Seth
Active Member
Exactly one month to the day since I dropped my dandy 15 pointer, I still had a state park incentive buck tag burning a hole in my pocket. Now this park hunting season opened same day as statewide and closes the same time during shotgun but does not open back up afterwards so I had until the end of this month to fill my tag. Last year (when I didn't have a buck tag for the park) I saw two monsters that were in the 150 and 160 range. However this year I had only seen younger, smaller bucks. When the rut was rockin' I had shot a wide 130 class 9 pt. but a twig deflected my arrow and forced the arrow low and it missed all vitals. I tracked him in the morning and kicked him up and it looked like he was running all fine and dandy. After that I hadn't seen anything worth slinging an arrow at. Fast forward to the 22nd- one month after the giant fell. I got in my stand a little late and kicked out a bunch of does and a smaller buck. After letting things settle down I grunted a few times but to no avail. I figured I wouldn't see a deer the rest of the night- which I didn't... until at about a quarter till 5 I thought I would hit the ol' rattle bag and see if I could stir up something in a last ditch effort before dark. About 5 minutes after a short sequence this old boy comes cruising in looking for trouble. He came right down a ridge opposite the one I was sitting on and when he got to 15 yards I let one fly. A well placed double lung shot sealed the deal and he made it about 60 yards and I saw him tip over. He ain't no 200 incher like earlier this year but he's still a dandy in my book. I'm estimating he'll be border line pope and young. He was a big bodied, mature deer with a mainframe 8 and a neat kicker coming off his G-2. I'm more than happy with him and he is going on the wall (someday) right next to the ol' bruiser. This has been the best hunting year of my life and it will be hard to top. Good luck to all in the closing weeks of bow and have a safe shotgun if you choose to do so.
Finally got the field photos uploaded. It's been a pain in the @ss trying to get my brothers camera from him. I know it's a little late but I hope you enjoy.
Finally got the field photos uploaded. It's been a pain in the @ss trying to get my brothers camera from him. I know it's a little late but I hope you enjoy.
