I went to sit a ground blind from 4-5 PM yesterday after work. At 4:40, this buck and a smaller 2x2 came out of the timber and came right up to my blind. At about five yards, then sensed something out of place and started to go around me. I knew they'd hit my downwind side quickly so I drew with them only about 10 yards out. The first buck trotted off while this buck turned quickly into a scotch broom thicket. I grunted loudly with my voice three or four times, stopping both bucks. This guy came stomping back to about 20 yards facing me. I grunted softer a couple more times and he started to circle, turning broadside. One more grunt stopped him, and I released. He was whirling out of there as my arrow hit, so I wasn't 100% sure of a double lung shot. I collected my stuff and headed for home confident I'd be able to find him when I returned after dinner and getting the kids to bed.
When I got back, I immediately found the arrow and a decent splattering of blood. The arrow was end to end bright red and passed through. I followed decent blood for about 120 yards and located him lying behind a log. The arrow entered a tad high but exited clear back near his hip, which I was not expecting to see. There was gut material at the exit hole but my arrow was clean and bright red. Definitely not consistent with past experience. It looked like I got one lung and liver so I'm glad I let him lay for a couple hours before tracking. He whirled at the shot but I didn't think it was that extreme.
He's not the largest buck I've found, but I was glad to have the opportunity. Waiting for a bigger buck given my limited time to hunt was just not going to happen. Now I can focus on filling my elk tag for the next two weekends.
Ironically, I had put out two James Valley Full Rut Gel scent pads about 20 yards down the hill from my blind. These two bucks walked right on past them at 10 yards downwind. But later, around 10 PM I heard two bucks fighting aggressively down near my blind while I was dealing with my buck. They were really going at it for a long time. At one point I walked back over there and shined my light at them. They broke it up and just stood there but were too obscured by brush to see their racks.
Bow4elk
