NE WA - Whitetail - Gory Blood and GORE!

[gaddy]

now maybe well hear about some pain & torment

[Steve Jo]

Still not done with the story

So there I was!  sitting, minutes passing like hours, the thought of last year's 120+ hours spent not shooting at large deer forefront in my mind.  Would I need to run a marathon like that this year?  Lost in the thought of how I would actually be able to accomplish something like that, I caught the movement of a buck coming in.

"sonof a..."  To my dismay a pretty nice buck came in from behind me and offered a perfect quartering away shot.  Now I say 'dismay' because last year on opening day I had a pretty nice buck do the same thing and I passed on him and then spent the rest of the year wondering if I was being stupid for passing on a decent animal.  Im no trophy hunter, but that's only because I havent SHOT a book animal.  It doesnt mean I dont want to shoot a one.  And so here I am, opening day, chainsaw'd leg making me feel like I'd rather be anywhere else than in this treestand and my meal ticket walks up... and I left the bow on the hook.

I was seriously beginning to doubt if I'd be able to do this again tomorrow, but I was in here today and simply wasnt gonna end my season on a buck smaller than what I wanted.

The buck walked off, grunting.

[Steve Jo]

Just to make doubly sure I didnt want to shoot him he waited a full hour before coming back through and offering me ANOTHER SHOT!  It was noon now and passing him a second time was monumentally difficult.  The bow never came off the hook, if it had, I would have punched my tag and this story would have a different ending.

Instead he left and I spent the next 4 hours not seeing a deer.

sunset was at 4:02pm that evening and at about that time I saw 3 does working their way down the hill.  They came in, acting nervous.  Then I could hear the sound of grunts from below them.

Then a BIG bodied deer moving through the darkening timber...  RACK!  he's a shooter!

Bow was off the hook, release clipped in.  He was moving fast toward the does, the does scattered and I came to full draw as he stepped into view at 35 yards and...

STOPPED!  Right behind a freakin tree!!

[fair-chase]

Oh come on!!! You cannot end a post like that, and to think I was on your side.



J/K keep it going. Great story.

[gaddy]

does the knee hurt yet??

[Steve Jo]

"RELAX" i told myself as the seconds ticked by.  He stood there, in the dimming light, 35 yards by range finder with his killzone in exactly the ONLY spot I couldnt deliver a clean shot...

"Oh man... this sucks" I thought as I fought to keep the bow at full draw without blowing all my energy and losing control of the shot when the shot developed. And I KNEW it was going to develop, he was standing there in that way that only a rut crazed buck can stand there, staring at one doe, then another. The does staring back, twitch a tail, flick an ear.  he drops his head a bit, he's gonna step forward! then raises his head again and stares at the doe.

Well past a minute and a half, maybe 2 minutes, I have no idea I only know I cant keep this bow at full draw any longer and make the shot I will need to make at 35 yards.  I have to let down.

start coming off the wall easy and then the bow jerks a bit to the right as it lets down completely.  The buck's head whips around and he locks onto my position in the tree.  I freeze.

[Steve Jo]

Gaddy, by this time, there is no knee ...

BUSTED!  You have got to be kidding me!  He is staring me down and I dare not move. 

I dont get buck fever, but after a shot I usually get a decent flood of adrenalin.  My brain, never known much for it's discerment, mistook my letting down as me shooting and filled my body with a great big dose of adrenalin which manifested itself entirely in freight train like heavy nose breathing as I fought to keep control of myself and the situation.

The buck wasnt blowing out and the does had apparently missed  me letting down.  the staredown ensued and I watched the buck's body language intently.  I got the sense he wasnt looking AT me, rather off to my right just a bit.  but several minutes passed and he didnt move a muscle. Then I saw his ears... lightly swiveling... listening... TO ME BREATHING!  Holy crap he can hear me breathing hard through my nose!!

I took a deep breath through my mouth and closed my eyes forcing myself to relax.  I had been so intent on the buck that I had not noticed my breathing continuing along at a freight train pace and he could HEAR IT!

I waited about 30 seconds and opened my eyes, just as he relaxed his posture, lowered his head and took first one step, then another.  My bow came to full draw

[Steve Jo]

his head snapped around, as my 30 yard pin settled high on the shoulder, just a moment's hesitation to level the bubble, and the release went off.  The shuttle t tipped axis dissappeared right where I wanted it and the buck tore out of there with the 4 does.

The woods quickly quieted, but not before I heard the tale tell signs of a crash in the distance.

I carefully climbed down and made my way to my arrow.  Good blood on the arrow, not so much on the ground.  I decided to play it safe and hike out to the top to grab my wife and friend to assist with the recovery.

[Steve Jo]

A mile and a half later I found my wife at the jeep just as my friend rolled up and back down we went with the game cart.


We started off by lining out the blood trail which was dismally sparse.  These fat deer can be a bear to bleed externally.  I left them at last blood about 10 minutes into the trail and hiked a good 200 yards uphill from my stand in the direction of where I had heard the crash.

Now completely dark I cut right for about 40 yards and then started working my way back down the hill toward where my wife and friend were stuck about 10 yards into the blood trail.

I'd only gone a short distance when the beam of my headlamp settled on my buck.

He'd gone about 150 yards on a double lung hit that clipped the back of the heart. 

I called inot the dark that I'd found him and my wife and friend made there way to my postition

[wastickslinger]

this is getting good!!!

[Steve Jo]

He wont make book, but he's my biggest buck to date.

Absolutely HUGE body.  no idea on his weight, but Im 6'1" and 200 pounds...

[gaddy]

i was just going to say that there had better be picts after that tease, nice deer

[Steve Jo]

A truly memorable hunt for me.




In all seriousness, I got extremely lucky with the knee.  the follwing days saw rapid healing and I spent 2 weeks in camp hanging treestands, cutting wood and being all around camp "you know what" trying to get my freinds and my wife on animals.  not to be.
Now, just shy of a month later, there is only a faint  line that wont even be a gnarly scar to remind me of how close I came to really screwing up my leg.  I dont know of many places on your body you can touch yourself with a running chainsaw and not end up needing surgery and physical therapy.

I'll take luck.

Thanks for reading
-Joe

[fair-chase]

Great story and great deer. Thanks for sharing.

[Magnum_Willys]

Great story and buck !  Thanks for sharing it.