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2013 Bow Buck ... "Good Enough Buck"

Discussion in 'Bowhunting Talk' started by DEC, Nov 7, 2013.

  1. DEC

    DEC Weekend Warrior

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    I am just getting around to posting this. I shot this buck almost two weeks ago on October 26th on an evening right after a nasty storm laid down. 10 yard shot on video. He piled up 50 or so yards later. My businesses have been moving a million miles and hour and I just finally had time to do a video edit last night on this.

    To set this hunt up, in August I had shoulder surgery that thankfully was a best case scenario. Still my doctor (also a bow hunter) told me that if I wanted to hunt before gun season it would likely be with a crossbow. While I have nothing against crossbows, I was NOT hunting with anything other than my bow period. 6 weeks after surgery I was shooting 30 arrows a night at 60#. It hurt like hell but that didn't matter. On October 4th, I was in a tree stand with my bow. Fast forward to Saturday evening. The moment I saw this deer I knew I was going to shoot him. This is the type of deer that I have routinely passed up over the past 8 or 9 years without a second thought. But for this year anyway, my definition of a trophy has changed. I simply wanted to take a solid buck with my bow. I'm very proud of this deer actually. I killed him with my bow when my doctor said I wouldn't be bow hunting and did it all on self video. His rack is OK, tall and narrow. He was a tank of a body, weighing in at about 195# field dressed according to my deer scale. It took a buddy and I well over an hour to get him out of 300 yards deep of corn using a 2 wheel cart. We were whipped when we got him to the truck.



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    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 15, 2017
  2. buttonbuckmaster

    buttonbuckmaster Grizzled Veteran

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    Nothing wrong with buck at all. Congrats!
     
  3. Goosepond Monster

    Goosepond Monster Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Nice buck, DEC. Nothing at all wrong with tagging him.
     
  4. tynimiller

    tynimiller Legendary Woodsman

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    I don't understand the "good enough" great buck, congrats! To judge a deer strictly by the rack is a mistake far too many people make IMO.
     
  5. frenchbritt123

    frenchbritt123 Grizzled Veteran

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    Nice one.
     
  6. maxpetros

    maxpetros Grizzled Veteran

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    Congrats, great buck


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
     
  7. Jacob1

    Jacob1 Die Hard Bowhunter

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    That's a nice deer.
     
  8. drath

    drath Weekend Warrior

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    Great video. Great Buck. Great story. Now get that shoulder rested and rehabbed so you are 100% for next season. Best of luck to you and your girl the rest of the season. Thanks for sharing.

    -D
     
  9. Treestandsniper

    Treestandsniper Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Nothing wrong with that buck...congrats.
     
  10. The Ground Truth

    The Ground Truth Newb

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    That is a really nice deer that will put some good meat on the table.

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
     
  11. Marauder

    Marauder Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Congrats and thanks for the Story!! He's a stud of a buck in my opinion and you should feel really proud!
     
  12. semper

    semper Weekend Warrior

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    I'd be falling down stupid happy with a buck of that size. Welcome back to the stand and way to show such great dedication to a sport like bowhunting.
     
  13. tynimiller

    tynimiller Legendary Woodsman

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    OP.....please just confirm when you said "Take this one with a bow and get a bigger one later one with gun or ML..." Indiana is a one buck and done...assuming either this was urban zone or you mean OH/MI? Just confirming, fyi I LOVED THE VIDEO!!!!
     
  14. ERICWEST

    ERICWEST Weekend Warrior

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    Very nice looking buck, congrats to you!!
     
  15. Don't Poke the Bear

    Don't Poke the Bear Weekend Warrior

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    Haha I would be too. Congrats on a beautiful buck and glad to see you were able to overcome the odds after the surgery! Good luck to you and your daughter with the rest of the season.
     
  16. DEC

    DEC Weekend Warrior

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    No ... I said "I'd rather take a deer like this one with a bow THAN one with a muzzleloader or a gun".

    Yes ... Indiana is a one buck state, and no I am not in an urban zone, and no I will not hunt for another buck. This is my one buck and I am very happy with him. My oldest daughter killed a doe with her bow out of the same stand 3 days before I shot this buck and my youngest daughter has yet to get a shot at a deer. So my focus is on the two of them for the rest of the year. I am most likely done deer hunting for the year. I'd rather waterfowl hunt the rest of my time if I am not taking my daughters deer hunting.

    Regarding your earlier question about "Good Enough". I consider myself a trophy hunter when it comes to bucks. I've killed some big ones. I routinely let a deer like this one walk, year in and year out. Not because his is inferior in any way, but because I simply had a goal in mind when it came to antlers. In the past (and still can) I often fill my freezer with the ridiculous number of antlerless tags we are allowed in Indiana. But as I have gotten older my ideas of a trophy are changing for my personal goals. My trophies are now more about the overall experience and/or time in the stand with my daughters. Couple that with what I had to overcome physically this year just to be able to climb into a stand, let alone pull a bow back ... and "trophy" took on a whole new definition for me this fall. The term "Good Enough" is not meant to lesson the value of this buck or to justify anything regarding me killing him. It is simply a label to define my feelings about him. I tend not to get overly excited about any deer that I kill. I am always very happy and proud of every deer, but I typically don't bubble over with enthusiasm for deer that I kill. I think that shows in my video of this buck or if you look back through my youtube channel and watch any of my other deer hunts. I'm happy for sure, but I'm not going to fist pump and rattle off some cheesy "give me a second folks" type of line. Just the way I handle myself. To me "Good Enough" is simply that. This buck was good enough for me to release an arrow this year. He and the video of the hunt are the trophy that I am extremely happy about.

    I'm now chomping at the bit to get one of my daughters in the stand this weekend for another shot at a deer.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2013
  17. TheHardWoods913

    TheHardWoods913 Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Great buck, Congrats!!! Great video too! What are you using for your video editing?
     
  18. DEC

    DEC Weekend Warrior

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    I have the full blown Adobe Production Premium Suite. The bulk of it is edited in Premier Pro, while there is some After Effects stuff in there for some fine tuning. I honestly didn't spend a lot of time on this edit. Life has just been too busy for me the past few weeks to dedicate a lot of time to the edit. There was other stuff I wanted to do, like noise and color correction stuff, along with some motion graphics stuff, but I said forget it and kept it simple this time around.
     
  19. TheHardWoods913

    TheHardWoods913 Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Nice! Im gunna looking into that. Even for a quickie, you did a great job!
     
  20. tynimiller

    tynimiller Legendary Woodsman

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    I gotcha. I mis-heard you...it was an awesome video and hunt! Love to hear and watch a hunt video with daughter.
     

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