Making the most of a hard season......My 2006 buck
11-05-2006, 10:55 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 4,668
Making the most of a hard season......My 2006 buck
Not sure how many of you guys saw my earlier post about the wicked October storm we had up here but without rehashing the whole thing........it has been a miserable fall around here both in and out of the woods. I am still trying to clean up the mess. I tried to get out a couple days the last few weekends and it has been nothing but rain and high winds. I felt fortunate enough to have taken a small doe on opening day of the season to get some freezer filling started. I figured that would probably be it for me this year.........I was hoping for a rut day or two but wasn't banking on anything.
My year continued it's downward slide as the days past. About 5 days after the storm cleared and life was starting to resemble normal again some moron lost control of his car (speeding) and drove through a telephone pole in front of my house.........all the new power lines that were just installed were now laying on the ground again.........darkness consumed our neighborhood for a second time. I was starting to feel like the winner of the bad luck lottery.
This weekend I just had to get out and sit. I took a 1/2 day on Friday and went with my best friend to a local farm we got permission to hunt this year. Our knowledge of the property is minimal so we are hunting/scouting for next year already. We hunt the evening and I saw a buck cruising around for awhile but couldn't get him to come close enough.......I was hunting over a fresh scrape I was hoping he would come check.......he didn't. After being in the woods all afternoon and seeing that deer it really got the juices flowing again and I HAD to go out Sat morning. My friend works mornings so it was just me.......and then it started to snow [
]
I feel like some maniac is experimenting with a weather machine around here........last year I was hunting in a T-shirt.......this year it's feels like late muzzleloader season already.
The alram rings and I push my yellow lab off my legs and creep to the window.........there is a couple inches of fresh snow which I didn't mind but the 27 degree temp I could have done without. As I do my best stealth mission to get out of the bedroom I hear my wife whisper "Good luck" as the door closes slowly.........that's enough to keep me warm until at least 8 o'clock
I hit the farm and start the long walk to the back woods..........as I do I remember thinking I saw a nice tree just off the main path into the woods that I could sit in and give me a nice look at anything coming down the path headed back to deeper woods........with corn on both sides and thick brush around it this path was as close to a funnel I would find in the dark. I walked about 70 yards down the path and the tree was even better then I remembered..........I got in climbed up in no time and was sitting exactly 20 yards from the path with a perfect opening and a BIG tree 10 yards in front of me to my left. All I needed was a deer to walk down that path and the big tree would give me the perfect shield to draw and be ready when the deer hit the open lane. I should have known right then that things NEVER go by the script that well in the woods.
By 8 o'clock I am freezing...........I mean freezing. I was a little under dressed because of string/jacket concerns but this was bad. I remember thinking over and over I had to tough it out until 9:00 am...........I could live with myself if I lasted that long. At 8:15 I hear a deer moving through the thick brush to my left and I glance over to see a small deer cruising........it goes across the main path and heads away from me..........so much for my plan of coming down the path. A couple minutes later he comes straight back at me but about 30 yards away and all kinds of junk between us.........I can tell now as he stands there it is a button buck and he walks a little closer and beds down...........my mind goes off the cold for a couple minutes as I watch him sit and scratch and lick snow off of the leaves.........I would have been happy going home with just that as my entertainment for the morning. He gets up after about 5 minutes and heads down the path and off to bigger woods.
I look at my watch and it is 8:25 am. I HAVE to make it until 9:00. As I put my phone back in my pocket I hear more rustling to my left but see nothing.............out comes the grunter........the motion stirs as my calls hit the woods.........and I can hear the sounds getting farther away and off to my left........similar to the button's path but farther away.......I still see nothing. As I sit it suddenly hits me as truthfully I didn't even care when I came in.............I test the wind by huffing a a little steamy breath out and sure enough it floats forward and to my left............right where that deer is headed..........he is going downwind of the sound. I reach for the grunter and now my calls are more aggressive. I barely got the grunter back in my pocket when I heard the crunching of hooves on ice and snow coming down the path..........I grab my bow as I see the deer come into view headed down the path..........and it's moving. I can see antlers and a good size body but not much else and personally couldn't care less considering I have tags for both buck and doe in my pocket. My plan works to perfection as the deer is heading right down the gauntlet and when he disappears behind the big tree I draw and hold on my open window.....................then everything goes up in flames.
