My 1st Buck of 2007
10-15-2007, 06:42 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 158
My 1st Buck of 2007
I posted my buck in the bowhunting contest and received a lot of great congrats from everyone. A lot of people asking for more pictures and the story, so here goes.
Saturday morning I was hunting a really thick creek bottom area. It is grown up in hedge, locust, and briars. It is hard to see more than 20 yards in some areas. My stand is right on the edge of the really thick stuff where it opens up to hardwood timber. The bucks typically come out of the thick stuff in the morning and head up into a couple of draws to bed down or search for does during the rut.
I got into my stand around 6:20 and sat in the darkness for 20 minutes. There was a very slight wind from the south, coming out of the thick stuff. When it was just starting to get light a raccoon came down the creek spashing around in the water. I had been watching him for about 5 minutes when I heard the distinct sound of antlers. Not antlers hiting other antlers, but antlers hitting a tree. It wasn't like a buck was making a rub, but rather just hitting his rack against a tree. I could tell it certainly was not a small 1 1/2 year old buck, so I knew there was a chance of a decent buck showing up. I thought the buck was about 80 - 100 yards away.
No more than 15 seconds later, I hear a deer coming up through the thick stuff. All of the sudden there he is at 15 yards. It is just starting to get light, and he is in the thick stuff. I could tell he was a decent buck, but I wanted to make sure he was at least 3 1/2 years old before I shot him. He took a couple more steps then heard the raccoon in the creek and froze. I had a clear look at him head on, so I looked at him through my binos. I could tell he had g4's, good mass, and good g1's. Those are the first 3 things I look for. I made up my mind to take him.
I knew he was going to take 3 more steps and be in my shooting lane. After a 10 second staredown at the raccoon in the creek, he turned and headed into my shooting lane. Right as a drew he stoped slightly quartering to me. I put my pin on him and released. I heard my arrow smack him, but it was so close that I didn't see where it hit him. He took off crashing through the thick stuff. I saw him stop at about 80 yards, then after a 5 second pause heard another crash. He had either just went down for good, or took off running through the thick stuff.
Right then it started to rain! After 10 minutes I got down and looked for my arrow. I could not find my arrow, any blood, or even any hair. It was just a light sprinkle, so I got back up in my stand and waited another 20 minutes. I was sure I had drilled him, so I started walking where he had ran off to. I could not find any blood anywhere! I was starting to think maybe I had drilled him in the shoulder. I decided to go look where I knew I saw him stop for a couple seconds.
As soon as I got to that area, I saw some blood. I looked over and there he was laying in the creek. As I walked up on him, I realized just how good he was. When you are really high up in the tree and it is just getting light, it is difficult to judge them, especially tine length. I'm really glad I didn't pass him up!
I killed this buck less than 100 yards from where I had photographed him this summer.
He grosses in the mid 160's. He also helped me pass a personal goal of mine that I've had for several years...the 900 club. With this buck my top six bow kills gross over 900". I guess my next goal is the 1000 club!
The best news of all is that I still have 1 buck tag left in IL and 1 buck tag left in IA.
I'm still really pumped about taking this buck. As a thank you to everyone for all of their kind words so far, I'd like to send out a few free Trophy Pins. I know I've had quite a few customers order from my website through this forum. The first 10 people to PM me with their name and address will receive the Trophy Pin of their choice.
Thanks!
Scott
Saturday morning I was hunting a really thick creek bottom area. It is grown up in hedge, locust, and briars. It is hard to see more than 20 yards in some areas. My stand is right on the edge of the really thick stuff where it opens up to hardwood timber. The bucks typically come out of the thick stuff in the morning and head up into a couple of draws to bed down or search for does during the rut.
I got into my stand around 6:20 and sat in the darkness for 20 minutes. There was a very slight wind from the south, coming out of the thick stuff. When it was just starting to get light a raccoon came down the creek spashing around in the water. I had been watching him for about 5 minutes when I heard the distinct sound of antlers. Not antlers hiting other antlers, but antlers hitting a tree. It wasn't like a buck was making a rub, but rather just hitting his rack against a tree. I could tell it certainly was not a small 1 1/2 year old buck, so I knew there was a chance of a decent buck showing up. I thought the buck was about 80 - 100 yards away.
No more than 15 seconds later, I hear a deer coming up through the thick stuff. All of the sudden there he is at 15 yards. It is just starting to get light, and he is in the thick stuff. I could tell he was a decent buck, but I wanted to make sure he was at least 3 1/2 years old before I shot him. He took a couple more steps then heard the raccoon in the creek and froze. I had a clear look at him head on, so I looked at him through my binos. I could tell he had g4's, good mass, and good g1's. Those are the first 3 things I look for. I made up my mind to take him.
I knew he was going to take 3 more steps and be in my shooting lane. After a 10 second staredown at the raccoon in the creek, he turned and headed into my shooting lane. Right as a drew he stoped slightly quartering to me. I put my pin on him and released. I heard my arrow smack him, but it was so close that I didn't see where it hit him. He took off crashing through the thick stuff. I saw him stop at about 80 yards, then after a 5 second pause heard another crash. He had either just went down for good, or took off running through the thick stuff.
Right then it started to rain! After 10 minutes I got down and looked for my arrow. I could not find my arrow, any blood, or even any hair. It was just a light sprinkle, so I got back up in my stand and waited another 20 minutes. I was sure I had drilled him, so I started walking where he had ran off to. I could not find any blood anywhere! I was starting to think maybe I had drilled him in the shoulder. I decided to go look where I knew I saw him stop for a couple seconds.
As soon as I got to that area, I saw some blood. I looked over and there he was laying in the creek. As I walked up on him, I realized just how good he was. When you are really high up in the tree and it is just getting light, it is difficult to judge them, especially tine length. I'm really glad I didn't pass him up!
I killed this buck less than 100 yards from where I had photographed him this summer.
He grosses in the mid 160's. He also helped me pass a personal goal of mine that I've had for several years...the 900 club. With this buck my top six bow kills gross over 900". I guess my next goal is the 1000 club!
The best news of all is that I still have 1 buck tag left in IL and 1 buck tag left in IA.
I'm still really pumped about taking this buck. As a thank you to everyone for all of their kind words so far, I'd like to send out a few free Trophy Pins. I know I've had quite a few customers order from my website through this forum. The first 10 people to PM me with their name and address will receive the Trophy Pin of their choice.
Thanks!
Scott
10-15-2007, 06:45 PM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dover, PA USA
Posts: 5,497
RE: My 1st Buck of 2007
Its about time.......geez. I was getting ready to call for a story or SOMETHING. You just breeze into the contest page with a ho hum lady da, 165" buck without a word. [:-]
Congrats man that's an awesome buck, and my hold on the top spot was fun while it lasted. 11 whole days. !LOL
Congrats man that's an awesome buck, and my hold on the top spot was fun while it lasted. 11 whole days. !LOL
