In the blind with one of my boys for an evening sit. He's got the x-bow and I brought my Mathews. We can double with a little luck!
Ahhhh..... We had some good/bad luck. Had a small 8 come in at 5:30pm. He didn't present a shot. 10 min before end of legal we had a giant come blowing in and stopped broadside at 17 yards. Big enough I wanted to shoot. I set the Xbox on the tripod. At that instant I realized I was shaking. I expect for my boy to shoulder the xbow... It then dawned on me he had dozed off. I give him 3 or 4 nudges and he came to. Bucks head was down eating. He got on him and I told him to shoot. He then says what seemed at the top of his lungs everything was blurry. The buck at this point is on to us and starts to walk. I stop him again and tell my boy to shoot when ready. After a few more tale flickers the buck trots off. I turn and look at my boy and he is shivering and his glasses are completely fogged over. I just sit there in shock. I let him know I was proud of him for not pulling the trigger. He is ready to give it another go in the morning. We took care of the equipment failure. Lol!
Good job team 2 bucks down this weekend... Look forward to seeing the pics Bee... I have taken off work this week and will be in the woods!!!
I just have time to post the pics, as I will tell the story and post the measurements later today. (Busy morning.....I have to be in St. Louis shortly to give a presentation on Beekeeping.) He's not the biggest 8 pointer in the world, but I like him. Here's some shots.........I'll catch up with the measurements and the story later.
Looks good to me Bee! On a side note it's the blanks that are team killers. Not that should come first....
Wow I just realized we are in 10th place and I believe we have one more deer to hit the scoreboard yet! I think we will jump up 3 or 4 more spots of those teams in front of us have their deer checked in. We keep after it we may just have a shot at it!
As promised, here is the recap of my hunting weekend: I was out on Saturday morning. We had a cold front come thru with high winds on Friday, and I figured that would have most deer hunkered down. Friday night brought our first hard freeze of the season. (low of 25 at my house) Saturday morning was fresh, frosty and the winds had calmed down after the front blew thru. I just FELT like deer season for a change. I chose a stand for the north wind, and waited for first light. I saw several does just after sunrise, and about 8:00 a.m. I had a pretty nice 8 point buck in front of me at 5 yards. I was a full draw on him, and I have no idea why I didn't let the air out of him. I let him walk. I know this deer: I have many camera shots of him, and he isn't a huge 8 pointer, but he is a big bodied dude. Oh well.....he was there, and I let him go. Saturday evening I chose a different stand, because we had a changing wind. I saw a few does on the move, but nothing within range. On the upside, I could hear the combine whirring away in the corn planted on our ground. Music to a bowhunters ears: The crops are coming out.....no place for the deer to hide! Sunday morning brought clear skies, light winds and temps just below freezing. Right before shooting light, I have a large doe move under my stand at less than 5 yards. The wind was perfect, and she had no idea I was there. Things were looking good. As daylight arrived, it was obvious that this was the day, for whatever reason. The deer were everywhere, and they were on the move. I saw no less than 10 deer within 1/2 hour after sunup. Then I saw him: It was the 8 pointer I had passed on the morning previous. I told myself if I saw him again, I would take him if he presented a shot. (I have never killed a nice, typical 8 pointer, and I have always wanted one, even if he wasn't a monster deer.) Yes, I have a soft spot for a typical, symmetrical 8 point buck. The 8 pointer was working up a ridge, away from me, about 50 yards west of my stand. I grabbed my buck roar call, and blew a couple non-aggressive, "Hey, I'm over here" grunts. It got his attention, but he didn't change course. I waited till he moved across the ridge a bit, and I gave him 2 more, slightly more aggressive grunts. Saying "I might be bigger than you, come and see". That's all it took. Here he came. I stood up, folded up the seat on my ladder stand, secured it, put down the grunt call, and got positioned for a shot. All the while, I never took my eyes off this buck. He came in right behind my stand, and stood broadside in a shooting lane about 22 yards away. I drew on him, settled just above his shoulder, and touched the trigger on my release. I watched the arrow hit home, he bolted away from me about 8 to 10 quick steps, slowed to a walk, and began the "drunken stagger". All the while he was right next to the creek that runs thru our property. I said a quick prayer that he wouldn't end up in the creek......but I was too late. He stumbled down the bank a short ways, the fell over and tumbled into the creek. It was over in less than 30 seconds, and he went less than 20 yards after the impact. Lungs going in, and heart before it stopped. As humane as it can get. I gathered my gear, called my son and wife.......because there was no way I was getting this fella out of the creek by myself. After we drug him up the creek bank, loaded him on the deer cart, and got him back to the farm, all my wife could say was "We are buying a 4 wheeler for next year". I love it when a plan comes together! So...............there's the story of my weekend hunt. I'm still going to be sitting in trees, looking to fill an anterless-only tag with a mature doe. I will get him measured up this evening, and post him in the scoring thread when I get that done. Momma says he deserves to go on the wall, so it's off to the taxidermist tomorrow. Here's some pictures for ya: I had a wonderful weekend...........and right now, I am a most awesome kind of tuckered out!
Here's the scorecard from the 8 pointer I took today. (I am by no means a scoring expert, so if something looks goofy, please let me know. My wife and I checked and double checked, and it looks right to us!) I also posted the required pictures and scoring info. in the contest scoring thread. It's been a long day! (Good, but long!)
Jake, I think you should just about hit full rut head on toward the end of this week. That should have you right on track for November 7th. From what I witnessed this morning, the bucks are cruising hard, sizing up their competition and the selection of breeding candidates. I didn't see any bucks chasing or following does real closely, which leads me to believe the full on rut here in our area will be just about like the past several years..............getting rolling really good on or about this coming weekend. Good luck.................I'll be out there too, as I have some vacation days coming up starting this Friday!
Leave tomorrow morning for Illinois. Will be in a tree from Tuesday afternoon until Sunday. Hoping to get it done!
