Late archery blacktail

[AKBowman]

I had to hold his antlers on his head for the pics so it was kind of a bummer. That and the fact that he was frozen pretty solid, the pics certainly could have turned out better.

I was suprised by just how heave his antlers were, they really have a good amount of mass.

[bobcat]

Very interesting. He must have really run himself down during the rut. Way early to be shedding antlers. Doesn't that mean his testosterone level was low? Any biologists on here?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gonehuntin68]

Wow that is crazy. Awesome buck.

[Turner89]

Very cool AK You got your monies worth out of this seson. A great Blacktail, and a different story to go with it. 

[blackveltbowhunter]

Awesome buck .... Great AHL photo. Not gonna see that often.

[coastie hunter]

 Way to stick with it and get r done you worked hard for that buck.

[PolarBear]

 

[MAVsled]

persistence pays off, nice buck
he must have crashed to the ground hard to jar those antlers off.

saw a one antler 2pt on my hunt this morning. But out of my bow range.
Binocs revealed a red spot on his head where the other antler should have been.
seems a bit early to lose antlers but wasn't the rut a tad early this year?
from my observances, it was in my area.

[BOWHUNTER45]

That's crazy man ...must be the cold weather ...seen 2 bucks today and both had bone on there heads ...to bad they did not pop off when they took off ....I will have to go horn hunting this year ....Nice buck ...glad you got him ....sweeeet 

[2MANY]

Congrats AK.
You should be very proud.
It sounds like you did everything right!!!!!!

[Watimberghost]

That's an awesome heavy horned blacktail right there! Congrats!

[bowhunter/taxidermest]

What is total amount of hrs u had I'm your stand till you arrowed him? Pretty cool buck , he got to live a full life and now u can appreciate him. Awesome!!! Good job man!

[AKBowman]

Thanks for all of the congrats. I had a lot of hours in stand net this guys bedroom but in years past he wouldn't show himself after August, this is the first year in 3 years that I had ever seen him during an open season.

I had 38 hours in 3 different stands this yr and he was the first deer I actually saw in stand. I heard a number of other deer very close to me but never actually put eyes on them. He was bedded on the hill about 150 yards above my stand and I heard him start moving around the same time as I heard him start moving the previous day when he came in after dark and pinned me in my stand. I knew he probably was not going to make it to my set up before dark again so I gave him two soft doe bleats with half the holes of The Primos Can covered up. As soon as I finished the second bleat I heard him coming steady at me and 5 mins later he poked his head out of the reprod and scanned the timber line where my stand was located. I could see his grey face coming throug the dark reprod before I could see any other part of him. He then investigated my doe urine wick and the small rub where I sprayed some blacktail buck urine. I was able to calm myself enough to get my tabs on the string (I shoot compound with fingers) and raise my bow without him noticing. I had cut a trail through the huckleberry and reprod to a clearing 30 yards in front of my stand. The prevailing afternoon wind is almost always down the hill and in my face so I wasn't worried about him winding me. He stepped to is right facing to my left and I drew, settled my pin just behind his front shoulder and released. The shot felt great and I saw the arrow zip through the goodies maybe 3 inches back of where I was aiming.

The buck kicked his back legs and lurched forward and started down the trail that I cut in back in August from my right to left. He stopped on the edge of the timber line and stood there for almost 10 minutes. Hs tail was twitching back and forth and he was hunched up looking real sickly. I didn't have a shot even though he was only 25 yards from me. He then started to move and crossed the trail I take into my stand and offered me a stout which I was mistakenly not ready for. He then circled another 10 yards to my left and stood by this big old broken off cottonwood tree for another 15 minutes.

All air the leaves were frozen so the smallest movement made a lot of noise I knew I would hear him if he moved. I waited another 15 minutes and crept over to investigate my arrow before it got dark. I was horrified to find green stinking guts on the knock and missing two vanes. My arrow was stuck in the ground at a hard right angle from the angle I shot so I wasn't sure what happened at that point because I saw the arrow hit just back of great and he was angled slightly away. After investigating upon recovery I found I center punched a rib with one blade and it deflected my arrow hard to the right clipping one lung and exiting through the guts.

Unfortunately the only way for me to leave was for me to exit the trail he took after I shot him. I crept as slowly as I could and bumped him it was pretty dark and I only saw him for a couple seconds. To me he looked really sick. I was pissed thinking he may have died there but I had no other way out. A couple seconds after I saw him I heard a crash like he jumped over something but in the end that was where he lied up. I have no idea how his antlers fell off but the pic I posted is exactly the scene I sw the next morning. The old boy had no fat on him and was missing most of his ears.

I'm happy to have him and can't wait to start scouting again for next year. Big monkey off my back for finally killing a good blacktail buck after so many hours in stand over the last 3 years.

Thanks again everyone. Happy hunting!

[duckmen1]

Sweet buck. Congrats and persistence pays off

[de0827]

Nice buck!  You got a great deal when he dropped those antlers for you - a pre-made set of rattling antlers!