This might be like a YouTube video where you want to fast forward to the good stuff, if you're actually reading this and are that person just skip the entire below paragraph as this next paragraph isn just me spilling my guts for all of those that support me. Let me start by thanking a few. First by thanking God, I've always felt closer to my Lord and Savior in a tree stand - very holistic experience for me. I want to thank my girlfriend (who aint gonna read this) for supporting my passion and calling me while I'm hunting when she knows I'm hunting. One of my best friends, neighbor (as of 2 weeks ago) and the person who introduced me to whitetail hunting 8 years ago and he was with me today. My dad who was a deer hunter before me and my little sister were born and decided to focus on his kids rather than hunting. My mom who stayed at my house all day today while I was away waiting on Vectren Gas to come turn on the utility at the new house. My sister who asks me every year if I'm going to kill a buck because every guy I know that hunts kills a buck and you never do. Pat Howard who I first met on a little known website called MyBuckStory.com many years ago after I killed my first buck, on my very first hunt - his wise words helped to this day, that you can be successful in this sport but "it's a steep learning curve" and that was just what I needed to hear - basically you get what you put into it. Lastly, thank you to the LIVE From the TreeStand Posters at BH.com - I've posted on that thread many a times over the years but hadn't posted at all this year until this Sunday and that is where this story begins. Sunday, October 30 I head to a 40 acre lease in Southern Vigo County to hunt with my good friend Kenny, neighbor and person who introduced me to this sport at 22 years old. Kenny is hunting a stand 200 yrds from me and harvest this nice buck. A week later to the day I decided to hunt the same stand as it had been a good one for us all season long. I rattled at first light as I do every morning and shortly after I had a young 6 pointer in front of me. 15 minutes passes and I rattle again as I watch that small buck work a scrape in a field behind me. I turn at 8 a.m. as a nice bucks crosses a fence line into the woodlot I am in - I take a 25 yrd shot with him 3 qtr turned away from me. My goal was to put the arrow through the middle of his stomach into his chest/arteries. I let it fly, he back kicked and barreled through the woods! BBD right?! Wrong! This is where BH.com & Live from Tree Stand posters come into play! The advice was widely agreed upon that I should just wait. I heeded that advice and waited until 1 p.m. and went to search for my first bow buck! My dad, Kenny and BH.com went along for the ride and it became a longer ride than anyone expected! Although we encountered good blood along the way, we tracked the buck over a mile and unfortunately after 6 total hours of searching never found the buck. The posters on this forum were hilarious, supportive and like us on the edge of our seat hopeful for the best. I wish I could have brought them "our" buck as one poster described it. Turn to this morning Tuesday, November 8. I didn't have the energy or desire to hunt this morning. But I got over my disappointment and tiredness to head out for a stand I hunted in 3 weeks. At first light I hit the horns and shortly after what appeared to be a good buck came off a ridge and headed toward a field. I grunted and he stopped - looked - kept going. I snort wheezed and he stopped - looked - kept going. Sooo... I tickled the horns and he jump - ran - stopped. And I tickled them again - he came in on a rope - I stopped him at 15 yards and fired. He ran up the steep ridge he came down to start with and crashed at the peak of it! A few hours later Kenny and I recovered my first bow buck, 6 years in the making. I've likely passed on bigger deer over the past 6 years. Those years didn't have the gripping emotion that this one did - it was my time! A final thank you to those members of the forum who supported me, encouraged me and inspired me to keep digging. I'm not posting any of this for additional recognition or anything of the sort. I just wanted to say thanks and I wanted to offer some hope for anyone else this season who lost a potential bow harvest.
Love it!!! Congratulations, and thanks for letting us be a part of it!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congrats! Great story and I keep checking back while I was in the stand that day hoping to see that you found him. There is still hope that maybe in the off season you will find him and get closer!
Congrats on the buck! It was an intense experience waiting for the next post when you were tracking on Sunday! But all things happen for a reason and I'm glad you were able to seal the deal with this buck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It was a great story (despite the end result) and I was on the edge of my seat during the entire posting. I was impressed with your updates and the advise you received from the support crew on the forum. Seems like everyone was enthralled by your hunt and it really did seem like it was our buck! So glad you went back out and got yourself a very nice deer and another good story to share.
Thanks for sharing! Congrats on an awesome buck. I started hunting four years ago and have lost two bucks...the first two years of hunting, last year harvested a doe, have shot a doe this year, and am still on a quest for my first buck. I understand the feeling, like many others do, from going to the highest of highs to the near lowest of lows and experiencing that disappointment when you cannot recover your buck. Once, again congrats to you sir and thanks for sharing!
I was at a meeting today for work at the Chamber of Commerce and was talking to the developer of our new local mountain bike park that backs up to my hunting land where we ended up losing the buck on November 8. I was telling him the story about my buck and the following has got me all kinds of messed up. He says someone found a dead buck a week and a half ago and tells me who went out to take care of it (I know the parks guy) and so I've got a call into him to find out if I can see a picture of the buck to confirm if it was the buck that shot/killed. With the amount of blood that we tracked that day I think everyone agreed that buck was going to die - when and where was the question. In true live from the tree stand fashion I am currently on hold with Adam. He is on the other line... Waiting.
And the guy I just talked to from the Parks hadn't heard anything about it but said he would ask around... Got a call into the guy I talked to today to see if I can find out more information. He's not a deer hunter so this might not go as smoothly as I thought.
Gosh that's my hope. I was feeling really good about it this morning and now after talking with that guy from the parks I'm not so sure I will find out... My hope is for pictures at the least to confirm that was the buck and if it was the buck and the antlers remain I will offer to buy them off whomever has them.
You gonna drag us all through this again Twitch?!?!? jk, I hope you end up with some resolution. Blessings........Pastorjim
I've made several phone calls today about this, I'm living it again myself Jim. A guy on my lease killed a 170ish" buck during gun season that was never found - that buck was searched for on my private access land per my permission and it likely ended up in the same vicinity as the buck I lost. The buck I shot was not 170". I believe it was probably more in the 140 to 150 class. If I see a picture I will know if it was that buck that I shot or the other buck killed in the area. We are going to get to the bottom of this tomorrow!
