Buckscrape
Well-Known Member
This is going to be a looong story ... where to start?
Well since this a story about a deer, I'll start at when I first realized he existed.
I like to keep track of bucks, no matter what the rack looks like when they are young. I don't know what they will turn into and most times it really doesn't matter, I just like the history. And when one of those young bucks survives to maturity in a land where the winter can kill them just as easily as the coyotes, bears and wolves, well then they have my attention. This was one of those deer. Right from the start, he had a bit of a pretty boy look and often times he'd have his nose in the air just a bit more than most, so I named him "Reggie". I'm not really sure if he was two or three in the pics from 2019, but I'm leaning to three, so that put him at least 6.5, probably 7.5 this year. I had one of his sheds from '20, and both sheds from each of '21 and '22 so I knew more or less that he was carrying at least as much mass as anything I've got previously. I decided he would be my target buck this fall.
By the last half of September I had him patterned pretty well and he was entering a canola field at a spot where I could hide behind an existing brush pile and my shot would be about 30 yards. After we wrapped up harvest, the first afternoon that the wind was right I got in there and set up. It had showered a bit that day so the grass and leaves were damp, it was cool but not uncomfortable. After a while a few does filtered into the field and about an hour later they looked nervously into the trees and out he came. I didn't even hear him, but the does gave me the cue to get ready to draw. He kinda turned so he was a bit quartering to, but I held the 30yd pin just behind the bulge of his shoulder and released. He turned so fast and bolted back up that trail so fast, I could hear him breathing so heavy and fast and then he crashed through some brush ... I was sure my arrow had hit it's mark. It was about ten minutes to my house so after a bit I went home for a couple hours to let things settle before I went to check for an arrow and any blood. Well there was neither for the first 50 yards up that trail, so I backed out and decided to wait until morning.
Morning came, I still couldn't find my arrow and a shower overnight didn't help the search for blood. By 10AM I started trying to search small sections of the timber and it was slow going as most of the underbrush still had some leaves. By the end of that day I had covered an area about 150x150 yards. The next day I worked what I thought was the next logical area. Of course we've all got other commitments so my next attempt was going to have to be the next wknd and it was going to either be a rotting carcass (birds) or one of my trail cams was going to get a pic. Well that next wknd turned up nothing, and the next. I started expanding my search to a nearby lake (1/2 mile away) just in case he tried to make it to water. I found all sorts of stuff: a moose shed, moose remains, bear skull, two buck skulls, four whitetail sheds. I started carrying the shotgun and got at least fifteen ruffed grouse. I started saying to myself that the grouse that get away are eventually going to lead me to my buck, ha. And you know what? One finally did. I was covering some timber about 300 yards from where I shot him and lo and behold there was a leg bone! I rested my Winchester against a tree and started scouring the area. Not 30 yards away there was my deer's skull and antlers!
Today I went back and found where he died ... bugs me that I was within 80 yards of his carcass the day after I let that arrow fly. I'm 99% sure he died the night I shot him. My arrow was laying there undamaged (not sure what to think about that). I'm really bummed out about all the wasted venison, but it's sure nice to get the closure (I just couldn't let it go). Maybe I just thought I owed him that much ...
Now the pics:
Well since this a story about a deer, I'll start at when I first realized he existed.
I like to keep track of bucks, no matter what the rack looks like when they are young. I don't know what they will turn into and most times it really doesn't matter, I just like the history. And when one of those young bucks survives to maturity in a land where the winter can kill them just as easily as the coyotes, bears and wolves, well then they have my attention. This was one of those deer. Right from the start, he had a bit of a pretty boy look and often times he'd have his nose in the air just a bit more than most, so I named him "Reggie". I'm not really sure if he was two or three in the pics from 2019, but I'm leaning to three, so that put him at least 6.5, probably 7.5 this year. I had one of his sheds from '20, and both sheds from each of '21 and '22 so I knew more or less that he was carrying at least as much mass as anything I've got previously. I decided he would be my target buck this fall.
By the last half of September I had him patterned pretty well and he was entering a canola field at a spot where I could hide behind an existing brush pile and my shot would be about 30 yards. After we wrapped up harvest, the first afternoon that the wind was right I got in there and set up. It had showered a bit that day so the grass and leaves were damp, it was cool but not uncomfortable. After a while a few does filtered into the field and about an hour later they looked nervously into the trees and out he came. I didn't even hear him, but the does gave me the cue to get ready to draw. He kinda turned so he was a bit quartering to, but I held the 30yd pin just behind the bulge of his shoulder and released. He turned so fast and bolted back up that trail so fast, I could hear him breathing so heavy and fast and then he crashed through some brush ... I was sure my arrow had hit it's mark. It was about ten minutes to my house so after a bit I went home for a couple hours to let things settle before I went to check for an arrow and any blood. Well there was neither for the first 50 yards up that trail, so I backed out and decided to wait until morning.
Morning came, I still couldn't find my arrow and a shower overnight didn't help the search for blood. By 10AM I started trying to search small sections of the timber and it was slow going as most of the underbrush still had some leaves. By the end of that day I had covered an area about 150x150 yards. The next day I worked what I thought was the next logical area. Of course we've all got other commitments so my next attempt was going to have to be the next wknd and it was going to either be a rotting carcass (birds) or one of my trail cams was going to get a pic. Well that next wknd turned up nothing, and the next. I started expanding my search to a nearby lake (1/2 mile away) just in case he tried to make it to water. I found all sorts of stuff: a moose shed, moose remains, bear skull, two buck skulls, four whitetail sheds. I started carrying the shotgun and got at least fifteen ruffed grouse. I started saying to myself that the grouse that get away are eventually going to lead me to my buck, ha. And you know what? One finally did. I was covering some timber about 300 yards from where I shot him and lo and behold there was a leg bone! I rested my Winchester against a tree and started scouring the area. Not 30 yards away there was my deer's skull and antlers!
Today I went back and found where he died ... bugs me that I was within 80 yards of his carcass the day after I let that arrow fly. I'm 99% sure he died the night I shot him. My arrow was laying there undamaged (not sure what to think about that). I'm really bummed out about all the wasted venison, but it's sure nice to get the closure (I just couldn't let it go). Maybe I just thought I owed him that much ...
Now the pics:
