Well, its over for me quickly here at home this year. We had a serious bout with EHD this summer, and I was tickled to get a chance at anything halfway decent locally.
Wednesday evening as I was coming out to the truck I spotted a group of 6-7 deer feeding in the soybeans on the west side of a thicket bordering one section of the timber I was hunting. I could tell that a couple of them were decent bucks, but could only see that one was higher/narrower racked and the other shorter/wider. It was too dark to tell much else, but I thought they looked to be the same age class.
I had to get by the deer to get to the truck so I decided to wait them out then make a dash across a finger of beans into another section of timber to get around them without spooking them hard. Of course one of the does spotted me and had to come check it out, coming in from 100 yards to about 30, with the other deer following behind. Finally I decided I had to do something before she walked into me and really spooked so I barked at them several times, like a dog, hoping at least that they wouldn't figure out I was a person. The does scattered across the field, but the bucks peeled off into the thicket bordering the beans. This thicket is 300 yards north/south and about 75 yards deep, bordered by timber to the east.
My devious mind started whirring, and I realized I had a stand hanging on the thicket/timber edge straight east of where the bucks went in. With the wind on thursday predicted to be west/southwest this looked like a good chance to slip into that stand through the timber in hopes of catching the bucks travelling into the timber to work the falling white oak acorns.
I eased into the stand the next afternoon and about 1 hour before dark spotted horns in the thicket. It was the taller/narrower buck feeding along on honeysuckle and browse. It took him about 30 minutes, but he ended up 8 yards in front of me on the thicket brush edge. Not one to look a gift horse (or buck) in the mouth, when he got mostly broadside on I shot him. He took off into the thicket and I was pretty sure I heard him crash. The arrow went right through, and had good blood, but stomach matter too.
We gave him 3 hours and went back - my wife Katia handling our tracking dog Oskar, and myself. After a 5 minute tracking session we found the buck about 80 yards away, where I heard him go down. The arrow was right behind the shoulder, getting both lungs before exiting through the front of the stomach, with limited blood on the ground due to the plugged exit hole.
Its great when a plan finally comes together! He was the right buck at the right time for me and I'm real happy with him, especially with a busy rut coming up (Iowa tag this year and a new place in Missouri to hunt).
I shot him with my old Jack Howard Gamemaster Jet - getting about 63-64 lbs out of that bow and a 640 grain carbon with a big Snuffer head. The arrow was about 3 inches in the dirt on the other side.
Guess I'm down to looking for the "right" doe in Indiana now!
Best of luck
R
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v195/RyanRothhaar/2012INBuck2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v195/RyanRothhaar/IN2012BuckOskar.jpg)
Congratulations, that's a fine looking buck! :thumbsup:
Great deer Ryan! Congrats! :thumbsup:
Nice deer and excellent tracking dog!!
Congrats on a fine buck!!!
Congrats, great looking buck!
Very Nice! well done!
Congrats Ryan really enjoyed the pictures, I've been reading you fathers "Whitetail Magic" the past few nights like I do every fall.
Congratulations! :clapper:
Beautiful buck! Congratulations Ryan!
:thumbsup: Cool tracker you got there!!
Man that is a dandy buck!
That's a fine buck, Ryan. Congratulations.
Shick
Nice buck! Congrats! :thumbsup: :archer:
Outsatanding Ryan. Nice of you to put Oskar to work. I had a chance to watch my daughters WHD track one this year. What fun! Again, congratulations. :notworthy:
Nice Buck! Love your blood trailer.
Tim
Congrats Ryan,Nice buck.
Beautiful buck, Ryan. Congratulations!
Congrats to you Ryan, good buck!
Congrats Ryan!
Another awesome buck Ryan,congrats.
Congrats.RC
Congratulations Ryan, fine buck.
That is a Nice Buck and Good looking Tracker too. Good luck in IA and MS.
Nice buck! Congratulations and good luck in Iowa and Missouri! :thumbsup:
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Way to go Ryan. Good luck the rest of the season.
Nice and easy for you AND Oskar. Good luck later in the fall and tell your Dad hello for me; looking forward to more pics!
Awesome buck Ryan - will be looking for stories from Iowa and Missouri in the weeks ahead!
Way to go Ryan!! Might see ya when you head to Putnam CO!!
Congrats Ryan.
Very nice congrats
looks like a dandy to me! good work.
Nice Deer. Congratulations.
Nice job, Ryan! Good luck with your doe. :thumbsup:
That's a nice deer, Ryan. Thanks for the great story. And I'm really happy that Oskar was there with you at the end. Way to go!
Mike
:archer:
Congrats Ryan, great buck with a good tracking dog. :thumbsup:
Now you can hunt a monster doe. The old girls are hard to come by.
Look forward to more.
You are a killer Ryan. Way to go.
Congrats on a fine looking buck! Good looking tracking hound as well!
Great shot on a great buck! :thumbsup:
Great buck! Congrats!
Awesome! :clapper:
Very nice!
Congrats! Nice one!
Congraats Ryan!
That's a great deer. Congrats. God Bless
Very nice Ryan. Good to see Oskar is getting some work time in. Jeff
Great time , a caresse to Oscar to ! & bravo
Cool! Congrats Ryan!
Another good one Ryan - congratulations to both you and Oskar!!
Good Shoot'n!
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Congrates Ryan on a great buck. Good luck the rest of the season.
Nice buck Ryan. Good to hear the dog got to help. Good luck in IA and MO.
Allright Ryan and Oskar!!! Good Job!
Real nice buck, Ryan. Keep on sticking em with that Jet of yours.
:thumbsup: Nice buck' great job.
Congrats, :thumbsup:
That is a fine start to the season. Congrat's
Ryan,
That is a Nice buck, congrats!!!
Congrats Ryan, nice buck..
I sure like Oskar, wish I had one just like him!
Very nice Congrats.
Congrats!!
Congrats on a nice buck and a long awaited Iowa tag!!
That is a great picture and animals.. What a gorgeous hound......where can a man buy one of those puppies?
Oskar grew into a quite an athlete!
Congrats on the buck...I love the pictures!
Nice one Ryan. Glad to see Katia and Oskar are allowing you to start the hunt for them. Good luck in Iowa. Come on by anytime.
Ryan, Congratulations!
Way to go Ryan! Good luck in Missouri and Iowa! Nice buck!
Thanks guys, getting ready for the big push the first 2 weeks of November now.
Joebuck - I wouldn't know right now where someone could get a good standard smooth hunting pup - Oskar's breeder isn't planning any litters soon. You might talk to Shaun a couple posts down, he might know something that's out there.....by the way, Shaun, any plans for Graetsche? ;)
nice buck..and good luck with the rest of your season
Nice buck Ryan. Congratulations! I'm happy for you. Now send me some of your wife's pastries please...
Thanks Ryan, been following you and the pup since you started posting about your training and experience. I know how rewarding it is for to hunt with your best friend! I trained my own yellow lab to AKC Master level on waterfowl and nothing like it. He is decent on deer but rather wind than nose down blood trail.. Keep up the info and pics....congrats on the fine buck
Nice Ryan, congrats.