Nock n' Roll - Team 9

Great trip to northwest Missouri!!


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Okay teammates. I need your input.

Before I post this in the scorecard thread I need to make sure what we came up with is reasonable.

We came up with 127 2/8". Sure seems like he would have scored higher but it is what it is.

Here is the breakdown. I'll post some more pics after this.

Beam Spread: 16 - 5 / 8

Main Beam
(L): 19 - 2 / 8 (R): 19 - 0 / 8

POINTS

Point 1
(L): 3 - 6 / 8 (R):3 - 5 / 8

Point 2
(L): 6 - 7 / 8 (R):8 - 5 / 8

Point 3
(L): 7 - 1 / 8 (R):7 - 1 / 8

Point 4
(L): 3 - 4 / 8 (R):1 - 1 / 8

Point 5
(L): 0 - 0 / 8 (R):0 - 0 / 8

Point 6
(L): 0 - 0 / 8 (R):0 - 0 / 8,

Add'l Points
(L): 0 - 0 / 8 (R):0 - 0 / 8

CIRCUMFERENCES

Burr to Pt.1
(L): 4 - 2 / 8 (R):4 - 1 / 8

Pt.1 to Pt.2
(L): 3 - 5 / 8 (R):3 - 5 / 8

Pt.2 to Pt.3
(Between Main Beam and Pt. 3)
(L): 3 - 5 / 8 (R):3 - 6 / 8

Pt.3 to Pt.4
( Between Pt.2 and Pt.4)
(L): 3 - 6 / 8 (R):3 - 7 / 8

Gross Score
(L): 55 - 6/8 (R): 54 - 7/8

TOTAL SCORE: 127 - 2/8 inches

 

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Full report? I'm home now, so okay.

I got to my daughter's house Thursday afternoon about 2:00 pm. My son-in-law and I took my two climbers and we put them on trees that looked promising, went back to the house, changed and hit the stand.

I managed to get glimpses of four deer that day. The next morning I sat the other stand which was the morning spot and saw a few deer, including a nice 8 point that walked by at 25 yards. He was tempting, but I let him walk. I knew there were bigger deer here.

Friday afternoon I went back to the other spot and ended up seeing nothing.

Saturday morning I wasn't sure if I was going to sit all day or not, but I thought I was going prepared. I got set up and realized that I had only brought a half bottle of water with me but I figured I could make it work. I started seeing deer right away. The first was a spike right at first light followed by a fork horn. Then some does. Then a big 8 (maybe a 10) chased a doe through the field, across the creek 40 yards away and then they turned and crossed out of range from east to west. A spike came in following the doe and buck and he must have eventually caught them because in about 10 minutes he came blazing back through at Mach 2. I got a glimpse of the deer that was chasing him off, but he never got close.

Those deer bedded down and it was quiet for a while and I started glassing around and spotted movement. I could see a good buck bedded down and ranged him at 80 yards but he was in pretty thick cover and I couldn't tell what he was for sure. Then he stood up for a second, turned around and laid back down. That was when I saw that it was my son-in-law's #1 target buck, a wide 13 point he calls Ghost.

After watching both bucks for a long time Ghost finally got up and headed away. He totally ignored my grunt calls. While I was doing that the other buck disappeared also. That was it for a couple of hours and then a really nice 8 walked out of the creek, hit a trail and headed away from me.

My son-in-law texted me and said that he was going to get down and get something to eat since he was seeing nothing. He was hunting about a half mile from me. I jokingly texted back "Well scare something big my way." I kid you not, 5 minutes later my phone vibrated and the message said "Here he comes". I had no sooner read it than I heard crashing headed straight for me and saw a big 10 coming straight on. He hit a trail 40 yards away with no shot, stood there and then walked the wrong way. After that I saw some does and then the day was over. Not only was my urine bottle full, but my empty water bottle was half full, so I poured them out at the base of the tree and got out of there.

Yesterday morning I got on stand and at first light a little six point walked by. About 30 minutes later I was standing up and just happened to glance behind me and saw this big buck walking straight at me. My heart about jumped out of my chest and I reached for my bow and turned to my right thinking he was going to walk the trail that would give me a 25 yard shot.

Nope, that joker walked a straight line to the base of my tree and I was thinking, "Oh no". His head was to the left of the tree so I had to turn completely around and then I looked down and watched him sniff the ground for a full minute where I'd dumped my urine. I just knew the jig was up and I was waiting for him to bolt.

Finally he just casually kept walking dead away from the tree and he got to a trail six yards from my tree, turned left and stopped at 10 yards quartering away. At this point I was already at full draw and anchored, so I leaned over, aimed for the exit hole and touched the release. I knew he was a dead deer on impact, but something unusual happened. He was so close that when the arrow hit he grunt/groaned. I've never heard that before. Anyway, he tore out, crashing through the brush and I watched him crash, get up, crash again then it was over.

When I finally got down my arrow wasn't there. I was kind of like "Huh?". I looked and looked and finally thought that somehow it must have stayed in him. So I just started walking to him and when I got to him and saw the size of that body I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It looked more like a small horse.

After admiring him for a few minutes I walked back to where my son-in-law was waiting at the truck, drove back to his house, changed and we went to get him. We went to where he was standing when I shot and my son-in-law looked where it had run and he said in his Alabama accent "Gawd-ah-mighty, what a blood trail!"

We found my arrow 40 yards into the trail and he had only made it 80 yards. The arrow hit just below the backstrap at the back of the ribs center-punched the heart and exited right where his front leg meets the body and then hit his front leg bone. It didn't break the bone and it didn't break a blade on my Slick Trick, but it was enough to stop the arrow from punching all the way through into the dirt.

This was the heaviest deer either of us have ever tried to drag. We only had to drag him about 100 yards to a fence in the woods where the four wheeler was waiting. About 40 yards of it was downhill and he was hard enough to drag downhill. When the uphill part came we weren't walk dragging. We were "take a step, heave, take a step, heave" dragging.

It's too bad neither of us had a scale. My son in law guessed him at about 250 pounds on the hoof. I don't know if he was that big, but he was a horse of a buck.

My biggest bow buck before this was only 124". This one topped it by a little. You saw the score above, but I'm going to use my 1/4" wide metal tape now that I'm home and triple check it and I'm waiting on a question I posted in Bowhunting Talk to be answered about the inside spread question I have and then I'll get him posted in the Official Scorecard Thread.

 

Well guys, I've contributed all the points I can to the team.

I'm sitting here relaxing, watching a small fire in the stove and thinking about the fact that I can't shoot another buck in Missouri until after the opener of gun season on the 16th of November.

My son will get here on Friday for two weeks of bowhunting and I can only shoot a doe.

I'm sure not complaining, though. My son has yet to kill a deer with his bow and I'll be able to put him in some good spots.

The season is young and I haven't even started hunting in Arkansas where the season runs until 28 February.

Now I have to get started processing that buck. The neck on that beast weighs as much as one of his hindquarters.

 

Oh, there will be more adventures for me this season.

After all, I'm only halfway to my goal for the season.

 

So, who on the team is hunting right now? Well, not at this exact minute of course.

Someone else needs to kill something to keep me entertained.

I'll be back on a tree Saturday afternoon. Hopefully my son will get his first bowkill while he's here.

 

I'm sorry I missed this and I'm really sorry it happened.

I wish you weren't so far away.

I'd haul you on a four wheeler trailer and put you in a ground blind where I know you could kill one.