Hi guys, I visit this forum often and love all the comments. I try to learn as much as possible from them. I figured it was time I joined and start sharing in on the great conversations. The story begins in the spring of 2009. My boss has been a big bow hunter his whole life and eventually convinced me to start off my hunting career by buying a shot gun. I bought a Mossberg 12 gauge pump and went turkey hunting in the spring of 2009. I was fourtanate enough to harvest a nice jake that spring. From that point on I was hooked. I bought a Mission X3 the following week and vowed to only bow hunt from that point on. I absolutely love shooting my bow and hunting with it. The challenges and obstacles continually change and harvesting a whitetail deer with a bow is something that anyone can be very proud of. I went deer hunting in the fall of 2009. I didn't know what to expect but I just wanted to harvest at least one whitetail, it didn't matter what sex. I learned a hard lesson right off the bat. It so happened that the first deer I shot at was a nice 140 class buck. He came in at 25 yards and quartered away from me. I was so nervous! I drew back and was trying not to shake. I ended up shooting him right in the butt. I was devastated, but he did live. I saw him a couple times more throughout the season. Somebody did end up harvesting him later in the year though. I felt so bad that I wouned him and that I missed an excellent opportunity. I kept going back out though and on November 29 I harvested my first whitetail doe. It is a moment I will never forget. It was a forty yard shot and she only went 20 yards. I learned how rewarding it is when all your hard work pays off. Fast foward to 2010. The whole spring and summer I scouted and placed my stands and my number one goal was to harvest a buck this year. It didn't matter the size, it made no difference to me. I practiced all spring and summer with my new Mathews Z7. I bet I shot that bow over 2000 times total. It consumed me. I now know what its like to truly love something. Any ways the 2010 season began and if I wasn't at work then you knew where you could find me. Heres where it gets good. The date was 10-16-2010. Up until then I had been seeing some small bucks and lots of does. Nothing in shooting range except does though. So I'm in the stand and I'm hunting over a large crp field in front of me. Behind me is a 20 acre patch of hardwoods. There is a nice trail between the two. It is about 6:30 in the afternoon and it is getting dark. I am literally 2 or 3 minutes from coming down out of the stand. All of a sudden I here crunch crunch coming down the trail. I look up and here comes a giant buck! He's twenty yards away and walking right to me. I draw back and he walks straight into my shooting lane and stops. I put my pin on him and released. It was a 10 yard shot and he ran away hard with his tail tucked. I was so excited! I knew I had a good hit, but then you always start to second guess yourself. We waited an hour to start tracking and wouldn't you know it he went 100 yards and crashed. I was so pumped up and when I pulled his head up out of the weeds is when I really lost it. Up comes a 174 inch giant typical 16 point buck!!! I almost started crying. No joke. We took lots of pictures and I called everyone of my hunting buddies. It was one of the most exciting nights of my life. Everything just came together perfect. Now I can relax and go after some does. Things like this are not supposed to happen though, I owe so many thanks to all the people that have helped me over the last two years. Sorry for the long read but I just thought it was worth sharing. Thanks for reading and I hope to be a long time member here. This site is awesome.
Congrats, I need a little of your luck. First shot at a buck is a 140" then take a 174" for your first harvest. Doesn't get any better than that. You set the bar way high
Thanks for the reply's. Everybody keeps saying I'm ruined, haha. I am just going to enjoy the moment because I realize that something like this could not happen again. Good luck to everybody for the rest of the season!
