I shot this buck on Saturday, November 20th. A new personal best for myself.
I feel that I got to talk about my season a little leading up to this deer. I have never experienced a season with so many highs and so many lows in one year. October started off great for me, I had been seeing alot of nice bucks. In mid October I seen a awesome 13point, that eventually made his way into the base of my tree. For some reason, I never made a move for the bow and just watched him for over a half hour. He would of been one of the biggest deer I had ever taken, but I guess I wasnt ready to be done yet. The next couple of weeks were great. I passed on alot of 130-150 class deer, hoping one of the giants I had seen all summer would stroll by. By the end of the first week of November things had begun to slow down in my area. Lots of people were shooting great deer and I was struggling to see one. Muddy tagged out and offered to videotape so I took him up on the offer. We went to the spot where I was sure a huge non-typical that I named Rudder was living, however, I had only seen him twice in the last two years. I told him on the way down there that he was gonna be good luck and I would finally see this ghost of a deer. The morning was less than stellar, seeing more hunters than deer. We decided to stick it out and at 10:00 AM Rudder appeared out of no where. He was heading right at us until he stopped and bedded at 75 yards. We watched all morning untill he got up and went back the way he came in. At this point my spirits were beggining to do a downward spiral. Two days later I had a huge 8 point at 35 yards but the doe he was chasing winded me. The following weekend I screwed up on a deer that ran directly at my tree and stopped at 10 yards. He didnt look that big until he turned sideways and had a picket fence of long heavy tines. No sooner after that he took off before I could get a shot. This brings us up to last Thursday. I sat all morning and never seen a deer. At 11:00 I was headed to get lunch when I spotted a huge buck bedded with a doe in the middle of a 300 acre picked corn field. I decided to put a stalk on the giant. Six hours later I finally closed the distance to 40 yards. I drew back on the pig, only to discover my peep sight was full of mud from the crawl. I blew the mud out with my mouth while at full draw, the buck looked back and seen me instanly and tore out across the field. This was near the last draw for me. I called LIV4RUT and explained the story. We both went on vaction this weekend for school so I invited him down to hunt for a few days. These 3 AM mornings and 60 mile drives were starting to ware on me by myself, a little company couldnt hurt. Between the ground I got and the ground his family owns we were sure somebody would score.
Finally Friday evening arrives, we head out to take a drive around the area. We seen a monster buck in a corn field 500 yards away. I yelled out the window that he was mine in the morning. Come morning I decided I would hunt a area LIV4RUT had seen good bucks in the past in and he would try a new spot. First light brought me a pair of button bucks and a doe. Shortly after a six point showed up and showed no signs the rut even existed. They left and over a hour passed of nothing. At 8:40 AM I see a huge rack coming out of the brush. He comes right out to 40 yards and offers me a great shot. It was a giant of an 8 point. Old, wide, heavy, everything you could ask for, however, he had a broke G3. I stared at the buck debating what to do. By the time my mind was made up I would shoot him, he ducked into the brush. I was disgusted with myself. I was starting to wonder if I wanted to even shoot a deer this year. As I was giving my self a verbal abusing, down the same trail came this buck 30 seconds later. I took one look and there was no hesitation in my mind that this was the buck I wanted. The bruiser was coming right at my tree. As he approached 30 yards he started to angle downwind. At 20 yards he was nearly directly downwind. It was now or never. I bleated softly but he wouldnt stop. I began to follow him with the sight pin and right before he got behind some trees and squeezed one off. The arrow burned through his rib cage and is was like he never felt it. He walked about 50 yards and stopped and looked back at me. All of a sudden he began to wobble, followed by a barrel role on his side. I was so exstatic that I nearly rolled out of the tree. I called LIV4RUT and I waited for him before the celebration began. A awesome buck, 176 4/8 gross, one that would be tough to beat in the amount of excitement I was experiencing. I think hunting this hard and this long only made this buck even more worth it when it finally happened.
