CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
I've been waiting to type this hoping the app would work again but I'll take the time to type it up now. The last few years have been a struggle bowhunting for me. This year I decided I would hunt more with no work and just graduating from Iowa State. The beginning of the year had me in doubt. No shooters on cam. I decided I would just duck hunt until things picked up. October came and went with no shooters still on camera I drug myself to the stand a few days in low hopes and though I was seeing more deer than average I wasn't seeing the mature deer I usually do.
On Nov 4th I decided to switch things up a bit and head to my grandparents farm in Adams Co. right away my brother and I were seeing shooters and my brother even got a shot at one but shot low, whole new ballgame when you are just laying in terraces with a bow. The weekend came and went and I still had only came into bow range with one shooter all season. Nov 6th I received a call from back home and my buddy had just shot his first deer. He had just sent me trail camera pictures of the deer the day before and was asking me whether or not to shoot it. It was an easy answer for me had I been him but I know why he was hesitant
. I drove back home and met him. I couldn't believe my eyes, the kid shot a giant, the picture had done the deer no justice. I rough scored it at 192" but wasn't sure how the whole palmation and tine length rule worked but it will be at the deer classic. That week I was back in the stand at home. One morning can't remember the date exactly I spotted what I assumed was a shooter 1000 yards away and he covered ground quick in less than ten minutes he was at 30 yards headed straight to my tree. I convinced myself he wasn't a shooter but then he got up the hill pass me a little bit and I decided he was. I thought he was at 40yards from what I was ranging earlier and I drew back and he turned broadside. I settled the pin, squeezed the trigger, and watched the arrow sail over his back. I reranged where he was at and he was closer than I had thought. So I left the stand in with low morale until the afternoon. I climbed back in the stand that evening and about 15 minutes from when I sat down I see another buck coming over the hill with a few does once again 1000 yards away but heading towards me steadily. This deers frame was impressive in the binos and I knew I'd be shooting him if I had the chance. Well as luck would have it one of the does brought him up a trail 15 yards away and he stopped to pee directly broadside 15 yards probably a 150s 8 pt. And I love me some big 8pts.I drew back while he turned away but the doe must have pegged me further up the hill because she jumped a little and so did he. I wanted him to take one maybe two more steps because the tree I was in has a branch that kind of hangs down a bit. Well he went on high alert and I settled the pin. No branches in the sight line and I release, arrow looks perfect heading straight for the lungs and all of a sudden it takes a tiny bounce up and goes over his back by an inch. I couldn't believe it I had no idea what happened and then I see a bright fresh cut twig with less of a diameter than my pinky finger and I have small hands. I was glad it sailed over him rather than wounding him though but it really put a dent in the motivation to hunt. I decided to take a break for a bit and do some more waterfowl hunting because at least then I was putting meat in the freezer. Then on 10th I headed back towards Adams Co. the morning of the 11th was one I wouldn't forget we were using a decoy and once again we were sitting in the terraces and my brother spotted a 145" 10pt walking in the timber 100 yards away. So I told him get his bow up and I will grunt at him. Well I grunted and he looked out way but continued on so I threw out a snort wheeze and he turned on a dime. He came straight to the decoy stiff legged and puffed up. He was a dead deer walking....so I thought. He ran and hit the decoy and my brother never had a chance to draw before he was back into the timber. We decided we were going back there the next day. Same buck walked down the same trail he had the day before. Once again I grunted and he came on a wide loop around trying to get down wind well he didn't want to cross the terrace we were sitting in so I waited and he got out of site and all I could think is man we is walking up on the terrace. He reappeared at thirty yards. And I told my brother to sit up and draw before he got closer. Well my brother didn't move a muscle. I reached behind me laying on my side and grabbed my bow leaned up a little bit with the buck still locked on the decoy standing at 30 yards. Well before I could draw he began to walk away quartering away hard so I threw another grunt at him and we turned and walked semi