DannyBoy
Well-Known Member
Well it was another tough season for me. Much better than 2009 but not the kind of season I'd been having consistently from 03-08. I was going to include my entire season recap, which is just something I do for myself so I can look back in years to come, but when it ended up being over 6 pages of single type in a Word document, I decided against! So here is an extremely condensed version.
Bow season was TOUGH. I saw some big bucks, ended a couple hunts too early and missed opportunities on big bucks, and I passed some big bucks.
Muzz season was tough as well. I didn't have a chance to hunt until January 2nd but had the whole following week off work to make something happen. I got a new laminate stock TC Omega at the end of December and finally got to hunt with it on the 3rd, after sighting it in. My week off found me anywhere from hunting ditch fencelines to deep timber clearings and everything in-between but couldn't find a big buck so Friday the 7th I moved to a new farm only to see not one deer. But, an upcoming change in weather kept my hopes high and intuition brought me back to the very same spot the next evening (Saturday) for what would be my last hunt. I was now out to shoot whatever presented itself.
Well, that philosophy didn't last long as I had a big mature doe at 50 yards while walking in but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger and I'm glad! Movement started around 4 and didn't stop until just before 5, when I shot. One of the first bucks to step out was a shed buck with pedicles that would rival the circumference of a soda can and he had a body like a brahma bull. I sure would have liked to see him a few weeks earlier. Also showing himself as a half-rack was a big typical ten I'd seen during bow season and I'd guess with both sides he was in the 160's or darn close to. There were also a handful of younger bucks that should be dandies in the next year or two! The buck I shot stepped out about 10 minutes to 5 at 60 yards and I was immediately on him but for the life of me couldn't bring myself to shoot!
I studied and studied some more and best I could tell, he was a 130 class 8 with a big bladed brow on one side. I'd not seen this deer before so I started to look at the body. His neck was still very puffed up and went all the way down to his brisket where he had a big flap of saggy skin. His shoulders were big and the line of his back sagged a little. His belly was round and his legs appeared short in comparison to his body. I reached the decision that he was mature so decided to shoot. By this time he had meandered out quite a ways farther so I tried to get a range on him, only to find out that my rangefinders weren't working past 100 yards. So, I guessed the yardage at 150, give or take, and fired. After the smoke cleared I caught a short glimpse of him running back into the timber. He was running HARD, tail up and his head seemed to be low to the ground but not so low as you would see with a heart shot. I was a little worried!
Naturally I started to second guess my shooting and the yardage. I was really cold and shaking when I shot but with my bipod and scope turned up to 9X, any movement was well within the kill zone and I felt at the time that I'd squeezed off a good shot. So I either missed him due to a yardage discrepancy or hit him and just couldn't tell. Curiosity got the best of me so about 10 after 5 I decided to get out and look. I went right to where I shot him and stepped off somewhere around 140 yards, so I felt a little better but in searching for blood I started worrying again. I couldn't find a single drop!! I looked for 15 minutes with good light all around the area I shot him and the area I saw him enter the timber. I was darn near ready to give up but decided to take a walk along the fence that I knew he had to have crossed. I'm glad I didn't give up because I found a pretty good pile of sprayed blood along the fence, but this was about 50 yards or so from where I shot him and was the first sign of blood. After a few phone calls and texts exchanged, I decided it best that I back out and come back in the a.m.
Bright and early Sunday with a buddy along for the ride we picked up the blood trail again but it was much different this time. The blood had froze and turned pink overnight and it was EVERYWHERE! 5 and 6 feet up tree trunks and sprayed all over the place. We crossed the fence and found him a mere 20 yards later! Had he not died in a little ditch, out of sight from where I'd stood at the fence the night prior, I'd have likely seen him. Turns out it was a dead nuts double lung but my bullet was lodged in his opposite shoulder, and I imagine it took so long to find blood because the blood pooled up at first plus there was no exit hole. I'm no expert, but I do believe this was definately an older buck. He's the biggest bodied deer I've ever killed, which I think says something for as late in the year as it is, and his teeth were all worn down. Here's a couple pics, taken right where he was standing at the shot.
This buck didn't have the score I was hoping for this year but I think any mature buck is a trophy. My only real regret was not letting the clock tick down a little farther on that hunt. He was deer number 42 to come out and all of them were still feeding inside of 175 yards from me, well within range. With better than 20 minutes of light left I sure would have liked to know what else was in there. At the shot the timber erupted but he was the only deer to run back that way from the field. There were definately more coming and actually, more did come when I was looking for blood. I'd found the motherload on my last hunt! Thanks for taking a look.
