|
I
had time to make one more whitetail hunt with Christmas still
being a week away. The
kids got out of school early Friday and we were packed and
ready to go when Donna arrived home.
Five hours later we were pulling into our deer lease in
McCullough County. After
a quick set up I was finally able to get to sleep.
Saturday
morning the temperature was in the upper 40’s.
As I walked to my stand I could only hope for another
opportunity at a 10 point that I missed before Thanksgiving.
As I got settled in my ground blind the thoughts of
that 10 would not go away.
As the dark shadows in front of me slowly began to turn
into trees I knew I could see a good buck at any time.
|
|
When
the sun was up enough to see clearly I began to hear turkey
flying down from their roost.
They were close! I
was deer hunting but when turkey show up I never pass the
opportunity to provide some fresh turkey for the family.
Time continued to pass and nothing had shown up.
I still could hear birds chirping all around me but
none would show themselves.
It was near 8 o’clock and the changing thermals were
really making me cold. After
taking a quick look around and seeing nothing I decided to put
on my coat. I
thought to myself, “This is when something will show if it
is going to”. All
was quiet as I took off my arm guard and slid my right arm
into my fleece jacket, As
I started to put my left arm into the jacket, I looked out the
window and saw a huge flock of turkey running towards my
blind.
The
flock of hens were feeding in front of me before I could
finish getting my coat on.
I slowly finished up getting the coat on, put my arm
guard back on, and turned on the camera.
I had made it without getting busted.
Now all I had to do was find a way to shoot one turkey
out of 40 to 50 birds. I
watched the birds feed for a while and they began to spread
out. One hen was
facing me and I decided that would be the one.
I made sure she was in frame and picked up my Mathews
DXT. Once I hit
full draw, I placed the pin high on the breast and touched off
the Tru-Fire release. The
Lumenok let me see that my Muzzy head had found its mark. My
arrow knocked the bird over backwards.
The rest of the flock busted up.
Some flew and some ran.
One landed on top of my blind until the bird I hit got
up on one leg and used its last bit of energy to make a futile
escape attempt. The
bird piled up in the bushes 10 yards away!
With
a bird down I started texting all of my buddies that I knew
were hunting to let them know that I had scored on a hen.
Now it was time to think about deer again.
I had decided that I was going to sit in the blind
until 10 that morning and at 9:20 I was starting to get
restless. Not
seeing any deer activity was wearing me out!
I was texting Donna to tell her when I would be heading
back to camp when I heard turkey again.
I had just told Donna that I had one bird down and it
sounded like they were coming back.
I looked up from sending the message and there was a
hen in front of me. I
grabbed my DXT and turned on the camera.
I clipped on my Tru-Fire release quickly and came to
full draw. The
bird was at 26 yards so I held my 20 yard pin on its back and
sent another Muzzy on its way!
The Lumenok showed me that I had made another good hit.
The bird spun and tried to get air borne but only made
it 20 yards before crashing into a pile of brush.
With two birds down and no deer movement I decided it
was time to head in for some breakfast.
|
|
Saturday
night a cold front came in and when I awoke Sunday morning the thermometer said
31 degrees. The wind was blowing and
it was cold! I knew when I left the trailer that the deer would be moving.
The weather was just like this last year when I scored on a decent 9
point at the same stand.
As I walked
into my blind I hung a Wildlife Research Center Quick Wick with some Buck Nip
on it in a tree 22 yards in front of my blind.
Before I walked in I sprayed down with Scent Killer and put some WRC Coon
Urine Cover Scent on my boots. I
knew the wind would be swirling at my blind and I wanted to be sure that I took
every precaution to make sure that I did not get busted.
I was settled
in my blind well before day light and boy was I glad I was in a blind.
The north wind was really howling! My
blind and the briar thicket that it was nestled into provided a good wind break
for me.
As I was
waiting for it to get light enough to see, I heard something in front of my
blind. As I looked through my Nikon
binos, I could see that it was a deer. Its
head was behind a tree but I could see a small amount of horn so I knew it was a
buck but I was not sure how good of a deer it was.
I continued to watch the deer and he finally walked out from behind the
tree and my heart began to race. At
that moment I knew he was a shooter but that is all I knew.
I could tell he was wide, well outside his ears but it was not light
enough to see the points. I looked
at my watch and it was 6:35. It did
not get light enough to film and shoot until 7:15.
I thought, “That’s 40 minutes!!!!”
I could not help but think he would not hang around that long.
As time slowly ticked by more deer began to show up.
Now that it was light enough to shoot the buck was to my right and my
camera was not set up to film in that direction.
I slowly began working the tripod over to the left one inch at a time.
If the wind had not been blowing I would not have been able to get the
camera moved without getting busted. Every
time I moved the camera, I would look at the buck and then the does in front of
me to make sure all was good. After
about 5 minutes of moving the camera, the buck was in frame.
He was not perfectly in frame but by now I could see that the buck was
what I thought to be a big 10, a buck of a life time for me and the camera
situation would just have to work.
With the
camera running I picked up my trusty DXT once again.
I came to full draw and then had to twist to my right like a pretzel.
I was now too close to the back wall for my elbow to go straight back so
it was now at a 90 degree angle to me and I had my knuckles pressed hard into my
anchor point on my ear lobe.
Let me tell you right now my form on this shot was all jacked up!
The buck took one step; I settled the pin and touched off the Tru-Fire
release. The Muzzy was on its way!
As the arrow hit the deer the Lumenok let me know that my hit was a
little forward from where I was intending to hit the deer.
He jumped and kicked and ran out of sight!
I was looking out the window of my blind on the shot next to the right
edge of the window so when he took 4 steps I lost him.
I heard brush crash and then I heard him coughing and then silence!
I set there replaying the shot in my mind hoping and praying that I had
made a good shot. My experience told
me from what I had just heard that I had made a great shot but my emotions were
making me doubt what my experience was telling me.
I sat in the
blind for about 20 minutes and then I just had to get out and find my arrow.
As I exited my blind and emerged from the briar thicket, there he was!!!
The buck was down within sight!! He
had only gone 10 yards and piled up!! What
a feeling of relief!
|
|
|
I did not
waste any time in heading over to the buck and that is when I realized what had
just happened. I had just shot a
huge buck! There was no ground
shrinkage there! He was an 11 point
with a 20” spread. I was now holding the horns of my biggest buck ever!
I can not explain the feeling, it is just impossible to put into words.
I have been hunting for a deer like this for the past 32 years and now I
was holding the horns of my buck of a life time in my hands!
I just had to sit there and take it all in.
Once the reality of what had just happened set in it was time to share
the news. I sent text messages to
all of my hunting buddies and called to wake Donna up and have her bring the
camera over. Once Donna arrived we
spent the next hour taking photos and talking about the deer.
I think Donna was just as excited as I was.
|
|
|
After things
calmed down and we were back at home, I measured the buck and came up with 148
Gross P&Y. I truly received an early Christmas present that morning sent to
me by the good Lord himself!
You will be
able to watch this hunt and many others on our upcoming TV and DVD productions. |