towards the decoy while gaining further distance. I decided to draw and I stopped him quartering away. 50 yards I settled squeezed and watched the arrow drop right in where I was aiming. I could see the arrow in him as he ran and you could hear my brother "that's a dead dear" as the deer sprinted into the standing corn. The one place I didn't want the dang deer to go. After 30 minutes I decided I would walk to where he had crossed a fence and see if I could find blood. Nothing. So I backed out for awhile and came back and began walking the different trails trying to find any blood still no luck. The next day I resumed my search by walking and grid searching the corn with no luck at all. At this point I was ready to be done for the year. Well nov 15th I decided I wanted to deer hunt but my brother had other plans for me and took me duck hunting so Nov 16th I decided I would go down and scroll through the scrape cam card as I sat in the tree. And I scroll up to these
What you can't see in these photos is my treestand that is literally sitting directly above that tree where the scrape is. The treestand I was going to hunt Nov 15th. I was upset with myself for not deer hunting and going duck hunting. I was only going to hunt until 9:30 but decided to wait til 11 if to see if he came back. So there's my scrape cam with no sd card in it because the sd card is in my phone and I'm sending the pics to buddies when I see a 3.5 year old walking down the trail. I really had to fight the urge to shoot him but I let him walk by and I look back north and see a super long G3. A G3 I was looking at on my phone literally minutes before. 9:30 and he's 75 yards away we is working another scrape and then he turns and begins to head towards me. I could hardly contain myself for idk why I had buck fever so bad over this deer I knew he was busted up because the pictures but I couldn't help it. He was coming to work the scrape right below me. I waited until he was behind a fallen tree to draw. I knew it was a chip shot so here I am finally calm enough to just relax and I settle in to my anchor point. Settled the pin and I stopped him at 8 yards. 10 yards from the scrape cam facing right at him unfortunately with no SD card. I released the arrow and watch it hit its mark. He runs about 30 yards and stops and stares back at me and just tips over stone dead. I couldn't be happier to harvest this buck as my second buck. He was an old busted up warrior with two broken tines and another tine rubbed off in velvet. Scored 141 5/8 with the broke tines. I really couldn't have done it without the support of friends and especially the girlfriend, I don't know how or why she puts up with me and my hunting but she does. Sorry for the long read.
On Nov 4th I decided to switch things up a bit and head to my grandparents farm in Adams Co. right away my brother and I were seeing shooters and my brother even got a shot at one but shot low, whole new ballgame when you are just laying in terraces with a bow. The weekend came and went and I still had only came into bow range with one shooter all season. Nov 6th I received a call from back home and my buddy had just shot his first deer. He had just sent me trail camera pictures of the deer the day before and was asking me whether or not to shoot it. It was an easy answer for me had I been him but I know why he was hesitant
. I drove back home and met him. I couldn't believe my eyes, the kid shot a giant, the picture had done the deer no justice. I rough scored it at 192" but wasn't sure how the whole palmation and tine length rule worked but it will be at the deer classic. That week I was back in the stand at home. One morning can't remember the date exactly I spotted what I assumed was a shooter 1000 yards away and he covered ground quick in less than ten minutes he was at 30 yards headed straight to my tree. I convinced myself he wasn't a shooter but then he got up the hill pass me a little bit and I decided he was. I thought he was at 40yards from what I was ranging earlier and I drew back and he turned broadside. I settled the pin, squeezed the trigger, and watched the arrow sail over his back. I reranged where he was at and he was closer than I had thought. So I left the stand in with low morale until the afternoon. I climbed back in the stand that evening and about 15 minutes from when I sat down I see another buck coming over the hill with a few does once again 1000 yards away but heading towards me steadily. This deers frame was impressive in the binos and I knew I'd be shooting him if I had the chance. Well as luck would have it one of the does brought him up a trail 15 yards away and he stopped to pee directly broadside 15 yards probably a 150s 8 pt. And I love me some big 8pts.I drew back while he turned away but the doe must have pegged me further up the hill because she jumped