Post by LawrenceCoBowhunter on Oct 24, 2006 15:03:32 GMT -5
RUMFORD - A Rumford bow hunter got the scare of his life late Wednesday afternoon when the large buck he'd stalked and shot suddenly charged him.
Were it not for a log, Vito Coulombe said he could well have been gored or trampled after he fired a broadhead arrow with his compound bow into the deer about 6 p.m. from 20 to 25 feet away.
"After I shot it, he came right at me," Coulombe said late Thursday morning at the Rumford Fire Department weigh station on River Street. He related the tale to a small crowd that gathered to see the deer, which weighed 257 pounds dressed and had an 8-point rack.
"I threw my bow at him and hit him with it, and was backing away and fell over a log, and he just missed me. I was scared to death. I thought he was taking me out," he said.
Coulombe's hunting buddy, Daniel Frazel, also of Rumford, at first thought Coulombe was teasing him when he ran back through the woods to the platform tree stand from which Frazel was bow hunting.
"He came up to me, he was freaked out! He said, 'Dan! I almost got killed!" Frazel said.
The pair then returned to the spot where Coulombe had shot it, only to learn that the wounded deer had run off deeper into the woods.
As night approached, the two started tracking the buck, which Coulombe, who has been bow hunting deer since 1991, said was the largest he'd ever gotten.
"The blood trail was great at first, but it started to go away. Then we had no blood trail, so we had to get down on our hands and knees and feel for buck tracks. We got tore up by briars," Frazel said, pointing out scratches, rips and cuts on his arms and face.
"We did not want to give up," Coulombe said.
They stopped tracking at 10:30 p.m. and headed home. They didn't get much sleep, but returned Thursday morning with a friend, Jerry Pelletier, also of Rumford.
Neither Coulombe nor Frazel would say where in Rumford they'd been hunting, only that there was plenty of deer trails and indications that deer were feeding in the area.
The trio found the deer dead about 75 yards beyond where they'd stopped looking Wednesday night.
"I looked up and saw antlers," Frazel said. Excitement began to build when they realized how big it was.
After getting it out of the woods, and taking it to the weigh station to register it, onlookers gathered. One woman said she thought it was a moose at first, when she saw it filling the back of a pickup truck.
Frazel said the buck was an older deer, pulling open its mouth, which revealed no upper teeth. It was also in rut, he said, pointing out signs on the antlers where the rack had been rubbed on trees and the buck's swollen neck.
Other onlookers, like Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter, thought the animal might weigh 210 pounds. Firefighter Mark Tripp, who tied the deer's legs together to winch it onto the scale, guessed 230. No one thought it weighed more than that.
So, when Tripp said, "257!" and another firefighter said it was the biggest deer weighed there so far this season, Coulombe and Frazel reacted to that and other comments that it might be the biggest deer taken this season by a bow hunter.
"He's a monster!" Frazel said, congratulating Coulombe.
Then, he added, in awe, to those around him, "Incredible,
? This guy was stalking on the ground. That's amazing!"
Were it not for a log, Vito Coulombe said he could well have been gored or trampled after he fired a broadhead arrow with his compound bow into the deer about 6 p.m. from 20 to 25 feet away.
"After I shot it, he came right at me," Coulombe said late Thursday morning at the Rumford Fire Department weigh station on River Street. He related the tale to a small crowd that gathered to see the deer, which weighed 257 pounds dressed and had an 8-point rack.
"I threw my bow at him and hit him with it, and was backing away and fell over a log, and he just missed me. I was scared to death. I thought he was taking me out," he said.
Coulombe's hunting buddy, Daniel Frazel, also of Rumford, at first thought Coulombe was teasing him when he ran back through the woods to the platform tree stand from which Frazel was bow hunting.
"He came up to me, he was freaked out! He said, 'Dan! I almost got killed!" Frazel said.
The pair then returned to the spot where Coulombe had shot it, only to learn that the wounded deer had run off deeper into the woods.
As night approached, the two started tracking the buck, which Coulombe, who has been bow hunting deer since 1991, said was the largest he'd ever gotten.
"The blood trail was great at first, but it started to go away. Then we had no blood trail, so we had to get down on our hands and knees and feel for buck tracks. We got tore up by briars," Frazel said, pointing out scratches, rips and cuts on his arms and face.
"We did not want to give up," Coulombe said.
They stopped tracking at 10:30 p.m. and headed home. They didn't get much sleep, but returned Thursday morning with a friend, Jerry Pelletier, also of Rumford.
Neither Coulombe nor Frazel would say where in Rumford they'd been hunting, only that there was plenty of deer trails and indications that deer were feeding in the area.
The trio found the deer dead about 75 yards beyond where they'd stopped looking Wednesday night.
"I looked up and saw antlers," Frazel said. Excitement began to build when they realized how big it was.
After getting it out of the woods, and taking it to the weigh station to register it, onlookers gathered. One woman said she thought it was a moose at first, when she saw it filling the back of a pickup truck.
Frazel said the buck was an older deer, pulling open its mouth, which revealed no upper teeth. It was also in rut, he said, pointing out signs on the antlers where the rack had been rubbed on trees and the buck's swollen neck.
Other onlookers, like Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter, thought the animal might weigh 210 pounds. Firefighter Mark Tripp, who tied the deer's legs together to winch it onto the scale, guessed 230. No one thought it weighed more than that.
So, when Tripp said, "257!" and another firefighter said it was the biggest deer weighed there so far this season, Coulombe and Frazel reacted to that and other comments that it might be the biggest deer taken this season by a bow hunter.
"He's a monster!" Frazel said, congratulating Coulombe.
Then, he added, in awe, to those around him, "Incredible,
? This guy was stalking on the ground. That's amazing!"
