I'm not sure who ever came up with the notion that Friday the 13th was a bad thing. I headed out to a piece of property that I have been hunting hard the last 2 weeks. The rut was kicking in and the weather was holding nice and cool at night though the days were a touch too warm for much daylight activity. The morning began with a doe and 2 yearlings moving up the ridge to the bedding area. Another doe came through on the run below my stand followed soon after by a very respectful 6 pointer that I have had my eye on for a couple of months now. He never slowed down and just kept on the trail to the south where the big doe had gone earlier. A short time later a spike horn ambled past at 30 yards. I had just sent a text message to my partner. He fell from his ladder stand the night before so I was checking on him to make sure he was alright. Just as I hit the send button I heard a grunt from the tight cover below me. A few seconds later this buck emerged and began to come up the hill. I knew right away he was a shooter in my book. I had seen this buck twice in the last 4 days. As he approached the lower run I prepared myself for him to hook to the right and follow the previous deer. To my suprise he came right up the hill towards me. As he closed the distance he began to angle towards my shooting lane. I estimated he was going to cross it at 20 yards broadside. It actually turned out to be 14. Just before he stepped completely into the lane he stopped. Half of his chest forward was exposed but I held out for him to walk all the way in. He stretched his neck out and brought his nose to the ground. This happened 3 times. I'm sure he caught my scent from pruining the lane a couple of days earlier. On his last check he appeared to be getting a little nervous. I thought he was going to turn and head back down the ridge. I came to full draw and centered his shoulder as close to the tree as I dared. What I neglected to do though was to bend at the waist to compensate for the steep angle and how close he actually was. At the shot the arrow struck him a couple of inches higher than I was holding and spined him. He dropped and I got out of the stand and finished the job in short order. This buck is just about average for what I have seen on this new farm I am hunting. I have seen a few better bucks and some lesser. This is my personal best bow kill. His inside spread is just over 14 inches and he weighed a respectful 140 pounds. This is my 4th buck in the last 6 years since I started bow hunting so I consider myself pretty fortunate.
PB Bow Harvest 11/13/09