My whole scripted plan falls apart before my eyes and I have no one to thank but myself............I called him in............pretty well aparently........and his abilty to pinpoint that sound caused him to dart into the woods and seek out my EXACT tree..........he was on a mission. This all sunk in as I held focused on the path only to see him come hustling around the big tree and make foot long skid marks as he stopped on a dime no more the n 5 yards from my tree below and to the left of me. My heart sank as his eyes imediately met mine and the stare down comenced. I had been in this situation enough times in my life to know this is a battle rarely won..........especially trying to hold at arms length from spitting distance. What seems like an eternity (probably 2 minutes) goes by and our eyes are still locked. My arm is aching but I try my best to remain frozen. To my surprise he suddenly breaks the stare down and begins to look around. Then he does one of those "I'm scared, but not sure what of" leaps and takes 2 hops like someone just tickled his butt. I immediately follow him and he settles himself still in easy bow range about 18 yards away. I know if I don't shoot now I never will but there is a stupid vine hanging down right over his vitals and some other twigs I don't want to risk a shot through.........In the next 2 seconds I get creative and a little stupid.........I ALWAYS set my safety harness so I can lean out and be caught before falling........just a habit that I think may prevent a fall by just keeping me from getting past a point of no return. (WARNING: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME) I feel my shooting rail of my Goliath against my leg and it is pretty low.........I lean forwards until my harness pulls tight and then I kneel on my rail so I can stretch out. This gives me a shot at his vitals and I take it. I don't know what proper form is when you are kneeling on your shooting rail with both feet in mid air dangling by a harness........but I'm pretty sure I didn't follow it. My arrow hit home.......I aimed back and high but it hit even farther back and high then I was hoping.......At impact the blood shot back at me like a bursting balloon. I plant my feet back on the bottom portion of my stand after I watch him run out of sight. What a crazy 5 minutes that was. I climb down because I saw him run pretty far and I go check the snow where I shot him.........blood everywhere, nice and bright and I see a tree about 30 yards away that has a 6 inch coating of blood on it.........I am happy. I go back to the truck and get all my stuff put away and take a few tugs on my now ice cold coffee. I head back in after him an hour later and trailing lung shot deer in the snow is pretty easy The only problem I encountered was he went pretty far..........and me not knowing the property all that well I started to worry when I saw a fence line full of posted signs up ahead right where my deer was headed. My fears were relieved as I saw him piled up about 30 yards before the property line.
What a day. I have 2 product reviews related to this hunt that I will post as seperate threads. This day also reinforced my beliefs in the basics of deer hunting that I learned years ago.......SIT STILL+BE QUIET. This deer purposely moved down wind of me stayed there before he thought it was safe enough to come in.........directly downwind and he still came right to my tree........then when he got there he saw me........looked right into my eyes from 15 feet away and KNEW I wasn't what he was looking for. I can't really thank any fancy, expensive gadgets for helping me beat those odds because all I did was spray down with fresh earth before going in and I was wearing less then $40 worth of camo that was a mismatched Realtree fleece top with Mossy Oak pants. If anything I would say that my Whisker Biscuit and Seat of the Pants harness and Summit shooting rail may have played a big part in allowing me pull of my Tarzan/Ted Nugent dangling shot with bow canted just so I could keep my balance. I still believe very strongly in the basics.........I move......even twitch and that deer is gone......end of story. Either that, or my mismatched cheapo camo is the next greatest pattern to hit the market
Sorry so long winded. It has been a REALLY tough year so far and I wish I could have spent more time here and seen all the deer you guys shot.
Don't ever take your time in the woods for granted...........life got in the way for me this year but even though I have not hunted anywhere near as much as I would like it has proven to me even more how much I love to be in the woods.
I am so thankful I was able to salvage this season and make the most of the limited time I had.
