For those of you who don't want to read this long-winded story I am about to compose, just scroll to the bottom and look at the picture :grin:.
The tale of the Luck of the Irish Buck.
All summer and fall I have been running a trail cam on my uncle's place. I had been seeing a lot of nice deer and was really excited to bow season to come around. Last year I went bow hunting on some public ground and never get a chance to let one fly. It was killing me to just shoot my bow at an actual deer instead of practice shooting. However, being a college student I am severely limited on my time to hunt. This time is even shortened when you are a Pre-Medicine student. My classes had finally begun to run down as Thanksgiving break approached. I knew over break would be the best and probably only time I would get a chance to bow hunt this year.
On Sunday the 25th, my brother and I went to my uncle's place to put up my new ground blind (which they say holds 3.5 people so I don't know if a child is half a person or what??). Upon arriving at my uncle's place, we proceeded to see 15 does/yearlings and 1 small 4 point buck. This was at noon so my hopes were high for thanksgiving break. After staking down the blind and putting my super fancy folding chair inside, we went home and watched football until I went back to school. I had school on Monday and Tuesday so my hunt was delayed even further. On Tuesday, my last class did get out early because literally no one showed up so I was able to get in some last second shooting practice at home before the sun went down. That night I stayed at my uncle's place so I could sleep in a little longer before heading out to the blind. Getting up at 6 is super tough when you're a college kid in the middle of a semester.
Wednesday morning rolled around and after dragging myself out of bed, I snuck to the blind and in the process heard 4 deer trot off. I was encouraged knowing there were deer around. At about 7, 3 does rolled into sight at about 20-30 yards and were content to sniff leaves and occasionally poke their heads ups. While watching these doe, I heard noise to my left and saw a smaller 8 point buck meander around at about 40 yards. However, he wouldn't come any closer so I decided it wasn't his day to die. The does eventually trotted off to my right. While watching them leave, I turned my head to the left and saw this strolling by at 20 yards.
(This is a trail cam picture I have of this nice 8 pointer)
By the time I pulled up on him, he stopped conveniently behind a tree. After about what felt like 10 minutes, he turned slightly and walked away with the tree blocking my vision. I probably could have tried a shot on him but I wasn't completely confident with it so I held back. I then proceeded to sit in the blind for the rest of the day playing on my smart phone, eating food, and enjoying the outdoors because I wasn't seeing any deer. Finally as I was getting ready to leave around 5. 3 does come into the open at 30 yards. Then I saw the bushes behind them move and realized it was a pretty big deer. After about 20 minutes of him and I snorting back and forth, I couldn't see anymore and the deer strolled away. (By the way, trying to snort a deer with a plugged up nose has got to be one of the top 5 hardest things to do in the world).
On Thanksgiving I didn't hunt due to the girlfriend's request and ate my fair share of food. I did receive enough grief about not putting any meat on the table for the Thanksgiving meal.
Fast forward to Friday and I headed out the blind in the Arctic cold. After getting to where my blind should be, I only see my chair. I was of course naturally pissed off and wondered where the hell my blind went. I tried to look around but it was too dark to see anything so I decided to wait it out in my car. While I was in the car, my uncle came outside and told me about how the blind was moved by the wind and he knew where it was. After finding my blind and resetting it back up, I realized that my brother hadn't staked down half of the blind I figured that was my problem. When I restaked down my blind, I twisted it so my main area is where I saw all of the action on Wednesday. However, my uncle and I were all of the movement I saw at all on Friday so I packed up early and went home to head to the Iowa State game with the family.
After a disappointing loss and completely freezing my body, I caught some sleep and defrosted myself on the way home.
The next morning, I decided to put on my Notre Dame sweatshirt under my clothes for hopefully some luck of the irish. I really love Notre Dame for a lot of reasons and an awesome story but that's for another time. After getting the blind a little late. I settled in and within 10 minutes saw antlers popping the hill. After deciding it would be something I would be happy with having, I prepared myself for a shot. This buck conveniently stopped his head behind a tree so his vitals were completely opened. I lined it up and let it fly. The buck immediately spun around and went flying back the way he came on a mad dash. After excited calling basically everyone in my phone book, I waited in the blind for 15 minutes before sneaking out of there the opposite way the deer went. After talking over my shot, I thought I had put a good one on him but maybe a little bit high. After breakfast and waiting two hours we were going to head out but waited for my dad to arrive because I knew he was about as excited as I was. Once we found the blood trail, it wasn't too hard to follow. The spots got bigger and bigger and then I found my arrow which was completely fine and half covered with blood. After walking about 10 more yards, there laid my first bow deer ever. Too say I was excited is an understatement. After gutting the deer, I found out I had double lunged him but the shot was a little high. However that doesn't matter because the deer was on the ground. The luck of the irish really paid off. Of course to cap of the day, Notre Dame did win and is going to play for a national title. While this deer might not be the biggest ever, it is a trophy to me and is well worth the time I put in practicing for the shot. Bow hunting now has me completely addicted and I can't wait for next year in the woods. Thanks for reading again! Here is the harvest photo and a trail cam photo of the Luck of the Irish Buck!
