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My dead deer story...It was ALL luck!!! and I mean that!

Tree Monkey

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NW ohio
Here is the story Finelyshredded asked for......

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I harvested BOB on Oct 15th, 2007 with a bow, my first bow kill by the way! I had just moved to Delaware county mid summer 2006 and was out driving doing some road scouting early august and I saw this big boy with his buddies feeding in a bean field only 300 yrds off the road. I made a mental note of where I he went and the property. Well at my Job I was talking hunting and a fellow co-worker said I got some land you can hunt and no one has hunted it for about 8 yrs. I said I will take it and low and behold it was the same field I saw BOB in, I figured I was going to die soon because I usually don’t have that kind of luck. I started hunting him during 2006 season but never saw BOB. I wanted to limit the amount of disruption to the land. So I used google earth and pick some spots, going went with my first hunch I set up in the corner of the field I first saw BOB in. I thought I had a killer spot close to a trail leading to the field. First night in I saw 20 deer all does and yearlings. I kept seeing deer but no big bucks, I finally saw a small buck running a creek that was directly in front of me 150yrds in the woods. I thought maybe I am not close enough to his main bedding area thus I wasn’t seeing him before dark. I started asking the landowner and he said "oh yea I see a big one cross the road at the bridge at night all the time". So that got me thinking and I figured out from google earth that I was hanging out in his night time stopping grounds. I moved my stand across the road and along the 80 yrd wide creek /wood finger connecting two big woods together. In my first time in the new stand I had a doe and two yearlings come right to my stand and small buck from behind me. I thought damn I am set, well for the rest of the season those were the only deer I would see from the stand! Until one morning of the 2006 season when I looked to my right and walking along the creek on a well used trail was BOB he cut across the creek 60 yds from me then walking across from my right to left I thought what the heck I will try a grunt and sure enough that got his attention he hit another trail and came walking right to me but stop once he reached the far creek bank(30yds) and just looked in my direction I was frozen, he looked around checked the wind turned around and walked away like he was in no hurry. I was starting to second guess myself maybe I should of took a shot or grunted more. During the 2007 season I wasn't seeing any deer around until I had to leave my stand early one evening because of a meeting. I got to my car and looked back at my stand which I could see from the road. And who was walking out underneath my stand but BOB!!!I about threw up on the spot! I went back the next night and hung out in my stand well after dark hoping to hear or see him sneaking through the finger but nothing. Almost a week to the day, Oct 15th I was busying doing some extra work it was a Sunday and it was hot 70’s and My wife was going out of town and I thought heck I can’t shoot one if I am not in the stand so I hurried up and got my work done and cleaned up and scent proofed myself. Changing my entrance to my stand I came in a shorter way and used the creek bottom to sneak in my stand. Under my stand were the doe and her yearlings. I just squatted down and waited for them to slip off and snuck into my stand and thought you know I am gonna move 8 more feet up the tree than I usually did. I prejudged my distances and said I can shoot here but I can’t shoot there. It was getting dark and once again no deer. Until 6:18 when I caught what looked like and antler going up down behind a big oak tree to my left, the next 45 secs went by like 2 secs it was all reaction and no thinking.......
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
32,660
274
SW Ohio
Great story TM, but you kind of left us hangin abit! We're hard but still waiting for the climax. LOL What happened next?
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,091
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the next 45 secs went by like 2 secs it was all reaction and no thinking.......

.... So I drew back and shot him in the ass.. No wait that Hoyt's story.. :)
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,096
160
Southeast Ohio
the next 45 secs went by like 2 secs it was all reaction and no thinking.......

.... So I drew back and shot him in the ass.. No wait that Hoyt's story.. :)

Oh snap, somebody just got burnt!



Nice deer Monkey. You aren't the guy that missed the deer and scared it so bad it did a backflip into the creek and drowned, are you?
 

