He's my story...
I wanted this season to be different; no cameras, no food plot, no bait, no intrusion and no high expectations. I had great encounters early season, but I couldn't get a shot with my longbow. An elbow injury (lateral epicondylitis) had me switch to my crossbow a few weeks ago. The morning of Saturday November 3rd my sons and I blew supplemental cellulose insulation into our attic space. I was up in the attic while they fed the machine. To say that I was sore after that ordeal is an understatement. My attic space is small and I am big. Knees on joists for two hours is bad stuff. I forced myself to go hunting that evening and I'm glad that I did.
I hunted my five acres in Williams County. We've owned the property for six years and it's only the second time that they rotated with corn. I knew this season was going to be good there. I hunted it only one evening on opening weekend and that's when those two dogs jumped that nice buck out of the corn and ran him right passed me; his rack was crammed with corn stalks.
The corn was still up that evening and as I walked to my stand I jumped two doe bedding right outside the corn. I climbed up my 20 foot ladder stand only to find a Raccoon staring at right me. He shit his drawers and scurried up the tree and as I got settled in. Ten minutes later a doe fawn ran in front of me and I later found out that another hunter jumped her out of the adjoining woods. The next deer to arrive on scene was a fairly large button buck. He must have been a very early birth. A doe fawn came out of the corn and joined him a few minutes later. My stand is 30 yards from a mineral site. This mineral site is as much of a scent checking area as it is a mineral site. Every deer that I saw on Saturday stopped there. Both fawns headed west and met up with a nice sized doe, presumably there mother. She worked her way down wind and then upwind towards the mineral site. She stopped broadside to my left and I let her have it. She donkey kicked and headed to the corn. YES!!
I texted my son to let him know that I shot a big old doe and he would soon have his roasts. I glassed the impact site and looked at my arrow. Where's the blood? I MISSED?! The crazy part was that I ranged that exact spot three times. 26 yards. I saw her at the edge of the corn with the two fawns and as she blew, they headed back into the corn.
After ten minutes or so, I tried a rattling sequence and almost immediately after I hung up my antlers, a fork ran onto the scene. He instinctively headed to the mineral site. My arrow was laying there and he went straight to it, smelled it and then proceeded to lick it. It was then that I realized the arrow must have grazed that doe. He headed back towards the corn. I caught movement in the corner where the doe and fawns escaped. Buck. I could see him working a scrape in the corner. The fork worked his way towards him. I could see a heavy rack. Just like the doe, he headed down wind and then upwind toward the mineral sight. He too smelled the arrow and then stood in the exact same spot as the doe. At that point I wasn't even sure I was going to shoot this buck. He then took a step exposing his full rib cage almost perfectly broadside; right leg out in front. It was the picture perfect shot. A split second before I pulled the trigger, a calm came over me and the moment was spiritual. I knew that I was going to harvest this buck. Thwack! He ran northeast through my woods and I heard the crash and his gasping coughs for air.
I texted a few people including Nate-OhioWhiteTails. I didn't wait too long to get down as I glassed the arrow and saw that it was red. I inspected the arrow that grazed the doe and it was clean except for a little hair. I'm grateful that I didn't injure her.
I snuck out and called Nate. He wanted to come out and help, but I refused since it was an hour drive. The track job was easy and I could actually smell him. I knelt down and touched him as I prayed and gave thanks for his life.
The 125 Rage Hypodermic did it's job. I'm 90% sure that the buck that was run by me on opening weekend is the buck that I shot on November 3rd. He is the first buck I've taken off of our land. With two broken tines, he is a 12pt. I hated that I didn't wipe the blood from his face, but my home made camera mount worked very well. On a side note, I only seem TOO shoot bucks every other year. 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and now 2018.
Thanks for reading...
I wanted this season to be different; no cameras, no food plot, no bait, no intrusion and no high expectations. I had great encounters early season, but I couldn't get a shot with my longbow. An elbow injury (lateral epicondylitis) had me switch to my crossbow a few weeks ago. The morning of Saturday November 3rd my sons and I blew supplemental cellulose insulation into our attic space. I was up in the attic while they fed the machine. To say that I was sore after that ordeal is an understatement. My attic space is small and I am big. Knees on joists for two hours is bad stuff. I forced myself to go hunting that evening and I'm glad that I did.
I hunted my five acres in Williams County. We've owned the property for six years and it's only the second time that they rotated with corn. I knew this season was going to be good there. I hunted it only one evening on opening weekend and that's when those two dogs jumped that nice buck out of the corn and ran him right passed me; his rack was crammed with corn stalks.
The corn was still up that evening and as I walked to my stand I jumped two doe bedding right outside the corn. I climbed up my 20 foot ladder stand only to find a Raccoon staring at right me. He shit his drawers and scurried up the tree and as I got settled in. Ten minutes later a doe fawn ran in front of me and I later found out that another hunter jumped her out of the adjoining woods. The next deer to arrive on scene was a fairly large button buck. He must have been a very early birth. A doe fawn came out of the corn and joined him a few minutes later. My stand is 30 yards from a mineral site. This mineral site is as much of a scent checking area as it is a mineral site. Every deer that I saw on Saturday stopped there. Both fawns headed west and met up with a nice sized doe, presumably there mother. She worked her way down wind and then upwind towards the mineral site. She stopped broadside to my left and I let her have it. She donkey kicked and headed to the corn. YES!!
I texted my son to let him know that I shot a big old doe and he would soon have his roasts. I glassed the impact site and looked at my arrow. Where's the blood? I MISSED?! The crazy part was that I ranged that exact spot three times. 26 yards. I saw her at the edge of the corn with the two fawns and as she blew, they headed back into the corn.
After ten minutes or so, I tried a rattling sequence and almost immediately after I hung up my antlers, a fork ran onto the scene. He instinctively headed to the mineral site. My arrow was laying there and he went straight to it, smelled it and then proceeded to lick it. It was then that I realized the arrow must have grazed that doe. He headed back towards the corn. I caught movement in the corner where the doe and fawns escaped. Buck. I could see him working a scrape in the corner. The fork worked his way towards him. I could see a heavy rack. Just like the doe, he headed down wind and then upwind toward the mineral sight. He too smelled the arrow and then stood in the exact same spot as the doe. At that point I wasn't even sure I was going to shoot this buck. He then took a step exposing his full rib cage almost perfectly broadside; right leg out in front. It was the picture perfect shot. A split second before I pulled the trigger, a calm came over me and the moment was spiritual. I knew that I was going to harvest this buck. Thwack! He ran northeast through my woods and I heard the crash and his gasping coughs for air.
I texted a few people including Nate-OhioWhiteTails. I didn't wait too long to get down as I glassed the arrow and saw that it was red. I inspected the arrow that grazed the doe and it was clean except for a little hair. I'm grateful that I didn't injure her.
I snuck out and called Nate. He wanted to come out and help, but I refused since it was an hour drive. The track job was easy and I could actually smell him. I knelt down and touched him as I prayed and gave thanks for his life.
The 125 Rage Hypodermic did it's job. I'm 90% sure that the buck that was run by me on opening weekend is the buck that I shot on November 3rd. He is the first buck I've taken off of our land. With two broken tines, he is a 12pt. I hated that I didn't wipe the blood from his face, but my home made camera mount worked very well. On a side note, I only seem TOO shoot bucks every other year. 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and now 2018.
Thanks for reading...
