Get um man! Get this team started! Got any good bucks on that property? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Nothing much yet. Couple little guys around and lots of does. Big boys will come through checking on the ladies eventually! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No need to be sorry. Life happens... I highly doubt it was a really bad week. But I wouldn't doubt a tough headspace while hunting, which could reciprocate into a bad hunting time. No rush on when you get back out. Just when you do get back out, don't look at it as successful or unsuccessful. Just use it for what it is...a time to escape what the world is throwing at you.
Thanks man! It was all hunting related and lucky not anything to do with personal life. I will tell the story some time. Just got to be careful with what I post online at the moment. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Long story... but to keep it short, my wife. She's been a homebody since childhood. I keep telling her the world is large and we can live anywhere on it, but that scares her to death.
Had a busy week and wasn't able to get out. Went to Packer game Monday night. Then went to ryder cup practice round on Wednesday. Will be out tomorrow night for sure. Probably for deer, bear bait has slowed down some with daylight activity. Good luck guys that are able to get out this weekend
All right guys, guess I'm ready to share my last hunt. I haven't hunted since last Saturday. On Saturday I was hunting a spot that I spotted that nice 8 pt on opening day. Every hunt I moved closer and closer to bedding until I run into him again. This spot had a lot of does in it. I had multiple does come that evening and once they get to 10 yards they would look up and pic me off. Then blow 20 times then run off. Then hour later come back and just watch me from 40 yards and wait til I moved, then blow at me again! One of those evenings you think why would any deer come in here. This all happened before 6. I didn't have alot of confidence in my tree because lack of cover. So around 6:30 I hear chasing and crashing up on a ridge above me. Also hear antlers smacking trees as the deer are running. So I pick up bow and get ready. Nothing! So about 30 minutes later I look down this drainage I'm sitting in and i see the 2nd biggest buck I have ever seen from the stand! This is from almost 30 years of bowhunting. He is hitting a licking branch and making a scrap about 35 yards away. He starts coming my way. As soon as he gets to the bend in the creek I pull back, because I have no cover on the tree. He comes to a intersection on the trail and can tell he doesn't know which trail to take. He keep turning up and back towards me about 3 times. In my mind I feel he was going to walk straight to my tree and I'd have no shot before he smell me at the base of tree. So I decided to take first available shot. He turned slightly quartering too at just under 20 yards. I take the shot looking to hit just behind the shoulder. I pull the shot and hit him straight in the guts. Arrow confirmed this. He ran out to 35 yards and stopped. He hunched up and walked right into a thicket. I almost got a 2nd arrow off. 10 more seconds and I could have shot him again. That's the last time I've seen him. Between 4 guys we have just over 40 hours of searching and I even went out today on a lead I got yesterday. No buck anywhere! I still have some irons in the fire and waiting to hear back from some property owners about searching for him. So that's what I have been going thru all week. Sorry for the long read, I'm kind of venting. This was a public land slob that I wanted. It actually is a dream buck of mine. Alway wanted to shoot a 8 pt over 150". He would have easily done that. He was a monster! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I can understand where you are coming from and not wanting to talk about it right away. Been there done that. Sounds like you have put forth every effort to locate the buck. And by the sounds of it you’re not quite done yet. I think we all can respect that. Take your time to regroup and get back in the tree for some therapy. It will all come together
Thanks man I appreciate it! There was a chance I jumped him on Tuesday around 11. Had a very large deer with a hunch and was holding a rear leg up cross a logging road in front of a buddy. He said it was twice the size of the does he was following and had a bad matted hair on side of stomach. Was not moving fast. He could never get a clear view of head to confirm it was even a buck. I followed track across a creek and they left the property. The track was double in size compared to the doe's he was walking behind. I just have a pit in my stomach ever since it happen, just feel bad for that buck. I know he would have died by now, just no idea at this point were. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Keep your head up. We all have been there if you have hunted long enough. Are tracking dogs an option for you? Seen one work last year on my mother in laws buck. They are impressive to watch on a trail.
Yeah, The unknown if he is dead can be brutal. It would be different if you knew you hit him forward in the shoulder or something that he has a higher chance of survival. Any idea how far back you hit him? If you shot him Saturday and possibly bumped him Tuesday then maybe there's a slim chance he will make it? Deer are incredible animals as you know. I am surprised how much they can live through.
From what I have heard and read, that it's pretty much 100 percent death. Just how long it takes is the variable. I believe I hit the last rib and straight thru him. If I had to guess on the lower third of his stomach. The reason I believe I hit a rib, was because it stripped a vane off. Then the buck carried it down the trail about 10 feet before it fell out. There was blood on that one vane. The rest of the arrow was covered in brown slime with stomach content on it. Followed blood for about 75 yards, then completely stopped. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I can't yet empathize with ya, but I do sympathize for ya as well as for that buck. Thanks for the share, as stories like this really need to make more rounds through the community so everyone really understands that hunting is so much more than a sport. I may have missed it in the read, but how long did you wait before you started tracking?
Shot him at 7 pm. After the shot I waited 30 minutes for the buck to clear the area. Then sneaked out the opposite direction in the dark. I came back in 3 1/2 hours later after dark to find arrow and check blood. Arrow showed guts. There was blood on the ground, so followed for 75 yards til it ran out, then went home for the night. That was around 12:30 that night. Came back next morning went to last blood. Never found any more or him after looking all day. I left him all day Monday to hopefully die. I came back Tuesday and looked all day again. Had 2 guys with me and around 11 is when we jumped a deer that could have been him. That was about 200 yards from the shot location. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
That sounds like 1 tough deer. It is unfortunate he didn't croak yet, but I would be willing to bet it most definitely has by now.
Yeah, sounds like at that point of impact there probably isn't much chance of survival. Did you have a chance to check for any crows or Vultures? We be nice to at least find him and get some closure.
