Here's a buck I named the beast. Mainframe 4x4. Right g2 sticker split and bladed brows. Droopy tine that goes behind his ear off the left base. His rack is chocolate, and I rattled/grunted him in to what I thought was 30 yards on November 19, 2013. He came in on a weird route going across a CRP field and after pulling my arrow outta the dirt on a clean miss he was actually at 39 yards. I bought a range finder shortly thereafter. Never thought I needed one on private land with all my normal trails marked for yardage. This buck taught me a valuable lesson and I was thankful for a clean miss.
Oh man that is a stud, range finder can save you sometimes but then also you cant rely on it. For me I try not to range deer to much to avoid the extra movement, feel like I will get busted. I am with in a yard or 2 every time out to 40 yards then I get off.
In 2006 I had the buck on the right at full draw 25yds chasing a doe and couldn't get him to stop. It was the biggest buck I'd seen at the time and I pretty much freaked out lol. I didn't want to take the trotting shot in fear of wounding him and I nearly fell out of the tree in shock watching him chase the doe out of sight. Later that season a lease member and good buddy of mine dropped him during the gun season. The buck grossed 210 and my buck on the left that I took the same year grossed 162. In 2011 I had this buck come strolling by my stand while I was hunting another location. Another lease buddy killed him 1 week later. He grossed 187. [video=youtube_share;Z2n-5cxOehA]http://youtu.be/Z2n-5cxOehA[/video]
Wow both those bucks are studs idk what I would do if I seen either of them. At least it was by people you know and not a stranger, makes it a little easier. It wouldnt let me watch the video for some reason
The last one I posted in the first post is the one that came all the way across the field. Greatwhite- He was a hide and go seek world champion thats for sure. Buckeye- WOW I couldnt even imagine checking a camera and seeing that let alone laying eyes on it. You know I am only a hour away from ohio
Public land in Ohio. Had this guy at 50.yds with no chance at an ethical shot. Only good buck I saw all week. One of the guys in camp had a few cameras out and happened to get this picture. Not exactly a lot of history but it was heartbreaking to watch him walk away.
Yeah ot dont matter if you have history with a deer or not it is still a bummer when your so close but things dont work out. Awsome public land deer anywhere
This deer walked under me at least five times as a really solid 3 1/2 yr old in the upper 140's and I was very excited to see him be such a regular. I did not even consider shooting him because I knew his age and knew he had the best potential I had ever seen. The next year, I never saw him once and never got a single picture of him. He fell off the face of the earth and I was positive that he had died. The next year as a 5 1/2 yr old he showed up again in the late summer. I was shocked to say the least. I got his picture on a scrape and put up a stand in a tree nearby. The first time that the wind was right, I hunted him. He came out early, like 3:30pm. I muffed the shot. No excuses, I was not overly shook, I just plain and simple muffed it. I still do not know to this day exactly what I did wrong and that haunts me as much as losing this deer. I hit him high above the spine. I spend three days with friends looking. I never saw him again and never got another picture. He would have made top 10 all-time in Iowa for typical bow-kills in my opinion. I think he would have netted pretty well into the 180's. I will never know if he ended up getting infection and died from my poor shot, or if he simply went back to live out his days wherever he had disappeared to the year before or if someone else killed him during the gun seasons. The only thing that eased the pain was the fact that I sat in the same tree on my very next hunt, 5 days later and killed a 185" non-typical that had been running with him.
Since 2000 I've spent the majority of my time hunting public federal land. Over that time period I've had at least 4 bruiser bucks for my area within bow range. I didn't release an arrow on a single one of those bucks. I wasn't particularly rattled or nervous, I just wanted a "perfect" shot and I now realize that is just not going to happen most of the time. I had another opportunity on a pretty big buck on PA public land this year, a 130-140 inch 10 point at 20 yds....there were some gaps in the sticks but he was walking too fast and I didn't want to risk wounding him and not finding him. My point.....I am sissy when it comes to potentially wounding big bucks. I just won't shoot. I more than likely just need the confidence of successfully killing a big buck under stressful conditions in order for me to get over my mental block. Until then, I am the ultimate 2.5 year old buck slayer!
can I post about the one who has never given me a chance?! I only saw him one the stand one time at 65 yards. Chunk.... he's big for RI
Thats a good mindset to have though, I am pretty picky now when it comes to shots. I would rather not take a shot then be sick because I cant find it or something along those lines. Reason why I dont like to hunt thick areas really. My hunting partner did the same thing with the one this year. He could of tried to stop it and thread the needle but its not worth the risk. Swamp stalker- thats a whole new thing we could get into haha every year I have 1 or 2 bucks on camera but never lay eyes on them. Idk how they are so good at avoiding you but it will drive you crazy
Here is the biggest I've got that got away. I only saw him one time that year, '11, while hunting. I watched him grow for two years before that though. Passed him as an 8 the year before. He was shot on the last day of muzzleloader. One more day and he would have made it through (possibly) to the next year. Shot 500 yards from the camera location on a neighbors property.
It always sucks when you have so much history with a deer then someone kills him and had no history with him at all
It sure does. I know they don't run cameras or have plots or even scout so it does suck but what do ya do! They're good neighbors at least.
yup nothing you can do about it, it is what it is. At least there not some a holes you dont like haha
