I shot the largest buck of my life on opening day of the season (also my birthday). We had been hunting this deer since 2014 ( I nearly killed him that year and so did my dad - he would have scored 150-160" at that time); the neighboring landowner found his sheds the next spring. He disappeared the next year, not one picture for us; the neighboring landowner had pics that year but no sheds were found by either of us. Last year, we had tons of pics of him, but no sightings hunting. My dad found one side of his rack, and the other landowner found the other.
This year, we had tons of pics of him but not for the last 3 weeks leading up to the season. We were worried someone poached him or he got hit by a car. Of course, we thought he may have picked up and left to go to a new woods but besides that one year, he was an extreme homebody on the farm. I went in there Saturday night to try and kill a new buck that came to the farm in the past 3 weeks and was there nearly EVERY morning and evening. He was a nice buck with a 3rd main beam, but probably wouldn't bust 140" but would have been plenty nice for me. Anyway, we had the perfect situation for early deer movement - rising barometric pressure, rising moon, and a big cold front. I saw my first deer at 6:00 pm, a 4 point, followed by a doe shortly after. Then, around 6:10, I heard movement to my right and saw a dark bodied buck stepping off the steep ridge onto the flat where I was hunting. I couldn't see the rack very well but knew there was a good amount of antler there. Assuming it was the smaller shooter, I grabbed my bow. He proceeded very cautiously towards the other deer, stopping a lot to investigate; it wasn't until he got in an opening in the woods that I realized it was the big boy! (( Its funny, most people have names for their target deer and we usually do, I mean nothing goofy but usually just some general term so we knew what deer we are talking about. In this case, in 2014 I think we referred to him as the Big Ten and then in 2016 when he came back with all the kickers and mass I think it was just Big Boy from there on out! ))
He kept coming in very slowly, stopping to scan the woods infront of him. He was approaching a nice opening when I decided to draw; of course he decided to stop just shy of it. I didn't feel I could let my bow down with the other deer around so I held it for quite awhile until he made his way to a much larger opening at 25 yards. When he got there, I got on him and released the shot. I'm not sure if I pulled the shot or if he shifted his body but I hit him a little far back. On impact lots of blood could be seen and he took off and ran about 70 yards out of sight. After that, I could hear him walking a bit and then nothing. I called dad and filled him in and waited for quite a while to get down, I checked my arrow which passed through - it was covered in blood. But knowing where the shot was, I backed out and went home.
Dad came home from hunting (he passed on a nice, but young 10 point, probably 135") and the unanimous decision was to wait until the next morning to track. We had temps in the 30's coming so the risk of spoiling the meat was nil, and we knew if we pushed the deer the chances of finding him would get worse. I didn't sleep well that night (obviously) and we set out around 8am and picked up blood. When he walked there wasn't a ton of blood to be found but we could tell where he stopped as there were larger pools of blood. We went about 75 yards and a small buck jumped up ahead of us and took off. (I immediately had a flashback to another buck I shot from the same stand two years ago on Oct. 1 where a doe kept standing ahead of us - and that is where we found that buck. Its funny how deer sometimes do that). We kept following the blood another 75 or so yards ,small spots, then the big pool where he would stop, etc., etc. We came up on one of the large pools of blood and we started scanning ahead for the smaller spots and there he was! I remember scanning ahead of us from left to right and passing over the deer, still scanning like it didn't register what I had just seen, and did a double-take! After that, I'm not going to lie, I bawled like a baby - tears of joy, and honestly maybe a little out of sadness - this deer had been a fixture of our deer hunting lives for over 3 years; no more pictures, no more encounters, no more shed hunts hoping to find his sheds.
After we got him out of the woods, we stopped by the neighbors house to show him. I asked to borrow the sheds he had for some pictures, which he obliged (I plan on asking him if he would sell them to me when I take them back) and we had a nice chat about the deer.
When we got him hung in the garage, I went and got the soft tape measure to see just how much antler was there. Dad and I knew he would gross over 170" for sure and the neighbor (after seeing the deer first hand) threw out an estimate of 180". I grossed him at 182 4/8".
