Right off the top, I need to apologize for my lack of participation here as of late. It's been an insanely crazy fall in many ways, and trying to explain it all would just depress me and some of you. So let's cut to the good stuff.
Okay, back on Oct. 21, I took my first buck of the season. He kind of fooled me (as all my deer have done this year) into thinking he's bigger than he was. In this case, he was coming straight at me, head down, and I could barely see his rack but could tell it was good enough that my first reach needed to be for the bow. He locked up at 14 yards, just a couple yards from a big double mock scrape I'd put in a few days earlier. I figured to let him get into the scrape and then make a decision. Well, when he stopped, his head was up and again I could barely see the rack even though his body was wide open but quartering to me. Suddenly you could tell he didn't like something and he turned to leave. And just like that, I went from 'Hmmmm?' mode to 'Kill' mode. As he made his turn and began to walk away I had a couple steps to make my shot and I did from about 16 yards away or so. The shot was a hair low and back--maybe 4-6" behind the heart at about that elevation. He was out of sight in about 20-30 yards in a big JUNGLE. Arrow smelled bad.
Ended up jumping him 8 hours later at 6 p.m., so came back the following morning and found him after he'd probably gone 250-300 yards total. Had walked right by him at 8 yards on one pass, but on my next pass I was within 5 yards and then smelled him. Cool buck with some character.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife784.jpg)
Nice! love the curves of that rack.
Great buck Bryce!
It's been a tough fall on several fronts, but mostly because my best property has several very nice bucks but I've still not laid eyes on any of those I really want. Increasing land development, ATV traffic, and who knows what else has made the deer on these properties ever more nocturnal.
So on Nov. 7 when I get another chance at a decent buck, it is a 5x6 typical, and I can't lay off. I had almost rattled him up to me 36 hours before but he hung up out of range. This time it was one of my hunts after school where I change clothes in the car, sprint to the woods, and usually gallop once in the woods to simulate a deer and then climb up and hunt for just over an hour because of the time change. Anyway, I had a doe come from straight downwind of me to smell some gelled scent on a stick I'd put 10-12 yards upwind of me. She was pretty enamored with that for about five minutes and when this buck saw her, he took a slow but sure route toward her. I was preparing for the 10 yd. "lay-up" when she prematurely bolted off this little knoll I was on, moving directly away from me, and the buck turned to intercept her. "Sure thing" was suddenly "very difficult." I had one spot I could shoot and it was probably 17-22 yards slightly quartering away (I need to go back and step it off). I picked my spot and drilled him up front but had a lot of arrow sticking out. He ran (but not really hauling) in a semi-circle and was out of sight after 40 yards, again in a JUNGLE. And at that very moment it began to rain. It was right about sunset or a hair before.
I decided to try to get a line on what my hit was and found my arrow 15 yards down the trail, with maybe 8" missing. I suspected its progress had been stopped by the opposite shoulder but worried the arrow might have been a hair high, possibly going over the spine. With the rain, I decided to follow immediately but super s-l-o-w.
(Note, had there been ANY chance this arrow was too far back, I'd backed out at that point; but I was sure it was up front somewhere, too far forward if anything.)
The blood trail was watery and skimpy and seemed to indicate no exit. To make a long story short (not my usual style, I know), I end up finding him in a bed about 200 yards from the shot site and kneeling on the ground with bow almost parallel to the dirt, put one through his liver, lungs and heart from about 25 yards. He bolts up, crashes 10-20 yards and goes belly-up.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife942.jpg)
This picture shows the entry location of the first arrow (I have a long spaded drill bit stuck in there) on the carcass without the hide. Doesn't look too high does it?
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife953.jpg)
This picture shows the first arrow's path. Just below the spine, and just behind the shoulder...no doubt he would've bled out in his first bed, and the broadhead was doing a number on his offside leg inside the hide, but it didn't slice up his lungs much and I think the pleural (sp?) cavity sealed up so nice once the arrow broke off that his lungs never really collapsed.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife952.jpg)
More after I get the kids to bed. :)
Love it Bryce! Congrats!! Love the mass on that first buck!
Nice bucks and good stories to go with them. I like the description of your arrow path.
Including another pic of NE buck #2 with second arrow still in him (I know that's usually taboo but this is a teaching situation) as I think all this arrow stuff is educational. The shot in his bed: well the buck was curled a little facing his right, and I had a quartering away shot at his left side. You see where this arrow enters the body, well guess what: it actually entered the rib cage IN FRONT of the diaphragm. Doesn't look like it here, but true. Barely, but absolutely in front by an inch or less. Not any gut smell or anything, which I found amazing given the apparent point of entry. It was at such an angle that this arrow literally bored a hole right through his heart.
By the way, the first shot was right where that trickle of blood up front starts. Can you believe that is BARELY under the spine (especially on the first picture of this buck where it looks a little lower)? As most of us know, the spine dips pretty low up front and I think a lot of lost deer are actually shot over the spine and through the backstraps, and bleed a lot early but in the end the deer survives. But a guy sees such a hit and thinks, "double lung." I killed a buck years ago that had just such a healed-over grease streak through his backstraps.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife931.jpg)
Next installment will wrap things up with buck #3.
Congratulations on two fine bucks, Bryce.
Nice bucks and nice follow ups, Bryce! Congrats....did you say #3?
Very nice deer sir! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Okay, two days later, with SD's gun season starting the same day as NE, I was running out of time so burned a personal day and drove northwest to hunt ground I'd never set foot on before.
