Dec. Buck: Woods to Wall

rice · January 03, 2011, 11:37:00 AM

Hi all! Thought you might want to see my best buck to date with a recurve and how it turned out as a european mount.

I had already killed 2 Doe for the year, but the bucks I saw this year were either too small or 2 far.

The monday following xmas, I got free and went to my huntin area. Monday night brought 5 Doe and 3 fawn into my ryegrass food plot. With no leaves on the trees to speak of, one of the 5 Doe would be looking at that lump in the tree, so I wasn't able to shoot. After about 20 minutes, they spooked and in walked 4 bucks

I picked out the best of the bunch and dropped the string. The shot looked bad, so I snuck out and came back the following morning.

Here is the treestand I was sitting in and a shot of the foodplot.

swp · January 03, 2011, 11:43:00 AM

rice · January 03, 2011, 11:45:00 AM

That next morning, I went back to the spot to begin my search, It had been freezing over night, so I was not concerned about the meat, I was however worried about the hit, and about hogs or coyotes finding the buck overnight.
I went to the last place I had seen the deer and found no blood :(
I really didn't expect to with my poor hit. But I had a plan, I started paralleling a ridge and scanning with my bino's. I went down it a mile, moved over and came back a mile, moved over and went back a mile, and did another mile coming back. Nothing!
I then thought about the pond, so made a big loop around it, still nothing! So I returned to the food plot a bit dejected.

magnus · January 03, 2011, 11:48:00 AM

FerretWYO · January 03, 2011, 11:54:00 AM

Dont be stalling now!!

rice · January 03, 2011, 11:56:00 AM

I had a drink of water and sat down for a minute, and started talking to myself. I said self, you have all day to look, so keep your head up!
I also said, self, that deer had to bleed, you need to look again closer!
So I again went back up to the last spot I had seen the deer, then went a little farther up the ridge.

What is this, my heart soared

I started following a sparce blood trail and when i looked ahead, I saw an antler, and for a brief second thought it was my deer, but no, it was a drop from last spring.

I moved up to it and my arrow was laying next to it!

I thought that was pretty neat! And just beyond that, the blood trail got better.

rice · January 03, 2011, 12:08:00 PM

Let me tell you, I was getting happier by the minute!!! Emotional highs and lows are sometimes hard to take. The farther I went the better the blood trail got. I went over a ridge and down into a little bottom. I found a spot he had bedded and as is my custom, I pulled up my bino's to scan ahead. This time I didn't see dropped antlers, but antlers attached to a dead deer!

Here he is, not a monster buck, but my best recurve buck to date!

To say the least,I was one happy camper.

I did not have a tripod so I did not take a picture of myself, but have included an old picture of me in treestand.

January 03, 2011, 12:13:00 PM

very nice buck, its sometimes tough to slow down and look real close for the sign that you know is there.. congrats.

Zach Mikita · January 03, 2011, 12:14:00 PM

Great deer!

longbowben · January 03, 2011, 12:16:00 PM

Thats cool GREAT BUCK

rice · January 03, 2011, 12:18:00 PM

So Yesterday, I didn't have much going on so I decided to make a euromount out of his head.
I have 2 shoulder mounted bucks bigger than this one, one a longbow buck and one a muzzle kill, but to be honest, I prefer Euro mounts and have 4 from previous deer.
So I started by skinning out the head and removing most of the meat. I then put him on to boil.

I boiled him for 2 hours in water and borax powder.I then pulled him out and removed most of the meat from the skull. Most came off with a hose. I scraped a little with a pocket knife.
I dumped my water and filled it up again with fresh water and dawn dishsoap and boiled him for another 1.5 hours.

Fritz · January 03, 2011, 12:22:00 PM

Very nice buck! Congrats!

Chris O · January 03, 2011, 12:25:00 PM

Great story and trophy! Any chance you think that shed may be his form last season? Looks pretty similar from the picture.

FerretWYO · January 03, 2011, 12:25:00 PM

Very nice buck Rice. Congrats!!

rice · January 03, 2011, 12:30:00 PM

I use beauty shop peroxide on my mounts since it is more concentrated and apply it with a sponge paint brush. Here is how it looked before.

I left it sit over night and rinsed it off this morning. This is what it looks like now. It will whiten up some more in a day or two, but its ready to hang on the wall.

I will probably put it on a piece of barn wood and add some turkey feathers to spice it up.

Thanks for following along.

Chris Rice

wisconsinteacher · January 03, 2011, 12:35:00 PM

Great job. One quick tip. Let the skull dry up for a few days before you peroxide it because it will take it better when dry.

Cody Schnettgoecke · January 03, 2011, 12:37:00 PM

Nice buck, nice mount, and good job on tracking him!

GRINCH · January 03, 2011, 12:39:00 PM

Good Job tracking him,enjoy your mount.

rice · January 03, 2011, 12:40:00 PM

Chis O: It could be his rack, but that type of rack runs pretty true in a lot of the bucks harvested off this property so who knows. It was neat to find while on the blood trail.

CKR

magnus · January 03, 2011, 12:53:00 PM

Great story and pics too! That's a dandy buck. Great job on finding him!

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus