Fast forward to this season. We have put Ned in the same stand over and over and he never got deer close enough. On the day after Ethan Shetler shot his buck, Ned went back to the same stand and his roommate Jon sat where Ned usually does. I was on a grocery run for Rachel when I got a call.
"I hit a buck." "What!?!?!" "I hit a buck. But not that good. I think. I think it was high and back. Maybe."
Damn. That's never a good thing.
I told him to get out of there and get back to his car and we would go from there. I finished the grocery run and surprisingly to its completion. Ned went to Nick's where it was decided we were going to wait a few hours before we tracked him. We would be back around 11pm. Rachel was rather displeased with me but I still went to go track. Jon, Ned, Poindexter, and myself walked the mile in to begin the quest. We got to the stand and couldn't find blood to save our lives. Ned showed us where he thought it was standing. He told us after he shot, the buck just stood there, and eventually took a few steps before it bolted down into the willow swamp below. We looked down below and still found nothing. Nick doubled back and finally found good blood back at the top. Ned was completely turned around as to where he thought the buck was. We followed a great blood trail for about 200 yards before it started to turn into smears and specks. Another 100 yards and nothing. We finally found a bed. We followed the rest for about 20 feet and another bed. After that we ran dry. Doubling back Jon Jones found the arrow. No fletchings and a wad of frozen mud and guts and blood on the broadhead. It looked like good blood on the arrow and we knew this was a dead deer. We looked at what seemed like every angle from last blood and still found nothing. By now it was 2am. We called it and backed out. Nick had time early and he and Ned were going to look again in the morning.
First light was 6am giving them a little over 3 hours of sleep. They went right back to the last blood and found something interesting. We looked straight ahead, left, and even behind the line of trail this buck was following. They found that the buck doubled back and only went another 20 yards. At one point the previous night we could swear we could smell him. It was awesome they were able to find it.
This is Ned's first buck. Recovered on 11/11/11. We decided this buck is to be the Willow Buck and we would label it Dead by Ned.
After recovering the buck they both found that Ned's shot was much worse than originally thought. He thought high and a little back meaning paunch/liver hit. The arrow went in the right ham and came out underneath it next to his testicles. Poor shot indeed. The rage broadhead was attributed to the recovery of this one. Nick did the gutting for Ned and gagged his way through it. Being that they were well over a mile from the car, and it is uphill the entire way, they opted to hide the buck in the brush next to the river.
The ground was frozen and it was cool enough during the day that Nick came back and floated the buck out with his kayak. The river was low and he brought his waders and when needed he straddled it and paddled his way back to the boat ramp. This was a much better plan instead of having to drag the buck out. We were not going to go through that again.
That night was the beginning of deer camp as Michael Parker, Austin Freeseman, Mom, and Dad were in town and at Nick's place. We started camp with a deer on the pole (or Nick's deck).
Congrats to Ned for harvesting his first deer and a fine buck to boot! Hopefully next year will treat you as well as this season has. But until then,
Stay Tuned
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