nice blacktail buck

[Yolla Bolly]

Yessir---what Snag said.  We don't get to hunt this late down south of the border.

[Blackhawk]

Way to go...

I like the looks of the Signature bow too, and am going to have to test drive one of those.

[collofthewild]

Congratulations, great buck Ted!

[twitchstick]

Nice buck!

[Ted Fry]

Alright Snag , but I will have to tell it in segments, I am up to my eyeballs in Christmas orders !
So as I said , my friend John invited me to hunt on some private down near Oregon City, right above the Clackamas river ( thanks again John).
I drew the Willamette 600 series tag, ( not general tag, this is an extra 600 series good for one deer).
There were two spots on this property set up with ground blinds ( pop up), I have never hunted from one of these , very different shot angle.
The spot I hunted was in very dense woods as you can see but several trails joined in this area.
Does are legal in this unit as well but the people that own the ground have never shot a doe choosing rather to have the does to draw the bucks during the rut, hard for me to pass up a good shot on a doe but rules are rules and I have found it best for future hunting to respect the landowners rules.
The place is a little over an hour from my house and I have to go through some very ugly traffic to get there, I hunted several days without seeing anything but does and fawns, not much rut activity even in the first of November ( odd year).
At one stretch through the gorge I started seeing dead deer on the side of the road about  second week of Nov. ( note that spot for next year).
My buddy John told me "when the shot comes , remember that you have a tendency to shoot high from a ground blind" , he was correct as I found out.

[Ted Fry]

Well to not drag this out , I went in that morning to check the trail camera pics and no bucks came by that night, not looking good!
John dropped me off that afternoon to sit in the blind , a little drippy that afternoon, I like this as it covers some noise, as long as the wind stays down a good day for deer to be cruising.
As we approached the area my blind was in we noticed a new scrape not far from the blind , boy that got me excited.
Pretty slow that afternoon, a few does passed by but didnt stay around for long , still no sign of a buck. I had 5 does in front of the blind , boy did I shoot a bunch of shots in my mind as the does turned different angles offering just about every shot a guy could ask for, suddenly all five does perked up , looking to my right and behind me off in the woods, I knew something was on its way in, I was pretty sure by the way the deer were acting that it was a buck.
Sure enough, I could see legs crossing the small slit in the window to my right and the buck appeared , it was the crooked antler buck I had said that I hope I got a shot at as I love the twisted narly looking blacktail antlers you see so often.
He was focused on one of the does as he chased her back and forth ,stopping from time to time to pose , hoping to entice her to stop running around, nows my chance, I drew back and let my arrow fly only to see it pass harmlessly about an inch over his back , right in line with his chest.
I couldnt believe that I had missed, over his back just like John had warned me, then the shakes set in , adrenaline at its best.
I managed another arrow out of my quiver as quickly and quietly as I could and sat in disbelief that after all that I had missed!
As I sat the listening to the rain dripping off the trees and onto the top of the ground blind I noticed movement to my left, thats right , a couple of does were headed back this way , and can you believe it , so was the buck, he was so focused on the doe he didnt care about anything else, the problem was however the doe would not stop going around and around the four big trees in front of me as the others just kept watching and snacking on bits here and there.
I didnt think I would ever get another shot as he trailed her out of sight, then suddenly she turned back toward me , only this time closer , I knew this would bring the buck closer as well, she paused , he paused to match and my arrow was off, this time I didnt miss and the Treeshark did its job. Funny I wasnt shaking quite as bad this time , but it was still there.

[Ted Fry]

Heres a good pic of the bear in September, no long story this time , 6 yard shot from a low treestand over bait with the same bow , wood arrow and the same broadhead, bear went 31 yards

[Tree Killer]

I know the feeling well Ted. Two days before I killed my buck...from the ground...I missed a nice 4pt from the treestand behind my house. Shot over his back at 15 yds!    

[JamesKerr]

Nice shooting!

[gringol]

It's like you say Ted, "guaranteed to shoot exactly where you point it."     Nice work.  That's a good looking deer.

[PBNJ]

Blacktail is nice but lets not overlooh that awesome bear!!!! Way to go Ted!!!

[Shedrock]

  Nice looking deer, and bear, congrats!  

[longbowray]

Nice !!!

[knobby]

Congratulations on both animals. Those blacktails are beautiful.

[Jesse Minish]

Good job Ted!

[DeerSpotter]

Nice Buck & Bear


Carl

[Sirius Black]

[Ted Fry]

Thanks again all , yes, it was a fun season , nice to actually get out and hunt a bunch again.
Thanks to all the good friends that I shared the campfires with .

[JV Rooster]

[JEFF B]

way to go ted