Missed a giant Oct. 19th last year.. Today?

[Shed Hunter]

I missed him again :oops:

Last year he was the first mature buck I had shot at period and by far the biggest. I killed a mid 150s after that. Today.. if he is a ten point, I missed the oldest and largest deer I've ever shot at.. while still hunting too :oops:

I decided to go scout around and mark some stand sites in his area. We made no attempt to run cams in that area this year. Why? Pure laziness on my part. I wanted to set one up today but couldn't get it to work. I carried on anyways.. the buck has a bad habit of rubbing abnormally large trees and thinking we don't know who is doing it lol (Not to mention he moves in daylight too much.. we started out with one daylight pic last year and that was it) I hadn't found any sign at all until about 8:10.. yeah that giant rack walking down the ridge to my left was a pretty good sign lol! He was headed the wrong way tho.. nope wait nevermind.. he turned right to me for no reason. I drew and he continued slowly.. very slowly.. I should have let down sooner. Instead I watched him play with limbs carelessly for a few minutes.. his rack certainly didn't help my shakyness.. I had to let down so I did. Rested for 5 seconds and he made his move to my only shot window and started to head in the wrong direction.. I shot.. watched the arrow go directly under his belly.. thank God I was as low as I was. I neglected two things.. 25 and 30 yards is a decent little drop on my bow so I have got to get better at distinguishing that difference. Even more importantly.. when a deer is elevated 10 feet higher than you, your shot is going to go low. Obvious miss as he just stood, looked, and walked ten yards and looked some more.. same thing he did last year. I knew I could circle around and possibly get another shot so I gave him 15 minutes. I walked by where the arrow hit but didn't see it.. not too worried about the arrow and I know it was a miss. I eased for a good 30 minutes and got about ten yards from the road.. I hung my head and pulled out my phone to check the time.. walked wrecklessly to the road only to see him hop across it, trot
10 yards and just walk away.. I think this deer deserves me to give it a rest with the bow as I've flirted with disaster twice. I'm putting up two cams in there and not stepping foot in the area until mid Nov. I'm pretty PO'd at myself for taking the shot, but on the bright side I now I have two giant targets, another non-damaging reminder of how important shot selection is, and out of five hunts I've already seen two 140+ deer.. that makes my season there as I mostly like watching them. Now on to take the advice I should have from you guys last year.. I have only killed two does with my bow.. time for practice on a live target.. those foam targets in the yard reallu don't substitute for the real deal obviously

 

[tree_ghost]

Exellent hunts it sounds like. Question this buck last year was he in the same location as he was this year? There seems to be a major consistency in annual buck movement...I'm curious

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[Shed Hunter]

Exellent hunts it sounds like. Question this buck last year was he in the same location as he was this year? There seems to be a major consistency in annual buck movement...I'm curious

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Not really. We first photographed him somewhat in the center of the property. I missed him about 300 yards north of there the first time. Today I went in from the south end and missed him roughly 100 yards from where the pic was taken. The last place I saw him today was about 100 yards north of where the camera was. I also think I saw him once towards the end of the season running through a thickett about 100 yards north of that.. not 100% sure that was him, but in all likeliness due to his identifiable huge frame and G2s it was.. that or there are two giants in the area which I'm okay with :tu:

 

[Winchester]

Sounds like fun, hope you get another chance! Good luck with him!

 

[Os2 Outdoors]

That's absolutely amazing that you got around on him for an almost 3rd shot. What kind of terrain or cover did you use for that move?

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[Shed Hunter]

That's absolutely amazing that you got around on him for an almost 3rd shot. What kind of terrain or cover did you use for that move?

