Tennessee Deer Talk: Late Season KY Buck

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#3101661 - 12/30/12 04:59 PM

Late Season KY Buck

BowGuy84
10 Point

Registered: 09/16/07
Posts: 4847
Loc: Nashville, TN and Louisville, ...

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I'll start this story by saying I haven't killed a buck in KY in 4 years. I did kill a good buck in Indiana last year. I've hunted hard and been very fortunate. I've killed 11 deer (after yesterday's) this year across 2 states. I've passed a lot of bucks, seen some good ones I couldn't close on. And in general had a great season. However, up until yesterday I was buckless. Considering my time has been severly impeeded by doctoral work and a new job, I was really ok with not getting a buck since I had held myself to my personal standards. That being said, I wasn't going to give up.

So about a month ago, I started running cameras over corn a couple of different places. One particular spot showed promise in the form of a couple of nice bucks. The evening before a big rain, I went in and set up a stand in a precarious tree. It was the only one that allowed me to hunt the areas with sign and pictures. I have since dubbed this spot "The Widowmaker" and added a safety line.

I missed the shooters a little over a week ago due to a holiday dinner with friends. We had a great time celebrating the season, but when I was getting picture texts of the deer it was sickening. Anyways, I did note the wind direction, weather, and temps. Yesterday duplicated these variables. After a couple of practice shots at the house due to anticipated longer than usual ranges, I got in the stand extra early (1:00) to make sure I didn't bump anything. Here is the view from my stand:

Around 5:35 I spotted a buck entering the highline. I looked at him once, and knew he wasn't one of the shooters I had on camera. By the time I evaluated if I wanted to shoot him he was through my first opening. However, he quickly moved into feed at 41 yards. I had to sit down to get in the C shaped opening you see in the above image. Just getting the shot was challenging. My eyes were watering and the peep has snow particles in it intially. However, once I hit full draw everything felt great. I settled the pin on his heart and the shot broke natural. He ran by the stand at about 20 yards and I could see the arrow hanging out out off side about mid-body. Considering he was slightly quartering towards me I felt confident in the shot.

Since it was cold and snow was on the ground I left him over night. Me and two buddies went in this morning and found him in short order. The shot was better than I thought (lungs and liver). We didn't break stride and found him piled up in a dozer trail we could drive an ATV to in about 5 minutes. Overall, it has been a fantastic season and I am very happy with this deer. Hard to tell in the pic but he has really good mass and main beams. We measured him out to 129.5" even with the weak right g3.

Compulsary Hanging Shed Shot:

Edited by BowGuy84 (12/30/12 05:01 PM)