rookie mistakes

[sebek556]

  8 am, should put you in here by 2 or so, check and make sure everything made the trip safely, get them family settled in, and you in the blind by 4:30-5, gives you 2:30 to take your pic of which looks tasty 

[deerhunter_98520]

Goodluck...lets.see some pics after this weekend! 

[DoubleJ]

I can't wait!!!

[fair-chase]

Your really drawing this out aren't you.  Just kiddding. Best of luck, can't wait to hear how it goes. 

[brokehunter]

I feel like a kid on Christmas eve, I ate all my diner, did my chores and then some  , Got the truck all loaded up, and I may even hit the hay early tonight. The family and I will be saddling up the ponies at about 8am and heading east for my big deer trip  . I am going to fill my tag and end this thread with some pics, dog gone it, maybe even a video  . A big thank you goes out to everyone who has helped me out this season and to those of you who have followed this thread  over 5,000 views  I can't believe it. I hope all your good vibes you all have been sending my way help me out over the weekend.

Sending some prayers your way! Been following your thread from the beggining! Hope ya get something! It's making me look forward to modern! I am due for a deer! Been over 10 years since I tagged out. This is my year too! Good luck!

[Blacktail Sniper]

Good luck man, nobody deserves some success more than you do!  Can't wait to see some pictures and hear the story...

[Button Nubbs]

update?

[DoubleJ]

I've texted him about 3 times this weekend and haven't heard

[Blacktail Sniper]

Hopefully he is just busy celebrating!!!   

[DoubleJ]

He's on his way home with a story.  Sebek, you a wonderful person.  Thank you so much for doing Justin right.  You are awesome.

[sebek556]

He is home now. Didn't work out as planned but he did bag a trophy... I will let him fill you guys in on it later

[akashasdaddy]

