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First Bowkill = Big Iowa Buck!

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First Bowkill = Big Iowa Buck!

Old 11-09-2010, 09:15 AM
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Default First Bowkill = Big Iowa Buck!

[I already posted this in Bowhunting Forum but thought you all might like to see it too. This is my second deer I've ever killed, and first one with a bow. You might remember seeing my first deer, shot with a muzzleloader a few weeks back.]

To start off with - This is my second year ever hunting anything. I first met my fiance in May of last year, he took me to get my first bow in June. I practiced all summer and had a couple shots in the fall, but missed both times. Last year my fiance shot his biggest buck ever that scored 155 (he got third biggest bow buck overall in last year's contest). I figured I'd have to hunt for 15 years to get something that even BEGAN to compare with that! Around here anything above 120-130 is considered a very nice deer. I shot my first ever deer with a muzzleloader on October 16th of this year, and it was a big 9 point that scored right around 125". I was thrilled! Before muzzleloader season opened, I had been hunting with a bow and one morning had 8 deer under my stand - 7 doe/fawns and one small 8pt buck. Being so early in the season I passed on all of those deer because we have some very nice bucks on our trail camera.
Fast forward to now. Starting to get a bit later in the season and I'm wishing I woulda shot one of those! It's getting cold and with school I don't have a whole lot of time left to sit in a tree. I was ready to shoot the first thing that walked under my stand. Lucky for me....

I got done with school at 1:15 today, drove the 40 minutes home and let my puppy out for a bit as I got dressed in my hunting clothes. I drove to the private farm ground we hunt and got up in the stand at about 2:30pm. I had barely clipped myself onto the tree when I looked and see a BIG doe standing south of me, 101yds away. She was on a hill so she was at eye level with me, staring RIGHT at me. I froze and swore she was going to bolt. But she laid back down. I could see her head sticking up in the tall grass and was thankful that I made it to the stand without her busting me, and glad she somehow didn't see me messing around in that tree. She was still staring straight in my direction even while she was laying down so I was afraid to move. I didn't have an arrow nocked or my coat on even!

I sit and stare at her for maybe 20 minutes when suddenly a buck stands up right next to the doe. A BIG buck. Since I haven't been hunting long, I still have a hard time telling what's "big". They all look big to me! So whether this was truly a big buck or not, I wasn't sure. But it was good enough for me and I knew I would take a shot at him if he let me. He only stood for about 3 seconds before bedding down again, so by the time I got my binoculars up I could only tell that he had at least 3 points on one side and at least 4 on the other. I pretty much had the binoculars glued to my eyes the rest of my hunt, trying to see this buck. He was bedded behind the doe (who's head I could clearly see), and all I could see was a glint of sunlight off antlers through the grass every now and then.

Afraid the doe would see me, I held my breath and slowly reached for my bow which was hanging on a hook beside me. Somehow I managed to get an arrow nocked and the bow back on the hanger, and got my grunt call out of my pack. Every few minutes I grunted twice. I'm no expert at how or when to call, but I thought maybe I could get him to come investigate. He was thoroughly unimpressed. Aside from him moving his head around a bit, he showed no reaction.

Finally it got to be about 4:40pm. The doe stood, and the buck followed suit. I texted my fiance, who was hunting a different spot, "He's standing, OMG is he big!!". I still couldn't count points very well but thought he had 10 big points and was outside the ears. The doe walked about 40-50 yards east, only about a quarter of the way down the hill. I grunted at the buck and he looked in my direction, but then put his head down and chased the doe. She ran straight for me but once she got within 40 yards stopped and ran the complete opposite direction, back up the hill. "Shoot, he's going to follow her" I thought, and he did. At least DOWN the hill. He must have been curious about the grunts he'd been hearing, because instead of turning with the doe, he kept walking. Walked directly in front of me at 25 yards. I was SO afraid to stand and turn to get my bow because this doe was still at eye level with me. My heart felt like a sledgehammer in my chest. But this buck was walking fast and I had to "crap or get off the pot", as the saying goes. So I stood, grabbed my bow and drew back. I estimated him to be about 15 yards (I'm not very good at judging these things yet), but it was at a pretty steep angle so I quickly put my 20 yard pin on him, made some unintelligible noise. He stopped, and the second he did my arrow was flying! I saw it hit what looked like 2 inches behind the shoulder and in the middle vertically. It looked like he did a flip in the air and in a flash he was racing back the way he came, up the hill. He ran straight past the very confused doe and up to the top of the hill. Against the horizon, I saw him stopped for about two seconds, then flopped over. I could see his feet kicking in the air and I heard one long, loud grunt.

Instantly I was shaking from head to toe as I made all the phone calls to tell people I killed my first bow deer, and I called him in by myself! I was sitting in the tree with binocs looking everywhere for my arrow or blood and not seeing either. I was starting to get very worried by the time my fiance's dad got there to help me. I climbed down and went to the spot I thought he was standing when I shot. It was really more about 10 yards. I found lots of good blood and together we followed it up the hill. I had an arrow on my bow and my release clipped on as we crept up the hill, following an incredible red carpet blood trail. We crested the hill and there he was, about 20 yards over the hill. He was laying on his left side (that is the entrance hole you can see in the pic) and my arrow was perfectly whole, sticking straight up out of him. The only thing holding it in was the feathers.

The first thing I noticed was how heavy he was!! Then I counted points. 11, with one small one that may or may not score. It also looked like behind his right brow tine he had broken off another point while still in velvet. I thought he was incredible! But when my fiance's dad saw him I REALLY knew I had something special. He's seen a lot of deer and he knows what big really is. We took lots of pictures, then my fiance's dad talked me through gutting him. I did a good job for my first time, I didn't even cut into the guts.

As we were dragging him to the truck, I got a phone call from my fiance. He had shot a nice buck too! We doubled up! We loaded up my buck and went to help him. Unfortunately we lost his blood trail, and are going back in the morning to see if we can find him.

This is the best deer I'll shoot in a million years probably. Enjoy the pics, sorry if they are a little graphic. We green scored him at 161", but I'll let you know what the taxidermist scores him at. His bases measured 5.5", and the smallest mass measurement was 4.5". I am shooting a pink Mission Menace bow at 50lbs draw weight, 26" length, and Slick Trick Magnums 125g.







Last edited by tsaxybabe; 11-09-2010 at 09:22 AM. Reason: typos
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Old 11-09-2010, 09:20 AM
  #2  
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what a brute.. congratulations!
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:29 AM
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nice deer and thats an awesome first bow kill
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:37 AM
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nice buck, congrats
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:54 AM
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Nice deer, story, shot, and pics. Congrats! I've been saying this alot with all the success stories but I hope I get 1 like that this season, truly.
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Old 11-09-2010, 11:16 AM
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great story and buck! congrats!
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Old 11-09-2010, 11:21 AM
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nice buck, congrats
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Old 11-09-2010, 11:45 AM
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Congratulations yet again great Huntress of the west. Your doing a great job this season and we share in your excitement.Great job and enjoy the good eats you have harvested.
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Old 11-09-2010, 11:48 AM
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Fantastic story, fantastic buck. Congratulations.
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Old 11-09-2010, 12:32 PM
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:O ... Way to go! I'm jealous all I've shot with my bow is 2 doe's lol
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