been just liking people's bucks. This was really cool. Question. Did he drive to his blind by food plot and park right by it? My dad has always wanted to do this and I talk him out of it. It doesn't hurt him to walk a few hundred yards. He usually agrees.
