Well, here in IN we get just one buck (greatest thing ever for growing bigger deer!)...and I'm done again before even late October is here (3rd year in a row). We got pics of this guy in July all the way through middle of September like clock work...but then nothing once he shed is velvet. Well, on October 15th (a day winds hit 35 mph) I hunted my least favorite stand but only one on our tiny 10 acres of ground that is good with a W wind. Morning hunt yield 3 does and a young 8 which I passed on, but regretted the second he walked away after feeding on a Red Oak for 25 minutes 15 yards from me. Evening hunt was slow till hour before sunset I had a doe work in slow and begin eating the acorns from the same tree. About 55 minutes before legal light was up a great buck came up the same trail the doe did out of the "thicket" and began feeding on the same acorns a mere 15 yards from me for 25 minutes till I finally squeezed an arrow through a volleyball sized hole on him as legal light was fleeting. Blood trail just stopped after a little while after the arrow worked its way out and we (my father and I) backed out. Upon studying the arrow we figured out that the arrow must have went all the way through and hit the opposite shoulder but didn't create an exit hole, hence the non "buckets of blood" type trail to follow. With the knowledge of a higher then desired hit I had to try to "sleep" till morning. The next day we were greated with rain...which meant now the tracking of a blood trail was out. We were now going to be a 2-man search crew for a piled up brown thing on the forest floor. After about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of searching I found him! My dad had walked a mere 40 yards from him searching the area he laid just minutes prior. Low and behold there he was, Trident was down.
Way to track him down! We lost a doe after a 500-600 yard blood track through the forest this weekend and never found a body. Congrats to you though, great job and great buck!
