**** Team 9 Double Lung Liquidators *****

October 4th, 2009, remember it like yesterday, sat at work and watched the weather forecast with an eye towards the wind and the incoming rain.

Debated and debated on whether or not to go out, finally made up my mind and decided to go out, picked a stand that was easy to get to, just in case it started to rain, I could sneak out of there, no muss no fuss type of deal.

Overcast, windy, very damp air, just on the cusp of rain, got out in the stand around 3:30pm, sat there for a couple hours wondering why I was there, and I see a buck coming down the trail, nice one, but not a shooter, it comes into shooting range and stops broadside (about 15 yards away) I draw on it, let down, draw on it again, let down,

He moves ahead and stops in the next shooting lane through the leaves, still at the same distance, pull on him again, let down, pick up the binoculars, and take a hard look at him, hmmm beams are to the nose, good mass, good spread, he moves on, goes further down the trail and stops one more time, couple more steps he will be gone, I draw on him again, still not intending to shoot, well at least that was what my mind was saying, guess the thought never made it to my hand because all of a sudden that arrow was in the air.

Good solid hit, knocked him to the ground, he ran off in a wide circle around the stand, traveling a total of probably a hundred yards, but ended up about 50 yards from the stand, stood there, then tipped over.....

Oh crap, the property I have the privilege of hunting on has a pretty strict rule at the time of the buck has to be bigger than your last one, and you have to shoulder mount it. I wasn't sure what I had shot.

So I get down from the stand almost falling the last 8 feet when the adrenaline (buck fever) set in, get down, and call my dad saying I had a buck down, he asks "how big" and I could not answer him, thinking a 130ish buck, tell him that I will wait to see once we go to get it.

An hour later we go out to see whats what, walking up on it I still remember the dull dread sitting in my stomach, I know that should never be something that a hunter should experience after putting any animal down, but it was still there.

Then I hear my dad utter the words "holy cow, that thing is HUGE" I was a couple steps behind corralling my boys (18 months and 3 1/2 at the time) and I finally see the buck, the body was so big it made the horns look small, it ended up being about 220lb field dressed, and ended up being a dead even 150"

Took lots of pictures with my family there (wife, sons, father) had the buck 'high' for quite some time afterwards, actually getting pretty jacked just writing this.

October 4th, 2009 was a good day.

 

Well guys its 2am and I literally cant sleep with the thought of being in a tree tomorrow. Ill let you guys know how the morning sit goes when I get back. Im going to sit on an open flat next to some bedding just trying to do some recon really and figure out how the deer are moving on the property. this will be my first hunt on this farm, but ive seen some dandys walking around on it so maybe ill be lucky enough to get a crack at one early. Happy hunting to all the guys headed out tomorrow. I CANT WAIT!

 

October 4th, 2013

Sitting at work, looking at the weather, the forecast is calling for rain all weekend long, rain 50% chance all day Friday, 70-80% chance all day Saturday, might be a small window Sunday morning, but chance of rain in the afternoon.

Driving me nuts, got a weekend with not much going on, and can't seem to find a good solid day to get out.

But, come about noon this afternoon, it was overcast but no hard rain falling, this holds till about quitting time, check the radar one more time, check the wind, come home and ask as nicely as I can if I can go out hunting, I get an answer of "I suppose you can" not willing to dwell deeper on the ambiguity of the answer I shower up and head out. Kind of a crummy wind, but we had put up a new stand this year that is perfect for this wind, the same stand I had passed on a really nice 10 pointer earlier this season, and the same stand that I had shot my doe from.

Walking out, I bump a doe out of a the cornfield that is about 50 yards from the stand, not the best thing, but it is what it is.

In the stand and ready to go by 4:00pm, at 4:30 a doe comes running down the trail, and stop 10 yards from the stand, caught me total unprepared, so I just sit there and watch her, she is upwind, but really skittish, the wind is blowing hard, she turns and runs back into the woods, not getting a good feeling about my decision about going out, she ran right back into where the deer usually come out.

