Fat Albert! Arrow Away!
What a season ender on Christmas morning! I bow hunted nearly every weekend last year and most this year but wasn't able to connect with any deer. I took my rifle out Thanksgiving weekend for a doe, but the elusive bucks were nocturnal. Even during the rut.
In November I decided to wait for a cold day - below 30 - to hunt. Work got in the way for the first 2 cold days but I knew MY cold day was coming.
Christmas morning it was 27 with a real feel of 20. The wind was perfect. I got up at 4, took a scent free shower, put some Thermacare heat pads on my back and wrists (thank you Michelle Bachman for that tip) and walked 500 yards to stand. It took me a hour but I was very careful to walk like a wandering deer or hog.
Once in my stand, I thought I would get cold, but I stayed warm with those Thermacare! Just before daylight, Old Man Christmas, a very old 13pt buck walked by. I would have been humbled to been able to take him.
The sun started to light the sky at at 7:05 I heard a deer coming through the brush. Out he popped and I lost my breath - Fat Albert! He is a massive bodied buck with very pretty antlers. Maybe not the biggest rack, but I really liked him. He was king. He walked the path of Old Man Christmas and I thought he would leave. I jumped up in my blind to look out the peep hole.
7 does! And they were headed to me. I sat down and hyperventilated. Breathe! Deep breaths slow down! Breathe in, exhale, relax! (This is my mental routine in 3D competition. ) Within seconds I was under control! And Fat Albert was 10 yards in front of me.
I drew my Mathews Chill X. And waited. He took 2 steps forward, giving me the perfect shot. Arrow away!
He jumped and ran 30 yards to a barb wire fence. Then slowed to a walk, staggering out of sight.
After a kazillon texts, I walked to the house to wait on David Lynch, my bad***fessional photographer, aka Bowwiz. We got Ace for tracking, although I think we would have done fine without him. The trail was short.
I am truly honored to have this buck. I've chased him for 2 years and I am stunned that he came in.
He weighed 170 pounds, large by our standards where the average buck weighs 120. We think he'll make Pope and Young! He will be my first!
In November I decided to wait for a cold day - below 30 - to hunt. Work got in the way for the first 2 cold days but I knew MY cold day was coming.
Christmas morning it was 27 with a real feel of 20. The wind was perfect. I got up at 4, took a scent free shower, put some Thermacare heat pads on my back and wrists (thank you Michelle Bachman for that tip) and walked 500 yards to stand. It took me a hour but I was very careful to walk like a wandering deer or hog.
Once in my stand, I thought I would get cold, but I stayed warm with those Thermacare! Just before daylight, Old Man Christmas, a very old 13pt buck walked by. I would have been humbled to been able to take him.
The sun started to light the sky at at 7:05 I heard a deer coming through the brush. Out he popped and I lost my breath - Fat Albert! He is a massive bodied buck with very pretty antlers. Maybe not the biggest rack, but I really liked him. He was king. He walked the path of Old Man Christmas and I thought he would leave. I jumped up in my blind to look out the peep hole.
7 does! And they were headed to me. I sat down and hyperventilated. Breathe! Deep breaths slow down! Breathe in, exhale, relax! (This is my mental routine in 3D competition. ) Within seconds I was under control! And Fat Albert was 10 yards in front of me.
I drew my Mathews Chill X. And waited. He took 2 steps forward, giving me the perfect shot. Arrow away!
He jumped and ran 30 yards to a barb wire fence. Then slowed to a walk, staggering out of sight.
After a kazillon texts, I walked to the house to wait on David Lynch, my bad***fessional photographer, aka Bowwiz. We got Ace for tracking, although I think we would have done fine without him. The trail was short.
I am truly honored to have this buck. I've chased him for 2 years and I am stunned that he came in.
He weighed 170 pounds, large by our standards where the average buck weighs 120. We think he'll make Pope and Young! He will be my first!
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