First buck with my Centaur Carbon Elite and with one of Jim's Big Game Heads. Both performed flawlessly.
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f281/brdeano/2012-10-26_21-26-11_779.jpg)
Nice deer. Looks like a big hole there.
Well done Brad!
I had gotten trail cams pics of this buck on public land 2 days ago while he was checking his scrapes. I hung a stand in a funnel consisting of a mix of red pines and small oaks coming off a big hardwood ridge with a ton of mature oaks and it connects to a thick stand of cedars they were bedding in. The deer here are still hitting acorns as there are a ton of them around here this year.
The wind was perfect for that stand this evening and I had high hopes for the spot. I was running late getting out there this afternoon and didn't slip into my stand until about 4:45. I had the first group of does filter through at about 5:00 and I almost dropped the string on one big doe that was just at the edge of my comfortable shooting range of 25yds. It just didn't feel right so I let her continue on her way unharmed.
The next group of does came through at about 6:00 and they were inside 20yds but as it was getting later I was really hoping that buck, or any buck, would be coming behind them. It didn't happen and nothing was with them.
At 6:50 with just about 10 minutes of shooting light left I could hear some deer coming fast toward me. A lone doe came through very quick and right on her heels was the buck. He slowed to a walk and was only about 14-15yds out and I picked a spot. The arrow was on its way before I even realized I was drawing the bow. The hit was solid and he whirled around to run back the way he had came and I could see blood coming out the exit side. He made it just out of sight and I heard him pile up.
I could see my arrow in the dirt from the stand and when I climbed down the blood trail was massive right from the start.
You could follow the blood trail on a dead run and it was spraying out both sides and ended just about 50yds from the hit. That is the entrance in the pic, the exit was right at the elbow on the off side. The heart was centerpunched and that big Centaur head was pretty impressive to me. I knocked the dirt off and it still shaves hair. This is my first season switching to the big single bevel heads as I've only shot either 2 blade Zwickey's, or Magnus', for the past 15 years or so. From this sample of 1 I'm very impressed with them.
I'm as happy as can be with this buck. I was acutally gonna hunt the same spot in the morning as there is another good buck in the area but I'm so worked up still that I can't even sleep. :bigsmyl:
I was by myself tonight and that's about the only pic I got. I'll post some better pics tomorrow when I can get the wife behind the camera.
Awesome Brad, great deer and good story. Can't wait for the follow up pics.
:thumbsup:
Billy
Great Job Brad,Perfect hit!Now that bow lives in infamy.
Nice shot and fine BH performance.
If you don't object, please share more specifics of you set-up?
Good shooting !
Nice buck..
Scott, do you mean stand set-up or bow set-up? I'm guessing your asking about the bow.
It's 58" 50@28 and I'm drawing right at 28". I'm running a few different arrow's through it but these ones here are 35/55 GT trad's at 29" footed with 1" of an AL arrow but I forget the size used (2117 maybe?). 4 fletched with 4" RW parabolics with as much helical as I can get on them.
The Centaur Big Game single bevel heads weight in at 217gr with adapters.
These particular arrows shot very well for me with anywhere from 200-250 gr up front. I glued up a couple each with standard, 50gr, and 100gr inserts so that I could play with a wide range of point weights. The 217gr BGH coupled with the 50gr inserts shot the best for me and it seemed I couldn't even make them shoot bad if I tried. When I plug those in to the Stu Miller calc it shows that they are ~10# weak. I also run a 29" 2016 with 175gr up front and that is almost exactly matched with my bow, according to Stu. So I don't exactly know why the discrepancy between the carbons vs. the AL shafts? I can't argue with the results I get when shooting them though.
Man, I love these heads. I'm a complete convert! Congrats on a great buck!
Congrats on a fine buck!!!
Congrats !!! :clapper:
Bill
Nice buck, congrats.
Congratulations Brad. That's a fine trophy! :clapper:
Not only did the bow and arrow perform flawlessly, you did too! Good job.
Nice one. Congrats on a fine buck and great shot..
Nice job, congrats!
Way to go, Brad! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Well done Brad! :thumbsup:
Well placed arrow, Congrats on a fine buck.
Well done sir!
Very good!
You done real good
Nice job!!
Brad,
Nice buck and on public land also...great job!
Love the bloody arrow...where have we seen this before.
Thanks,
Josh
Congrats on a nice buck...thanks too for sharing the details.
Thanks all, here is a better pic.
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f281/brdeano/DeerKilling/252.jpg)
Good job Brad!! Congrats! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Great lookin Buck Brad! Congrats
Nice buck Brad! Congrats :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Heck yeah! A great deer killed by a guy using some great American Made gear. Don't get no better than that. God Bless
Good stuff! :thumbsup:
Nice buck!
Nice buck, great shot!
Great Job Congrats! :thumbsup:
Congratulations
Congratulations. That really is a nice buck!
Awesome Job! :thumbsup:
Nice Buck Brad! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Nice buck congrates!
Congrats!!
Nice shooting, Congrats brother!
Very nice,congratulations!
Way to go! Congratulations, that's a fine looking buck! :thumbsup:
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Brad...Once again, Congrats!
Thank you for providing this particular bow and arrow set-up.
congrats on a fine buck! :thumbsup:
Well done!!! That is a fine buck indeed. :thumbsup:
Nice one :thumbsup: :clapper:
A very nice buck, love Centaurs!
Nice buck, congrats! :thumbsup:
Saaaaaaweet buck! Nice job
Nice, Congrats!
Congrats on a fine Buck!
Congrats Brad on a fine buck and a great shot!!! Not every day here in Michigan you can score on a nice buck like that on public lands. Gotta get me some of those heads to try next year!!!!
Thanks all.
bowman66, you are right that some people don't realize how much the quality of bucks, and deer numbers, vary throughout the state. I have buddies in southern mi (branch, calhoun, and jackson counties) that kill BIG bucks and they just don't understand how much harder it is to hunt up here. Last year I killed a 10pt that scored about 125" and a buck like that is few and far between up here. A buck like that down at my buddies house would not even get shot, they let them go. It's all relative to where you live in the state/country as to the size of the bucks you see.
I live in the TB zone and we don't (aren't allowed) to bait and the deer population is very low due the DNR's awesome idea of issuing ridiculous amounts of doe tags for our area for years. You can drive around during gun season and see the downstate hunters camps that have bunches of does/fawns/button bucks hanging. I know locals here who do it also so I'm not just singling out downstaters. I just shake my head at it all. Sorry for the little rant, our DNR's wisdom just escapes me is all.
Nice shot :clapper:
Congrats Brad! Glad she's working out for you...
I so remember the days of oak stands, beech, ash and maples...The smell of northern Michigan in the fall is something I'll never forget.
:campfire:
~CB