My October 28th hunt was a very interesting and exciting one. Before I get to the story I have to tell you who the main characters are. From the title, you can guess there are three bucks, a lone doe, and myself, the bumbling bow hunter with just a tad of good luck. Buck number one is one I named "Evander" due to a large chunk of his ear that was missing (almost like Mike Tyson bit it off). Deer number two is a buck I am now calling "The Blocker" because of his actions on this hunt (I'll get to that). Buck number three is named "Dagger" because two years ago his left G2 was long, thick, and looked like a midieval blade.
Three Bucks and a Babe
- Thread starter kenton
- Start date
VT Outfitter
New member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
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- 4
Fantastic bucks! Got t love it!
I intended on hunting out of a tree stand that evening so when the morning long rain finally quit, I got geared up and headed out. There are a few overgrown fields that I have to cross the get to the stand and there are trails mowed throughout. While walking on one of the trails, I catch movement in my peripheral vision and before I could react, "Evander" is 40 yards broadside in front of me but I have zero cover on the trail so he is looking right at me and eventually fires off the danger warning and bounds away. I figured I could hussle back to the start of the field and maybe at least see where he was escaping too, but I was either too slow or he too fast. I was curious as to where he was coming from, so I went back to where he crossed the trail to think about what he was doing. When I got there, I noticed another set of antlers (The Blocker) only 30 yards from where I was standing.I hunkered down and waited but this buck wasn't coming to the trail. I worked up the nerve to slowly rise and look around, and found that he was bedded. I wanted to get a better look at him so I grunted a few times and when I did, he stood up and started working downwind of me. He caught a wiff and took off ahead of me but I lost sight of him before he exited the field. I cautiously worked my way forward trying to figure out if he was gone for good and then I noticed a peculiar looking bush. The bush stood about 8 foot tall, still had green leaves, and a few white lines near the base that appeared to be rubs. I gave it a quick peak through my binos and saw the rubs move. The weren't rubs, they were antlers: "Dagger". The situation was perfect; I had a crosswind with good cover all the way to well within bow range. I took a second to landmark where he was and plan my path and took a last look at him in the optics only to notice that "The Blocker" had planted himself directly between "Dagger" and myself.
"The Blocker", now aptly named, had turned the perfect setup into a potential disaster. As bucks often do, he was facing downhill with the wind at his back. I was going to have try and fool his eyes or his nose but first I dropped my pack and also removed my treestand harness and left them behind. Normally, I would much rather sneak by a deer's eyes than his nose but I knew the next field upwind had a swale in the middle that might be deep enough to keep my scent contained. If I could get to that swale and get the wind on the other side of all the deer I would end up very close to "Dagger". Time to roll the dice and make something happen. Somehow, I was within 25 yards of "Dagger" but still couldn't see him. I also couldn't see the doe he had bedded, but she could see me. I think we all can guess what happened: she takes off, he takes off, "The Blocker" takes off, and I left standing there having scared away every deer I'd seen. At this point, there's nothing to do but hike back and get my gear and hustle for the tree stand. I'm not too far from my gear having made a beg circle but right before I reach my stuff, I notice a small tree is waving back and forth. The wind was blowing but not enough to make a 2-3 inch diameter tree move like this one was. I figured a raccoon was trying to climb it or something because I couldn't see anything through the weeds but it was only 15 yards away. I am always willing to take a raccoon so I sauntered over there and when I'm only 10 yards from it, "Evander" picks his head up.
By some miracle, he didn't run far when I first scared him, didn't run off when I spooked "The Blocker", didn't run off when I spooked "Dagger" and the doe, and hasn't noticed me walking well within bow range. He steps into a clearing and I put an arrow right behind his front leg. He only ran 80 yards and was expired within a minute. The shot was the only thing I did right the entire hunt but every once in a while its better to be lucky than good. He isn't a giant but the way this hunt went, I couldn't pass him up. Ended up main frame 10, 2 kickers, and right at 130". Now I get to focus on the other guys I take hunting.
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bowhuntmontana
Well-known member
Better lucky than good. I have a feeling the culmination of this involved plenty of preparation and work, even if the minutes leading up to it seemed like luck. Nice work.
fishing4sanity
Well-known member
+1
Good looking buck, congrats!
nidahunter
Well-known member
Man, you better go buy a lottery ticket! Beautiful buck!
