well lets just say, after 31 years, with the hard work, help and encouragement of guys and gals like yourselves, I got it done!
as the saga unfolds, I have been hunting an area of public land that has been harboring at least three nice bucks that I know of including one booner...eh. I almost spelled boner.
anyhow as some of you have been reading, I past on a marginal opportunity on an eight that had some junk, I thought after the pictures it may have been the crazy horn buck...not sure.
then two afternoons I had a fork and spiker come underneath me, then yesterday morning a 6 come right directly under me.
I had a good feeling about this morning. when I woke up it was pouring rain, but with just two mornings left before all hell breaks loose with the rifles and city slickers, there was no question I would go out and sit as long as I could until I got soaked to the bone and couldn't stand it any more.
I woke my ever so understanding wife and told her this was the day. honest to god. I told her to get ready with the camera.
I headed out to the same strip of balsams as I had seen the three other bucks the last couple of days.
my game plan had evolved from using the balsam as cover, to sitting out from the balsam as I figured the deer were using it as cover, like a travel corridor. I would choose a tree outside 15 - 20 yards as to have better shooting opportunities into the balsam.
as it turned out, I got to the balsams right on time.
these balsams as I stated before are the transition of mature hardwoods to harvested aspen of 16 year growth.
I will never under-estimate the value of a transitional area again.
I looked now for the perfect tree away from the strip of balsams. the first choice had a widdow maker leaning against it and without considerable effort, it was going to remain there, in the way.
I looked for my second choice. it was a nice straight aspen and I made my way to it, over and around deadfalls and other natural obstacles, I strapped my climber to it, and started up. after my second ratchet, I decided this was not the tree for today.
the tree had an awful lean to it, causing the climber to be way out of whack, and feeling completely unsafe, I clum my way back down.
now time was ticking away.
looking and not finding another suitable tree in which to observe the protective balsam barrier, I opted to pick another tree inside the protection of the balsams.
I clum that aspen tree and settled in for what turned out to be a rather short sit.
I had only caught my breath from the climb when I noticed a deer coming my way through the openness of the hardwoods.
A doe. what? she must die.
so, as she came nearer, I raised my self, then reflex buckskin.
she went behind some balsam boughs and I came to full draw.
when she stepped into my pin, I should have stopped her with a bark, but instead I let fly.
I could have sworn I hit her, but a little back I thought.
she bounded forward about 25 feet and stopped in the safety of the conifers, looking back at the spot I just shot at her from.
I could see her looking, sniffing, and she even licked her nose.
How could I have missed her?
I couldn't see my arrow.
she simply wandered off and I just stood there stunned.
I never miss when target practicing.
heck, I even practiced this very shot yesterday with every hit in the kill zone.
I even took one in the neck for good practice.
I told myself, sit down.
if you missed her, you missed her. if you hit her, your going to have to leave her anyway. at least a half hour.
who knows, maybe a buck will follow her in.
so there I sat.
all these hours in the stand, all these showers. the scent free laundry routine. all comes down to this.
I took a deep breath trying to relax. Then I saw movement. coming in the same way as the doe, I knew it had to be, and it was, a mature buck with his nose to the ground!
he was coming in just as she had, and I knew exactly what he was going to do.
31 years of deer hunting and never a decent buck.
granted, for many of those years I didn't care if had spikes, forks or what ever, if it had horns that was good enough for me.
Now I have been hunting hard for the last ten years or so for a decent buck.
I have had near misses, blunders and good old fashioned hard luck, but this year, I was bound and determined to smack a nice buck before rifle season and with two days left, the pressure was on.
he kept coming in just as the doe had. I stood, with my second arrow nocked, clipped my release to the D-loop, and waited. it wasn't long when the buck reached the last log the doe had jumped before I shot at her.
he sniffed, hopped and was behind the same balsam branch, allowing me to come to full draw.
he hesitated, then stepped into my 20 yard pin and I let her fly.
THWACK!! I'll never forget that sound.
It was just like in the movies.
I hit him a bit high I thought but not bad. he bounded away forward and right. by the third bound, I could see blood rushing from his entry wound.
then he disappeared.
I was so over pumped I had to sit down. I set my bow down on the rail in front of me and looked straight up.
I said my thanks and asked for help.
I was shaking so bad I couldn't climb down so I sat there.
then it started to rain again. "oh no" I thought, "I'm going to loose blood trail"
I called my brother who I work for and has allowed me the time to persue my addiction, for help tracking.
there was no answer, so I called my IBOT brother Goose and got him out of bed.
I told him where I was and he was on the road in minutes.
I made my way down the tree after about fifteen minutes.
I knew I had to look for my arrows and to my surprise, they were both there in the dirt by the tree they passed by, not 6 inches from each other, both covered in blood!
still not confident in the first hit, I went to where she stood, and there, was a puddle of thick dark blood. the white hair made me think the hit on the doe was back and low.
as it turned out, it was the tail end of the lung and passing out through the abdominal wall out low.
As I waited on Goose, the rain continued, so I pushed a bit further to get a direction on the buck who left a nice blood trail.
Again, I chose to wait.
I rifled through my cell address book, then called my brother Steve who was on his way up for deer camp.
I told him when I figured out what was going on, I'd call him.
I called him back 3 minutes later to tell him I had found my buck, not forty yards from where I shot at it!!
As Goose made his way to my location, he yelled and I heard him. I answered back.
I told him I found the buck, and he yelled,that the doe was bedded along side the trail.
she was hit good, but low. she wouldn't get up.
we dealt with the buck and waited in the truck for a half hour and in that time, she expired.
I got them both!
thanks to you all for listening to my ramblings. I am so high right now, I cant think of anything but next season.
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Topic: jiggle's double (Read 5155 times)
