Took last week off to hunt for the entire week.  Just myself, my brother and a good friend bow hunting for the entire week--I look forward to it more every year.  The first morning I saw a couple of bucks, one of which was a nice eight that I would have been really happy with but he stopped to grunts and continued on and he ran for the hills at a snort wheeze.  The next several days were slow if we saw anything it was little bucks.  The wind was relentless, I like hunting high but we tried hunting in some valleys and it was still windy.  Thursday November 7th started out no different-windy.  I packed my stand in that morning along a long ridge that parallels the Mississippi River in between some bedding areas and I knew the wind would work alright for me there.  The morning was slow for deer sightings but I had a whole bunch of turkeys to my north. I was entertained by hens talking back and forth all morning and actually heard a gobble.  Around 11 I had enough of the wind and decided to get some lunch and be back in the same stand for the afternoon sit.  The afternoon was slow and the wind was howling-big surprise!  At 4:50 I heard running, looked to my south and here comes a buck chasing a doe my direction but below me on the ridge.  I turn and grab my bow and turn back and he is already right below me on the ridge but now walking.  I grunt and stop him and he stops and I shoot, a nice quartering away shot and see the arrow hit him right where I was looking.  He runs twenty-five yards and falls over and immediately starts sliding down the steep hillside below me.  I stand there in disbelief as this is my first trad deer and all those shots in the yard just paid off!  The whole thing happened in less that 10 seconds from start to finish.  Big smile and silence as I let it soak in can't wait to do this again.  The shot ended up being just a hair under twenty yards and my setup was a 60" Talltines recurve, fullmetal jacket with a NAP hellrazor and the penetration was impressive.  Big thanks to Tradgang for the stories and motivation.




Derek

What a monster! Congrats on a fine buck!

Great buck, congrats!!!

That's a nice buck.

Very nice.  Congrats.

Fantastic result!

Nice buck. Kind of looks like my place. My acreage is only about 4 miles from the Mississippi. Not much flat ground.

Congrats!

wow that's a big old buck and a steep hill! lol nice to have a couple hands in camp to help with him  great job!

Congratulations You never forget your first. What a way to start out with such a fine buck.

Super buck!! Thanks for sharing with us.

Nice buck!

good job !!

Congratulations on a great looking buck...  

Congratulations on your first and I sure hope you were able to drag him out down  in that valley and not have to pull him up that hill...

Very nice buck, really like the way he looks. Congrats on a precision shot!

Looks like a mini elk,
Congrats !

Wow, That is an awesome critter!!

What an awesome deer! Especially for your first trad deer.

What a great buck!       Well done Derek.