These pics are from my phone.........where I found him. You can see how far back and high the hit was. Believe it or not I got the back of both lungs.
My year continued it's downward slide as the days past. About 5 days after the storm cleared and life was starting to resemble normal again some moron lost control of his car (speeding) and drove through a telephone pole in front of my house.........all the new power lines that were just installed were now laying on the ground again.........darkness consumed our neighborhood for a second time. I was starting to feel like the winner of the bad luck lottery.
This weekend I just had to get out and sit. I took a 1/2 day on Friday and went with my best friend to a local farm we got permission to hunt this year. Our knowledge of the property is minimal so we are hunting/scouting for next year already. We hunt the evening and I saw a buck cruising around for awhile but couldn't get him to come close enough.......I was hunting over a fresh scrape I was hoping he would come check.......he didn't. After being in the woods all afternoon and seeing that deer it really got the juices flowing again and I HAD to go out Sat morning. My friend works mornings so it was just me.......and then it started to snow [
]I feel like some maniac is experimenting with a weather machine around here........last year I was hunting in a T-shirt.......this year it's feels like late muzzleloader season already.
The alram rings and I push my yellow lab off my legs and creep to the window.........there is a couple inches of fresh snow which I didn't mind but the 27 degree temp I could have done without. As I do my best stealth mission to get out of the bedroom I hear my wife whisper "Good luck" as the door closes slowly.........that's enough to keep me warm until at least 8 o'clock
I hit the farm and start the long walk to the back woods..........as I do I remember thinking I saw a nice tree just off the main path into the woods that I could sit in and give me a nice look at anything coming down the path headed back to deeper woods........with corn on both sides and thick brush around it this path was as close to a funnel I would find in the dark. I walked about 70 yards down the path and the tree was even better then I remembered..........I got in climbed up in no time and was sitting exactly 20 yards from the path with a perfect opening and a BIG tree 10 yards in front of me to my left. All I needed was a deer to walk down that path and the big tree would give me the perfect shield to draw and be ready when the deer hit the open lane. I should have known right then that things NEVER go by the script that well in the woods.
By 8 o'clock I am freezing...........I mean freezing. I was a little under dressed because of string/jacket concerns but this was bad. I remember thinking over and over I had to tough it out until 9:00 am...........I could live with myself if I lasted that long. At 8:15 I hear a deer moving through the thick brush to my left and I glance over to see a small deer cruising........it goes across the main path and heads away from me..........so much for my plan of coming down the path. A couple minutes later he comes straight back at me but about 30 yards away and all kinds of junk between us.........I can tell now as he stands there it is a button buck and he walks a little closer and beds down...........my mind goes off the cold for a couple minutes as I watch him sit and scratch and lick snow off of the leaves.........I would have been happy going home with just that as my entertainment for the morning. He gets up after about 5 minutes and heads down the path and off to bigger woods.
I look at my watch and it is 8:25 am. I HAVE to make it until 9:00. As I put my phone back in my pocket I hear more rustling to my left but see nothing.............out comes the grunter........the motion stirs as my calls hit the woods.........and I can hear the sounds getting farther away and off to my left........similar to the button's path but farther away.......I still see nothing. As I sit it suddenly hits me as truthfully I didn't even care when I came in.............I test the wind by huffing a a little steamy breath out and sure enough it floats forward and to my left............right where that deer is headed..........he is going downwind of the sound. I reach for the grunter and now my calls are more aggressive. I barely got the grunter back in my pocket when I heard the crunching of hooves on ice and snow coming down the path..........I grab my bow as I see the deer come into view headed down the path..........and it's moving. I can see antlers and a good size body but not much else and personally couldn't care less considering I have tags for both buck and doe in my pocket. My plan works to perfection as the deer is heading right down the gauntlet and when he disappears behind the big tree I draw and hold on my open window.....................then everything goes up in flames.
