I will start this one out with what a fun past couple of weeks it's been in the deer woods! Bare with me it might be a long story,I have been seeing lots of rut activity even with some of the hot weather that moved in.
I had some nice bucks around me but just never could get a good shot opportunity,always something in the way or they were just out of my comfort zone on distance.
I had one nice buck i called Crabby that i rattled in on the 10th but he came in behind me and stood at 30 yards and walked by in the thick stuff.. so damn frustrating but fun! I had him a few evenings before at 40 yards out in the field another no go.
Had another nice one out searching the same morning and crossed the field about 80 yards out,it was a hot day but the bucks were all out searching like they knew things were gonna bust loose soon.
One spot i had been seeing alot of activity but had no stand there so on Tuesday the 10th at lunchtime Cole ran over and helped me put up a stand, the plan was i would hunt it the next several days.
I was in the stand the next day and saw several small bucks a couple checking out my decoy i put out plus had one descent buck eating a few acorns 70 yards away then things slowed down.
Finally on the morning of the 12th i woke up to nice cold temps, had alot of small bucks cruising around, that afternoon i looked to the East and saw a real nice buck that had a flyer point kicking back off his right g2 chasing a doe up and down a ravine,around 5 the doe came busting out of the ravine with the flyer buck in tow, she ran right by me and did a quick turn North and the buck stopped just out of my range...just my luck so far this season, pretty soon she took off across the bean field and ran into another section of the woods with the big boy along with 2 smaller bucks following, darkness came quick and i slipped out of there.
The next morning was Friday the 13th and what a day it would end up being!
Another nice cool day had the deer out moving,saw several deer a couple small ones checking out my decoy i call Rocky lol, around 10:30 i look across the field to the west and noticed several smaller bucks just staring in the woods and running in and out so i figured their was probably a hot doe over there.
I slipped out around noon ate some lunch and decided i needed to be in that section of woods so slipped into my corner stand and settled in at 1:30, it is a great strip of woods that funnels into a bigger section of woods.
My stand is facing West and at 2:15 i hear deer grunting and running to my left which is South of me and see 2 small bucks and then a doe and the big flyer buck, he chases her around me 3 times and never had any good shots.. talk about intense but frustrating!
Things were quiet other than a fawn walking under me and bedding down about 60 yards west in front of me,had 2 small bucks come by and harass the fawn a little then move off and the fawn bedded down again.
Around 4pm i noticed some deer entering the funnel from the West heading East in the woods i am in about 150 yards North of me but couldn't tell what they were,at 4:15 i saw them coming along the east side of the woods heading south my direction!
First i saw a big doe and she was being followed by a really nice buck and a small buck,i figured she must of been close to coming in heat as the big buck just stayed 15 or 20 yards the whole way just keeping her in his sight and he wasn't happy with the small buck as he would stop several times and throw his head around and snort wheeze at him.
They were 40 yards from me so i snapped a few pics and got some video of him on my phone when he turned and looked in the woods my direction i knew i wanted to shoot this buck!
The doe entered the woods about 50 yards behind me heading south and the 2 bucks followed her,now they were moving Southeast and the wind was out of the Northwest so the smoker did it's job again as they never winded me,this is where i lost sight of them behind the big timber so i grabbed my grunt call and gave some really loud aggressive grunts and snort wheezed.
This pissed him off and i could see him at about 70 yards tearing up a sapling and breaking sticks then the small buck made the mistake of getting between him and the doe and he took off after him, things were getting intense now!
While that was going on i look over my left shoulder and see the doe slowly working my way picking at leaves,the buck stopped chasing the little guy and then he looked a little frantic as he lost sight of the doe behind some big oak trees i took advantage of this and hit the grunt call again and a few doe bleats and he started my way and stopped by a big tree, when he spotted the doe i got a little more video and then the doe started my way so enough of that i grabbed my bow and got ready.
I am facing South now my left shoulder leaning against the tree the doe is heading west about 30 yards out and soon was in my shooting lane at a 20 yards the buck about 15 yards behind her,now i am thinking this might actually happen! My heart rate was way up and i told myself dude you have done this many times before just take some deep breaths and dont look at the rack!
Now the doe decides to turn and head North right at me and at 4 yards from my tree looks up at me and i did my best just to melt into the tree and she turned west and walked about 10 yards right in front of me and stops,
i looked to my left and the buck is now 12 yards behind me staring at the doe! Holy crap what a view to be looking down at such a nice deer!
The doe now heads North and starts to turn East slowly heading back to the field 50 yards away, i watch the buck he starts to turn to head north now he is directly behind my tree at 15 yards so i know he cant see me move but had to keep my eye on the doe as i turned completely around without spooking her or the hunts over.
