Post by scrub-buster on Nov 1, 2010 17:23:04 GMT -5
Yesterday, I killed my buck for the year. I was hunting out of my goodluck 10’ ladderstand. This will make 3 mature bucks in 3 years out of the same stand. Here is how it happened.
As of 9:00 am, all I had seen was 2 spikes. I stood up to stretch, and 2 more spikes came trotting by. They looked like they had just got in trouble or something. I looked in the direction that they had come from and saw antlers sticking above the brush. I decided it was a shooter and didn’t look at his rack anymore. He started rubbing on a huge cedar tree. After a couple of minutes, he came at an angle in front of me. I shot as he hit an opening about 25 yards away. The arrow hit a little low, but right behind the shoulder. It did not pass through. He took off on a dead run with his head low to the ground. I went and got my son and after about an hour, we went back to look for it. We found a light blood trail for about 100 yards, then there was blood everywhere. I thought for sure that he wouldn’t be far. We followed the trail for a good while longer, then we found where he had laid down. We backed out to give him time to expire. My son also had a soccer game that we had to go to. As soon as his game was over, my dad and brother-in-law met me at the house to help me look. We picked up the trail and followed it for a few hundred more yards and into a grown up field. We found where he had been bedded down in the field, and then nothing. We spent almost 2 hours combing the field and making circles around it looking for the deer or any sign of it. We were just about ready to give up for the day, when my dad found a spot of blood. It was on the trail that we followed to the bed. But the blood was on the opposite side of the hay stalks than what we were following before. The buck had doubled back on his own trail for almost 50 yards. I have never seen one do that before. Once we figured that out, we took off on the trail. We didn’t find him until 6:00 pm. The arrow had stayed in it the entire time, but broke when he finally dropped. This buck went farther than I would have ever imagined. This was by far the longest and hardest blood trail that I have ever had and found the deer. When I field dressed it, I checked to see what I had hit. The only thing I could find was a small slice in the bottom of the heart. It had a small amount of ground shrinkage, but I am still thrilled with it. It has 22” beams and a 16” inside spread. I am doing a European mount on it. We loaded it up and met my wife and kids in town as they were trick-or-treating. I also met up with some buddies. Every time I stopped, a small crowd gathered to look at it. I know it isn’t a monster, but it sure was cool having a bunch of people looking at it and congratulating me. Now my son wants to kill a buck in gun season.
As of 9:00 am, all I had seen was 2 spikes. I stood up to stretch, and 2 more spikes came trotting by. They looked like they had just got in trouble or something. I looked in the direction that they had come from and saw antlers sticking above the brush. I decided it was a shooter and didn’t look at his rack anymore. He started rubbing on a huge cedar tree. After a couple of minutes, he came at an angle in front of me. I shot as he hit an opening about 25 yards away. The arrow hit a little low, but right behind the shoulder. It did not pass through. He took off on a dead run with his head low to the ground. I went and got my son and after about an hour, we went back to look for it. We found a light blood trail for about 100 yards, then there was blood everywhere. I thought for sure that he wouldn’t be far. We followed the trail for a good while longer, then we found where he had laid down. We backed out to give him time to expire. My son also had a soccer game that we had to go to. As soon as his game was over, my dad and brother-in-law met me at the house to help me look. We picked up the trail and followed it for a few hundred more yards and into a grown up field. We found where he had been bedded down in the field, and then nothing. We spent almost 2 hours combing the field and making circles around it looking for the deer or any sign of it. We were just about ready to give up for the day, when my dad found a spot of blood. It was on the trail that we followed to the bed. But the blood was on the opposite side of the hay stalks than what we were following before. The buck had doubled back on his own trail for almost 50 yards. I have never seen one do that before. Once we figured that out, we took off on the trail. We didn’t find him until 6:00 pm. The arrow had stayed in it the entire time, but broke when he finally dropped. This buck went farther than I would have ever imagined. This was by far the longest and hardest blood trail that I have ever had and found the deer. When I field dressed it, I checked to see what I had hit. The only thing I could find was a small slice in the bottom of the heart. It had a small amount of ground shrinkage, but I am still thrilled with it. It has 22” beams and a 16” inside spread. I am doing a European mount on it. We loaded it up and met my wife and kids in town as they were trick-or-treating. I also met up with some buddies. Every time I stopped, a small crowd gathered to look at it. I know it isn’t a monster, but it sure was cool having a bunch of people looking at it and congratulating me. Now my son wants to kill a buck in gun season.
.............turkey scout
