Thank you all. The best part is, he was a public land buck that survived a week of Muzzleloader season. I got him 3 days after it closed. I was in that area during ML and I heard a dear snorting bit never saw him. I am pretty sure that is was this buck. I had to make a shot that most have revved me for, but it was in my comfort zone, and I knew it was a shot that I could make. It was our first cold morning of October with a temp of 27. Had a good frost on the ground so it made the walk toward my chosen sight quiet. But before I could get all the way to the spot, I see a buck coming down the trail in a direction that would bring him out on the old road. He came out so fast that I had no time to get my crossbow up and ready. When he hits the road, he spun and high-tailed it back the way he came. he stopped about 30 yards off the road, facing away from me. I had my grunt call with me and blew it 3 short times. He turned back and headed to the same spot. I had everything ready for a shot when he stepped out. But as luck would have it, he spun and made one small jump and stopped, still facing away from me. With the last hope slipping away, I grunted 3 more times, a little softer this time. He turned and started walking toward me, but to the left of the trail. Perfect...almost. When he stopped, the brush was hiding the vitals and I wasn't going to take a chance of wounding this buck. I had no idea how big he was, I just new that he had at least 3 points on one side. So, I waited patiently, while in a crouched position with nothing hardly behind me to break up my outline, for what seemed like an eternity before he took that final step to come cleat of the brush. When that last step wa made, he turned straight toward me. Not what I was hoping for as far as the shot placement. But after having come in 3 times, and the last being that close, I knew this buck wasn't going to give me any more opportunities that what he already had. I put the dot on the neck just above the shoulder and let the bolt fly. It flew true and hit it's mark. The buck took off in that death run. That was when I started shaking and the heart started racing. After standing there a few minutes, I walked over to where he had been standing and just 3 feet from that point, I found blood. With the next 3 feet, the blood trail began real heavy. The buck ran down hill then ran the bottom af the ravine for about 80 yards before piling up. After field dressing him, I called my hubby, who was still at camp, and probably still asleep. No answer. I drug this buck a few feet at a time, stopping every now and then to call hubby. I even called my son who was at home about 25 miles away to see if he could get someone to come help me get this deer out. No luck there either. Finally after dragging this deer about 50 yards, I got hubby on the phone to come with the truck to the main road and then help me get him out. The last 30 yards or so, was straight up hill. It took an hour and a half, at least from the time I found the buck to get him out to the truck. My taxidermist scored him at 127" back in January after the 60 day drying period.
Thanks guys. I am taking him to the Arkansas Big Buck Classic this coming weekend and getting him officially scored. Hope he scores as good as everyone says he will. If not, I am still happy that I was able to harvest such a nice buck. Especially for a public land buck.
