I hung a stand a few days ago in a new area as kind of a "feeler" stand. I wanted to see what the movement was like in this area to try and pinpoint exactly where I needed to be. Normally I have a cameraman with me but this was a solo mission. The first hunt I saw 4 deer inluding one pretty good buck. On the second morning I climbed back into the same spot and I shot this guy at around 10:00 yesterday morning. He was the 7th deer I saw during the hunt. A small spike had just walked through from my right to my left. About 30 seconds after he went by I noticed movement from the same general direction. I just figured it was the same deer until he walked through a sunny spot and I noticed his rack and I knew he was a shooter. Thats when the fun started. I had to get my second angle camera recording quickly so I could focus on the main camera. Normally this isn't a big deal but he was coming directly at me I had the remote in my hand upside down so I was having a heck of a time getting it to REC. Once I got that camera running I grabbed my bow and got the big camera turned on him. Luckily he stopped for a few seconds which was just long enough for me to find him in frame, zoom in, and check my focus. He came in on a string and I readied the camera and the bow in an opening I just knew he was getting ready to walk through. Just short of that opening he stopped behind some trees. No biggie right? Well then he proceeded to stand there for 15 freakin' minutes at 16 yards! You wanna talk about an oncoming heart attack! He was killing me just standing there... Finally he decided it was time to continue on and I quickly came to draw. Just as I was settling the pin he looked up at me and I loosed the arrow. I hit him a bit forward from the ideal spot and I didn't get much penetration. He snapped the arrow off and I watched him run off. He made it about 100 yards and I heard the unmistakable sounds of a deer crashing. Whew! I called my buddy to come help film the recovery, drag, and take pictures. He's not my biggest buck and I'll admit there was a little bit of ground shrinkage but to get him killed on a full moon, with archery equipment, on film, and SELF filming the whole thing, I'm stoked! Here's a couple pics of him. He's no monster but I'm super proud of this accomplishment. This hunt will go down as one of my all time best hunts. Look for this hunt on an upcoming episode of DRT Hunting TV.
Nothing wrong with that buck, but since you mentioned ground shrinkage, that just part of the hunt experience isn't it. I have many recollections of ground shrinkage myself but can't ever remember walking up on one and thinking he was bigger than I thought when I shot. Congratulations on a nice buck.
Nice buck. However, self filming sounds/seems like too much stress and difficulty for me to enjoy the hunt. I'll continue to enjoy the hero pics after the shot. Too much stress for me. Congrats.
