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The Big 8

tmule88

Member
The story starts in the summer of 2016 when a nice 8 pointer showed up on camera. I guessed he was 4.5 and knew that he would get a pass if given the opportunity. After missing bow season due to an ankle injury it was now LM season and I had seen the big 8 on a local food source several times.

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March came around and I picked up his right side in a well known bedding area.

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The summer of 2017 I had high hopes what this deer might turn in to. The first card pull of the year he showed up still supporting his 8 point frame but put on lots of mass and some height as well.

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I had a couple encounters with him while bow hunting during the rut but really focused my efforts on a different farm chasing other deer. Christmas day I hung a camera on the same food source as the previous year and it didn't take long for him to show up in daylight.

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On the evening of January 4th the wind was right to hunt this food source and deer began to pour into the field. An hour before dark, he stepped out at 51 yards. I shot and after the smoke cleared I thought I could see him running down the field edge and into the timber. I gave him some time and went to look for blood. I never found a drop and was baffled how I could of missed a perfectly broadside deer with my muzzleloader at 51 yards. I continued to hunt the farm and run cameras with no sightings or pictures of the big 8. Wednesday January 10th I decided to go in and search once again the area I thought the big 8 may have headed. Two steps into the timber and there he was 25 yards from where I pulled the trigger on him. The deer I saw running the opposite direction was evidently a different buck. Lesson learned! Disappointed I didn't find him sooner I am fortunate that I was able to lay my hands on his antlers and close the chapter of The Big 8.

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Amazing, the no blood situation has happened to a couple guys I know --same thing with muzzy? Not sure exactly why, but it does happen.
 
The story starts in the summer of 2016 when a nice 8 pointer showed up on camera. I guessed he was 4.5 and knew that he would get a pass if given the opportunity. After missing bow season due to an ankle injury it was now LM season and I had seen the big 8 on a local food source several times.

full


March came around and I picked up his right side in a well known bedding area.

full


The summer of 2017 I had high hopes what this deer might turn in to. The first card pull of the year he showed up still supporting his 8 point frame but put on lots of mass and some height as well.

full


I had a couple encounters with him while bow hunting during the rut but really focused my efforts on a different farm chasing other deer. Christmas day I hung a camera on the same food source as the previous year and it didn't take long for him to show up in daylight.

full


On the evening of January 4th the wind was right to hunt this food source and deer began to pour into the field. An hour before dark, he stepped out at 51 yards. I shot and after the smoke cleared I thought I could see him running down the field edge and into the timber. I gave him some time and went to look for blood. I never found a drop and was baffled how I could of missed a perfectly broadside deer with my muzzleloader at 51 yards. I continued to hunt the farm and run cameras with no sightings or pictures of the big 8. Wednesday January 10th I decided to go in and search once again the area I thought the big 8 may have headed. Two steps into the timber and there he was 25 yards from where I pulled the trigger on him. The deer I saw running the opposite direction was evidently a different buck. Lesson learned! Disappointed I didn't find him sooner I am fortunate that I was able to lay my hands on his antlers and close the chapter of The Big 8.

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What projectile were you using?

Did you not find any blood because you were looking in the wrong direction?

I'm sure it was hard to tell but could you figure out where you hit it?

This is the exact reason I switched to a smokeless muzzleloader. The lack of having any idea of which direction to follow up really drove me crazy! Granted it only happens on call nights however calm nights late season are typically your best movement.....
 
Congratulations on you deer. And I am glad you found him. Way to stick with it and recover him. That’s always a relief.
 
What projectile were you using?

Did you not find any blood because you were looking in the wrong direction?

I'm sure it was hard to tell but could you figure out where you hit it?

This is the exact reason I switched to a smokeless muzzleloader. The lack of having any idea of which direction to follow up really drove me crazy! Granted it only happens on call nights however calm nights late season are typically your best movement.....

I was shooting a 250 grain TC Shockwave bullet. I began looking for blood doing circles around the location he was standing when I shot. From there I went to the direction I thought he ran. Zero blood after looking for over an hour in the fresh snow. Upon recovering the deer it appears I hit him just behind the front shoulder. I couldn't tell if the bullet exited or not due to him being so eaten up when I found him. I would defiantly like to go the smokeless route in the near future.
 
Congrats...that's a terrific buck!

Been in the same boat...a few years back our son Hunter shot a dandy buck with his ML during youth season. We watched him run, stop and a trickle of blood coming out maybe just a skiff low of a perfect shot. We followed an extremely skimpy blood trail as far as we could, body searched over the course of several days, and I found his skeleton while shed hunting in March. What made me sick was that I found him less than 10 yards from where I know we searched multiple times. Euro mount still looks great on the wall, but always kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Congrats on a great eight, I had this happen a coup[e of years ago and if it wasn't for a good friend and his tracking abilities I would not have found him.
 
I've never muzzleloader hunted, but seems like I read often about how they don't not bleed well when hit by a muzzleloader.
 
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