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Small ridges and very thick.. I coulve easily killed him if not for that. He was at 20 yards broadside for a little while but it was too thick to shoot there. I had one opening and that's why I made the bonehead shot.. I got nervous and rushed. I actually expected him to circle downwind of me to see what I was. He didn't though and instead he must have cut the edge of an overgrown clearcut. I guess I just got lucky I happened to almost be right where I needed to be

He wasn't alarmed at all by the shot. I actually thought I might get a 2nd shot where I missed. He stood on the top of the ridge looking but it was way too thick and also about 60 yards. Forgot to mention he was with a spike.. I think the spike helped my cause.. it walked 15 yards from me so I think the bigger deer took that as a sign of security.

 

[hunttherut]

From reading your post sounds like these deer receive very little pressure which is excellent. Often times these types encounters can turn an old deer to moving at night mainly. The deer I hunt are jumpy and spook easy. Doesn't take much pressure and they are gone.


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[catman529]

That sucks! Got to be kicking yourself pretty hard, just keep remembering at least he isn't wounded, and seems careless enough to give you another shot. And go shoot some does

 

[Shed Hunter]

Cat-I was devasted last year when I missed him. I actually still have that limb destroyed arrow hanging over my door as a reminder.. didn't use it today I guess, but watching this deer was blessing. I've got something to strive for now. He's old, probably at his peak in antler size, and I know that area very well.. I can split my time with him and the other giant I'm after. Could go all year deerless and I'm already happy. Its awesome just knowing I'm fortunate enough to know my season will be spent chasing two deer that will be upper 140s-upper 150s.. not to mention if I kill one of them before Nov. 28th I'll be spending that weekend on another 140+ I just blindly stubled upon at lbl last week. I guess I am a tad bit on the lucky side :D

 

[tree_ghost]

Man that's awesome. Always brings a smile when a fellow hunter is fired up! Good luck

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[Bone Collector]

Good luck with him, you'll probably get another shot.

Funny thing is my biggest buck on my property was out during daylight despite not moving much during daylight on the 19th last year too... but i wasn't there..

 

[redblood]

i would definitely lock the gate and not come back till rut and rifle

 

[Shed Hunter]

i would definitely lock the gate and not come back till rut and rifle

I wish I could but I have to go in to mark stand sites and set up the cams. I've got 12 stand sites on funnels picked out from maps. 4 in what I would assume to be his core area for and then 4 a little farther away, then 4 on the edge of where I feel he uses frequently but not enough to call it his core area. Just gotta make sure they are possible to hunt. Then I have 4 stand sites on the other propery I'll be hunting. It just depends on wind and conditions for when I go to where. Nov. 14th will be my starting date on the big bucks

I'm thinking Saturday will be the best day to get the work done.. it'll give him time to calm down.. hopefully.. and then from there he'll have 3-4 weeks to calm down again and get interested in the does. It'll be tough getting a third shot and I just hope I at least get some trail cam pics. Would you guys think Saturday is the best day?

 

[tree_ghost]

12 stands wouldn't be practical for this approach and neither would setting cameras but i always feel is the best option especially since you've had such close encounters recently that could have the buck on edge...a hang and bang IMO is the best way to surprise a mature buck in his territory. It would depend a lot on your equipment but I would just decided based on the weather conditions where I wanted to hunt the night before and set up accordingly. As far as the trail cameras I find that any data collected after the first week of November doesn't help me until the following year. The bucks are moving but they are very sporadic and usually not able to be patterned like they would early season or even late season for the fact of the matter. In any case good luck

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[Crosshairy]

12 stands wouldn't be practical for this approach and neither would setting cameras but i always feel is the best option especially since you've had such close encounters recently that could have the buck on edge...a hang and bang IMO is the best way to surprise a mature buck in his territory. It would depend a lot on your equipment but I would just decided based on the weather conditions where I wanted to hunt the night before and set up accordingly. As far as the trail cameras I find that any data collected after the first week of November doesn't help me until the following year. The bucks are moving but they are very sporadic and usually not able to be patterned like they would early season or even late season for the fact of the matter. In any case good luck

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I agree with everything he just said. :)