Post by MKMGOBL on Nov 11, 2012 13:54:04 GMT -5
I’m home from VT & not feeling great. Not sure if it was too much Crown or bug but I’ll try to get this hunt posted & sorry it took until now.
I had my camera out on a scrape line in an area I’m hunting but because I’m leaving for the weekend, I didn’t want to leave it out. So after a school drop off, I headed for my hunting spot. In only street cloth & my orange hat, I was in there just for the camera. I had no intentions of hunting but thought I’d better grab my smokepole just in case I jump something so I went back to my truck to get it.
Not far from my truck I did just that. He jumped up & quickly disappeared into the cover but not before I saw bone on his head. I shoulder the smokepole & found a break in the cover to slip in a vital quartering shot before he totally was gone. With the wind blowing the cloud of smoke, I got to see him hunch up from the shot so I knew he was hit. I didn’t wait too long (a good 15min) because I never heard him running off from my last spot I saw him so I thought he was down. I only wanted to see the spot I shot for a good blood trail gauge. As I got close to the spot, a deer jumped from where I last saw him so I backed out. I figured I’d pull the camera, put away the camera/gun & then go get him.
My gut knotted up looking at my photos on the card! I knew what I just shot was not the beast sharing at my camera. After sharing what happened & the trail camera photo with a few friends, I went back up to the last known spot I saw the deer.
Sure enough, blood….lots of blood so I thought this would be an easy recovery. Well it turned out not as easy as I thought but it wasn’t hard either. It turned out the buck would go a good 20yds or so & leave a decent amount of blood standing. Then he would walk off & find that blood trail was not easy. I’d mark the last spot & do a small grid search on the same line the blood trail was heading. Both times I ended up going back to the last known spot & starting over again which worked. After the deer crossed a stone wall, I really got stumped! He it an old skidder road & just disappeared!
I decided to call Thunderchicken to let him know I’m heading back to my truck to get my smokepole, give the deer so more time & that I would be in VT camp but late. As I’m talking with him walking down the skidder road towards my truck, I saw another one of the those standing spots of the deer. He did a hard right & was heading back towards my truck. I keep a slow pace finding blood here & there stopping every 5yds to scan ahead. In one of my stop & scan, there he was. I called up thunderchicken again & told him I found him…he’s 25yds in front of me at the base of tree looking at me! It was very obvious he wasn’t going anywhere so I had to circle around him in order to get to my truck & my smokepole. Here’s a photo of the spike by the tree before I left & I’ll let these three clips tell what happened next. These short clips were made with my Sony Cyber-Shot on video so it’s not like a HD video camera but you’ll get the idea.
I ended up backing my truck right up to the deer. One of the easiest/shortest drags I’ve had in years. My shot on him was a hard quartering shot that entered in the right side of his belly exiting out his front left shoulder. The shot took out his liver & his left lung which explained the mix of bright & dark red blood I was finding on the tracking job.
You got to love it when your gut feeling, my original gut feeling to take the smokepole not the one after seeing the trail card pays off. Now some of you guy know me & know I’m a pretty picky hunter. This young buck would have gotten a free pass by me all day & all season long. However, under other circumstances & how the hunt unfolded…..I’m a very happy hunter
Very nice tall spike that tipped the scale at 108lb
Now take a look at what kicked me in the lower half & got my gut knotted up! I’ll be bowhunting this guy for sure
I had my camera out on a scrape line in an area I’m hunting but because I’m leaving for the weekend, I didn’t want to leave it out. So after a school drop off, I headed for my hunting spot. In only street cloth & my orange hat, I was in there just for the camera. I had no intentions of hunting but thought I’d better grab my smokepole just in case I jump something so I went back to my truck to get it.
Not far from my truck I did just that. He jumped up & quickly disappeared into the cover but not before I saw bone on his head. I shoulder the smokepole & found a break in the cover to slip in a vital quartering shot before he totally was gone. With the wind blowing the cloud of smoke, I got to see him hunch up from the shot so I knew he was hit. I didn’t wait too long (a good 15min) because I never heard him running off from my last spot I saw him so I thought he was down. I only wanted to see the spot I shot for a good blood trail gauge. As I got close to the spot, a deer jumped from where I last saw him so I backed out. I figured I’d pull the camera, put away the camera/gun & then go get him.
My gut knotted up looking at my photos on the card! I knew what I just shot was not the beast sharing at my camera. After sharing what happened & the trail camera photo with a few friends, I went back up to the last known spot I saw the deer.
Sure enough, blood….lots of blood so I thought this would be an easy recovery. Well it turned out not as easy as I thought but it wasn’t hard either. It turned out the buck would go a good 20yds or so & leave a decent amount of blood standing. Then he would walk off & find that blood trail was not easy. I’d mark the last spot & do a small grid search on the same line the blood trail was heading. Both times I ended up going back to the last known spot & starting over again which worked. After the deer crossed a stone wall, I really got stumped! He it an old skidder road & just disappeared!
I decided to call Thunderchicken to let him know I’m heading back to my truck to get my smokepole, give the deer so more time & that I would be in VT camp but late. As I’m talking with him walking down the skidder road towards my truck, I saw another one of the those standing spots of the deer. He did a hard right & was heading back towards my truck. I keep a slow pace finding blood here & there stopping every 5yds to scan ahead. In one of my stop & scan, there he was. I called up thunderchicken again & told him I found him…he’s 25yds in front of me at the base of tree looking at me! It was very obvious he wasn’t going anywhere so I had to circle around him in order to get to my truck & my smokepole. Here’s a photo of the spike by the tree before I left & I’ll let these three clips tell what happened next. These short clips were made with my Sony Cyber-Shot on video so it’s not like a HD video camera but you’ll get the idea.
I ended up backing my truck right up to the deer. One of the easiest/shortest drags I’ve had in years. My shot on him was a hard quartering shot that entered in the right side of his belly exiting out his front left shoulder. The shot took out his liver & his left lung which explained the mix of bright & dark red blood I was finding on the tracking job.
You got to love it when your gut feeling, my original gut feeling to take the smokepole not the one after seeing the trail card pays off. Now some of you guy know me & know I’m a pretty picky hunter. This young buck would have gotten a free pass by me all day & all season long. However, under other circumstances & how the hunt unfolded…..I’m a very happy hunter
Very nice tall spike that tipped the scale at 108lb
Now take a look at what kicked me in the lower half & got my gut knotted up! I’ll be bowhunting this guy for sure
Now the pressure is off, and you can take your time chasing that big guy with your bow. Nothing like having one in your freezer and still plenty of hunting time left...and a tag in your pocket 
Congrats!!