Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

I'd like to hear some of your "almost had him" stories. I have a unique ability to get close to "Mr. Big" but cannot seem to connect.

One story of a stalk that happened several years ago still haunts me to this day. I was driving home from work at about 11:00 a.m. when I pass this wooded area that always holds deer. A river runs through it and as I'm scanning the woods for deer I look on the bank of the river and there is this "huge" buck laying right on the bank of the river watching traffic go by. His rack is approximately 24"-26" wide with tines about 8" tall. I turn around and go back and stop and look at him from no more than 40 yards. He doesn't get up and run and I didn't want to spook him so I take off and head home. Well, I start planning a way to stalk up on him with my bow. I get home and grab my chest waders and bow and head back. Due to the wind direction, the only route possible was from the river. I get back and sure enough, he's still there. I park about 200 yards away and ease down to the river and start my stalk on him. Walking in the water very slowly makes no sound at all! I close the distance but due to the brush, cannot see him until I'm close. He is laying at the bend in the river, which also happens to be the deepest part. Since the river is deeper in this area, the bank is now about shoulder level. I'm hunched over to keep him from seeing me and when I get to the point where he should be, I gently look up above the bank slightly and there he is, laying not more than 5 feet away! I could've hit him on the nose with my arrow! The rack is "wide" and impressive when he turns his head to scan the surroundings. Now I figure out that I am too close with no way to get a shot. I'm right handed and he is on my right side. I gently start to turn too be able to draw and all of a sudden my feet slide out from under me. I'm over my head in water, my bow is all wet, I grab roots to pull myself up, I'm cussing and look up and he's still laying there! He didn't even stand up!! This is when I lose it! I quickly draw and when he sees the limb of the bow sticking above the bank he jumps up and takes off. I let an arrow go and see it flying to the moon in the afternoon sky. I throw my bow on the bank and grab some grass and pull myself up and as I do, I look over and there he is standing there looking at me on my knees from 30 yards away. I get another arrow on the string and let it fly. It flies right under his belly and kills a cottonwood behind him. This time the games up and off he goes never to be seen again. It was a great experience and an awesome buck!! I have only been that close to a mature buck one other time, but that's another story.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

hunted several years ago with my uncle and 2 cousins, well we drew for stands, as luck would have it i drew the best possible stand, as far as the amount of sign goes anyway. getting into and out of this stand was like climbing a shear face bluff but it was up in a tree 40ft (20ft by todays standards) and you had to lean out and back to climb this stupid thing, and the spikes we climbed were of all things cotton picker spindles, very brittle and for sure when its cold. well anyway i drew the stand everybody wanted killed a nice 18" 8pt. well sunday morning rolls around and were deciding stands again and nobody wants to go to the "penthouse" because i had already killed "the buck" that was using the area. so i say what the heck i've killed one opening day i just go burn a day in the penthouse again, well get up in the stupid dang dangerous stand sweating like crazy in 25deg weather and get all settled in, about 7:15 here comes a single deer, it's a buck, its a good buck, a 10pt w20" spread, he is angling off to my left at 70 yards, gives me a perfect broadside shot, click off the saftey, squeeeeeeze the trigger and all me and that nice buck hear is a metallic snap, so i chamber the next round and mr. big is continuing with his bizness right into a thicket, i didn't tell anybody about this till the end of the season, then everybody's like, yea right, sure you did. but that deer and that story have stuck with me hard[:@]

