My 2013 Archery Buck

Amazing buck! Congrats!

That's an absolute pig.Congratulations!

Awesome buck, congrats!

Excellent buck and great before video.

Congratulations!!

That's a monster in my book.. Way to go!!!

That is a heck of a nice buck. Congrats on putting him down.

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been terribly busy. Here's the story:

After getting rained out all day Saturday and Sunday morning, I was sitting in the recliner browsing the internet on my laptop. My hunting clothes were lying on the laundry room floor, still damp from the heavy rain I encountered early Saturday morning as I rushed from my stand to my Jeep waiting at least a quarter of a mile away. My wife kept asking me if I was going to go hunting. The SW wind isn't good for any of the spots I would have preferred to hunt, but I decided that I would hit one of only a couple of areas where that wind would truly work -- an area that I rarely hunt.

I was in my climber somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 PM, situated 20 feet up one trunk of a double oak. A few minutes before 6:30 PM, I spotted a buck coming up the hill. I thought that it was a smaller buck, so I retrieved my camcorder from my pocket (I'd forgotten my swingarm at home in my haste to leave). I filmed the buck as he angled up the hill, and as he started to pass behind me, I realized my huge error in underestimating the buck's size. I threw the camera back into my pocket while it was still running, and grabbed my bow. By the time I got my release clipped on my string loop, he was at a slight quartering angle around 25 yards behind me. I leaned around the tree and hit the release when the pin found his vitals.

Immediately, I heard the sound that every bowhunter dreads -- that hollow, "watermelon" thump of a gut shot. The buck trotted into a small overgrown field, and stood motionless with his head down. I was praying that he would immediately bed down and I'd be able to sneak out of there in an hour and a half and find him dead in his bed the next day. Suddenly, he started walking again, and I cussed myself for the poor shot, all the while trying to keep track of his exact location.

Luckily for me, he started angling back into the woods, and was going to pass in front of a tree that I'd ranged earlier at slightly over 35 yards. I adjusted my sight to 35 yards, and drew back just before he exited from behind some brush. I held the pin steady in the opening in front of him (my drawing elbow tight against the tree behind me), and I released my second shot. The buck lunged forward about 10 yards into thick paw paw trees, and I lost sight of him. I didn't hear him running or crashing, and wondered if perhaps my second shot had missed and he'd ran a short distance and was standing motionless looking around or something.

I waited an agonizing half hour, then slipped down quietly and made my way to the first arrow. Dark red blood! It was a liver hit! Still not perfect, but way better than a gut shot any day! I then crept over to the second arrow and found good heart/lung type blood. I knew then that he had to be dead already, so I started into the paw paws and found him dead just inside of them. Upon gutting him, I discovered that the first shot had center-punched the liver without hitting any guts. The second shot had went through the top chambers of the heart.

I gave him a quick rough scoring tonight and came up with an overall measurement of right at 165". Split brow tines (abnormal points) and a missing G4 are going to cost me considerably, to the point that he may just barely net over 140".

That's funny...I noticed how good he was the second he stepped into frame! Of course, I had the benefit of seeing you holding him by the antlers first.

Man alive!!! I just looked at your trail cam video in your initial post. You have 4 bucks in one camera shot that are bigger than anything Ive seen all year!!!! Wow! You've got a honey hole there!!!