SaskGuy
Active Member
I posted this in the pma 5 days ago. I would now like to give non members a look. There was a post on here about kills in the pma being similar to ones saved for video and I donèt wish to seem like that, enjoy.
Well, he's definately not my biggest, but I am definately extremely happy with this buck.
I first became familiar with him way back in 2007 when I picked up a set of sheds off of him. The area I found them and the characteristics of them made me believe they were his when I started to become more familiar with him.
The next fall he was definately much better but I tagged out in Sept. and I began to hope he would survive. I searched hard for the sheds but never came up roses on them.
That winter was extremely hard and when he reappeared the following fall he had definately taken a step or 10 back in regards to antler growth and even looked like a malnourished unhealthy buck during velvet stage as it was obvious winter had nearly killed him. I felt he may not ever get any better and b/c I was seeing very few decent bucks that yr I tried arrow him one morning but being on the ground in the direction he was travelling caused him to pick me off trying to draw and he was spared. Again, his shed never turned up despite him feeding every night on a giant pile of heated canola. It was funny that the drop switched sides and wasn't very big at all.
When he showed up again last yr I noticed the drop had switched again and despite being old and not overly big he was looking pretty cool. Because I had my sights set on the buck I did take he made the free pass list . I actually could have shot him twice, once the evening before I ended up shooting the buck I shot and once almost 2 miles away in late Nov. about 30 seconds after filling my doe tag.
I got these pics of him in an oct. snowstorm on a pile of old barley the landowner had thrown out of a leaky bin. Yet again I struck out on his sheds. In big timber country it's a crapshoot if they don't leave them on a food source. You find some, but it's tough to find a very good % in a sea of timber 5-10 sq. miles in size.
I didn't know he had made winter until one day in the summer while going fishing I spotted him laying right off the road, out of the timber in a small gravel pit. I believe the bugs had pushed him there and he was over a mile north of where I'd had any actual sightings of him before. Our summer plow wind really altered the landscape and deer movement patterns and I only got trail cam pics of him on 2 seperate days this entire season. I had the odd sighting of him on the same piece I spent bowhunting bears on but all through Sept. and Oct. it was like he was non existent. Realistically I felt he could have already been shot by anyone else.
Although I have lots of access to other areas, I kind kept in close proximity to home in hopes that out of pure luck I may bump into him or one other old buck I have gotten familiar with. I had seen a real giant on Wed. but he was almost 15 miles from home and being it is the time of yr where they seem to go wherever they please at that exact moment I felt I'd be better off sticking close to home yesterday after work as my wife had evening commitments so my hunt went as follows.
I walked into some big jackpines that were scattered along the field thanks to the plow wind. I bunkered in amongst some limbs. I watched as a good looking buck skirted through some young pines along the field edge but never actually came to the food source. I only managed glimpses of him as he headed west, obviously searching for does. A short while later from the west a real dandy buck came from the timber and ran some does around before disappearing back into the woods. He was well over 500 yards away and I could tell he was a dandy. About 10 does and fawns drifted onto the food source, cutting right through the downed pines within 10 yards of me. One fawn actually was closer to 3 or 4 yards. Luckily they moved quickly outward onto the oats and away from where I was as a few minutes after that transpired I heard steps coming through the pines. I got a glimpse of antler at about 15 yards, coming my way. Before I could even reach down and pick my .270 from the bipod it was resting on the antlers were coming through the pines into my lap within 5 yards, and the antlers were attached to the old buck I'd been hoping might stumble into my lap. Because he was so close I was caught unprepared to shoot him. Luckily the wind was perfect and I was amongst the downed timber as he walked right by me out to the field. He glanced at the does but immediately began to feed, seemingly uninterested in them. He was only 10 yards away but facing straight away so I slowly moved my arm to raise my gun. About halfway up he snapped his head towards me and locked on. He turned and quartered to me but in moving so slowly amongst the trees and limbs while raising my gun from the ground to being shouldered and aim I was able to luck out and have him stay still for what ended up being too long for him as I pounded him there at a distance of 8-10 yards. I ended up not getting field photos due to the evening commitment my wife had and he froze pretty good last night in the truck with the bitter cold temps so they're far from great but anyways, here he is.
I ended up getting the hide off him today and I think he wasn't interested in the does last night b/c he was in survival mode. His one hind quarter was all beat up and covered in a couple nasty gashes, as was his face , brisket and one shoulder. He was missing a bunch of hair on his brisket and had a big open gash there with alot of internal infection. It appears as though he had taken some nasty licks recently by a rival buck.
Although the hunt itself was far from anything genius as all I did was pick the highest % area I could think of that he might be in, sit down in a nasty blowdown on the edge of a food source close to home so I could be home when I needed to be and out he walked :drink2:I am still dang happy to have taken him. When they can tough it out and make it in this environment there is alot about them to be respected in my books.
