Someday isle
5 year old buck +
If you follow any of my threads you know I’m not necessarily an antler hunter But I do get excited when we see a nice buck on camera. This year I actually posted that we had a few does and fawns on camera but no bucks to speak of other than a three legged buck we named Tre’ And a little three pointer. Tre’ has disappeared and I’m guessing the coyotes got him. I’ve had four sits this year counting tonight. Most of our pictures are afternoon and evening pics so I haven‘t done any morning hunts. The first time out I saw seven deer, which on our 35 acres is the most I’ve ever seen in one day. There was a doe and two fawns, a couple does, and a doe and the three pointer. The second sit I saw five deer, the doe and two fawns, and another doe and fawn. Last week I only saw one deer. A tiny little doe walked under my stand from behind me about five yards away. I could hear her sneaking up with the characteristic CH CH CH in the leaves. When I peeked, the first thing I saw was this tiny little hoof. She eventually wandered off but when I got down I pulled the camera card that is sitting at the edge of that plot. There were over 800 deer pictures in that plot since September 14th. For us, that’s a ridiculous number of pictures. We had eight does and fawns in the same picture multiple times, there were four little bucks hanging together, the little three pointer, and three or four nice bucks - all appearing in the last month. A couple of the pictures I couldn’t tell if they were the same deer or not but the bigger buck pictures were all at night. We didn’t have any daylight pics of the nice bucks.
That all set it up for today. I was really eager to hunt that plot again after seeing all those pictures. As I mentioned, I’m not an antler hunter. I figure on our little 35 acres we’ll take what we can get. I think my goals are realistic based on what we have. Last year i shot a nice little 7 pointer and that was good enough for me. I harvested three deer with my bow last year and we’ve harvested 9 deer in the previous four years. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see a nice buck but I hoped to get a shot at something and maybe fill an antlerless tag tonight.
We had 16 to 17 mph winds forecast for all afternoon with 40 mph gusts. I debated even going today but with my schedule this fall I knew my opportunities to hunt we’re going to be very limited For the rest of the year. You can’t harvest them when you’re not out there and I’ve read studies that show that winds dont alter deer movement as much as you might think. So I went hunting.
At about 5:15 I saw a doe off to my left working her way up a trail through the woods probably 100 yards away and she was on a path that could lead her in my direction so I was really focused on that area. After waiting a half hour or so really scanning the woods in that area I lost sight of her as she must have wandered off in another direction eating acorns. Then I heard that same CH CH CH in the leaves behind my stand as last week and thought maybe it was that little doe again, only it was louder and moving faster. As I rolled my eyes to my right I saw the crab claw on the antler of a deer I had three pictures of. He stopped at the entrance to the plot not five yarcs to my right. He slowly walked into the plot and turned his head and looked right in my direction. I honestly thought I was busted but he wasn’t looking up - just right towards the ladder stand. He slowly walked straight ahead. I raised my bow and drew back. At fifteeen yards he turned and quartered away giving me a perfect shot. I released the arrow and instead of hearing the usual WHACK sound I heard a THUNK. I watched him run off and looked for signs of a good hit. I thought his tail was down but he was moving pretty fast. When I looked back at my arrow I could see that it was stuck in the ground and my white and orange fletching looked like it was still white and orange. I have to admit that a little doubt crept in. I wondered if I shot low and the THUNK I heard was my arrow hitting the ground. After ten minutes I packed my stuff up and climbed down to go check my arrow. There was good blood on the shaft. I followed the trail for about five yards and saw some good blood. I decided to go back to the truck, change out of my rubber boots, pack up my stuff, and kill a little time. I was pretty confident so after another fifteen minutes I went to the spot i saw the first good blood and it didn’t take long for a massive blood trail to appear. It was an easy track. The hardest part was getting him in the truck. I have no idea of inches or age. He looks pretty Grey to me and he’s got a decent size body but he’s not massive. The place I take my deer for processing sees a lot of deer. He thought maybe 3 1/2 or 4 1/2. I don’t know. I’m curious how many inches of antler you guys think he has. I wouldn‘t even know how to measure him. I am going to do a shoulder mount though. He’s pretty cool looking. He’s a main frame ten, what I’m calling a crab claw makes 11, and he’s got a little sticker on one brow tine. I’m calling him 11 points.
Sorry for the not so great pictures. It’s hard to get good pictures when you’re all alone and running out of light. That’s the entrance wound - Slick Trik magnum (100 grain) Matthews Vertix 65 lbs.
That all set it up for today. I was really eager to hunt that plot again after seeing all those pictures. As I mentioned, I’m not an antler hunter. I figure on our little 35 acres we’ll take what we can get. I think my goals are realistic based on what we have. Last year i shot a nice little 7 pointer and that was good enough for me. I harvested three deer with my bow last year and we’ve harvested 9 deer in the previous four years. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see a nice buck but I hoped to get a shot at something and maybe fill an antlerless tag tonight.
We had 16 to 17 mph winds forecast for all afternoon with 40 mph gusts. I debated even going today but with my schedule this fall I knew my opportunities to hunt we’re going to be very limited For the rest of the year. You can’t harvest them when you’re not out there and I’ve read studies that show that winds dont alter deer movement as much as you might think. So I went hunting.
At about 5:15 I saw a doe off to my left working her way up a trail through the woods probably 100 yards away and she was on a path that could lead her in my direction so I was really focused on that area. After waiting a half hour or so really scanning the woods in that area I lost sight of her as she must have wandered off in another direction eating acorns. Then I heard that same CH CH CH in the leaves behind my stand as last week and thought maybe it was that little doe again, only it was louder and moving faster. As I rolled my eyes to my right I saw the crab claw on the antler of a deer I had three pictures of. He stopped at the entrance to the plot not five yarcs to my right. He slowly walked into the plot and turned his head and looked right in my direction. I honestly thought I was busted but he wasn’t looking up - just right towards the ladder stand. He slowly walked straight ahead. I raised my bow and drew back. At fifteeen yards he turned and quartered away giving me a perfect shot. I released the arrow and instead of hearing the usual WHACK sound I heard a THUNK. I watched him run off and looked for signs of a good hit. I thought his tail was down but he was moving pretty fast. When I looked back at my arrow I could see that it was stuck in the ground and my white and orange fletching looked like it was still white and orange. I have to admit that a little doubt crept in. I wondered if I shot low and the THUNK I heard was my arrow hitting the ground. After ten minutes I packed my stuff up and climbed down to go check my arrow. There was good blood on the shaft. I followed the trail for about five yards and saw some good blood. I decided to go back to the truck, change out of my rubber boots, pack up my stuff, and kill a little time. I was pretty confident so after another fifteen minutes I went to the spot i saw the first good blood and it didn’t take long for a massive blood trail to appear. It was an easy track. The hardest part was getting him in the truck. I have no idea of inches or age. He looks pretty Grey to me and he’s got a decent size body but he’s not massive. The place I take my deer for processing sees a lot of deer. He thought maybe 3 1/2 or 4 1/2. I don’t know. I’m curious how many inches of antler you guys think he has. I wouldn‘t even know how to measure him. I am going to do a shoulder mount though. He’s pretty cool looking. He’s a main frame ten, what I’m calling a crab claw makes 11, and he’s got a little sticker on one brow tine. I’m calling him 11 points.
Sorry for the not so great pictures. It’s hard to get good pictures when you’re all alone and running out of light. That’s the entrance wound - Slick Trik magnum (100 grain) Matthews Vertix 65 lbs.
