11/12/22 3:30 pm. Came crusing into a scrape. 42 yard shot, watched him fall 100 yards away. 172 pounds dressed. 12 points. Alleghany national forest My day started off great with 4 inches of rain overnight. The typically dry drainage had 2 feet of water in it. I got my feet soaked. Went back to the truck and got my hiking boots and wool socks. Changed at the tree. Went up a single stick move, about 7 feet up, in a giant cherry tree that had a beech tree close behind it that still had leaves, with my Tuebor Saddles. Saw several does throughout the morning. My Pants legs were soaked, so 2 hour in my feet are wet again. Its painfully cold. I had to force myself to stay in the tree instead of coming out at noon to grab more socks. I see some does at 730. Another doe comes down the mountain to my left at 1:50. I catch movement to my left at 3:25. I see antlers. Verify through the binocular he was legal, and didn't look at the antlers again. Come to full draw when he was 60 yards away. He came in to a scrape, got a little nervous and turned very slightly quartering away. At 42 yards, I settled the pin on his heart, and started pulling. The release surprised me, and even then, my concentration was so intense that I saw the arrow split the exact spot I was staring at. He took off, and I watched him stumble and flip head over heels at 100 yards. Gather up my stuff, rappel down, and go walking in the direction he went. Great blood trail. I get close and I see tines. I thought I was shooting a good 8. Never in my dreams did I think he had this many points! 51 lb pse omen 30.5" draw. Deepower 1.25" offset broadhead
Great buck and story!! My wife has relatives that live up in the Alleghany forest and it's a beautiful area. I've long thought about trying my hand at hunting the big woods. Seems like a heck of a challenge! Us Midwestern farm hunters don't know where to start when there isn't a field edge anywhere for a hundred miles.
Truthfully, the biggest thing you have to wrap your head around here is that clearcuts are the ag grounds in the big woods. The cuts that are around 10 years old, think of them like standing corn. Younger cuts, in the 3-5 year old range are like soybeans... they won't visit them till evening. As for edges, there are variety of edges in the woods and mountains, they're just subtle and you have to see them with your eyes most of the time as they don't show up well on maps. Those subtle edges are what I "live on" on here, especially in the rut. Hunting here can be a real wilderness experience, much like the west but at a smaller scale. But you can easily get lost here if you want to. You'd love it.
Congrats, great buck! My camp boarders Allegheny National Forest, beautiful country and some big deer running around.
Very nice buck! Way to stick it out when your body is telling you go home. Its a mental game for sure. Makes it that much more sweet when you put yourself through the mill and endure torturous discomfort to get it done. Congrats that is an Awesome buck!
Big woods…big buck! Congrats! Grew up on the western edge of that forest. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
