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04-16-2007, 01:32 PM

#1

Rebel Hog

Dominant Buck

Join Date: Feb 2005

Location: WC FL

Posts: 26,323

FL Guy Kills Ohio Buck!

This is flhuntress's boyfriend and huntnmas friend!

Hey y'all, my name is Jim, and I'm RutnNStrutn
November 7, 2006
I woke to a drizzling rain. I decided to hunt since the rain was not heavy, though it was forecast to rain all day. I sat on the stand from dark to 11:00. My friend Aaron shot an 8 pointer at 07:30, but I didn't see any deer. At 11:00 I got down from the stand, and spent an hour slipping through the woods on the way back to the truck. Back at camp I checked the weather forecast. It was supposed to stop raining until a couple of hours after dark, at which time it was supposed to resume.
I got back on the stand around 14:00. It was uneventful until 17:15. I heard a buck grunting up on the ridge above me, so I grunted back to him with no apparent affect. 10 minutes later though, I heard a deer snorting behind me. I wondered why he snorted since the wind was in my favor and I was wearing my Scentlok suit??
He eventually walked down and stood 15 yards behind me, in the woods. He was a good buck and appeared to be a heavy 10 point. After a few minutes, he turned to walk into the bottom. I bleated at him a few times and he came back. After a few more minutes of not seeing a doe, he walked away again. I bleated again, but he ignored it. So I grunted instead, and that brought him back again. After seeing no deer for a second time, he snorted a few more times, and started walking back towards the ridge that he came from.
Figuring the hunt was over, I relaxed, enjoying what had just transpired. Upon hearing footsteps in the woods behind me, I turned and saw a doe walking past the buck. The buck did a 180 and followed her. She lead him right to the intersection of 2 trails that I was set up over. She came out, browsing and sniffing around for 5 minutes, but the buck held tight in the safety of the woods. Finally she walked across the intersection and up the trail away from him. That broke his will, and he stepped out into the open. I was waiting for that mistake. He entered the intersection, and stopped to sniff where she had been standing. That put him broadside at 18 yards. I was already set with a solid rest, so I aimed and fired. The buck and doe ran in opposite directions, but I couldn't be sure if I had hit him. I listened to him run for 7 or 8 seconds, then slow to a walk, and then silence.
I readied for a second shot as the doe returned. She walked around, looking up at me, but wouldn't leave the area. I watched her for 10 minutes, and then a buck and doe joined her. The buck was the exact same body and rack size. My heart sunk. I was then certain I had missed him.
It was now too late to shoot as I had taken my initial shot in the waning minutes of legal light. So I sat back and took in the show as the buck chased the two does in circles around my stand, grunting continuously. Finally the does fled up the hill, and the buck literally stomped after them. What a great hunt, despite not getting my buck...............or so I thought at the time.
When I climbed down from my tree, I walked to the intersection to retrieve my crossbow bolt. Not being able to find it, I decided to look for a blood trail. 10 yards from the intersection, I found one. I followed it 80 yards, marking it until it stopped. Then I went for help.
I returned with my friends, none of whom have red-green color deficiencies in their eyes, and thus have no problems following blood trails. They followed the blood to where I lost the trail, and found the buck had hung a right and went into thick woods. After a short tracking job, they found him!!!! I'd made a beautiful shot, and he had run less than 100 yards!!
He was a real bruiser!!! He field dressed at 180 lb's, making him 230 lb's on the hoof. His neck was bigger around as my thighs combined. He's a main frame ten point with a palmated right brow tine with 4 points on it, a palmated right G2 with 4 points on it, and a palmated left G2, which was the longest tine at 13-1/4". My official scorer taped his green score at a gross of 170-7/8" typical, netting 156-5/8" after deductions. Tallying him as a non-typical nets a total of 181-7/8"!! He is my best buck by far.
I find myself longing for next fall already................

Here are some shots of me and the monster where he fell.

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