I am now facing the tree and watching the doe as i now have to back up to the end of the platform so i could shoot to my left right beside the tree as it was gonna be a tight shot and had to get left of the stand seat, i had no shooting lanes here and had one hole about a foot around with no twigs in the way and was glad he was gonna be close so i should be able to slip the arrow through.
It seemed like an eternity my heart still pounding and he finally made his move and started heading North,as soon as he started i went to full draw hit my anchor and as he stepped into my sight i let out a baaah to get him to stop but he kept going so i picked a spot and let the string slide out of my fingers....Thump!
I heard that sound and as he bounded off i saw my arrow buried in the ground and blood running down his side as he was slightly quartering away when i released. He ran about 30 yards and stopped my first instinct was to nock another arrow in case i could get another one in him.
The doe never moved and i look over at the buck and just smile as he is standing there it looked liked someone turned on a faucet blood just streaming down the exit wound pouring on the ground,he was looking around like what was that! he was dead but just didn't know it yet, about 5 seconds later his hindquarters start swaying and he fell to the ground!
Holy Crap what an intense 30 minutes that was!
The shot was 16 yards and he ran 28 yards and tipped over.
First thing i did was call Lisa and tell her,she was so excited for me knowing how much i put into this thing we call hunting! then i text a few of my friends.
Cole and my buddy Dave were hunting i told them i shot a good one and told em to finish their hunts,they asked if it was a good hit i said well we dont have to track him! lol
Talked to Stache and told him he was excited for me and started a thread would have liked my buddy Kevin to make it over but he had the covid so couldn"t come.
When Dave and Cole made it over and saw the buck on the ground i think they were as excited as i was which is what it is all about.
I will say when i decided to start this Recurve hunting several years ago first thing i did was get rid of my compound bow as i knew if it was in the house it would be a crutch and too easy to go to if i got frustrated.
Since then i just love hunting with the widow bow as she has been really good to me and it's been a good year, got another gobbler with it in the Spring and now my best recurve buck with it.
This is an awesome buck and will go in the mid 160s but thats just a number.. i will like how he looks on the wall more than anything and remember this awesome hunt forever!
This is also my fifth buck i have shot with a droptine.. how crazy is that! The quick hunts are nice but a hunt like this will test you for sure and you learn from them.
Good luck to everyone still at it i hope you all get to experience a hunt like this one.
I will post the video of him next.
I had some nice bucks around me but just never could get a good shot opportunity,always something in the way or they were just out of my comfort zone on distance.
I had one nice buck i called Crabby that i rattled in on the 10th but he came in behind me and stood at 30 yards and walked by in the thick stuff.. so damn frustrating but fun! I had him a few evenings before at 40 yards out in the field another no go.
Had another nice one out searching the same morning and crossed the field about 80 yards out,it was a hot day but the bucks were all out searching like they knew things were gonna bust loose soon.
One spot i had been seeing alot of activity but had no stand there so on Tuesday the 10th at lunchtime Cole ran over and helped me put up a stand, the plan was i would hunt it the next several days.
I was in the stand the next day and saw several small bucks a couple checking out my decoy i put out plus had one descent buck eating a few acorns 70 yards away then things slowed down.
Finally on the morning of the 12th i woke up to nice cold temps, had alot of small bucks cruising around, that afternoon i looked to the East and saw a real nice buck that had a flyer point kicking back off his right g2 chasing a doe up and down a ravine,around 5 the doe came busting out of the ravine with the flyer buck in tow, she ran right by me and did a quick turn North and the buck stopped just out of my range...just my luck so far this season, pretty soon she took off across the bean field and ran into another section of the woods with the big boy along with 2 smaller bucks following, darkness came quick and i slipped out of there.
The next morning was Friday the 13th and what a day it would end up being!
Another nice cool day had the deer out moving,saw several deer a couple small ones checking out my decoy i call Rocky lol, around 10:30 i look across the field to the west and noticed several smaller bucks just staring in the woods and running in and out so i figured their was probably a hot doe over there.
I slipped out around noon ate some lunch and decided i needed to be in that section of woods so slipped into my corner stand and settled in at 1:30, it is a great strip of woods that funnels into a bigger section of woods.
My stand is facing West and at 2:15 i hear deer grunting and running to my left which is South of me and see 2 small bucks and then a doe and the big flyer buck, he chases her around me 3 times and never had any good shots.. talk about intense but frustrating!
Things were quiet other than a fawn walking under me and bedding down about 60 yards west in front of me,had 2 small bucks come by and harass the fawn a little then move off and the fawn bedded down again.
