Vabowman

My thing is...there is still a buck out there that is injured and guys Im telling you, he's struggling...The deer I shot only took two steps and I paid no attention to details b/c I honestly thought it was him, I mean this buck just appeared out of nowhere right with the crippled buck.. I sure wish Swamp could've got on that other buck..

Vabowman

I just feel bad that this deer died and the one that really needed didn't... he was not doing good and he when ran or stumbled I should say, he was having a hard time...funny thing is, when i first saw him, he had enough gusto to try and make a scrape!! Thanks Rob

Rory/MO

Congrats!

SwampCollie

Speakin of that.... since you have your own thread on the whompus deer.... I guess I ought to disclose the information on my close encounter.

So I heard Landon shoot that deer.... I'm not 100% sure if I heard the bow and then the whack or just the whack... but it was loud. Landon was about 125-150 yards from me... and there was some pretty loud construction going on that made it impossible to hear much. It really sounded like a big limb snapping. When I heard it, I thought either he had missed and shot a tree or smoked his bow limb on his treestand arm.... or God forbid he had fallen out of the tree. My phone RANG about 3 minutes later....Call fromLandon Tucker..... I thought it odd that he'd call.... we text back and forth all the time on the stand... so I answered it and got the full story.... I was honestly afraid that he was on the ground half dead or something based on the noise I heard.

We chatted for a minute or two and as I hung up the phone I heard a footstep behind and to my right. I saw the deer, and didn't see the horns at first... just the base of them... I thought it was a mighty big button buck... since it was all by itself. It stepped into an opening and thats when I saw it was spike. I watched it with semi-evil eyes to see if it was limping... figured I try and finish what Landon had tried to start. Nope.. no gait at all.... walked right up under the red oak I was in and took a big sniff of my bow sling hanging down on the tote rope. I did what anyone would do with a catch and release young one and spit on his head right between his ears. He stepped back and looked around and I could almost see him shrug his shoulders and he went back along the path off to my left.

Ten minutes goes by and with his fresh scent in the air and dark falling fast... I grabbed the grunt tube and let out three or four short, kinda soft tending grunts.

I don't know how long it was exactly, but I heard a deer jump a downed log off to my left, in about the area I'd expect the spike had made it to. I saw a deer walking out intothe clearing. I lifted my binos and saw only his left horn.... and it weren't no spike.

Bow in hand I stood up and quick and quiet as I could and clipped in. He was full in the open and quartering to me ever so slightly. I wasn't at draw, but I was about a heartbeat away. I was looking him over carefully. I'm pretty damn picky about bucks... to a fault even. This would have been the biggest buck I've ever killed with a bow. No monster by any stretch, but a respectable example of the species. 2.5 years old.... probably an 8, maybe a ten if there were a few small G4s I couldn't see. 16" or so inside... probably 5-6" G2s and G3s. Really pretty healthy young buck. I know just about anyone else that hunts in there would have shot him too... and apparently that deer has already been missed once this year.

So there I stand..... and the buck stands at 17 yards... if he would turn his head hard to his left it would give me a chance to draw, and expose enough of his vitals for me to feel totally comfortable with the shot. When he came out... there was plenty of light to shoot, especially at 20 yards... even out to 30.... he stood there for about 10 minutes... because I looked at my watch. He was looking for that small buck.... which he could no doubt smell.... along with special golden estrous.

By the time he decided to turn and let me draw.... it was too late. He went behind a tree and I stopped him at 28 yards... plenty close enough for me.... but he was angled at about one o'clock from me. I could see the line of his back... the white around his tail.. the white on his legs.. and when he turned his head the white in his ears and behind his nose... the angle was too sharp..... I thought to myself... thwack you're dead... and let down. No harm in not slinging one.

Stupid as it sounds... if I would of brought my gloves instead of my quarterback hand warmer... he'd probably be dead because the extra time I spend takin my hands out would probably have given me enough time to draw. Oh well... somebody will kill him sooner or later. It was definately nice to have a close encounter with a decent sized deer.

hardcorehunter

CONGRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATULATONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoytail Hunter

Congrats on the deer! Doing what you thought you had to do deserves recognition on its own! Good Stuff either way.

Schultzy

Good story as well Andy!!