Well, I thought I would post up my deer hunting stories from 2009. I had an archery tag, a rifle tag, and a muzzeloader buck tag. The muzzleloader season is still going, and I'm just wasting some time before I head out again in the blizzard we have going right now.
In July, I captured a photo of a big buck on my trail camera, but it was 30 yards away and hard to tell what he was for sure. I set out the rest of my cameras in that area for quite a while, but never got another glimpse of that deer on camera. I also spent countless hours at vantage points with binoculars and spotting scouts trying to locate the buck to no avail. On November 15th, I got my first look at the buck on the hoof while we were combining corn.
I was running the grain cart and was hurrying to the end of the field to top off my semi when my brother called me on the radio and said 3 deer came out of the corn in between me and him. I turned the tractor to look back and saw a buck with good height, width and a sticker point on each G2. I didn't think much of the deer (binos weren't in the tractor like usual), and continued on my way to the semi. I had my hunting buddy riding in the tractor with me, and we got arguing about how long the stickers were on the G2s. Finally, after he persuaded me I got on the phone to my old man to bring my pickup to the field, my archery hunting gear was in my pickup.
He got out to the field and the buck was over a hill and chasing a hot doe, I hurridly threw on my camo, some scent killer, grabbed my laser range finder and my bow and hightailed it down the field in the standing corn. The doe had the bucks complete attention and he was on the west side of the standing corn. The wind was blowing about 10mph out of the west, so everything was perfect. I got to shooting range of him, by this time the buck had the doe pinned down on the ground waiting for her to stand. He was perfectly broadside and I crept thru the last remaining standing corn rows between me and him. I pulled up my laser range finder and this was the first time I had payed much attention to his rack. My Leica read 41 yards. My nerves were starting to get the better of me at this point and I had a very hard time getting my release on my string loop. I thought I was getting a shot opportunity at a 145-150" deer. After a few failed attempts at getting my release on my loop, I finally got it. I drew my bow back, ran my mental checklist a few times, and settled my 40 yard pin high on the lungs.
At the release of the arrow I knew everything was perfect. I saw my arrow in flight as if it were in slow motion. I watched the arrow tuck right behind his shoulder where I wanted it. He kinda hunched up a lil bit when he was hit, and stayed standing over the doe. At this point, I was freaking out, my buddy followed me thru the corn on the stalk and I was starting to do a lil dance (not a pretty sight). The doe got up after about ten seconds and he followed her about 40 yards and started to get teeetery (is that a word?) and he layed down. He layed there for a minute and slowly managed to get up and then walked about 50 yards and died.
He never knew he was hit, and the doe was very confused to say the least.
I let him lay for about a half hour before walking up to him. It took me that long to get my nerves back to normal, and it was dark at this point. My biggest archery buck to date was 136" and I was stoked that I had just killed my biggest archery buck.
When we walked up to him for the first time the first words I muttered were "holy crap". Then I stood over him for about 2 minutes before I could even say a word. I've shot many good bucks in the 140-160s with my rifle, but this is the first deer I had ever shot that grew about 45" when he hit the ground. My 145-150" deer suddenly turned into a 183 3/8" buck!!! I had no clue he had the mass and main beam length that he had. I'll let the photos do the talking now for a minute, since I've probably bored y'all to death.
And now, it was time to start conentrating on my rifle tag. Opening weekend of rifle season rolled around finally, and the buck I had been scouting all year and archery hunting religiously was high on my hit list, only I had one problem. I had drawn a Late Season Custer State Park archery elk tag in South Dakota. So, I gave my dad the run-down on the buck that he needed to shoot. My dad hunted that buck opening morning of rifle season and the closest shot he had was 400 yards, and he opted to pass him up. We run a pheasant hunting lodge, and we had hunters at our place so dad then concentrated on pheasant hunting the remainder of the weekend.
Thanksgiving day rolled around, and I was back empty handed from my elk archery hunt. This was my first opportunity to hunt with my rifle. I had a buddy that wanted to tag along with me, so we loaded up in my pickup a good hour an half before shooting light an headed to my stand. When we got there, and all settled in I saw a buck right at shooting light about 150 yards away. I pulled up my binos and told my buddy "SHOOTER SHOOTER" I grabbed my rifle and steadied up for the shot. When the buck stopped, he was on a doe trail, he was 241 yards. I touched the trigger, and saw the impact behind his shoulder, he took off hobbling and I shot him one more time for good measure thru the spine. The buck I had just shot was the one I had been scouting, and actually had him at 10 yards the evening before I shot my archery deer but couldn't get a shot at him. I figured he was a 150" deer all year, a very nice symetrical 5x5. Well, after a few minutes I saw more deer coming into the willows, one was an absolute giant of a 6x6! I called my dad and told him to get out to the field, by the time he got there and in position he was about 2 minutes late, that big 6x6 took off chasing 3 does.
I had to get my chest waders on to get to the buck I had shot, I had to cross 2 creeks that were about 4ft deep. By the time I had got my buck dragged to the fenceline he had grown from a 150" deer to a 168 7/8" deer! 2009 marks the first two times I've ever had deer grow on me after being shot, and also got me second guessing my scoring which has always been within an inch or two!
