Well I'll be in the trees Friday and fyi had two trees I pit stands in with poison oak. Went to doc for one.
I don't mess with Ivy, oak or sumac. Used to get poison ivy religiously. Calamine lotion was like pepto bismol Never had sumac or oak and don't plan on starting at 43. I'd rather slide naked down a shagbark hickory
That would be one way for me to end my career as a bowhunter ed instructor. I was just psyched to actually see an elk on the hoof. This is a piece of state land that someone had illegally posted, and the area is not known for having a lot of elk. The only elk droppings I found in the whole section were just above me on the hillside. I had the rifle today, but next September I will be in there with my bow.
One of the few gifts I was blessed with is the ability to not get poison ivy. I can roll around in it and rub it on open cuts and still wont get it. I have 2 friends who if they even look at a pic of it will get it all over.
First off, a great big THANK YOU to all of you for all of the help and support!! Amie was a total savior in this tracking mission!! Here goes, this great adventure started off Friday evening after work. I had the right wind, moon phase, and temperature. I love hunting when it is cloudy and on the first quarter of the moon. It was a little windy but the wind quickly died at sundown. This buck had come by out of range along the edge of the corn. He went by and worked a scrape. The first time he walked by there were 2 does and 2 fawns in the clover. He paid no attention to them at all. This was about 6pm. Sundown was around 6:20 pm. It wasn't long when I noticed a noise coming from the west. The does were all at attention looking that way. I was wondering if it was this buck coming back from a different direction, it wasn't, it was a little scrub buck. Like a bomb going off the does scattered. As I'm trying to get a shot at one of them I noticed another deer coming through the food plot. It's the 11 ptr. At this time all of the does had fed off and the scrub buck decided he didn't want anything of this deer. The sun is down now and the skies have cleared. I'm just in the edge of the timber so it is still fairly light with the twilight. This buck moves through the food plot and gets on a "trail" that the does had just went down. He is now broad side at approx. 30 yds. I go to full draw and wait for an opening. He finally gets in my lane and I meeeehhh him. He took one more step than I wanted. This is where it all went bad. I shot and thought I marked the shot fairly well, but as many of us know it isn't always that way. Turns out I was further back than I thought and the arrow didn't come all the way out of him. I got down and looked to see if there was any blood at or near the point of impact. I looked a little and decided to just back out and go back Saturday morning. I was confident that he was dead but didn't want to push him all over the country side. Saturday morning we got right in the blood. It was getting better the further we went, good sign, sorta. He made more twists and turns than someone taking a sobriety test walking a white line. The blood was good and coming out both sides. We followed it down and back to within 5 yds of the stand I shot him out of. At this point we were stumped. The blood had just stopped. We went back and had lunch. I just knew, especially after talking to a few people, this deer was dead. So I headed back out later in the afternoon. I was really going to check the camera cards to see if he had walked by one when I decided to check an area I thought we might have missed due to the multiflora rose. Sure enough, I stepped right back in to the blood. I followed it through some thick stuff. He again made more circles than a merry-go-round. Amie came back to help even though her back was killing her. I couldn't get her to go back to the house. She had back surgery in late July. Enough about her. She kept finding where he had went. We finally called the game due to darkness, little did we know we were within 200' of him at this time. He has still dodged jumping the barbed wire fence on to the neighbors. Good. I'd rather have him on our property. Sunday morning. I get up and go look for 45 minutes before the boys hockey games. I kept on the blood then had to leave. We came back after lunch to keep on the blood. It started fading to the point that we really had to hunt for it. Frost over night and dry weather during the day made the blood very "brittle" on the leaves. Tracker finally made enough turns that he is headed for the neighbors fence. DANG! We follow the blood to the fence but can't find where he crossed. Finally I found a trace of blood on the barbed wire and on a leaf across the fence. We looked for 30 minutes before we called the neighbor to get permission to go on to his property. The fence is about 20' over on our place due to the way the property was divided during the previous owners divorce. The neighbor said go for it. I followed a trail that went along the side of the steep bluff. Billy Goat territory. I'm finding nothing. Amie is looking down the "mountian" for any sign of anything. We are both striking out to the point I'm not sure what to do next when all of a sudden I hear Amie say "I think I see your deer". I just about fell down the steep bluff. I asked where in the world do you see him, in the creek she replied. I flew down that rock bluff like a Mountain Goat. Sure enough, it was him with the arrow still in him. All but 6" was sticking out of him. I appreciate all of the thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and most of all, patience. It has been one stressful weekend, but it ended up just like the sunset was here......Beautiful!!
Was an awesome evening! Wasnt sure where to look as i could here deer walking...ended up taking a tom & a buck this evening! Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Tapatalk
Yes congrats glad you found him. Was it cold enuf that you where able to salvage the meet and cape?? Sent from my SM-G955U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
The cape, I believe. Taxidermist said bring it. Meat, no. Unfortunately it had been in the creek since Friday night. That part sucked. That was a big bodied buck. Sent from my SM-N900V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Good luck man, I’ll be praying you get a giant this morning! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
What a great hunt. Congrats on both kills! Blessings..........Pastorjim Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
