RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Siman, only hunt that place with the wind in your favor, back in 05', i saw my best buck ever on a Sat. i hunted him the next couple days and never saw him, i backed off because the wind was wrong, the viola, on thurs, he walked right to me. that buck is #1 old, #2 smart, #3 ready to go nocturnal, get your decoy in there ,, Good Luck!

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Tell me if you can see this one Kill it n grill it. Awesome footage Siman. Man I hope you get that big guy. He looks like hes 300 lbs.

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

There it is! Awesome looking buck!! Congrats! Man, I can't wait to get a shot at some big bucks! The next few weeks should be pretty good for me!

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

nice shooting mj, congrats. still waiting to get my truck running then i'll be back out.

don

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Hey guys, just got back from a long depressing evening. I got to my stand around 5 and after about 15 minutes i had 3 does come out and start feeding. I thought for sure Freak Daddy would come out to check them, but he did not. After watching the does eat for 30 minutes the lead and biggest doe presented me a 33 yard broadside shot. I felt confident in the shot so i took it. I heard it smack real loud and she quickly turned around. I could not see where my arrow hit, but i could tell it wasn't a pass through because it wasn't coming out the opposite side and i could see a lot of the shaft sticking out the other side. She ran about 10 feet and fell face first with her back legs pushing. I thought BDD for sure! But she got up and took off at full speed into the woods. That's when i started getting worried because it was pouring. I got out of my stand to check for blood and it was almost all washed away. We circled the woods forever but never found another drop or any sign of her or my arrow. I feel so sick for losing yet another deer. As we were walking out we jumped a little fork horn from the field i shot her in. I really don't know what to say guys, im starting to lose confidence in my shooting abilities.

Good luck to everyone this week, my girlfriend is having major surgery tomorrow morning and i don't know how much i can get on here or in the woods for that matter.

58deer on25 hunts,20 does, 19 fawns,8 bucks and11 unknown.

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

If your girlfriend has major surgery in the morning, worry about that first. It sucks to have this happen to you on the doe, but your gf should be top priority. If you get time afterwards, go take a look around any water on the property you hunt. If she went anywhere, she'll probably look for water. It happens to all of us. Hang in there and keep practicing. It is a whole different game when you are aiming at a deer and letting it fly than when you are aiming at a target. I have gotten to where I pull my bow back and close my eyes remembering the feeling of where the string touches the tip of my nose. Then I open my eyes and slowly raise the pin til I have it on the mark and let her fly. I do this for both practice and hunting shots. It seems to cool down my deer fever when I'm not just watching the deer the whole time I'm supposed to be going through these steps.
By the way, what broadheads are you shooting? And how was the hit on the other deer you lost?

Good luck, and tell your girlfriend prayers are sent.

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Well the homework still hasn't went away, but I thought I'd tell you a little about this deer. We have trail cam pics of him last year in October. We thought he must have been shot in rifle season as we haven't seen him since and we scouted pretty hard. But anyways, my brother saw him on the 23rd when he was in stand at 40 yards but it was too brushy to shoot. Then on the 24th he said he had him walk by a little farther away and then saw him out on a alfalfa corner up against the corn with another buck and some does just before the end of shooting light. This whole time I was hunting my girlfriends land and was seeing a few in the 120-130 range. Matt wanted me to come hunt this buck with him so I let him have first choice on where he wanted to hunt. He first told me to take the stand and then decided that saturday was the day that he would walk under the stand checking scrapes... so he wanted me to sit in the cornfield 2 yards back from the alfalfa and wait like a sitting duck. I thought there was no way this was gonna work but I'll give it a shot. At about 5:45 I had4 does come to about 8 yards and bust me as the winds swirled. I wanted to just pack up and leave so I didn't disturb Matt's hunting as he was only 150 yards away. But i stuck it out and at 6:45 this guy came out and made a scrape. He was walking to Matt and I hurried and gave him a doe estrous bleat and he turned right back to me with his nose to the ground. LOL. I feel bad now, but I WANTED this deer. I ranged him at 37 yards when he was about 3 steps from being in my lane of the corn. I pulled back when he stepped into the lane and he heard me draw. He looked in my direction but thought I was about 5 or 6 rows over. He looked a little nervous but not like he was gonna bust and run. So I decided to take the shot and when the arrow got about to him he ducked and it hit a little high. I watched him run into the trees and crash twice before I pulled a practice arrow and stuck it in the ground where I saw him enter the woods. An hour later Matt and I went to track him and it was a great blood trail. The arrow was not a pass through as it caught ribs but it did spray some good blood. From the edge of the trees he had only went 30 yards before expiring. This whole time, I thought he would be high 140's to low 150's. When we got to him, matt punched me in the chest and called me a few names before congratulating me. I was as happy as I'll probably ever be that night as a bowhunter. It all worked out perfectly even when I was sure I had no chance.
Sorry for the length.....
Heres a few more pics.

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

That's an awesome buck MJ and a great story. I will have a few hours to look for my doe tonight after i get back from the Cleveland clinic, i have some mandatory fire classes at 7 (bad timing [:@]) that i have to be at.

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Awesome buck MJ! Congrats on scoring for the team!

I'm headed to Illinois tomorrow for 5 days of bowhunting bliss! I'll report when I return!

RE: Official Team Shaft 'Em (25) Thread
 

Great buck MJ!!! Congrats