My rifle buck:
Both my bucks at the taxidermist
Sorry for being long winded, it's just been a very exciting season for me! Now it is about time to go back out after that 6x6! Wish me luck, I'm guessing he is in the 190s!!
In July, I captured a photo of a big buck on my trail camera, but it was 30 yards away and hard to tell what he was for sure. I set out the rest of my cameras in that area for quite a while, but never got another glimpse of that deer on camera. I also spent countless hours at vantage points with binoculars and spotting scouts trying to locate the buck to no avail. On November 15th, I got my first look at the buck on the hoof while we were combining corn.
I was running the grain cart and was hurrying to the end of the field to top off my semi when my brother called me on the radio and said 3 deer came out of the corn in between me and him. I turned the tractor to look back and saw a buck with good height, width and a sticker point on each G2. I didn't think much of the deer (binos weren't in the tractor like usual), and continued on my way to the semi. I had my hunting buddy riding in the tractor with me, and we got arguing about how long the stickers were on the G2s. Finally, after he persuaded me I got on the phone to my old man to bring my pickup to the field, my archery hunting gear was in my pickup.
He got out to the field and the buck was over a hill and chasing a hot doe, I hurridly threw on my camo, some scent killer, grabbed my laser range finder and my bow and hightailed it down the field in the standing corn. The doe had the bucks complete attention and he was on the west side of the standing corn. The wind was blowing about 10mph out of the west, so everything was perfect. I got to shooting range of him, by this time the buck had the doe pinned down on the ground waiting for her to stand. He was perfectly broadside and I crept thru the last remaining standing corn rows between me and him. I pulled up my laser range finder and this was the first time I had payed much attention to his rack. My Leica read 41 yards. My nerves were starting to get the better of me at this point and I had a very hard time getting my release on my string loop. I thought I was getting a shot opportunity at a 145-150" deer. After a few failed attempts at getting my release on my loop, I finally got it. I drew my bow back, ran my mental checklist a few times, and settled my 40 yard pin high on the lungs.
At the release of the arrow I knew everything was perfect. I saw my arrow in flight as if it were in slow motion. I watched the arrow tuck right behind his shoulder where I wanted it. He kinda hunched up a lil bit when he was hit, and stayed standing over the doe. At this point, I was freaking out, my buddy followed me thru the corn on the stalk and I was starting to do a lil dance (not a pretty sight). The doe got up after about ten seconds and he followed her about 40 yards and started to get teeetery (is that a word?) and he layed down. He layed there for a minute and slowly managed to get up and then walked about 50 yards and died.
He never knew he was hit, and the doe was very confused to say the least.
I let him lay for about a half hour before walking up to him. It took me that long to get my nerves back to normal, and it was dark at this point. My biggest archery buck to date was 136" and I was stoked that I had just killed my biggest archery buck.
When we walked up to him for the first time the first words I muttered were "holy crap". Then I stood over him for about 2 minutes before I could even say a word. I've shot many good bucks in the 140-160s with my rifle, but this is the first deer I had ever shot that grew about 45" when he hit the ground. My 145-150" deer suddenly turned into a 183 3/8" buck!!! I had no clue he had the mass and main beam length that he had. I'll let the photos do the talking now for a minute, since I've probably bored y'all to death.
And now, it was time to start conentrating on my rifle tag. Opening weekend of rifle season rolled around finally, and the buck I had been scouting all year and archery hunting religiously was high on my hit list, only I had one problem. I had drawn a Late Season Custer State Park archery elk tag in South Dakota. So, I gave my dad the run-down on the buck that he needed to shoot. My dad hunted that buck opening morning of rifle season and the closest shot he had was 400 yards, and he opted to pass him up. We run a pheasant hunting lodge, and we had hunters at our place so dad then concentrated on pheasant hunting the remainder of the weekend.
Thanksgiving day rolled around, and I was back empty handed from my elk archery hunt. This was my first opportunity to hunt with my rifle. I had a buddy that wanted to tag along with me, so we loaded up in my pickup a good hour an half before shooting light an headed to my stand. When we got there, and all settled in I saw a buck right at shooting light about 150 yards away. I pulled up my binos and told my buddy "SHOOTER SHOOTER" I grabbed my rifle and steadied up for the shot. When the buck stopped, he was on a doe trail, he was 241 yards. I touched the trigger, and saw the impact behind his shoulder, he took off hobbling and I shot him one more time for good measure thru the spine. The buck I had just shot was the one I had been scouting, and actually had him at 10 yards the evening before I shot my archery deer but couldn't get a shot at him. I figured he was a 150" deer all year, a very nice symetrical 5x5. Well, after a few minutes I saw more deer coming into the willows, one was an absolute giant of a 6x6! I called my dad and told him to get out to the field, by the time he got there and in position he was about 2 minutes late, that big 6x6 took off chasing 3 does.
I had to get my chest waders on to get to the buck I had shot, I had to cross 2 creeks that were about 4ft deep. By the time I had got my buck dragged to the fenceline he had grown from a 150" deer to a 168 7/8" deer! 2009 marks the first two times I've ever had deer grow on me after being shot, and also got me second guessing my scoring which has always been within an inch or two!
My rifle buck:
Both my bucks at the taxidermist
Sorry for being long winded, it's just been a very exciting season for me! Now it is about time to go back out after that 6x6! Wish me luck, I'm guessing he is in the 190s!!
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