Brock/Mason go huntin
- Thread starter brock ratcliff
- Start date
AWESOME!!!! Looking forward to hearing the details of the hunt and why the lack of blood. Congratulations to you both!!! Great season y'all had!!!
Huckleberry Finn
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Big_Holla
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Hell yeah!! Can't wait for pics!!
I've killed deer in the UP with a .30/06 that leave poor blood trails in the snow. If you look closely often the drops of blood hit the snow and roll up making them harder to see. Definitely not made easier with snow on most occasions......unless you're throwing an axe at them I guess LOL!
I've killed deer in the UP with a .30/06 that leave poor blood trails in the snow. If you look closely often the drops of blood hit the snow and roll up making them harder to see. Definitely not made easier with snow on most occasions......unless you're throwing an axe at them I guess LOL!
lung buster
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Hortontoter
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Buckmaster
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I have tried three or four times to load the video onto Youtube. It loads fine, but it doesn't seem to want to finish "processing". I don't have any pics yet either, as the deer made it mighty hard to find, and I didn't get home until after 1am. Mason was already asleep of course, but woke up shortly after I got in. He asked if I found it and when I said yes he started to head for the barn to see it. I stopped him and made him go back to bed. May have been the meanest thing I've done to him in a spell. 
He returned the favor at 6am when he woke me up to ask a dozen questions!
Last night was the last opportunity Mason would have to hunt for the season, so any restrictions he had placed on himself were lifted. I had seen so many deer on Tuesday evening I felt our chances were pretty good, but not great as the temps warmed a good bit. We settled into the blind to wait, talked about what a long season it had been and how we both hated to see it come to an end without getting a shot at our target(s). It's just one of those things, the things we needed to have happen just didn't. Warm weather all through January... who'da thunk it? Sometimes things just don't work out in our favor, it's hunting, and it's enjoyable even when it's a grind. The evening went by pretty uneventful, with the exception of a redtail hawk hunting songbirds over the baitpile we waited over. With about 15 minutes left of legal light Mason said, "You know, I may not kill a buck this year. It isn't looking good". So I started to restate the fact that we were buckless due to our own choices. He could have shot some nice deer, and one really nice one, but chose not to. I no sooner finished my fatherly speech when I noticed a deer coming our way. I looked it over through the binoculars and noticed it was the same little 8 I could have killed Tuesday, one that Mason had given a free pass on several occasions. I told him what deer it was as he couldn't see it from where he sat. He asked if there were any others with him, and there were not. So he said, "We're out of time. Can I kill him?" I said, "You sure can"!
With that, Mason entered into his stone-cold-killer mode. It's almost creepy to see him transform. He doesn't breath heavy, he doesn't shake, he just concentrates on what he's doing. Me, on the other hand, I breath like I'm having a coronary when he's about to shoot... I think it's worse than when I'm behind the trigger! The deer started to feed, I fired up the handycam, and Mason settled in behind the scope. The deer was 1/4 to, so he had to wait a bit. The deer stretched his leg forward, Mason asked if I was ready for him to shoot and I said yes. He made the shot, and the deer bounded off.
We gave it a minute or two and bailed out of the blind to find the arrow. Mason found it right away, covered with blood. There were just a few specks of blood around the arrow, and I found nothing else for sign. There were too many deer tracks to sort out where the deer had gone, so I had to rely on Mason's recollection as to where the deer went. There are a bunch of trails there and I started to doubt him due to the fact I couldn't find any blood for 75 yards on any of the trails I tried to follow. Nothing. Mason insisted we back out, I agreed of course.
I had to get home and close up the shop at 10. I watched the video several times and felt he made a good shot even though we had essentially nothing to indicate the deer was mortally wounded, aside from the blood-soaked arrow. I got dressed and was back out with a better light about 1030. I looked all over the dang place with seemingly no sign of a wounded deer anywhere. I thought about what Mason had said about the deer breaking away from the trail and heading downslope, and just as I shined down the hill, I saw what may have been the tiniest speck of blood I have ever found. I'll be danged, Mason paid attention and got the details right! I continued on the trail, finding those little tiny specks every 15 or 20 yards. Of course the deer didn't play nice and stay on the trail, finding where he split off cost me 45 minutes or so, but I eventually found it. When I did, and had gone just a short distance up the ridge, I could smell him. I shined the light around and saw nothing. Back on the track, I moved along slowly and was so happy to have found yet another pin head of blood that I didn't at first notice the deer laying in a pile of logs two or three steps ahead of me. What a relief! Got to work, and I swear there were coyotes circling me as I gutted. Freaked me out a bit but they never came close enough for me to shoot...which I would have gladly done! A person's imagination can go wild at 1 am when you are dragging a dead body out of the wilds... Hehe. I heard stuff coming after me, but it never caught up. Pretty sure it was bigfoot.
Mason spent his time before school looking at, spinning around, and poking the carcass of his buck. It isn't the one we hoped for, but I gotta tell you all, I don't know how we could have wrapped up the season any better without killing one of the giants. Pretty neat for him to fill his tag in the last minutes of his season, having spent countless hours patiently waiting for his own white buffalo.
