Seth
New Member
Well I made it out for my first sit of the season on Sunday evening, October 2nd. I was completely unprepared because we are finishing up building a new house and most everything, hunting gear included, is still buried in storage totes in a garage stall. I knew where my bow was and that’s it. I was also able to scrounge up a camo long sleeved shirt, camo gloves, and a camo head cover. I rounded out my hunting suit with a pair of torn up blue jeans and a dirty pair of tennis shoes.
I sat in a stand that is on a 3way intersection of two cornfields and a bean field. On the edge of our cornfield I sprinkled a little bit of clover in a small unplanted area last year. It’s a micro plot if I ever seen one probably no more than 500 sq. ft. The fence line has a large opening along the clover making for a good pinch point. About 45 minutes in I had a great horned owl land on a dead branch a mere 7 yards from me at head level. He was facing away and as I slowly reached for my phone to snap a pic, he did the 180 head swivel and stared me down with those yellow golf ball sized eyes. I quietly asked him to please not scrape off my face with his talons and he kindly flew the other way. I don’t know if anyone has ever had a close encounter with one of those things but I’ll tell you it’s kind of unnerving.
It was literally about 3 minutes till legal shooting light was up and I had not seen a single 4 legged animal. Then I heard a noise to my right and saw a deer had come out of the one cornfield and was 5 yards from my stand. I grabbed my bow as it moved from behind some brush and I immediately saw it was a shooter buck. He came around my tree and stopped to nibble the clover, 10 yards broadside. I drew back and my dang peep sight was twisted and I could barely see a thing. As he stopped eating and headed for the other corn field 4 yards away, I bleated to stop him still struggling to make anything out thru my twisted peep. I barely found my top pin, put it behind his shoulder in the fading light and let ‘er rip. I heard a crack as I hit him and he spun and ran out in the beans.
He stood in the same spot between the bean rows for probably 10 minutes, tail flickering side to side. I thought he would tip over but instead he walked, hunched up, into a small patch of timber. I heard him splash in the creek and cough/gag. Immediately I thought gut shot. Everything pointed towards it, aside from the loud crack. The hunched up back, the slow laboring walk, the beeline towards water, the fact that I watched him stay on his feet for 20 minutes after the shot, it all pointed towards a paunch hit which meant backing out and coming back in the morning. I did just that. After talking it over with my father in law we decided to go after him at 4 a.m. this morning, October 3rd.
We got out there by 4:30 and I found a small amount of blood in the beans and not much else. We spread out and we searched the cornfields, timber, waterways, and creek but no sign of him. We headed home and I got ready for work. After work, a co-worker, Weasel, came out with me and my wife and my dad. My wife had the idea to bring our lab Lady. She has a great nose and stays close enough if you keep an eye on her. I said sure, any thing helps I guess.
We got out to the spot and I immediately found a LARGE pool of blood where he stopped in the beans. It was good dark blood which was very reassuring. I was able to locate a speck of blood where he plunged thru the brush towards the creek. The entire time Lady was running around sniffing and having the time of her life. I was searching the creek for sign and I located a big buck track. As I was scanning the mud bottom of the creek for more sign, I noticed Lady was quiet and not running around anymore. I looked up and she was standing still, nose down on the top of the creek bank, tail wagging excitedly. I then noticed the outline of a deer rump and there he was, dead.
It turned out I had walked past him a mere 5 yards away TWICE this morning and didn’t see him. The hit was fatal and the cough I heard the night before was probably his last gasp. It was a tad back, one lung/ liver hit and it always amazes me the resiliency these animals have. Although we didn’t find him till tonight and because of that the meat was rotten and the hair on the cape was slipping bad and more or less worthless, I still am glad I backed out.
I pulled the tape on him and he’s right around 140 gross as a 9 point. He has a split brow tine and the main brow of the two is heavily bladed. He sports good mass throughout the main beam and a 19 inch spread. He’s my second biggest buck to date. I have no regrets on being tagged out this early since in the last 5 years I haven’t even seen a buck of this caliber much less been afforded the opportunity to draw back on one. It just goes to show you that you don’t need a two acre food plot to kill a deer, just a strategically placed patch and a bit of luck.
