Here's a few pictures, he'll be along with the story soon.
-Jay
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/DadIowaBuck1.jpg)
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/DadIowaBuck4.jpg)
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/DadIowaBuck2.jpg)
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/DadIowaBuck3.jpg)
Great buck!! I haul mine home the same way! Congrats!!!
Nice shot on a great Buck! :thumbsup:
Looking forward to the story!
Congrats!!
OOOOOHHHHH!!!
:campfire:
And Congrats on a nice buck.
very nice congrats :thumbsup:
Nice buck and Great shot. Love those cargo trays, work great.
Wow congrats on a really nice buck!! :thumbsup: :campfire:
:thumbsup:
This is a hunt that almost didn't happen. Last night after watching the "weather news" my wife asked me which stand I'm going to in the morning. My answer - "I'm not sure I'm going. It's supposed to be 16 degrees, and I might just sleep in. If I'm not in the house when you get up, you'll know where I am". I've been getting up early every day, and it was starting to take a toll on me.
Luckily, I changed my mind and did go out! I have been making a whole series of "rookie mistakes" this fall, even though it's my 45th year in the field. I've had bucks spot me after rattling them in, I had a good buck in Wisconsin spot me as I was drawing on him, etc. It's been that kind of fall...
Right at shooting light this morning a doe walked by me at six yards. Alright, here we go! We know what follows does during the rut. Another "rookie" mistake is coming! Ten minutes after she leaves the area, a nice 8 pt. buck follows exactly where she walked. Here comes the mistake. Since the temperature was 16 degrees, I had my hands in a "muff". The buck either heard me or saw movement, and immediately stopped. After a few seconds he simply turned around and vacated. I was starting to feel kind of sorry for myself...
My stand is located in a strip of trees which separates a harvested bean field from a harvested corn field. I look out into the bean field and spot at least seven deer feeding and moving around. They aren't going to come my way, and since I didn't spot a buck to try to call, I settled back and watched them feed away from me.
At 7:10 I noticed a doe in the corn field being followed by two bucks. As if on cue, she leads them right towards me. I kept telling myself no more mistakes. Get ready and this is going to happen.
It was a beautiful scene as the 9 pt. buck passed below me. He had a lot of frost on his back, and I kept zeroing in on a spot behind his front shoulder. At nine yards he was quartering away and I smoothly released the arrow.
Immediately I could see that my arrow was exactly where I'd been looking! I could also see that he was losing a lot of blood. The buck that was following him was a 6 pt. and all three deer headed off. "My" buck stopped at about fifty yards and just stood for a few seconds before disappearing in some cedar trees.
After about fifteen minutes I slowly packed up and backed out of the area. On my way home I called my good buddy Tim to help with the deer. I was fully expecting to see a very dead deer after the shot placement I'd seen. An hour later, we were back and you could follow the blood trail at a run if you wanted to.
I was using cedar arrows and a Magnus two blade 125 gr. head. I've never had a blood trail as good as this one!
A side note to the bow I was using. Back in November, 1972 I arrowed a big 203# 10 pt. Minnesota with this bow. It is a Red Wing Hunter that I had painted (like everyone did in those days!).
The bow was 57# @ 28" and was much too heavy for me in many years. About a year ago my son Jay (JJB on here) offered to reduce the weight on it and refinish it. He took it down to 48# and refinished it! What a beautiful job! Now I had a bow that I could use again! I thought it would really be cool if I could take a "40th anniversary" buck with this bow.
Thanks you for reading my long winded account of a hunt that almost didn't happen, but is one that I'll remember for a long, long time.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Beautiful buck and great story
Nice story and Buck,congrats. :clapper: :clapper:
Thanks for sharing and a big congrates. on the buck!
Beautiful deer. Congrats and God Bless
Great job Grandpa, you should be proud of
yourself. See you this weekend.
Your grandson,
Luke
Wow,awesome buck, great story and killer shot! Way to keep getting it done.
Way to hang in there. Great deer.
Very nice buck and great story, Bernie.
"It is a Red Wing Hunter that I had painted (like everyone did in those days!)." Yes sir, I remember those days as well.
Congrats, on a great hunt and a great buck.
Congratulations Bernie. I read and enjoyed every word of you "long winded account". I am glad you shared the story of the bow. That made it special indeed. Wow, 40 years and the same bow score again.
Congratulations sir and great shooting on a fine buck.
That's a good one! Very nice!
Great buck. We all make mistakes, but thats why its so fun. The good ones learn from their mistakes no matter how old. Cogratulations. :thumbsup:
Way to go Bernie!! Excellent job and story!! :thumbsup: :clapper:
Great story! Great buck! My hat is off to you guys that have been in this game for so long. I hope I'm still at it if I reach that age and am able. Bravo!
Way to hang in there. Congrats on a great deer and shot!
Nice buck and great story Bernie That's awesome!
Your son is a great guy!
Awesome!!!
Awesome deer Bernie! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Great buck and a fantastic shot Bernie! Congratulations! And using that bow is really putting frosting on the cake :thumbsup: :clapper:
Nice shot! Nice deer!
Congratulations Bernie. Nice shot on a beautiful buck. NOW you can sleep in.
Congratulations! Nice buck!
Wow Bernie, that is a perfect shot on a bruiser of a buck! And it's really cool that you shot it with that special bow. Congrats and thanks for sharing all the details!
way to go, Bernie !!
Congrats!
Nice :clapper: Thanks for sharing
Good Shootn'!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Iflytrout/Pictures/buzzards.gif)
Great buck, thanks for sharing your story.
Dandy buck Bernie, and you put the arrow in the right spot and I really liked your story,
Great looking buck Bernie, very well done. Nice story, Thanks for the share.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Beautiful deer, nice shot, congrats! :thumbsup:
very nice. Thanks for sharing.
:clapper:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Congratulations sir on a beautiful buck with a special bow!
Great deer, really nice shot.
Congrats! A great deer and very good story! :thumbsup:
Congrats! A good buck and story! :thumbsup:
Awesome story and an awesome Iowa bruiser.
I keep looking through the pictures, lots of memories have been made on that farm. Congratulations, Dad, it all came together perfectly on that one.
-Jay
Thanks for the kind comments everyone! Jay grew up hunting on this farm, and I've been very fortunate to have had exclusive hunting rights to it for thirty years. We used to haul our deer out on the back of an '86 Toyota sedan. Thanks again Jay for posting my pictures!
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Great story!
Nice job!
Nice buck and great story!!!
Congrats Bernie!
Congrats,thats a beautiful animal.Thanks for sharing.
Leland
Awesome buck, bow, story and Shot!!!
Great Story!
Nice buck, Bernie ... and great story also! :clapper:
Your Red Wing Hunter is a true classic. Glad to see it still at work.
Mike
Great buck. :clapper: :clapper: Well done!
Great job!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Dad just received a trailcam photo of his buck from a neighbor. It was taken 6 days before he was shot, glad Andy wasn't in his stand that day.
-Jay
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/DadIowaBuck-trailcampic.jpg)