Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
So, I'm going to do something I've tried really hard not to do here. I have a new book I wrote for Deer & Deer Hunting that just came out. They named it Big Buck Secrets. I don't want to make this into an infomercial on it, but still wanted to let you know. So, I'll keep it brief.
Before I wrote my first book, I knew what my first 4 would be. 1st, Advanced Stand-Hunting Strategies: all about stand placement through each phase of the season and tricks for making stands work. 2nd, Bowhunting Tactics that Deliver Trophies: I'd named it Details that Deliver Trophies, but they changed it. It's all the little details that I try to address that I believe add up to make a very big difference for me. 3rd, Big Buck Secrets: I didn't have a name for this one, but it covers the more in-depth approaches I take to hunting and is about twice as long as the other two. Don't get me wrong. Everything I do is meat and potatoes type stuff, as that's how I hunt. That said, this is the "deepest" how-too book I'll ever do on hunting. It's supposed to be the 3rd part of what's really a 3 part series.
If someone wants an autographed copy of Big Buck Secrets, kick me an email (bowwriter@yahoo.com) and I'll sell you an autographed copy for $25, tax and shipping included. That said, you can save a few $ by ordering it from amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Buck-Secrets-Steve-Bartylla/dp/144024295X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416931662&sr=8-1&keywords=big buck secrets steve bartylla&pebp=1416931670479
Keeping with the trend of doing things I never do, I can't remember ever posting a buck I've killed anywhere online for the sake of showing it off. I've posted hero shots, but there was always a reason. This time, I'm just sharing it with a bunch of friends, which I consider every regular poster here I can think of.
I did a couple things I've never done before this year. I knew with writing the book, a project Brooks and I are working on, more TV stuff on my plate and more consulting work than I could handle, I just wasn't going to be able to hunt like I typically do. In fact, as season drew closer, I realized I wouldn't even have the time to use my MN & WI tags and hunt either state at all. The part that stung the most was not hunting public land for the first time since I was 12. I enjoy the heck out of that.
So, knowing I'd only hunt IL and that I'd at most kill 2 bucks, I set my sights on the biggest 5.5+ yr old on that property and decided I'd only hunt him until he died (from me or whatever else) or season ended. Tweenie, a 5.5, projected 168-172" buck was the one that fit those criteria. It's the one I posted pics of before season saying I was after in a thread MO was talking about a stud, younger ghost he has on one of his properties. I've hunted him every single time I went out to hunt so far in 2014 and no one else.
I saw him once, when I dove into his core area, with everything seemingly perfect. It was a little too perfect. I was in stand for less than 90 seconds, bow just put on the hook and ranging markers when I heard a stick break. I look to my right and there he is staring at me, 60 yds away. That was the only time I saw him bowhunting. I kept getting his pics, but they weren't overly consistent in any one spot, except where he busted me.
Fast forward to last Sat. I was about ready to throw in the towel and honestly believed I wouldn't kill him. My latest intel just didn't do anything to tell me "THIS" is where I need to be. So, without a lack of a good plan, I simply went to the lowest impact spot I had that had the largest concentration of deer at it. That's typically my approach when I don't have some form of intel telling me what to do. With the concentration of deer, you never know when a doe or doe fawn may be smelling right and there's a reason they are concentrating there anyway. At the same time, because it's low impact, I'm able to get in and out without doing any harm.
So, a ground blind I'd set on a remote, but low impact corn field is where I headed. An hour before dark, I'd already passed a management, 3.5 yr old 8, had a handful of deer in front of the blind eating and about 20 turkeys anywhere from 3-40 yards out in front of me.
Out of the corner at just over 100 yds pops a mature buck. At first glance, I believed he was Cliff, a 4.5 that I was trying to get 1 more year on. I pointed and turned on the video cam to get some footage of him. Just to be sure, I also put the scope on him. I dang near messed myself seeing it was Tweenie. I'm telling ya, I literally fell apart. I was immediately hyperventilating and shaking like I can never remember doing before on any deer. I was a bowl of jello. As I tried to squeeze off the shot, I pulled/flinched so bad that I wouldn't have even been able to hit the sky. Thankfully, I forgot to turn the safe off. If I hadn't, no way I'd have hit him and he would have run out of my life, most likely forever. By the time I switched it off, he was still 100 yds out, but facing straight head on. I knew there was no way, being this tore up, I could make that shot. So, I adjusted the video cam and zoomed in a smidge more on him.
I was still tore up. So much so that I was very concerned that the turkeys were going to hear me hyperventilating, and I'm NOT exaggerating. I knew I'd have to take the first somewhat decent shot he offered, as this could go south any second, but I needed him to at least quarter to me, so I could put the cross hairs just in front of his near side leg and have an expanded kill zone from what head on offered. I knew in this state I couldn't make the head on shot.
Finally, after about 90 seconds, he turns slightly. Placing the cross hairs, I tried my best to fight the shakes and do a smooth trigger pull. I was off about 6", but got lucky a 2nd time and dropped him in his tracks. A VERY conservative tape job puts him at 173 5/8ths gross.
