I have dreamed of killing a trophy buck before I killed my first at age 5. After more than 20 years of optimism, heartache, hard work, time, effort, and way too many other experiences I finally did it, killed my best buck to date and did it with my bow.
For the past 4 years we have watched this buck we call "knot jaw", for obvious reasons you will see in the pictures. When we first noticed him he was a wide ~22", tall 9 with a big knot under his jaw. We guessed him to be 3.5 or 4.5 and showing a lot of potential. We would see him sporadically through that 2015 summer and season. 2016 came and we were excited to see what he would be and had big hopes. Well time came and it seemed like he didn't do much besides maybe put on about 4 or 5 inches of total mass. We were pretty disappointed but let him go in hopes that the dry year had just been hard on him that maybe the knot on his jaw affected him. 2017 rolls around and we have our fingers crossed that he will have a better year. All of 2017, just like the previous years, he shows up very sporadically on camera but that year we never did see him in the field. This was a blessing in disguise because he had gone down hill with his antler development and he was on the hit list as a management buck after not getting any bigger. Well 2018 comes around and he becomes a regular on camera and at two particular feeders. To all of our surprise, he has blown up! Added mass, tine length, a 10th point and a sticker making him 11, still with his big "knot jaw".
Trail pics I had posted earlier in September asking score thoughts
I hunted as much as I could in October with being gone for 2 weekends in Colorado for the first combo season and having to spend several days cutting up meat from the trip. The season showed promise as I saw "knot jaw" about every other sit but just couldn't seal the deal with a different disappointing reason each time. The typical bowhunting scenarios that just don't seem to ever go your way. Rifle season starts and I refuse to put the bow down, I had made a commitment with myself, I get him with my bow or he walks. He was too special to be cheated out with a rifle under a feeder, he deserved a better chance in my mind if you will. The pressure is on now because we are into November getting close to the rut and he could disappear like he did the last 3 previous years. I was so determined I took off early each Friday to hunt that evening and would hunt all the way til Sunday night with the same scenarios playing out... too far, never turned to give me a shot, doe snorted and scared him off, wind shifted, etc. Well last Saturday the 17th I moved my pop up about 50 yards from where it was to hopefully help with wind and sunlight. Well the move worked perfectly and Friday I had him at 20 yards, but just couldn't get a shot with too many deer around in the way. Down and starting to really feel the pressure as the rut is starting to show signs I was back at it Saturday evening. About 4:45 he comes in with 2 other bucks as they are the only ones out because the wind at the time had the deer pretty skiddish. I let him feed around and get comfortable and let the Rage fly at 24 yards.
100 yards later and a really easy track job and there he lay, in all his glory.
My original guess was high 40’s maybe just touch 150. Well I was pretty close as he taped out at 151 and 2/8”.
After reading a thread the other day about who eats what from the deer they kill, here’s a photo of the goodies in the fridge for this week. (Heart, liver- half for me and other half for the dogs, Testicles, and caul fat)
For the past 4 years we have watched this buck we call "knot jaw", for obvious reasons you will see in the pictures. When we first noticed him he was a wide ~22", tall 9 with a big knot under his jaw. We guessed him to be 3.5 or 4.5 and showing a lot of potential. We would see him sporadically through that 2015 summer and season. 2016 came and we were excited to see what he would be and had big hopes. Well time came and it seemed like he didn't do much besides maybe put on about 4 or 5 inches of total mass. We were pretty disappointed but let him go in hopes that the dry year had just been hard on him that maybe the knot on his jaw affected him. 2017 rolls around and we have our fingers crossed that he will have a better year. All of 2017, just like the previous years, he shows up very sporadically on camera but that year we never did see him in the field. This was a blessing in disguise because he had gone down hill with his antler development and he was on the hit list as a management buck after not getting any bigger. Well 2018 comes around and he becomes a regular on camera and at two particular feeders. To all of our surprise, he has blown up! Added mass, tine length, a 10th point and a sticker making him 11, still with his big "knot jaw".
Trail pics I had posted earlier in September asking score thoughtsI hunted as much as I could in October with being gone for 2 weekends in Colorado for the first combo season and having to spend several days cutting up meat from the trip. The season showed promise as I saw "knot jaw" about every other sit but just couldn't seal the deal with a different disappointing reason each time. The typical bowhunting scenarios that just don't seem to ever go your way. Rifle season starts and I refuse to put the bow down, I had made a commitment with myself, I get him with my bow or he walks. He was too special to be cheated out with a rifle under a feeder, he deserved a better chance in my mind if you will. The pressure is on now because we are into November getting close to the rut and he could disappear like he did the last 3 previous years. I was so determined I took off early each Friday to hunt that evening and would hunt all the way til Sunday night with the same scenarios playing out... too far, never turned to give me a shot, doe snorted and scared him off, wind shifted, etc. Well last Saturday the 17th I moved my pop up about 50 yards from where it was to hopefully help with wind and sunlight. Well the move worked perfectly and Friday I had him at 20 yards, but just couldn't get a shot with too many deer around in the way. Down and starting to really feel the pressure as the rut is starting to show signs I was back at it Saturday evening. About 4:45 he comes in with 2 other bucks as they are the only ones out because the wind at the time had the deer pretty skiddish. I let him feed around and get comfortable and let the Rage fly at 24 yards.
100 yards later and a really easy track job and there he lay, in all his glory.
My original guess was high 40’s maybe just touch 150. Well I was pretty close as he taped out at 151 and 2/8”.
After reading a thread the other day about who eats what from the deer they kill, here’s a photo of the goodies in the fridge for this week. (Heart, liver- half for me and other half for the dogs, Testicles, and caul fat)
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