Sorry for the long read but it's a long story to lay out. I hope all of the forum hunters have a great season; I'll be doe, turkey, and small game hunting for several months!!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This year, we had tons of pics of him but not for the last 3 weeks leading up to the season. We were worried someone poached him or he got hit by a car. Of course, we thought he may have picked up and left to go to a new woods but besides that one year, he was an extreme homebody on the farm. I went in there Saturday night to try and kill a new buck that came to the farm in the past 3 weeks and was there nearly EVERY morning and evening. He was a nice buck with a 3rd main beam, but probably wouldn't bust 140" but would have been plenty nice for me. Anyway, we had the perfect situation for early deer movement - rising barometric pressure, rising moon, and a big cold front. I saw my first deer at 6:00 pm, a 4 point, followed by a doe shortly after. Then, around 6:10, I heard movement to my right and saw a dark bodied buck stepping off the steep ridge onto the flat where I was hunting. I couldn't see the rack very well but knew there was a good amount of antler there. Assuming it was the smaller shooter, I grabbed my bow. He proceeded very cautiously towards the other deer, stopping a lot to investigate; it wasn't until he got in an opening in the woods that I realized it was the big boy! (( Its funny, most people have names for their target deer and we usually do, I mean nothing goofy but usually just some general term so we knew what deer we are talking about. In this case, in 2014 I think we referred to him as the Big Ten and then in 2016 when he came back with all the kickers and mass I think it was just Big Boy from there on out! ))
He kept coming in very slowly, stopping to scan the woods infront of him. He was approaching a nice opening when I decided to draw; of course he decided to stop just shy of it. I didn't feel I could let my bow down with the other deer around so I held it for quite awhile until he made his way to a much larger opening at 25 yards. When he got there, I got on him and released the shot. I'm not sure if I pulled the shot or if he shifted his body but I hit him a little far back. On impact lots of blood could be seen and he took off and ran about 70 yards out of sight. After that, I could hear him walking a bit and then nothing. I called dad and filled him in and waited for quite a while to get down, I checked my arrow which passed through - it was covered in blood. But knowing where the shot was, I backed out and went home.
Dad came home from hunting (he passed on a nice, but young 10 point, probably 135") and the unanimous decision was to wait until the next morning to track. We had temps in the 30's coming so the risk of spoiling the meat was nil, and we knew if we pushed the deer the chances of finding him would get worse. I didn't sleep well that night (obviously) and we set out around 8am and picked up blood. When he walked there wasn't a ton of blood to be found but we could tell where he stopped as there were larger pools of blood. We went about 75 yards and a small buck jumped up ahead of us and took off. (I immediately had a flashback to another buck I shot from the same stand two years ago on Oct. 1 where a doe kept standing ahead of us - and that is where we found that buck. Its funny how deer sometimes do that). We kept following the blood another 75 or so yards ,small spots, then the big pool where he would stop, etc., etc. We came up on one of the large pools of blood and we started scanning ahead for the smaller spots and there he was! I remember scanning ahead of us from left to right and passing over the deer, still scanning like it didn't register what I had just seen, and did a double-take! After that, I'm not going to lie, I bawled like a baby - tears of joy, and honestly maybe a little out of sadness - this deer had been a fixture of our deer hunting lives for over 3 years; no more pictures, no more encounters, no more shed hunts hoping to find his sheds.
After we got him out of the woods, we stopped by the neighbors house to show him. I asked to borrow the sheds he had for some pictures, which he obliged (I plan on asking him if he would sell them to me when I take them back) and we had a nice chat about the deer.
When we got him hung in the garage, I went and got the soft tape measure to see just how much antler was there. Dad and I knew he would gross over 170" for sure and the neighbor (after seeing the deer first hand) threw out an estimate of 180". I grossed him at 182 4/8".
Sorry for the long read but it's a long story to lay out. I hope all of the forum hunters have a great season; I'll be doe, turkey, and small game hunting for several months!!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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