Keep at it Scott! Yea, sucks about the second gun season. I'm chompin at the bit to get back out after taking a much needed break. Even if it is for another doe, (landowner wants one). I actually may go to Wisconsin next weekend, if I can brave the cold. I want to pick up a camera I have had there, and still have a buck and doe tag! Let's not get over confident gents. A couple of teams are'nt far behind and they have some "heavy hitters", still with tags. We need some more bone on the ground! Good luck all
Hey guys, it's Will again. I had another awesome full day in the stand. At first, I arrowed a nice 12 pointer. The rock and I scored him tonight ay 141-2/8 inches. Again, I'm tickled silly. I had another eight come in after I made my shot. I tell the whole story and get better pictures up later. this will have to do for now. Yes, I was think of us all contributing as well. That is so awesome!
As many of you know it’s been a interesting/frustrating hunting year for me, lots of close calls and a couple of blunders on my part make finally closing the deal pretty sweet. Here is the story, kind of a long read. Sunday night, the last day of rifle season, I decided to get up the next morning and go out hunting before work. I get up and get ready to head out, get everything loaded and open the garage door and realize it is raining... I'm committed so I throw on my rain gear and head out to the farm. Once in my stand I start to realize how nasty it truly is, a steady light rain and 32, I've never been so thankful for hand and toe warmers. Day break hits and nothing is moving, around sun up a small buck suddenly appears directly under my stand. I knew that with the rain you wouldn't hear them coming but I had been trying to keep a vigilant eye out in every direction. He soon moves on and I try to focus harder on watching for any movement. Another hour goes by with no movement anywhere. It's time for me to get down and head back so I can get to work a reasonable time. I pack up my stuff, throw my pack on and as I grab my bow rope I look around one last time to make sure nothing is close. Just as I start to tie my bow up a stick breaks behind me and a blur of a doe runs through at around 30 yard, I drop the rope grab my bow and try to hook on my release just as the buck hits the woods. He is cruising fast and just behind a couple trees, he hits a shooting lane and I try to stop him and it doesn't even slow him down. He finally checks up well out of range and looks around, I can see he is a good buck with one side a little busted up. Once the woods calmed down I climbed down, once again frustrated, and headed to work. At work that afternoon I was dwelling on my season and decided I needed to mix things up a bit to try to change my luck. There is a piece of timber on the farm that we have never hunted, we've always considered it a safe zone for the deer. It's not very large and it sits about a half mile off the nearest road, access is tough to say the least. I decided that it was time to take a few risks go in and set up on the end of a natural funnel off at the end of the timber and see if I could close the deal. I talked to my hunting buddy about it, he liked the plan. The wild card was we didn’t know if there are any trees that will work for a stand and even if there is we would be putting up the stand and sitting the same day, something I have never done before. I thought about it that night and the next morning decided to give it a shot. The wind set up perfect to get in and do the work without being detected by any deer up in the bedding areas so it was now or never. Around 1:45 we got to the farm, found a tree that looked promising and decided to give it a go. By 2:15 I'm sitting in the stand soaking wet with sweat but loving the setup. Maybe 15 minutes goes by, I'm still breaking off little branches to open up lanes from the stand, and 2 small bucks come filtering down through the trees. They get to around 40 yards before they feed off onto an adjacent hill, a very good sign of things to come. Over the next couple hours I have several deer come within 50-75 yards of the stand, including a very nice buck, but unfortunately not where I can get a shot. Around 5:00 I pick up movement directly in front of me coming down off a hill, it's a doe being followed closely by a shooter buck. The doe works herself to around 50 yards and then drops down into a thicket, the buck is still standing up on the hill around 100 yards away. He begins to work himself down the hill dodging in an out between cedar trees, it's at this point I realize it is the same buck from yesterday morning. He cruises to around 50 yards behind a cedar tree, I draw my bow, he stands there for what seems like an eternity... probably 15 seconds. Finally he pops out and I have a clear 45-50 yard shot, I let it fly before he can drop into the thicket. Thwack! He kicks hard and runs hard right past my stand and up the hill towards the bedding areas. The hit was farther back than I would like but there was blood visible as he ran past, I knew it should be lethal. I collected myself, texted a couple people and sat down hoping to get a crack at a doe. At dark I met up with my buddy discussed the hit and decided to track to see what we had for blood, there was good red blood but not real heavy so we backed out. The next morning I had meetings, much to chagrin of a few people... namely PT, I wasn't able to track until the afternoon. My buddy, myself and our sons loaded up after lunch and headed to the farm, on the way my dad called to see if we needed more help of course I happily accepted. We started tracking and it soon became very obvious this wasn't going to be easy. What had been good blood the first 150 yards soon became a drip here and there. We tracked drip to drip for over an hour through some pretty thick stuff. My son was a lifesaver, every time it seemed that we had lost the trail he seemed to pick it back up again. In the meantime my dad was walking the hillside hoping to stumble across the deer. Thankfully just when we had thought we lost the trail again my dad yelled that he had found him not far away on the hillside, unfortunately the coyotes had beat us to him. His hind quarters were completely gone as well as one front shoulder and most of the rib cage and back. We took a few pictures, and decided there wasn't much there for us to salvage. I'm disappointed that I lost the meat but much more relieved that we were able to find the deer. He ended up grossing at 132 6/8, bigger than I expected when I shot him. A big thanks goes out to my son, my dad and Jassen for all their help. Most of all a HUGE thanks goes to my wife, I have hunted more this year than ever before and she supported me all the way, thanks hun! I also appreciate the support from you guys on the team! Matt
I just was reading the thread posted on the main board regarding maximum distance for shots and it got me thinking. How many people consider a 45 yard shot unethical? It certainly wasn't my best shot at that range but I regularly practice out to 60 and feel very confident under 50 yards. Maybe I need to reconsider my limits?
Matt, Awesome story with an unfortunate ending. There is closure though-you did find the buck. Things happen for a reason, and sometimes the Good Lord doesn't always reveal His plan. Yeah,maybe it is His way of saying, "reel it in a tad". I guess you can only be the judge...shot selection and placement is in your hands. Make good choices amigo. Use this deer as a lauching point. Absorb what you've learned. Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Will, Nice buck !!! Matt, your post was a good read!!! Tony, Ummm, I dunno about you boy !!!! I noticed today the competition thread has been updated, there are 1 or 2 teams who are actually in striking distance. I found that surprising with our point total. Be safe, Hunt hard Dave
Guys, hope you don't mind... PT and I have been stirring the pot on the other team's threads. We're trying hard to turn this thing into a horse race! Let's keep pushing. Hunt hard and hunt often. We still have five deer to bag. Let's take this race to the wire!
Great.... nothing like poking a sleeping bear! I plan on sticking with it, when it turns colder I should get a shot at a doe so I can tag out. I haven't been able to get a shot at doe in a month. Let's finish strong guys!
"poking" my eye Matt! I'm trying to pull the panty hoses up over that bear's heads. Where's the glory in pounding a sleeping bear? Remember we're TINEACIOUS...A huge heart engulfed in nature! Let's put some arrows through em!
You ride whatever PT LOL While your at it....come on up here and ride my freaking snowplow....over 18inches of snow already and its not melting anytime soon. This is the most snow we have gotten in Nov that I can remember. I might pick up an extra doe tag for late season, although its in a different WMU. Good luck out there guys!!!! Lets nail this one shut!!!
