180class
Well-Known Member
Well, to put it bluntly, yesterday morning was absolutely awesome! With the back side of the weather front pushing through and a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, my buddy Tim and I knew that we were in for a treat. Tim was at my place a little after 5:00. We made the 20 minute drive to the farm I hunt. The snowcover made it look like 5:00 in the afternoon, rather than 5:00 in the morning. Plus the morning moon was without a doubt one of the coolest I've ever seen. It had an eerie orange glow about it. We saw a number of deer on our way, mostly doe, but a couple bucks who were harrassing them. We got set up nice and quiet and ready to hunt at about 6:00. Right at first light, Tim tapped me on the shoulder and said "deer at 20 yds". It was so quiet in the woods, that a small basket rack was right in our lap before we knew it. He moved off and no more did I turn my head back around, and I saw another deer comind down the ridge right to us. This one was a little better. We got a decent look at him when he stopped broadside at 30 yds. He was a borderline shooter, but just not what I was looking for. Especially during this magical time of the year. I elected to pass the buck and shortly after a doe came down the opposite ridge, which also leads right to my stand. I've never been this late into the season and haven't at least filled my doe tag by now. So, once I realized that this doe was all by herself with nothing following her, I decided she was in trouble. She came down the ridge and I stopped her perfectly at 20 yards. We watched as my lighted knock lit up the timber and lit up both of her lungs. She ran about 50 yrds and tipped over. She then decided to go sledding another 50 yards down into one of the deep ravines that run through this property. It made for some good laughs and some great video. So with my doe tag filled and what felt like 1,000 pounds lifted off my shoulders, Tim and I began to celebrate and rewatch the footage over and over again. We were impressed at how good it was. It was now about 7:50 and I was in the middle of re-watching my doe kill one last time when Tim says "BIG BUCK, BIG BUCK". Sure enough, I look up and there's a buck cruising the South side of the pasture at about 60 yards. At this point we know it's a buck, but aren't quiet sure how good of a buck. I throw him a couple grunts and stops and looks our direction. Here he comes on a string! As he was approaching he kept getting bigger and bigger. I couldn't believe what I had walking towards me. Some how I kept my composure and let him enter shooting lane at 30 yards. I stopped him and let arrow #2 fly his way. He never knew what hit him! Right away, I lost it! I've never started shaking so bad in my entire life. We were both unsure on the hit. It looked a little high and slightly back. After about 30 minutes of trying to calm my nerves, I climbed down to retreive my arrows. The blood on the arrow look good. The arrow was completely covered and I couldn't tell which vane was supposed to be white. We followed the blood trail for about 70 yards to edge of the big ravine. The blood wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Tim and I both agreed the best thing to do was back out. We got back to the truck and I called for backup. I am very fortunate to have good friends that share this passion with me and came to assist me in the search without giving it a second thought. One of them even cut his hunt short to come give me a hand. He was rewarded for his good deed later on in the day when he too shot a great buck! So, a couple hours had passed now and after rewatching the footage we all agreed he was a dead deer. We picked back up on the blood trial where Tim and I had left off. We slowly started down into the GIANT ravine. About 30 yards down the hillside Tim and I both look up and spot the deer at the same time. I bet people could hear our screams a mile away. There laying in the creek bottom was one of the biggest buck I've ever seen while hunting, let alone get a shot at. He was beautiful! When I lifted his head up, I couldn't believe what I was holding. He was a big 9 with deep split G2's. He looked like he had a 2nd beam at one point, but busted it off along with one of his brow tines and his G4 on his left side. We figured he had busted off at least 15" of tine. I haven't had him scored yet, so I don't even want to take a guess. All I know is he's a deer of a lifetime for me and I couldn't be happier! Here is what we found at the bottom of creek.
It was without a doubt one of the funnest and most memorable hunts I've even been part of. One I won't soon forget!
It was without a doubt one of the funnest and most memorable hunts I've even been part of. One I won't soon forget!
