Had the good fortune to be able to put my second buck down with a bow last night. I posted here last december with my first buck taken by a bow, that scored 133 2/8, after 5 years of bowhunting I couldn't believe I finally made it happen. Here's the story for this year: I started out early season with countless hours of scouting and checking cameras, trying to zero in on some shooter bucks. I'm still in college and work so my time in the tree is limited, but I tried to make the best of it. I had a few stand locations I was waiting to hunt out of till pre-rut/rut, the main stand being a great funnel that leads from bedding areas to oaks on one side and standing corn on the other. I knew from past experience that there were big deer in there, but they don't usually show until they start chasin does all over the county. I worked yesterday morning hanging some sheetrock, which bummed me out because I was planning on spending the entire day in the tree seeing as how both my friday classes were cancelled. Luckily, we got done early and I was able to get into my stand by 5pm. Around 6 I noticed some movement in front of me about 60 yards away. I grunted to try to get his attention but he kept on heading away from me. I started bleating, and about that the time the doe he was chasing started coming towards me. This buck (which i judged as a shooter by sheer body size) tried to corner her and started coming even closer. He was about 15 yards out when I got him stopped and took the shot, which dropped him in his tracks. As I'm knocking another arrow to put into him, another buck that must have been chasing her too was up on the hill to my left grunting like mad. I put another into the buck and he was done for. I stayed in my stand because from where he was laying he could see me, and as i'm trying to calm down, I heard more grunting and wheezing from somewhere in front of me. I really couldn't believe what was going on, 3 bucks all within roughly 100 yards and most likely all on the same doe. He ended up scoring 130 4/8, but weighed 210 after we field dressed him. My guess is he's an older buck on the downside of antler growth, but I could be wrong. Either way I'm tickled with him and hoping I can keep up this momentum into my Wisconsin hunt next week. Happy Hunting! anyone care to take a shot at his age?
Great looking buck!! Great action to boot too!! Congratulation's!! Being he dressed out at 210 pounds I'd say he's a 4.5 year old.