My whole scripted plan falls apart before my eyes and I have no one to thank but myself............I called him in............pretty well aparently........and his abilty to pinpoint that sound caused him to dart into the woods and seek out my EXACT tree..........he was on a mission. This all sunk in as I held focused on the path only to see him come hustling around the big tree and make foot long skid marks as he stopped on a dime no more the n 5 yards from my tree below and to the left of me. My heart sank as his eyes imediately met mine and the stare down comenced. I had been in this situation enough times in my life to know this is a battle rarely won..........especially trying to hold at arms length from spitting distance. What seems like an eternity (probably 2 minutes) goes by and our eyes are still locked. My arm is aching but I try my best to remain frozen. To my surprise he suddenly breaks the stare down and begins to look around. Then he does one of those "I'm scared, but not sure what of" leaps and takes 2 hops like someone just tickled his butt. I immediately follow him and he settles himself still in easy bow range about 18 yards away. I know if I don't shoot now I never will but there is a stupid vine hanging down right over his vitals and some other twigs I don't want to risk a shot through.........In the next 2 seconds I get creative and a little stupid.........I ALWAYS set my safety harness so I can lean out and be caught before falling........just a habit that I think may prevent a fall by just keeping me from getting past a point of no return. (WARNING: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME) I feel my shooting rail of my Goliath against my leg and it is pretty low.........I lean forwards until my harness pulls tight and then I kneel on my rail so I can stretch out. This gives me a shot at his vitals and I take it. I don't know what proper form is when you are kneeling on your shooting rail with both feet in mid air dangling by a harness........but I'm pretty sure I didn't follow it. My arrow hit home.......I aimed back and high but it hit even farther back and high then I was hoping.......At impact the blood shot back at me like a bursting balloon. I plant my feet back on the bottom portion of my stand after I watch him run out of sight. What a crazy 5 minutes that was. I climb down because I saw him run pretty far and I go check the snow where I shot him.........blood everywhere, nice and bright and I see a tree about 30 yards away that has a 6 inch coating of blood on it.........I am happy. I go back to the truck and get all my stuff put away and take a few tugs on my now ice cold coffee. I head back in after him an hour later and trailing lung shot deer in the snow is pretty easy
The only problem I encountered was he went pretty far..........and me not knowing the property all that well I started to worry when I saw a fence line full of posted signs up ahead right where my deer was headed. My fears were relieved as I saw him piled up about 30 yards before the property line.What a day. I have 2 product reviews related to this hunt that I will post as seperate threads. This day also reinforced my beliefs in the basics of deer hunting that I learned years ago.......SIT STILL+BE QUIET. This deer purposely moved down wind of me stayed there before he thought it was safe enough to come in.........directly downwind and he still came right to my tree........then when he got there he saw me........looked right into my eyes from 15 feet away and KNEW I wasn't what he was looking for. I can't really thank any fancy, expensive gadgets for helping me beat those odds because all I did was spray down with fresh earth before going in and I was wearing less then $40 worth of camo that was a mismatched Realtree fleece top with Mossy Oak pants. If anything I would say that my Whisker Biscuit and Seat of the Pants harness and Summit shooting rail may have played a big part in allowing me pull of my Tarzan/Ted Nugent dangling shot with bow canted just so I could keep my balance. I still believe very strongly in the basics.........I move......even twitch and that deer is gone......end of story. Either that, or my mismatched cheapo camo is the next greatest pattern to hit the market
Sorry so long winded. It has been a REALLY tough year so far and I wish I could have spent more time here and seen all the deer you guys shot.
Don't ever take your time in the woods for granted...........life got in the way for me this year but even though I have not hunted anywhere near as much as I would like it has proven to me even more how much I love to be in the woods.
I am so thankful I was able to salvage this season and make the most of the limited time I had.
These pics are from my phone.........where I found him. You can see how far back and high the hit was. Believe it or not I got the back of both lungs.
11-05-2006, 08:16 PM
#10
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 4,668
RE: Making the most of a hard season......My 2006 buck
ORIGINAL: Germ
Nice work Atlas!!
Serious question what type of broadhead do you use, that is one hell of a hole!!
Nice work Atlas!!
Serious question what type of broadhead do you use, that is one hell of a hole!!
This is the entry hole............see my thread on the Stinger to get the rest of the story.
