Daver
PMA Member
As my two boys have grown up and entered college, the times together at our farm are both less frequent and more special all the time. My youngest son Mark was able to break away this weekend for some hunting and hopes were high as we headed to the farm Friday afternoon for a Halloween hunt.
I got his "in" text at 3:52P, which I always obligate the boys to let me know via text that they made it safely into their treestand. The next text came at 4:34P and it said, "Newton hit". I would have preferred that it said, "Newton down", but you can't have everything I guess.
Mark had action from the moment he got in the stand and never got his camera mounted or anything like that. Short version...almost immediately a doe appeared coming towards his stand and Newton was just a few steps behind her. Then another regular buck popped up and the two bucks postured and danced around each other a little but never mixed it up. This was all about 40 yards away. Newton then slid over to a nearby scrape and worked that for a few minutes before walking right to the base of the tree that Mark was in.
He let him go past the tree a bit to get a better angle and let the arrow go when he was about 5 yards away. The entrance angle was steep and the arrow was a little further back than what was ideal, but we were both confident that this was a fatal hit. Also, Mark started shooting expandables this year and while you do get amazing entrance wounds, this arrow did not exit the lower body. We had the confidence that the broadhead was still "at work" in him, but we never found a drop of blood. I am still dubious on the expandables, but what does dad know?
So he waited a few minutes until the buck walked out of sight and then backed out. We found him right about where we thought we would the next morning...at the bottom of a big ditch we call "Death Valley", since many deer that we have shot over the years have run and slid their way to bottom of it...harrumph! (Note - I think I will install a chain fall in this area, since I am getting too old to be pulling big bucks up vertical slopes AND I seem to lack the skill that people like BJohnson have where they always get their deer to die on the ridge top!
Mark was very happy with this buck, we are confident that he is a 4 year old, we both passed him several times last year. As our own observations and trail cams reveal, he really was a daylight roamer when it got to November every year, so i kind of hate to take those genetics of out of the pool. He grossed right at 145", which is what we thought too. Later, after checking a nearby trail cam, he was on it about 2 hours before he got himself shot. His momma never taught him the word "nocturnal" I guess.
Oh, after we had pulled him 1/2 way up the ditch, I took a heart attack avoidance break and sent Mark back to the truck for a strap/rope and he had no sooner crested the hill than a REALLY nice 10 pointer chased a doe right by me at about 12-15 yards. The doe actually saw Mark on the hillside I think and stopped, with the buck stopping about 20 yards behind her but only 15 yards from me. They both stood there until Mark returned a few minutes later. If I had my bow with me, I could have point blanked him, he never knew I was there.
When the does' fawn came trotting in on the scene the giant buck did a snort wheeze that was awesome to watch. For the afternoon hunt, I went out even though we had the worst possible wind for our farm. Nevertheless, I did have a nice buck follow the script perfectly and walk right by me at 12 yards...but I let him keep on walking. He was a short tined 10 point, probably about 130", but I was very pleased with myself because he visited a nearby mock scrape that I had set up a couple of weeks ago and then walked EXACTLY where I wanted him to on his way by me.
I got his "in" text at 3:52P, which I always obligate the boys to let me know via text that they made it safely into their treestand. The next text came at 4:34P and it said, "Newton hit". I would have preferred that it said, "Newton down", but you can't have everything I guess.
Mark had action from the moment he got in the stand and never got his camera mounted or anything like that. Short version...almost immediately a doe appeared coming towards his stand and Newton was just a few steps behind her. Then another regular buck popped up and the two bucks postured and danced around each other a little but never mixed it up. This was all about 40 yards away. Newton then slid over to a nearby scrape and worked that for a few minutes before walking right to the base of the tree that Mark was in.
He let him go past the tree a bit to get a better angle and let the arrow go when he was about 5 yards away. The entrance angle was steep and the arrow was a little further back than what was ideal, but we were both confident that this was a fatal hit. Also, Mark started shooting expandables this year and while you do get amazing entrance wounds, this arrow did not exit the lower body. We had the confidence that the broadhead was still "at work" in him, but we never found a drop of blood. I am still dubious on the expandables, but what does dad know?
So he waited a few minutes until the buck walked out of sight and then backed out. We found him right about where we thought we would the next morning...at the bottom of a big ditch we call "Death Valley", since many deer that we have shot over the years have run and slid their way to bottom of it...harrumph! (Note - I think I will install a chain fall in this area, since I am getting too old to be pulling big bucks up vertical slopes AND I seem to lack the skill that people like BJohnson have where they always get their deer to die on the ridge top!
Mark was very happy with this buck, we are confident that he is a 4 year old, we both passed him several times last year. As our own observations and trail cams reveal, he really was a daylight roamer when it got to November every year, so i kind of hate to take those genetics of out of the pool.
He grossed right at 145", which is what we thought too. Later, after checking a nearby trail cam, he was on it about 2 hours before he got himself shot. His momma never taught him the word "nocturnal" I guess. Oh, after we had pulled him 1/2 way up the ditch, I took a heart attack avoidance break and sent Mark back to the truck for a strap/rope and he had no sooner crested the hill than a REALLY nice 10 pointer chased a doe right by me at about 12-15 yards. The doe actually saw Mark on the hillside I think and stopped, with the buck stopping about 20 yards behind her but only 15 yards from me. They both stood there until Mark returned a few minutes later. If I had my bow with me, I could have point blanked him, he never knew I was there.
When the does' fawn came trotting in on the scene the giant buck did a snort wheeze that was awesome to watch. For the afternoon hunt, I went out even though we had the worst possible wind for our farm. Nevertheless, I did have a nice buck follow the script perfectly and walk right by me at 12 yards...but I let him keep on walking. He was a short tined 10 point, probably about 130", but I was very pleased with myself because he visited a nearby mock scrape that I had set up a couple of weeks ago and then walked EXACTLY where I wanted him to on his way by me.
