With everything shut down, I pulled out (almost all) the stops and got permission to hunt on a family friend's ranch which borders CNF land. The ranch manager, who is a vegetarian, got surprisingly on-board and acted like a human game camera for me. She would text me each morning and evening and let me know where the deer were and particularly a couple of bucks. We think there were two bucks, but we're not sure. (More on that later.) I have a disabled archer permit due to neck and shoulder issues so we started putting together a plan for my crossbow. It was actually fun working with someone whose only hunting experience was watching "North Woods Law."
Saturday morning I was at the ranch at 0430 and in my spot by 0500 with sunrise at 0623 I had a bit of a wait. Unfortunately, at 0545, just as it was getting just light enough to see, a buck appeared. All I could tell was that it was a big shadowy form. I hoped he would stick around til shooting light, but unfortunately he walked right towards me just as the morning winds picked up and he scented me. A big "HUFF" and he was stotting up the hill, stopping about halfway up to give me a couple more "HUFF"s before bounding over the ridge. Although I had a pretty good idea where he would be that evening, a nearby ranch was hosting a big wedding and I didn't want to deal with that so I decided to give him a bit more time and to come back Sunday evening.
Sunday late afternoon I returned to the ranch and set up in a hastily created ground blind under an oak tree. I trimmed a couple of limbs back and set to waiting . . .
Sunset was at 1816 and there was no moon yet. Just after sunset, I spotted a buck off to my right. He was slowly heading up the hill off to my right about 100 yards. He went a little ways up the hill, behind a tree, and either starting rubbing on a tree or sparring with another buck. From the sound, I think he was messing with another buck. At that point, given how close it was to last legal shooting light, I figured the game was up and set down my crossbow to watch him through my binoculars. Just then, a voice in my head said, "Be patient and wait and see what happens. You have 20 or so minutes left and have heard a million stories about last minute bucks." So I picked up my crossbow, put it back on the Tricer bipod, and waited. Sure enough, the buck stopped playing and started walking to the left across the hill.
Eventually, he hit a tree that I had earlier ranged at 60 yards. Although that was the outside of my crossbow range, I felt it was too dark for an ethical shot so I took my finger off the trigger. When I did, it was as though I had passed a test and he immediately turned and came straight at me. In the picture above, I had ranged the closer gate post at 30 yards. Right as he got to the post, he stopped and stared right at me. Busted!
I froze and he froze. I could tell he was trying to figure out what the black blob by his oak tree was. I just tried to breathe so my heartbeat wouldn't give me away. After what felt like 5 minutes, but was probably 10 seconds, he turned and took a step to the right, giving me a decent broadside. I put my 30 yard reticle on the lungs and squeezed . . . I saw my lighted red nock fly through the air, heard the "thwack" of it hitting the buck, and he bolted off to the right, ran through some bushes and I thought I heard him pile up a little ways away.
I have some good friends who live nearby so I went into wi-fi range of the ranch house to call them for help. The ranch manger came out of the house and said she saw the shot (lighted nock) and asked if I got him. I told her I thought so but we'd know for sure shortly. When my three friends showed up about 30 minutes later, we went to look. I was really nervous when we didn't see any blood at all and could not find my arrow. But in the back of my mind I knew I had hit him and was sure I had heard him pile up. So we spread out in a line and went looking.
Keeping in mind that a friend/mentor had told me, "They always run downhill," I took the downhill side. Not more than 50-60 yards later I spotted a white butt in the beam of my flashlight!!!! Buck down!!
As we found out when cleaning him later, he must have jumped my shot and my arrow hit high but (thank you Rage Trypan) severed his artery and he bled out fast. When we pulled the gut pile out, blood poured out everywhere! My arrow was also just lying along his spine. Other than the severed artery, he had zero internal damage!
He's now at Bisher's being processed and the head is off for a Euro mount.
I'm still shaking and in awe of this guy.
Saturday morning I was at the ranch at 0430 and in my spot by 0500 with sunrise at 0623 I had a bit of a wait. Unfortunately, at 0545, just as it was getting just light enough to see, a buck appeared. All I could tell was that it was a big shadowy form. I hoped he would stick around til shooting light, but unfortunately he walked right towards me just as the morning winds picked up and he scented me. A big "HUFF" and he was stotting up the hill, stopping about halfway up to give me a couple more "HUFF"s before bounding over the ridge. Although I had a pretty good idea where he would be that evening, a nearby ranch was hosting a big wedding and I didn't want to deal with that so I decided to give him a bit more time and to come back Sunday evening.
Sunday late afternoon I returned to the ranch and set up in a hastily created ground blind under an oak tree. I trimmed a couple of limbs back and set to waiting . . .
Sunset was at 1816 and there was no moon yet. Just after sunset, I spotted a buck off to my right. He was slowly heading up the hill off to my right about 100 yards. He went a little ways up the hill, behind a tree, and either starting rubbing on a tree or sparring with another buck. From the sound, I think he was messing with another buck. At that point, given how close it was to last legal shooting light, I figured the game was up and set down my crossbow to watch him through my binoculars. Just then, a voice in my head said, "Be patient and wait and see what happens. You have 20 or so minutes left and have heard a million stories about last minute bucks." So I picked up my crossbow, put it back on the Tricer bipod, and waited. Sure enough, the buck stopped playing and started walking to the left across the hill.
Eventually, he hit a tree that I had earlier ranged at 60 yards. Although that was the outside of my crossbow range, I felt it was too dark for an ethical shot so I took my finger off the trigger. When I did, it was as though I had passed a test and he immediately turned and came straight at me. In the picture above, I had ranged the closer gate post at 30 yards. Right as he got to the post, he stopped and stared right at me. Busted!
I froze and he froze. I could tell he was trying to figure out what the black blob by his oak tree was. I just tried to breathe so my heartbeat wouldn't give me away. After what felt like 5 minutes, but was probably 10 seconds, he turned and took a step to the right, giving me a decent broadside. I put my 30 yard reticle on the lungs and squeezed . . . I saw my lighted red nock fly through the air, heard the "thwack" of it hitting the buck, and he bolted off to the right, ran through some bushes and I thought I heard him pile up a little ways away.
I have some good friends who live nearby so I went into wi-fi range of the ranch house to call them for help. The ranch manger came out of the house and said she saw the shot (lighted nock) and asked if I got him. I told her I thought so but we'd know for sure shortly. When my three friends showed up about 30 minutes later, we went to look. I was really nervous when we didn't see any blood at all and could not find my arrow. But in the back of my mind I knew I had hit him and was sure I had heard him pile up. So we spread out in a line and went looking.
Keeping in mind that a friend/mentor had told me, "They always run downhill," I took the downhill side. Not more than 50-60 yards later I spotted a white butt in the beam of my flashlight!!!! Buck down!!
As we found out when cleaning him later, he must have jumped my shot and my arrow hit high but (thank you Rage Trypan) severed his artery and he bled out fast. When we pulled the gut pile out, blood poured out everywhere! My arrow was also just lying along his spine. Other than the severed artery, he had zero internal damage!
He's now at Bisher's being processed and the head is off for a Euro mount.
I'm still shaking and in awe of this guy.
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