I feel that I got to talk about my season a little leading up to this deer. I have never experienced a season with so many highs and so many lows in one year. October started off great for me, I had been seeing alot of nice bucks. In mid October I seen a awesome 13point, that eventually made his way into the base of my tree. For some reason, I never made a move for the bow and just watched him for over a half hour. He would of been one of the biggest deer I had ever taken, but I guess I wasnt ready to be done yet. The next couple of weeks were great. I passed on alot of 130-150 class deer, hoping one of the giants I had seen all summer would stroll by. By the end of the first week of November things had begun to slow down in my area. Lots of people were shooting great deer and I was struggling to see one. Muddy tagged out and offered to videotape so I took him up on the offer. We went to the spot where I was sure a huge non-typical that I named Rudder was living, however, I had only seen him twice in the last two years. I told him on the way down there that he was gonna be good luck and I would finally see this ghost of a deer. The morning was less than stellar, seeing more hunters than deer. We decided to stick it out and at 10:00 AM Rudder appeared out of no where. He was heading right at us until he stopped and bedded at 75 yards. We watched all morning untill he got up and went back the way he came in. At this point my spirits were beggining to do a downward spiral. Two days later I had a huge 8 point at 35 yards but the doe he was chasing winded me. The following weekend I screwed up on a deer that ran directly at my tree and stopped at 10 yards. He didnt look that big until he turned sideways and had a picket fence of long heavy tines. No sooner after that he took off before I could get a shot. This brings us up to last Thursday. I sat all morning and never seen a deer. At 11:00 I was headed to get lunch when I spotted a huge buck bedded with a doe in the middle of a 300 acre picked corn field. I decided to put a stalk on the giant. Six hours later I finally closed the distance to 40 yards. I drew back on the pig, only to discover my peep sight was full of mud from the crawl. I blew the mud out with my mouth while at full draw, the buck looked back and seen me instanly and tore out across the field. This was near the last draw for me. I called LIV4RUT and explained the story. We both went on vaction this weekend for school so I invited him down to hunt for a few days. These 3 AM mornings and 60 mile drives were starting to ware on me by myself, a little company couldnt hurt. Between the ground I got and the ground his family owns we were sure somebody would score.
Finally Friday evening arrives, we head out to take a drive around the area. We seen a monster buck in a corn field 500 yards away. I yelled out the window that he was mine in the morning. Come morning I decided I would hunt a area LIV4RUT had seen good bucks in the past in and he would try a new spot. First light brought me a pair of button bucks and a doe. Shortly after a six point showed up and showed no signs the rut even existed. They left and over a hour passed of nothing. At 8:40 AM I see a huge rack coming out of the brush. He comes right out to 40 yards and offers me a great shot. It was a giant of an 8 point. Old, wide, heavy, everything you could ask for, however, he had a broke G3. I stared at the buck debating what to do. By the time my mind was made up I would shoot him, he ducked into the brush. I was disgusted with myself. I was starting to wonder if I wanted to even shoot a deer this year. As I was giving my self a verbal abusing, down the same trail came this buck 30 seconds later. I took one look and there was no hesitation in my mind that this was the buck I wanted. The bruiser was coming right at my tree. As he approached 30 yards he started to angle downwind. At 20 yards he was nearly directly downwind. It was now or never. I bleated softly but he wouldnt stop. I began to follow him with the sight pin and right before he got behind some trees and squeezed one off. The arrow burned through his rib cage and is was like he never felt it. He walked about 50 yards and stopped and looked back at me. All of a sudden he began to wobble, followed by a barrel role on his side. I was so exstatic that I nearly rolled out of the tree. I called LIV4RUT and I waited for him before the celebration began. A awesome buck, 176 4/8 gross, one that would be tough to beat in the amount of excitement I was experiencing. I think hunting this hard and this long only made this buck even more worth it when it finally happened.