He returned the favor at 6am when he woke me up to ask a dozen questions!Last night was the last opportunity Mason would have to hunt for the season, so any restrictions he had placed on himself were lifted. I had seen so many deer on Tuesday evening I felt our chances were pretty good, but not great as the temps warmed a good bit. We settled into the blind to wait, talked about what a long season it had been and how we both hated to see it come to an end without getting a shot at our target(s). It's just one of those things, the things we needed to have happen just didn't. Warm weather all through January... who'da thunk it? Sometimes things just don't work out in our favor, it's hunting, and it's enjoyable even when it's a grind. The evening went by pretty uneventful, with the exception of a redtail hawk hunting songbirds over the baitpile we waited over. With about 15 minutes left of legal light Mason said, "You know, I may not kill a buck this year. It isn't looking good". So I started to restate the fact that we were buckless due to our own choices. He could have shot some nice deer, and one really nice one, but chose not to. I no sooner finished my fatherly speech when I noticed a deer coming our way. I looked it over through the binoculars and noticed it was the same little 8 I could have killed Tuesday, one that Mason had given a free pass on several occasions. I told him what deer it was as he couldn't see it from where he sat. He asked if there were any others with him, and there were not. So he said, "We're out of time. Can I kill him?" I said, "You sure can"!
With that, Mason entered into his stone-cold-killer mode. It's almost creepy to see him transform. He doesn't breath heavy, he doesn't shake, he just concentrates on what he's doing. Me, on the other hand, I breath like I'm having a coronary when he's about to shoot... I think it's worse than when I'm behind the trigger! The deer started to feed, I fired up the handycam, and Mason settled in behind the scope. The deer was 1/4 to, so he had to wait a bit. The deer stretched his leg forward, Mason asked if I was ready for him to shoot and I said yes. He made the shot, and the deer bounded off.
We gave it a minute or two and bailed out of the blind to find the arrow. Mason found it right away, covered with blood. There were just a few specks of blood around the arrow, and I found nothing else for sign. There were too many deer tracks to sort out where the deer had gone, so I had to rely on Mason's recollection as to where the deer went. There are a bunch of trails there and I started to doubt him due to the fact I couldn't find any blood for 75 yards on any of the trails I tried to follow. Nothing. Mason insisted we back out, I agreed of course.
I had to get home and close up the shop at 10. I watched the video several times and felt he made a good shot even though we had essentially nothing to indicate the deer was mortally wounded, aside from the blood-soaked arrow. I got dressed and was back out with a better light about 1030. I looked all over the dang place with seemingly no sign of a wounded deer anywhere. I thought about what Mason had said about the deer breaking away from the trail and heading downslope, and just as I shined down the hill, I saw what may have been the tiniest speck of blood I have ever found. I'll be danged, Mason paid attention and got the details right! I continued on the trail, finding those little tiny specks every 15 or 20 yards. Of course the deer didn't play nice and stay on the trail, finding where he split off cost me 45 minutes or so, but I eventually found it. When I did, and had gone just a short distance up the ridge, I could smell him. I shined the light around and saw nothing. Back on the track, I moved along slowly and was so happy to have found yet another pin head of blood that I didn't at first notice the deer laying in a pile of logs two or three steps ahead of me. What a relief! Got to work, and I swear there were coyotes circling me as I gutted. Freaked me out a bit but they never came close enough for me to shoot...which I would have gladly done! A person's imagination can go wild at 1 am when you are dragging a dead body out of the wilds... Hehe. I heard stuff coming after me, but it never caught up. Pretty sure it was bigfoot.
Mason spent his time before school looking at, spinning around, and poking the carcass of his buck. It isn't the one we hoped for, but I gotta tell you all, I don't know how we could have wrapped up the season any better without killing one of the giants. Pretty neat for him to fill his tag in the last minutes of his season, having spent countless hours patiently waiting for his own white buffalo.
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Congrats too both Mason and You Brock for one heck of a season and keeping us along for the journey, and a hell of a journey it was..... Give the young man a pat on the back for me...... :smiley_coolpeace:
Hell of a story! Hats off too ya Brock, you are raising a fine young man. That boy has many years ahead of him to put some dandies down. The size of the antlers means nothing, its the memories you guys made and all the things you taught him this season. Congrats Mason!
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Thanks fellas. In retrospect, it couldnt have been a better season of learning. He certainly learned persistance. He learned that killing one particular deer is not easy. He just learned a lot...and we had fun!
We all learned something from your season this year, just so you know.
Congrats on a great season guys! Heck of a shot Mason! Great tracking job Brock! How far did he go and what killed him eventually?
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Honestly, I have no idea. The arrow entered behind the shoulder, mid body, and exited through the front of the ham. He hit where he was aiming, I mistakenly let him shoot when the deer was not broadside. The video shows that, but at the time I thought he was pretty well squared up to catch the arrow. Completely my fault, and I knew if I didn't find him it was all on me. If I were to guess, I'd say he may have clipped the near side lung, and went dang near lengthwise through everything behind that. Mason seems to think the arrow did some kinda magic stuff like the Kennedy bullet, I think I made a poor choice on shooting when we did. If the video ever posts, you'll see it. I'd guess he went 150 yards or so.
Congrats to both of you on a fun season and to Mason on putting a buck on the ground. It was fun following along with you guys on TOO.Cant wait to see the big boys sheds when you find them.
Lumber head 75
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Congrats to you and Mason, it's been a thrill following this thread. Way to stick with it give that young man an atta boy and a pat on the back from the Lumberhead!