Tree Monkey

Member
1,825
0
NW ohio
sorry fellas, I had a game to get ready for yesterday and could only post the first half .I will give you the second part of the story....maybe tonight but for sure tomorrow! Oh by the way I am not pulling a coonie just didn't have much time. lol
 
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Tree Monkey

Member
1,825
0
NW ohio
…… it was a monster so I stood up slowly and got my bow in hand, as he moved through the woods like a ghost I realized he was going to come open at 35 yds. He was walking broad side and at full draw I waited until he stop for a split second and I squeezed a shot, I remember the sound the arrow made as it hit the mark. He kicked and was on a dead run, I listened as I heard him crashing through the woods and I sat down and thought FUUUUUG what just happened. I then begin to shake and go numb I remember my legs shaking like crazy and my hands barely able to get my phone out of my pocket.I get on the phone and I call my dad and say I think I just shot a monster, he asks how big I just say monster. I told him I would call when I got down and looked around. I then called my uncle and told him the same, this is the uncle that got me started he said go look at the signs and call him back. Before I got down I called my wife who was out of town and I say I shot a monster she is like shut up are you serious and I reply yea it’s the biggest one I have seen in person. My wife later told me she thought I was going to cry. As I am waiting 45mins before I got down I thought dang I think I hit a little far back and wasn’t sure but I thought I saw the arrow hanging out. So I climb down and walk over to the spot of contact, dirt kicked up and a drop of blood. I go back to my car to shed some clothing and as I am walking the same trail I used to come in I walk into a scrape and let me tell you it smelled to high heaven he most of made it just before I shot him because it wasn’t there before. I went back to where I shot him and I walked a little longer to find a lot of dark red blood and it’s only comming out one side of him. Ten more yards down the trail I find the arrow with about 13 ins of blood on it and still good blood along the trail.Ten more yards of good blood and than none!! I start getting sick and make the last spot and look around but careful not to move and think where he could of went based on what I heard after the shot. By now it’s getting dark and I don’t have a dang flashlight so I go to the land owners and asked him for a flash light and I go back and start looking for more blood. I started from the last marked blood sport and start circling around and look for another hour and I finally decided to back out. Here is where the luck really starts to kick in!!! I only have three personal days so I decided to call my boss but he isn’t answering his phone and I want to talk to him personally and not leave a message. I keep calling all night but no answer, I try to sleep but I can’t because the whole day keeps replaying in my mind I decide to just get up about 3 am and get my clothes ready for work and my bag backed with hunting clothes just in case I can get off for the day. I was told my boss comes in around 4 am to work out before the start of the day. So I go dressed in work clothes and literally sit down on the floor by his office door at 4:00 in the morning. My game plan is to let him see I came ready to work but ask him if I can use a personal day and go finish my tracking job and tell him how important it is that I go find the deer because a storm was suppose to hit around two that afternoon. I was afraid whatever blood I could find would be washed away and then I would be walking around just looking and hoping to walk up on the deer.
So I am sitting and waiting and each hour passes by and he is nowhere to be found. Around 7 am his second in command comes to work and says that our boss is home sick and won’t be in. So I proceed to tell him my story and he says no problem but hurry up and go find the deer before the rain. I planned on only taking a half day off when I left thinking it wouldn’t take me long to find him. …………
 
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Tree Monkey

Member
1,825
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NW ohio
,……….Since laying in bed all night I thought about my shot and figured I liver shot him and he would only of went 150 yards and bedded down. I speed out to woods and start from my last sign of blood and start crawling on my hands and knees looking for blood around 7:30am and call a fellow hunter who was not working that day and asked him to come help me and we split up and started walking the finger off in grids and making sure we stayed 10-15yds apart combing back and forth. I explained to him and told him what I saw that night, blood, and the arrow. He proceeds to tell me that he thinks I shot him in the rear and that the deer will be fine and he keeps telling me that and I start to believe him. He has hunted many more years than me and figure he knows what he is talking about. But in the back of my mind I knew that I had hit in the deer in the liver at the least. My partner and I continue looking for blood and it’s about 10 am and I tell him well I have to get back to work because I only took a personal day and said I am going to look and see if I can tell where he crossed the creek and maybe when he jumped down he left some blood. I look down the first trail that looks like a cattle trail and nothing. So I walk the trail across and follow it for about 15 yrds as I am looking for blood I am looking for a deer as well but nothing. I walk back and tell my buddy that I didn’t see any sign and start to hope he didn’t run into the standing cornfield that is across one part of the creek. As we are standing on the side of the creek I say wait a minute there is a trail over there that I didn’t check that was just 10yrs to the left of trail I just looked at. So my buddy takes the first trail and I take the second one and I walk up to a log laying across that is high enough he would have had to jump over and sure enough on the other side is a small dime size drop of blood and I scream I have blood!! My buddy walks over and is like on shit that isn’t much to go on. We are talking and my buddy continues to say that he thinks I shot him in the rear and I say well I will go back to work and come back after work to look from this spot. As we are talking I say wow look at that rub over there on that little hill that thing is huge. So I start walking over there and soon as I get to the hill I can see a deer laying there at the base of the tree and I say FUGGG , there is my deer laying right there, I sprint over to him and just start laughing and grabbing his antlers to get a better look at them. He was the biggest body deer I had seen and a huge rack to boot. I then realize that it is BOB and because of the speed of the moment the night before I wasn't able to count points or see if it was him but just that it was a big deer. He most of died on his death run the previous night from the shot because even though I hit his liver I clipped the back of his lungs thank god because he was only 5 yrds from a standing cornfield. ………
 
