Ok this may be a little long winded but I'm a happy hunter. I have limited time to hunt this season because i'm finishing up school and I have a wife and 1year old boy at home and I work 40 hours a week. So I am not to depressed about being tagged out in mid Oct. This morning I decided to sit out for a couple hours and head down to school to take my mid term after. A front came through last night and I figured the cold weather would get some deer moving. This guy showed up at about 8:00 making a scrape fifty yards to the north on the treeline I was in. He lifted his head and I saw an antler and I thought "Shooter!" He started working his way along the treeline and I could see he was missing one side of his rack. He was a mature buck tho and I do not get many opportunities at deer like this. He was ten yards out from my tree line and even with me when I started to draw. I let down as he moved behind some brush and as he popped out on the other side I came to full draw. I was about to grunt to stop him when he hit my sent from where I walked in. It stopped him cold right in my sights! I focused on a spot up tight to his shoulder and began my mantra. I use the Joel Turner psychotrigger technique to beat target panic and let me tell you it works! I felt in complete control. When I reached my psychotrigger (bowhand pointer finger touching my thumb) I released and watched the arrow bury in the bucks chest. He bolted through the over grown farm field I was hunting and out of sight. I was confident on the shot so I waited ten minutes and started looking for blood. The grass was soaking wet and chest high and when I finally found blood it was barely visible and very watered down because of the wet grass. I tracked him for an hour on my hands and knees crawling through brush. It was a tough bloodtrail! he did not bleed much and I was becoming less and less confident on my shot. I eventually ran out of blood and began a body search in the tall grass and brush. I was about to back out and come back after my exam because I was running out of time when I saw a splotch of white up ahead! He was down after a hundred and fifty yard dash. I by this time I was running out of time so I ran back to get a knife, gutted him, took some pics and dragged him into the truck. I took a quick shower and shot off toward school. I dropped the buck off at the processor and made it to class with 3 minutes to Spare! Let me tell you I was much less confident on the results of my exam than I was on the shot I took earlier, but I grinned through the whole exam! I used a 43# 63" osage self bow I made this spring and a bamboo garden stake arrow with turkey feathers from a turkey my cousin shot last year, tipped with a stohs head.

That is a super buck under the conditions you have going. And shot with a bow You made Yourself. A hunt to remember. Congrats

bretto

Nice!,  I want to take a deer with a bow and arrow I built.

Congrats, great story and harvest!  

Congratulations and great story. Hope your exam turned out just as well.

Congrats!

Way to go man! Nice buck

great job!!

Awesome just awesome. !

   

Congrats on a well earned buck!    

Great job and nice looking buck!!  

       

Lee, You da Man! I am happy for you and the fact you made the bow, arrow and the shot is a true accomplishment.

Wonderful job getting that buck. Congratulations.

   

Absolutely amazing!!! Congrats!!!

That's an incredible story. Man, the stuff you have going on, I'd hate to see your to-do list each day.

Good work on fitting the hunting in there and picking the right time. Great shot with home made gear. Pretty inspiring stuff.