At about 5 a fun comes running full bore out of the corn and to where both does ran. Great, usually when this happens nothing comes from where they had run to.

6:00pm rolls around and a doe and two fawns are coming out, right from where all the other deer ran into, ok, this is a good thing, they camp under the apple tree about 20 yards away, they were there for about 10 minutes, and here comes another 3 deer, (big doe, yearling doe, and a fawn) they were really skittish, but instead of running back from where they came from they run out into the field, soon to be followed by the original 3 deer under the apple tree, out in the field they were joined by two more does, ok, 11 deer so far tonite, guess this has been a good evening.

Sat there for a bit and see a doe about 100 yards out on the trail that comes under the stand, look around, look back and she is gone, couple minutes later I have two does under the stand and one of them I happen to have an arrow pointed at, decide that tonite is not for does and let down on her.

It is now starting to get pretty dark, well before shooting time but the overcast sky is not real conducive to continuing this much longer. Make one more look around and see what I think is a deer on the trail about 60 yards out, put the binoc's up and see it is a buck, cool, even better a second one shows up, a nice 2 maybe 3 year old, great mass but a pretty narrow rack. then a third buck steps out from behind a pine that dwarfs the other two, horns and body.

It actually put some (well alot) of shake into my knees. put the binos down and got situated for a possible shot.

Get set and look back, they are heading my way. Try to settle my self down, calming breathes, talking myself down, anything, nothing works, luckily the bucks did it for me by disappearing, where did they go? crud.......

The stand I am in has a dead tree just to the north, so basically there is a huge area that is blocked out by leaves, so you can see the deer quite a ways off on the trail, but not again until they are 15-20 yards away.

Anyways, I am standing there and I see one of the bucks heading off the trail to the pond, getting a drink, but which one is it?
Don't want to glass it, because I don't know where the other two are, so I wait.

After what seems like an eternity, I see movement below me, about 25yards through the leaves.

Oh man, it is the bigger one, and he is big, mass, body, everything, he walks down the trail, and stops right behind a dead hanging branch, looking around, I draw back, once again he looks a bit skittish, two, small, itty bitty steps and he will clear the branch.

If I lean over I might be able to sneak a shot in, but two more steps and it is a chip shot.

He flicks his tail and turns around and starts heading back the way he came from........no, no, no!!!!!!!

I lean out a bit, put the pin on him, see that I am not holding the bow level, try to compensate, one more step and he is gone, the arrow is off, I hear it hit, he takes that next step and is gone from sight, hidden behind the branches and tree to the north of me.

Frantically I look down the trail, nothing, look out to the east where everything opens up, nothing, the light is fading fast.

The shot looked low, when I hit him, (I think I hit him) it looked like he kicked a little bit and spun into the shot, stupid lighted nock didn't light up. (any bets it was operator error on installation?)

Quick gather up all my stuff, dig my head lamp out to go and try to see what the arrow looks like.

The grass is thick right off the trail, don't see the arrow anywhere, I do see a lot of soaking wet grass, starting to doubt my shot even more, turn around to leave and see the arrow laying on the ground, blood to the fletchings, blood but not the solid dripping blood I wanted to see, I am starting to think I hit him in the leg. Why did I got a 60lb bow, my old one would have stuck that arrow in the ground. The excuses have started, ready to puke.

Head back to the truck and start making phone calls, my usual support group is spread out over the country today, so I gotta try and scrounge up some help.

The next hour I can't stop shaking, literally, trying to eat a quick dinner food was falling off the fork, suffice it to say I was not very optimistic.

A friend of mine and my brother-in-law were kind enough to come out and help me try and recover the deer along with the land-owners wife, was also gracious enough to come out and help.

I crawl up into the stand and direct them to where the arrow is, and using a flash light point in the direction I think the buck went. I climb down and head over, we find some blood spatter by the impact but that is it, the next 10 minutes are, for me the worst part of hunting, little blood here, little blood there, all on the side I hit the deer on, nothing on the ground, everything is at waist height.

