This is the story of my 2017 whitetail buck harvest. It began in an operating room in April and ended last night in a river. Here's how my season went. In April of this year I underwent a dreaded shoulder surgery to repair the labrum in my right shoulder. The surgery went well however when I woke up, I was informed I had 7 new bone screws holding my labrum in place. Physical therapy started 4 weeks later in May. By July I had my sling off but still very little strength in my right arm. Keep in mind, I'm right handed. I asked my surgeon to sign paperwork allowing me to hunt with a crossbow. I received a ONE season pass to hunt with a crossbow. In August of this year I had all my permits in order but needed to buy a crossbow for one season. As you can probably guess, I didn't want to spend $300+ dollars on a one time use item. Since crossbows are rare here in Iowa Craigslist was no help. I ended up doing a ton of research and for the Jaguar crossbow from Po Lang archery had good reviews. It was only $90 on the internet, so I bought the 175lbs version. I received the crossbow, assembled it and went out shooting. It was my first time to ever shoot one, but the compact nature of this tiny recurve bow made it light and easy to handle. The bow has a 12" powerstroke which means for it's small size, it packs a punch. After a day of shooting I was comfortable at 20 yards. By October 1st I was comfortable out to 35 yards and knew that was my max range with this bow. I went to buy tags on opening day only to find that the DNR had cut doe tag numbers in half and all I could get was a statewide (any sex) buck tag. This was disappointing but nothing I could do about it. On October 14th I went out on my first hunt of the season, it went surprisingly well. Beautiful October morning, didn't forget anything. Went in early, about and hour before daylight. About 815am I spike come in on a string, passed in front of me at 20yards and moved off behind me. A few seconds later I hear the spike rubbing a tree behind me and making a scrape. Little did I know, it wasn't the spike. Some how while watching the spike come in a decent 8pt buck snuck up behind me. By the time I saw it was him rubbing that tree he was at 27yards and leaving. I didn't feel comfortable rushing the shot so I let him walk... Every sit this year I had deer around me, I never saw anything big enough to shoot. I say this as a two fold statement. You see, I used evercalm on my boots and pants every hunt this year. I know that's what that spike was trailing in on during that first hunt. Every other hunt I had does, and young buck milling around my stand, or even bedding down 30 yards away for hours! So this brings us to last night Nov. 4th. I had hunted the morning and the same song played, young forky, a spike and some does within 25 yards all morning. I had to help a buddy move from 11:30am to about 1:15 so after that I got ready and headed to the woods. I climbed in.my stand at 3:15pm. The ground was wet so my approach was silent. There was a light fog and gentle breeze from the East. I was sitting in a valley and expected the deer to come from the North. The wind was in my face but slightly from right to left. So not ideal, but the way my season had gone, I was confident I'd see deer. About 2 minutes into my hunt I see a doe fawn due South at 75 yards. And, then... Nothing. Just birds and squirrels. To say the least I was very disappointed. Shooting light was ending soon. I had about 10 min left. I was think about starting to pack up when I look over my left shoulder to see antler in the distance and coming in quick. He wasn't bird doging, he was just strolling in. Without a care in the world. Before I saw Mr Buck, I had sent a few prayers up. Mainly just thanking God for my ability and means to hunt. Thanking Him for the safety and protection He provides. I asked that if possible a good buck could come in a give me a shot. I'd do the rest. Mr. Buck continued in and stepped off the beaten path walking closer to my stand and turning broadside almost directly down wind. At this point he was 30 yards. I thought about taking the shot but he was calm and feeding on acorns. He kept feeding, slowing walking to me and to the west. At 25 yards he was broadside with a slight quartering away shot. I place the iron sights on his vitals and squeezed. Pop! He donkey kicks and bolts. Wraps around my stand and heads straight to the river. I watch him fade into the fog and hear multiple deer crash into the river. All is quiet. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point. Without lighted nocks it was hard to see where exactly the point of impact was. His reaction told me it was a good hit. I sat down and said a prayer. As I started to pack up about 2 min later I heard another crash in the water about 75 yards away. I thought, that's either my buck or another deer found my buck and bound off. I called my buddy he said he come down in a few minutes. I climbed down but couldn't find my arrow, or blood. This was not good. The ground was wet and it was misting. I found about 4" of my 18" arrow with the fletching broke off near where I shot him. No blood. I told my friend I knew he ran to the river. So 30 min after the shot, it's completely dark. We take up the trail. Well, there was no trail. No blood, no hair. Just a general direction he ran in. We slowly moved on two different deer trails towards the river. We eventually arrived at the river bank with no blood, nothing. I was not feeling good. Thought maybe we should try during daylight. My buddy shines his light into the river and says "that look like a log to you?" I said yeah but I don't know many logs with a throat patch! I treaded into 3' of water to grab my buck. He had died crossing the river and his body was caught in a dead fall. I shot him through both lungs with 18" carbon arrows, flat nocks, and muzzy hbx broadheads. I've never found a deer with no blood trail in 13 years of bow hunting. So I guess there really is a first time for everything.
Congratulations, I am glad you didnt let your surgery keep you out of the stand, good shot and nice recovery!
Congrats man. That's a nice looking buck. Blessings..........Pastorjim Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
