Jmac0501
Active Member
Kids had some time off school Oct 21-23, so I headed to the farm to see what I could find. Disappointed that it wasnt' a week earlier, so I could get my youngest a chance to fill his youth tag during Early MZ. Monday AM was just a fun pre-rut morning in the woods. Hit the antlers a bit, and had a string of yearling bucks head straight to me. One ended up at the base of the ladder to my stand. Watched them spar a bit. At one point, there were 10 deer inside of 50 yards in nearly every direction.
Monday evening I got to the stand plenty early. Watched the wood ducks come and go on the creek for a while. They really made me want to switch hunts for a bit. It would have been an easy ambush spot.
about an hour before sunset I tickled the antlers again. Three bucks again appeared behind me. One got chased off right away, and the other two headed my way. The front one stopped and thrashed a tree on his way over. He ended up at the base of my stand similar to the one from the morning. I would have loved to have videoed it as he licked the rungs of my stand. He ended up with his nose straight up in the air licking the highest run he could reach. Not sure how he didn't spot me. He finally walked off a few yards and was right in my wind quartering away from me pretty hard but still really close. I'm surprised he didn't pick up my wind, but it must have been blowing over him.
We are moving the end of this month, and I'm more of a meat hunter than anything, so I settled the pin and squeezed the release. I can almost always pick up my arrow in flight but could not this time. The arrow was through him before I could find it. He mule kicked and was off, and I had no idea where he was hit It soon didn't matter as he stopped at 35 yards and fell over nose first. I've never seen a deer put that much blood out their nose/mouth before, but definitely a case of massive blood loss. If you look close in that first picture, you can see the pool where he bled out.
Entry was 2nd rib from the back, just clipping the side of the loin. Exit was just behind the far shoulder.
No idea what he scores and really don't care right now. I'll get him measured as the 3rd buck for Team 11, but it will wait until our move is complete.
Monday evening I got to the stand plenty early. Watched the wood ducks come and go on the creek for a while. They really made me want to switch hunts for a bit. It would have been an easy ambush spot.
about an hour before sunset I tickled the antlers again. Three bucks again appeared behind me. One got chased off right away, and the other two headed my way. The front one stopped and thrashed a tree on his way over. He ended up at the base of my stand similar to the one from the morning. I would have loved to have videoed it as he licked the rungs of my stand. He ended up with his nose straight up in the air licking the highest run he could reach. Not sure how he didn't spot me. He finally walked off a few yards and was right in my wind quartering away from me pretty hard but still really close. I'm surprised he didn't pick up my wind, but it must have been blowing over him.
We are moving the end of this month, and I'm more of a meat hunter than anything, so I settled the pin and squeezed the release. I can almost always pick up my arrow in flight but could not this time. The arrow was through him before I could find it. He mule kicked and was off, and I had no idea where he was hit It soon didn't matter as he stopped at 35 yards and fell over nose first. I've never seen a deer put that much blood out their nose/mouth before, but definitely a case of massive blood loss. If you look close in that first picture, you can see the pool where he bled out.
Entry was 2nd rib from the back, just clipping the side of the loin. Exit was just behind the far shoulder.
No idea what he scores and really don't care right now. I'll get him measured as the 3rd buck for Team 11, but it will wait until our move is complete.
