The All Day Buck

I will start from the beginning:

The evening before I hunted at Nick's place and saw a small buck and two foxes. I got back to Ames as quickly as possible as Rachel and I had evening plans at a friends place to celebrate a birthday. Well, I of course grabbed a bite to eat and fixed myself a drink. Having hunted, I was thirsty. Terrible combo. I told myself I was hunting all day no matter what. My stubbornness, and ignorance was completely self inflicted. A brutal drive out to the spot was met by a couple stops on the side of the road (just in case)... I sat in the car for 20 minutes before actually getting my stuff together and start the trudge back. It was slow, freezing, and sweaty. Again, I am an idiot. I spooked a ton of deer on the way in, including a huge buck on one of the trail openings. Once in the stand I hunched over my bow for another 20 minutes to a half hour. I sipped on my watered down gatorade and hoped I would come back to life. At this point I remembered Nick telling me to watch behind me as the deer will sneak up on me back there. There stood a lone deer. Bigger body. I picked up my binoculars looking for bone. He stepped out from behind a clump of trees and I saw bone. He was by no means a monster but he had bone. He started working his way towards me when I finally decided I was going to shoot. My heart was beating through my chest and thankfully the nausea had subdued. He came all the way up the trail and I drew back when he stopped behind a tree. I don't know how, but even so, he pegged me. He turned around and presented my shot. I had to slip the shot under a branch, fumble with my harness, all the while coping with buck fever like I have never before. Why now so terrible I still don't know.

WHACK!

I hit him right in the middle. I watched him barrel away with my arrow still in him. He ate serious shit in a deadfall and I knew he was hurting. I put the bow down and watched him with my binos. The tail was twirling, head was down, and he was moving slow. I watched him bed down once, and knew it was game over. Then he got back up. I watched as he bedded down again, but I lost sight of him and couldn't see anymore.
Damn.
 I texted or called many mostly to calm myself down. The consensus was to wait it out as I thought I hit stomach. I shot him at 8:00am. I sat in the stand until 12:00pm.

 I saw seven bucks, most in the river 300 yards away, but one was a really nice 8 point that walked within spitting distance at 11:30am. He was completely oblivious of my presences. Water bottle in hand, mask down, face full of beef jerky. No idea whatsoever. 
 God has a great sense of humor.

I waited until my watch beeped noon. I had to practice what I preach. I got out and picked up my squirrel arrow (4 hours in the stand, one was bound to get too close) and noticed I did hit the damn squirrel. Ironically, I nutted him.
I then looked for my blood trail. I became concerned when I started as I couldn't find blood, but I knew better. I went to the downfall tree he barreled into and found my trail. Walking blood trail. I still too my sweet time. In less then five minutes I looked up and there he was. I drew back my bow and whistled. I kicked some detritus at him. I walked slowly up to him, still drawn mind you, and looked closer. Stone dead. I let down, walked up and tapped his ham. This is how I found him:

I was absolutely elated. Not because I shot a monster, but because there was no tracking odyssey. There was no more doubt. Sitting in a tree stand for 4 hours can do a lot to you mental stability, especially with the circumstance I put myself in.The shot was not as poor as I thought and I managed to hit stomach, liver, and one lung. When he barreled into the dead-fall he managed to break one of his front shoulders, and t was completed separated on the inside. My arrow was still intact and halfway through him. This was the same arrow and broadhead used to harvest my buck on the same property last year.

Now it was down to business. I managed to get the thing gutted by myself, and did it in the quickest fashion I have yet. I got a hold of a buddy whom was able to come help me get the thing out of there as soon as he was done with some school stuff. I figured I would get started with the trudge back but I needed to attend to some business first. When I squatted down to put my harness back on, the morning caught up with me. I knew the TP I brought just in case was going to come in handy. Nature Poop. As Murphy's Law clearly dictates, the second I squat down my phone buzzes. Not once, not twice, but three separate times. After taking care of business I started the trudge.

Not many know the terrain I dealt with but for the few that do, they know this was no simple feat. I think this was my greatest accomplishment. I managed to get this deer from the bottoms, to the prairie, all the way up to the first cornfield.

This is entirely uphill, for a total distance of close to 300 yards. I was spent by the time I got it this far. My hands hurt so bad I could barely hold my bow. When my buddy Ned showed up we tried the meat pole idea but after twenty feet we knew that was not happening either. We tied our harness ropes around the neck and looped them through the 2X4 Ned brought with him. It was essentially the oxen bar system. It worked sufficiently enough. We did encounter a couple of 'turkey' hunters before we got to the parking lot. A scoped 30.06 and a sawed off shotgun with buckshot clips. I should have called them in. I was a heap of goo by the time we got back to the parking lot.
I wanted to show again, just like my jake from this last spring, that I can still be successful on pressured public.

I got out to the stand at 7:15am. Made the shot at minutes before 8:00am. Sat in the same stand until 12:00pm. Got to the truck at 4:15pm.
After dropping it off at Nick and Lisa's place, I went home, showered, collected butcher supplies, and headed back out there. Nick was raising the deer up when we pulled into the driveway. Nick and I butchered deer while the girls studied upstairs. We had smoked, fresh off the back-straps for dinner. It was nice to have deer on the pole. Now that the monkey is off my back, I can focus on getting Rachel a deer, as well as a fall turkey. It is two days after harvest and I am still tired.

As Rachel would say "You brought this upon yourself."

Hehehehe....



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