Got there at dawn, within minutes found sign I really liked and a setup that would work with the wind. Put up a portable, got settled in, and an hour later had a nice buck headed my way on the general path a doe/fawn had taken 10 minutes before. Thick brush made real good ID of his rack impossible, but he was definitely good enough for me on wing-and-prayer hunt such as this. He ended up in scrape 12 yards away but facing right at me. I leaned to the right, keeping a medium cottonwood between us, waiting for him to decide whether to go right or left and either way get himself shot. :) Of course it's rarely that easy.
Well, after what seemed like an hour (probably two minutes) he decided to turn around and just as he turned and angled away I found a spot and let him have it. The arrow went in just front of left hip and angled forward. Again, enough arrow hanging out that I was a bit concerned but needn't have been. This arrow went through guts, liver, lung, heart and exited the deer and re-entered his front leg. During his run, it literally pulverized the leg area, and I found numerous chunks of meat on the blood trail. These chunks were the size of a screw-off pop bottle cap. Amazing. When I started finding more than one, I thought this deer's done. I do think the additional agitation spurred him into a much longer run than normal and he made it about 160 yards before expiring. He's a nice 6x6 counting a couple cool inside points, a big one on his left side and a smaller one on his right antler.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife1084.jpg)
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife1065-1.jpg)
And the damage this arrow did during the death run? Upon removing the cape (a beautiful one that I probably will not mount), this is what was left of the area. An osage-orange or hedgeball-sized (that's more 'traditional' than saying a grapefruit or softball!) hole of mincemeat. I'm holding a huge chunk of meat pulled from this area. And the Woodsman broadhead came out sharp enough to reuse after only a few strokes on a diamond hone. Frankly I'm amazed.
Sorry for the graphic nature of this picture, and if the mods feel it needs to be removed, that's fine. But I think each blood trail and hit is a learning experience.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/WaryBuck/2011Hunting-Wildlife1169.jpg)
I'm not sure what's next, but will probably try to kill a few does, but maybe use other bows, like the Browning I Nomad recurve and Microflite arrows tipped with old Razorheads (that I picked up this summer), or the Schafer Silvertip I've neglected for years, or maybe dust off one of Hohensee's White Bisons that spilt a lot of blood back 10 years ago. But the Green Machine--my Pronghorn takedown, now with snakeskins--and Woodsman heads performed well; I only wish I'd held off on one of the NE bucks to still have a buck permit in my pocket if one of the nocturnal guys ever decides to come out in the day. :)
Thanks for allowing me to share. It feels kind of selfish to do so when I've been largely absent from here this fall, but it's been an unbelievably busy year. And I think the SD hunt was 67th of the season.
Awesome!
Well, I have to say, as far as posts go, what you're lacking in quantity you surely make up for in quality!
Beautiful bucks every one, and taking that last one on totally unfamiliar land on the first day speaks volumes about your hunting ability. I'm sure luck was only a small part of your success.
Well Done on a great season! :clapper:
Awesome season! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Very nice season Bryce. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, you did better in one season(and it look like it is not over yet) than me in my entire life...maybe I'm doing something wrong...lol
Good hunting!
Wary as always....
P.S. use the full 640 width man!
Nice job Bryce! I have been wondering how things were going for you. Look's like it's been great!
Thanks for the nice comments. Hey Steve, I absolutely HATE Photobucket. Hate it. And apparently I'm too stupid to figure it out. If I do, I'll replace the pics, but right now I'm just dog-paddling at work (had to move to new classrooms in the middle of the school year...in the middle of the rut). Moving 27 years of accumulation...Ugh.
Oh, and they give me a new classroom (new wing of the building), but they tell us we basically can't put anything on the walls since it's so new. Give me a break! I'm tempted to just line one wall with deer skulls and tell 'em I'll pay for the damage when I retire. :)
:thumbsup: :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Good job Bryce!
WOW....WOW....WOW!!! Great deer, and congrats on 3 successful recoveries!
:clapper:
Those are some fine bucks and that was some fine huntin. Good job on the trailing and follow up shot to get the 2nd one. I like the pics of the arrow paths and the description. Seems like you can learn something from each new look into what actually did them in. Great Job.
Greatness! No apologies for being in the woods.
Congrats.
best hunting story thread of the year from one of our best hunters! Congrats! Bryce
Very cool Bryce!!! You are a deer killing machine! I really appreciate you posting the anatomy/ arrow entry/exit pictures. No matter how long we do this we can learn something new and valuable.
Awesome story and hunts!!!
Nicely done Bryce.
Congrats on a great fall. :clapper:
Congrats on a great season and some great bucks!
:thumbsup: :notworthy: :clapper:
Some cool deer and very nice recovery effort. Thanks for sharing the hunts.
Wow!! Great season Bryce. I knew we would be seeing pics of snake bit deer this fall.
Keep hunting Bryce, you are on a roll. Nice job buddy!!
Great job Bryce!! :clapper:
Welcome back, Bryce! It's always good to hear about your hunts. Congratulations on some well deserved success. (Enjoyed your book, too)
Congrats!! Nice to see fellow teacher find some quality woods time and get some results!
I like the cut your jib mister! Hey dude thanks for sharing,get busy on that next book, we're all ready and late winter is right around the corner. :thumbsup:
Looks like a darn good season to me. Congrats Bryce, and hope things settle down for you.
Wow, congrats on a pretty darn good season!
Great stories,and great deer.
Good going Bryce!!! Good reading as always.