Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Well fellas, after putting over 90 hours in the stand this season, I finally scored on a buck. I know I got this guy with a shotgun, but this iswhere I spend most of the time on this site so I wanted to post it here. Here is the story.

Saturday December 8th was the last day of the PA antlered deer season and I had planned on bowhunting it in a spot where a buddy and myself had scouted out and set up stands a few weeks ago. A last minute change in plans thanks to the weather had us heading out to another spot which is a good spot to gun hunt, so I pulled out the old trusty Remington 870 with iron sights (shotgun only zone).

After getting up nice and early I cursed the heavens as there was a steady cold rain coming down making me wonder if it was worthwhile to even head out. I was awake and I've dedicated myself to putting in a serious effort this year so I got into the truck and headed to my buddy Paul's house to pick him up. When I got there he asked if I really wanted to go, and I said "I'm here aren't I." So we packed up and headed to the spot.

We got there and I didn't even need a light to head out to my stand thanks to the 1.5" of snow that was left on the ground. I had bowhunted this spot earlier in the season and saw 2 bucks, one was a 2.5 year old 6 point that I could have taken a shot at, but he wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to get in that same tree, but ended up about 40 yards upstream of that tree overlooking the creek running through the property. The spot is in a creek bottom surrounded on both sides by some fairly steep hills. There are some drainages and saddles that lead down to the creek so the terrain creates a really nice funnel to where I was set up.

So I settled in around 6:30 and it was just about light enough to shoot with all of the snow. Legal shooting time wasn't for another 15-20 minutes so I just sat tight and waited in the rain. As the sun came up the rain started to slow, but everything was very wet and dripping so hearing the deer coming was going to be out of the question. I thought I had heard something to my leftrear so I slowly turned and scanned and saw a whole lotta nothing. As I turned back around I looked up the hill to my right and there were 4 deer that had just come over the crest of the hill and were about 75-80 yards away. This was around 7:20. I looked and saw that one was a buck, but he didn't look very big. He was milling around the does looking for some affection and it was strange because he wouldn't look very impressive, then he would look pretty good, then he wouldn't look so good again. After watching him for a while I got a look at his spread and could tell he was a pretty good buck and figured it was his light rack against the snow playing tricks on me. This area is very open and since they were above me on the hill I had to keep my movements very slow. I was hoping they were going to work their way down the hill and cross the creek like they normally dogiving me a nice close shot. After being hunted hard these deer were very skittish. They had closed the distance to about 65 yards when the buck seemed to be getting challenged by one of the does. I found this very strange behavior that I had never seen before. The buck then moved back up the hill and put his head and vitals behind a tree. I realized that is was now or never and waited for the other deer to be looking away and raised my shotgun. I waited for him to step out for a few minutes, but then he turned up the hill. I was afraid he was going to stay behind the tree and head back up and where he came from when he turned around back down the hill and stopped quartering to me at about 75 yards. I leveled my shotgun, put the sights on his front shoulder and brought the thunder.

He shuttered at the shot and turned and headed down the hill on a dead run. I couldn't believe it, but he didn't seem hurt at all. I chambered another shell and shot again as he past me at around 40 yards. As he hit the ridge he started to stumble and then fell down the hill to a flat on the edge of the creek. The other deer had continued on and I then heard Paul let a shot rip. After his shot one of the does ran past full boar and I watched her head for safer territory. I looked back up on the ridge where my buck had fallen from and saw a deer struggling. I thought "how the heck did he get back up there?" I leveled my gun waiting for the deer to get back upbut the deer let out a bawl and then expired.

I got down out of the stand and went to where I last saw my deer and there he was, so the other deer I saw was the one Paul had shot. When I got to my buck I saw why he was so deceptive. He was a very solid 2.5 year old 8 point that had broken off at least 6 inches of his main beam on his left antler at the G3. His G3 on his right antler was also broken off at the main beam as well as the tip of his right antler. This was a warrior. Upon further inspection he hadalso been shot with a bow as he had a scar on his left shoulder in the shape of a 3 blade broadhead. The deer that Paul had shot was a very small spike (less than 3") and that explains the challenging behavior. I back trailed the blood from my deer and had in fact hit him with the first shot, he was just a tough deer.

