Free: Contests & Raffles.
Opening morning my 15 year old daughter passed three legal bucks hoping for a bigger one. We put the stalk on a big 3x3 but just couldn’t get close enough for a shot. It was 11am and I asked if she wanted to go back for lunch or take another look at the deer we had passed. She decided to go take one more look. We found the biggest of the three still in the same basic spot. Earlier he was at 79 yards broadside and then bed down at 84. I was shocked she passed him and now he was 140 yards away.We decided to sneak around above him. We got to 60 yards but only could see his horns. He spooked and ran downhill with three does in the lead. They stopped at 100 yards but were all bunched up, no ethical shot. They started to slowly move to the right. The first doe stepped into the opening at 126 yards. We setup for the shot and the buck had read the script. He followed the does on the same path and paused in the opening. She settled her knight bighorn loaded with Leigh 230 grain .45 caliber bullets suggested by @Sabotloader , thanks man, squeezed the triggered and flipped the buck over. Dumped him right there. All of the points are are over an inch so we are calling it a 3x4.
Well I have gone back and forth on posting this but figured what the hell im not to concerned about being judged. I finally got it done with my bow on one of the nicer deer I had been seeing. Unfortunately that day we had terrible thunder storms. As the group of bucks worked down the hill towards me the thunder started. Then sprinkles of rain, which we hadn’t had for months. Soon it was a torrential downpour and although the thunder had the four bucks on edge they were still feeding and heading my way. As always the biggest in the group was last in line. I had a tall narrow crab claw four point at 10 yards but could see the bigger buck was going to come by on almost the same trail. After being at full draw twice and not being able to get the angle I needed the big buck finally turned broadside at 26 yards. As I struggled to get my aim in the pouring rain I let my arrow fly. He flinched at the shot and I hit him higher and further forward than I wanted, but watched the arrow disappear into his shoulder. I only waited a few minutes for the other bucks to clear the area as they were trying to figure out what happened. I found a few spots of blood, no arrow and within minutes the blood I had was gone. Soon there was standing water and even the tracks were washed away it was raining so hard. I grid searched all day. Could not come up with anything. He went right into a creek bottom that was thick with hawthorns and all kinds of brush That was over your head. I crawled around on every bear trail in there and could not find him. I went home dejected and almost in disbelief that I had watched the arrow get great penetration but couldn’t find him. Going back to look even though knew the meat was a loss at this point I saw a huge bear, too far to shoot without a rifle. I dropped down the hill and covered ground to get closer. As I peeked over the hill again he was going into the brush, right where I had been looking for my buck. He had a beat down trail going in and after more looking found where he cashed my deer he ate. I had been less than 20 yards from it when I was looking but it was just so thick you couldn’t see it unless you tripped over it. So no meat to show but I am tagged out on deer for the year. Definitely a bitter sweet ending, must have only got one lung since he went 300+ yards through thick terrain. But at least he’s not still out there suffering and the bear got a good meal.