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Tree Monkey

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NW ohio
My buddy is like how the heck are the two of us going to get him out of here?!?! I was more worried about calling into work and getting the rest of the day off, which I was granted! I start calling my family back home and telling them the big news! I also start giving them the bad news. The fact that because it only got down to 70 that night the deer was tight as a steel drum, but everyone said oh he is ok to eat and I was believing them until I started to field dress him! I butcher deer, hogs, and cows and it never bothers me but let me tell I about threw up when I opened his belly up! After that I decided not to save any of the meat but let the coyotes snack on it. My buddy and I hurry back to his house to get his four wheeler to get the deer out before his hide started to go bad and I couldn’t use his cape for a mount. I also didn’t have a truck or trailer and my buddy had to go and wasn’t able to take my deer to the check in station. Well you ever seen a monster buck on the TOP of a 1995 mazda protégé ???? He was too big to fit in the trunk so I was limited on my options and being new didn’t know anyone else that would be able to help me out. …....
 

Tree Monkey

Member
1,825
0
NW ohio
I got a lot of looks and more guys giving me the thumbs up and laughing on my way to the check in station. I was able to find a taxidermist that offered to cape out and get rid of body since the meat was bad! After the 60 day drying period I took the rack to a local OBBC scorer and he said he got a picture of my deer and said damn the pictures don’t do it justice. I listened as he looked it over and said this will score well and I brought in a sheet that I had scored it at and told him I would wait and see how close I was. He then showed my his trophy room and his biggest deer which was shot less than a mile from mine and looked VERY similar to his but his was from 5 years ago! He came up with a final score of 164 5/8 and netted 160 4/8 which was one inch less than his and third in the county for typical bow kills. Oh by the way I shot him 5 feet from where I first encountered him the previous season and he was the second buck I had seen from the stand in two years. Maybe only the tenth deer I saw in two seasons from that stand but I knew he had to be using that finger it was just a matter of time before he crossed my path. Bottom line is I was lucky to harvest this buck!!
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
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North Central Ohio
Awsome story man. The clarity in the memory of that day shows it was a GREAT hunt. Things like this is the reason we all get out there as much as we can :D.

Great buck ya got there and good luck this season buddy.
 

Tree Monkey

Member
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NW ohio
Thanks Red, with coaching football its REALLY hard to get out in the woods in the fall. I hope to get out more this year than last!. Red the one thing that sticks out in my mind is that BOB moved with out a sound, the two close encounters I had with him he never made a sound.
 
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RedCloud

Super Moderator
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17,437
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North Central Ohio
Thanks Red, with coaching football its REALLY hard to get out in the woods in the fall. I hope to get out more this year than last!. Red the one thing that sticks out in my mind is that BOB moved with out a sound, the two close encounters I had with him he never made a sound.

The biggest and best ones NEVER make a sound :D.
 

Jackalope

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A Little tip also Tree Monkey, NEVER call that guy back to help you track blood..... I mean Never. A good friend helping you track blood should be more excited than you to find your deer. He should push you to keep looking, and not give up... If looking the next day or hours later, He should tell you he thinks it was a good hit, even though it may look questionable.

That guy you called who was constantly saying he thinks you shot it in the ass was of no help to you.. With an atitude like that, and to keep saying it, i can guarantee he wasn't looking too hard for blood. And was probably goobering it up more than he was helping.

You need a good friend on the blood with you.. Somebody who cares and wants to find your deer worse than you do. Helping a buddy find a deer after a long track, is almost as good as being in the stand when he shot it.


Just saying man... Just saying..