Bow season was TOUGH. I saw some big bucks, ended a couple hunts too early and missed opportunities on big bucks, and I passed some big bucks.
Muzz season was tough as well. I didn't have a chance to hunt until January 2nd but had the whole following week off work to make something happen. I got a new laminate stock TC Omega at the end of December and finally got to hunt with it on the 3rd, after sighting it in. My week off found me anywhere from hunting ditch fencelines to deep timber clearings and everything in-between but couldn't find a big buck so Friday the 7th I moved to a new farm only to see not one deer. But, an upcoming change in weather kept my hopes high and intuition brought me back to the very same spot the next evening (Saturday) for what would be my last hunt. I was now out to shoot whatever presented itself.
Well, that philosophy didn't last long as I had a big mature doe at 50 yards while walking in but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger and I'm glad! Movement started around 4 and didn't stop until just before 5, when I shot. One of the first bucks to step out was a shed buck with pedicles that would rival the circumference of a soda can and he had a body like a brahma bull. I sure would have liked to see him a few weeks earlier. Also showing himself as a half-rack was a big typical ten I'd seen during bow season and I'd guess with both sides he was in the 160's or darn close to. There were also a handful of younger bucks that should be dandies in the next year or two! The buck I shot stepped out about 10 minutes to 5 at 60 yards and I was immediately on him but for the life of me couldn't bring myself to shoot!
I studied and studied some more and best I could tell, he was a 130 class 8 with a big bladed brow on one side. I'd not seen this deer before so I started to look at the body. His neck was still very puffed up and went all the way down to his brisket where he had a big flap of saggy skin. His shoulders were big and the line of his back sagged a little. His belly was round and his legs appeared short in comparison to his body. I reached the decision that he was mature so decided to shoot. By this time he had meandered out quite a ways farther so I tried to get a range on him, only to find out that my rangefinders weren't working past 100 yards. So, I guessed the yardage at 150, give or take, and fired. After the smoke cleared I caught a short glimpse of him running back into the timber. He was running HARD, tail up and his head seemed to be low to the ground but not so low as you would see with a heart shot. I was a little worried!
Naturally I started to second guess my shooting and the yardage. I was really cold and shaking when I shot but with my bipod and scope turned up to 9X, any movement was well within the kill zone and I felt at the time that I'd squeezed off a good shot. So I either missed him due to a yardage discrepancy or hit him and just couldn't tell. Curiosity got the best of me so about 10 after 5 I decided to get out and look. I went right to where I shot him and stepped off somewhere around 140 yards, so I felt a little better but in searching for blood I started worrying again. I couldn't find a single drop!! I looked for 15 minutes with good light all around the area I shot him and the area I saw him enter the timber. I was darn near ready to give up but decided to take a walk along the fence that I knew he had to have crossed. I'm glad I didn't give up because I found a pretty good pile of sprayed blood along the fence, but this was about 50 yards or so from where I shot him and was the first sign of blood. After a few phone calls and texts exchanged, I decided it best that I back out and come back in the a.m.
Bright and early Sunday with a buddy along for the ride we picked up the blood trail again but it was much different this time. The blood had froze and turned pink overnight and it was EVERYWHERE! 5 and 6 feet up tree trunks and sprayed all over the place. We crossed the fence and found him a mere 20 yards later! Had he not died in a little ditch, out of sight from where I'd stood at the fence the night prior, I'd have likely seen him. Turns out it was a dead nuts double lung but my bullet was lodged in his opposite shoulder, and I imagine it took so long to find blood because the blood pooled up at first plus there was no exit hole. I'm no expert, but I do believe this was definately an older buck. He's the biggest bodied deer I've ever killed, which I think says something for as late in the year as it is, and his teeth were all worn down. Here's a couple pics, taken right where he was standing at the shot.
This buck didn't have the score I was hoping for this year but I think any mature buck is a trophy. My only real regret was not letting the clock tick down a little farther on that hunt. He was deer number 42 to come out and all of them were still feeding inside of 175 yards from me, well within range. With better than 20 minutes of light left I sure would have liked to know what else was in there. At the shot the timber erupted but he was the only deer to run back that way from the field. There were definately more coming and actually, more did come when I was looking for blood. I'd found the motherload on my last hunt! Thanks for taking a look.
Last edited:
