Post by danf on Nov 9, 2007 10:14:09 GMT -5
Dad started a couple threads to let you all know that I got my buck. Here's the story:
Got to the woods *late* yesterday morning. Wanted to be in my stand well before shooting light, but I just didn't make it. Sunrise was at 7:26, I think I was leaving my truck at 7. Got across the creek and up the hill headed for my stand and had a buck headed right for me while I was in the wide open between trees. He spent a minute or two trying to figure out what the 6'2' tree was that kept moving (I knocked an arrow), then he turned and ran. Got a decent look at him through the binocs, I think he was an 8, may have been the one that I ended up shooting....
Anyway, got to my stand around 7:30. It's in a tree at the head of a very long and deep ravine. Can you say "funnel"?? I had been wanting to hunt that stand for a month now, but each time I was able to get to the woods, the wind was wrong. The stand is so close to a major bedding area that there was NO way I would hunt it if the wind wasn't just right...
I realized on the way to the woods that I'd forgotten two very important things. First was my lunch. Second was a pull rope! I had to carry my bow up the ladder!! Don't intend on doing that again.
I hadn't been sitting down any more than 2-3 minutes when I decided to get the camera out of my pack. Just as my hand hit the camera, I hear something, turn around and there he is, coming right for me. Quick judge determined he was an 8, not overly huge, but big enough for a first bow buck. Didn't even have time to stand up. When first presented with a shot, he was too close; the angle was so steep I wouldn't have been able to draw.
Eventually he moved straight out from me and I took the shot; he was probably less than 10 yards from the base of my tree. Hard quartering away, entrance (didn't get a pic, sorry) was about 2" in front of the diaphragm on the right side, exit came out under the shoulder and through the front leg between the two bones. Broke my arrow in half, I never did find the back half. Blood trail wasn't exceptional, but good enough that I didn't have to look around a lot for it. He ran ~150 yards before I lost sight of him from the stand, and it wasn't far from where I lost sight that he dropped.
He is VERY symmetrical. G2's are both around 7 3/8's, G3's are about 5 2/8's. 13" tip to tip, 16" inside spread. Wieghed about 135 pounds dressed, I figure he was a 2 1/2 year old. Not the biggest 8 pointer out there, but you couldn't smack the grin off my face yesterday if you'd wanted to! This is my first antlered buck since '98, and first buck with a bow! Called Dad right after I shot him, and while I was talking to him I had another buck about the same size coming in the same way as the first one.
Pics:
This is the exit:
Got to the woods *late* yesterday morning. Wanted to be in my stand well before shooting light, but I just didn't make it. Sunrise was at 7:26, I think I was leaving my truck at 7. Got across the creek and up the hill headed for my stand and had a buck headed right for me while I was in the wide open between trees. He spent a minute or two trying to figure out what the 6'2' tree was that kept moving (I knocked an arrow), then he turned and ran. Got a decent look at him through the binocs, I think he was an 8, may have been the one that I ended up shooting....
Anyway, got to my stand around 7:30. It's in a tree at the head of a very long and deep ravine. Can you say "funnel"?? I had been wanting to hunt that stand for a month now, but each time I was able to get to the woods, the wind was wrong. The stand is so close to a major bedding area that there was NO way I would hunt it if the wind wasn't just right...
I realized on the way to the woods that I'd forgotten two very important things. First was my lunch. Second was a pull rope! I had to carry my bow up the ladder!! Don't intend on doing that again.
I hadn't been sitting down any more than 2-3 minutes when I decided to get the camera out of my pack. Just as my hand hit the camera, I hear something, turn around and there he is, coming right for me. Quick judge determined he was an 8, not overly huge, but big enough for a first bow buck. Didn't even have time to stand up. When first presented with a shot, he was too close; the angle was so steep I wouldn't have been able to draw.
Eventually he moved straight out from me and I took the shot; he was probably less than 10 yards from the base of my tree. Hard quartering away, entrance (didn't get a pic, sorry) was about 2" in front of the diaphragm on the right side, exit came out under the shoulder and through the front leg between the two bones. Broke my arrow in half, I never did find the back half. Blood trail wasn't exceptional, but good enough that I didn't have to look around a lot for it. He ran ~150 yards before I lost sight of him from the stand, and it wasn't far from where I lost sight that he dropped.
He is VERY symmetrical. G2's are both around 7 3/8's, G3's are about 5 2/8's. 13" tip to tip, 16" inside spread. Wieghed about 135 pounds dressed, I figure he was a 2 1/2 year old. Not the biggest 8 pointer out there, but you couldn't smack the grin off my face yesterday if you'd wanted to! This is my first antlered buck since '98, and first buck with a bow! Called Dad right after I shot him, and while I was talking to him I had another buck about the same size coming in the same way as the first one.
Pics:
This is the exit: