Dave said I should tell the story of my deer, that is currently hanging over my fireplace. I will back up a few weeks before I shot the deer and start there.
In 2014 my middle son said he wanted to start hunting, he was 15 and I told him the farm was the perfect hunting spot. I had been hunting a handful of times with a couple different buddies but never really learned much about hunting. My friend Jay is an avid life long hunter, he is eat up with it, now he mostly only bow hunts and great at learning the deer signs, patterns and thermals, all the things that I am just really starting to learn.
We go to the farm in November 2014 and on November 15th I am hunting from a ground blind and Jay is hunting in a lock on, I have a very nice Buck bumping a couple does and they come near the blind and the only shot is with him facing me and I know enough that is not a crossbow shot, he was in thick cover and turned and took off toward the other side of the farm where Jay was. I texted him and said you have big boy headed your way, he was like yea right. I now know that using electronics to aid in the taking of deer is illegal, not sure if texting falls into this.
Jay has time to get to stand up grab his bow and see the deer coming across behind him, it is worth noting that he has severe hearing loss and very well may have not heard the deer run behind him. He takes the shot and tell me he is pretty sure he hit it, now we wait an hour to make sure if he is hit, he has time to go lay down and die.
Another part of the story, Jay’s father passed away in September 2013 and my father passed away in December 2013, so this all adds more emotion to hunts.
We get down and start tracking his deer and we find him on the woods road about 150 yards from where he shot him we find him. Even I am remembering he is 145” gross and 138” net.
Fast forward 17 days and I am back at the farm hunting during fun week with my 2 younger sons. I have bought my $300 dollar 12’ camper and have it set up over looking a creek about 70’ below me. My youngest son Benjamin who was 8 at the time was in the camper with me.
Remember this is my second time hunting on the farm. So around 7:30 a group of does come by the camper and Benjamin is sound asleep, I try to wake him up to no avail. I think hum should I shot a doe, na too early in the week, it is only Tuesday. A few minutes go by and Benjamin wakes up and I telling about the does and behind him through a window I see a doe running toward the camper on an old woods road about 20-25 yards in front of the camper. Then I see the Buck right behind her, she stops right in front of my window and he mounts her. They are behind a small tree and he pushes her forward a few feet and gives me a shot. Boom! Shot him right off of her, he flips of and that is all, he graveyard dead as Jerry Clower used to say.
He is 144 inches gross, don’t remember net but it was several inches less.
At the time Baums Lumber had a contest for the heaviest deer, $100 credit for first place and $50 for second place. My deer was 198 pounds field dressed and Jay’s was 196 pounds field dressed. We took first and second place that year.
Don’t know if we will ever take 2 140”+ deer in the same year again but it was great fun. My buddy told me I was going to be spoiled and that I had killed a deer of a lifetime, that I might never get a deer that size again. Truth be told I have passed on many deer that I could have enjoyed taking because of it, no more my goal is to put my younger 2 sons on a nice deer.
My oldest killed a nice 130” deer the day after the election in 2016.
In 2015 during youth weekend my younger sons Caleb and Benjamin got their first bucks
Benjamin on Saturday
and Caleb on Sunday.
A perfect youth weekend.
Hunting has brought us lots of joy, fun times together and disappointments, but it is teaching the boys to stick with it. I don’t really care if I kill another big deer, now don’t get me wrong I will keep trying but won’t pass on a nice Buck if I want to shoot it.
In 2014 my middle son said he wanted to start hunting, he was 15 and I told him the farm was the perfect hunting spot. I had been hunting a handful of times with a couple different buddies but never really learned much about hunting. My friend Jay is an avid life long hunter, he is eat up with it, now he mostly only bow hunts and great at learning the deer signs, patterns and thermals, all the things that I am just really starting to learn.
We go to the farm in November 2014 and on November 15th I am hunting from a ground blind and Jay is hunting in a lock on, I have a very nice Buck bumping a couple does and they come near the blind and the only shot is with him facing me and I know enough that is not a crossbow shot, he was in thick cover and turned and took off toward the other side of the farm where Jay was. I texted him and said you have big boy headed your way, he was like yea right. I now know that using electronics to aid in the taking of deer is illegal, not sure if texting falls into this.
Jay has time to get to stand up grab his bow and see the deer coming across behind him, it is worth noting that he has severe hearing loss and very well may have not heard the deer run behind him. He takes the shot and tell me he is pretty sure he hit it, now we wait an hour to make sure if he is hit, he has time to go lay down and die.
Another part of the story, Jay’s father passed away in September 2013 and my father passed away in December 2013, so this all adds more emotion to hunts.
We get down and start tracking his deer and we find him on the woods road about 150 yards from where he shot him we find him. Even I am remembering he is 145” gross and 138” net.
Fast forward 17 days and I am back at the farm hunting during fun week with my 2 younger sons. I have bought my $300 dollar 12’ camper and have it set up over looking a creek about 70’ below me. My youngest son Benjamin who was 8 at the time was in the camper with me.
Remember this is my second time hunting on the farm. So around 7:30 a group of does come by the camper and Benjamin is sound asleep, I try to wake him up to no avail. I think hum should I shot a doe, na too early in the week, it is only Tuesday. A few minutes go by and Benjamin wakes up and I telling about the does and behind him through a window I see a doe running toward the camper on an old woods road about 20-25 yards in front of the camper. Then I see the Buck right behind her, she stops right in front of my window and he mounts her. They are behind a small tree and he pushes her forward a few feet and gives me a shot. Boom! Shot him right off of her, he flips of and that is all, he graveyard dead as Jerry Clower used to say.
He is 144 inches gross, don’t remember net but it was several inches less.
At the time Baums Lumber had a contest for the heaviest deer, $100 credit for first place and $50 for second place. My deer was 198 pounds field dressed and Jay’s was 196 pounds field dressed. We took first and second place that year.
Don’t know if we will ever take 2 140”+ deer in the same year again but it was great fun. My buddy told me I was going to be spoiled and that I had killed a deer of a lifetime, that I might never get a deer that size again. Truth be told I have passed on many deer that I could have enjoyed taking because of it, no more my goal is to put my younger 2 sons on a nice deer.
My oldest killed a nice 130” deer the day after the election in 2016.
In 2015 during youth weekend my younger sons Caleb and Benjamin got their first bucks
Benjamin on Saturday
and Caleb on Sunday.
A perfect youth weekend.
Hunting has brought us lots of joy, fun times together and disappointments, but it is teaching the boys to stick with it. I don’t really care if I kill another big deer, now don’t get me wrong I will keep trying but won’t pass on a nice Buck if I want to shoot it.