Special thanks on this one to all the landowners in the area for allowing me to access their property so that I can actually live something like this that is so special to me
Well, he's definately not my biggest, but I am definately extremely happy with this buck.
I first became familiar with him way back in 2007 when I picked up a set of sheds off of him. The area I found them and the characteristics of them made me believe they were his when I started to become more familiar with him.
The next fall he was definately much better but I tagged out in Sept. and I began to hope he would survive. I searched hard for the sheds but never came up roses on them.
That winter was extremely hard and when he reappeared the following fall he had definately taken a step or 10 back in regards to antler growth and even looked like a malnourished unhealthy buck during velvet stage as it was obvious winter had nearly killed him. I felt he may not ever get any better and b/c I was seeing very few decent bucks that yr I tried arrow him one morning but being on the ground in the direction he was travelling caused him to pick me off trying to draw and he was spared. Again, his shed never turned up despite him feeding every night on a giant pile of heated canola. It was funny that the drop switched sides and wasn't very big at all.
When he showed up again last yr I noticed the drop had switched again and despite being old and not overly big he was looking pretty cool. Because I had my sights set on the buck I did take he made the free pass list . I actually could have shot him twice, once the evening before I ended up shooting the buck I shot and once almost 2 miles away in late Nov. about 30 seconds after filling my doe tag.
I got these pics of him in an oct. snowstorm on a pile of old barley the landowner had thrown out of a leaky bin. Yet again I struck out on his sheds. In big timber country it's a crapshoot if they don't leave them on a food source. You find some, but it's tough to find a very good % in a sea of timber 5-10 sq. miles in size.
I didn't know he had made winter until one day in the summer while going fishing I spotted him laying right off the road, out of the timber in a small gravel pit. I believe the bugs had pushed him there and he was over a mile north of where I'd had any actual sightings of him before. Our summer plow wind really altered the landscape and deer movement patterns and I only got trail cam pics of him on 2 seperate days this entire season. I had the odd sighting of him on the same piece I spent bowhunting bears on but all through Sept. and Oct. it was like he was non existent. Realistically I felt he could have already been shot by anyone else.
Although I have lots of access to other areas, I kind kept in close proximity to home in hopes that out of pure luck I may bump into him or one other old buck I have gotten familiar with. I had seen a real giant on Wed. but he was almost 15 miles from home and being it is the time of yr where they seem to go wherever they please at that exact moment I felt I'd be better off sticking close to home yesterday after work as my wife had evening commitments so my hunt went as follows.
I walked into some big jackpines that were scattered along the field thanks to the plow wind. I bunkered in amongst some limbs. I watched as a good looking buck skirted through some young pines along the field edge but never actually came to the food source. I only managed glimpses of him as he headed west, obviously searching for does. A short while later from the west a real dandy buck came from the timber and ran some does around before disappearing back into the woods. He was well over 500 yards away and I could tell he was a dandy. About 10 does and fawns drifted onto the food source, cutting right through the downed pines within 10 yards of me. One fawn actually was closer to 3 or 4 yards. Luckily they moved quickly outward onto the oats and away from where I was as a few minutes after that transpired I heard steps coming through the pines. I got a glimpse of antler at about 15 yards, coming my way. Before I could even reach down and pick my .270 from the bipod it was resting on the antlers were coming through the pines into my lap within 5 yards, and the antlers were attached to the old buck I'd been hoping might stumble into my lap. Because he was so close I was caught unprepared to shoot him. Luckily the wind was perfect and I was amongst the downed timber as he walked right by me out to the field. He glanced at the does but immediately began to feed, seemingly uninterested in them. He was only 10 yards away but facing straight away so I slowly moved my arm to raise my gun. About halfway up he snapped his head towards me and locked on. He turned and quartered to me but in moving so slowly amongst the trees and limbs while raising my gun from the ground to being shouldered and aim I was able to luck out and have him stay still for what ended up being too long for him as I pounded him there at a distance of 8-10 yards. I ended up not getting field photos due to the evening commitment my wife had and he froze pretty good last night in the truck with the bitter cold temps so they're far from great but anyways, here he is.
I ended up getting the hide off him today and I think he wasn't interested in the does last night b/c he was in survival mode. His one hind quarter was all beat up and covered in a couple nasty gashes, as was his face , brisket and one shoulder. He was missing a bunch of hair on his brisket and had a big open gash there with alot of internal infection. It appears as though he had taken some nasty licks recently by a rival buck.
Although the hunt itself was far from anything genius as all I did was pick the highest % area I could think of that he might be in, sit down in a nasty blowdown on the edge of a food source close to home so I could be home when I needed to be and out he walked :drink2:I am still dang happy to have taken him. When they can tough it out and make it in this environment there is alot about them to be respected in my books.
Special thanks on this one to all the landowners in the area for allowing me to access their property so that I can actually live something like this that is so special to me
