Gladiator
PMA Member
Hold on to your hats...long post coming. Scroll down to harvest pics if you don't want to read... 
Also, let me know if I need to post photos to the site or if you have the Photobucket Embed Fix.
Early muzzy I'd taken my son out a couple times and had a few smaller deer out there, with the "Stubby 10" at 128 yards at last light. He's an impressive deer - just not a lot of headgear. He's waiting for a "nice buck." I think I've created a monster looking for some headgear for his bedroom.
Caleb and I hunted late October and had a really nice buck come out and come to 60 yards, but not any closer...it was a great encounter for our first night out:
Oct. 31 in the morning, was a great morning...no shooter encounters, but lots of deer moving.
Fast forward to Saturday, the 4th...this was our first full day sit, and we were in a good location, a shelf location where deer criss cross and follow does back to the bedding areas. It was a semi-funnel where we've had some great success in year's past. It wasn't long and Caleb spots a good buck following some does from the east. He ends up having one shot at 40 yards and let's it fly as the deer is standing broadside...and hit it in the shoulder blade. We ended up following a blood trail straight from a horror movie. We were convinced we would find this deer after what seemed like a surface hit. Best blood trail I've followed and yet, it stopped on a dime after about 75 yards. On our hands and knees for 45 minutes, we could find no more. A search of the CRP grass found nothing....and no crows, eagles, coyotes, or vultures on subsequent hunts.
I was up Sunday night and all day Tuesday. Sunday night was WINDY! About 3:30 or 4pm, Caleb turns around and the same buck from late October was right behind us downwind....he ALMOST made it through our lane onto our property, but no dice. We couldn't shoot to the neighbors, so he snuck by us again. Great encounter.
3 shooters spotted in 4 sits....no deer yet.
Nov. 7 we knew we needed to sit all day. Wind was VERY marginal for the Big Oak. We thought with a NNE wind we might be able to sneak past them since the deer came from the North and the West. Many deer were running around and we were watching some does behind us across the creek and we heard the snap of some branches...holy smokes it was a buck I'd had encounters with the past 3 years. He'd just shown up on the cellular camera the night before for the first time:
He's shown up mid-late November every year.
2015 - My buddy Brooks and I had this deer coming in and he ended up winding us. I believed him to be 4.5 at the time. He always had a dark patch on his head and was often times called the dark faced buck.
2016 - Caleb had an encounter with this deer and I was at full draw 2x on him. Couldn't get him to come into an opening because he was following a doe...definitely a big-bodied buck! Had some junk and probably his biggest rack.
This year, one photo and that's it....unless I find him on another camera. He lost his junk from the previous year, but a quick glance and he was coming fast. He made it through the point where he would have winded us if he was going to. I drew, merped him, and shot in a matter of about 2 seconds...Caleb got great footage and so did the go Pro...some of the coolest I've seen. Double lunged and out the guts on the opposite side. 75 yards later and we were celebrating! He definitely had ground-growth. About 45" of mass with 7" bases and 23" beams. I would have guessed him to be 135-140 inches, but ended up about 151" due to beams and mass. No tines above 8" long. Crazy...
Definitely one of the biggest bodied bucks I've shot and teeth were worn almost all the way down. Had to be 6.5 at least?
Finally got some blood in my new truck!!
Video to come soon....
Nov. 9
Caleb was up and we started off in the area we thought that big buck from late October was by...saw one doe at first light and that was it! We were in for the full day, so we moved to the big oak again. The only movement we saw was from 11-12:30 that day. And one buck headed our way from the small plot. Big 6 point side on one side with a big G2 split and a broken G3 on the other...he was coming perfect and at the last minute decides to cut behind us. Caleb drew and the buck was at 10 yards in brush...because of the bad angle, Caleb had to draw away from the tree and ended up hitting his release on his coat. Bow went off, cable came off his cams, and the buck took off....Man, I felt so bad for him. He beat himself up a bit and that was it for us for the day.
We had another 1/2 day sit planned on Saturday the 12th. Pressure was falling as a warm up was in order. Even though it wasn't rising pressure, we felt with the change, they might be moving....and the fact it was the rut.
Sure enough, about 5-6 small bucks cruised through the shelf area...and about 8am, Caleb looked up and said, "Shooter." I stood and got all the cams rolling. The buck was on a path where there were few lanes. Caleb actually stopped the buck because he knew it was the last available option, THEN drew his bow, squatted down, and double lunged him at 30 yards. To say the monkey was off his/our back was an understatement. 4 shots at mature bucks doesn't happen often...
Short track job and we were celebrating.
The hero shots - a broken G3, broken split on the G4, and broken kicker off the G2:
Now...on to shoot some does, clean up around the farm, and get that tower blind finished for late season!
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