We finally get on a trail, and start getting down to it, the blood is still light, but it seems like it is getting heavier, starting to show up on the other side of the trail, and there is some on the ground, we come up on a small clearing, four or five trails lead out of the clearing, great spot to find sheds, but now all I want to see is that bright crimson.

After what seems like forever but probably only a couple minutes, we find blood again maybe 5 yards past that I hear the words that you pray to hear.

"There is a dead deer over here"

!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasn't a low shot, it was a little back, but exited on the opposite side right in his armpit, perfect double lung.

After maybe one or two high fives and a hug thrown in there, I grab the antlers and there was no ground shrinkage.

It was what I have been after the last three years and probably pushing close to 600 hours on stand since my last bow buck.

What makes it even more special to me, is my father found a shed this last winter of a buck that I passed on last season, that I deemed just shy of being what I was looking for, and it is a dead ringer for the buck I took tonite.

So, tomorrow I will take it over the taxidermist, then get the antlers back in a couple days and get a score on him, figuring around 135-140

no more points forthcoming from me.........

 

YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is awesome!! man great buck!! you got me so hooked on your story! congrats man, im so happy for ya!! that feeling of doubt is what I had to and it is awful, but when you finally see through the bushes that white belly on the ground....that feeling is one of the best you get as a bowhunter! congrats!!

welcome to the 2013 BUCK DOWN CLUB!!!!!!!

 

Awesome! What a great surprise to read first thing in the morning. Great Buck! And great story...even though you have 2 deer checked in, don't forget to stop by and check in! Great job this season...and only Oct 4th!

 

Finally something on the camera

 

Way to go! Team 9 all the way! Great way to start off my saturday. Good luck to the rest of is who are out today.

 

So, If I am looking at your pictures correctly, you have not one, but two good bucks on your camera?

Cool.....Good luck!!!!

 

The 8 point is nice but he's young the 7 point I'll shoot if I see I have a bigger/older deer I'm after but he's only a 5 point. I'll post a picture of him later when in on a computer an not my phone

 

Those are some nice deer. Hopefully you get a shot at one of them. I can't wait to see the other picture.

 

Man thats a HAMMER of a buck! NICELY DONE!!!! More points for us looks like were gonna have a shot at this boys!

 

Didn't see a deer this morning . only got rained on and watched the squirrels bounce from tree to tree just asking for a shaft sandwich. Got some cool shots of the woods though and this set was probably one of the prettier mornings ive ever had in a tree. This is my big funnel stand overlooking a quad trail and pinch point coming off the hill. only one of my buddys saw a deer this morning so movement was definitely low. well see what happens tonight! Heres a pic i took from my stand this morning.

 

That, good sir, is a great location! Hopefully you get a little more action tonight! Keep us posted!

 

That's a solid 185-190 points dude contributed to the team!

 

Has anyone heard from beaubowhunter lately? I beleive he had a LA hunt going on about now.

 

Good luck to everyone goin out this afternoon or tomorrow!! I'm heading out for a few hours in the AM. my wife said cash is low...so only shoot if its a monster...so I don't think I can harvest a doe this weekend, but I swear im still good for another 50 very shortly!!! keep it up guys, our team ROCKS!!!!!!!!

 

Very nice wiaxle!!

I went out this morning. Got there a little late but still situated before shooting light. Spooked a doe on the way in. Saw nothing else but squirrels. Did a bit more scoring and found a son place to hang a stand along a rub line going back Monday.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4

 

Just for giggles, didn't even know the youngest was doing this till I looked at the pictures

 

Post #72

http://forums.bowhunting.com/2013-b...scorecard***-updated-10-5-a-5.html#post774459


Little shy of what I thought (hoped he would be) but not disappointed one little bit, awesome hunt, awesome time, thanks for letting me share with you all.



Right Left
G1 3.5 4.5
G2 7.25 8
G3 8 7
H1 5.25 5.125
H2 4.25 4.5
H3 4.125 4.125
H4 3.5 3
BEAM 23 22.5
58.875 58.75

SUBTOTAL 117.625
SPREAD 16.25

FINAL 133.875"

 

Thanks for sharing. How much hunting do you have left?