The tale of the Luck of the Irish Buck.
All summer and fall I have been running a trail cam on my uncle's place. I had been seeing a lot of nice deer and was really excited to bow season to come around. Last year I went bow hunting on some public ground and never get a chance to let one fly. It was killing me to just shoot my bow at an actual deer instead of practice shooting. However, being a college student I am severely limited on my time to hunt. This time is even shortened when you are a Pre-Medicine student. My classes had finally begun to run down as Thanksgiving break approached. I knew over break would be the best and probably only time I would get a chance to bow hunt this year.
On Sunday the 25th, my brother and I went to my uncle's place to put up my new ground blind (which they say holds 3.5 people so I don't know if a child is half a person or what??). Upon arriving at my uncle's place, we proceeded to see 15 does/yearlings and 1 small 4 point buck. This was at noon so my hopes were high for thanksgiving break. After staking down the blind and putting my super fancy folding chair inside, we went home and watched football until I went back to school. I had school on Monday and Tuesday so my hunt was delayed even further. On Tuesday, my last class did get out early because literally no one showed up so I was able to get in some last second shooting practice at home before the sun went down. That night I stayed at my uncle's place so I could sleep in a little longer before heading out to the blind. Getting up at 6 is super tough when you're a college kid in the middle of a semester.
Wednesday morning rolled around and after dragging myself out of bed, I snuck to the blind and in the process heard 4 deer trot off. I was encouraged knowing there were deer around. At about 7, 3 does rolled into sight at about 20-30 yards and were content to sniff leaves and occasionally poke their heads ups. While watching these doe, I heard noise to my left and saw a smaller 8 point buck meander around at about 40 yards. However, he wouldn't come any closer so I decided it wasn't his day to die. The does eventually trotted off to my right. While watching them leave, I turned my head to the left and saw this strolling by at 20 yards.
(This is a trail cam picture I have of this nice 8 pointer)
By the time I pulled up on him, he stopped conveniently behind a tree. After about what felt like 10 minutes, he turned slightly and walked away with the tree blocking my vision. I probably could have tried a shot on him but I wasn't completely confident with it so I held back. I then proceeded to sit in the blind for the rest of the day playing on my smart phone, eating food, and enjoying the outdoors because I wasn't seeing any deer. Finally as I was getting ready to leave around 5. 3 does come into the open at 30 yards. Then I saw the bushes behind them move and realized it was a pretty big deer. After about 20 minutes of him and I snorting back and forth, I couldn't see anymore and the deer strolled away. (By the way, trying to snort a deer with a plugged up nose has got to be one of the top 5 hardest things to do in the world).
On Thanksgiving I didn't hunt due to the girlfriend's request and ate my fair share of food. I did receive enough grief about not putting any meat on the table for the Thanksgiving meal.
Fast forward to Friday and I headed out the blind in the Arctic cold. After getting to where my blind should be, I only see my chair. I was of course naturally pissed off and wondered where the hell my blind went. I tried to look around but it was too dark to see anything so I decided to wait it out in my car. While I was in the car, my uncle came outside and told me about how the blind was moved by the wind and he knew where it was. After finding my blind and resetting it back up, I realized that my brother hadn't staked down half of the blind I figured that was my problem. When I restaked down my blind, I twisted it so my main area is where I saw all of the action on Wednesday. However, my uncle and I were all of the movement I saw at all on Friday so I packed up early and went home to head to the Iowa State game with the family.
After a disappointing loss and completely freezing my body, I caught some sleep and defrosted myself on the way home.
The next morning, I decided to put on my Notre Dame sweatshirt under my clothes for hopefully some luck of the irish. I really love Notre Dame for a lot of reasons and an awesome story but that's for another time. After getting the blind a little late. I settled in and within 10 minutes saw antlers popping the hill. After deciding it would be something I would be happy with having, I prepared myself for a shot. This buck conveniently stopped his head behind a tree so his vitals were completely opened. I lined it up and let it fly. The buck immediately spun around and went flying back the way he came on a mad dash. After excited calling basically everyone in my phone book, I waited in the blind for 15 minutes before sneaking out of there the opposite way the deer went. After talking over my shot, I thought I had put a good one on him but maybe a little bit high. After breakfast and waiting two hours we were going to head out but waited for my dad to arrive because I knew he was about as excited as I was. Once we found the blood trail, it wasn't too hard to follow. The spots got bigger and bigger and then I found my arrow which was completely fine and half covered with blood. After walking about 10 more yards, there laid my first bow deer ever. Too say I was excited is an understatement. After gutting the deer, I found out I had double lunged him but the shot was a little high. However that doesn't matter because the deer was on the ground. The luck of the irish really paid off. Of course to cap of the day, Notre Dame did win and is going to play for a national title. While this deer might not be the biggest ever, it is a trophy to me and is well worth the time I put in practicing for the shot. Bow hunting now has me completely addicted and I can't wait for next year in the woods. Thanks for reading again! Here is the harvest photo and a trail cam photo of the Luck of the Irish Buck!
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