i was just introduced to this site several weeks ago. since this site is dedicated to my home state, i figured i'd post this here. this is just a cut and paste of part of a thread that i posted where i am a moderator and have been for years. the stuff that i cut out is stuff that wouldn't have made much since but i did leave a little of the thread as to the morning when i killed this deer.long story short, i have watched this deer since he was a 2 year old and have 100s of trail cam pics of him each year and 3 sets of sheds. i killed the 6 year old buck he was hanging with last season. this buck is a 5 year old this year.
this thread starts as my mind is racing while in bed after just getting the news that this particular canyon is due to start getting logged the following day.
I’ll sit the blind just north of the hay and see if I can’t catch him coming off the food. But doing so meant I had to get in there EARLY. At about 11pm I got up, put a sleeping bag in a load of scentless soap and got my frame pack together. Once the bag was out of the baking soda laden dryer, I hopped in the shower, kissed joann goodbye and hopped in the truck. It was now 1am and a balmy 10 degrees. I made it to the farm at 1:30, stripped down (that was chilly) and got my hunting duds on. The blind was only about 600 yards from the truck but to not risk spooking the bucks if they were bedded in there, I took a safe route in that is about a ¾ mile walk…. No big deal when there isn’t 18” of crusty snow on the ground. I made it to the orchard at 2;15 and hit the yote howler just before breaking the timber’s edge. Every 10 or so yards I’d yip and bark…. This works fantastic for clearing deer on entrance without really spooking them to human presence as well as when climbing down from an evening stand hunt. I got in the blind but was sick to my stomach….. it was a HARD NE wind….. absolutely not the wind for this set up. I ended up crawling out of the blind and heading back to the natural blind that I built years ago and hunted from the night prior. This reduced my odds significantly but a buck of this age and especially after the gun season just would not tolerate one wiff of my stinky arse….. it just wasn’t worth the risk so this blind would have to do. I had put a set of snow camos in my frame pack as a “just in case.” I am glad I did.
The wind was blowing hard but between the sleeping bag draped around me (kind of like the heater body suit) and the thought of that monster giving me a shot, I never really got all that cold. First light came and went and so did my spirits….. at any moment I expected to hear a tractor trailer with the first load of equipment….. at 7am I saw it….. a large rack coming up the mountain to the flat that I was on. As luck would have it, he took the same exact trail he was on the night before and passed me at 70- 80 yards…. While it sure got the juices flowing, now I knew the game might be over…. But I was already here and was set up to wait the entire day so that is what I did….. with the exception of moving to the lower trail that put me right on the flat below the upper orchard instead of on the side hill. This flat has 3 apple trees as well. I just tucked behind a blowdown and a small standing pine and stayed put.
It was a beautiful sunny day but it was cold and zero deer movement. Somewhere around 11am I was caught between heavy eyelids and a movement that caused my heart to double beat. Another big buck!!! Now this one was obviously not as big but in the solid 140s with some serious mass and big palmations between the 3s and 4s. with the logging circumstances, I seriously considered shooting this deer…. But I could tell this buck was a 4 year old tops with fantastic potential. I snapped these pics of him at 22 yards….. he didn’t have a clue that death was right behind the blowdown….. instead, I just watched and enjoyed him……. And truly hoped I hadn’t just screwed up by passing him.
here he is at 22 yards... sorry about the glove in the way of the lense
the date is wrong on this camera... these were taken yesterday not today.... same buck
my buck after he had come down to the orchard yesterday
I had just set the binos down from a cross canyon glassing when I saw them…. Those white tipped horns with the LONG LONG TINES…… it was game on and my heart started pounding like I haven’t had it pound in a long time. I was actually getting frustrated because I couldn’t get control of it like I normally can. Luckily, he found one small piece of browse which did give me enough time to get my breathing back under control…… with the trail he was on, I new the shot would be CLOSE! At that distance, I would have to let him get well past me before I could draw. There would be absolutely no time for the nice pretty draw, perfect anchor, find the spot, set my gap ect. Ect….. but at this distance, I didn’t need all that. At 15 yards I remember thinking the wind is perfect….. just don’t fricken move…… 10 yards…… 8 yards…… 6 yards…… 4 yards and he passes by….. 5 yards…… hold……. 6 yards….. hold…… at 7 yards I drew smooth but fast and let it rip…. Not a full snap shot…. Just enough time to know I hit anchor so I could enjoy watching that arrow hit home…… and home was a heart shot. The broadhead slammed into the off side leg bone and stopped. Instantly masses of blood were pumping out and the buck went 30 yards before tipping over. I couldn’t believe what I had just done…. I had just slammed possibly my biggest whitetail and I did it in 3.5 days worth of planning/scouting/hunting….. that is what I meant about not feeling like I earned this deer…. While I certainly have gotten to know this deer over a span of 4 seasons (he is 5 ½ years old) and knowing that he had the potential to be on my hit list….. I just didn’t get to spend THE season working on him like I normally do when I pick out a buck…… regardless, I’ll damn sure take it.
gross score is 166 1/8 which makes him my #2 archery buck. i shot him with a 43lb Titan recurve, 436 gr carbontech arrow and a 100 gr 4 blade stinger head (the same set up that i blew through my big wisconsin deer with this year). the buck made it about 30 yards.
Can you imagine what he would have looked like with 1 more year….. but this is shaping up to be a HARD winter and hard winters don’t seem to be conducive to good horn growth.