Before I wrote my first book, I knew what my first 4 would be. 1st, Advanced Stand-Hunting Strategies: all about stand placement through each phase of the season and tricks for making stands work. 2nd, Bowhunting Tactics that Deliver Trophies: I'd named it Details that Deliver Trophies, but they changed it. It's all the little details that I try to address that I believe add up to make a very big difference for me. 3rd, Big Buck Secrets: I didn't have a name for this one, but it covers the more in-depth approaches I take to hunting and is about twice as long as the other two. Don't get me wrong. Everything I do is meat and potatoes type stuff, as that's how I hunt. That said, this is the "deepest" how-too book I'll ever do on hunting. It's supposed to be the 3rd part of what's really a 3 part series.
If someone wants an autographed copy of Big Buck Secrets, kick me an email (bowwriter@yahoo.com) and I'll sell you an autographed copy for $25, tax and shipping included. That said, you can save a few $ by ordering it from amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Buck-Secrets-Steve-Bartylla/dp/144024295X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416931662&sr=8-1&keywords=big buck secrets steve bartylla&pebp=1416931670479
Keeping with the trend of doing things I never do, I can't remember ever posting a buck I've killed anywhere online for the sake of showing it off. I've posted hero shots, but there was always a reason. This time, I'm just sharing it with a bunch of friends, which I consider every regular poster here I can think of.
I did a couple things I've never done before this year. I knew with writing the book, a project Brooks and I are working on, more TV stuff on my plate and more consulting work than I could handle, I just wasn't going to be able to hunt like I typically do. In fact, as season drew closer, I realized I wouldn't even have the time to use my MN & WI tags and hunt either state at all. The part that stung the most was not hunting public land for the first time since I was 12. I enjoy the heck out of that.
So, knowing I'd only hunt IL and that I'd at most kill 2 bucks, I set my sights on the biggest 5.5+ yr old on that property and decided I'd only hunt him until he died (from me or whatever else) or season ended. Tweenie, a 5.5, projected 168-172" buck was the one that fit those criteria. It's the one I posted pics of before season saying I was after in a thread MO was talking about a stud, younger ghost he has on one of his properties. I've hunted him every single time I went out to hunt so far in 2014 and no one else.
I saw him once, when I dove into his core area, with everything seemingly perfect. It was a little too perfect. I was in stand for less than 90 seconds, bow just put on the hook and ranging markers when I heard a stick break. I look to my right and there he is staring at me, 60 yds away. That was the only time I saw him bowhunting. I kept getting his pics, but they weren't overly consistent in any one spot, except where he busted me.
Fast forward to last Sat. I was about ready to throw in the towel and honestly believed I wouldn't kill him. My latest intel just didn't do anything to tell me "THIS" is where I need to be. So, without a lack of a good plan, I simply went to the lowest impact spot I had that had the largest concentration of deer at it. That's typically my approach when I don't have some form of intel telling me what to do. With the concentration of deer, you never know when a doe or doe fawn may be smelling right and there's a reason they are concentrating there anyway. At the same time, because it's low impact, I'm able to get in and out without doing any harm.
So, a ground blind I'd set on a remote, but low impact corn field is where I headed. An hour before dark, I'd already passed a management, 3.5 yr old 8, had a handful of deer in front of the blind eating and about 20 turkeys anywhere from 3-40 yards out in front of me.
Out of the corner at just over 100 yds pops a mature buck. At first glance, I believed he was Cliff, a 4.5 that I was trying to get 1 more year on. I pointed and turned on the video cam to get some footage of him. Just to be sure, I also put the scope on him. I dang near messed myself seeing it was Tweenie. I'm telling ya, I literally fell apart. I was immediately hyperventilating and shaking like I can never remember doing before on any deer. I was a bowl of jello. As I tried to squeeze off the shot, I pulled/flinched so bad that I wouldn't have even been able to hit the sky. Thankfully, I forgot to turn the safe off. If I hadn't, no way I'd have hit him and he would have run out of my life, most likely forever. By the time I switched it off, he was still 100 yds out, but facing straight head on. I knew there was no way, being this tore up, I could make that shot. So, I adjusted the video cam and zoomed in a smidge more on him.
I was still tore up. So much so that I was very concerned that the turkeys were going to hear me hyperventilating, and I'm NOT exaggerating. I knew I'd have to take the first somewhat decent shot he offered, as this could go south any second, but I needed him to at least quarter to me, so I could put the cross hairs just in front of his near side leg and have an expanded kill zone from what head on offered. I knew in this state I couldn't make the head on shot.
Finally, after about 90 seconds, he turns slightly. Placing the cross hairs, I tried my best to fight the shakes and do a smooth trigger pull. I was off about 6", but got lucky a 2nd time and dropped him in his tracks. A VERY conservative tape job puts him at 173 5/8ths gross.
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