I have been dreaming of doing a write up on a deer I am super proud of. This is my first attempt so I hope you enjoy.
I have been hunting since I was about 10 years old. My dad was a fisher and not much of a hunter but he married my step mom and her family had a small ranch in the Yancey area. We started making trips out there and I fell in love with the woods. Although i loved to fish and still do I was completely ate up with being in that brush country. I never did kill a deer there but i did shoot birds, rabbits, and a few hogs on that ranch. Like all good things our time there came to an end.
I spent the next decade hunting various places that i would get an invite to. I killed a ton of spikes and does. In college I took my first buck and while he was young and small it was a good moment in my hunting career.
Fast forward a few more years and lots of does later I took up bowhunting. Man I tell you this has not been the easiest road I have taken. Its been a tough and frustrating to say the least. I killed a hog and a doe the first two times ever releasing on an animal and got to watch them crash which was awesome. Then it went down hill from there. I missed a huge axis buck and lost two wounded does last season. I was in the dumps to say the least but through it all i learned more and more about our amazing sport.
This year I was blessed with an opportunity to get on my very first deer lease. I was super pumped and ready for an awesome season. I now had 2400 acres to roam on and some great deer have been killed on this ranch. Opening morning I connected with a 97 inch 5 year old cull that i shot really far back. We were able to recover the buck the next day. I then missed another doe and backstrapped another one. I was back in the dumps again. I thought about putting the bow down for a while and go back to shooting a rifle, but i stuck with it. A few recovered pigs later and my confidence was back up.
I am telling you all this because my journey makes this buck so much sweeter. It has been rocky and rough but i stuck with it and will continue to learn as time goes on. Now lets hear a good buck story.
This buck first showed and camera in late October. I was obsessed with him but he was not patternable. I hunted him a couple of weekends with no luck. He was showing up at three different sets or sometimes not at all. He was old and smart and looked like a toad. I wanted him bad. Thanksgiving day he was all I could think about and i couldnt wait to get after him the next day.
I left for the ranch and just made it for the evening hunt. I hunted a spot he wasnt showing because i was running late and didnt want to spook him. we have a member that is from Minnesota and he was hunting this buck as well. Although I wanted him to kill a good buck I really wanted the weak G3. That night we discussed sitting all day the next day because it was cold and wet and they had to be moving. I got to the stand at spot we call the corner stand about an hour before daylight. The feeder went off at sunrise and to my disappointment he didnt show at first light. A bunch of does came and ate all the corn so i hit the test button and climbed back in.
I got a text from the guy from Minnesota that he shot a buck. The arrow deflected off a branch and hit the deer in the rear end. He and the other member went to town to get corn for our feed cart and to get our dogs to get ready for the track. I told them I was going to sit it out and wait. About 9:45 some does rolled back in and started feeding. Five minutes later I saw him coming through the brush!
I readied my bow and prepared myself for a shot. He checked every doe and wouldnt stay still. Finally he decided to take a nibble of some corn. That turned out to be a fatal mistake. I drew my bow and settled my pin. I released and my arrow was on its way. I saw my nocturnal in the air and smack into his body. I knew the shot wasnt perfect but he leaped over a cactus and ran into the brush. I saw him stumble in the creek behind the feeder and disappear on the other side. I started shaking so bad! I called my wife and could hardly talk. She was making fun of my excitement. lol she just dont get it but she was happy for me.
I walked to the other stand where the other buck was shot and waited for the other guys. We put the dogs to work and quickly found the first buck piled up within 50 yards. He got super lucky and blew through the femural artery. He loaded him up and started the track for my deer. We found blood all over the cactus he jumped and followed his trail past the creek. Another 50 yards later there he laid.
I love big 8s and I finally got one of my very own! He scored 130 on the nose and aged at 6.5 years old. This buck was years in the making and I am super proud to finally put one on the wall. Moral of the story is never give up. God is good and will bless you with good things. Thanks for reading.
I have been hunting since I was about 10 years old. My dad was a fisher and not much of a hunter but he married my step mom and her family had a small ranch in the Yancey area. We started making trips out there and I fell in love with the woods. Although i loved to fish and still do I was completely ate up with being in that brush country. I never did kill a deer there but i did shoot birds, rabbits, and a few hogs on that ranch. Like all good things our time there came to an end.
I spent the next decade hunting various places that i would get an invite to. I killed a ton of spikes and does. In college I took my first buck and while he was young and small it was a good moment in my hunting career.
Fast forward a few more years and lots of does later I took up bowhunting. Man I tell you this has not been the easiest road I have taken. Its been a tough and frustrating to say the least. I killed a hog and a doe the first two times ever releasing on an animal and got to watch them crash which was awesome. Then it went down hill from there. I missed a huge axis buck and lost two wounded does last season. I was in the dumps to say the least but through it all i learned more and more about our amazing sport.
This year I was blessed with an opportunity to get on my very first deer lease. I was super pumped and ready for an awesome season. I now had 2400 acres to roam on and some great deer have been killed on this ranch. Opening morning I connected with a 97 inch 5 year old cull that i shot really far back. We were able to recover the buck the next day. I then missed another doe and backstrapped another one. I was back in the dumps again. I thought about putting the bow down for a while and go back to shooting a rifle, but i stuck with it. A few recovered pigs later and my confidence was back up.
I am telling you all this because my journey makes this buck so much sweeter. It has been rocky and rough but i stuck with it and will continue to learn as time goes on. Now lets hear a good buck story.
This buck first showed and camera in late October. I was obsessed with him but he was not patternable. I hunted him a couple of weekends with no luck. He was showing up at three different sets or sometimes not at all. He was old and smart and looked like a toad. I wanted him bad. Thanksgiving day he was all I could think about and i couldnt wait to get after him the next day.
I left for the ranch and just made it for the evening hunt. I hunted a spot he wasnt showing because i was running late and didnt want to spook him. we have a member that is from Minnesota and he was hunting this buck as well. Although I wanted him to kill a good buck I really wanted the weak G3. That night we discussed sitting all day the next day because it was cold and wet and they had to be moving. I got to the stand at spot we call the corner stand about an hour before daylight. The feeder went off at sunrise and to my disappointment he didnt show at first light. A bunch of does came and ate all the corn so i hit the test button and climbed back in.
I got a text from the guy from Minnesota that he shot a buck. The arrow deflected off a branch and hit the deer in the rear end. He and the other member went to town to get corn for our feed cart and to get our dogs to get ready for the track. I told them I was going to sit it out and wait. About 9:45 some does rolled back in and started feeding. Five minutes later I saw him coming through the brush!
I readied my bow and prepared myself for a shot. He checked every doe and wouldnt stay still. Finally he decided to take a nibble of some corn. That turned out to be a fatal mistake. I drew my bow and settled my pin. I released and my arrow was on its way. I saw my nocturnal in the air and smack into his body. I knew the shot wasnt perfect but he leaped over a cactus and ran into the brush. I saw him stumble in the creek behind the feeder and disappear on the other side. I started shaking so bad! I called my wife and could hardly talk. She was making fun of my excitement. lol she just dont get it but she was happy for me.
I walked to the other stand where the other buck was shot and waited for the other guys. We put the dogs to work and quickly found the first buck piled up within 50 yards. He got super lucky and blew through the femural artery. He loaded him up and started the track for my deer. We found blood all over the cactus he jumped and followed his trail past the creek. Another 50 yards later there he laid.
I love big 8s and I finally got one of my very own! He scored 130 on the nose and aged at 6.5 years old. This buck was years in the making and I am super proud to finally put one on the wall. Moral of the story is never give up. God is good and will bless you with good things. Thanks for reading.
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