Heya! Well needless to say it has been a helluva year. My Bow got bent on the eve of opening day. I finally got a replacement and it did not get all setup and sighted in until the eve of Halloween. I headed out Halloween morning to my favorite stand in the middle of a pine thicket. It is an intermediate bedding area/ travel area they like to move through and bed up for a short bit. On the trail heading in, there is what I call "Scrape Alley". It is a small walking trail that runs down the middle of the pine thicket. The deer trails and runs indicate they cross it a lot. On this 100 yard trail there was no less than 9 scrapes. All of which were very fresh. I was out 1 week prior and only seen 3 scrapes on the trail so I knew they were moving. I got to my tree stand and was pretty excited. My only concern was the weather. It was supposed to get to the high 60s. I was not sure how much they would be moving that morning but tried to stay optimistic. I sat...and sat...and nothing. At 10am I decided to hit my Buck Roar. Not 3 minutes transpired and a small 4pt came through. I watched him as he wandered around until he finally meandered off. As soon as I lost sight of him, I heard twigs snapping. I looked back and seen horns. Now we are talkin'! He wandered down the same exact path the smaller buck did so I knew, if he stayed on that trail, I would only have 1 shooting window. He got to 40 yards and bedded down. I kid you not he was nodding off! I watched him do the head bob and sleep for about 20 minutes when he finally stood up. I followed suit! He walked down the trail and hit my shooting window. It was a 15 yard shot and he was quartering towards me. I stopped him and let the arrow fly. He bound forward once and stopped. I was freaking out. How did I miss? He was so close and I know I executed the shot. He stood there with his tail high looking around. I assume he was trying to figure out what all the noise was. His tail went down and he began to slowly wander down the trail. I was a mess. Not only did I miss. I had to watch him SLOWLY walk away. Now he was about 40 yards from my tree and 55 yards from where I shot him when he wobbled. Then he took another step and wobbled again! The third step he fell down. I was losing it! I watched him through my range finder and he was down. I got out of my tree and went over to check my arrow. It was lathered in blood. It was a sound shot for sure. Halloween Morning with a brand new bow! First deer with a bow! First Buck ever! Broke my drought as I have been skunked the last 2 years! Sorry for the photo quality as I was alone and it was my phone.
congratulations Brandon! glad you got your bow back and everything, I mean EVERYTHING came together! I bet you hardly even remember your troubles with the old bow:d
Thanks! What old bow? I was scramblin to just get out that morning. Rest was on at 9pm and I borrowed arrows and was up to 11pm sighting it in. That pine thicket only gives me shots out to 20 -25 yard max so I only sighted in one pin . I could not have asked for a better ending to that bent riser mess!
Well, I hope the ratio does not stay as is... 10 does with muzzleloader/shotgun : 1 buck with bow What do you all think it will measure out at? A few friends say it may be real close to 120. Wouldn't that be neat!
I was using a spitfire. I got him near Oak Openings(state park) on a VERY heavily hunted public plot. Ok, now the bad news. The place I took him to get processed screwed up and must have left the cape out. The hair was falling out. Taxidermist told me based on the condition of the hide, it must have been out for more than 36 hours. No mount for me. What a bummer! I sure hope they just forgot the cape and got that venison in the cooler asap. I am going to speak to the general manager tomorrow! If my venison is bad I may have to find a bell tower! What a year it has been. Sheesh!
most excellent, hopin to grab my first archery deer this year as well... i only PRAY its as nice as that... btw - i was makin a late night run to bass pro in Gurnee sunday night and as my brother and I were racing down hunt club rd there standing on the shoulder (literally 10ft off the road) was a MONSTROUS 8pt... at first guess I'd say probably in the ball park 3.5 maybe 4.5yr old and would have scored out around 120+... very tall rack, the tines were easily 8+" each and the overall height of the rack was probably about 16+" with about a 24" spread, a gorgeous deer, one of the prettiest i've seen around here... if i bagged one like that, on the wall it would go...
