OneCam
Well-Known Member
I had been changing tree stand locations for five days straight morning and evening. I was seeing several bucks at shooting time but not one of them was what I was looking for. I was becoming a little dismayed, as many of you bow hunters can understand. I can't say the weather was really cooperating either, it wasn't as warm as last year but in my mind it wasn't cold enough to get the big bucks chasing the does either, anyway not during the warmth of the day.
Sometimes you start thinking to yourself that you must be doing something wrong or what can I try different in order to get in the big boys home territory without him knowing I'm there. If you have been bow hunting for whitetail at all, you already know what kind of a task that is, especially when the cover your hunting the big bucks in hardly ever allows much more than a 10 to 25 yard shot anytime. So the mind starts going back over the countless articles and stories that you have taken in. Revisiting past experiences over the years of bow hunting and conversations you've had. Then I remembered reading an article and talking with my hunting buddies, Mark Graham and Dean Duhl about, sometimes the big bucks could already have moved by shooting time when it was this warm and time in the season for them to start looking up the does.
So I decided to give it a try and headed for the tree earlier than normal. I remember getting in to the tree and getting settled down and comfortable at exactly 2:15P PM. I laid my head back against the tree and mumbled "well Lord what do you think? Have we done it right this time?" As I sat there for the next few minutes praying, I remember I had my eyes closed and then I opened them to see this buck already in mid air coming over a fence that I was 40 yards from.
When he landed on the other side, I tell the truth, he did not make a sound when he hit the ground. It was like the landing in Olympic gymnastics; when they say, "They stuck the landing". It was amazing! He shook and twitched and just stood motionless taking in the timber before him. It took me all of a split second when I saw him in mid air I was going to shoot if given the chance.
He started to walk down the fence-line away from me. I went into a panic mentally. All I could see was the whitetail of my life walking out of bow range for a shot. All I could think was "I have to stop him some how!" I quickly went for my, True Talker, grunt tube, but the stupid thing was stuck down inside my shirt and coat and all I could do was to hit a small, almost inaudible, grunt to me. I thought this deer is never going to hear this, then all of a sudden his ears perked and turned toward me and he took a sharp right turn in response to it and started coming down a hill straight in front of me. I went to full draw with my bow as soon as he made his turn and looked down the hill. I still had no shot. He was just moving too fast to get a clean arrow off coming down the hill.
I kept waiting for him to get into an opening and stop or slow down just for an instant, no such luck! He passed by the left side of my tree before I could get an arrow off. So, still at full draw, I had to back to the edge of my tree stand and lean backward away from the tree and shift my bow at full draw to the other side for a shot. (that would have been nearly impossible had I not been using a "Biscuit" type arrow rest) I don't think I had taken breath yet. My heart was pounding so hard I knew he could hear it. Finally he started walking along a trail I had calculated to be 25 yards from my tree and downhill, but there was brush and saplings that would not allow a clean shot except for two shooting lanes. I missed the opportunity for the first lane and was waiting for him to walk into the next.
Unbelievable, this deer stopped in his tracks just before walking into the second lane and made a 180 degree turn, for no reason than I could see, than to make me pass out and fall out of my tree, and headed out again. I knew I only had that one lane left to let an arrow go before I was about to watch the whitetail of my dreams walk away from me and disappear into the timber. Quick, I thought grunt again, so I grunted again, no louder than the first time, but that animal heard it and stopped dead center in the middle of my last shooting lane. I had already set my sight on the shooting lane where the buck had to walk into and when he stopped the arrow started. A double lunger, he didn't go more than 30 yards, twitched and fell dead in a creek ravine. After I knew he was down and was staying down I finally breathed. I had such an adrenaline rush going through my system that when everything started to slow down I couldn't stand up any longer. My legs got weak and started to tremble I had to sit down before I fell out of the tree stand.
The rest of the story is in the pictures, the continued shaking and trembling that took place in my body afterwards and the joy that my hunting buddies and I had reliving the hunt and hauling this beautiful animal out of the timber. God is good!
Note: This great buck was arrowed on Nov 1, 2002 at 3:05pm.