Around 4pm i noticed some deer entering the funnel from the West heading East in the woods i am in about 150 yards North of me but couldn't tell what they were,at 4:15 i saw them coming along the east side of the woods heading south my direction!
First i saw a big doe and she was being followed by a really nice buck and a small buck,i figured she must of been close to coming in heat as the big buck just stayed 15 or 20 yards the whole way just keeping her in his sight and he wasn't happy with the small buck as he would stop several times and throw his head around and snort wheeze at him.
They were 40 yards from me so i snapped a few pics and got some video of him on my phone when he turned and looked in the woods my direction i knew i wanted to shoot this buck!
The doe entered the woods about 50 yards behind me heading south and the 2 bucks followed her,now they were moving Southeast and the wind was out of the Northwest so the smoker did it's job again as they never winded me,this is where i lost sight of them behind the big timber so i grabbed my grunt call and gave some really loud aggressive grunts and snort wheezed.
This pissed him off and i could see him at about 70 yards tearing up a sapling and breaking sticks then the small buck made the mistake of getting between him and the doe and he took off after him, things were getting intense now!
While that was going on i look over my left shoulder and see the doe slowly working my way picking at leaves,the buck stopped chasing the little guy and then he looked a little frantic as he lost sight of the doe behind some big oak trees i took advantage of this and hit the grunt call again and a few doe bleats and he started my way and stopped by a big tree, when he spotted the doe i got a little more video and then the doe started my way so enough of that i grabbed my bow and got ready.
I am facing South now my left shoulder leaning against the tree the doe is heading west about 30 yards out and soon was in my shooting lane at a 20 yards the buck about 15 yards behind her,now i am thinking this might actually happen! My heart rate was way up and i told myself dude you have done this many times before just take some deep breaths and dont look at the rack!
Now the doe decides to turn and head North right at me and at 4 yards from my tree looks up at me and i did my best just to melt into the tree and she turned west and walked about 10 yards right in front of me and stops,
i looked to my left and the buck is now 12 yards behind me staring at the doe! Holy crap what a view to be looking down at such a nice deer!
The doe now heads North and starts to turn East slowly heading back to the field 50 yards away, i watch the buck he starts to turn to head north now he is directly behind my tree at 15 yards so i know he cant see me move but had to keep my eye on the doe as i turned completely around without spooking her or the hunts over.
I am now facing the tree and watching the doe as i now have to back up to the end of the platform so i could shoot to my left right beside the tree as it was gonna be a tight shot and had to get left of the stand seat, i had no shooting lanes here and had one hole about a foot around with no twigs in the way and was glad he was gonna be close so i should be able to slip the arrow through.
It seemed like an eternity my heart still pounding and he finally made his move and started heading North,as soon as he started i went to full draw hit my anchor and as he stepped into my sight i let out a baaah to get him to stop but he kept going so i picked a spot and let the string slide out of my fingers....Thump!
I heard that sound and as he bounded off i saw my arrow buried in the ground and blood running down his side as he was slightly quartering away when i released. He ran about 30 yards and stopped my first instinct was to nock another arrow in case i could get another one in him.
The doe never moved and i look over at the buck and just smile as he is standing there it looked liked someone turned on a faucet blood just streaming down the exit wound pouring on the ground,he was looking around like what was that! he was dead but just didn't know it yet, about 5 seconds later his hindquarters start swaying and he fell to the ground!
Holy Crap what an intense 30 minutes that was!
The shot was 16 yards and he ran 28 yards and tipped over.
First thing i did was call Lisa and tell her,she was so excited for me knowing how much i put into this thing we call hunting! then i text a few of my friends.
Cole and my buddy Dave were hunting i told them i shot a good one and told em to finish their hunts,they asked if it was a good hit i said well we dont have to track him! lol
Talked to Stache and told him he was excited for me and started a thread would have liked my buddy Kevin to make it over but he had the covid so couldn"t come.
When Dave and Cole made it over and saw the buck on the ground i think they were as excited as i was which is what it is all about.
I will say when i decided to start this Recurve hunting several years ago first thing i did was get rid of my compound bow as i knew if it was in the house it would be a crutch and too easy to go to if i got frustrated.
Since then i just love hunting with the widow bow as she has been really good to me and it's been a good year, got another gobbler with it in the Spring and now my best recurve buck with it.
This is an awesome buck and will go in the mid 160s but thats just a number.. i will like how he looks on the wall more than anything and remember this awesome hunt forever!
This is also my fifth buck i have shot with a droptine.. how crazy is that! The quick hunts are nice but a hunt like this will test you for sure and you learn from them.
Good luck to everyone still at it i hope you all get to experience a hunt like this one.
I will post the video of him next.
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