I scored him at 86 4/8" and estimate that he probably lost about 16" or so in broken off antler. He has a 17 6/8" inside spread. I'm very pleased with him and happy to have taken such a scrapper this late in the season.

Sorry about the long post, but this has been a long season for me and personally I like reading long success stories. Now it'll be nothing but more nanny whackin' for me. On to the pics:

Me and the buck:




Paul and the buck:


I wish I had some in the field pics, but the batteries in my camera died.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Yes!!!!!

That is a great Rob Buck!!!!!!!! Congrats I know you were having a tough year. Way to get it done:D

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Way to go, Bry. That's a nice'un!:)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats, nice buck.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Great job Bry and great story! WTG man!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Thanks Gary, and everyone. Yes, it has been a tough year. I feel like this buck is a great representation of my season. He looked good, then he looked not so good, he was tough and scrappy, and when it all comes down to it he is a good buck making for a happy ending.:)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Fantastic buck!!!

Great story, thanks for posting.

Congratulations again on a great deer!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats bryan. Good capper to a long, tough season. You deserved him, buddy.

With all the foul weather in gun season, next year's archery season is shaping up to be one of the best ever.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congratulations Bryan - good looking animal!

But that buck has waaayyyy too many points (and sides)to be a Rob buck ;)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

He sure does look like a tough old boy! Congrats on him and good luck shooting a few nanny's.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

I guess he is the kind of buck Rob hopes to get next year.;)J/K Rob.

I need to be careful, Rob's only a short drive away.;)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

First of all... CONGRATULATIONS!!!

...though I was expecting to see some mutated spike only on one side. :)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Man he looks like quite the scrapper! Nice buck. Shotgun/bow whatever it takes. Congrats!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

DUDE....SWEET

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Now, that is funny. Thanks for all of the kind words guys. It makes the success that much sweeter.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Great buck, way to go! He is a light colored buck. Congrats!

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RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congratulations! Great deer, gun or bow!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

I don't know if you guys can tell from the pics, but that deer had curly hair on top of his head. I've never seen that before. It was really cool.

DropTine, yeah it broke right at the thick part. I can't imagine the force it would take to break an antler there. I'd like to see the guy that broke it next year.;)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats. Nice deer.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats brother, thats a nice way to end the season :)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

LMAO, less we all forget my buck last year was a symetrical 4 X 4 ? LOL

Hold him HIGH and smile BIG, not everyone deserves a Rob buck! ;) Congratulations and watch yer back. [8D]

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Thats great congrats

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats DANDY buck!!!!

~~~ I am really impressed with how thinned out the neck is already??? I might just be looking at it differently???? Not taking anything away from aGREAT buck!!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Rob, we all know that buck was an anomaly. I'm starting to think you go out looking for the half rackers. Trying to get the highest score with only one antler. Now that's impressive.;)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Congrats on the buck!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

nice deer

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Great buck Bry.
I have to ask, and this is byNO MEANSa poke at you.
His body looks kinda' small for this time of year and the size of his rack.
Where did u get him?

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

He shot that buck in September I believe - just got it back from the taxi already.

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

You know, my buddy who saw the pics said the same thing. No offense taken at all. I think it may just be the way we laid him for the pics. I was trying to avoid the gaping gut cavity from being exposed. He was not a small deer, but not a giant. He probably field dressed at around 140-150 lbs. He felt a lot heavier going up the mammoth hill we had to drag him up.

Huh?!?! He was shot on Saturday. No snow in September and no bucks allowed to be shot in PA in September (except the 29th).;)

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Way to go Teammate..Im late to the party..Congrats on a fine Buck.. I just got my November buck entered[:-]..
We have one more week here to get it done...

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

WAY TO GO!!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!! Thats a cool lookin buck!!!

RE: Finally! Shot myself a Rob Buck.
 

Nice buck!!! Looks very good to me.

Loved the story....

Congratulations!