Well, I'll preface this with the following: this was 18 years in the making. With each passing year, pouring over maps, searching lease listings, driving thousands upon thousands of miles, spending countless hours in the stand, and even more hours scouting for and preparing those stands, frustration became almost suffocating. From South Texas, to Central Texas, To West Texas, to East Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas, I've searched for my first pope and young. Since the 8th grade, I've held a bow in my hand, and 18 years later, lady luck would smile on me. This is not to say that I have not had close encounters, like with the big non-typical that I had at 50 yards in the rain soaked Caney bottoms when I was 15, or the buck I named sky scraper in the White Oak bottoms that had tines over 12 inches long, just standing there at 70 yards when I was 19. Big Boy Roy in Mason, the typical 8 that was later killed by the neighbors that had 12 inch G2's and 11 inch G3's and 18 inches inside, he was at 35 yards hard quartering towards and never presented a shot, or a similar in measurement buck back in the White Oak bottoms that stood at 90 yards and refused to come into the sweet music I was playing on my grunt tube that December morning. The mid 160's ten point that I rattled in beside that lake in Kansas on public land three years ago was a beast, but the imaginary wall that I could not see at 60 yards kept him from coming in. A heart breaking loss in the deer woods of Utopia last year still stings a little, he was a beautiful mid to upper thirties 9 point that 6 hours of searching, could not find. But on the bright side, I think he lived. You see, the road I've traveled and the pastures and hills that I've climbed through have brought me close, but just not close enough, until November 10, 2010, when a certain droptine buck, that we had been getting pictures of, and I would cross paths. Now let me preface the rest of this story with one word "DECOY." I purchased a Boss Buck decoy last year, and decided to camp out over it this year. My buddy and myself were in Kansas for our third trip of the season, and with a week long "kitchen pass," we meant business. Another buddy had joined us for this trip so I fully expected to be giving a couple of Kansas toads a free ride back to Texas. Well our second day into the hunt and my first morning over the decoy, it was shaping up nicely. Several does and small bucks had already come in to pay their respects to "The Boss," with one doe licking the mega tarsal plus right off his rear end. And that's when it happened, no, not the buck, but a trespasser comes walking up to my decoy, smoking his cigarette and talking quite loudly to the three dogs that were accompanying him (Rottweilers might I add). He finally notices me and goofily says, "Well I guess I ruined your day, huh?" He was smiling when he said it. He then sat down and began spitting on the ground, while his dogs were hiking their legs on my decoy. He wouldn't leave. I called the land owner to fill him in and then got down and shook violently back to the house. It was 8:00am at this time. After another hour of sorting out that mess, I got a call from my buddy that he had shot. We recovered his beautiful 8 point and I headed back to my decoy. I wasn't abandoning the spot. For six hours I sat there without seeing a deer, and then a doe popped out behind me in the hay meadow. She was alone. I could hear bleating in the woods behind me but it was so soft, I thought it was a doe, but 10 minutes later, at 5:45pm, I looked back to see where the doe was now, and saw a large dark blob floating towards her 100 yards away. I raised my Nikon Monarchs and saw instantly that he was a shooter. I grunted loudly and stopped him in his tracks. He turns his head toward me and I see the droptine swinging towards me. IT'S HIM! He was only 20 yards from the doe. He looks back at her and I grunt again. He sees the decoy now and on a rope he's coming. I try videoing him but because of fading video light, I was having trouble focusing. At 50 yards, I realize I'm caught up in trying to get the cameral to focus and realize that I am holding a camera and not my bow. An instant later I am ready to draw back. He's stiff leggedly walking by at 30 yards, puffed out and ears back. I can't stop him! He's walking in front of me now so at 23 yards and walking, I settle the pin and send the 100 grain Magnum Slick Trick off into his rib cage. And then the world stopped spinning. The only sound I heard was the blood in my ears. I had hypothermia but couldn't remember swimming in icy water. I wanted to hollar, do a majestic swan dive off my 20' ladder stand and land in a dead sprint back to my buddies. Wait, I hear him walking in the leaves. My heart beating and him walking, and then nothing. I got down and looked for the arrow and there was not one. So I knew it was still in him, and hopefully that slick trick stayed late and was working overtime for me. We followed a continuous blood trail for 200 yards and made the decision to back out for the night. I got little sleep that night, and was back on the trail at 530 the next morning. With one buddy in the tree and another buddy by my side, history was down the blood trail. There he was. He made it 40 yards from the highway, which offered an "easier" drag of the 225 pound toad. I didn't touch him for over 5 minutes. I just laid in the leaves and thanked God in Heaven. 18 years had lead me to this spot. I regained my composure and began running my hands over all 166 inches of his horns. It goes without saying, I was at peace. As a typical 10, he scored 147", and with the 19" of abnormal bone, he grosses 166 2/8" Be humble in your victories, and give God the glory!
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Wow... -
awesome!Comment
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Oh man, that is a fine deer!Comment
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Awesome story and buck!!! I cant believe he only went 166! Looks Mid 170's..Congrats!Comment
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beautiful, congratsComment
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Excellent write up! Congrads on the Awesome P&Y Buck!Comment
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wow i would have never got a shot at him i would have been shootin dogs and fightin the smokerComment
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Great buck Cody, congratsComment
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Nice deer and great story. And I hope the intruders get's what's coming to him.Comment
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Wow, too!Comment
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NICE buck! definitely looks bigger than 166!Comment
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That is an incredible buck! Congrats on your buck and the great story!!!!Comment
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Way nice buck......and worth the wait!Comment
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Amen.Comment
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