Well KY Bow Season opened up today, and I'm officially done buck hunting for the year....Early season scouting and camera work patterned this deer like near clock work for me, and it payed off. Smoked him on cam this evening around 7 oclock at 18 yards.....Look for the footage later this year on our new show coming on Sportsmans Channel called 2 Close 4 Comfort! Anyway, early season scouting can pay off after all. I'll tell the story later, gotta lot of work ahead of me.
Great buck. You are done, completely? No trips planned? Either way, sweet buck. Like has been said before, plan your work and work your plan. Props man.
Tembry...way to pattern that buck and then kill him on opening day! Not many people can say they have done that throughout their time hunting. I know I have not. GOOD work.
Trevor I was dodging St Louis traffic last night when I go the text, It was kinda hard to text back. I was hoping for pics today and >>>BAM<<< there they are Thats a GREAT Buck man, you should be proud!!
Well guys thanks for the props, but I will be the first to admit that sometimes success is due more to the spot than your hunting savvy. IDK how to describe it other than just luck, but either way I scored a phenomenal piece of property this summer and it payed off for me big time. I lost every hunting spot I had since last year due to my grandpa passing, leasing, and other reasons.....Mid June I was still without a hunting spot whatsoever. Anyway started running cams and got this buck leaving a cedar thicket growed up area in order to hit a sweet corn field, and after getting a good idea on which of the trails he was using, set up accordingly in between. We got in the stand around 330 yesterday and not having planned well with where I hung the set, had the sun beaming directly down onto us in our faces, making us light up like a christmas tree. Around 530 two 1.5 bucks step out on the exact same trail the big one later used, and they immediately picked us off and blew out of there....Not good signs. I knew until the sun went over the trees, we really stood no chance. We watched a few does feed a hundred yards off or so for close to an hour before the sun finally dipped behind a tree leaving us in shade. We decided to turn back around and focus in front of us cause it was getting to be any moment now when he SHOULD step out... Sure enough, not 2 minutes later I look down and see a deer coming out the trailhead not 20 yards from the stand exiting the cedars. I say deer at first to get the cameramans attention, but he then lifts his head and exposes his rack, letting me know it was him. I drew as the cameraman started rolling footage, and waited right at a minute or so for him to turn as he was angled almost directly at us. He finally turned and gave me enough of an angle for a shot, and I took it. Had he taken 2 more steps I wouldn't have a shot, so it was now or never.... It was a quartering to shot, with about 10 inches difference in entry or exit, but as the kill photo shows I tucked it in close enough to the shoulder to wreak havoc inside him. Upon cleaning him found out I cut one lung in half, knicked the other, demolished the liver, and exited through the stomach. We backed down found the arrow, and backed out. It was approaching dark, so we had to both give him time and wait for backup to bring us camera lights for the recovery. After about 2.5 very long hours, we finally got to watch the footage on a big tv, and reconfirmed that I smoked him. This gave us enough confidence to take up the trail at night, so we got started. We started at the impact, but as worried about earlier, it appears that the stomach exit hole had been plugged up upon exit cause there was zero blood. Notta, nothing. We followed the trail I watched him loop back onto looking for blood, still not a speck. Dave and I continued ahead along the trail we could best figure he used, about 50 yards later we hit a wall of stench. We both froze looked at each other, and realized we smelled a dead deer. Not 25 yards later we found him piled up under some cedars...He hadn't went 70 yards from the stand total, but with a 2 blade Rage gash, he honestly never bled a drop. No blood was running down the entry side hole, and the exit hole was plugged with stomach matter. Made for a VERY nervous bowhunter on the bloodtrail, but eventually got my buck anyway. I was convinced I would only do another Euro mount this year to save space/money...but I've reconsidered. :D As soon as my taxi gets out of the woods this morning I'm making a trip up to see him.
Yeah I think so man, not this year anyway. Decided to save my money back for a return trip to Alaska next year. I'll be filming a lot here in KY and up in OH this year for everyone else on the team. I MAY try and head back to Arizona in December since I still have a valid buck tag out there from January, but I doubt I make it happen due to the tight scheduling around the holidays. So I think I'm done for the year, minus I still need to take 1-2 does off of this property.