oh well live and learn

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

Four years ago I was bow hunting in my tree stand on our lease. It was an evening hunt with a steady breeze and the acorns were dropping like crazy. This made it difficult to hear any approaching deer. With only a few minutes of shooting light remaining, I called it quits and put my arrow back in the quiver. Just as I was starting to lower my bow to the ground I heard something behind me. I turned to see what it was and was shocked to see a big rack buck coming out of some thick brush only 15 yards away. I hurridly untied my tow rope and quietly nocked an arrow. As I was doing this, the buck came to within 8 yards of my stand, but he stopped behind a tree. Naturaly, his vitals were blocked by the tree, but I got a real good look at his rack. He was a massive 11 pointer with about a 20 inch spread. I was already having visions of this slammer in the back of my pick up truck that's how confident I was going to shoot him. All I needed was for him to take one step. Then for no reason he bounded back into the brush. My heart sank to a level I've never known. All I can figure is that his 6th sense kicked in and told him to get out of there. But, just when I thought all was lost, he turned and started to come back out towards me. Then I started to think that maybe I would just end up gettting him after all. Just as I was about to draw on him, another deer I never knew was around scented me and blew. That big buck didn't hesitate and he blasted out of there like a locomotive.
I hunted that buck the rest of the season as did everyone else in my hunting club and nobody even caught a glimpse of him. It just didn't add up that nobody saw this buck during the season and there were no reports of a big buck being taken in the area. Then near the end of the following summer, I was returning home from shooting my rifles in preperation of the upcoming season and the guy renting the house next to me stops me and starts to talk hunting with me. You guessed it, he tells me the story of the slammer 11 point 205 pound buck he shot the year before during black powder season. As this guy was not from the area I asked him where he shot it and I was blown away when the area he described was none other than my hunting lease. When I told him that area was a posted lease he winked and just shrugged his shoulders saying that he had a special 5 day hunting permit to be on the land.
Let me just say, there is no such thing as a special permit and I had all I could do not to punch his lights out on the spot. He shot that buck less than 200 yards from my tree stand. The only good thing is that I didn't waste my time that next season hunting a buck that was already hanging on a poachers living room wall.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

Put a boat load of time on stand this year, killed a doe opening day, and just knew the buck had to be in the same area. So there I was, the first weekend in November, I hunted in the morning, had a couple of errands to run, (so I blame this all on the wife... ). So I runs my errands, and am back in the woods by noon. Climb my tree, and I mean just get in, and hear something running in the leaves. Look to my left, and a doe is busting tail down the hill coming right at me. I says to myself, "What the heck spooked her?" cause you see, I ain't real bright....Well, right behind her is about a 140 inch 12 pt, and yes, he is coming right at me as well....Looking to the right, my bow is still on the ground....Buck runs to within 10 yards of my stand, and stops to look around....man, what a bummer.....

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

I was deer huntin in a EAB unit of wi and i was still huntin and usin a grunt tube. Well i hear this sound that i think is a grunt, never heard one before, so i stop dead in my tracks and open a can of deer pee. i took a knee behind a stump and hit the grunt tube one more time. Well low and be hold a huge 11 pointer comes trottin in. He comes within 15 yards and well ........ I could not shoot. I did not have a doe tag yet. so i decided to see how close he would get. He came within 10 yards, and i was wearing no cover scents and was in 100% blaze orange. Well the story does not end there

My little bro was walkin the ridge later that weekend, and he saw the big buck like 30 yards up ahead, put his gun up and went to take off the safty, but it was not movin. Picked his head up and saw he had already taken off the safty. The buck saw him though and took off runnin. He could have shot it if he wanted cause he had taken 2 does the day before. Still successful.

He is so lucky, and gonna be bigger next year.......

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

I put up my climber right after christmas in an area that i had not scouted that much. All I knew was there was several rubs in the area and several hot trails. So I desided on a tree about 30 yds off of this trail. The woods are T-shaped in that area and I was on a hill right where the woods came together. I could see a field on my left and another field on my right. I was using my 12 ga that morning since any shot would have to be close due to the thick brush. I was pretty sure the deer would be coming from my right so I walked into the woods from the left. It was still dark and I was having the worst time putting up my stand. Everything went wrong. The foot platform fell when I got about 10ft up, my feet kept slipping out of the holders, and the list goes on. By the time I made it up the tree, it was getting light, I was sweating like crazy and it was 18 degrees. After all the trouble I was just thinking that I might as well just go home and come back this afternoon. I wasn't in that tree 30 min when I saw a deer in the field to my left (where I walked in). It was probably 250 yds away and walking straight at me. I thought for sure it was going to take the trail right in front of me. It was just taking it's time walking and eating grass. Just as it got to the edge of the field I noticed the rack. That got my heart pumping a little harder. Since there was so much brush I couldn't see how many poins or what size they were. I watched him go into the woods and walking along another trail further back but still walking broad side well within range of the shotgun. He stopped between 2 trees and all i had was a gut shot. I desided to wait for a better shot. I looked ahead of him and saw a good clearing. I was waiting for him to walk forward 5 or 6 more steps so I could get a shot. That is when he made a left and walked down the hill right in front of me. I couldn't see him anymore. I tried grunting but no luck. I never saw him again.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