Thanks for looking. Good luck and God bless to all the rest of the season.
I sat in a stand that is on a 3way intersection of two cornfields and a bean field. On the edge of our cornfield I sprinkled a little bit of clover in a small unplanted area last year. It’s a micro plot if I ever seen one probably no more than 500 sq. ft. The fence line has a large opening along the clover making for a good pinch point. About 45 minutes in I had a great horned owl land on a dead branch a mere 7 yards from me at head level. He was facing away and as I slowly reached for my phone to snap a pic, he did the 180 head swivel and stared me down with those yellow golf ball sized eyes. I quietly asked him to please not scrape off my face with his talons and he kindly flew the other way. I don’t know if anyone has ever had a close encounter with one of those things but I’ll tell you it’s kind of unnerving.
It was literally about 3 minutes till legal shooting light was up and I had not seen a single 4 legged animal. Then I heard a noise to my right and saw a deer had come out of the one cornfield and was 5 yards from my stand. I grabbed my bow as it moved from behind some brush and I immediately saw it was a shooter buck. He came around my tree and stopped to nibble the clover, 10 yards broadside. I drew back and my dang peep sight was twisted and I could barely see a thing. As he stopped eating and headed for the other corn field 4 yards away, I bleated to stop him still struggling to make anything out thru my twisted peep. I barely found my top pin, put it behind his shoulder in the fading light and let ‘er rip. I heard a crack as I hit him and he spun and ran out in the beans.
He stood in the same spot between the bean rows for probably 10 minutes, tail flickering side to side. I thought he would tip over but instead he walked, hunched up, into a small patch of timber. I heard him splash in the creek and cough/gag. Immediately I thought gut shot. Everything pointed towards it, aside from the loud crack. The hunched up back, the slow laboring walk, the beeline towards water, the fact that I watched him stay on his feet for 20 minutes after the shot, it all pointed towards a paunch hit which meant backing out and coming back in the morning. I did just that. After talking it over with my father in law we decided to go after him at 4 a.m. this morning, October 3rd.
We got out there by 4:30 and I found a small amount of blood in the beans and not much else. We spread out and we searched the cornfields, timber, waterways, and creek but no sign of him. We headed home and I got ready for work. After work, a co-worker, Weasel, came out with me and my wife and my dad. My wife had the idea to bring our lab Lady. She has a great nose and stays close enough if you keep an eye on her. I said sure, any thing helps I guess.
We got out to the spot and I immediately found a LARGE pool of blood where he stopped in the beans. It was good dark blood which was very reassuring. I was able to locate a speck of blood where he plunged thru the brush towards the creek. The entire time Lady was running around sniffing and having the time of her life. I was searching the creek for sign and I located a big buck track. As I was scanning the mud bottom of the creek for more sign, I noticed Lady was quiet and not running around anymore. I looked up and she was standing still, nose down on the top of the creek bank, tail wagging excitedly. I then noticed the outline of a deer rump and there he was, dead.
It turned out I had walked past him a mere 5 yards away TWICE this morning and didn’t see him. The hit was fatal and the cough I heard the night before was probably his last gasp. It was a tad back, one lung/ liver hit and it always amazes me the resiliency these animals have. Although we didn’t find him till tonight and because of that the meat was rotten and the hair on the cape was slipping bad and more or less worthless, I still am glad I backed out.
I pulled the tape on him and he’s right around 140 gross as a 9 point. He has a split brow tine and the main brow of the two is heavily bladed. He sports good mass throughout the main beam and a 19 inch spread. He’s my second biggest buck to date. I have no regrets on being tagged out this early since in the last 5 years I haven’t even seen a buck of this caliber much less been afforded the opportunity to draw back on one. It just goes to show you that you don’t need a two acre food plot to kill a deer, just a strategically placed patch and a bit of luck.
Thanks for looking. Good luck and God bless to all the rest of the season.
