doublerack
Active Member
11/6/11
I got into stand about 30 min before light. I didn't really expect to see anything special from this stand because I knew this funnel usually didn't get hot until end of November early December after the deer have gotten mixed up after rutting. So... I opted to leave the video camera at home. ( I know. Big mistake. oh well...) It was fairly gusty, but on occasionally there were quite moments. About 10 minutes before light, it got very still and I heard a loud crack. Then the sound of a couple of bucks going at him really hard for a few seconds. I could tell that this was not the sound of a couple small bucks either. There was some beef behind these guys.
After sitting for about an hour, I was actually checking OO & IW on my phone and I saw a glimpse out of the corn of my eye. It was a doe bounding off away from me. She had come from downwind side of me and I had no clue till it was too late. I probably wouldn't have shot her anyway.
As the morning went on, it started to get warmer and brighter. Normally I would have got down, but from trail cam pics, I knew the deer were moving late morning early afternoon this past week. My only conflict was getting to church on time. So, around 8, I text my wife and asked how things were and if she wanted to go to church. She said she had just put Norah down for a nap. (After last night, we were both knew she needed the rest.)
(The next part all happened in a matter of a few seconds.) Although we try to live a Christian lifestyle and teach our kids about God, we don't go to church nearly enough. I was feeling a little guilty knowing that we probably wouldn't make it. But as I was putting my phone back in my pocket I told myself that I would have a little educational day about Jesus with Olivia when I got home. Literally right as I zipped up my phone in my pocket, the sun came out from behind a cloud and it got really bright. I looked down through the funnel and right 25 yards away was an old buck panting hard like he had just chased a doe or got in a fight. I immediately recognized him as a buck Lance had named Knuckles because of his thick massy tines with knots on them. (Early in the year, I had told myself that even though I knew he was an old mature buck, I wasn't going to shoot him unless it was later in the season. There were much bigger bucks I was after.) ( .... Well, I could explain this story to some of my friends that might think it was totally coincidental and corny,) but with my mind on God and how this buck just appeared out of no where all in what seemed like a single second, I just knew I was supposed to shoot him.
The rage went through one shoulder and buried into the off side shoulder. He took off running snapping the arrow in two. Then ee disappeared over the ridge of the funnel and I heard him crash a couple seconds later.
Even though he wasn't the biggest buck I was after, I am very happy to have taken this old bruiser. I have trail cam pics of him from 2009. No sheds and no pics from 2010 But lots more pics from this year. He had a squatty little bull type body with a huge 29" neck. I guess he needed it to hold up the 38" of mass he sported. Not too bad for an 8pt.
Judging by trail cam pics and ground down teeth, he was a 6.5-7.5 yr old buck.
All said and done, I'm both ashamed and proud to say that for the first time, the experience of the hunt actually means and feels better to me then the trophy.
2009
Not pictures of him from 2010
2011
I got into stand about 30 min before light. I didn't really expect to see anything special from this stand because I knew this funnel usually didn't get hot until end of November early December after the deer have gotten mixed up after rutting. So... I opted to leave the video camera at home. ( I know. Big mistake. oh well...) It was fairly gusty, but on occasionally there were quite moments. About 10 minutes before light, it got very still and I heard a loud crack. Then the sound of a couple of bucks going at him really hard for a few seconds. I could tell that this was not the sound of a couple small bucks either. There was some beef behind these guys.
After sitting for about an hour, I was actually checking OO & IW on my phone and I saw a glimpse out of the corn of my eye. It was a doe bounding off away from me. She had come from downwind side of me and I had no clue till it was too late. I probably wouldn't have shot her anyway.
As the morning went on, it started to get warmer and brighter. Normally I would have got down, but from trail cam pics, I knew the deer were moving late morning early afternoon this past week. My only conflict was getting to church on time. So, around 8, I text my wife and asked how things were and if she wanted to go to church. She said she had just put Norah down for a nap. (After last night, we were both knew she needed the rest.)
(The next part all happened in a matter of a few seconds.) Although we try to live a Christian lifestyle and teach our kids about God, we don't go to church nearly enough. I was feeling a little guilty knowing that we probably wouldn't make it. But as I was putting my phone back in my pocket I told myself that I would have a little educational day about Jesus with Olivia when I got home. Literally right as I zipped up my phone in my pocket, the sun came out from behind a cloud and it got really bright. I looked down through the funnel and right 25 yards away was an old buck panting hard like he had just chased a doe or got in a fight. I immediately recognized him as a buck Lance had named Knuckles because of his thick massy tines with knots on them. (Early in the year, I had told myself that even though I knew he was an old mature buck, I wasn't going to shoot him unless it was later in the season. There were much bigger bucks I was after.) ( .... Well, I could explain this story to some of my friends that might think it was totally coincidental and corny,) but with my mind on God and how this buck just appeared out of no where all in what seemed like a single second, I just knew I was supposed to shoot him.
The rage went through one shoulder and buried into the off side shoulder. He took off running snapping the arrow in two. Then ee disappeared over the ridge of the funnel and I heard him crash a couple seconds later.
Even though he wasn't the biggest buck I was after, I am very happy to have taken this old bruiser. I have trail cam pics of him from 2009. No sheds and no pics from 2010 But lots more pics from this year. He had a squatty little bull type body with a huge 29" neck. I guess he needed it to hold up the 38" of mass he sported. Not too bad for an 8pt.
Judging by trail cam pics and ground down teeth, he was a 6.5-7.5 yr old buck.
All said and done, I'm both ashamed and proud to say that for the first time, the experience of the hunt actually means and feels better to me then the trophy.
2009
Not pictures of him from 2010
2011
