LYON
PMA Member
Friday night I was able to wrap my tag around a buck that I had decided to target this year. The feeling of being able to go after a specific buck and capitalize on it is incredible! I enjoy naming the bucks I follow and this guy was dubbed Sundance Kid. He had what I am certain was his twin brother along side of him all of the time when the first showed up two years ago that was named Butch Cassidy. I passed both last year as 3.5 year olds, and Butch was my main target this year. He had a substantially larger rack than Sundance, but I would have taken either. 4.5+ is a target age for me and the places I hunt. Both bucks have been regulars over the last 3 years and unfortunately, I believe Butch may have died off this summer. I got regular pictures of him up until late august and then nothing. The very last picture I have, he looked terrible. So my focus switched to Sundance.
Here is Sundance in 2016.
Last year he added quite a bit.
And then finally, this year.
Back in the middle of November I was hunting out of a ladder stand with my 4 year old daughter. I had a doe tag as well as my anysex and we had a doe come by at 14 yards. I went ahead and shot her and she ran down a hill and bedded in a creek line. I hit her just a touch back for some reason and she was still alive for a little bit. About 2 minutes after she bedded, a small 6 point came right to her and started messing with her. Smelling her and pawing her a bunch. He hung around for a few minutes and then Sundance came walking down the creek and went straight to her as well. The small buck walked off and Sundance stayed with that doe for at least 15 minutes, beat the crap out of her. When we finally went and got her that night, she was missing hair like crazy and there was a 10' circle around her that was nothing but torn up dirt. It became apparent pretty quickly that she was in estrous and he was trying to get her to stand up. She was dead, so that obviously wasn't happening.... After that 15 minutes or so, the little buck, who was still hanging around got on that does trail where she ran after I shot her and he walked it straight to us. I thought I wonder if Sundance will do the same? Sure enough, here he comes, walking up the hill straight to us! I knew he was coming to 14 yards right where I shot her. This stand isn't terribly high either and the tree it's on is slightly below the hill top. So by the time he was 30 yards away, he's not far from eye level. I have my bow in hand and telling my 4 year old "don't move, don't move, don't move" Lol. She did fantastic! He came right to where I shot doe and stopped. I thought now or never and started to draw. It was an extremely quiet day and the noise of me drawing was enough to spook him and he bounded off. I started making "MEH, meh meh" sounds as I finished drawing and he stopped to look back at 30 yards. I settled in and took the shot. Not sure if he dropped or I was just off, but I hit him high in the shoulder, only 6-8" of penetration, and watched him run off and dissapear into some thick brush. We gave him about 7 hours and went back to look with a handful of friends. We were able to find and follow blood for about 100 yards and that was it. No arrow and no deer. 3 days later I was out calling some coyotes and was able to see him up and walking! That made me super happy to say the least! Fast forward to this past Friday. I was confident I could get him killed during late season as he'd been pretty regular over the last couple of years and I thought I'd be able to figure him out. I took my oldest daughter (9) out with me and what a hunt it was! We were sitting on the West side of a creek and a half hour or so before dark had about 25 does and 2 bucks come into the field on the East side. One of the bucks is an old dude but not much for a rack and I told my daughter I wasn't going to shoot him. I'm glad I made that decision because he walked by at 115 yards. About 5 minutes after he passed by, I looked into the field on our side of the creek where I knew there were a couple of does and guess who was out there? I had to wait about 10 minutes for him to get into a position where I could shoot and in the meantime we had does work right to use on the East side of the creek. My daughter did fantastic, she wasn't hidden well at all and had does staring at her from 30 yards away for about 10 minutes. Unbelievable they never spooked until I positioned myself for the shot. I took the shot, and we watched him run about 150 yards and fall over! He's not a giant, but I'm super pumped with this one and having one of my kids with me both times I had encounters with him is incredible! I taped him (gross) at 144-6/8. Honestly I think he looks 130ish, due to the small frame.
Here is Sundance in 2016.
Last year he added quite a bit.
And then finally, this year.
Back in the middle of November I was hunting out of a ladder stand with my 4 year old daughter. I had a doe tag as well as my anysex and we had a doe come by at 14 yards. I went ahead and shot her and she ran down a hill and bedded in a creek line. I hit her just a touch back for some reason and she was still alive for a little bit. About 2 minutes after she bedded, a small 6 point came right to her and started messing with her. Smelling her and pawing her a bunch. He hung around for a few minutes and then Sundance came walking down the creek and went straight to her as well. The small buck walked off and Sundance stayed with that doe for at least 15 minutes, beat the crap out of her. When we finally went and got her that night, she was missing hair like crazy and there was a 10' circle around her that was nothing but torn up dirt. It became apparent pretty quickly that she was in estrous and he was trying to get her to stand up. She was dead, so that obviously wasn't happening.... After that 15 minutes or so, the little buck, who was still hanging around got on that does trail where she ran after I shot her and he walked it straight to us. I thought I wonder if Sundance will do the same? Sure enough, here he comes, walking up the hill straight to us! I knew he was coming to 14 yards right where I shot her. This stand isn't terribly high either and the tree it's on is slightly below the hill top. So by the time he was 30 yards away, he's not far from eye level. I have my bow in hand and telling my 4 year old "don't move, don't move, don't move" Lol. She did fantastic! He came right to where I shot doe and stopped. I thought now or never and started to draw. It was an extremely quiet day and the noise of me drawing was enough to spook him and he bounded off. I started making "MEH, meh meh" sounds as I finished drawing and he stopped to look back at 30 yards. I settled in and took the shot. Not sure if he dropped or I was just off, but I hit him high in the shoulder, only 6-8" of penetration, and watched him run off and dissapear into some thick brush. We gave him about 7 hours and went back to look with a handful of friends. We were able to find and follow blood for about 100 yards and that was it. No arrow and no deer. 3 days later I was out calling some coyotes and was able to see him up and walking! That made me super happy to say the least! Fast forward to this past Friday. I was confident I could get him killed during late season as he'd been pretty regular over the last couple of years and I thought I'd be able to figure him out. I took my oldest daughter (9) out with me and what a hunt it was! We were sitting on the West side of a creek and a half hour or so before dark had about 25 does and 2 bucks come into the field on the East side. One of the bucks is an old dude but not much for a rack and I told my daughter I wasn't going to shoot him. I'm glad I made that decision because he walked by at 115 yards. About 5 minutes after he passed by, I looked into the field on our side of the creek where I knew there were a couple of does and guess who was out there? I had to wait about 10 minutes for him to get into a position where I could shoot and in the meantime we had does work right to use on the East side of the creek. My daughter did fantastic, she wasn't hidden well at all and had does staring at her from 30 yards away for about 10 minutes. Unbelievable they never spooked until I positioned myself for the shot. I took the shot, and we watched him run about 150 yards and fall over! He's not a giant, but I'm super pumped with this one and having one of my kids with me both times I had encounters with him is incredible! I taped him (gross) at 144-6/8. Honestly I think he looks 130ish, due to the small frame.
