First morning of gun season I was out glassing for him and hoping to get dad in on a stalk or put him to bed for an evening hunt. Within 10 minutes I had spotted him. Dad got ready for a stalk and we ended up getting close to him, 240yds to be exact, but couldn’t get any closer.
We continued to scout for him in the mornings but never did see in again until the evening of December 9th Russ made a semi-aggressive move into his home core area and sure enough it nearly paid off. Russ had does and other nice bucks coming out around ~250yds and Broke G3 made an appearance shortly after. The deer started to work their way to Russ and got inside muzzy range and he figured it was a done deal… Broke G3 would be following them. But he never did.
The following evening Russ planned to go to the same spot and dad was going to the area he had the close call on the morning stalk. I wanted to go shoot does but dad convinced me that we needed to keep after this buck. I had already shot a big buck with my bow and have shot some really good bucks with my gun in the past, so I really wanted to see someone else in the family shoot him. So Russ and dad picked their spots and I picked mine. We all set out that afternoon and I really didn’t have much expectations for me seeing him since Russ seemed to be in the hot seat after his close call the previous night.
Around 4:00 5 does and a small buck come out of the cover and into the field 130yds away and a minute later I look up into the hillside and there stands a big buck… it’s him… crap! The does were working their way directly at me and I assumed he’d be following them and I’d get a shot very soon. But he stood on the hillside for nearly 10 minutes staring to the north. The neighbors were doing a deer drive and popping off shots left and right. As the buck is staring to the north, I got a text from dad saying the neighbors had called him and said they had a wounded buck that went into our farm and wanted to go in after him. He asked them to wait until dark since we were out hunting. I assume Broke G3 was staring at them or possibly deer they were chasing.
Anyway, he ends up turning around and walking away. I hoped he was going to go over the hill towards Russ. About 5 minutes after I lost sight of him I see a small buck in the field 270yds infront of me… then another 2.5 8pt… then another small buck, then another, and then finally a really nice framed 3.5 barely 10pt… I knew with this many bucks in the field he’d have to be coming out shortly. Sure enough he did. They were all feeding 270yds away and showed no signs of coming closer.
It was plenty early, they had worked their way further out into the field but the lead bucks began to head away from me. I thought good, I might even sneak out early so I don’t bust them trying to get out at last light. But curiosity got the best of me and I stuck around. A few minutes go by and I glass the bucks again and I was shocked to see some of them had changed directions and were heading directly for me, including Broke G3! He quickly closed to distance to less than 200yds but got into a low point in the field where I could not see him. Again, I thought great, they’ll stay there and I can sneak out with out spooking him.
I stuck around though… with about 10 minutes of shooting light left 4 does come trotting out from my right and into the field. They cross at 175yds and I knew they had walked close to where those bucks were feeding… odds were decent he may follow them. Sure enough the does cross, I got a range on them incase he followed and here he came. He pushed off the nice buck and began to follow the does. I cocked the hammer, bleated once to stop him, nothing, bleated louder, he stops perfectly broadside at 175ds, I am heald as solid as can be and squeeze off what felt like a great shot.
Of course with the light wind in my face and cloud of smoke, I had no idea where I hit him. Most of the deer in the field bolted towards the timber and I assumed that’s where he went but I had no idea. I got down and went back to chat with Dad and Russ. The neighbors had called again and said they were going to come back in the morning to look for their buck. 2 hours later Dad, Russ and I picked up the trail. This is where things got confusing…
We were walking to the spot I shot him and about 100yds away Russ crosses a fresh blood trail. It’s muscle blood, dark red drops and not a very good trail. It’s close to where I shot the buck but not at all in the direction we assumed he ran. We followed the trail backwards, then figured out it went the opposite direction. Then lost it… then picked it up again further out into the field. Then lost it. Then were really confused and went to look for blood at the shot. Dad and I found some blood and followed it about 8 feet and lost it. The blood did look much better, thicker and pinker blood. Russ was up along the timber edge looking for blood where he may have gone in but didn’t see any sign. So we went back to the truck and Russ had the idea that we may have tracked the blood at the shot backwards and didn’t loose blood… just had tracked it to the actual location of impact. So we walked back to try to find the pink blood again and couldn’t find it. Then all three of us walked the field/timber edge trying to find any sign the buck went in the timber… nothing… we shined lights inside the timber edge to see if we could see a white belly… nothing. At this point we assumed it was all one blood trail and the hit wasn’t as good as I thought. Dad and I would come back in the morning and look.
The following morning, 8am, dad and I are driving back to continue the search and out of the creek where we left the last muscle hit blood a buck jumps up and run/walks off. A bullet wound in his hind end… it was not the buck I shot and did confirm we were tracking two blood trails! Dad and I agreed, I’d go in alone to search the timber and we both felt confident the buck would be dead just inside the timber. I walked right up on where I figured he died. Perfect double lung shot. His hind end and guts had already been snacked on so the meat was a waste, that absolutely kills me to throw deer meat away. What can you do… you push him on a bad shot and you loose him, you let them sit over night and you risk loosing them to predators. It’s a part of hunting I don’t enjoy but the rest of the story above is what we as a family love about it! Great times. Buck grossed 183 3/8”, assuming his broke G3 matched which it appeared to in trail cam pics prior to the break. My largest gun buck to date. And neat thing is he has a mane on the back of his neck, I've only heard of this a time or two, never seen it in person!