a little and so did he. I wanted him to take one maybe two more steps because the tree I was in has a branch that kind of hangs down a bit. Well he went on high alert and I settled the pin. No branches in the sight line and I release, arrow looks perfect heading straight for the lungs and all of a sudden it takes a tiny bounce up and goes over his back by an inch. I couldn't believe it I had no idea what happened and then I see a bright fresh cut twig with less of a diameter than my pinky finger and I have small hands. I was glad it sailed over him rather than wounding him though but it really put a dent in the motivation to hunt. I decided to take a break for a bit and do some more waterfowl hunting because at least then I was putting meat in the freezer. Then on 10th I headed back towards Adams Co. the morning of the 11th was one I wouldn't forget we were using a decoy and once again we were sitting in the terraces and my brother spotted a 145" 10pt walking in the timber 100 yards away. So I told him get his bow up and I will grunt at him. Well I grunted and he looked out way but continued on so I threw out a snort wheeze and he turned on a dime. He came straight to the decoy stiff legged and puffed up. He was a dead deer walking....so I thought. He ran and hit the decoy and my brother never had a chance to draw before he was back into the timber. We decided we were going back there the next day. Same buck walked down the same trail he had the day before. Once again I grunted and he came on a wide loop around trying to get down wind well he didn't want to cross the terrace we were sitting in so I waited and he got out of site and all I could think is man we is walking up on the terrace. He reappeared at thirty yards. And I told my brother to sit up and draw before he got closer. Well my brother didn't move a muscle. I reached behind me laying on my side and grabbed my bow leaned up a little bit with the buck still locked on the decoy standing at 30 yards. Well before I could draw he began to walk away quartering away hard so I threw another grunt at him and we turned and walked semi towards the decoy while gaining further distance. I decided to draw and I stopped him quartering away. 50 yards I settled squeezed and watched the arrow drop right in where I was aiming. I could see the arrow in him as he ran and you could hear my brother "that's a dead dear" as the deer sprinted into the standing corn. The one place I didn't want the dang deer to go. After 30 minutes I decided I would walk to where he had crossed a fence and see if I could find blood. Nothing. So I backed out for awhile and came back and began walking the different trails trying to find any blood still no luck. The next day I resumed my search by walking and grid searching the corn with no luck at all. At this point I was ready to be done for the year. Well nov 15th I decided I wanted to deer hunt but my brother had other plans for me and took me duck hunting so Nov 16th I decided I would go down and scroll through the scrape cam card as I sat in the tree. And I scroll up to these
What you can't see in these photos is my treestand that is literally sitting directly above that tree where the scrape is. The treestand I was going to hunt Nov 15th. I was upset with myself for not deer hunting and going duck hunting. I was only going to hunt until 9:30 but decided to wait til 11 if to see if he came back. So there's my scrape cam with no sd card in it because the sd card is in my phone and I'm sending the pics to buddies when I see a 3.5 year old walking down the trail. I really had to fight the urge to shoot him but I let him walk by and I look back north and see a super long G3. A G3 I was looking at on my phone literally minutes before. 9:30 and he's 75 yards away we is working another scrape and then he turns and begins to head towards me. I could hardly contain myself for idk why I had buck fever so bad over this deer I knew he was busted up because the pictures but I couldn't help it. He was coming to work the scrape right below me. I waited until he was behind a fallen tree to draw. I knew it was a chip shot so here I am finally calm enough to just relax and I settle in to my anchor point. Settled the pin and I stopped him at 8 yards. 10 yards from the scrape cam facing right at him unfortunately with no SD card. I released the arrow and watch it hit its mark. He runs about 30 yards and stops and stares back at me and just tips over stone dead. I couldn't be happier to harvest this buck as my second buck. He was an old busted up warrior with two broken tines and another tine rubbed off in velvet. Scored 141 5/8 with the broke tines. I really couldn't have done it without the support of friends and especially the girlfriend, I don't know how or why she puts up with me and my hunting but she does. Sorry for the long read.
