What a long night, between getting this buck processed, answering texts from across the country this bowhunter is plum tuckered. After cutting my teeth earlier this season on that big nanny, which felt good after missing last year's season with my broken arm, I guess you could say it was a prelude to shooting my buck. Another evening found me in a tree after work, as I sat there exchanging a few texts, it was time to settle in and pay attention, the time was about 6:00 pm. I looked toward the far end of the field which normally holds a stand I've coined as the Pin Oak stand... sooner or later every deer on the property will pass that Pin Oak. I hadn't hung that stand though the ladder sticks are in place and just yesterday noon I trimmed the trail into it... Seen in the picture below. (The large tree on the right edge is my Pin Oak) As I glanced down that direction I noticed a large sapling violently shaking to the left of the Pin Oak... I immediately stood and glass the area... though I could see the tree shaking I couldn't see the animal causing it for the high golden rod... I continued to glass when I saw a flicker of antler... oooooh that looks like one of the shooters... I grabbed my grunt tube and gave him a couple soft grunts... the tree continued to shake.. a couple soft grunts more and the tree stopped.. mind you, that's 200 yards away... I could catch glimpses of the buck moving through the weeds until he turned right and acted as if he was headed into that patch of woods. I decided to snort/wheeze at him.. yup that got his attention. He appeared to be the buck I caught on trail camera just 2 days prior. He turned and came up on the field access road and started to make a bee line in my direction stopping at every single bush and weed to thrash it with his antlers. As long as he was coming, I was letting him come. When he stopped to work one of the bushes in the high weeds closer to me, I gave him a couple soft grunts followed by a few doe bleats. He licked an over hanging bush branch and made a scrape under it and urinated in it. He then closed the distance. I had texted Ben / PA that a shooter was coming. Right before he entered my food plot he hung a right (his left) and marched into the woods to my right, being he was still 60 yards out and offering no shot I had to unstrapped my safety belt and step up on a branch and onto a platform I had hung for a camera man. The buck beared away so I gave him a couple more soft grunts but he continued to walk, I said I have to try and gave him and another snort/wheeze... that made him turn around and work a tree over.. then he marched from my left to my right offering me no shots at a mere 30 yards... my back drop in that stand is beech nut trees and the leaves are thick and hold there leaves... He worked to my right and I had to step back down onto the other stand as the buck came to the edge of my plot. Standing a mere 30 yards, offering no shot he studied the plot... with nothing there he turned and headed away from me again.... so I started talking to him again, soft grunts, soft bleats which turned him left, standing maybe 15 yards and still... no shot... Oh, and I stepped up onto the upper platform again... again he started walking directly away from me... grunts didn't stop him, bleats.. nope so once again, I had nothing to lose and gave him a snort/wheeze...and again that turned him around, with a few grunts he again stood at the edge of my plot at 30 yards and again, I stepped down onto the lower platform/stand.I anticipated him coming this time and I picked a spot in the plot he'd have to be when he came and it was 27 yards... He was in the opening above the branches in the pick below: (yes, that's where the doe was too) I gave him a couple soft bleats and a grunt making them appear to come from our right into the plot... that did it, he pushed through to the plot and acting startled he bound a couple bounds and I game to full draw, stopped him with a meh.... anticipating it to be 30 yards, I settled my pin on his last rib and released... on the impact he grunted/moaned and tucked his tail and high tailed it out of there... I glassed him as he crossed the foreground corn field, circling a hedge row into the next corn field and suddenly he stopped, appeared weak legged and disappeared. I was sure he was down but nervously glassed the area as well as watching the field.. I'd see him if he left it... 3 does entered the field and nervously looked out and walked out, raised tail and ran back so I figured he was laying there.. I quickly sent out a dozen BBD's out in text and packed up and got down will there was light, the shot was at 6:30, 30 minutes of talking and working that buck to the shot... As I walked out to the hedge just this side of the corn field I spotted him laying there..almost posing so I knocked an arrow and made subtle noises watching for movement... but there was none. The shot entered the last rib and exited out the front shoulder just over the heart... liver, both lungs... deer ran 175 yards. As I found him: And the hero shots... And the GREGH pose.
Congratulations! Excellent read. Can you get additional nanny tags to extend your hunting, or are you done now?
Congrats Rob, I was talking to Mark on Facebook not too long ago about how I had missed your posts! Glad to see you with another great PA buck and hopefully this sparks you to post more hunting stories! Hunting has been insanely slow here so I am gonna focus on some Lake Erie Steelhead fishing this weekend!
Congrats Rob, that's awesome man! Glad to see you at it this year but, I do have to say I enjoyed your post last season! Anyways, really nice buck man!
Great buck, Rob. I was pretty sure I would be seeing this post when I got Ben's text saying you had a shooter coming in. You make it happen year in and year out. From a fellow PA hunter, I know how hard that is (for me anyways). Great job, bud.