Three years ago was my 1st year of bow season. I was hunting on some public land in ohio. (I was hunting in some heavy brush)I was watching a trail that was about 20 yards in front of me,from my ground blind. I knew about 4-7 does worked that trail every day at about 8 in the morning. So at about 7:30 or so I see this white thing coming toward me at about 50 yards( the rack). Well hes not useing this main trail in front of me he's using this puny one that come 3 feet from me. So I draw back and let him come a bit closer. By now I see how massive his rack is, and I about pee my self. He was one of those deer that even the guys on t.v that kill big deer all the time would get excited over. So Im shaking like a leaf. He stops less than 10 yeards from me, but right in the middle of a bunch of saplings, so I dont shoot. Well he takes one more step and wind me or something and takes off.

My second year of bowhunting I was hunting that same spot. Only up in a
tree stand right below was my old ground blind. So its about 9 in the morning and I here what sound like hooves on pavment. There is a road about 50 yards from my stand. Then I hear leaves crunching. So I slowly stand up and see a one sided racked buck coming down the same trail as that monster the year before. I draw back and wait till he's in range. All of a suddon a freaking helicopter flies over the woods and spooks the buck.

Yearly this year I was on my cousins land hunting with a friend up on a BIG boulder. My friend didnt bring his bow because he had already gotton a deer. So we wait there for about and hour and from no reason I look behind me and see this wide racked 8 pt coming down this trial too far out of range. So I draw back and wait (see the theme) well he decides to go behind some brush and by the time I see him againhes about 8 yards away right behind a tree. He sees us and sticks nothing but his head around the tree and looks us over and takes off.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

I've been bow hunting this 12 pointer or more for three years now. I see him numerous times during bow season but never close enough. I hunt beside a creek in a swamp created by beavers and there is a hunt club who hunts the property across the creek. This buck disappears when gun season starts only to be seen again during bow season. I saw him four times this season and got as close as fifty yards or so. On the last day of this season, November 5th; I heard what I thought was someone rattling horns by the creek. A few minutes later I saw the 12 pointer fighting with what turned out to be a 7 pointer. I watched them fight for about 5 minutes and then the 7 pointer was driven towards my stand. He came within 10 yards but I didn't want to shoot hoping he hadn't gone far enough for the big boys taste. But the big boy disappeared somewhere in the swamp as I lost sight of him in the thick stuff. The 7 pointer milled around for a few minutes eating acorns and I had to wait for him to angle away from me. Before I drew my bow, I looked one more time to make sure the big boy was not coming and since I didn't see him, I let the arrow fly. The 7 pointer was about 15 yards away and took off like a scalded dog. I heard a commotion in the thick stuff and I can only assume it was you know who still in the area. Since we can harvest two deer a day, I waited for about a half hour hoping the big boy would come back. He didn't so I tracked my deer who went about 70 yards. He turned out to be a 167 pound buck, 7 pointer with a 23" spread. He was actually better looking than I had originally thought. But the big boy still lives as he didn't get taken as far as I know. If he was killed, I'm sure he would be entered into the big buck contest and that hasn't happend.

Oh well, there's always this upcoming season.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

I had a case of could of had him, but was in the wrong place. This morning while checking a survey on a tract I manage (6,700 acres) I rounded a curve on a woods road and the largest Florida whitetail either alive or in pictures I have ever seen was standing in the road about 40 yards away. He jumped out in the pines and when I pulled up and he was standing in the pines broadside about 30 yards away. I had my .270 in the seat next to me, but the land is leased to a club this year (their last) and I chose to not shoot. I have second guessed myself all afternoon about my decision, but If I had of shot him and had of run up on some of the members on the way out they would have been ticked off.

RE: Interesting stories of "almost had him"
 

well, this year while scouting the area we hunt west river the day before the season i saw a nice 5x5 right below where i sit. we watched him for a half hour. i didnt see him opening day but i saw him on the second day of the season. i was sitting in my spot and he came out on the other side of the river. i didnt see him come out because i was choking on water and i put my head down into my sleave to muffle my cough. i looked up and there he was no more than 150 yds. i was debating taking the shot or waiting to see if he would cross. and as luck would have it he wouldnt cross he started to walk back to the thicker brush on the shore. i didnt get a shot at him. i got to watch that magnificent animal for an hour. i would stay where i could see him but, where i couldnt get a clean shot at him. i didnt see him again.