infoman jr.
Well-Known Member
Some here may have read my thread last year Shot my first velvet buck! where I shot and lost an 11 point, "lefty," in velvet (may a curse be upon photobucket).
The deer that was with Lefty was a 3.5 year-old we called Massive 10. Here they are together.
This is a picture of Massive 10 I took after I shot Lefty and he ran off.
He was not considered a "shooter," and we ended up finding one of his sheds last winter.
Fast forward to this summer. Massive 10 was back, but he wasn't the perfect 10 that he was last year.
He was frequenting the same soybean field that he and Lefty stayed in last year, so we decided to set up a stand to hunt him. We hung a ladder stand at the SW corner of the plot and would hunt it on anything from a North to West wind. We also hinge cut trees to block several options the deer had to enter the field. We hoped he would would use a trail just 10 yards to the northwest of the stand. We knew the deer bedded west of the plot, so this was a conservative approach. This is the same corner of the field that Massive 10 was standing when I took his photo last year.
We hung a camera there this year to see if our plan worked. It showed promise.
Opening morning found me on the edge of the property in the woods hoping for a doe, but I didn't see the first deer. The weather was amazing though, so I wasn't complaining. My two hunting partners and I gathered at the barn for lunch and to shoot our bows. We all shot great at 40, and I shot a few rounds at 60 which inspired confidence. The property owner told me to hunt the bean field that evening which blew me away. He'd talked before about his plans to hunt it, and I wasn't going to take his generosity for granted.
I settled into the ladder with about 2 hours of daylight remaining. Deer started to pour into the field no more than 5 minutes after I got situated. All of the deer used a trail that was 70 yards from the stand, so I wasn't sure if I was going to have any deer in my lap as I'd hoped. We must have missed a trail or two in our hinge cutting. Add that to the winter chore list.
[youtube]sKZ7STnGjkE[/youtube]
At 7:17 I caught a glimpse of movement to my left at 10 yards. The first thing I saw was a buck's head and the left side of his rack. Without knowing exactly what buck it was, that view was enough for me to say "oh that's a shooter!" As he took a few more steps approaching the field, he stopped, and I saw his unmistakable drop tine. Just as I drew my bow, he walked into the final few trees on the edge of the field.
I did the stereotypical mouth bleat as he came out broadside, but he didn't stop. Instead, he started to head away from me, and I thought this could be my only chance. He was around 10 yards away, so I stuck my top pin behind his rib cage and touched off my release.
I saw my arrow penetrate deeply and raised my binoculars as he ran about 30 yards into the field, stopped, then ran west to the edge of the field. He stood there for about 5 seconds, flicked his tail, and walked off. In hindsight, I probably could have put another arrow in him if I'd nocked another arrow instead of watching through my binos.
I was sick. I instantly flashed back to Lefty and all of the other mishaps of last season. Even though I had great penetration with my arrow and "knew" he should be dead, I couldn't keep the doubt from creeping in.
I met with the other two guys at the barn at dark, and at 8:00, we decided to check the edge of the field for blood. I'd decided that if we didn't find him at the edge of the field, I'd have yet another restless night and search in the morning.
After checking the field for a few minutes, I made my way though the field edge via the trail I suspected the buck used to see if I could see my nock glowing. Long shot - I know. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that green nock glowing not 50 yards away. I didn't know if the buck was attached to the arrow, so I called the other guys over, and we made our way to the nock.
We made it about 20 yards, and I could see the deer lying there. I hit my knees in disbelief. After so much disappointment, it was a surreal and emotional moment to see this 220-pound buck dead.
The shot turned out great, nicking his heart with two blades. This was the first but won't be my last hunting trip with Slick Tricks in my quiver.
It's impossible for me to say it's "my" deer. There were three of us doing all of the food plot work, timber stand improvement, stand hanging, trail trimming, fertilizing, bush hogging, and planting. They knew the deer just as well as I did, and any of the three of us would have had the same result that evening in that stand.
The deer that was with Lefty was a 3.5 year-old we called Massive 10. Here they are together.
This is a picture of Massive 10 I took after I shot Lefty and he ran off.
He was not considered a "shooter," and we ended up finding one of his sheds last winter.
Fast forward to this summer. Massive 10 was back, but he wasn't the perfect 10 that he was last year.
He was frequenting the same soybean field that he and Lefty stayed in last year, so we decided to set up a stand to hunt him. We hung a ladder stand at the SW corner of the plot and would hunt it on anything from a North to West wind. We also hinge cut trees to block several options the deer had to enter the field. We hoped he would would use a trail just 10 yards to the northwest of the stand. We knew the deer bedded west of the plot, so this was a conservative approach. This is the same corner of the field that Massive 10 was standing when I took his photo last year.
We hung a camera there this year to see if our plan worked. It showed promise.
Opening morning found me on the edge of the property in the woods hoping for a doe, but I didn't see the first deer. The weather was amazing though, so I wasn't complaining. My two hunting partners and I gathered at the barn for lunch and to shoot our bows. We all shot great at 40, and I shot a few rounds at 60 which inspired confidence. The property owner told me to hunt the bean field that evening which blew me away. He'd talked before about his plans to hunt it, and I wasn't going to take his generosity for granted.
I settled into the ladder with about 2 hours of daylight remaining. Deer started to pour into the field no more than 5 minutes after I got situated. All of the deer used a trail that was 70 yards from the stand, so I wasn't sure if I was going to have any deer in my lap as I'd hoped. We must have missed a trail or two in our hinge cutting. Add that to the winter chore list.
[youtube]sKZ7STnGjkE[/youtube]
At 7:17 I caught a glimpse of movement to my left at 10 yards. The first thing I saw was a buck's head and the left side of his rack. Without knowing exactly what buck it was, that view was enough for me to say "oh that's a shooter!" As he took a few more steps approaching the field, he stopped, and I saw his unmistakable drop tine. Just as I drew my bow, he walked into the final few trees on the edge of the field.
I did the stereotypical mouth bleat as he came out broadside, but he didn't stop. Instead, he started to head away from me, and I thought this could be my only chance. He was around 10 yards away, so I stuck my top pin behind his rib cage and touched off my release.
I saw my arrow penetrate deeply and raised my binoculars as he ran about 30 yards into the field, stopped, then ran west to the edge of the field. He stood there for about 5 seconds, flicked his tail, and walked off. In hindsight, I probably could have put another arrow in him if I'd nocked another arrow instead of watching through my binos.
I was sick. I instantly flashed back to Lefty and all of the other mishaps of last season. Even though I had great penetration with my arrow and "knew" he should be dead, I couldn't keep the doubt from creeping in.
I met with the other two guys at the barn at dark, and at 8:00, we decided to check the edge of the field for blood. I'd decided that if we didn't find him at the edge of the field, I'd have yet another restless night and search in the morning.
After checking the field for a few minutes, I made my way though the field edge via the trail I suspected the buck used to see if I could see my nock glowing. Long shot - I know. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that green nock glowing not 50 yards away. I didn't know if the buck was attached to the arrow, so I called the other guys over, and we made our way to the nock.
We made it about 20 yards, and I could see the deer lying there. I hit my knees in disbelief. After so much disappointment, it was a surreal and emotional moment to see this 220-pound buck dead.
The shot turned out great, nicking his heart with two blades. This was the first but won't be my last hunting trip with Slick Tricks in my quiver.
It's impossible for me to say it's "my" deer. There were three of us doing all of the food plot work, timber stand improvement, stand hanging, trail trimming, fertilizing, bush hogging, and planting. They knew the deer just as well as I did, and any of the three of us would have had the same result that evening in that stand.
