Yes, I've been told "you really need to learn to pose with the buck". Sorry guys. It is what it is. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Wednesday, Nov. 16. I was in the stand as first light broke. A storm front was coming in on Thursday so I thought it might be a good day to be in the woods. It had been mostly in the 50's for a high temp and upper 20's at night. My friend's land is located west of Plymouth, IL. Al and I were hunting his 70 acre parcel. The night before, Al and I, discussed our plan and setup for the morning hunt. I chose the 20' ladder stand about 80 yards from the gravel road. I hunted this stand a year prior and had a group of does heading directly to me till a neighbor traveling the dead end road spooked the deer. Al was in one of his stands 400 yards to the southwest of me. I love being in the woods as the Sun radiates and warms the earth. Just after 7, The gobblers were talking like spring time. Guess they were messed up with the unseasonably warmer temps. After 8am, I checked my phone while munching on a granola bar. Al had texted, "Staring at a monster 18 plus buck on the hill. He made a rub and was chasing a doe". That text time stamped, 8:03am. Later, Al said the monster buck came no closer than 75 yards. He watched the Buck 45 minutes the the buck wandered off to the south. Al grunted and snort-wheezed but could not get him to respond. Besides the Turkeys gobbling 2 hours earlier, my only entertainment came from a couple of tree rats aka squirrels as Al calls them. It's now around 9am and Al was considering hunting all day. I would too if I was him. Al has game camera footage of really nice bucks on his two parcels of property. A couple of nice 10 pets. Big 8, but Al never told me about my buck, 22pt. But now Al's eyes had seen him, the buck of a lifetime. As I was taking in the sounds of the woods, I was hearing a loud rustling of leaves behind the stand and across the creek. I visually checked this out before, about an hour ago. Those pesky squirrels chasing each other without a care. But then I heard the "clop-clop" sound that a deer makes when crossing a shallow creek. I knew it was a deer. I stood up, turned my body to the left and grabbed my bow. With my back still against the tree, I saw the deer. I could see bone but couldn't yet tell how much or how old he might be. He kept coming, head down at about 50 yards to my right at about my 11 o'clock from the tree. Wind was calm and out of WSW. I could not believe that he did not pick me up with his nose but with his head down, he had other things on his mind. As he's scent checking the deer trail, I make the decision to make a right side bow shot. I make the adjustments and now I'm facing the tree. I double-check my safety tether for insurance but also to make sure the tether doesn't get in the way of the shot. Thankfully I was able to make the shift without a sound nor for him to see my preparation. He is still 50 yards out but now at my 9 o'clock. He is checking out his licking branches of several different trees and branches. As he is focused on that, he moves a few yards toward my stand and he turned his head that gave me a great profile of his right side rack. I counted 6 main tines and stopped counting, checked his width and height...He's definitely a shooter. He qualifies. In my quick field assessment, He's bigger than the 150 class that I have hanging from my office wall. I shot him in 2007 on Al's 70 acre parcel. It was a Sunday, the last morning of my hunt while the Rut was on. That's another story for another day. In the intervening years, Al has invited me to return but not during the Rut, until this year. Don't misunderstand me, I'm always grateful to hunt on his property. Matter of fact, Al is the guy that got me hooked on Bow hunting whitetails. My Dad took me hunting when I was a kid mainly for rabbits and pheasants. I still remember chomping down on lead shot. I clearly remember the first time hunting with Al. It was December, 1999. For my first hunt, we ventured onto public land, Des Plaines Conservation Area. Al set me up in a portable 10 foot ladder stand. It was cold sitting in the stand. Snow was falling. At 2pm, I pulled the bow back just to keep my muscles warm. At 3pm, Al called me on the walkie-talkie, "Rick big buck coming your way. A few minutes later I saw him. He stops at a licking branch on a big pine. He makes a semi-circle moving from my left to my right. Dark beams, heavy mass and a 9 pointer. As he worked his way to my right, at my 2 o'clock, 23 yards, I set my release and pulled back...well I tried to pull the 70lb bow back. I reset and tried again. I was shaking so much partly from the cold but mostly from Buck Fever. Dejected, I had to watch him walk off. He never knew I was there. Since that day, I've been hooked on hunting whitetails with a stick and string. Surprisingly, as 22pt moved toward me I was fairly calm. Again, I knew he was bigger than the mainframe 8 hanging in my office. 22pt stopped under an Osage tree. He's 10 yards, at my 9 o'clock. He lowers his crown to duck under a branch. As he does, I let the arrow fly. I hit little further back than intended but as he ran off on the path he came, I knew it was a kill shot. I check my watch, 9:47am. I waited 25 minutes then climbed down and slowly, quietly, gathered my equipment. I check for blood, nothing, no blood. Not a drop. I knew I didn't have a pass-through but I could see the arrow sticking in him as he ran off. Plenty of penetration for the Slicktrick to do its job. I retrace his path looking for any sign. No Arrow and only sign was large deer tracks running in the direction of his exit. I check the heavy cover area last I saw him, nothing except heavy deer tracks. After looking for 45 minutes, I finally made the call to Al letting him know of the deer, the hit, and my failed attempts at finding him. Al told me the night before, "let's make sure we make good shots that we're not tracking a buck rather than hunting." Al was just getting down when I first called him. We retraced the shot and walked through and over heavy cover to find 22pt. That was now my mission, to find 22pt. Al and I looked until just before noon. I drove back to the main camp ate a quick sandwich and changed clothes. I returned to the stand, retraced the shot and searched adjoining deer paths in that area. I took one of the paths that resembled the path of the fleeing Buck. I followed this path to the creek, checking both sides of the creek. I was praying the whole time since the arrow made contact with the Buck, to help me find him. Again, I thought this Buck to be maybe a 10, or 12 pointer. I crossed underneath the rickety one lane bridge. I'm now 80 yards from my stand. I continue to throughly check both sides of the creek. 30 yards pass the creek, the creek bends slightly to the right. I round the bend and look down the creek 60 yards. Is that a rock in the middle of the creek? As I continue toward the rock, Zi could make out the form of the backside of a deer. The Buck was laying on his right side, side of the shot. His left side rack was easily and clearly above the water line. As I came upon him, his nose was submerged in the creek. I grabbed his left rack at the base and pulled him onto a sandbar adjoining the bank of the creek. Now for a good look at him, I started to count his points. I was in shock. Could this be the 18 pt Buck that Al saw chasing a doe that very morning? At 2:51pm, I texted Al that I found my Buck in the middle of the creek 100 yards past the bridge. Al asked, "how big?" I typed, 22 pt. All thought my response of "22" was a typo. When he arrived where I found the Buck, Al said, that's the Buck I saw this morning." We took a few pictures then dragged the big boy out of the creek bottom to the road by the bridge. 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