So I arrive at Sebek's place around 2:30 pm friday afternoon. While doing the "hey how are you/nice to finally meet you's" I decide to pass out and bash my head into sebek's refrigerator. After a couple glasses of water I start feeling better so I go out to make sure my bow made the trip in tact. Everything seems fine I am hitting where I want to at 25 yards. Just I am getting ready to head into the blind sebek notices a couple does infront of the blind. I try to stalk up on them but spook 'em; so I quickly duck into the blind. Within 5 mins here come a couple more does. Sebek told me about one doe that he didn't want to me to take because she had a fawn and was kinda like the neighborhood deer and that was who was infront of me. I was VERY tempted to shoot but I held back. Soon they took off and two more does come in; a really orange one and another that was almost the color of sand. The orange one presents a shot and I take it but, the arrow sails right over the top of her  and they take off. 5-10 mins later a two point with tall eye guards (3X3 according to sebek) steps into range. I draw back and let one fly and again I shoot high  . Now I am pissed but I get back into the blind just as the orange and sand colored does come back and they are f-ing with me hard always standing one infront of the other so I can't take a shot. I wait and wait and wait, finally the sand colored one presents a shot and yet again right over the top of her  . They run but not far and I am down to my last broad head. The sand colored one must have been real hungry because she comes right back but now she is in my sweet spot 20-25 yards all the other shots were much closer and I was trying to compensate. I draw back and let it fly and I hit her she takes off to the left. After about 20 mins sebek and I start tracking. We find good blood but after about 50 yards it just stops. We continue searching until about 10pm. Sebek caught the shot on camera; so we head back to the house to review the shot. After about an hour of messing around sebek locates the shot placement. She jumped my string and I hither high on the neck. We search the internet for anatomy shots to compare trying to see if the shot was fatal. It don't look like its gonna be a fatal shot but we decide to get up early to do a little more tracking in the morning in hopes that she beds down and expires. WHile tracking sebeks wife calls to let us know she just saw my doe and she very alive, hurt but, alive. We rush to where she was last seen trying to cut her off but we can't find her. I was ready to call it a season at that but After confirming with his dad sebek tells me that the doe I shot is hurt but is gonna live and gives me the green light to keep hunting.  Heart broken I decide to practice til my arm hurts then practice some more. I even do push ups, jumping jacks, and sprints between shots to get my breathing and blood up. I practice at a closer range. I am on, even able to pick my shots; shooting all 4 corners on sebek's target. I was able to robbin hood one arrow slicing one of the fletchings right off. Sebek does a refletching job for me and I let my daughter choose the color telling her that I will use her arrow that night.  I am determined not to have a repeat of the previous night. At about 5 pm saturday night I head into the blind. Within 5 mins two spotted fawn come in. This time I have sebek's range finder in the blind with me. I know I wont shoot these fawn cause they still have spots but, I put the range finder on them just to see where they are at. They sit there for about 20 mins then they walk off. I stand up just to watch the fawns; as I am watching here comes the 2 point from the night before and he is coming in fast. I don't even have enough time to drop back down out of the window of the blind before he is within range. Within 2 mins he presents what I think is a decent shot. He quartering toward me a little but mostly broad side. I put my sight on him aiming right behind the shoulder. I let it fly and hit him; as hes running I can see my arrow sticking out his right side  . I start walking to the house to let everyone know I just filled my tag. Because of the previous nights fiasco, sebek tells me we are going to wait an hour before we start the track. This is going to be the longest hour of my life but ok, I feel very comfortable with my shot. I am treated to a delicious diner of backstrap stirfry. After diner is done sebek, his son, and I head out to track my buck. I'm thinking its gonna be an easy track so iam walking with a little spring in my step although I only got about an hour of sleep because I was stressing the doe I shot the night before. We walk up to where I shot the buck; I am totally expecting to see good sign. As we approach no one can see any blood at all. Sebek finds some poop, looks up at me and says, I think you gut shot him. I start replaying the shot in my mind then I think about the doe and now my heart sinks to my stomatch  . Sebek says this is gonna be a tough track. We start tracking and find good sign about 50 yards from where I shot. We start out with an easy trail to follow. After about 100 yards we find my arrow completely covered in blood, my mood starts to pick back up but,then the trail just stops. The 3 of us search and search,sebek's son finds a big spurt ofblood with what looks like a chunk of fat in a small bed. Now we are back on the trial. It continues like that, no sign, then a big spurt followed by little drops then no sign. The deer weaves in and out and around for about 500 yards or more. We follow his trail for 2-3 hours until sebek thinks he hears a cougar or bear roaming around in the darkness. We call it a night deciding to pick backup on the trail in the morning. I wake up at 630 am this morning excited; I just know this deer is down. I am certain we are going to find him piled up close to where we left off. At 8 sebek comes out ready to trak, he even seems optimistic that we are going to find the buck pretty quickly. We find the spot we last seen blood the night before and star tracking on hands and knees looking for the smallest drip of blood. Sebek notices that some of the blood we are finding is real fresh looking; ever the optimist I remind sebek that it sprinkled a little over night. We continue the trail for another 200+ yards, crossing a road into another wooded area. We find some ok blood but nothing much. At about 10 am sebek yells for me "Justin back out" I tell him Im already on the road whats up. He says I just saw your buck but hes still alive we just jumped him.  . I ask now what he says we have to leave him; hes gut shot and it could take a couple days for him to expire. . I have to leave; daughter goes back to school and my girlfriend and I both start school tomorrow. Sebek says he will keep looking for my buck and if he finds him he will hang him for me if the meat is any good but will at least make sure I get the horns. And that is the way my season ends  . It wasn't all bad though I was able to bag my first turkey that according to sebek was a pretty big bird. I kept the fan,beard, and wings along with the meat. Sebk also graciously gave me half a deer that his brother took a few days earlier so I wasn't going home completely empty handed but most importantly I gained a friend. Sebek and his entire family are some of the nicest people ihave ever met in my life. They treated us as if we were part of the family. Even including my daughter in their sons birthday party. Never once did we feel unwelcome. Thank you again for a great weekend.

I appologize for the depressing ending to my season. I really wanted and tried to end this thread with pics of a deer, the best I can do is post pics of the turkey if anyone wants to see.  after wounding two animals i am feeling pretty down on myself. I hope to have a better season if I hunt again next year.

[sebek556]

Post up the turkey pics. That bird has atleast a five inch beard! Still searching, once i get the kids off to school in the morning me and my dad are heading back out to look for more sign. Oh and the doe is just fine she was in the yard tonight.

[Stick em]

Well it sounds like you had a season full of hard work. Those black tail can be pretty tough but that's why it's a challenge. Keep your chin up, there's always late season if your buck doesn't work out. Let's see that turkey

[sebek556]

Went back out this morning looking again, circled back around to the spot where we left off durning the first night and started griding it off.found cougar tracks. I am going to talk to tge neibhor about setting up on it