Post by bsutravis on Oct 20, 2006 13:39:34 GMT -5
Alrighty boys..... chalk another buck up for my team in the deer contest!
Here's the story:
Hadn't seen any movement this morning but I enjoyed a nice sunrise through the trees. I climbed the same tree that I had seen good deer numbers on Wednesday morning, hoping to duplicate the action today....I did even better! After not seeing any does or bucks for the hour after sunrise, I decided to go ahead and see if I could get some action with the grunt tube. Cha-ching! I gave 2 steady grunts followed by a 3rd that had a little more aggression to it's sound....and within 30 seconds I saw movement heading my way. The moment I saw antlers I was undecided on how big he was....at one point I actually started to grab my digital to snap some pics....but as he got closer I THOUGHT he was an 11-pointer cause I could see what looked like a kicker on one of its beams. The deer came straight in....too straight! He was browsing around, half foraging for acorns, half smelling the air. At about 30 yards out I stood and came to full draw..... I thought for sure he was gonna look up and see me, or else he'd walk right under my stand and never offer a shot. (I lost a good deer in Ohio several years back after taking a straight down shot and vow to never do that again....) Anyway, at exactly 11 yards out he stopped and was still facing me. It was one of those deals where you start begging the buck to turn one way or the other to offer a shot....my prayer was answered as he turned left as he nosed the ground. Now....just move that right leg forward and open up the boiler room for me..... by now my left arm is KILLING ME from being at full draw for about 3-4 minutes.... c'mon....just step forward..... my "twenty" was sitting a little high on the shoulder....compensating for the steep angle....he finally took that slow step just like I had asked and reaction squeezed the release. THWAP!!! He bucked and turned in the direction he came from. I saw the arrow enter him and knew it was a near perfect shot.
The heart was pumping....legs were shaking.....arms were aching.... God thank for that feeling and for that buck! I made some quick calls to let my buddies wallow in the fact that they were at work and I was out killing deer. LOL. I heard the buck run just out of sight and then he fell over and thrashed for less than 5-10 seconds.....then nothing but the sound of a ticked off squirrel that the buck had agitated while trying to escape.
The climb down was shaky......the climber never seems to go down fast enough when you know you have a dead deer "out there" to retrieve. I took the obligatory "pee" break once I stood on solid ground....then went to find my arrow. It was stuck into the soft earth.......good red blood still draining down the shaft. I pulled it out and all 3 blades of the Grim Reaper were opened wide...... I eventually paced off the distance to the deer at 63 yards. I was happy that he succumb to my arrows damage very quickly.
The pics were self-shot using the timer.... A difficult task when dealing with a deer that doesn't want to stay in the position you posed him in. I did the best I could with the blood. The shot was double lung.....so he had a TON of blood that drained out his nose and mouth. I didn't have any water close by, so I had to use the leaves to make him a little more presentable. So.......here he is. Not a monster by any means, but a solid buck that I just could not pass up considering the perfect shot he offered me. I'm tickled to get him!
Here's the story:
Hadn't seen any movement this morning but I enjoyed a nice sunrise through the trees. I climbed the same tree that I had seen good deer numbers on Wednesday morning, hoping to duplicate the action today....I did even better! After not seeing any does or bucks for the hour after sunrise, I decided to go ahead and see if I could get some action with the grunt tube. Cha-ching! I gave 2 steady grunts followed by a 3rd that had a little more aggression to it's sound....and within 30 seconds I saw movement heading my way. The moment I saw antlers I was undecided on how big he was....at one point I actually started to grab my digital to snap some pics....but as he got closer I THOUGHT he was an 11-pointer cause I could see what looked like a kicker on one of its beams. The deer came straight in....too straight! He was browsing around, half foraging for acorns, half smelling the air. At about 30 yards out I stood and came to full draw..... I thought for sure he was gonna look up and see me, or else he'd walk right under my stand and never offer a shot. (I lost a good deer in Ohio several years back after taking a straight down shot and vow to never do that again....) Anyway, at exactly 11 yards out he stopped and was still facing me. It was one of those deals where you start begging the buck to turn one way or the other to offer a shot....my prayer was answered as he turned left as he nosed the ground. Now....just move that right leg forward and open up the boiler room for me..... by now my left arm is KILLING ME from being at full draw for about 3-4 minutes.... c'mon....just step forward..... my "twenty" was sitting a little high on the shoulder....compensating for the steep angle....he finally took that slow step just like I had asked and reaction squeezed the release. THWAP!!! He bucked and turned in the direction he came from. I saw the arrow enter him and knew it was a near perfect shot.
The heart was pumping....legs were shaking.....arms were aching.... God thank for that feeling and for that buck! I made some quick calls to let my buddies wallow in the fact that they were at work and I was out killing deer. LOL. I heard the buck run just out of sight and then he fell over and thrashed for less than 5-10 seconds.....then nothing but the sound of a ticked off squirrel that the buck had agitated while trying to escape.
The climb down was shaky......the climber never seems to go down fast enough when you know you have a dead deer "out there" to retrieve. I took the obligatory "pee" break once I stood on solid ground....then went to find my arrow. It was stuck into the soft earth.......good red blood still draining down the shaft. I pulled it out and all 3 blades of the Grim Reaper were opened wide...... I eventually paced off the distance to the deer at 63 yards. I was happy that he succumb to my arrows damage very quickly.
The pics were self-shot using the timer.... A difficult task when dealing with a deer that doesn't want to stay in the position you posed him in. I did the best I could with the blood. The shot was double lung.....so he had a TON of blood that drained out his nose and mouth. I didn't have any water close by, so I had to use the leaves to make him a little more presentable. So.......here he is. Not a monster by any means, but a solid buck that I just could not pass up considering the perfect shot he offered me. I'm tickled to get him!