He is a 7 x 6
Main beams     28"
Tip to tip          24 18"
Inside Spread    22 1/8"
G1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6 7/8"
G2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11 5/8"
G3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11 3/8"
H1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 7/8"
H2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 4/8"
and so on with a final score of 190 5/8.
Sometimes you start thinking to yourself that you must be doing something wrong or what can I try different in order to get in the big boys home territory without him knowing I'm there. If you have been bow hunting for whitetail at all, you already know what kind of a task that is, especially when the cover your hunting the big bucks in hardly ever allows much more than a 10 to 25 yard shot anytime. So the mind starts going back over the countless articles and stories that you have taken in. Revisiting past experiences over the years of bow hunting and conversations you've had. Then I remembered reading an article and talking with my hunting buddies, Mark Graham and Dean Duhl about, sometimes the big bucks could already have moved by shooting time when it was this warm and time in the season for them to start looking up the does.
So I decided to give it a try and headed for the tree earlier than normal. I remember getting in to the tree and getting settled down and comfortable at exactly 2:15P PM. I laid my head back against the tree and mumbled "well Lord what do you think? Have we done it right this time?" As I sat there for the next few minutes praying, I remember I had my eyes closed and then I opened them to see this buck already in mid air coming over a fence that I was 40 yards from.
When he landed on the other side, I tell the truth, he did not make a sound when he hit the ground. It was like the landing in Olympic gymnastics; when they say, "They stuck the landing". It was amazing! He shook and twitched and just stood motionless taking in the timber before him. It took me all of a split second when I saw him in mid air I was going to shoot if given the chance.
He started to walk down the fence-line away from me. I went into a panic mentally. All I could see was the whitetail of my life walking out of bow range for a shot. All I could think was "I have to stop him some how!" I quickly went for my, True Talker, grunt tube, but the stupid thing was stuck down inside my shirt and coat and all I could do was to hit a small, almost inaudible, grunt to me. I thought this deer is never going to hear this, then all of a sudden his ears perked and turned toward me and he took a sharp right turn in response to it and started coming down a hill straight in front of me. I went to full draw with my bow as soon as he made his turn and looked down the hill. I still had no shot. He was just moving too fast to get a clean arrow off coming down the hill.
I kept waiting for him to get into an opening and stop or slow down just for an instant, no such luck! He passed by the left side of my tree before I could get an arrow off. So, still at full draw, I had to back to the edge of my tree stand and lean backward away from the tree and shift my bow at full draw to the other side for a shot. (that would have been nearly impossible had I not been using a "Biscuit" type arrow rest) I don't think I had taken breath yet. My heart was pounding so hard I knew he could hear it. Finally he started walking along a trail I had calculated to be 25 yards from my tree and downhill, but there was brush and saplings that would not allow a clean shot except for two shooting lanes. I missed the opportunity for the first lane and was waiting for him to walk into the next.
Unbelievable, this deer stopped in his tracks just before walking into the second lane and made a 180 degree turn, for no reason than I could see, than to make me pass out and fall out of my tree, and headed out again. I knew I only had that one lane left to let an arrow go before I was about to watch the whitetail of my dreams walk away from me and disappear into the timber. Quick, I thought grunt again, so I grunted again, no louder than the first time, but that animal heard it and stopped dead center in the middle of my last shooting lane. I had already set my sight on the shooting lane where the buck had to walk into and when he stopped the arrow started. A double lunger, he didn't go more than 30 yards, twitched and fell dead in a creek ravine. After I knew he was down and was staying down I finally breathed. I had such an adrenaline rush going through my system that when everything started to slow down I couldn't stand up any longer. My legs got weak and started to tremble I had to sit down before I fell out of the tree stand.
The rest of the story is in the pictures, the continued shaking and trembling that took place in my body afterwards and the joy that my hunting buddies and I had reliving the hunt and hauling this beautiful animal out of the timber. God is good!
Note: This great buck was arrowed on Nov 1, 2002 at 3:05pm.
He is a 7 x 6
Main beams     28"
Tip to tip          24 18"
Inside Spread    22 1/8"
G1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6 7/8"
G2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11 5/8"
G3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11 3/8"
H1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 7/8"
H2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 4/8"
and so on with a final score of 190 5/8.