'Twas the third day of our 10 day November hunting extravaganza. After having a nice 125-130 inch 8 point sneak in without getting a shot off at him, this mature buck made his way down the ravine with a doe. A few soft grunts coaxed the buck just far enough from his doe for me to attempt a shot at him. With the camera rolling I tried to steady my pin and put an arrow through his boiler room, but alas - I missed. In retrospect, I can honestly say I'm glad I missed this deer. Although I was to the left of the cameraman and the angle was less severe, in the heat of the moment I really didn't noticed the two turns the buck made in my direction before the shot. I look back now and go "Wow, I probably shouldn't have taken that shot." Had I hit this buck, it would've been one lung at best, and guts at worst. While I hurts every time I watch it, I'm hopeful he'll be around next fall and we'll get another crack at "Dope Ear". Enjoy. :D http://www.bowhunting.com/gallery/12/media/281/justins-2008-miss.aspx
Man I LOVE that buck we call "Dope Ear". He has got to be one of the coolest bucks I've ever seen in the wild to this day. It crushes me to see you miss.. but I love the footage of that old bruiser. And dang.. you look tired as all haitis in that interview. Was a long week.
Yeah - I think I was holding for 30 and he was more like 18-ish. It was one of those things where after I shot I went "What the hell was I aiming at?" We saw that buck again later that day while Mike was hunting and I was filming, but he wouldn't leave the doe he was with for anything that time. I didn't even realize it was him until I reviewed the footage after we got home from our trip. If we didn't get flooded out of our hunt last weekend, maybe we would've had another shot at him. Or at least at trail cam photo.
Heartbreaker...but thanks for missing on purpose. Makes us normal hunters feel better about ourselves
Tha story at the end was my favorite part.(lol) That's the thing about filming your hunts you can relive the good and the bad.
Johnny and I were talking about this on our way home from Saskatchewan last night. Its like when you're laying in bed, just about to fall asleep, and you get that falling feeling. You wake up and go "what the hell was that?" We had "Dope Ear" bed down 50 yards from us next to a single bush in the CRP our last day there. He doesn't have the biggest rack, but he is an old warrior and very smart. He was the only deer that busted us in 10 days of hunting down there....and we had quite a few down wind. When we felt the breeze swirl just a little bit in that bottom, his one good ear perked up and he snuck outta there in a hurry. Here's to you Dope Ear!
The end of the video is by far one of the funniest hunting takes I have seen. Did you crawl in and get that expensive arrow? Never knew "Pro Hunters" were so frugal Happiness is knowing you got to see that deer and could have harvested him. Thanks for sharing the moment, he looks like a great old buck.
Man what a big bodied mature looking buck!! Cool footage guys, well done! You can't get them all the time. Thanks for sharing!!
That's an understatement brother. After seeing the video and then seeing the deer in person, I would say he is on the decline. I would love to see his teeth.
It's nice of you to share the video. It is only fair to show misses along with the success stories. But when you take a ribbing over it, remember that you had the footage, and didn't have to show it
Nice video. Did he make it through the season? Hopefully he makes it through the winter and you can get him next year.
Win some lose some!!!! Man what a wierd looking ear what do you think is up with that??? A ear is cartalidge but man you can see him wiggle it in the video!! Walt
Whitetail ear cartilage is very prone to being destroyed by ticks actually.. so that could be a reason for it and probably the most logical one. Or.. the old man is just a fighter.. and doesn't take flack from the local youth.
