B
badgerbowdude
Guest
Saw a big one Tuesday night in a unique area of the property I hunt. Its along the edge of a cornfield and a tamarac swamp. At this part of the land, the cornfield pushes into the marsh on a stubby-peninsula about 75 yds. deep by 75 yds. across. The deer tend to come out of the swamp at the bottom of the peninsula and work their way around the corn left or right. I have stands in some oaks and maples along the sides of the peninsula. The swamp is to the north and I only hunt this when the winds are from a northerly direction.
Tuesday they were from the NW and I hunted the SE side. Right at dusk, I saw a bruiser in the shadows on the other side. Despite NW winds, I went in there Wed. night. I tend to get aggressive when I have a strong lead on a big buck.
He showed up about 45 minutes before dusk. The wind had died and it was dead quiet. A doe was right under my tree when he came in. She spooked when I drew and that made him jumpy (he was real skittish coming in and he came in from downwind side of me). When he got to my lane and stopped at 15 yds, I shot. Shot felt pretty good, but the arrow went right over his back. I may have shot a bit high, but I'm almost certain he ducked enough to get under the arrow and if it wasn't a clean miss, it just grazed his back.
He whirled towards me and crashed through the brush into the swamp beind me. I quietly got down and left, but my brother and I (after showering and putting on clean scent-free clothes) went back to retrieve the arrow and trail him, just to make sure I didn't hit him. We tracked him for about 100 yards, not finding any blood or signs of hit or injury.
I didn't have as good of winds last night and hunted a fringe area about 100 yards away, seeing three bucks, including two 110-120 class 2.5 year olds, but not the big guy (I couldn't see the area where he showed up the previous two nights).
I've not been in this situation before as I normally have connected on shop opportunities when they present themselves. I haven't missed a deer with my bow since 1998. Any thoughts as to whether he'll be back and should I give the area a bit to calm down or be aggressive, since I have favorable winds tonight?
Tuesday they were from the NW and I hunted the SE side. Right at dusk, I saw a bruiser in the shadows on the other side. Despite NW winds, I went in there Wed. night. I tend to get aggressive when I have a strong lead on a big buck.
He showed up about 45 minutes before dusk. The wind had died and it was dead quiet. A doe was right under my tree when he came in. She spooked when I drew and that made him jumpy (he was real skittish coming in and he came in from downwind side of me). When he got to my lane and stopped at 15 yds, I shot. Shot felt pretty good, but the arrow went right over his back. I may have shot a bit high, but I'm almost certain he ducked enough to get under the arrow and if it wasn't a clean miss, it just grazed his back.
He whirled towards me and crashed through the brush into the swamp beind me. I quietly got down and left, but my brother and I (after showering and putting on clean scent-free clothes) went back to retrieve the arrow and trail him, just to make sure I didn't hit him. We tracked him for about 100 yards, not finding any blood or signs of hit or injury.
I didn't have as good of winds last night and hunted a fringe area about 100 yards away, seeing three bucks, including two 110-120 class 2.5 year olds, but not the big guy (I couldn't see the area where he showed up the previous two nights).
I've not been in this situation before as I normally have connected on shop opportunities when they present themselves. I haven't missed a deer with my bow since 1998. Any thoughts as to whether he'll be back and should I give the area a bit to calm down or be aggressive, since I have favorable winds tonight?
